As promised, here is my updated ballot for the Somerset County Tournament field. An original ballot through last Thursday's game ran in this past Saturday's paper, and below you fill find the link to the podcast featuring boys basketball writer Jerry Carino and I analyzing our ballots. Keep in mind, however, that what you hear on the podcast was taped prior to knowing any of Tuesday night's results. If you want the most recent ballot, read here. If you want some a good laugh or two, listen to the podcast.
http://www.c-n.com/specialsections/podcasts/frezza/frezza0122.htm
1. Rutgers Prep 14-1
Locked up the No. 1 seed with Watchung Hills' lost Tuesday night
2. Watchung Hills 10-3
Tuesday night's loss to Franklin hurts, but enough to drop past this spot
3. Montgomery 10-4
Another team that didn't help itself Tuesday by losing to Immaculata. Still, this position should remain theirs.
4. Franklin 8-6
No doubt the Warriors get a double bye after beating Watchung Hills
5. Bridgewater-Raritan 5-9
By virtue of not getting the Panthers' result against Hillsborough on Tuesday night, they stay where I had them all week.
6. Gill St. Bernard's 8-3
Would be fifth if it beat Bridgewater-Raritan. Would likely have beat Bridgewater-Raritan if leading rebounder Niiya Ruth had played.
7. North Plainfield 7-3
My pick as a "team to watch" before the season is finally clicking. Erase an early season loss to Somerville and who knows how much better this seed becomes.
8. Immaculata 3-10
Yes, Immaculata is 3-10. And, yes, I still put them eighth. The Spartans' schedule is one of the area's most challenging and wins against Somerville and Montgomery in the past four days greatly improved this stock.
9. Hillsborough 2-10
No latest result (See: 5. Bridgewater-Raritan). Tough schedule (See: 8. Immaculata).
10. Mount St. Mary 8-3
Eight straight wins -- including five in the county -- made the Mount Lions a great story. Three straight losses, including one to North Plainfield on Tuesday, has cost them lots of ground at the seeding table.
11. Somerville 9-4
That loss Saturday to Immaculata doesn't look so bad anymore thanks to Montgomery's duplicating the feat.
12. Pingry 9-4
One county game, one county win (against Ridge), and one Katie Occhipinti. She's good. Go see her.
13. Ridge 3-10
Lost to Somerville and Pingry head-to-head. Could get a rematch with one in the 12-13 game.
14. Bound Brook 3-8
Moved up from 15 by beating Bernards last Friday. Could win a first-round SCT game, too.
15. Bernards 5-9
It used to be this team was thought of as a sleeper in the SCT. No more. Graduating a 2,000-point scorer can do that, you know?
16. Manville 1-12
Anyone know the last time the Mustangs won an SCT game? If so, post it in the comments section. Thanks.
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34 comments:
*rolls eyes*
5 through 12 is a joke. The highest Immaculata can hope for is the 9th seed. If they earn a bye with 3 wins, this tournament has lost all credibility.
And again, Somerville at 11 is ridiculous. They lead the Raritan Division and disregarding the MSM debacle, have beaten every team in that division by no less than 9 points. You can't just "erase" a game because you favor North Plainfield. Somerville beat them (as well as a formidable Del Val team which also beat NP) which should put them ahead of NP, end of discussion.
Ryan - agree on your top four. But I also think that Immaculata and Hillsborough at 8 and 9 are a stretch. I could see them at 10 and 11 and move MSM and Somerville up to 8 and 9.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the seeding meeting.
How many Manville SCT games have you been to this year? Not enough obviously if you're still continuing to mock Manville. Why don't you watch a game before you open your mouth because those girls work hard for the height deficit they face.
Seeds went exactly as I planned. Good call on the top 4 Ryan, but I knew BR wouldn't get seeded ahead of Gill just because they beat them with that poor record. As for the Ville, MSM, and NP getting 7,8,9, respectively, I'm not surprised at all. Although I would argue that I believe NP should have gotten the 8th seed, but in the end, the difference between these 2 seeds is negligible.
And, oh boy, a rematch of the Ville/Immaculata game next weekend? Good grief. Will Somerville actually win a tourney game this year? I have a bad feeling...
Also looking forward to the potential 4-5 matchup between Franklin and Gill. Now THIS looks like a game and could be the game of the tournament.
OK - as rare as it is to defend Ryan, let me jump in for a minute on his Manville comment. He wasn't mocking the Manville girls or their effort, nor was he speaking about any of their regular season games. He specifically was speaking about performance in the Somerset County Tournament (SCT) games over the past years (of which there haven't been any yet this year).
I hope we can agree that every girl willing to put on a uniform and represent their school in athletic competition deserves the same level of respect whether they're part of teams with winning or losing records. I think every team goes through difficult periods (witness Lata and Hillsborough this year).
Based on his comments in the past I know that Ryan would never intentionally mock individual players or their teams.
Well let me first start off by saying that ryan needs to shut his mouth. Picking on small schools like manville that enrolls approx close to 400 students is uncalled for. I dont think he understands that they use what they got. They also play a tough schedule. Maybe you should consider coming to a game instead of running you're mouth. He more less should worry about bigger schools that have poor records instead of small schools that face number shortage.
Some of the other small schools that have good records recruit(like gill st bernards, rutgers prep and so on). bernards, bb, and manville dont. however bb enrolls way more students than manville. SO until you get you're facts straight or decide to come to a game i dont want to hear from you.
Just wondering what Ryan said that offended Manville?
so they may play a tough schedule. but they still have only ONE WIN. i hope everybody knows that. so back off. and leave ryan alone. if u dont like his blog then u dont have to read it. hes speaking his opinion. not mocking at all. so chilll
I can see why some of you think he is trashing Manville, but there are seriously some very large overreactions going on here. He just asked a question about the last time they won a game. No biggie.
Who comes in 2nd?
Rutgers Prep has 7 Division I prospects, and the three underclassmen are HIGH-LEVEL prospects, with the BEST women's COACH in NJ High Schools, little did I know unitl December.
The pros talk about her with the same respect as they have for the coach of St Patrick's boys basketball.
So, given that all/most of the recruiting for girls hoops is going through Rutgers Prep the next two years:
1> Shouldn't the C-N do a special two-part article on whatever is really happening at that school?
and
2> Why don't we have a list of all of the girls there that are being courted by Tennesse/UCONN/Stanford---the three programs that matter?
Now maybe Ryan or someone else has already done this and I missed it--it so, my apologies, and please send me a link--thanks!
Ryan or anyone else for that matter. Please tell us more about Rutgers Prep basketball. We have an eighth grader looking at high schools and basketball is a big factor. Are there really 7 D-I prospects? Just love to hear about them.
He just asked a question about the last time they won a game. No biggie.
Actually, what Ryan asked about is a Somerset County Tournament (SCT) game - which is the topic. And I think he was genuine in asking since he's only been covering the games for 3 or 4 years, and really wanted to know.
Prep has 7 Division 1 prospects? Are you kidding me? 1 definitely, maybe two. What they do have is a deep bench, with some very athletic kids. The team in general is long and athletic and that creates some very tough matchups. Pressure their guards and you'll get a lot of turnovers. Their half court offense is very predictable as they try to feed "00". Actually if she was on my team, I would do the same. This observation is based solely on the game against Voorhees.
Ryan Dunleavy is a lepprechan. How could he possibly be ripping Manville? He doesn't have tme for ripping. He's too bust trying to stop people from stealing his Lucky Charms!
Why are we even talking about Manville? For one thing, Ryan was making an innocent comment about Manville's last county tournament win. Does anybody know?
And their wins have both come against Sussex Tech!
To the Manville poster: Who do you want to play? If Bound Brook is too "big?'' Bound Brook is the only school Manville's teams get up to play in any sport.
How about Bound Brook Junior High?
START IMPROVING YOUR PROGRAMS AND SAT SCORES AND STOP WITH THE SOUR GRAPES!
This is great stuff. Keep it coming. In answers to some questions:
1) I was not ripping Manville, or any small school, for that matter. I was asking when the last time they won an SCT game was. A real question. If you listened to the podcast, you would have heard the nice things I said about Manville's new coach. Also, I like the people who want me to "shut my mouth" and "don't care what I have to say," but are reading MY BLOG TO SEE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY.
2) No, Rutgers Prep does not have 7 Division 1-A prospects. I am in no position to tell the parent asking where to send their child to high school, but I do know that Rutgers Prep coach Mary Klinger is well respected around the state and region for her knowledge and resume as a coach and player. The team is very good, hence my ranking No. 1. But, no, they do not have 7 Division-1 players. No one in Central Jersey does.
exactly. ha. how are you going to tell the author of the blog to shut his mouth? hmmm. maybe u just shouldn't read it anymore. yeah. thats it.
hey ryan, you need an answer for the leprechaun comments. what is that all about?
-J
Yeah, Lepruchan. Where's your snappy comeback?
ryan you have issues with boundbrook. why are we rated 15 when we beat bernards? im sick of everyone complaning on how boundbrook is so bad! i know that were not the best school and we do get carried away sometimes but we always get looked down upon. our sats suck. our school does not get along. our coaches and players fight. and our education is poor. so stop putting us down at least we won three games and we should be ranked so much higher! i think ur jealous of boundbrook and you dont wanna admit it ha! lo sioento amigo.
Wow the North Planfield VS Manville game was a good game to watch. Manville was winning most of the game and were in control.But with a couple bad calls they lost. Being a fan from np im shocked we played so bad tonight and manville easily was the better team. We got some good calls and beat them by 5. still we shouldnt be happy.
Further evidence Somerville is underrated: they came within 4 points of beating Voorhees. They played phenomenally in the first half and led by as many as 9. Second half obviously a different story, but still, if Somerville can't beat a very average Immaculata team next weekend, something is very wrong. The team has so much talent and could give any team in the area a run for their money.
i cant believe u favor north planfiled so much they bearly cant even beat manville. being a middlesex fan i was getting ready to mark a win down for manville. Manville got alot of bad calls thats y they lost. Manville was winning at half and for the most part of the game. NP sucks they need to step up there game beating manville by like only a couple points is shocking. Being ranked 7th and bearly getting past the last seed is embarissing.
After today, I'm thinking North Hunterdon may be the team to beat in the area and should be number 1 in the rankings next week.
North Plainfield is clearly not a strong team. At the very best you could say they are inconsistent.
I'm also impressed with Somerville. They gave Voorhees quite the scare in a game which they should have won but which really meant nothing actually except proving Somerville can in fact compete with the bigger schools. Good game for the Pioneers, who need the confidence for next week's game against Immaculata. The game is really theirs to win or lose.
The lady mustangs of manville gave north planfield a run for there money. Np some how came from behind to snap being down by a couple and defeating the lady mustangs by 5 points! WOW.
In response to your question Ryan- Manville beat Gill St. Bernards two years ago in first round counties.
Aichele,
Thank you! Somebody answering my question. That's all I was looking for from the start.
It is not even a long drought, either.
So much anger over nothing.
Are we going to get any second round predictions for the SCT? I'm interested in knowing what you think, particularly about the Hillsborough-Gill game.
Me too, especially the Ville-Lata game which should be a good one with a big crowd. Thanks Ryan!
Personally, I feel that despite their record, Hillsborough has a shot at beating Gill. Their surprise win against Watchung Hills proved that this team is tough. If I were Coach Reese, I would pound it inside to Capriccio. Gill has nobody big enough to cover her. I would also try to draw fouls on Ruth and Simmons, because without those two, Gill is nothing. As long as Hillsborough has a good game plan and executes, I am pulling for the upset on this one. Gill is not as good as everyone thinks...they just run up the score on cupcake teams.
To Ryan Dunleavy,
Do you have any updates on the Somerset County Tournament games for this weekend? There should be some good games and we are just wondering what your thoughts are. Also, we are hearing rumblings that the Ville team may be stricken with some illnesses? Any truth to it?
As a Ville parent, I can confirm that the dreaded "stomach bug" has been spreading like wildfire through SHS and about half of the varsity team has been stricken with it this past week. Luckily, it seems like it comes and go within 24 hours. Many of the girls who had it earlier in the week have returned, but starter Eileen Black presumably had it yesterday and missed the BB game. Hopefully she will be back in time for tomorrow's game and no other girls get it!
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