(THIS IS THE THIRD -- AND HOPEFULLY FINAL -- POST OF THE DAY. MAKE SURE YOU SKIM DOWN TO CHECK OUT THE OTHER TWO)
I'm hoping the tournament finals bring more juice to this blog than the semifinals did.
Debate with me. Debate with each other. That's what the comments section is for, but I urge you to hold off talking about the state tournament until Monday. It's too much for me to think about right now with a crazy weekend ahead.
Saturday's Varsity section will have scouting reports for each of the four games, a full story advance on the Somerset County Tournament final and a section-by-section preview of the state tournament.
Here is the link to the basketball podcast where boys basketball writer Jerry Carino and I talk about the games and mention the state tournament:
http://www.c-n.com/specialsections/podcasts/frezza/frezza0221.htm
Now for predictions. I warn you the scores might here be a little different than on the podcast, but I will keep the same winners. I threw those podcast scores out without much thought.
Somerset County Tournament final, 1 p.m. Saturday at Franklin High School:
Defense and rebounding will rule in this much-anticipated game. The fewer fouls whistled, the better the odds of a Watchung Hills victory.
***Rutgers Prep 49, Watchung Hills 44
Hunterdon/Warren Tournament final, 7 p.m. Saturday at Voorhees High School:
Hunterdon Central has the more talented roster, but picking against Voorhees in this game is dangerous. Carmen Cook's teams always overachieve and winning here would be another example of that.
***Hunterdon Central 46, Voorhees 42
Union County Tournament final, 3 p.m. Sunday at Roselle Catholic High School:
Westfield beat Elizabeth by double-digits twice during the regular season. I see no reason why this is different.
***Westfield 44, Elizabeth 34
Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final, 1 p.m. Sunday at South Brunswick High School:
I've been saying it all season and some of you have been disputing it all season: Piscataway is very good. Good enough to make a run in the state tournament and definitely good enough to win a third straight GMCT crown.
Piscataway 66, Cardinal McCarrick 59
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4 comments:
here's your comment, ryan. you post your predictions 24 hours before the finals, and you give us NOTHING to chew on, because every time you post a prediction, you say, "buy the paper, for an in-depth analysis." people are not waiting anxiously by their computers to see what you have predicted so they can blog over the course of 24 hours. they want to do it at their leisure over the course of the week. if you give us something like say, on a tuesday, with some depth to the commmentary, you'll get a lot more comments. oh, and if you were to get lucky and have immaculata involved, that would (at least) double the amount of comments.
Good point and totally agree. Having Immaculata involved would have brought 20 comments at least! People always have an opinion when it comes to them. But what could you say, they aren't in it. Hopefully next year!
My pic: Rutgers Prep!
I really think that the timing of your posts drives the comments. Having the posts there the day before or sometimes on the very day of the games leaves very little time to dialogue. Within a few hours after your posts the games are over anyway.
To the folks who lament not having Lata involved in the tournament I'd say hopefully you still went out to see some games. There's great basketball in Somerset County whether or not Lata's involved and lots of teams to watch and discuss items about.
What people perceived as inconsistencies in calls are more often not because the refs have changed the way they are calling the game but really a result of a team becoming more scrappy because they have fallen behind and are trying to create turnovers. As a fan who is looking simply a the foul counts you may end up with the wrong conclusion. In many games if a team is behind by double digit, they will fight hard and play more aggressive to get back in the game, hence they will get more fouls called against them.
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