Who's in Your 5?

First off, Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you're enjoying the holiday season.

Secondly, with Isiah Thomas's recent announcement that he will be shaking up the Knicks' starting lineup, I wanted to take a look at who should be in Isiah's top 5.



Center: David Lee

Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry have proven that they are incapable of playing together on the court. When those two black holes get too close, they combine into one enormous basketball-sucking celestial being. David Lee is the opposite of a black hole (a white dwarf? red star? maybe this metaphor has gone a bit far...) Lee plays defense--the Knicks are last in the NBA in blocked shots--doesn't need a lot of touches, and brings energy to the lineup. It's time Isiah gave Lee his shot at starting.

Power Forward: Zach Randolph

Randolph is a proven scorer. Randolph is a proven rebounder. Unfortunately, he's also a proven shot-taker and poor defender. No one's perfect, and NY needs the scoring.


Strong Forward: Renaldo Balkman

The Knicks are a bit weak here. Q-Rich has been starting but can't hit the 3 (which was supposed to be his strength), is not a lock-down defender, and seems to have lost a step. Jared Jeffries doesn't bring much to the floor. Wilson Chandler? Randolph Morris? Malik Rose? No. Renaldo Balkman is not a starter for most NBA teams, but he fits in here because of his hustle, defense, and energy.


Shooting Guard: Jamal Crawford

At this juncture a year ago, Crawford was seen as the cancer of this team, but now he is the Knicks' most indispensable player. Crawford is the go-to-guy now. He takes the big shots, creates in the lane, and seems to be the leader on and off the court. At least someone has improved since last year.

Point Guard: Not Applicable/Nate Robinson

Let's face it, Nate is not a point guard. I'm not saying he'll never be, but right now, he does not have that pass-first mentality. But besides him, the Knicks don't really have a point guard. Stephon Marbury has never been the kind of guy that makes the players around him better. And besides, who knows when he'll be back on the floor and in a condition to focus entirely on basketball. Fred Jones is more of a 2-guard. Crawford takes too many shots. So Nate gets the call. Just like David Lee, Nate has paid his dues and deserves a long look at a starting role. Although, undersized, Nate doesn't hate playing a little D, and is a capable scorer.

So there's my proposed starting lineup. Hopefully Isiah is reading this. What do you think? Who's in your top 5? Drop me a comment.

Welcome to the "Locker Room"

Jack and I are broadcasting a weekly podcast for Northjerseysports.com. We'll chat about North Jersey high school sports, talk with local players and coaches and take your phone messages and emails!

Check it out: Northjerseysports.com

Send us an email at: lockerroom@northjerseysports.com

Lee Clark Court

What a great opening night at Leonia! Before they faced off with New Milford, Leonia dedicated their court to former coach Lee Clark. Clark coached the Lions boys basketball team for 30 years, averaging 13 wins per season and winning the 1976 Group 1 state title. Now in his 70’s, Clark is the 6th-winningest coach in Bergen County history.
Dozens of former players, friends, and colleagues showed up at the game, mingled at the pre-game reception, and swapped stories about the golden years at Leonia. Bergen Catholic is the only other Bergen County School to name their court after a former coach and you could tell Coach Clark was truly touched.
The game vs. New Milford marked the first time in four years that the Lions would not have the services of Ahmad Hassan. The big question coming in was how would the Lions transition from a one-player dominated offense to a team game? Answer: by splitting scoring duties between Chaz Portera, Chris Carillo, and Austin Levy. Portera scored 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, Carillo recovered from an awful first half to chip in 13 points including 9-9 from the line, and Levy looked like a stud at point guard. Leonia won 58-49 and should be a serious threat to Park Ridge in the BCSL Olympic.
Leonia is now 1-0 on Lee Clark Court.

Some Bball Predictions

Local Area teams with the best shot at the county tournament:

-Wood-Ridge boys
-Fort Lee boys
-Englewood boys
-Leonia boys
-Dwight-Englewood girls
-Fort Lee Girls
-Leonia Girls


Local Area players to watch:

-Chaz Portera, Leonia
-Chris Carillo, Leonia
-Josh Morales, Ridgefield
-Warren Murphy, Ridgefield Park
-Amadou Bah, Fort Lee
-Sandy Burgos, Fort Lee
-Julia Roldan, Ridgefield
-David Mofunanya, Dwight Morrow
-Julia Schneider, Dwight-Englewood
-Kenny Andrade, Wood-Ridge
-Mary Haines, Ridgefield Park

BSCL League Winners:

-BCSL National Boys: Wood-Ridge
-BCSL National Girls: Becton
-BCSL Olympic Boys: Park Ridge (with Leonia close behind)
-BCSL Olympic Girls: Cresskill
-BCSL American Boys: Queen of Peace & Dwight Morrow (tie)
-BSCL American Girls: Rutherford (also Bergen County champs)

Disagree? Drop me a comment.

Goin' Back to Cali

As I sit on the plane on my way back to California for the holidays, I figured this would be a good time to give you some of my thoughts on the start of the winter sports season.

I love getting the chance to preview basketball teams before the start of the hoops schedule. Everyone is optimistic, the kids are energized, and the coaches are willing to let you in on their strategy. We never have the time to preview everybody, but here are some of the squads I was able to visit:

RP Girls

Now I know how it must feel to be a Florida Marlins fan. You get used to seeing the same superstars on a team for about four years and then all of a sudden they disappear and you’re thinking, who are all these players? Of course, the RP superstars weren’t traded away, they graduated. But it was still a shock to walk into the gym and not see Danielle McArow, Meaghan Schreck, Amber Doran, Melissa Sinclair, Margie Mullen, Liz Rogers or any of the great Scarlets of the past.
With the amount of success the RP girls have enjoyed recently, there is no way this season can live up to the Scarlet tradition. Only two girls return with any kind of varsity experience: Gianna Scerbo and Mary Haines. The rest of the team consists of last year’s JV.
I think this is a case where success ended up hurting the Scarlets. Because of all the talent on the varsity the past 3 years, kids like Nicole Santuoso and Brittany Margiotta were never able to get any varsity minutes. This team is talented but very inexperienced. Mary Haines will have to step up and become a go-to scorer. I see a middle of the pack finish in the BCSL American with the team making a late run at a decent seed in the state playoffs.

RP Boys

Here’s another team that got hit hard by graduation and also by success. The entire starting 5 from last season’s state sectional finalist is gone. Of the kids that will be on the floor, there may be about 10 minutes of total varsity experience excluding Warren Murphy who transferred this year from Paramus Catholic. There are plenty of questions surrounding RP: Where will the points come from? Can they hit their free throws (these both became bigger questions after their opener vs Queen of Peace) Can they improve enough as the year goes on to make the states? RP has talent and size, but with 5 juniors in the starting lineup, and only one senior on the team, the Scarlets should make a big splash next season.

Fort Lee Boys

I like this team a lot. They should be right up there in the BCSL American with Queen of Peace and Englewood. The Bridgemen are young but extremely talented and are maybe the best outside shooting team in the league. It all starts in the backcourt with junior point guard Amadou Bah and sophomore shooting guard Sandy Burgos. Amadou Bah is a mismatch waiting to happen. He is a powerfully built 6-2, can consistently hit the mid-range jumper, post-up smaller guards, and penetrate past slower ones. Smart move by John Ziemba moving him to the point guard instead of making him bang around inside. The more the ball is in Bah’s hands the better.
Sandy Burgos is the younger brother of Pedro Burgos (who just happens to be leading D-2 JuCo’s right now in scoring average) and he has the same shooting touch. Burgos will see more double teams this year and could be in for a shock when things kick off, but he’ll be scoring 15 a night once the season gets rolling.
The key to this team is going to be making their outside shots. Senior Ross Luppino can hit it from deep as well which gives the Bridgemen three perimeter threats. But Fort Lee is not big. Bryan Blackwell adds some girth down low but they’ll miss Gerald Soriano’s rebounding presence. If the 3’s are dropping, they can beat any team in the league.

Mitchell Report (MLB and Steroids)

Courtesy of AwfulAnnouncing.com, here's the list of Major League Baseball players that are named in the Mitchell report. The report was just released today and implicates many current and past MLB players for using steroids and human growth hormone. Every major league team has a player named in the report.


Miguel Tejada
Roger Clemens
Lenny Dykstra
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo
Todd Hundley
Mark Carreon
Hal Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
ROGER CLEMENS
ANDY PETTITTE
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley
Gregg Zaun
David Justice
F. P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Adam Piatt
MIGUEL TEJADA
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan

The Great "Hoosiers" Debate

So, we're taping the latest SportsTime show and Jeff Hansel wants to use a movie reference when referring to the Ridgefield girls basketball team. The Royals had a rough season last year, winning only one game. In Jeff's studio wrap, he says his advice for the struggling Ridgefield squad is to watch the movie "Hoosiers."

I'm thinking to myself, have any high school kids out there even seen Hoosiers? Would that reference be totally lost on our audience? The other day while shooting a feature, I dropped a Sprite commercial reference from the 90's ("I played Hamlet at Cambridge!") and got nothing but blank stares from the high school kids.

Jeff argued his case for Hoosiers but we ended up settling on some more recent, albeit cornier basketball movies: Space Jam and Air Bud. So the question for you is, do kids these days know anything about Hoosiers? Have they seen the movie? Is Hoosiers still relevant? It was voted the best sports movie of all time!

Knickscast.com

Well, for those of you who just can't get enough of me, I'm hitting the airwaves again! Jack Cognetta and I are the hosts of the best New York Knicks podcast out there--Knickscast!

Check it out at Knickscast.com
and I believe it will be available on iTunes soon as well.

Too bad the Knicks stink this year, but there is no shortage of things to talk about: fire Isiah? trade Starbury? blow up MSG and start all over again? Yup, it's going to be that kind of year. But hey, you never know, the Knicks could turn this thing around. As Jack says on episode two of the podcast, anything is possible in the Eastern Conference.

A (cold) Saturday at Giants Stadium

A few leftovers from the three high school football title games I saw at Giants Stadium on Saturday:

-The big one--Non-Public Group 4: St. Peter's Prep vs Don Bosco

Will Hill of St. Peter's Prep is the best high school football player in New Jersey, hands down. His presence under center gives the Marauders a chance against any team in the state. Unfortunately for SPP, Will Hill was not himself in the second half.

Hill injured his ankle sometime during the second quarter and you could feel the air come out of St. Peter's. Without Hill at safety in the third quarter, and no Hill at QB in the 4th, St. Peter's was toast. Score at halftime: 7-7. Final score: 42-14 Bosco.

...Great quote from Bosco QB Brett Knief after the game: "Phew, I'm glad that's over with. Coach Toal has been workin' us to death for the past three months." Translation: Bosco may have the most talent in North Jersey, but they're also one of the hardest working teams out there... There are rumors floating around of Bosco taking on California power De La Salle next year and possible big-time Ohio program St. Xavier. Give the Ironmen credit--they're looking to play the best the country has to offer...



-River Dell vs. Pascack Valley

River Dell might have the biggest line this side of Bergen Catholic. Andrew Trass is a stud: 6-3, 225, quick, strong and he gets to the quarterback. When Pascack Valley QB Don Wiezik took more than a 3-step drop, the Golden Hawks D-line was on top of him. Trass sealed the 12-7 River Dell win by batting-down Wiezik's attempt on 4th down just outside the RD redzone. Trass and the line on both sides of the ball were the reason why River Dell finishes the year 12-0 while allowing only 4 TD's all season.

...Poor Pascack Valley. I really felt for Head Coach Craig Nielsen and all the seniors on this team. This loss marks the fourth straight season of state playoff heartbreak for the Indians. Check it out: 2004-semifinal loss, 34-33, 2005-semifinal loss, 15-14, 2006-title game loss 9-8, 2007-title game loss 12-7. Ouch...



-Hasbrouck Heights vs New Milford

I've got to admit, by the time this game kicked-off at 7pm I was almost frozen through. The temp on the field hit the low 20's and with the infamous Meadowlands wind, I was almost ready to call it a night. You know the saying, "The coldest winter I've spent was a summer in San Francisco?" Well, I'm from the Bay Area, and by far the coldest winter I've spent was a night at Giants Stadium. (2005 Bosco vs SPP, unprepared California kid + wind and snow = frozen appendages)

This night got very cold but I layered up and made it through a very entertaining game. HH came back twice in this one to win 26-16. Two of North Jersey's best running backs faced off: AJ Scoppa of New Milford and Andrew Nass of Heights. Scoppa ended up just short of 2000 yards this year but it was Nass who stole the show with 25 carries, 164 yards and a couple of TD's.

...Kevin Delcalzo is listed on the Heights roster at 5-3, 130 and I think that's about right. The guy is tiny. But he's fast as lightning, can hide behind his offensive line, and is the toughest guy on the field. Oh and he's also the coach's sun. Kevin had a key TD reception to put HH back on top 14-10 in the third quarter...

Watch the highlights of these games at NJSportstime.com

Celtics 104, Knicks 59

Enough said.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog! I had been posting on the SportsTime googlepages site, but the show has upgraded its website so it was time to give the blog a face-lift as well.

I'll be sharing my take on the New Jersey high school sports scene, laying out all the things that don't make the SportsTime airwaves, talking a bit about the Knicks (due to my latest gig, Knicks podcaster...more on that later) and writing about whatever else crosses my mind.

The best part about this new blog is the comments feature. If you agree or disagree with what I have to say, want to drop me a line, or give me your own sports scoop, please post a comment!