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.