Senior All-Star Games
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- March
- 24
It occurred to me today that I hadn’t written in a while. I took a few days off with the holiday, recharged my batteries and wanted to drop in with a few notes.
First, the Senior All-Star Games are Saturday at Purchase College. There are two games, with a slam dunk contest and 3-point shootout in between. It’s always a fun day. And if you look at the rosters, this is about as good as it’s been in my 10 years of covering basketball.
We finally get out Mookie vs. Kevin matchup, although I’ll be just as intrigued to watch Mookie go up against Peekskill teammate Elliot Watson.
Here are the rosters for the games:
3 p.m. game
Blue team
A.J. Rasulo, Mahopac
Ketema Brooks, Mount Vernon
Ryan Markley, Yorktown
Mike Pagan, Panas
Ryan Sheridan, Tappan Zee
Brett Paterno, Blind Brook
James Bonsall, Rye
Ryan Sawyer, Croton
Pat Fuchs, Croton
Jeris Dupree, Leake & Watts
David Williams, Clark Academy
Gold team
Edwin Perez, North Rockland
Brian Connolly, Tappan Zee
Evan Livingston, Scarsdale
Brian Jones, Nyack
Eddie McGuinness, Pearl River
Nick Nedwick, Irvington
Kyle Beechum, Briarcliff
Taj Everly, Woodlands
Erik Gormley, Dobbs Ferry
Chris Taylor, Hawthorne-CK
5 p.m. game
Blue team
Kevin Jones, Mount Vernon
David Zaitz, Scarsdale
Simeon Marsalis, New Rochelle
Elliot Watson, Peekskill
Rashad James, White Plains
Brittain Purcelle, Irvington
Jason Mendell, Byram Hills
Marc Miller, North Salem
Alex Gulotta, Briarcliff
Gold team
Mookie Jones, Peekskill
Sean Kilpatrick, White Plains
Mickey Abbatiello, Eastchester
Jordan Henriquez, Port Chester
Joe Lombardi, Briarcliff
Markell Rice, New Rochelle
Eddie O’Connell, Kennedy
Lou Larizza, Port Chester
Robert Johnson, Tuckahoe
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Also coming up over the next few weeks:
Federation tournament, at Glens Falls. Even though there are no local boys teams in the mix, I’ll check in tomorrow with my thoughts on the weekend, including why I believe Maginn could win it all.
The CYP tournament, in Port Chester this weekend. Always a highlight of the spring. I’ll have possible players and schedules shortly.
Jordan Classic, April 19 at Madison Square Garden. Mookie Jones, Kevin Jones and Sean Kilpatrick will all be playing in the regional game.
The Wheelchair Classic, at LIU-Brooklyn beginning on April 21. This event draws the elite players in the Metropolitan area. The Westchester team is expected to be loaded, and I know coaches Anthony Nicodemo and Tyrone Carver are eager to make a better showing than last year’s team did.
This entry was posted
on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 3:57 pm by Kevin Devaney Jr..
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Dear fans, supporters, coaches, players, bloggers, and media,
Thank you very much for helping to make my 4-year career at North Salem as enjoyable and successful as it was. I am aware that I am not at the level of Mookie Jones, Kevin Jones, Sean Kilpatrick, etc. but I have achieved a level of success and development that I am more than content with. This would not have happened without the help and support of many people, who I will attempt to thank in this letter/post.
First to my parents, despite being an only child, I have still found a way for my high school basketball career to consume a lot of your time. Without your support, which includes but is not limited to: driving me to games and practices, sending me to various basketball camps and clinics, cheering for my team in the stands, and never minding my ongoing basketball conversations, a 4-year varsity career, let alone a successful 4-year varsity career, would not have been a possibility?
To Coach Henry Sassone, I have been fortunate enough to play for the best there is. I am not talking only about X’s and O’s, but your ability to motivate and relate to me. I have said it half-heartedly in the past, but you have truly been like a second father to me. I have had more comfort talking to you about everyday issues on and off of the court than I have with almost anyone else. You are one of a kind and wherever I play in the future, I will never be fortunate enough to play for as good of a coach as you.
To my incredible teammates, Coach Sassone put it best. We may not be the most talented players or the most gifted athletes, but we all put our egos aside towards a common goal and accomplished it. In middle school, I set out the vision of winning a Section Championship, and although you guys held onto it and teased my way of stating it, you took it, worked for it, and accomplished it. With the fear of sounding cliché, our accomplishments were indeed a team effort.
To the North Salem fans and community, I could not have dreamt of playing in a better atmosphere than the ones that I played in at the County Center and at SUNY New Paltz. For you all to come out in a sea of blue and achieve the volume levels that you did is a testament to your spirit and your commitment to aiding our playoff run.
To all of the players and coaches of Section 1, thank you for making Section 1 Basketball as fun and competitive as it is. In his opening remarks at the WCBCA Awards Dinner, Coach Anthony Nicodemo put it best, “Section 1 has the best basketball in the state.†It is because of all of your work that has allowed us all to play in the “Basketball Mecca†of New York.
To all of the bloggers, although a majority of you like to make negative comments towards my team and me, you all as a whole have enhanced the Section 1 Basketball experience. In my freshman and sophomore years (before the blog), I seemed to be less inspired than I was in my junior and senior years. Whether it was to prove a prediction or an opposing fan wrong, or to support the opinion of a North Salem blogger or prove a North Salem-favoring prediction (although those came in little supply) correct, the notice and public opinion made the experience more fun and interesting.
And finally, to the Varsity Insider himself, Mr. Kevin Devaney Jr. I first want to thank you for the ad space, but more importantly, I want to thank you for all of your work in covering basketball in the Lower Hudson Valley. As I said above, the entire Section 1 Basketball experience became a lot more fun when you made your presence known with the establishment of the blog and your appearances on Newscenter Now. Although you have predicted against my team (and I have reminded you of it constantly), you have been hands-down the best high school athletics reporter of any kind in terms of your expertise and passion.
For someone to have a varsity career, he or she needs to have the support of many people, some of which he or she does not even know. I have thanked several people in this letter/post, but I do recognize that it would be impossible to thank all of the people that are responsible for supporting me over the past 4 years; there have been so many. With that said, I want to thank everyone that is not mentioned above for your help and support. It has been a great run that ended on the highest of notes.
Sincerely,
Marc Miller
You have great class Marc and good luck in your future
Does anyone know the date of the all-star game?
whatever marc miller
but i guess your a classy guy, good job
marc miller is a true gentleman…way to go sport
Larizzaville is the favorite to win the cyp tournament this weekend. There will be a lot of good players playing around louisville bound larizza
For anyone interested, I think Lincoln will win the Federation Tournament.
Bishop Maginn is a poor man’s Rice team. They bring pressure on defense, and have good guards. However, Rice has a better defense, and has better players at every position. Lincoln long ago has figured out Rice’s defensive pressure, and if Bishop Maginn brings the pressure, it will be a layup line for Lincoln. Lincoln is also a very big team, much bigger than Mt Vernon, who dominated the boards against Bishop Maginn. Lance Stepenson will be an impossible cover. I just don’t see Bishop Maginn winning, or even keeping the game close. Styles make games, and Mt Vernon matches up much better against a team like Lincoln. If for any chance Bishop Maginn wins, they just won’t beat Holy Cross, which plays in the toughest league in the country. If Holy Cross can beat Rice, Christ the King, and St Raymonds, I just don’t see a private school in upstate NY beating them, even though Bishop Maginn has loaded themselves with the best talent in the area.
Holy Cross got destroyed by Lincoln late in the season in a game I watched at Hofstra. Sylven Landesberg played, but had the flu. Nevertheless, it was a total whipping. The only player I have ever seen intimidate Sylven Landesberg, is Lance Stephenson. Lance seems to take their matchup personal, and he always outplays Sylven. Although Holy Cross has the bye, Lincoln is just too tough for them. I am assuming that Sylven Landesberg will be playing.
Tough loss for Mt Vernon against Bishop Maginn. As you have seen in the NCAA, better teams lose on the foul line, and eventhough Mt Vernon outplayed Bishop Maginn, they just got killed by missing so many foul shots. That is why they are home with some very good HS, and College teams. Foul shooting is the most underated aspect of any basketball game. Lincoln and Holy Cross are two teams that Mt Vernon matches up well against.
Larizzaville has zero chance of winning the CYP Tourney this weekend. They couldnt win (buy) a sectional championship at PC why would they win one in that tourney. There will be great players all over the tourney. Isnt the WP team (Frenji) the favorite since they won it last year. I heard they are loaded as well. I vote and best bet is allways go with the defending champs til somebody knocks them off. Should be interesting.
The tourney starts Friday night 3/28 at 7:15pm with RAI playing vs the NJ RoadRunners. 2 games per night 7:15 and 8:30pm. Semis are Monday night and Chip is on Tuesday. Every true hoopster and coach and fan should be there.
jayden:
i agree….i have seen the sylven vs lance match-up several times (off-season play) and lance gets the best of him. i think lincoln will win it easily, but i’m going for holy cross! i agree with the foul shooting aspect 100%. but regardless of foul shooting, rebounding, defense…..the biggest aspect is being able to put the ball in the basket. if you can’t hit shots (duke) you are in trouble!
chsaa,
I think Christ the King and St Raymonds, could beat Lincoln. As for foul shooting, a team just can’t leave 10+ points on the foul line as apposed to their apponent and suffer 1-5 point losses. Especially in HS and College, where 1 and 1’s can virtually decide the outcomes in a close game.
To be truthfull, I am rooting for Holy Cross, because Lincoln won it last year. As we have seen, anything can happen in a basketball game, but I just don’t see any of the other AA teams beating them.
I got killed when I wrote that the winner of the Mt Vernon, Bishop Maginn game was going to destroy Niagra Falls. I was in Glens Falls, and Niagra Falls looked horrible. New Rochelle would have beaten them by 15.
Jayden –
I think most people were in agreement that the Mt Vernon/Maginn game was for all the marbles. The winner of that game would have an easier time of it on Sunday – and that’s how it played out.
Kevin,
I wrote my Federation pediction without fully reading your pre prediction. Very interesting that you think Maginn can win. I have been wrong before, but Lincoln is a monster team. Much better than the last two years. Mt Vernon ran into a team (Maginn) that plays that Rice style, which they always have trouble with. Rice is at least 12 points better than Maginn. As I mentioned earlier, there is not a player at any position on Maginn that is better than the equivilant player on Rice. That includes the bench.
Lincoln plays teams with that style perfectly, and beats Rice every time. If the miracle, happens, and Maginn is there on Sunday to play a rested Holy Cross, a team that won the CHSAA AA title, the best league in America, well, I have eaten crow before, so I know how it taste. However, Lincoln and Holy Cross are vastly better teams than Bishop Maginn. So was Mt Vernon, as witnessed by everyone who was at the game. Mt Vernon dominated the boards, and missed a million put backs, and a million foul shots. That won’t happen two days in a row.
I just don’t think the Maginn style will fly against two teams that could handle Rice, a much better team than Maginn. Lincoln will absolutley destroy Maginn on the boards, and I have not seen anyone in America stop Lance Stephenson. Sylven Landesberg is the reason for one of the plates of crow I ate this year. He is an unstoppable force, that willed his team against some of the best CHSAA AA teams in years.
Just my oppinion, and I am sure there are senerios for Maginn wins.
marc miller you are exactly what a student athlete is all about. good luck in the future and congrats on a great season
What a clas act best of luck to you in the future Marc
Jayden,
I agree with you – its all about styles of play and Maginn doesn’t seem to match up well with Lincoln. I do think Maginn would match up better with Holy Cross, yet I don’t think that game will happen. If we assume Lincoln will face Holy Cross, I think the game will definitely be closer than their first meeting. If this game had been played last week I think Holy Cross would’ve had a decent chance coming with so much momentum from their great run through the CHSAA playoffs. Having sat for two weeks, I think the advantage goes with the more talented team – Lincoln. Also, Landesberg will be away from the team at the McDonald’s game this week – not great preparation for a big game. I’m looking forward to watching the game nonetheless.
Marc Miller, Best of Luck to you in the future. You and your team have made many people with no alliance to North Salem fans. This note exemplifies all the qualities that athletes should portray. I’m sure you will be successful in everything you do.
Marc miller ur a bumb who plays on North salem, im sry ur nothing but a class C loser.
Tony Taylor, Loui Larriza, Mike Zee- where are these kids???? There alot better then some of the kids you have on this list.
Hoops Fan,
I agree with all of your points. Holy Cross was on a roll a few weeks ago, and would have faired better then against Lincoln. Lincoln would have had their hands full with Christ the King and St Raymonds. Styles again.
Hey what happened to Jamal Little.. The shooting guard from spring valley. He put up some very good numbers this year.
Larizzaville sounds like a dinosaur
Lou Larizza is the best point guard in section 1 this year. Better than tony taylor and Larizzaville will win the cyp.
Who does frenji have the 27 year old melvin calhoun?
Lalostby50ville to Peekskill needs to stop promoting his team and hope he does not see and Peekskill players on the other side of the court.
Uhh Ohh we here FRENJI SPORTS stacked the deck this year for the CYP and are a favorite to repeat as chaamps again and a lil birdie told us Kevin, Mookie, Sean K. and T.Taylor are playing together….....Also would like to say Congradulations on a great H.S. Career Marc Miller from everyone down here in money earning mt.vernon..
Garden Catering (AKA Larizzaville) will win CYP. They have assembled all the Louisville recruits on the team. I don’t care if you put Peeks, WP, MV, PK and any all-star team from sec 1 your not beating them.
who are the Louisville recruits on the Garden Catering team? Is it just me or is the local coverage of the CYP severely lacking this year? Particularly with no boys teams playing in the Federation championships.
samardo samuels Louisville
melquan bolding Louisville
Lou Larizza Louisville
Larizzaville,
How did Melquan play at the CYP? I didn’t see any of the games – any other observations to share?
Lou Larizza is not going on Scholarship. He is going to the school and his dad paid for him to be a walk on. Team Frenji Won it last year with a similar team.
Larrizaville,
Get a life….you obviously don’t know basketball.
Larizza is one of the top guards in all of new york state. anyone that was at the cyp tournament these past days will see that.