With midterm week having slowed the local schedule to a halt, we decided to use the time and ample space on the blog in productive fashion. The result are our midseason Section 1 all-star teams and award winners, including our midseason MVPs, coaches of the year and most improved players.
Dan and I each picked separate teams. As you’ll see, we arrived at some of the same conclusions, but there are plenty of differences as well.
JOSH’S SECTION 1 MIDSEASON ALL-STARS
First team Doughty, Clarke, Martin and Paschall might be the four best players in the section so far, but Sullivan is right there with them in the MVP race after his incredible start. Albertus has a young team and Rockland County offers few easy nights. The fact that Sullivan has led his team to an 11-2 start is remarkable.
G: Josh Doughty, Mount Vernon (pictured left)
G: Jack Sullivan, Albertus Magnus
G/F: Eric Paschall, Dobbs Ferry
F: Joe Clarke, New Rochelle
F: Brandon Martin, Mount Vernon
Second team All five of these players can light it up. They’re also in the running for top-five spots depending on how the season progresses. Degnan and Daly are terrific talents as juniors, but the key for Decker, Hynes and Daniels is productivity. Those three fill up the box score every single night.
G: Jack Daly, Eastchester
G: John Decker, Somers
G: Brendan Hynes, Mahopac
F: Brian Daniels, Briarcliff
F: Kevin Degnan, Pearl River
Third team Byram’s top three players are very tough to juggle. On any given night, Lynch, Golden and Groll can trigger a Bobcats victory, but their struggles vs. Port Chester underscore just how important Lynch remains to the team. (He sat out the game.) Thom’s team isn’t as strong, but he’s asked to do about as much as any player. Dancy is the leader on a deep Poughkeepsie team that would have about six or seven guys if this list was extended to 50.
G: Jeff Lynch, Byram Hills
G: Ian Thom, Croton-Harmon
G: Jermar Dancy, Poughkeepsie
F: Kai Mitchell, Spring Valley
F: Elijah Tillman, North Rockland
Fourth team Hewitt and Singh are two of the more underrated big men in the section. Both are double-double machines. Lewis remains inconsistent for Mount Vernon, but I believe he’d be known as one of the area’s top guards if given more opportunities with the ball.
G: Jamal Lewis, Mount Vernon
G/F: Ryan Golden, Byram Hills
F: Andrew Groll, Byram Hills
F: Jack Hewitt, Scarsdale
F: Umar Singh, North Salem
Most Valuable Player: Josh Doughty, Mount Vernon. Close call. In fact, there is no clear-cut winner on Mount Vernon, let alone in Section 1. I think someone will still emerge. It could be Doughty or his teammates Brandon Martin. Or it could be someone else. Right now, I’ll take Doughty because he’s been the most consistent performer on the section’s best team. The Knights can’t win without his ball handling alleviating the pressure and his speed and quickness fronting their various presses. Despite Martin’s production, Doughty’s still the one who makes the team go.
Most Improved Player: Elijah Tillman, North Rockland. As I have noted throughout the season, the 6-foot-6 senior has evolved from someone anchored down near the water cooler to a star on one of the section’s top teams. He dropped 50 pounds and has showcased the skills of a poor man’s Elton Brand. With his broad shoulders, long arms, soft hands and nimble feet, Tillman is one of the area’s top big men and a future college player. Last season he didn’t even play.
Coach of the Year: Pat McFadden, Albertus Magnus. I had two choices: McFadden (pictured right) and Jon Feld of Scarsdale. Both have accomplished something very different. Feld’s team has far exceeded last year’s win total. McFadden has improbably sustained it, but done so against very long odds. With three two-year starters and much of his bench gone, the Albertus coach has rebuilt his team into a County Center contender. That is despite it losing two of Rockland’s top players in Tyler Sayre and Pat McGuinness from a two-time defending sectional champion and the section pushing it from Class B to A. Right now, I think the Falcons have a shot at the final four. They’ve lost just once since their opener.
* * * * *
DAN’S SECTION 1 MIDSEASON ALL-STARS
First team With the exception of Paschall, these are the best players on arguably the top three teams in the section. After a slow start, Paschall has really started to turn it on as of late. He also means more to his team than any other player in the section.
G: Josh Doughty, Mount Vernon
G/F: Brendan Hynes, Mahopac
G/F: Eric Paschall, Dobbs Ferry
F: Brandon Martin, Mount Vernon (pictured right)
F: Elijah Tillman, North Rockland
Second team This second group falls under the same category as the top five with the difference being the caliber of teams they play on. Sullivan, Decker and Daly are their squads’ top scoring threats. Golden has a little bit more help, but is the leader of a stronger team. Had the Huguenots posted a better record, Clarke probably would have made my first team.
G: Jack Daly, Eastchester
G: John Decker, Somers
G: Jack Sullivan, Albertus Magnus
G/F: Ryan Golden, Byram Hills
F: Joe Clarke, New Rochelle
Third team While Lewis isn’t in the same class as Doughty and Martin he is still is a strong player who has the potential to go off during any game, i.e. New Rochelle. Mitchell has been the standout of a strong Spring Valley team. Daniels has opened things up for his teammates, as opponents have had to cater their defense to his inside presence. Degnan has done it all for an up and down Pirates team.
G: Jermar Dancy, Poughkeepsie
G: Jamal Lewis, Mount Vernon
F: Brian Daniels, Briarcliff
F: Kevin Degnan, Pearl River
F: Kai Mitchell, Spring Valley
Fourth team Despite being only a sophomore, Groll has been a difference maker for the Bobcats in the paint. Thom, Singh and Twyman have all consistently put up big numbers. Parker is arguably the strongest player in Yonkers.
G: Ian Thom, Croton-Harmon
G: Ian Parker, Riverside
G/F: Max Twyman, Rye
F: Andrew Groll, Byram Hills
F: Umar Singh, North Salem
Most Valuable Player: Brandon Martin, Mount Vernon. Martin has been a monster in the paint for Mount Vernon. I really believe the Knights could still be undefeated had he not been suspended for the Bishop Loughlin game. That’s how much of a difference the 6-foot-3 forward makes. You would be hard pressed to find someone in the section that has his combination of size, speed and skill.
Most Improved Player: Elijah Tillman, North Rockland. If you claim you saw this coming, you’re lying. Tillman has come out of nowhere to emerge as one of the best big men in the section. I think Tillman’s transition from virtual unknown to one of the top players in the section counts as at least a slight improvement.
Coach of the Year: Jon Feld, Scarsdale. Feld (pictured right) has already almost doubled his team’s win total from last year (6-12). The Raiders weren’t simply a one-trick pony with their upset over New Rochelle. Expect them to make some noise this year in the playoffs.
138 Comments
A Gas, FYI Byram played Linden, NJ . They are without a doubt a difficult opponent.
Daly from Eastchester has more potential to thrive in D1 than anyone other than Paschall, so should be 1st team. He is a savvy 6.2 pg. doughty a pg,and Martin and Clark whose games are more suited to forward are just too short for D1.
And Chong belongs on 3d team.
HRs: And what did they do when they played what you say is a difficult opponent?
A Gas,
Just want to clear up a couple of things:
1. I only have two Byram Hills players listed on my all-star team (Groll and Golden), not three as you stated.
2. Byram Hills defeated Horace Greeley 68-48. In my book that’s not struggling as you stated.
3. As HRs stated, Byram Hills played a very strong Linden team to a seven point game. In fact, the Bobcats held a five point lead with three minutes left in the third quarter until Golden, a player you seem quick to deem a role player, got into foul trouble. While out, Linden was able to go on a run to take a 50-44 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Groll finished the game with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He was also matched up with Quardi Moore, a 6-foot-10 junior who has received scholarship offers from Georgetown and Cincinnati. Role players don’t get double-doubles against top D I prospects.
4. I addressed earlier my reason for not picking any Peekskill players. They are a solid team that is extremely balanced with multiple players who have the potential to go off during any game. Someone else agrees with me on this point. His name is Lou Panzanaro and he is the head coach of Peekskill. He told me so after their season-opening win against Poughkeepsie:
“I said to them, ‘There is nobody here that’s going to Duke, Kansas or Indiana, we got to rely on each other and trust each other,’” Panzanaro told his team prior to the season. “We’re going to be a team-scoring team. We don’t have a star.”
5.I’ve seen Brown play. I saw the Quakers take on Mahopac early in the season. I’ve also seen Peekskill play.
I have seen Byram Hills play, but only once and it was on a Sunday.
As I stated earlier, while I’m not as well-versed as Josh, I would estimate I’ve seen around 85% of the players on the all-star teams and mentioned in this thread.
6.I don’t own a Byram Hills jersey.
7.I appreciate your thoughts. Debate is what makes sports so great. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
A Gas,
If you know about basketball in the tristate area, you’d know Linden is legit. I credit Byram Hills for scheduling that game – even if they lost by 20. Instead they played linden close. Give them some credit.
Dan: When I read you guys, I laugh. To your points,
1) Groll is a good sophomore, not even close to being the best in the area. That is Ryan, Miller and Capuano. He has a range of 2 feet. No more. He is a DIII player unless he works heavily on stretching out his game. There are no centers in this area so he gets rebounds. Golden is strictly a good role player, no more. If they are All Stars, basketball in this area is pretty ordinary. Let us see when they play real competition. I do believe Groll will be an All Star as soon as next year even but he is no Townsend, for instance.
2) If you saw the Greeley game, which you did not, or you did your homework, it was tied with under 6 minutes to play. Margin of victory at the end means nothing. It was a tight game. If it is close in the 4th, what does it matter if you win by 7 or 20? Losing is losing.
3) That they played one good opponent and lost close, good for them. But, they lost. They didn’t win. As for Groll, that he had 10 & 10, did he have those points and rebounds when the other center was in? And do you necessarily trust the statistics you are given? How many came off free throws? They have played a patsy schedule, cupcake city, as Dick Vitale would say. And they have not pounded some pretty bad teams.
4) If you know Lou P. as I do, what do you expect him to say? And how many kids from this County go to Kansas? What do we have one or two DI players a year and how many are not from Mount Vernon? This is not fertile country.
5) You saw Brown in Greeley’s first game of the year and he played well enough. He certainly was every bit as good as Hynes but his team was not. His team was terrible that day and has been all year.
I laugh because who you play has everything to do with how good you are perceived to be. I laugh because poor Harrison Brown plays with a bunch of guys who have ruined his year and then people like you say he is not worthy of being an All Star. A knowledgeable guy at Rye told me that Brown was the best player he saw this year, “in a different league than Twyman.” You would think this guy is a knowledgeable guy. Bottom line is you want Byram to be good because Lynch is a feel good story, they are a real team even including their glue guy, Friedberg, who no one mentions but does the dirty work and plays the other team’s best player as he did with Brown, they are well coached, but just like Peekskill, they have no real stars, except a healthy Lynch, who to me is still a star in this county because of the lack of star players…and it doesn’t feel right when you choose your feel good guys over the real stars, the PTPers, as Dicky V would say.
A Gas… I don’t know the exact number, but I would estimate I’ve seen Greeley play six times the last three seasons, although none this season. I’m not going to debate the worth of players because I happen to think Brown is excellent (several players mentioned as worthy candidates who didn’t make it are excellent), but it’s safe to say I don’t agree with your assessment of Groll and/or Golden. I don’t consider double-double players on elite Section 1 teams (Groll 2013) or leading scorers on sectional champions and contenders (Golden 2011, 2013) as role players. We’ll have to disagree on that one.
Your evaluation of Byram as a team reminds me of the many I heard last season about TZ, so we will see how it plays out. All I know is this: I don’t know a Class A coach who doesn’t consider Byram and Poughkeepsie as the top Class A contenders or the gold ball.
I agree with everything Dan said about Peekskill. That’s a team with several of the Top 50 or so, but the stars have yet to define themselves, in my opinion.
A Gas,
Like I said before, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It’s clear you are standing by yours, which is fine.
We disagree on a few points, but that’s ok. There are no right answers to this question.
I will say this though: I have no horse in this race. I’m not rooting for one team over another. There are great stories on every single one of these teams. I don’t have anything to gain from one team succeeding over another. Good basketball games are the only thing I root for.
As always, thanks for your response.
Byrum is a very good team! However, I remember Josh really making it clear a few years ago when he was always talking about Pok’s schedule being weak. They had a much better schedule with NFA and Kinsgston on it that year. Yet no one mentions that Byrum’s schedule has been full of weak teams. The proof is in the bonus points.
FELD Coach of the year?? What?? Incredible he still has a job
Where’s Mike DeMello? He deserves to be on this list somewhere.
Come on,
The rest of Dutchess catching up to PK in a sense makes their schedule appear to not be as weak. Arlington, Lourdes, Beacon, RCK and JJEF play PK tougher now and go out and win out of league games. That really helps them now. Not a guaranteed win up here anymore for the Pioneers. A little work never hurt us!
The cream always rises to the top. Byram will be there, but they may falter a bit in a close game and fall short. Linden is a nice team but one good team in the middle of the season doesn’t mean much when everyone is coming for your head come sectionals. The no shot clock in NJ may not be a good litmus test for tough games in NY where the clock is a major factor, who knows?
Josh and Dan: Do appreciate what you do and how you do it. However, going forward, would you mind if I call you two the Byram Boys? Be well.
Scary
Your “fluke” win over New Rochelle was really two wins. Scarsdale ran them out of the gym in the first half and lost the lead in a miserable third quarter. In the past, Scarsdale would have folded and said, “that’s that.” Instead they came back and outplayed New Rochelle in the fourth quarter. Call it what you want but Scarsdale has team D, team speed and, inside and outside scoring. New Rochelle had no answer for Hewitt. Might be different at NR, but we’ll see. I don’t think 10-2 can be considered a fluke by anyone.
I feel like New Ro is a tad bit overrated. No doubt theyre a good team, but I feel all the respect they get is based off of the past, and potential. Not so much based off their work of art.
Do I think New Ro is a good team? OF COURSE! Do I want to play them in the County Center? No way..unless im Poughkeepsie
lol, But all to say, New Ro should be treated for their current piece of work, not what they did historically or what they might do.
Their signature win is St. Mary’s? Middletown? Harborfields? All relatively down this year. Plus the Middletown win was without their two star players. Can New Ro put it all together? Yes. But until they do, they’re getting way too much credit for an unimpressive piece of work. Not a bad piece of work, but simply unimpressive. Thats just the truth.
Comeonman… You’re right about what I said about Poughkeepsie in 2011, but the schedule then was being compared to its competitor in Class AA, which was Mount Vernon.
I also noted several times this year that Byram had not faced many challenges. You can find a few in previous Top 10s.
A Gas… You can call is whatever you want. Like I said, I heard the same critiques last year at this time about my support of Tappan Zee. We’ll see how this turns out, although I still consider Poughkeepsie as the favorite.
Guys lets not down play what Byram did against Linden. Linden would beat every team in Section 1 except Mount Vernon. They were right there with them. Give credit where credit is due.
States, I can see your points but I am all for what they did in terms of scheduling this game mid-season. They needed to see where they are at . Also lets be realistic its Byram we are talking about. Who would go out of there way to play them? They don’t have a name like MV or Peekskill. Yes I would have liked to seen them get a few tougher games, but who knows if they tried. We are all be skeptics as oppose to credible sources.
Regardless this team will be there in the end. Having a true PG in high school is huge. Byram has one in Lynch.
HRs,
I totally agree,a big part of trying to get to the gold ball and past that point,is confidence
HRs,
SHANE RECTOR COMMITS TO RUTGERS,NICE FIT
HRs,
I understand the mid-season check. However, I’ve seen many a great team win a big mid-season or 3/4 season match-up, run through the rest of their schedule—get a big head and crumble at the seams under the County Center lights.
Just talking from experience. Byram will likely stay hungry and humble, but that is key as they move forward.
I’ll take my boys against any team not named Mount Vernon if they’re healthy, mentally focused and making their darn FT’s.
HRs,
I wasn’t knocking the schedule at all too. You know as well as anyone that I know how hard it is to get games. I totally understand—you can only play who is on your schedule. I’m sure Linden were a bit surprised at the dog-fight they got themselves into.
Is Eastchester’s; Fred DiCarlo not in the running for coach of the year?? Look at the transformation of that program. This year has put Eastchester back on the map as far as basketball.
Class A Fan,
I thought that 3 seed last year did the trick?
HRs, States,
Byram still has Harborfields, which seems to have righted itself. They tried to schedule up for a holiday tournament, but there are some AA teams (including at least one with a pretty gaudy record) that turned them down.
Milton,
Good call. Harborfields has been on a roll recently. Don’t like to see good schools like Byram get shafted by other places who want easy comp.
Wood… Rector and Mack in the backcourt next year!! Now that will be fun to watch.
States with you on every point. And baring a seeding mess up, POK vs Byram is bound to happen. Well be watching that side by side. But may need a seat in between due to shoulder width!
Thanks Milton. Harborfields will be a nice tune up. Too bad they couldn’t get Amityville this year. They are a tad better, but this is still legit comp.
the guys that are playing with brown have been with him since 5 grade .those are the kids that you say Ruined his season. they were suppose to win states this year.
AGREE
HRs,
You can’t fit me, Wood and you in the same row, lol. Wood might have to be directly in front of us. Many moons until sectionals but that game w/ a meal courtesy of HRs would be a great treat.
STATESMAN,
I CONCUR WITH THAT,LLLLLLOOOOOLLLLL
HRs -AND WE BE HUNGRY,LLLLLLOOOOOLLLLL
LOLOL. I will feed all 3 of us. We may sink Nathans that night but its worth it.
HRs,
My man
Honey-nut Knicks-95 Boston-88,Lllooolll
great prediction. Real good college hoops tonight with UCLA/Zona and Byu/Zags. Going to be a sleepy Friday!
HRs,
YES,I LIKE ARIZONA AND GONZAGA
Wood/HRs,
You guys crack me up. Makes tough days bright.
I like the Knicks score and I’ll also take my 2nd and 3rd favorite teams after UNC—Zone amd the Zags.
Can’t wait to sell out Nathans lmbo.
A Gas.
Brown is a very good player, but his range is limited to about 3 feet. I also don’t see any mention of his foul shooting percentage. That is one of the reasons Greeley is 3-8. He cant control a game down the stretch because he doesn’t have the ability to do anything on his own. Good player, yes. All Star, no.
Greeley4ever: You obviously have not been to a Greeley game this year because you don’t know what you are talking about. Brown has added a 15-footer to his game. He was shooting over 80% from the FT line until his ankle injury. He played with that ankle injury against Byram and still had 28 but it affected him vs. Dobbs and Croton. He is still between 65-70% from the FT line.
All Brown’s game is on his own so you clearly have never seen him. Brown is a team guy who passes to others who miss. He is a 3/4 so he must rely on others. But if you are averaging above 20, shooting above 50 and no one else is averaging above 7 and shooting above 40 and no one averages more than 2 assists, how do you get blamed at all offensively? Now, if you were watching and said he can improve his defense, I would agree. He is just of many bad defenders on the Club and that is why they are losing to not very good teams.
The only impressive teams Greeley has played were Peekskill and Mahopac. Byram was good but it was too close a game with Greeley in a down, down year. Playing correctly, Greeley could be 9-2 but they are 3-8 and the responsibility falls on everyone but Brown offensively and the responsibility falls on everyone defensively.
There’s alot of talk about lynch on here and he deserves it, but jack daly from eastchester in my opinion is best point guard in section 1 right now. Any of you seem him play?