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The Ballgame! Season Finale · NorthJerseySports.com

0:08
Back. On the ball game.
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North Jersey sports dot coms original multimedia series
0:15
talking all things. Oops.
0:18
Across North Jersey, this is the grand finale.
0:21
I am Corey Doviak being joined by now my long time partner here
0:26
on the ball game. We started way back, first week
0:29
of January and I was counting them up the other day.
0:32
I think we did 14, this being episode 15.
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So we packed a lot of punch into the last couple of months of the
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high school basketball season with Brad Forresterie.
0:44
What's going on, Brad? What is going on?
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My partner in crime, Corey, always Goodman, always good
0:51
here, you know, finally was able to unwind from our season as
0:57
well. So that's always good.
1:02
Now, now, Star C ever everlasting battle of the
1:05
offseason with, you know, the infamous portal and everything
1:09
else that comes with it, right? Graduating seniors and portal
1:12
and recruiting. But but yeah, got to unwind, got
1:18
to catch high school games towards the end of the season.
1:21
So I was happy to do that. But yeah, a lot to talk about.
1:27
Looking forward to our recap. 15 sounds like a good number of
1:30
episodes. We shouldn't go past this,
1:33
otherwise I'm going to start charging you for it.
1:37
But yeah, a lot of lot of basketball.
1:40
Really, really good season. The 202526 season was was very
1:48
eventful to say the least. From.
1:51
The North Jersey basketball landscape.
1:54
No doubt. So this episode we're gonna
1:56
talk. We'll wrap things up here.
1:57
I want to talk about the end of the Felician season for sure.
2:01
It was a historic season. Then we're gonna thank you.
2:04
Yes, unbelievable. We'll get into it, then we're
2:07
gonna we'll wrap up the board, you know, the Bergen County high
2:11
school basketball season. We'll talk about the all county
2:13
teams that were released by the Bergen County Coaches
2:16
Association. We can get our thoughts on that.
2:18
Then we'll come up with our very own All County teams and we're
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going to do it the old fashioned way. 5 starters, 1/6 man.
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That's our All County team. So we'll narrow that down.
2:31
Also, we'll touch on the end of the playoffs.
2:36
With the Tournament of Champions no longer being a thing in the
2:40
state of New Jersey, we will come up with our own.
2:42
What? We'll seed the bracket, then we
2:45
will predict the bracket, and then we will tell you who the
2:48
overall state champion in New Jersey, who that was for this
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year. So we can do all that.
2:55
But let's start with what happened with Felician
2:59
University. I believe the last time we left,
3:01
you were just about to hop on a bus to Buffalo to go up for the
3:06
Division Two tournament hosted by Damon University.
3:11
You went there having Felicia never having won a game in the
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tournament. You went there ranked in the
3:18
country for the first time and then in the first round, Brad,
3:22
what happened? So, so in the first round, we
3:26
drew Adelphi, who's in the Northeast 10 conference at a
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Long Island and pretty solid team.
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They got some guys that we're familiar with.
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They had, there was three guys on the roster who were formerly
3:42
on different CACC teams a few years back.
3:46
So we were kind of familiar with their personnel.
3:50
It was kind of back and forth. I think we went to the half of
3:53
3, so bit of a nip and tuck game.
3:56
I think a lot of that was jitters.
3:59
You know, it was everybody's at least from a player first
4:03
standpoint is all their their first time playing in the NCAA
4:06
tournament. So I'm sure there are some
4:08
nerves and and some some things like that associated with that
4:11
kind of stage. At the end of the day, we ended
4:17
up holding them to 20 points in the second-half.
4:19
We won it going away by 20 guys played well.
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The reigning CACC Player of the Year and first Team All Region,
4:30
Jeremiah Anderson LED us with 30 points.
4:33
Huge, yeah. I watched every second of that
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game. The NCA, what a great job that
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they do. You know, people bash the NCA
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all the time, but if you're a fan of anything less than the
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Division One basketball tournament, the March Madness,
4:50
that's all over everywhere and you're looking for the action.
4:54
The NCAA website had so easy to use, a live bracket that was
4:59
updating scores and you just click on the live link and it
5:02
takes you right to the game. So I watched every second of
5:06
Felician Adelphi. Yeah, I mean, I mean, if you're
5:10
a, if you're a basketball, if you're just a basketball junkie
5:12
like us, I mean, you can watch, you know, the men's, the men's
5:16
and women's and service women's, you know, free of charge at all
5:20
levels on their website. Like they really do make it very
5:28
interactive, right? They really want to drum up as
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much as they can. So, yeah, I think they they do a
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really good job. Like you said, you can click,
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you can go to the bracket, you can click on any game that's
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going on that's live and it it'll, it'll take you right to
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the live, the live video of it. I wonder what the I wonder what
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the viewership was for that game.
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I mean, or for just like the first round in general, is there
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general interest? I, I, I mean, yes, there I
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would. I'm really interested.
5:56
So yeah. I would assume so for sure, you
6:00
know, because you know, I don't know if I touched on it the last
6:03
time we talked, but like, you know, the CACC tournament,
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right? Our, our conference tournament
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was actually live streamed on Prime on Amazon Prime.
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OK, so you could have watched, you could have watched our
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tournament on Prime and over the over the semifinals, they had
6:28
about 2424 thousand streams. That's crazy, you know?
6:34
Between the four games. So I mean, like I said, about
6:38
6000 per game, which you know, is a pretty fair amount.
6:42
That's a. That's a ton more than I would
6:44
have figured, I think. That's awesome.
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But like I said, yeah, I mean, from a from a, from a
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standpoint, I think, you know, I think anybody that's a
6:53
basketball guy, you know, especially in in certain areas,
6:56
like obviously Buffalo, you know, outside of like maybe
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Vienna, right, which, who didn't start their tournament until a
7:04
few days after us. But like I said, I mean, that
7:06
was really the only, the only show in town.
7:09
You know, there was, you know, Canisius wasn't playing, UV
7:12
wasn't playing, you know, none of those D ones around there
7:15
were playing. So Damon was hosting the first
7:17
round of the tournament and that was the only show in town.
7:20
And they got a, they got a good showing.
7:23
Yeah, 111 points in the 1st. Round, yeah, yeah.
7:27
So, you know, we you know, we took care of business.
7:30
You know, Jeremiah had 30 the pace us, you know, Tavian
7:34
Pollock, who the local kid, you know, had 14 off the bench.
7:38
You know, he was like I said, he was 13 more conference.
7:40
You know, we had him on the on the show.
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So he you know, he was great. He continued to do his he
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continued to do his thing, you know, you know, providing that
7:47
spark. And we finally, you know, and
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you know, me and Ivan to talk about we finally got out of the
7:52
first round. So we we finally get an end to
7:54
the late tournament win under our belt, which was huge, first
7:58
in program history. Yeah, I mean, when I said
8:01
historic, I meant historic crazy.
8:04
The the best season in school history.
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And you know, I, I don't know what's going to happen with the
8:09
transfer portal. I don't know how much you want
8:11
to say what might happen with the transfer portal, but if
8:14
roster retention was a thing, you got a lot of guys coming
8:18
back and you can make a similar if not better run next year.
8:22
Yeah, that's, that's the plan. That's definitely the plan and
8:25
I'll get into that in a little bit.
8:28
But you know, now we, you know, now, you know, and
8:30
unfortunately, unlike the Division One tournament, the the
8:34
rebound is quick. Yeah, on the division two side,
8:38
right on the men and the women you're playing back-to-back.
8:41
So, you know, we win Saturday and you know, we are, you know,
8:45
us as a coaching staff, we're up till 4, you know, till 4:00 AM
8:50
preparing for Saint Angela's, who with another familiar
8:54
opponent to us. You know, we played them in
8:57
December at our place and had gotten the best of them the year
9:02
before that. We played them at their place
9:04
with the roster, their roster looking a little different than
9:07
it did, you know, this year. But we beat them at their place
9:10
by by one or by two, really close game.
9:14
So we're familiar with them and they were kind of injury
9:21
plagued, which we were hoping was going to kind of play into
9:24
our favor. But you know, unfortunately when
9:28
they were deeper as far as bodies were concerned, they
9:31
played more man. And, you know, if we were able
9:35
to kind of play our tempo and get the things we wanted to and
9:39
they went in zone and they're pretty big up front.
9:42
They go 7 feet 6766 as far as their, you know, their
9:48
backcourt, their backcourt, and I'm sorry, their front court
9:50
goes and their backcourt are two 6 foot 4 guards.
9:54
So they're, they're pretty long and lengthy.
9:55
So they went 2-3 and they did a really good job in it and and
9:59
you know, made it a little more difficult for us to get good
10:03
looks buying Damon's not a huge court either.
10:06
So the station's ideal as you want it to be.
10:11
So yeah, they did a really good job of slowing us in transition
10:13
and getting into that zone. And you know, and they, when I
10:16
tell you that they hit everything, man.
10:18
They hit everything. They shot.
10:20
They shot 50. They shot 524495.
10:24
Like, I don't know. I don't think there's anybody in
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the country. I don't care what level.
10:28
I don't know if you're going to be the team that's shooting 52%
10:31
from the field, 44 from 3 and 95% from the line.
10:34
Yeah, a lot of those threes were contested.
10:40
And. Yeah.
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And they just, yeah, they they just made they just made
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everything. It was crazy.
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So, I mean, listen, anything could happen, you know that.
10:49
But it would have been, you know, Damon in the next round.
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And then, you know, Damon took care of Saint Anselm, too, so
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Damon's moving on out of that bracket.
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They were the top seed and the host.
11:00
Felician goes home as the best team in the history of the
11:05
program. Plenty to be proud of.
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Last question about it is, how is the bus ride home?
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I mean, you know, only one team's going to end on a high
11:13
note and there's only one bus ride.
11:15
That's going to be fun. But what was the tenor and the
11:18
mood? And then maybe take us into the
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offseason here. You know, obviously, you know,
11:23
in the locker room afterwards, it was, it was, you know,
11:25
somewhat somber. You know, there's some tears
11:28
shed. Obviously, you know, we did a
11:32
lot of good things. There's, you know, a couple of
11:34
guys that have been there in the program for a few years.
11:38
So it was, it was a little bit somber.
11:40
And then the bus ride home was actually a little bit more
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jubilant. You know, I think, you know, you
11:49
look back and there was there was a lot to celebrate.
11:51
So, you know, it took a little while.
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It probably took about an hour or two before, you know, you
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guys kind of got out of that shell.
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And like got I had a chance to really reflect like, yeah, it's
12:01
a we lost and it's a bus ride back.
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But you know, we've lost in the round of 32.
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We had a really good year. We won a conference title.
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We won a tournament game. We're nationally ranked, so you
12:15
know, the spirits kind of got to picking up a little bit.
12:19
So the rest of the bus ride was was pretty good.
12:22
There's a lot of positivity now moving forward, you know, it's a
12:27
little bit different, you know, since since then, you know, Ivan
12:33
was also named the NABC E District Coach of the Year.
12:38
So he's one of, you know, one of 8 coaches that are coaches of
12:44
the year as far as the National Association of Basketball
12:46
Coaches are concerned for our level.
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Jeremiah was first team all E district as well and then they
12:54
cap it off today he was actually announced third team All
12:58
American. So, you know, he capped off his
13:01
year as being the not only with those high individual athletes,
13:06
the first ever, you know, conference player of the year
13:10
and the first district E district first team represented,
13:14
but he was the he's now the first all American in program
13:17
history. So yeah, really cool.
13:22
He has entered the transfer portal.
13:26
He does have some ideations of of playing at the next level.
13:30
We're working on getting some, some finite answers about all of
13:37
his stuff, making sure everything is good as far as his
13:39
credits and everything are good to go.
13:40
But he's in there and we're going to try and help him as
13:43
much as we can. Our forward, our starting
13:48
forward. Moosa Kamara has has also
13:51
entered the portal. You know, he averaged 13 and 7.
13:59
It was third team ball conference.
14:01
So, you know, he has some ideations of going to the next
14:05
level. And obviously, you know, with
14:07
college athletics where there's a lot of people as they talk to
14:10
a lot of people, there's a lot of people who died years.
14:14
So yeah, he's going to test the waters and and see what's out
14:16
there for him. There's a couple other guys in
14:20
our exit meeting today that said that they were contemplating it
14:23
as well and they were going to, you know, do some more research
14:25
and figure it out. But that's kind of the landscape
14:28
of college basketball. Everywhere, yeah, you can't, you
14:31
can't hold back the tide. You got to, you know, yeah, you
14:34
got to plan for it. And maybe even, you know, I've
14:37
heard other mid majors, low majors on the Division One level
14:41
say, you know, they've embraced it where they say come here and
14:43
then we'll get you where you need to go.
14:45
I mean, I don't know if you have done that on the division two
14:47
level yet, but that's you know and you always want to, you
14:51
never want to burn any bridges because people the flow works
14:54
both ways out and back. I mean that, you know, so, you
14:59
know, I, you know, I was Jeremiah's recruiter, right.
15:04
And, you know, I, I've gotten to know him over the last, you
15:07
know, a few years and he's played in my my program over the
15:11
summer, you know, those guys are going to be contemplating that,
15:14
you know. Yeah.
15:17
I mean, for for me, like I said, you know, as you know,
15:20
Jeremiah's recruiter and you know, and bringing him in, you
15:24
know, the year he registered for us, you know, I knew the kind of
15:29
player he was. I know how special he was.
15:31
And I knew that once we had gotten him, you know, what some
15:35
of the things he would achieve could be as long as he put the
15:39
work in and he did, he accomplished those things, you
15:43
know, but I'd also said something like, if you have
15:44
ideations, like, sorry, if you, you handle business here, you'll
15:48
have that opportunity. And, and you know, you know, we
15:51
Fast forward, you know, and yeah, but you know, he was here
15:54
2 years, you know, he, he did develop a lot in his red shirt
15:57
year, you know, he put in a lot of work.
16:00
He developed parts of his game that that needed some some fine
16:03
tuning and he was able to, you know, bring all the all the
16:08
other things, all the other intangible share already had in
16:11
his toolbox with him. And, you know, the third team,
16:16
all American and everything else, Those are all just, you
16:20
know, accolades that, you know, yeah, I knew he was capable of
16:24
earning them, but he actually went out and earned them like he
16:27
put in the words. He did all that stuff.
16:28
So, yeah, I hope, I hope it all worked out for him.
16:31
And, and I fielded a bunch of phone calls for him already from
16:36
some some good programs. So yeah, I hope, I hope you
16:42
know, it works out for him because you know, as I've talked
16:46
about it before, we had a kid that went D1 last year who was
16:48
second team all conference this year in the Northeast
16:50
Conference. All that does is I think that
16:54
just that shows the kind of program we are that we have the
16:58
ability to not only bring in the right guys, but we developed
17:02
those guys. And you know, if an opportunity
17:07
presented itself to them for them to go up to the next level,
17:12
you know, it works out well. You know, they're they're not
17:15
just guys that are going up to the next level and they're just
17:17
sitting on the bench, you know, so waiting for their turn or,
17:21
or, you know, just being being able to say that they they went
17:24
Division One or played Division One, they're producing.
17:28
Yeah, yeah. So it'll be interesting.
17:31
I mean, and then, you know, I'm sure you'll get some guys in and
17:34
then as they say, you'll go again.
17:36
And so that leaves the division two tournament is now in its
17:38
quarterfinal round, which takes place.
17:41
We're taping this on Tuesday night.
17:43
The quarterfinals will be on Wednesday night.
17:49
Yep, Yep. The 25th tomorrow night.
17:51
And you got two time defending champion Nova Southeastern
17:54
against the Cinderella Black Hills State out of South Dakota.
17:58
You got Damon against the Lander, Cal State East Bay
18:02
against Oklahoma Baptist and Gannon against Michigan Tech.
18:07
Just a couple of things from my perspective here.
18:10
I love this because it gives you like I'll, I'm following the
18:13
tournament on the bracket. And then, you know, as I see
18:16
games starting and it makes me want to just go figure out like
18:20
what is Central Missouri? You know, So I go on YouTube and
18:24
look for videos and just things of, you know, it it, it exposes
18:27
you to a whole new realm of collegiate athletics, which I
18:33
love anyway, as I've talked about a zillion times with my
18:35
connection to East Stroudsburg University, which brings me to
18:38
my final point that the Peace Act Brad showed out again.
18:42
Gadon was the host at at in Erie, PA for their bracket as
18:48
the top seed. California of Pennsylvania was
18:52
the four seed. They beat Fayetteville State to
18:54
get to the Gannon game. Gannon moved through there and
18:58
then they played in the regional final against Indiana University
19:02
of Pennsylvania, which was the 6th seed and knocked off
19:05
Fairmont State and Virginia Union to get there too.
19:09
So Gannon moved through anyway. The Peace Act still alive in
19:12
Division Two, but let's move on now to and and, yeah.
19:16
Shout out to my my buddy. Shout out to my buddy Easton,
19:18
who's the head coach at Gannon. OK, He does do a really good job
19:21
there. I don't need any place to win or
19:24
recruit to I. I don't know.
19:26
It's in the middle of nowhere, you know.
19:28
I mean, Erie's frigging so is. So is Cal PAS.
19:31
Cal PAS is out there. Yes, IUP is out in the middle of
19:35
nowhere. The only difference is that IUP
19:38
has a an actual there has like their own arena.
19:41
We've heard about there's some D twos that they're the only game
19:44
in town. So, you know, they invest in
19:45
that that Division 2 program. You know, IUP and Cal are kind
19:50
of like that, Gannon as well. So but yeah, I mean, you know,
19:55
Easton does a really good job out there.
19:56
He was also the one of the district coaches of the year.
20:01
But yeah, I mean, you know, Gannon and IUP in the in the
20:06
regional final. You know, IUP's girls just beat
20:09
Holy Family's girls, who was our the CAC representative for the
20:13
the girls side. They beat them and overtime they
20:17
go to the final four. So, you know, the PSAC has
20:20
really good representation. You know, if I was going to, if
20:24
I was going to make any predictions for this, I would
20:26
say you're going to see a Nova Demon and Cal East Bay and
20:36
Michigan Tech. I think Gannon, I think Gannon
20:38
may have their hands full of Michigan Tech.
20:40
I've seen Michigan Tech play. But then again, like I said, you
20:44
know, I know what Gannon does. I know Easton's going to have
20:47
those guys prepared. But I think no matter how it
20:50
shakes out, it's going to take a lot to knock off Nova from the
20:55
from their perch. How is that guy still there
20:57
coaching? I mean, how has he not moved up?
21:00
Crutchfield. Yeah.
21:02
I think. Or is he?
21:04
Or is he waiting for the right opportunity?
21:06
I don't know. I think at this point, you know,
21:09
I feel like Jim Crutchfield is at the is kind of like, you
21:14
know, you know, for those not familiar with divisions of
21:16
basketball, right, the all time winning at men, men's or women's
21:20
basketball coach was Herb McGee, who coached at Jefferson
21:24
University, which is AV2, which is formerly Philadelphia
21:27
University in the CACC. He's a Hall of Famer.
21:32
I think Jim Crutchfield is a guy that's like, I could just stay
21:35
here and chase that. Yeah.
21:38
I mean, he's got national championships at the national
21:40
championship. I mean, she's either waiting for
21:43
a, a, a Florida job, a good Florida job to open up, right.
21:47
You know, like the bigger Division One Florida job.
21:50
Yeah. Well, because at the end of the
21:52
day, I mean, he they, they won 100 straight home games.
21:55
He's got over 700 wins. Like, you know, he doesn't need
21:58
to go anywhere. You know, they, I'm sure they
22:01
pay him well at Nova Southeastern.
22:03
Yeah. They're one of the few division
22:05
two schools that have NIL. Yeah.
22:09
Why go anywhere? Yeah, I mean, South Florida
22:11
opened up and closed real fast. I mean, I think they they hired
22:15
this is named Mercer. Or yeah, which is shocking.
22:18
Like, like if I'm how do you not, how do you not target the
22:22
best, not only one of the, you know, hands down the best
22:25
Division 2 coach in your state, but who's probably been handed
22:29
down one of the best divisions who took division two coaches in
22:32
the country in like Ben Ben McCollum.
22:35
Ben McCollum was AD 2 coach. Yeah.
22:37
Who's at Northwest Missouri? Yep is now at Iowa.
22:41
Yep, and they're in the suites. W Missouri for Drake to Iowa.
22:45
How is how is Jim Crutchfield at Nova?
22:47
They're either paying him really, really well and he likes
22:49
where he's at and XY and he's content, which is possible, and
22:54
I'm I'm then there's no nothing wrong with that, Or is he
22:57
waiting for like the right job to open?
23:00
Yeah, I mean, Josh shirts the Saint Louis, the head coach,
23:03
too. I mean, he's got his starter in
23:05
division two too, so yeah. There's a couple of guys that
23:08
just got jobs that are moving up from D2 to D1 this year as well.
23:12
So yeah, I mean, like I said, it's basketball or basketball,
23:18
you know? I I mean you, you equated to
23:22
football. I mean, Kurt Zignetti, who just
23:24
won the national championship with the University of Indiana,
23:28
is an IOE guy. Yeah.
23:30
Indiana University of Pennsylvania 1st.
23:33
And, you know, also current Virginia Tech head football
23:38
coach James Franklin, a East Stroudsburg University graduate
23:42
who lived the hall across the hall from me in Shawnee Hall in
23:45
1991. How about that?
23:48
There you go. So do you get do you now get
23:50
season tickets at Vartec I. Lost we kind of lost touch in
23:55
1992, although his his roommate and a guy, I wouldn't say we're
24:01
friends, but we're acquaintances.
24:03
Mike Santella is on the is the offensive line coach at East
24:07
Stroudsburg University and you know, I see him from from time
24:11
to time. So there's a small, if
24:15
unnoticeable to James Franklin connection.
24:17
But James Franklin and Mike Santella are very close.
24:20
And when E Strasburg was in the football playoffs 2 years ago,
24:25
James Franklin opened up the Penn State facility so E
24:28
Strasburg could train for the Division 2 playoffs at Penn
24:33
State in the big boys arena. So that was pretty awesome.
24:36
And he he maintains a great connection to the university and
24:39
he's from all reports of first class dude.
24:43
So yeah, you know, anyway, let's get back to high school a
24:47
basketball gear. Let's.
24:48
Get back to. The track here, I know, but
24:50
listen, we can go down so many small circles all over the place
24:54
when you start talking about, you know, East Coast sports that
24:59
run through New Jersey high school.
25:01
So craziness. And let's talk about the end of
25:04
the high school basketball season.
25:06
We had two state champions from Bergen County, from North Jersey
25:10
Ramsey, which was the most surprising state champion that I
25:15
can remember covering Bergen County high school basketball
25:19
for the last 30 years. I I not that I didn't think they
25:22
were good because we talked about it when we had coach on
25:26
the show, you know, I was just so impressed in the BIT final.
25:31
But they lost that game to Ridgefield Park, you know, and
25:33
then we know how good Lyndhurst was.
25:36
We were talking about it all year long.
25:37
We had their head coach on. We covered them, you know, saw
25:41
the rich part and covered them in the state playoffs for us.
25:43
And then they played an epic game, Ramsey against Lyndhurst
25:47
and then OK Ramsey. It was great.
25:49
Ramsey gets through and then you figure you know when they get
25:52
out into the deep waters of the North semi or the Group 2 semi
25:57
finals that they would lose. They did not.
25:59
And then they go to the final and they beat Rumson Fairhaven
26:02
pretty handily. 6857. So a surprising state
26:07
championship maybe. A well deserved state
26:10
championship, certainly. Yeah, well deserved indeed.
26:14
You know, I kind of said that, you know, I, I think one of
26:17
their, their problems was going to be, you know, their, their
26:20
lack of like true big size because Rumson Fairhaver has a
26:24
69 kid who's, who's pretty solid.
26:29
So I thought that was going to kind of be like a an Achilles
26:31
heel for them and didn't bother them whatsoever.
26:37
I mean, really, you know, and, and the other thing is when you
26:40
get out of local competition, you know, everybody in Bergen
26:46
County knows what Ramsey does because, you know, they played
26:50
it. Ramsey's been a, a, a tough out
26:52
in every tournament they've played in over the last 10 years
26:55
or so under, you know, specifically under Mark
26:58
Christensen. And they, they vary their looks
27:01
defensively and they play some tricky, you know, high level.
27:05
They, they have a very high basketball IQ as a group in
27:09
Ramsey. And I think, you know, some of
27:13
that makes it tough for unfamiliar opponents trying to
27:17
scout via, you know, surveillance video, live stream
27:21
huddle junk, you know, and I think it, it was an advantage to
27:26
them that they were able, you know, they, they throw a lot of
27:28
varied looks at you and, and it's all about, it's always
27:31
about guard play, as you well know.
27:33
And I think quarterly was great down the stretch for them too.
27:36
So, you know, crazy a, a great job by Ramsey.
27:42
So they're the Group 2 champion. Shabazz won in Group 1, Ocean
27:46
City won Group 3. They beat Colonia.
27:49
Colonia, just as it finds it tough in the, you know, the deep
27:54
waters of the NJSIA playoffs. I mean, they're all those years
27:58
losing a Ramapo and then finally getting through the Group 3
28:03
state semifinals and losing Ocean City. 5546 Plainfield.
28:08
And we had, you know, the coach on in our last show, actually
28:11
4940 over Montgomery. I gave Montgomery credit for
28:14
holding the score down in that game and keeping it relatively
28:17
close because, you know, Plainfield's got one of, if not
28:20
the best player in the state there.
28:23
And then non public beat Gil St. Bernards in the most boring of
28:27
the state finals beat Holy Cross Prep 3928 and Burton Catholic
28:34
won non public a 5652 over Saint Peter's.
28:38
And probably, you know, two of the three best teams in the
28:42
state playing in that game there.
28:45
Yeah, I mean in two North Jersey teams, you know, Jersey City
28:48
against Ordo, you know, a lot of a lot of high level guys in that
28:53
game. And yeah, they they left it all
28:56
out on the floor. So kudos to to Billy on on
28:59
getting another one. Him and Mike Gordon go
29:03
back-to-back with the group titles and non public titles.
29:08
So yeah, just really, really good and I'm looking forward to
29:14
seeding what would be our mythical 20 minute champions.
29:19
Well, why don't you get into it? You brought it up, so why don't
29:21
you now? This is a few years ago, in all
29:25
of the wisdom of the NJSA, they decided to extend the football
29:30
playoffs and rescind a couple of rounds of the basketball
29:36
playoffs. I mean, basketball lends itself
29:38
to playing down to 1/2 state champion in football.
29:41
It's completely forced and bogus, but they do it anyway.
29:45
So if there was a Tournament of Champions, Brad, why don't you
29:48
tell us? Because I think we both agreed.
29:51
So you can just take us through it.
29:52
Who would be your number one through 6 seed and set up our
29:55
first round matchups? So, so just for any Andreas, IA
30:00
board members out there, I mean, that was played indoors.
30:04
So I mean extending the the season an extra week doesn't
30:07
really hurt, no, since the spring season is not kicking off
30:10
until right about now anyway. We got another week.
30:13
Yeah, so anyway. And everybody playing at this
30:17
level is basically full of 1 sport athletes.
30:20
I mean, you know, you'd love to say, but there there's probably
30:23
10 kids who aren't basketball only guys playing right at this
30:28
level. So yeah, I have, I have Bergen
30:32
as my 1 and I have Bergen as my 1:00 because, you know, they,
30:37
they're, they're consistent, they're deep.
30:42
You know, they're, they're probably about 9910 guys deep.
30:47
A lot of, you know, just really good, really good guys, really
30:51
good basketball players. And I think that that that
30:54
presents a lot of problems. And let's call for what it is.
30:58
You know, I think that the parochial still has a slight
31:01
edge over the Publix, although this year I think the public's
31:06
definitely outperformed the parochials any day of the week.
31:11
Yeah, Bergens is my one. Bergens is my one.
31:13
Plainfield is my 2 as a Group 4 back-to-back state champion.
31:19
So we're going to give those two teams will get the first round
31:21
bye. In our they get the first round
31:23
bye. My 3 is Gil St.
31:25
Bernards. I saw Gil St.
31:26
Bernards earlier. They're well coached by
31:29
Mergensina and by Jaren Cena and they got some some ball players
31:33
there. They're led by Dorsett Mulcahy,
31:36
whose brother Paul was obviously a Rutgers guy, so he's at, you
31:40
know, UW. So yeah, I think they're a very
31:44
good solid three seed. In the four.
31:48
I have Shabazz agreed, led by Nas Barrino.
31:54
So I think there's AI, think there's a four and I have Ocean
31:58
City as a 5 Colonia who's been perennially, you know, in that
32:03
game year in, year out. So for them to beat them, who
32:07
had a lot of good kids coming back, I have them with a slight
32:10
edge over Ramsey as the six. Yeah, I agree.
32:15
All right. So the first round games will
32:17
then be #6 Ramsey against #3 Gill St.
32:19
Bernard. And for as great of a season as
32:22
it was for Ramsey, and despite maybe being counted out by the
32:26
North Jersey sports.com contingent heading into the
32:29
state final or even the state semi finals or even the game
32:33
against winners, well, that was the state semi final.
32:36
So I'm going to go. I think Gil Gil St.
32:39
Bernard there with the parochial talent and depth moves on.
32:44
And the number 5 Ocean City against #4 Shabazz game.
32:49
I think we both agreed that Shabazz wouldn't win that game
32:53
pretty handily. I mean Shabazz only losses of
32:57
this only loss I should say of the season came against Seton
33:01
Hall Prep in the semi finals of the Essex County tournament.
33:06
So, you know, they played up and they showed out against
33:10
everybody. You know, just looking, they
33:12
beat Trenton, they beat some Bloomfield, they beat a lot of
33:15
group fours, You know they played everybody.
33:19
So Shabazz despite enrollment certainly had the talent.
33:24
So that would be they would play into our number one.
33:29
They'd be the four that would set up Bergen Catholic, Chabaz
33:31
and Plainfield against Gil St. Bernard.
33:35
Brad, what would happen in the semi finals?
33:38
Yeah, I mean, and as much as Chabaz is is in a track meet, I
33:43
don't know if physicality wise if they can get it done.
33:47
Those are tough kids, but there's just some big guys.
33:51
I got Bergen winning that game and then I have I've got
33:55
Plainfield beating Gil St. Me too.
33:59
So that leaves #1 seeded Burton, Catholic against #2 seeded
34:05
Plainfield and Brad. Wouldn't it be great if they
34:07
actually got to play each other? Oh wait, have you ever heard of
34:11
the Throne Tournament? A maid actually have.
34:17
Yes. And you know, the reason I
34:19
actually have right is because our new, our new, you know,
34:25
apparel sponsor or you know, contractor is Capelli, which is
34:33
like an international soccer brand, which is getting into
34:35
college athletics. And we're one of only two
34:38
schools in the country us in in Manhattan.
34:41
So I hope we did them proud by by doing what we did.
34:44
But they also are the the backer for the Thrones.
34:51
So they produced the Thrones uniforms for all the teams that
34:53
are invited. Cool.
34:55
So that's how I found out about it.
34:57
And it's also run by the NBA Players Association, so.
35:03
I didn't hear anything about it. So they played in the mall?
35:08
They played in the ice rink at American Dream.
35:10
So if anybody that is like, oh, you know, there's no TOC, but
35:14
there is a national tournament held right here at American
35:18
Dream where at the end of every basketball season you can come
35:21
and see the best across the country play in a little.
35:24
National tournament champions. That's crazy.
35:27
So our New Jersey Tournament of Champions pitted Burton Catholic
35:31
against Plainfield. And who won?
35:36
Plainfield won that game. So the 20 de facto champion of
35:41
the 20252026 high school basketball season in New Jersey,
35:48
we're going to say that Plainfield, the public school
35:52
team, is the best team in New Jersey for this year.
35:56
Do you agree with that, Brad? I do I I would I would say that
35:59
the TOC champion, the mythical TOC champion, is a public school
36:03
in Plainfield. There it is OK, so we'll send
36:06
them AT shirt and we will move on All right, so the last order
36:10
of business here is the Burton County Coaches Association put
36:15
out It's all county basketball teams.
36:17
And listen, this has gotten unwieldy over the years.
36:21
It used to be, I think it was 8 when we were in high, when you
36:26
were in high school, when I was in high school.
36:28
And it's, it's slow, you know, and, and again, I understand the
36:32
pressure because it used to not be this way where, I mean, if
36:36
you're going to be honest, you're probably going to take,
36:40
you know, the first five kids from Bergen Catholic, maybe one
36:46
this year, you know, one from or however, from Saint Mary from
36:50
any of the parochials. Anyway, if you're doing that
36:53
type, type of selection, it's going to be dominated by the
36:57
parochial school. So they have opened it up two,
37:00
what is it 123456789101112 guys on the first team, 12 guys on
37:07
the second team, 12 guys on the third team.
37:09
And then they also broke it out by group.
37:11
You have the Group 1 and 2, all county teams, the Group 3 and 4,
37:15
all county teams and the group and the all non public county
37:18
teams. But Brad, we're going to do it
37:20
old school style. Yeah, erroneous.
37:22
Erroneous on all counts. No offense to all these kids.
37:27
But that's the thing, it's people say not.
37:29
Deservant of it, yes. People take offense and and it's
37:35
forced the hand of the county coaches association to open the
37:39
doors the the pathway for more people to be named all county.
37:42
But we are under no such constraints, Brad.
37:45
No, because we know when I played and I'm I know when,
37:48
when, when you were in high school as well, the all county
37:52
teams were, you know, six guys Max for each team and then there
37:56
was like 40 guys that were honorable mentioned.
37:58
Yeah, that's right. That's right.
38:00
Everybody was honorable mentioned.
38:01
Which was you? Were first team all you were
38:04
honorable mention all county. That's right all.
38:07
Right. So for those who may not, you
38:09
can check out the full full edition of the 2526 All County
38:16
Basketball teams on bergencountycoaches.org.
38:20
They were first team from Burton Catholic, Julius Avent, Jayden
38:25
Brown and Alex Mazzella. From Saint Mary You had Matthew
38:29
Kennedy and Jake Ellis from Don Bosco Prep.
38:32
You had JP Skorick. Then from Dwight Anglewood,
38:35
Dylan Stone and Jake. I said Jake Ellis from Saint
38:39
Mary, Dylan Stone and Jake Ellis, both sophomores, so the
38:44
youngest members of the group. You had senior Mikkel Taylor,
38:47
junior from Teaneck, Aiden Goldschneider from Tenafly, and
38:52
then the senior trio of Pharaoh Dixon, Marcus Marcos Estrada and
38:56
Johnny Tsunami. That's Highlands Hackensack in
38:59
Lyndhurst in order there. So that's what the coaches said.
39:03
But Brad, what we have decided to narrow it down.
39:07
We are going to do 5 starters and one sixth man.
39:11
So what? Why don't you give us yours
39:12
first? All right, so my, my and I'm,
39:17
you know, yeah, let's go. 5 starters.
39:20
SO5 starters, right hand down. The first guy I have is Julie's
39:24
event, right? Julius is a Power 4 kid going to
39:27
Michigan State. You know, 6-7, you know, just,
39:32
you know, unfair advantage, right?
39:35
As far as? Athleticism and everything.
39:40
He's the best player in Bergen County.
39:42
So he's, he's he's, you know, he's one of the starters on the
39:45
first team. Is he from Jayden?
39:48
Jayden Brown's going to be #2 you know, Fairfield permit,
39:55
solid guard, shoots it well, gets downhill right, tough.
40:01
So he's in my starting 5. Mikel Taylor is in my starting
40:09
five. Mikel Taylor, you know, you
40:14
know, first of all, he was, he was top three in the state in
40:19
points scored this year. You know, he, he kind of, you
40:24
know, he can shoot it from anywhere on the floor.
40:26
I don't know if he shoots it better than some of the guys
40:28
that I've seen play against, you know, but definitely can can
40:33
shoot it from distance. Tough nosed athletic he's in
40:39
there. So I guess he would he would be
40:41
theoretically my my 2 guard. Yeah.
40:46
Jaden Brown's my 3, Even's my 5. You know, I'm going to have, I'm
40:53
going to have JP Stork in there as my, as my 4th starter, you
40:59
know, at 6-7, you know, Merrimack commit, he's a three
41:03
level guy. So he's in there, got 1.
41:11
More starter. My other starter is going to be
41:16
Johnny Tsunami. You know, he was the, I believe
41:24
the the 3rd or the 4th total point score leaders in the
41:29
state. He he you know, put his home
41:33
team on his back, got got him a section title, you know, got him
41:37
to the state semifinal when they lost in, you know, 7 overtimes
41:42
and. And let's not forget, let's not
41:44
forget what a what kind of season this was for Lyndhurst.
41:47
I mean, you know, Lyndhurst is not a traditional powerhouse in
41:52
boys basketball in Bergen County.
41:54
And you know, this like we're talking back into the 90's, the
41:57
last time any, you know, any of these accolades were produced
42:03
down there in the southernmost town in Bergen County.
42:06
So, you know, this is an all time season for the Golden Bears
42:10
and Tsunami obviously was the head of the snake there.
42:14
Yeah, I mean, like a lot of good season for teams with Golden in
42:18
their name. So, but yeah, I mean, he's a
42:21
he's a he's a, you know, he's a, he is a point guard.
42:24
He's a 2 point guard that can score at will.
42:26
He can shoot it. He playmates just from the
42:29
freeze online, you know, defend gets out in the cloud.
42:32
So he's my he's my point guard for this.
42:35
And my, you know, my 6th man is Aidan Goldschider.
42:41
You know, Aidan, you know, 1005 basketball has always been
42:47
solid, right? But that's a kid who, who is the
42:51
driving force, I think, you know, and it was, it was, you
42:57
know, it was relevant. You know, they went as far as he
43:01
took them. You know, the injury kind of,
43:03
you know, plagued them. But yeah, I mean, he he does a
43:08
little bit of everything for them.
43:09
You can score it. He defends, he dives on the
43:14
floor, he does all The Dirty work stuff.
43:15
I, I feel like he's just like, kind of like a Swiss army knife,
43:18
you know? I feel like whatever you need
43:20
him to do, he'll do it. So he's my 6th man for that
43:25
first team. All right, I'm going to give you
43:27
a bonus. You get 1 honorable mention
43:29
choice. He does not have to be.
43:31
We're not talking about any for whatever the reasons are.
43:35
It doesn't even have to be an all county caliber player
43:38
doesn't have to be on the all county list, but you get to add
43:41
1 wild card to your all county team and you.
43:44
I think you have a slight idea why I might be opening up this
43:47
slot and I hope you don't take my guy I'm.
43:51
Probably going to take the guy. I I could be wrong.
43:53
I'm going with Kopchinsky. Luke Kopchinsky.
43:55
OK, great. From Preskill.
44:01
Preskill. Yes.
44:03
Yes, I mean that. That's the thing.
44:05
I agree with you. He was he was the guy when I
44:07
asked you, did you see anybody who maybe was misplaced on any
44:11
of the all county teams? And listen, we have to be very
44:13
careful because we know by when you disagree with the powers
44:16
that be, sometimes you get accosted in the hallways of
44:19
certain high schools around Bergen County.
44:21
So you don't want to say that anybody did a bad job, but maybe
44:24
if there was room for one more guy on the 1st.
44:28
Just I agree with you on Luke Kopchitsky just because he was
44:30
so important to everything Cresco did this year and they
44:34
were great. Made the quarterfinals of the
44:35
Bergen County Tournament, semi finals of North One Group 1 and
44:39
were consistently a fun team to watch all year long.
44:41
So good shout on that good shout.
44:44
And like I said, I, you know, I, you know, maybe I'm a little
44:47
biased, right. As a as a former big man, yeah,
44:51
I just think he was he was one of the the very solid big men
44:55
that that did a little bit of everything.
44:56
And and you know, there's and when you look up and down
44:59
between the 1st and the through the third team, you know,
45:02
there's not many forwards. It's very guard heavy.
45:04
Yeah, which is understandable, right.
45:06
The. Way the game is played now you.
45:08
The way the game is played, right.
45:09
But but yeah, I just think, I just think he, he presents a lot
45:14
of problems and, and plays the game the right way.
45:16
He's an inside out kind of guy. And yeah, I just think, I think
45:19
he'd be the in my mind, he's deserving of that nod.
45:23
Yes. All right.
45:24
So I agree with your first team. Julius Avent, check.
45:28
Jayden Brown, check. Mikhail Taylor, check.
45:33
Now we differ. We differ.
45:35
So my fourth guy on my first team is Matthew Kennedy because
45:41
Saint Mary had a historic season, got to the Bergen County
45:43
tournament final for the first time in its history.
45:46
He was the driving force there. Great career.
45:50
You know, small town kid from Lodi came over to Saint Mary,
45:53
helped put Saint Mary basketball on the map, played great in the
45:57
semi final game against Tenafly. And Matt Kennedy is my four
46:02
spot. And then you mentioned Aiden
46:04
Goldschneider. I put him on my first team just
46:07
because when he was healthy, Tenafly was 19 and O when he was
46:12
not healthy they took it on the chin against Saint Mary in the
46:17
semi finals and then as the top seed in North One Group 3 went
46:20
out in the semi finals against Montville.
46:23
Now take nothing away from Montville who just came in and
46:26
burned its way through Bergen County and maybe it happens with
46:29
Gold Snyder on the floor, but his injury I think showed his
46:34
worth. Not that he did it, you know,
46:36
not that he needed it, But it would have been great if we it
46:39
would be great if we could just run back that Jambo semi final
46:42
back in the packed Rothman Center at the FDU campus and
46:48
just started again without Goldschneider getting hurt and
46:50
see what happened there. That would be, if I could wish
46:53
one thing to happen, that would be it.
46:55
So Goldschneider is my fifth guy and then my 6th man for all the
46:59
reasons that you mentioned, Johnny Tsunami bringing
47:03
Lyndhurst basketball back, you know, from nowhere to everywhere
47:08
this year and what a great run it was for them.
47:09
That for me, that leaves out JP Skorick, who's the guy that you
47:13
had there And you know, he was the best player or, you know,
47:18
the go to guy on the Don Bosco prep team that got off, you
47:23
know, was under 500 when it entered the Bourbon County
47:25
Jamboree and, you know, made a nice little run in the state
47:29
tournament, but ultimately was not a vintage Don Bosco prep
47:35
team. So those are mine.
47:37
And for my honorable mention, Palisades Park Tiger, our very
47:43
own Chris Kasparian, who finished third in the state of
47:46
New Jersey and average points per game at 25.6.
47:50
So he's the last guy on my squad for the 2526 Bergen County
47:57
basketball season. Are we done, Brad?
48:06
Not yet. OK.
48:09
Well, it's the last show of the year, so.
48:11
Let's I mean, because, because, you know, like I said, I'm not
48:15
taking anything away, you know, but you know, my, my, my next
48:20
pick for my second team, right? Like the guy that's right
48:22
outside it was Matt Kennedy. You know, like you said, you
48:24
know he was in your first spot, but you know, well, that's why
48:27
everyone was hard. To pick, yeah.
48:30
It was hard to pick the first team all county when you only
48:32
have five guys on there, Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.
48:35
And I'm and I'm I'm going to catch Flack from it.
48:37
I'm sure I coach Matt's dad, you know, at Felician that that has
48:43
an offer from Felician. You know, I'm not, I'm not
48:46
dispounting it. I'm also trying not to be biased
48:48
as well, right? You know, but but yeah, I mean,
48:52
I just think, you know, there I would like to see him do a
48:57
couple more things that would have separated himself from from
49:01
the first team nod. But yeah, I mean, he he's a he's
49:05
A and he's first team because he's the first team caliber
49:09
talent. I'm not, I'm not taking anything
49:10
away, but like I said, I mean, he's, he's right there, you
49:16
know, Jake Ellis, who's also right there.
49:18
Both of those guys, you know, were, were the, you know, part
49:22
of that three headed monster that Gacchione had and they're
49:26
deserving of first teams. I just feel like there's so many
49:28
guys on the first team and and not that they're none of them
49:31
are, are less deserving of a first team compared to a second
49:34
and third team. I just feel like, you know, when
49:37
when we were in school, you know, you had to really like
49:41
separate yourself from everybody else.
49:42
Like, you know, there it was just so competitive.
49:47
Like those were just the the hard conversations and the hard
49:51
choices that had to be made in those rooms with the Bergen
49:54
County coaches. Yeah.
49:56
But back then there was no, I didn't feel slight, like nobody
49:59
felt slighted. Like, like, yeah, we had Ellen
50:03
Park had a really good year. You know, could you make a case
50:08
for for one of the guys from All Park to be on the All County
50:10
team? Yeah, but are you going to be
50:12
All County over Sean Banks, Joe Sandburg or Adrian Joseph who
50:18
were going to Memphis 10 and Virginia?
50:23
Probably not, you know, And the other thing is like, you might
50:27
be, you might be disappointed and you might even have a case,
50:30
but you didn't, your parents didn't start threatening to sue
50:33
the Academy Coaches Association or you know, it's it.
50:37
Yeah, it's a different time. It's a different time.
50:39
Yeah, it's a different time. So.
50:41
Definitely a different time and like I said, but all these, all
50:43
these kids you know are deserving of it and they all, if
50:46
you look at the list, they all like help to get their teams to
50:52
what they accomplished. So the individual athletes
50:56
definitely reflect, you know, their, their their team
51:02
performance because the the team wouldn't have done some of the
51:05
things without their individual performances.
51:07
You know, Marcos Estrada being one of them.
51:10
You know, I, you know, hack attack was solid this year.
51:12
But like, you know, if Marcos isn't there, you know, do they
51:17
do they still do what they did this year, Maybe solid?
51:20
Yeah. It's still solid, but do they do
51:22
they do as much as the team? Maybe not right, you know.
51:29
Well, well, here. How about this?
51:30
How about this? Pharaoh Heathen Pharaoh Dixon.
51:32
Pharaoh got hurt. He tweets a few games, you know,
51:36
it wasn't like like the pass the passable last year where he
51:38
missed extended amount of time, but there was a few games he
51:41
missed where. A good shot, yeah.
51:43
Those are Highlands probably has a different season overall.
51:47
He's healthy all year. Yep.
51:50
Yeah. And Alex Zella had a really good
51:51
year. You know, people probably judged
51:54
Alex for leaving Saint Joe's and going to Bergen, you know,
51:58
talking about, you know, you, you know, bandwagoning or
52:00
whatever they probably said to the kid, you know, but he still
52:03
went there and did the same, if not more for Bergen that he did
52:10
at Saint Joe's. You know, and Dylan Stone is as
52:12
up and coming and, and you know, he's going to have, he's going
52:17
to have 1000% have his opportunity to be, you know,
52:21
first team. I just think, you know, in my
52:24
mind, he's probably on the second team as a sophomore, you
52:27
know? Well, you got Yep.
52:30
Well, according to the all county to the list, Dylan Stone,
52:34
Alex Mazzella, Jake Ellis and Aidan Goldschnider are the top
52:37
returning players in Bergen County next year.
52:39
They're the all the non seniors on the first team and on the
52:42
second team you got Sebastian Rogers from Ridgewood, AJ Gregg
52:46
from Ramapo, David Brennan from Old Japan and Ian Rossig from
52:52
Riverdale and Nick Cartagena as well from Richfield Park.
52:56
So, you know, there's a good contingent of underclassmen that
53:00
are going to be fighting it out for those spots as well.
53:03
And when I talk about Nick Cartagena, I am so bummed
53:06
because we are this deep into the show and I can't believe I
53:09
haven't said it already. I probably.
53:10
Yeah. Yeah, my boy, our friend, one of
53:15
the best dudes in the history of Bergen County basketball.
53:17
After 24 years as the head coach of the Richfield Park Fighting
53:21
Scarlets, our guy Chris Gaskin has decided to step aside and
53:26
step down as the head coach at Richfield Park.
53:29
Now we I think we all have a pretty good idea of who his
53:32
successor will be. He must be board approved and be
53:35
made official before we can announce it here.
53:40
But sources close to the program have ascertained the identity of
53:45
the next head coach of the Richfield Park Scarlets.
53:47
But salute to Chris Gaskin. Classy.
53:52
Just you know, he, he put in a great shift and was a yeah.
53:56
He was the liaison to the Bergen County Coaches Association for
54:00
many years. He has the best interest of the
54:03
kids of Richfield Park and the basketball players of Bergen
54:07
County. You know, first and foremost in
54:10
everything that he did over the last quarter of a century at
54:14
Ridgefield Park. So salute bro.
54:16
And a job well done. Yeah, absolutely.
54:19
I mean, it was a privilege, you know, for me to played against
54:22
them, to coast against them. He's coached some really,
54:27
really, really great kids. John Taylor, who I got the coach
54:30
at police team, Nico Velez, he's had some really good guys and
54:36
and they've won a lot of basketball games for him and
54:38
he's won a lot of games. But you know, outside of the
54:42
wins and losses, he's the first of all.
54:45
He's the kind of coach that, you know, when you're growing up in
54:50
Richfield Park, you know that you're going to get coached by
54:52
Chris Gaskin. All his antics, you know, loud.
55:00
He holds kids accountable. He prepares kids not just for,
55:05
you know, their sports seasons, but I think he helps mold them
55:09
into into young men and and gets them to the next level, whether
55:13
they're just going to be students or they're going to
55:14
play a sport in college. But he helps.
55:17
He helps kids become young men and he's going to be greatly
55:20
missed. And I know he'll be involved and
55:23
he'll be at those games and he'll be in the stands.
55:25
And he'll be on the ball game next year.
55:27
I've already told them that we, you know, when you can't get in
55:29
touch with Brad Forest theory when he's in Felician practice
55:32
or at work or whatever. I got to fill in hope on.
55:35
Standby there. So Chris Gaston.
55:38
Yeah, it'll be felt there for a little bit, you know, probably
55:41
not too long because the successor's going to do really
55:42
well and, and pick up the porch and keep it moving.
55:44
But. But yeah, you know, it's just
55:46
it's going to be weird to see almost like like, you know, when
55:50
Jay Mahoney retired from Pagoda, it's going to be weird to see
55:52
somebody else, you know, parading up and down the
55:55
sidelines. But but you know, 24 years doing
56:00
it, you know, it's just, you know, it's well deserved.
56:05
And I, and I hope, I hope he enjoys a little bit less stress
56:11
when Thanksgiving rolls around and when Mark rolls around.
56:15
No doubt about it. All right, so that's a great way
56:17
to end the show, Brad. That's a positive, uplifting
56:20
message. Chris Gaskin will be the last
56:23
name mentioned for the 20252026 high school basketball season.
56:28
I look forward to this. And first of all, or lastly, I
56:31
should say thank you, Brad, because you know, we we got a
56:34
lot of action on the podcast this year.
56:37
We got mostly 99% great feedback, 1% terrible feedback,
56:42
but all of it made for a very worthwhile endeavor.
56:46
I'll take that same ratio again next year and even a couple more
56:50
percentage on the bad side just because people are listening and
56:53
people are passionate about high school sports in North Jersey
56:55
and that's why we're here. Yeah, you know, don't, don't
56:58
hesitate to reach out, you know, you know, give us, give us
57:02
stories to cover, give us, you know, topics that you want to
57:06
see discussed. You know, you know, we, we do
57:08
this because it's fun. It's, it's, you know, helps me
57:12
break up my norm, right, to get out of my, you know, take my, my
57:15
coaching hat off and kind of go into, you know, just being a fan
57:18
and, and enjoying, you know, basketball again, you know, from
57:23
a fan perspective, you know, especially from, you know, I was
57:27
a Bergen County, you know, basketball player growing up.
57:29
And I, I played in, in the public school realm and group,
57:32
you know, Group One. But yeah, you know, I really do
57:36
enjoy it. We have a really good time here.
57:38
I hope that all the guests and all the people that come up on
57:41
the show and, and, you know, we've gotten great feedback.
57:44
I hope everybody listening enjoys it.
57:46
But yeah, we look forward to, to getting out the gyms and seeing
57:49
games. And unfortunately I only cover
57:51
the basketball portion. I know you're getting ready to
57:53
gear up for, for baseball and softball and lacrosse and every
57:57
other spring sport that there is.
58:00
But yeah, really good time. I I enjoy our time.
58:03
It's really fun. And I'm looking forward to the
58:06
26th 27 season for sure. Stay tuned for the first episode
58:10
of Talking Baseball coming up next week.
58:13
And that's it. We will see you next year on the
58:17
ball game. Follow the leader.