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The Ballgame! w/Hackensack's Taylor · NorthJerseySports.com

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Back on the ball game, North Jersey sports.com's original
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multimedia series talking all things oops across North Jersey,
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I am Corey Doviak being joined by who was on the show last time
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as an assistant coach at a Felician university trying to
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win its first ever outright CAC championship.
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He joins us this week as an assistant coach at Felician
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University, which has for his first ever outright league
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championship. Congratulations Brad.
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Forest Theory. Thank you.
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Appreciate it. Yeah, it's it's very humbling.
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It's a very, very proud accomplishment as a as an alum,
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as a as a former student athlete there, as a as a coach there.
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It's Yeah. It's just amazing to see the
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program evolve and for for. It's just a proud moment for for
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Ivan Lewis, you know, to, you know, get this program back to,
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to where we we believe it should always be.
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So, yeah, it's cool. Outright, outright regular
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season champions, number one seed projected #2 seed in the
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NCAA tournament, you know, coming up in a couple weeks.
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As long as we handle the rest of the business along the way.
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But yeah, it's a really nice feeling.
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I appreciate that. It's been a fun ride to watch it
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too. And you know, from now I feel
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like I'm watching it from up close.
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So yeah, I see Ivan every weekend at the at the Jamboree.
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You know, he invited me to that game.
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So I feel like, you know, I'm a, I'm a huge fan of Felician
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University. I got to get me some Capelli's
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sports gear. I think so.
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We can make that happen. Yes.
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All right, so here we go on this show.
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This is we're going to start our preview of the state tournament.
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We're going to have two coaches on.
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Actually, let's put this in two. What was originally planned to
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be 1 show, we're going to split it into two because both
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interviews are too good. It would make the show too long
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if we kept them both inside the body of this main show.
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So we're going to break them out because I don't want to cut a
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minute off of either one. Hackensack head coach Aaron
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Taylor joins me and John Ziemba, the head coach at Emerson, joins
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me and Brad in a separate interview that I will pull out
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as a separate section of the show.
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But we're going to get to Aaron Taylors interview on this part.
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But first we got to show up some other things that have happening
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around North Jersey and Brad, we got to start with the jam, but
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we've been all over it since it was seeded.
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I mean, you know, we've been fighting about it, talking about
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it, everything about it and the semifinals for for as great as
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this Bergen County Jamboree has been all year, and you know, I
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talked about it with Aaron, we talked about it with Johnny,
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it's been a great Bergen County Jamboree.
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Although the semifinals were a little bit anticlimactic.
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Not through anybodies fault. Bergen Kappen is great and Aiden
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Aiden Goldscheider got hurt. Yeah, you know, my heart goes
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out to ghost Snider. I mean, I, you know, literally
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the, the, the very first possession of the game, you
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know, Kennedy, you know, goes to shot fake Aiden, comes down and
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try and swipe at it, pops out his his shoulder on his dominant
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hand. And and, you know, I, it must,
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it seemed to me like it's happened before to him.
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I could be wrong, but it seems like it's happened before.
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And he kind of just stood right there in the paint.
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It looked like he was trying to just kind of get it back into
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place and see if he could go. And I, I just don't think he was
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able to. And that was it.
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You know, it was time to go to the hospital and get it taken
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care of. But yeah, kind of definitely
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changed the, you know, the momentum of the game.
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And and but, you know, my hat goes off to to Nick Lewin and
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Nick Baldini. Yep.
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You know, just, you know, and just to to coach Culler's team.
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I mean, just and I never say die attitude.
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Those kids gave everything that they they could.
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You know, they're just a little bit overmatched.
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You know, Goldstar does a lot for them on the court.
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And when, you know, when one of your, your rocks that you lean
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on, you know, kind of goes out, it's a little bit tougher.
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But but man, those kids gave them every, everything they had
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in the tank and, and they didn't they, you know, they shouldn't
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leave that court with anything but their hats off that they,
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they gave it all they could. There's no regret there.
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No. And you know what the great
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thing about it is? Well, I mean, it's it's so tough
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because if you had, you know, if you had gotten hurt in practice
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before, maybe you had a practice or two to get ready to play
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without him. You know, when it happens,
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you're not even sweating yet and all of a sudden everything's
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changed. So it was an impossible
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situation to try to pull it together.
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But then you give Jeff Kohler a couple days of practice and then
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he goes out and beat Demarest on Tuesday to win the outright
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league championship. Now, they had a share of the
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league title no matter what happened.
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But still, if they had gone through this season to get off
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to a 19 and O start to get to the Jambo semifinals for just
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the second time in the, you know, first time since 2013.
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The third time in school history and you know really what has
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been you got to say at least one of if not the greatest season in
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the history of 10 to 5 basketball.
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You know, they they were in danger of having no hardware if
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they don't go on to win a sectional title.
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And even that would not be any, you know, slight because N one
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Group 3 is stacked. So, you know, they're not going
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to win the Jambo and they, yeah, I give them all the credit in
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the world for regrouping, you know, after.
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The Yeah. Sunday Jamboree, Monday,
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Tuesday, win a league title. That's huge.
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Yeah, it's huge. And I hope Ghosts are, you know,
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can get back and and and, you know, can play, you know, even
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if it's 80%. I'm I'm sure he wants the
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opportunities to get back out on the floor with those guys for
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whatever run they're gonna make. So I hope, we hope he gets a
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speedy recovery. But yeah, you know, on the and
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on the flip side, you know, you know, I think gastro has those
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guys and you know, like I know we're getting towards the end of
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the season, but they they look like they're in mid season for
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them. You know, they're they're really
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playing well. All those guys are are are just
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feeding off of each other. They're playing well.
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They said Bergen's Bergen and we'll touch on that game after
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this. But but yeah, I think, you know,
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I think Saint Mary's, you know, look very good.
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And I'm not saying it would have changed the outcome if you know
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if Goldsteiner plays, but I definitely think it's definitely
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a A bit of a different ball game, probably coming down to
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the last two minutes of the game.
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Yeah, the what if is the disappointing part and not, you
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know, again, for us as fans, correct, That's the what if
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that's that's the tough part. So like you said, St.
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Mary, take nothing away from them because they're they've
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been, you know, gas pedal to the floor for the better part of a
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month and a half now. I mean, they haven't lost since
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January 3rd. The result is in from the NJIC
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final. They beat Lyndhurst.
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Hey, when I interviewed Brian Gaccion after the Tenafly game,
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he said it was pretty cool that we're going to get to play for 2
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championships in the same week. So they took care of the NJ NJIC
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part of it. And now a whole different kettle
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of fish coming up with Bergen Catholic.
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I mean, they're not only the class of Bergen County all year,
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they're the class of the state of New Jersey if you go by
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nj.com's rankings. And those are the most complete
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ones we got. So, you know, I, I don't know,
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I, I'm debating like, you know, does does Saint Mary have a
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chance or is it, you know, as one of it's tough, it's tough I.
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And I was at the NJIC final. I stopped, I stopped in while I
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was at work just to to see since it was in my neck of the woods.
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Stopped in watched the and it and it, you know, it was for the
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most part lopsided for a good portion of the game.
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But Lyndhurst had, you know, same, same attitude.
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They they gave it everything they had.
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They ended up being about a 17 or 15 point win for Saint
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Mary's. But the difference that I saw,
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and I'm not saying that they could play with Bergen, but you
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know, they're they're 3 headed monster and and Olkowski,
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Kennedy and Ellis played really well.
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Olkowski was was making everything from beyond the arc,
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blocking shots. You know, if they bring that
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same attitude and intensity, you know, I'm not saying that
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they're going to they there could be an upset, but I think
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they they're going to make it a bit of a game for a little bit.
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You know, I think if they, they can come out and play that with
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that, you know, that sense of urgency and, and, and toughness
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that I, that I saw tonight. You know, I said there's,
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there's a lot of monsters over there in that Burton Catholic
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team. But you know, it, it may not be
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and it could be, it could be, it could be a completely one sided
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event. But I, I think they're gonna,
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they're gonna, I know Gash, he's gonna scheme for something and,
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and give himself at least a, a glimmer of an opportunity that,
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you know, if guys can hit shots and, you know, can defend, who
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knows? Yes, yeah.
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I mean, listen, they got to play perfect for 32 minutes, and
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Bergen's depth and Bergen's just sheer athletic ability are going
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to be advantages in their favor. But hey, you know, Villanova
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played a perfect game and won a national championship, beat
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Patrick Ewing and and Georgetown with no shot clock.
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So that's it. Yes.
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Gary McClain, Ed Pinckney. John, you never, you never know,
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you know, you never know. I mean, and that's why we play
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the game and you know, hey, you know, if you, you guys are on
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one night and it just happens to be a night off and, you know, a
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bad night for them, anything can happen, you know?
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Yes, but that's what it's going to take.
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So Friday night at the Rothman Center, or the building formerly
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known as the Rothman Center on the campus of Fairleigh
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Dickinson University, it's #1 Burton Catholic against #3 the
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Saint Mary's Gales. And we'll see.
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We will be in attendance for that, at least.
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I will. And a couple more things I want
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to touch on before we get to the Aaron Taylor interview here.
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And I don't expect you to have a comment on this.
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Brad. When was the last time you saw a
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high school girls basketball game?
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Two seasons ago, that's when my when my niece was was playing.
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But yeah, not since. Not since then.
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All right, I just, I wanted to make mention because on the
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girls side of the Bergen County Tournament, there will be a
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public school champion for the first time since Northern
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Highlands won it in 2014 #5 Ramapo upset top seed IHA in
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overtime. And again, it was a that listen,
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Rand Paul deserved to win. They they scored the last, I
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think 8 or 9 points of regulation to tie it and then
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went ahead in the overtime. IHA caught a tough break with an
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ankle injury to one of their better players late in the
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fourth quarter. And that kind of, you know,
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helped the comeback. But you know, again, Rand Paul
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earned it. I don't mean to say anything.
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That's just a fact of the game. And they will play second seeded
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Northern Valley Demarest this Saturday 2:00 PM start at
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Pascack Valley High School. Demarest in the final for the
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second straight year. And it's going to be it's a
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clash of of two. You know, Ram PO has been there
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before under Sandy Gordon, who's one of the Bergen County's all
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time greats. She won back-to-back county
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championships in the early 20 tens.
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Demarest has never won a girls basketball county championship.
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They lost to Saddle River Day last year in the final but two
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seed round pose at 5:00 and we'll see what happens there.
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And then the other last piece of information I want to pass along
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and more to follow on North Jersey sports.com because I am
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currently writing the feature story.
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But Chris Kasparian, senior from Powell Park, became the all time
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leading scorer in Palisades Park boys basketball history.
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He passed the great George Cloudier, who we inducted into
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the Powell Park Hall of Fame at our first time of asking when we
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start, when we started the Power Park Hall of Fame back up about
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6 or seven years ago, George Cloudier had scored fourteen
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14167 points. Chris Kasparian now over 1550 in
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his career. So, Brad, small school guys
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doing big things. Yeah, my hat's off.
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My hat's off to Chris, you know? You know, I don't think anybody
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ever, you know, has aspirations of you know, I'm, I'm sure
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everybody has aspirations of being the school's all coming in
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score and you know, you never know what the history is, but
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you know, definitely an incredible feat, you know,
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something that you know, you'll look back on years down the road
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no matter what you do after high school.
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And it's something that you, you know, you hold dearly close to
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your chest, you know, by us. You know, I grew up hearing
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stories about Ricky Datakis. So it's like, you know, you had
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to, you had to live with that shadow above you, but you know,
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the feat that wasn't accomplished.
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But I did win a section title just like he did.
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So, you know, there's, there's little tidbits that you can take
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away and you know, it's, it's good to know that, you know, you
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look back in your school's history and you're, you know,
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you can be mentioned with some of those guys that guys and
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girls who have, you know, have their stamp on their, on their
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school's history. Nice.
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It's a nice feeling. And it was probably sometime, I
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don't know, around the he's a four year starter.
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It was probably the, I don't know, second or third game of
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his sophomore year when he passed a kid named Corey Doviak
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of the all time scoring. Well, that being said, let's
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move on to our first guest of the evening.
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On this episode of the ball game is an old friend.
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And I say that he's an old friend because we were standing
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around at the Rothman Center at the Bergen County Jamboree last
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week when his athletic director director mentioned that this is
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his 16th season as the Hackensack High School head
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coach. He is Aaron Taylor, and Aaron,
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where did the time go? Well, first, thank you for
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having me on the show. Appreciate it.
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And I, I do not know, I know that when I, when I took the
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position, Mr. Whiting, the Half Life director, said you are you,
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you probably going to be around for a while and you might
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actually challenge coached our Harrison's tenure, which was I
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think the long distance is 18 years.
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Wow. And at the time I was like,
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there's no way I'm going to, I'm, I'm going to even come
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close to that number. And so now we're #16.
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It flies by and it's funny. I remember the first time I
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heard of you was our mutual Frank Garrison Ward, the Rampo
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baseball coach. He said my dad, you know his
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dad, Gary Ward, I think that he just went to the Hall of Fame,
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right? The 1975 team went into the.
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Hall of Fame. Gary Ward was a part of it.
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And I remember Garrison text me, oh, you're going to love this
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guy, the new head coach at Hackensack, blah, blah, blah.
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So he was right. And here we are on the ball game
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16 years later. So time does fly.
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So Aaron, let's talk about this Hackensack team.
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You know, it's been a good season, 15 and 9 at this point.
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You made a good run, the Bergen County Jamboree.
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You got the number two seed in the North one Group 4 state
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sectional playoff. So, you know, maybe after 24
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games here, give us a little state of the state on the
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comments. You know where you think you're
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at. Ashley, we are where I expected
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to be going into the season. I thought we had a really good
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group and the pieces fit very well together.
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And I thought that we would be able to make a, you know, a
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strong run through the state tournament.
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And I think that road was a little bumpy along the way.
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Didn't get off to the start that I expected, you know, but I
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think we're we're starting to rolling to form and then we are
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getting to that point where I'm racking my brain trying to
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figure out how to keep them interested on a daily basis.
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So I think that's where we are now.
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Yeah, well, it's a long season, you know, you do go through it.
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I mean, I feel it myself, but then again, I'm a lot older than
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these kids. But you know, you feel it, you
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know, especially with the winter, it's been too, it's been
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cold, it's been, you know, the snow on the ground and
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everything else. And I, I think a lot of coaches
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are trying to do the same thing of, you know, just fighting off
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the to get to the state tournament when obviously the
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juices will start flowing again. You know, everybody gets that
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adrenaline and state tournament action happens.
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But this is that weird week, you know, like, what are we going to
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do this week? Especially if you're not
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playing, you know, in a county semi final or final or whatever
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it might be, you know? Exactly.
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Exactly. So it's you you've had, I mean,
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you know, Ford's been fire playing in a tough league, you
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know, playing obviously in a tough county.
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You know, where do you think the the biggest improvement of the
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team has been from the beginning?
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Because you have a nice mix, you know, just looking at your
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roster and seeing you in the the Jambo, you have a nice mix of
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younger guys and some older guys.
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So maybe yeah. And you know, give us a little
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low down of the the older guys and the young guys coming up and
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pushing them. Yeah, that's correct.
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This is actually been a rejuvenating group for me.
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They're they're they're a joy to coach, some great personalities.
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I think they mesh well. They mesh very well together.
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The seniors are really good leaders and they're really
17:27
encouraging of the under guys. So they root for them, they, you
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know, encouraging to them in the games and practice off the court
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and, you know, but they also know when to get on them as
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well. And, you know, with with
17:46
constructive, you know, criticism.
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And I think the younger guys are receptive to them because
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they're they're seeing both. They see the encouragement they,
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you know, they're making, they make mistakes.
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They're like, it's all right. Or sometimes it's a mistake that
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they can't make. And I think these three seniors
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that that start Jimiko, Marcos and Kwaidir are, are excellent
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leaders for this this particular team that we have.
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Yeah, and then you know, so you you make the run to the corner
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finers of the Jambo and now I have the bracket open in front
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of me here N one Group 4. I mean, you talk about a, a
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bracket that's wide open. I mean, I'm looking, you know,
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like I, I think I, I saw Fairlon in the first round of the county
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tournament. Give Demarest all they can
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handle on the road, took them the overtime and they're in the
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13 seed. I mean, just, you know,
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everybody's dangerous. I mean, Hackensack can win it
18:44
all. Hackensack can get a real test
18:45
from North Bergen in the first round.
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That is correct. Yes.
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It's you gotta take 10 years for granted.
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I think this this high school season had been that way on, you
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know, any given Sunday and you know, well, for the most part,
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you know, there's obviously some teams like burden Catholic that,
19:04
you know, above and beyond, but I think going on on most days,
19:09
you know, you can't guarantee a wedding by anyone.
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And. Our group is.
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This is the same. Our group is, you know, our
19:18
section is just the same. It's going to be about, you
19:21
know, who shows up that day. I think homecourt for us is
19:26
always a big thing, you know, so that's what we were trying to
19:29
push to, you know, to finish the finish as high as we possibly
19:33
could because, you know, we've the comments are just a
19:36
different team and at home. Yeah, it is a it's a great place
19:41
to play and it's into like, you know, Bergen County basketball
19:45
is so much better when Hackensack's good, when
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Teaneck's good, when, you know, my beloved, as I always say, my
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wife's 30 years in the Englewood Public School District as a
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teacher. So my beloved's like Morrow too,
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you know, So I mean, and it. It's a good point you brought up
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about this season being any given Sunday.
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I mean, for me, I was as excited for this Jambo as any over the
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last, you know, since Teaneck made their runs with Jerome
20:13
Smart because, you know, it was funny them trying to hold off
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the big boys, you know, stem the tide.
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And after that run ended, we all saw what happened.
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But this was the first year since then really where you
20:24
didn't know who was going to win three out of the four
20:26
quarterfinal games. And I think that's great for
20:29
Bergen County basketball, even if it's a one, one off, you
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know? No, I agree.
20:35
I agree. I personally can't seem to to
20:39
get a win that I after you. So I was, I was hoping that
20:45
quarterfinal game was going to be at ack attack again, but
20:48
unfortunately this year it was that after you.
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Because as we know, the comments are a better team as you just
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mentioned. So, you know, you're a good guy
20:57
to ask though about the, you know, the Jambo final.
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I mean, obviously Burton Catholic has been the class of
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not just Burton County, but really of the state all year
21:07
long. St.
21:08
Mary playing as well as anybody else though.
21:10
And they just beat Lynnhurst in the NJICNJIC final tonight, I
21:14
think to win it all. But different kettle of fish.
21:17
Lynn Hurst again, then Burton Catholic.
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Just as a, you know, an opposing coach who's put together a game
21:23
plan against both of those teams.
21:25
I mean, this I I want to believe that Saint Mary has a shot.
21:29
I'm having a hard time believing that Saint Mary's has a shot.
21:32
I agree with you. I agree.
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I think they're they're a very good team and I think they'll be
21:39
able to, you know, hang around for a while.
21:42
But I just think Bert and Kaufer just too talented, too deep, too
21:49
big, you know, and it's just going to, it just wears you
21:52
down. You have to play the perfect
21:53
game against them. And you know, it's just, I'm not
21:58
putting any. I wouldn't put my money on
22:02
someone else. I did it last week.
22:06
I took I bet I bet pizza at the Park Tavern with former
22:10
Rutherford head coach Nick Debarry.
22:11
I took Tenafly and Needless to say, Aiden Goldscheider popped
22:15
his shoulder and I owe Nicki Debarry pizza.
22:17
So I'm done. I'm I'm done gambling on the
22:20
Jambo. That was short lived, but yeah.
22:22
That's unfortunate that's, you know, you hate to see that.
22:24
You hate to see, you know, players go down and you know,
22:29
you always, always want to wonder, you know, what if if you
22:32
didn't, you know if you did get injured.
22:35
Yeah, I mean, listen, Saint Mary's could have won that game
22:37
handily anyway, but they might not have and or, you know, or
22:41
Tenafly could have won the game handily.
22:42
Either way. It's just, you know, even I, I
22:44
saw Tenafly, you know, we're off the beaten path here.
22:47
But I saw Tenafly rebounded with a win over Demarest to clinch
22:50
the outright league championship without Aiden on Tuesday night.
22:55
And, you know, because Jeff Colwin had a couple days to
22:58
prepare for not having that guy. But when it happens 13 seconds
23:02
into the game and you don't even have really a time out to come
23:05
up with a new game plan and everything else that's.
23:09
Tough. So what are the keys here in
23:12
this N one group for? I mean, you're the number two,
23:14
you're going to host North Bergen, Montclair at the top of
23:16
the bracket. They're going to host Passaic.
23:18
I mean for you guys, if you do what well, you should be able to
23:22
make a run. If we defend at a high level and
23:29
are able to get out and transition and make the game
23:35
open, you know, up and down an open run, we will have great
23:41
success in in that section, yeah.
23:44
Well, I'm looking forward to do it to seeing her, too.
23:46
And has Anthony been at practice with his North Jersey sports.com
23:50
T-shirt lately? Or.
23:53
No, he actually hasn't been at practice.
23:55
He did come today. Really.
23:58
Which I thought was interesting. I mean, is there?
24:03
Is there a? Problem No, I think he no, I
24:05
think he's just like, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm
24:08
going to stick to my I've been away so I'm not going to start,
24:13
you know, where where creatures have had it.
24:15
So and I got to do something different now that we haven't
24:19
been doing so. All right, so I was going
24:21
through some history here. My I made some notes and in
24:26
North Jersey sports.com history too, which is one of the
24:28
craziest games I've ever covered.
24:30
I think it's the last time you won state section.
24:32
I know you've been to two other ones, but 2013 was the last
24:36
state sectional championship, is that right?
24:38
No, that was the first, the first we won in 2016 and 2018
24:43
when we had a fever. BJ for BJ that group for a
24:48
couple years. Right.
24:50
Remind me to fire my research department.
24:53
But the first one which I was at, I remember driving down to
24:57
the to the Dunn Center in Elizabeth.
25:00
It was one of the craziest nights.
25:02
I mean it was on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013.
25:07
You had an 8 point lead in the second, you know, with with you
25:11
know about I don't even know what, 4 minutes to go in the
25:13
game or whatever. Lost to a Linden team that was
25:16
coached by Phil Colicchio 8378 in overtime.
25:22
Chris Myers, your point guard was brilliant in that game as I
25:26
remember. He was Curly Neil in that game.
25:28
Really. And Rashad Figures had a good
25:32
game for you. It was.
25:34
But just to set the scene a little bit, first of all, like
25:37
at some point in the game, a fight spilled out into the
25:39
stands, out from the stands in first quarter.
25:45
And it was, it was the craziest thing ever because like the seas
25:48
parted to let the fight fall onto the floor, like spill out
25:51
onto the floor. You know, people just moved and
25:53
it came down the middle, then they moved back and then the
25:56
cops jumped in, had it cleaned up.
25:58
I think like the Gatorade bottle got spilled.
26:00
Like somebody was out there with a mop.
26:02
The cops had three guys out the door.
26:04
It was a minimal delay. It was like nothing happened.
26:06
It was just like the reps like, OK, let's like, so that, that
26:09
like set the tone for the whole night.
26:11
And then you got a technical foul, what, 3 minutes into the
26:17
game because I'm. Reading it was pretty early.
26:20
Yes, it was pretty early. OK.
26:23
Yeah, well, the fight was the actually, there actually wasn't
26:26
a fight in the crowd. There were, if I recall
26:31
correctly, Lyndon had beat Elizabeth to go to the the group
26:38
four 70s to play us. And they came out of the crowd
26:43
and were like, oh, they're cheating.
26:45
Just like they're cheating, Hackensack.
26:47
Just like they cheated us. And they took the garbage can
26:51
and dumped it on the tuna. And then so it was just like
26:57
mainly. And they were like, oh, it
26:59
happened a second. Literally they were like that.
27:00
That has nothing. There's nobody managed that in
27:02
that area. It has nothing to do with us.
27:05
And you know, but they literally cleaned it up and like,
27:08
continued the game. Yes, it was so crazy.
27:11
I was sitting at the opposite end of the floor.
27:13
And even all these years later, I still have the visual picture
27:16
of my mind. But like you said, they cheated
27:20
you. And I don't think Phil Cilicia
27:21
was listening to this, and I don't think he's going to hear
27:23
this, so I'm going to. You can hear it, You can hear
27:26
it. I'll be happy to hear.
27:29
It my friend Aaron Taylor, who is one of the most calm, cool
27:33
and collected dudes that I know. All right, so after the game,
27:37
here's his quote. It was obvious the other coach
27:40
was disrespectful in front of the refs, and they kept telling
27:43
me to stop. If I'm out of line, I'm out of
27:46
line. But we were both out of line.
27:48
Everybody knows. I don't have to tell you.
27:51
I don't have to write the story. You have to write the story.
27:54
It was on TV, it was in front of hundreds of people, and
27:57
everybody knows what happened today, said Taylor, whose track
28:01
record suggests an unflappable COB on the sidelines.
28:05
I got a technical foul because I cursed at their coach because he
28:09
was saying all kinds of obscenities to me and being
28:12
disrespectful. He said our kid punched his big
28:15
man in the back of the head and I told him that's not what
28:18
happened. Colicchio was like, I wasn't
28:21
talking to you, get the blank out of here.
28:23
Who the blank do you think you are?
28:25
He said blank. You go sit on your blanket,
28:28
bitch. So I said like you and the refs
28:31
gave me a text. I asked the ref if he heard the
28:34
stuff Colicchio was saying, and he said yeah, but you said it to
28:37
my face. You got cheated, Eric.
28:41
You got cheated out of a trip to the Group 4 state finals.
28:45
Your comments? Have you had time to digest all
28:48
the events of that evening? I just reached it's got PTSD
28:52
now, a lot of bad memories. I've seen him again since then.
28:59
You know, I mean, I played against him again, I guess
29:02
IN202016 but he was Adam Elizabeth.
29:07
I think he's Elizabeth at that place.
29:09
So but you know, they were that year, they were just better than
29:13
us and they were able to able to to take care of this.
29:18
So, but that 23rd 20, yes, we were, we were definitely cheated
29:23
out of like that. You have to go to the finals.
29:26
No one had us, no one gave us a chance.
29:30
I think all, I don't think they were all seniors, but I think
29:34
all five of those starters end up going Division One, you know,
29:40
so and I think the big kid went to Cincinnati or probably
29:45
Quadrin. More.
29:47
Yes, Quadrin more. And, and Terrell Bagley, he had
29:51
27 points and he threw it in that just added to it, right.
29:56
He I have a, a cut line underneath one of the photos.
29:59
It says Lippman's Terrell Bagley scored a game high 27 and threw
30:02
it in an 80 plus footer that came just after the fourth
30:05
quarter buzzer. Wish they were ready.
30:08
Wish they were ready to count as well.
30:13
Yeah, we can just go down the line.
30:15
I just thought that team played great.
30:19
You know, we, I think Colicchio is, I think his backhanded
30:26
comments in the paper was we, we played really fast.
30:33
We we almost sacrificed defense for offense, you know, something
30:38
like that, like, you know, but you know, we, we did play fast
30:43
and we had an explosive team and it was really a race to 8085 and
30:47
we thought we could get there before you.
30:49
Yeah. And then the the last quarter of
30:52
the story is I tip my from Colicchio, I tip my hat to
30:55
Hackensack. I know their coach is not too
30:57
happy with me right now, but they are well coached, they play
31:00
hard, they are disciplined and they just ran out of time
31:03
tonight. What did it?
31:05
I'm just curious, what did it say in the Christmas card you
31:07
sent to miss you? They did.
31:14
They didn't. They didn't have any writers for
31:17
the message that I wanted to send.
31:20
So great. All right, here's a segment.
31:22
My boy Sean Mcisaac, who is the assistant coach at Richfield
31:27
Park, former head coach at Clipside Park, former assistant
31:30
coach at Burton Catholic and friend of the pod.
31:33
He's sending in some new segments that we could try out
31:38
on the ball game this year. So he did the when we had Dan
31:41
Egro and Kevin de Barrio on, we did The Who would you bench, sit
31:46
and cut? But I feel like when you do
31:48
that, you put coaches on on the spot to cut one of their former
31:50
players, changing it up a little bit.
31:54
Sean sends in these two questions.
31:56
First one the best player you have ever coached against.
32:02
The best player ever coached against was Dylan Harper.
32:07
No brainer that that's easier. Yes, that's easy.
32:10
We were. We were actually.
32:12
I was having some, having a conversation with some friends,
32:17
you know, that are close to the game play and, you know,
32:20
coaching everything. And we were saying like, what is
32:23
who is the best player that we've seen in high school?
32:27
You know, and we, we came, we were around when Tim Thomas was
32:31
in, was in high school, you know, and he was a really good
32:34
player. I just, I, I, I felt that
32:38
dealing with was, was better and, or was going to be his, his
32:44
feeling was going to be higher. And you know, it's still still
32:49
debatable and he still has time, but I just think that he was
32:53
impressive. But, you know, 10 times, that's
32:55
not the take away from him. 10 times was impressive as well.
32:58
But I think I was in a different mindset because I was a player.
33:00
So I didn't evaluate it the same as I do now as a coach.
33:07
It was a crazy Paramus Catholic team with Tim Thomas and and
33:10
Kevin Freeman. Yes, they could get out on a
33:14
fast break a little bit. All right, so that's a a good
33:18
answer. I feel like every time I ask
33:20
that question, though, it's gonna be answered that similar.
33:23
I'm gonna have to get guys from the NJIC who never played
33:26
against Boston to answer that question.
33:28
But here's another good one, a player that you have coached
33:31
over your 16 years at Hackensack.
33:34
If you could bring back one of them to help you on your
33:36
state-run this year based on need or intangibles, or however
33:40
else you want the one guy you would bring back to help this
33:43
year's comments and why? Well, that's quite a few, but I
33:50
think the one that stands out the most is Jamie Moore from the
33:55
2013 team. Yeah, if you if you remember the
34:00
game, he was having a really good game and then got 3 fouls
34:09
within less than 30 seconds. He was having too good of a
34:15
game. He's having too good of a game.
34:18
He had three fouls before. I couldn't even get him out of
34:21
the game. He was fouled out of the game,
34:27
but Genique was that team. You know what Chris Myers, you
34:31
know, Chris Myers was was the most important player on the
34:36
team just because he was our point and he was our leader.
34:40
Rashad Figures was the was probably the most talented
34:44
player and you know the high, you know, highly ranked and you
34:49
know, could could do just about anything.
34:51
But Genique Moore was the Most Valuable Player on the team
34:54
because he was a high school match up.
34:58
Like he's just a nightmare because he was he was big enough
35:03
to be a forward. He was about 6-4.
35:06
And you know, he could he's had, I think he's just would watch
35:10
Carmelo Anthony and just like go to the park and like practice
35:13
his moves. But then he could.
35:16
So if you put a big on them, then he would just go outside.
35:19
He could shoot the three. He could put the ball on the
35:21
floor, you know, he was, we had, we had 3000 point scores on that
35:26
team with Chris, Chris Myers, Richard Figures and and Jim
35:33
Marshall is on the coaching staff now.
35:35
But Janik probably finished for like 980 points, you know, so.
35:45
And so he was, you know, I would talk to even like, you know,
35:48
obviously Teaneck was our rival was Teaneck, you know, and they
35:52
were just like, yeah, you know, everybody's got Christian
35:55
Bouchard. He's like, but the number one
35:57
guy on our Scotty reporter is unique because that's the one
36:01
person we can't match up to. Yeah.
36:04
And so he's a. Nice.
36:07
Kid too. Oh, great kid, great kid, great
36:09
kid. And, you know, and he was, they,
36:11
they, I think one of the officials were playing in
36:15
Connecticut and one of the officials nicknamed them
36:19
American Express. And I was like, American.
36:21
Express. And why, why he was like,
36:23
because I've never seen like take charges like he does.
36:30
That's a good one. So he he would take charges.
36:33
He would, you know, he'd sacrifice his body and he could
36:36
just you know, he could just with this group, he could he
36:39
could fit in anywhere, you know, So I think he's the most like
36:44
the intangibles and his his ability to to guard four or five
36:51
positions and play inside outside would be the biggest
36:56
like boost to this this group. I love this segment already
37:00
because we just gave him to make more some runs how many years
37:03
after he graduated high school? So that's fun.
37:07
That's good stuff and great stuff, man.
37:09
I appreciate we can go on here all day.
37:11
I got a couple more questions. But you know, we'll save it for
37:13
when you win your next state sectional championship in a
37:16
couple of weeks. I'll have my history all
37:18
polished up by then because now I just go back and listen to it,
37:21
some of my notebook and everything else.
37:23
But listen, it was great catching up with you.
37:25
Always great to see you. And you know, this might be
37:28
devastating to some other local coaches, but you know, you are
37:31
my daughter's favorite coach. Yeah, I'm just going to say, but
37:34
if we didn't, if we didn't end with at least talking about your
37:37
daughter like then I was going to be highly upset because.
37:41
Hopefully. One of my favorite people I've
37:43
I've come in contact with. She's, yeah, she's a big fan.
37:47
She's always Aaron. We're going to see Aaron.
37:49
Yeah, we're going to see Aaron. So hopefully I'll see you in a
37:52
championship setting down the road here in a couple weeks or
37:54
so. And you know, I wish you the
37:56
best of luck. Alright, thanks for you start
37:59
talking to you. Appreciate you having on the
38:01
show and hopefully we'll be talking again soon.
38:04
All right, that was great stuff there with Aaron Taylor.
38:08
Good time talking to him and Brad, you know, Hackensack as I
38:12
talked to Aaron in the conversation.
38:15
We just had it. It's better when Hackensack and
38:17
Teaneck are good. And the you know, you know, my
38:19
beloved Dwight Morrow, Maroon Raiders too.
38:22
But you know, when Hackensack and Teaneck are good, it raises
38:26
the level of a rising tide, lifts all boats and they are the
38:31
our Bergen County Blue bloods. And I'm looking for a Hackensack
38:35
to maybe be able to make a good run this year.
38:38
Yeah, I think that N one, that N one Group One, Group 4 is going
38:41
to be for the most part wide open, you know, after the
38:46
brackets come out. You know, obviously, you know,
38:48
there's some teams that have some experienced guys and been
38:51
around for a little bit. Probably not some of the seeds
38:54
that they're used to being in. But yeah, you know, I think the
38:58
way it's laid out, yeah, Hackensack has a real shot at,
39:02
at getting, getting a sectional back.
39:05
So yeah, it, it's going to be very interesting.
39:07
That's a wide open bracket and we'll, we'll get more into that
39:11
when we, when we do our, our state tournament breakdown.
39:13
But but yeah, it's cool to see, you know, those NNJAL teams, you
39:19
know, doing fairly well getting back to glory.
39:22
Yeah, the old school NNJAL, as we talked about, we go down
39:25
memory lane. I, I it stinks that the reason
39:28
we do it is because we're so old.
39:29
But it is fun talking about the history of high school
39:32
basketball in especially in Bergen County here.
39:35
And you know, Aaron Taylor, it's 16 years at the helm.
39:39
He won a sectional championship, his first one in 2013.
39:42
He's won two more since. So it's been a great run for him
39:46
and we'll see what happens. But like you said, N one Group
39:48
4, like there you look at that bracket, there is no way that
39:52
it's 123 and four in the semi finals.
39:54
Like you could say anything can happen, but it's not going to be
39:58
Montclair, Patterson, East Side, Union City and Hackensack in the
40:01
final four. I I don't.
40:03
Guarantee you no no I I can, I will.
40:06
Unfortunately. You know we always have our
40:08
debates, but I will piggyback and say yeah the top 4 seeds
40:11
will not be in those semi finals.
40:13
All right, well, we're going to go through all the I almost did
40:16
it. I almost.
40:17
Started. Down the.
40:18
Hole. Go down the hole.
40:20
No, not going down the hole. We're going to do that.
40:22
We're going to do a Sunday edition of the show.
40:24
We're going to preview all the state tournament brackets.
40:26
We're going to try to get a couple of more coaches on.
40:28
And that's it for this part of this broadcast.
40:32
But stay tuned for another stand alone section, a great
40:36
conversation with Johnny Ziemba. So 2 for one this week on the
40:40
ball game and we will see you next time.