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The Ballgame! w/Emerson's Ziemba · NorthJerseySports.com

0:08
Back. On the Ball Game, North Jersey
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sports.com's original multimedia series talking all things hoops
0:16
across North Jersey. I am Corey Dobiak and this is
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Part 2 of this week's ball game. As Brad Forestier and I were
0:26
conducting this interview, it was supposed to be a part of the
0:29
main show this week which included some Jambo semi final
0:33
wrap up, a great conversation with Hackensack head coach Aaron
0:37
Taylor, and some other odds and ends from this past week in
0:41
basketball across North Jersey. But as we got deeper into this
0:45
with Emerson head coach Johnny Ziemba, we realized this was a
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lot. It is a great trip down memory
0:52
lane in Bergen County. We also talked about a lot of
0:55
current issues. We talked about the state
0:57
tournament with Emerson being the number two seed in North One
1:02
Group One. We got some questions to ask the
1:04
coach and the conversation went long.
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So we figured the best way to do this was to pull it out and make
1:10
it a stand alone episode all by itself.
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So without further ado, let's welcome in Johnny Ziemba from
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Emerson. Coach, Thanks for joining us
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here on THE Ball Game. Thanks, Corey, for inviting me.
1:25
And Brad and I, I listened to some of your shows.
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I listened when you had Coach Gaston on, and you guys are
1:35
great. I mean, guys are great.
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You know, we need more of this, you know, talking about Bergen
1:41
County basketball because we all love it.
1:43
How would you critique Chris Gaskin's appearance on the ball
1:46
game? Chris is, he lays in the weeds.
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He is always going to be 500 or below and he's got 21 wins so.
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The boy. The.
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Boy who cried wolf, Chris. Yes.
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All right, well. Every year he says he's going to
2:06
be bad. You know, every year he throws
2:07
up. Every year 500 I'll be happier
2:09
from 500, he says. Jeff Kohler also cut from that
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cloth too by. The way?
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Yes, yes. And that's how I was going to be
2:17
good this year because when I went to do their preseason
2:19
pictures, I said, how's it look? And he's like, oh, we look
2:21
pretty good. So for him, for Jeff Kohler, I
2:23
was like, oh, these guys are going to win, you know, the NBA
2:26
championship. I'm.
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Jeff Kohl's going to be good. You never get that out of him,
2:31
you know, Just a great coach also.
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Yes. So before we get into Emerson,
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actually you were there. I mean, what did you think of
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the the Jamboree this year? Not necessarily the semifinals
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because it was a little anticlimactic due to
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circumstances beyond anybodies control, but the Jambo this
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year, which you qualified for in a very good year for high school
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basketball in Bergen County. I thought I was just talking
2:53
about with Aaron Taylor. I thought it was the most fun
2:56
Jambo in the last 15 years because even though it ended up
3:00
chalky at the end, it didn't feel chalky all the way through
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and you always felt like somebody different could win.
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How did you feel about this year's Jambo?
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All the coaches that I talked to, we basically felt the same
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way, obviously that Bergen was just that much better and it'd
3:16
be a great tournament with, you know, if they weren't in it.
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And that's nothing against Billy and his his team.
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They're they're just that good. But it sort of played out that
3:27
way. It just there was a lot of games
3:30
that could have gone either way. I mean, just a game that sticks
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out in my head was, you know, over at the Rothman when
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Cresskill, you know, Cresskill just showed a Group 1 school
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like that. I mean, they were right there to
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the end. And you know, that's what I'm
3:47
looking at saying, Jeez, they're the number one seed here.
3:50
And they're they're pretty good. But I think the way the pairings
3:55
were, there was a lot of chances, you know, for small
3:57
schools to meet big schools and and a lot of different stuff
4:00
happened. Yes, totally.
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Yeah, Cresco gave Teaneck a real run, and you know, Riverdale
4:07
gave Teaneck a run in the game before that, and Lyndhurst gave
4:12
Tenafly a run and you know. There was a lot of high scoring,
4:16
2 crazy games. You know, we, you know, we drew
4:20
Ramapo and you know, obviously you know, 2 times state champs,
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you know, I knew they were a little younger and everything,
4:30
but you know, listen, they're still very, you know, very tough
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team. They're going to be a tough out
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in Group 3. And I thought it just really
4:39
helped our team to go up there in that kind of atmosphere.
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And that's sort of what it does when the smaller schools, you
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know, get to play the bigger schools, you know, there's not
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the mismatches, you know, that some people would think.
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And you know, the the, the smaller schools it, it helps
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them win or lose. I think it helps us a lot.
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Yes, and it also helps that you can then, you know, parachute
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down to the BIT and actually try to make a run and win a
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tournament. So.
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One of the best things ever. Best things ever.
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I still remember when I had a kid named Austin Malice at Fort
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Lee in 9495, Austin was like a 1800 point score and they only
5:20
took 16 teams for the Jamboree. And we were, I believe we were
5:25
like 14 and 2. And I sat by my phone the whole
5:28
night and it never rang. And they took a 7 and 7 Saint
5:32
Joe's and it just, it killed me. It killed me that they did that.
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And so they expand the tournament to have the VIT that
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you drop down into. It's a great thing.
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I mean, we do that it, it just started in volleyball a couple
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years ago and I had been trying to talk to the volleyball
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coaches and say the same thing. Yeah, just more opportunity.
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I mean, Joe Del Bueno took so much grief for trying to start
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it. And look, look where it is now.
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The basketball version is named the Joe Del Bueno BIT
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Tournament. So.
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Teams are loving it. And listen, you know, teams are
6:12
loving it and the crowds are great and it gives, you know,
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gives you some life. You know, it gives gives a lot
6:19
of teams life. And because I know too, like
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when you're in that Jamboree, you want to get in so bad.
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You want to get in. And sometimes you get a hangover
6:27
when you get knocked out and then you got nothing else to do.
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Now you get to drop in and play more good teams.
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Yes, and last year Saint Mary won the BIT and this year and
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they're they're in the the big boy final.
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So it it actually helps you know the growth.
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Process. Yeah, it definitely does.
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Definitely does. Oh yeah, I forgot Brad was on
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the show. Go ahead, Brad.
6:47
Hey, you know, for, for me, you know, coach and I, you know, had
6:54
to be like definitely a transition period to go from,
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you know, from, you know, Group 3 Fort Lee to, you know, back
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to, you know, to Emerson. Just talk a little bit about,
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you know, that transition for you, You know, when you when you
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have, you know, like 100 kids trying out to, you know, you
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gotta you gotta scrape to kind of get, you know, your roster,
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you know, at Emerson, you know, because it's just a smaller
7:14
school vibe. But yeah, what was that
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transition like for you when you, you know, when you coached
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some really good talent at Fort Lee, you know, the Burgos
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brothers, Josh Ford. I mean, I can go on and on, but
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yeah, I mean, you know, it's a little bit different when, you
7:26
know, there's not as many bodies to choose from and you and
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you're still getting it done. I mean, you know, 19 and five
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and and every heck of a year, you know, the two seed and N won
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Group 1. You know what?
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What was that transition like for you?
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Very eye opening. But when I resigned from Fort
7:45
Leagues as the basketball coach, my son was probably in about
7:50
fourth grade and I was coaching him and he said to me, Dad,
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you're never home da, da, da. And I just said, you know what,
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maybe it's time to just give it up for a little while.
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And I did. I resigned from Fort Lee.
8:04
There was no other job I was going for except I was coaching
8:07
a fourth grade team in that travel basketball league that
8:11
everybody plays in. Yeah.
8:13
And what what happened is? How'd you do in the?
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4th league. Well, I almost got thrown out of
8:19
every game in those. Yeah, I, I, I had a little
8:24
trouble in those games. So, but yeah.
8:27
So what happened is Ponchak, Brian Ponchak was the coach and
8:35
he, he, he had only coached 2 years.
8:36
Young guy Ponchak family, I guess from Ram, fo, Ramsey,
8:41
Ramsey. And so I, I didn't even know
8:45
about like Emerson basketball. I wasn't really interested in
8:48
anything. I was just going to coach my kid
8:50
and, and relax a little. And then that summer, Ponchak
8:54
got an administrative job. So the Emerson job opens up
8:59
about four months after I resigned from Fort Lee.
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And I go down to Bobby Cars. Bobby Carstage was retiring in
9:08
August. And I go down to Bobby
9:10
Carstage's office, and he looks at me walking in there.
9:14
And you know him. You know, Zamba, what the hell
9:16
are you doing here? And I, I said, listen, I'd like
9:21
to throw you know my name and a hat here.
9:24
I hear you have a job opening. And his I can't say everything
9:29
he said to me, but his words were basically, there is no
9:33
coach whoever ripped me more than you did in a Jamboree game
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when when Burgos was playing Hassan from Leonia, you and he
9:44
goes after you ripped me, Eddie Strohmeyer followed me into the
9:48
locker room and ripped me and said Zambo was right.
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So, so we were cracking up and he goes, listen, I'm retiring.
9:57
And I guess that, you know, he had to see who else was applying
10:01
this and that there was a few interviews and they did say to
10:04
me, you know, you have a little reputation of being a little
10:08
crazy, a little loud. That's not going to fly here.
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It took me a while to understand that.
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But you know, it was when I got there and, and I, it was the
10:21
bottom of the bottom in my opinion.
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Like there was, I had a meeting in the summer, two kids showed
10:28
up. I couldn't even find the
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basketball. It's a baseball, wrestling
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school. And I was like, what in God's
10:36
name did I get myself into? And you know, it was a little
10:41
tough in the beginning, but you know, we, we've seen to have
10:46
turned the corner pretty good. Our numbers still are, are low.
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We're still losing a good amount of kids for whatever reason.
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I, I don't get it. There's just so many different
10:59
options for kids these days. But I mean, you know, I.
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Mean if they're if they're going up the block, they're not
11:05
playing. So I mean they might as.
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Well, no, but you know what parents like to send them there
11:09
I and just 'cause it's close. It's a half a mile.
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They send them there. They want a different education.
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And, you know, listen, I deal with what I have.
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I mean, there's only about 80 kids in every class.
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The only smaller school is Midland Park.
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Yeah. So bottom line is I got a chance
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to coach my son for four years, which was an incredible
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experience. Something I'll, you know, him
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and I, you know, we'll always remember.
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We've had some Jamboree teams, I've had a couple thousand point
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scores and you know, I'd say out of the 12 years I think I have
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maybe 7 winning seasons, 5 losing seasons, but All in all
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you know, it worked out for me. Is it really been 12 years?
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I can't believe this is my 12th season because my son was my his
12:03
that was my 10th year and this is already my 12th year in
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Emerson. It's amazing.
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It's it's, you know, I, I just, I still think I'm the Fort
12:14
League coach sometimes, which I am volleyball, but.
12:19
Yeah. 12 years. I feel like it was just
12:22
yesterday Donnie Row was Donnie Row was yelling at me about you.
12:26
Donnie Row came to my game of Paramus the other day.
12:30
I think he came up from his penthouse in Florida that he
12:34
lived in, and you look great. But yeah, Donnie's a great guy
12:37
to. But yeah, we, you know, I'm,
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I'm, I'm happy it worked out, but I didn't leave Fort Lee with
12:45
intentions of this happening. It it sort of just opened up and
12:49
things went my way. Do you do you like the small
12:52
school? I mean, you know, I'm a PAL park
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guy, so I you know, I keep close tabs on what's going on in the
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small schools. I mean, do you like it?
13:00
I listen those those wars back in the day, I mean when I met
13:04
you, it was me covering the BCSL American, you know, and those
13:08
wars we I had Brian Gascion on earlier this year and we were.
13:11
Talking about, you know. You're right, the craziness of
13:15
of the old, you know he got let go right as they move to the
13:18
NJAIC. But that's a different story for
13:19
a different time or a different story for a previous podcast.
13:23
But, you know, those were crazy nights in the BCSL American and
13:27
you didn't realize like it was the norm back then.
13:29
Sold out gyms. And I remember, I'm going to
13:32
Fort Lee, 7:00 game, there's no parking.
13:35
Gotta leave at 5:30 to get there, you know.
13:38
Yeah, those games were the, the games were incredible.
13:43
And that's when kids didn't have anything else to do but go to
13:46
the games, right? And the games, I mean, I, I
13:50
still tell people about, I mean, obviously our rival was
13:54
Cliffside and the insanity at the Cliffside Games 1, you know,
14:03
oh, Frank Connelly or no, oh, Brian Cameron, Brian Cameron,
14:07
him and I were coaching against each other one night and the,
14:10
and the gym is just it, it's, it's overflowed.
14:13
And before the game starts, you know, Brian and I are good
14:15
friends. We're looking at each other.
14:17
I said it might be more fun to sit in the bleachers and watch
14:20
these crazy people just want like, go at it.
14:25
The teams on the court played hard against each other.
14:28
But those games, man, with Rutherford, you had every, you
14:32
had great coaches, all different styles.
14:37
And every night, like what? Back then you had to win a
14:40
league championship. You had to play 18 league games,
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which I to me, that's winning a league championship.
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When you win that, you earned it.
14:51
Well, I was just going to ask you, I mean, and now we're in
14:53
the day and age of the NJIC and I'm going to give you both sides
14:57
of it because, you know, now it goes by how you did last year as
15:02
to where you're positioned this year, which has its, you know,
15:05
inherent weaknesses because it's small schools.
15:07
You could have one great, you know, class of seniors and then
15:11
they leave and now you're playing up and you're and you're
15:13
rich field, but. Yes, exactly.
15:16
On the other side of it, I did. I was down in Powell Park today.
15:21
I'm going to write the story about Chris Kasparian, who
15:24
became the All. Time Very good player.
15:26
Right, so the all time leading scorer, boys scorer in POW Park
15:30
history and not so much that his individual accolades would have
15:35
been different if he had, you know, been playing in at the old
15:38
BCSL National where POW Park used to be.
15:41
But he certainly wouldn't be 5th.
15:44
What are they this year? 15 and seven?
15:47
They're the 11 seed. They're going to play Cedar
15:49
Grove and you know, they're the underdog going into the state
15:52
playoffs. But if it weren't for the
15:53
realignment, they would never have had the chance, you know
15:56
what I'm saying? Yeah, that's a very good point,
15:58
very good point. But as far as you know, when you
16:02
want to talk about the competitiveness, because even
16:04
back then, Johnny, to win the BCSL National, you had to, you
16:08
know, Queen of Peace, North Arlington, Powell Park and, you
16:12
know, back in the day when those were tough places to play
16:15
because they were always sold out and you could chances were
16:19
you were getting into a fight before you got out, as Brad
16:21
knows, in the old BPSL days, I mean, it was hands up all over
16:24
the. Place I'm one Park Garfield.
16:27
Yeah, those. Games what would I Paterson
16:28
Catholic to save tax? I mean, yeah, yeah.
16:32
So it's a different world, but there are are pros and cons to
16:36
it. But when I like you, when I see
16:38
that you know a team is 7 and three and won a league
16:42
championship like the home and home 18 game schedule it was,
16:48
it's perfect. And it went into February, Yes.
16:51
The other thing with this, and this is what happened with us
16:57
last year, we got off to a rough start.
17:00
We're up and down. We won like 6 and then lost like
17:03
seven in a row. I mean, there were a couple of
17:07
reasons behind it, but the the problem was by the time we got
17:11
hot again, the league season was already over.
17:14
It's over by mid January sometimes.
17:17
And so we get ranked on our league schedule, on our league
17:22
record, which was near the bottom because we only played
17:25
eight games and they were done so fast.
17:27
We just didn't play well. And then we go 16 and 11 and
17:31
make the sectional semi and lose to Charter.
17:35
But we return everybody and and they put us, you know, I mean,
17:39
in a, in a, yeah, you get. Really.
17:43
Yeah. I don't know.
17:45
I mean, our league this year, listen to this league.
17:49
It would have been, it would have been us.
17:51
Park Ridge, Waldwick, Midland Park and Cresco.
17:55
We were all looking so forward to that.
17:57
All five of us were like, man, this is gonna be some league.
18:01
It would have been the best league, absolutely.
18:04
I mean, look at all the scores you got.
18:06
And score. Yeah, Del Rey and Graham.
18:08
And Graham, my guys got almost 1300 points already.
18:13
You got Kopchinski, who's a hell of a play.
18:16
Like we, you know, you got the two guys at Park Ridge and you
18:23
know, you could look at it both ways.
18:26
I guess I just don't know in the long run if this works in a
18:31
Group One level. I, I really think this whole
18:34
relegation was started in Newark because of the basketball,
18:38
because of schools like Arts, Newark Tech, who you don't bring
18:43
in kids could do different things that we can't do.
18:46
And they were good every year. And I think that's why it was
18:49
started. I I mean I could be wrong but I
18:51
think that's why. Well, I think you have a pretty
18:53
good handle on it. And and here's the other thing
18:55
now that the positive was the PAL Park thing.
18:57
And of course, I'm going to bring that up as a positive
18:59
because that's my school, but. Yeah.
19:02
The negative is we cannot play a basketball season or a baseball
19:06
season or a tiddlywinked season where Emerson, Park Ridge and
19:11
Cresskill are not in the same league.
19:13
There's got like, even the SEC, which has too many teams that
19:17
they can't play each other every year.
19:18
They leave the rivalries intact. Auburn plays Alabama.
19:23
Yeah. Emerson, Park Ridge and
19:26
Cresskill, which are separated, You know, you're right on top of
19:29
each other. Been playing each other for.
19:31
Years in the old. And we Co-op in multiple sports,
19:34
even from football. Yes, different, I agree.
19:38
The the movement towards delocalizing high school sports
19:42
to me, and, you know, it's done it, it started in football and
19:46
it's leaked into everything else because, you know, football
19:49
coaches need it. We need to, you know, I don't
19:51
want to play anybody until I, you know, yeah, I brackets too
19:55
hard. This we're talking about
19:56
basketball. And, you know, if you have a bad
19:59
year, you take some lumps. If you have a good year, you got
20:01
a chance to win. It's not like it's not like
20:03
football where you're worried about injuries.
20:05
Of course injuries can happen, but in in any type of.
20:07
Game in basketball doesn't matter who you're playing and I
20:10
just I, I I missed those rivalry days where it's, you know,
20:15
almost it's listen I used to cover Emerson Union City at
20:19
Emerson High School where there only stands on one side
20:22
separated by like 280 year old guys.
20:24
Very small gym, yes. Smoking cigars inside.
20:31
You went there knowing like, it may go down tonight, you know,
20:35
like, and, and I'm gonna position myself to be right in
20:38
the middle of it so I can see it all.
20:39
Happen. I want to be.
20:41
One of those guys might have been Steve Ricardi.
20:44
Probably yes. But yeah, the, the, the, the
20:50
lack of rivalries and, and it's, and it's, and it's unfair
20:53
because it almost puts the onus back on like the coaches to, you
20:56
know, finalize your, your non conference games.
21:00
You know, and you have to like create the, you have to create
21:02
the rivalry and see if your schedules line up.
21:04
You know the way it needs to be. So you can.
21:07
Play each other and and and, you know, revamp and and bring back
21:10
to life the the rivalries so kids can experience it, you
21:14
know, yes. It's and we really had to play
21:17
Park Ridge. We, Brian Koch and I talked and
21:21
he's like, listen, I'll come in your Christmas tournament and
21:23
then let's play again in January.
21:28
I, I just couldn't work out a date with the Cresskill guys.
21:31
I would have loved to play them, but both of us, you know, both
21:34
of us were doing something too that we had never done.
21:37
Like, like I, I hear I have Eastern Christian, Hawthorne
21:41
Christian and Saddlebrook, who I have never played.
21:44
I have no rivalry. Nobody really comes to these
21:48
games. And I'm saying now, you know
21:52
Elmwood, Elmwood Park and us, you know, I've developed a a bit
21:55
of a rivalry because we were the 2 best teams in the league, but
22:00
I had to go out and get a independent schedule that the
22:04
Jamboree would look at a little bit.
22:06
And it was funny because they were at all my, the Jamboree
22:11
came to my Christmas tournament. Watch me play Rutherford and
22:14
Park Ridge. They came to my independent game
22:17
against Mahwah. You know, they came to our my
22:19
independent game against Park Ridge like they, we were looking
22:22
at all my independent games because they knew I really
22:25
wasn't, you know, challenged in some of my league games.
22:29
And and like you said, like what's better than than Emerson
22:32
Partridge or Emerson Kresko with the, the bleachers packed?
22:36
And you know, I, I mean, we probably had six or eight games
22:41
this year. Wasn't absolutely nobody there?
22:45
Hawthorne Christian didn't bring the fan bus?
22:48
Damn. No, there, there wasn't a fan
22:50
bus. And like, you know, and, and
22:54
again, it's nothing against those places, but all I know is
22:57
a few years ago, and I know it was COVID, but everybody was
23:00
like, well, you can't travel too far.
23:02
You can't this. And now all of a sudden, like I
23:05
don't even know where we're going half the time.
23:07
I mean, who are my crossovers this year?
23:09
I got Harrison, Powell Park and Wallington as my crossovers.
23:15
You know, I play teams I never played before, and I knew I had
23:19
to get good teams on my schedule #1 because I wanted to be
23:24
challenged and I thought my team was going to be pretty good.
23:26
So. But it is crazy because you
23:29
really build that schedule a certain way.
23:33
All right, we've talked about everything except your team.
23:38
Give us a little little you know the state of the state with the
23:42
Emerson Cavos here, the number two seed in North one Group One
23:46
with a first round home game against boot.
23:50
Well, this is probably the first team where I've had one, more
23:58
than one or two guys who are, who are real, real basketball
24:01
kids. Like I, I feel like I got the
24:05
kind of team that these kids are.
24:11
You know, I, I don't want to say it's their favorite sport, but
24:13
it's, you know, they work hard towards basketball.
24:17
I mean, a lot of the teams I've had, you know, they were
24:23
baseball first, they were soccer first.
24:28
And first of all, I am a multi sport coach.
24:32
I believe kids should play multi sports and that's sort of what's
24:36
gone out of Emerson a little bit.
24:38
Hmm, the the the kids are not playing the two and three sports
24:44
and I also beats besides the long numbers that's hurting us.
24:48
But this team like like my main guy, John Picarello, he's a
24:54
baseball player, but I mean he he puts everything on the line
24:59
for basketball. He scored he's rated about 500
25:02
points on the year. He's close to 1300 points, just
25:08
has made our program, you know, a real solid, strong Group One
25:14
team. He's a great and we all like to
25:18
say our guys are great kids, great leaders.
25:20
He is, he's, I mean, we're, we start for juniors.
25:24
So John is, you know, I put everything on him and I put a
25:29
lot of, a lot of pressure on him as far as making sure, you know,
25:34
we do the right thing. We practice hard.
25:36
I, he's the first guy I sort of get into a little bit if, if,
25:43
you know, we're not practicing hard and you know, he takes it
25:46
like a man and, and the kids are pretty good player man.
25:49
He's 63. He could play inside and out.
25:53
And you know, I just think, you know, he's the face of our
25:57
program. But we do start 4 juniors.
26:02
The kid Kennedy is the is the next guy who's got over 400
26:05
points this year and it and his I think about 900 career and
26:12
John Kennedy is just a bad. I remember the kid in 7th and
26:15
8th grade and I said this kid is going to be legit.
26:18
I'm just so happy he came to Emerson just a gym rat
26:24
basketball kid gym rat and I don't he's very unorthodox in
26:30
how he plays his shot. His is ugly looking, but let me
26:38
tell you something get into the basket and and as fast as he is
26:42
with the ball, he's him and Picarillo are are a very good
26:46
combination together. We also start a kid named Ryan
26:51
Leone who was the I believe it was the top scorer on the soccer
26:54
team. He's a 63, you know, he's our
26:57
best 3 point shooter and I think down the stretch coming up to
27:02
the State Games, we really need him to get going because I have
27:05
to have a third scorer in those games and then my other two
27:09
juniors. Ryan Dawbles, also a starter on
27:11
the soccer team. He's 59, takes the charges, gets
27:16
on the floor, leads us in assists, does everything on the
27:20
stat sheet and now he's starting to score a little bit, which is
27:24
good for us. He had back-to-back 11 point
27:27
games, which we need that 'cause you know, everybody's focusing
27:32
on the 2 main guys. And my last junior is A6 four
27:37
kid Marcos Kerssel, who played JV his first two years.
27:43
When he when he was a freshman, he didn't know the difference
27:45
between basketball and soccer ball.
27:49
But now he's coming on, he's blocking shots.
27:53
He's athletic as hell. And I think sometimes with the
27:58
like the pace of the other kids, cuz Picarillo and Kennedy just
28:02
play really fast and are savvy basketball kids, you know, he's
28:07
slowly learning how to catch their passes.
28:11
He does a great job blocking shots for us.
28:13
So we we got a nice mix it. Seems like conditioning isn't
28:18
going to be a problem with all these soccer players either.
28:20
Yeah, no. And, and listen, we, we play
28:26
maybe 7 guys, 6 1/2, you know, like most teams, you know, like,
28:32
like I used to, you know, I, I, I'd watch Kevin Deverio's good
28:37
Kevins, a friend of mine, Lisbon Emerson, I, I watch him and I
28:40
say, once you get to the playoffs, he's playing 6 1/2,
28:43
seven guys. You know, everybody narrows that
28:45
rotation down these guys, Kennedy.
28:50
Yeah, they don't come off the court.
28:52
And we've been trying to pressure more, trying to get the
28:55
tempo going a little bit more. And when they when they're bent
28:59
over, I don't even look at them. You.
29:02
Know I don't even. Look, my assistant will say,
29:04
coach, they're dying. I say I don't care.
29:07
I mean, listen, it's been working.
29:08
I mean, those two kids have combined for over 1000 points,
29:11
you know, in a season which which, you know, you don't see
29:13
too often. So, yeah, it's definitely
29:15
working. Yeah, it's good.
29:18
It's good to see the driving force down there, you know, and
29:20
they're and they're buying into everything that, you know, that
29:23
you brought over with you. So I know your style very well,
29:26
Fortley. So it's, it's good to see that,
29:28
you know, you have buy in, you know, I think that's always the
29:31
toughest thing is getting kids to buy in, especially high
29:33
school kids. You know, it's hard.
29:36
It's hard to my level. But yeah, it's good to see that
29:40
they all buy into into all of it because yeah, you're you're,
29:44
you're a tough nut to crack sometimes.
29:46
I, I think, and you're 1000% right because Brad, because kids
29:53
gotta understand, you know, kids will go out on a, when they know
29:57
the coach cares and a coach is invested.
30:00
And my 2 assistant coaches, Stephen Walsh and Sean Smith
30:06
Stevens dad was an NBA trainer for 30 years with the Pistons,
30:11
the Knicks. And this kid just, he knows how
30:14
to be an assistant. He's a great assistant and he'll
30:18
throw stuff at me during the game.
30:20
And sometimes I just look at him and, and like, sometimes I get
30:24
nasty or whatever and, and he just comes back from, I always
30:29
tell him I'm sorry at the end, end of the game, because
30:30
sometimes I lose it a little. But great assistance.
30:35
They, the kids like them. They know that they're, you
30:40
know, they're there for them. And and my guys know that my
30:42
guys know. Like I'm telling you, when I got
30:45
to Emerson, I was like, how do you even have a basketball team
30:48
here? Like it was like, and, and it
30:51
took me a while just to get a reputation and found that, Hey,
30:54
listen, this guy's here. He, he cares.
30:57
And, and that's what kids want. If they know you're there for
31:00
them, then you know, most of the time, you know, especially at
31:04
the high school level, they'll, they'll respond for you.
31:07
And, and that's why I could give it like a kid like Picarello,
31:10
like when I got a ride him, he takes it.
31:13
And you know he knows though, I'll be the first guy there for
31:17
him when it when you know, when he needs it.
31:20
Well, as my great friend Brian Dunn likes to say, pay attention
31:23
to the mess, the message, not the volume at which which is
31:27
delivered. Yes, so all.
31:30
Right, Johnny? This brings us to the segment of
31:33
the show sponsored by Sean Macisaac, who sent in some
31:36
questions for you. All right, No, they're, they're
31:40
easy until the last one. Then you're gonna have to make a
31:42
hard decision. So the first one is the best
31:44
player you've ever coached against.
31:49
Corey Rossi. Yeah, definitely a few ones.
31:52
You just blew the whole game because I mean not.
31:55
Really. Because it it could have went,
31:57
it could have went differently. I.
31:58
Just had an amount of time. My start bench and cut that was
32:02
sent in from the old BCSL American, Josh Robinson, Donald
32:06
Henny and Corey Raji. Johnny, you got to start one
32:10
bench 1, cut 1. So now you obviously you're
32:12
going to start Corey Raji. And anyway, you start Corey
32:16
Raji, definitely. And who are the other two?
32:18
Donald Henny and Josh Robinson from Riverdale and Donald.
32:24
Yeah, Josh Robinson was killer. I mean, I mean, he was a killer.
32:28
Yeah. I I if I had to choose between
32:31
Robinson and Henny. Yep.
32:33
I'd take Robinson, Wow, Henny was a hell of a player too.
32:37
Yes, crazy. All right, so the last one is,
32:40
and this is a good one, this was Sean's.
32:41
This is a good idea for Sean. It was a good conversation with
32:44
Aaron Taylor earlier in the show, too, a player that you
32:47
coached in the past that you could bring back to help you in
32:51
this year's state-run based on need or intangibles or whatever.
32:55
So which of the old boys are you bringing back to help this
32:58
group? I I think what a thing like this
33:02
like it'd be easy for me to say Sandy Burgos, Pedro Burgos, you
33:08
know, I mean that that the thousand point scores the.
33:13
Kidneys. Yeah, those guys, I think it's
33:16
easy to say that, but there's a kid who played for me and and
33:22
and this again is I'm I'm looking at it a little
33:25
differently, like a little out-of-the-box.
33:27
There's a kid named Mike Missesian.
33:30
Mike Missesian was a six one center.
33:34
He was first team all county, real first team all county.
33:38
When there was 10 guys, he was MM was 20 and 10 every night and
33:46
he actually did something. I I think Mike like to go out a
33:50
little bit after a game and maybe celebrate.
33:53
So after those tough games in in the BCSL American, after the
33:57
Friday night games, Mike just didn't sometimes on Saturday
34:01
morning practice, he didn't have it.
34:03
So what I did is I moved my practices.
34:05
I gave Saturday off and I practiced on Sundays and Mike
34:08
loved it and he got me 20 and 10.
34:10
I'm telling you every night, 61 center.
34:13
Now, Corey, you remember, you remember how big some of those
34:18
teams were and how good some of those teams were.
34:21
Mike was a throwback player. And again, I love the Burgos
34:27
guys. Yeah.
34:27
What I take Sandy. Hell, yeah.
34:29
Sandy was ridiculous, but a kid. And I think what's missing on a
34:35
lot of teams is a kid like Mike Missesian, just a tough son of a
34:39
gun who did so much. And he was a little like I said,
34:46
he was a six one center playing against 6566 guys.
34:50
And that's when making first team Wall County was really
34:54
making first team Wall County. And I, for some reason he just
34:58
pops into my head. If we had a guy like that, I
35:01
think we'd be real. Because I look at Cresskill and
35:03
I look at the kid Kopchinski, how good he is.
35:06
And I say we got to be able to handle that.
35:09
Hopefully we get to see them. I mean, we got to get through a
35:12
rough Rd. too, but you know, again, digging out-of-the-box,
35:16
Mike Necesian, the my phone's probably going to be ringing
35:20
with David Reyes calling me, yelling at me, telling me he's
35:24
not going to take me to dinner no more.
35:25
But Necesian was a different kind of kid.
35:29
I love it because Aaron Taylor named a kid named Jameek Moore,
35:33
who was he played on the on the the 2013 team with guys like
35:38
Rashad Figures who was a killer. Oh.
35:40
Yeah, I remember that. Name.
35:41
It's Myers, the point guard, who was great, too.
35:44
Yeah. And Aaron brought like, you
35:46
know, he an intangibles guy. I mean, he was a good player.
35:49
Jamie Moore was a good player, but, you know, not the quote.
35:51
On that, that's interesting that he did.
35:53
That shot figures would also spend time in Elmwood Park as
35:55
well, too, before he went back to Hackensack.
35:57
There you go. Listen, I know that name.
36:00
I know that name figures, but I don't know the other kid.
36:03
But see, that's a I guess coaches, you know, obviously we
36:06
we we look, you know, you look for a lot of intangibles.
36:10
So and sometimes that's missing in this day and age.
36:14
The the the kid who you know is just really going to grind it
36:18
out, bust his ass, maybe over perform.
36:21
Not, you know, like like if Mike Nursesian was 6/6, you know, he
36:27
he still made first Timor County.
36:29
I I forget the year, but he was one tough son of a gun.
36:33
Well, you know, it's you know, what's missing is the kid
36:35
playing his third sport. I always bring up Dave Estevez,
36:38
who was the great quarterback at Riverdale and the great
36:41
shortstop at Riverdale and in basketball was his third sport
36:45
and he would set a pick and play defense.
36:47
You know, you didn't have to. And that's what's like you said
36:50
before the the multi sport athlete.
36:53
But and you know, there's one happening now on the girls side.
36:56
And I'm going to let you go after this, John, because I I
36:59
was going to say we could do this all night, but I just
37:01
realized we have done this all night.
37:02
So but on the girls side, there's a girl named Grace
37:05
Saxton who is for Ramapo. She's a first team all county
37:09
softball player. She's going to University of
37:12
Pennsylvania to play Division One soccer.
37:15
And right now he played a monster game in the semi finals
37:18
when Ramapo upset, I would say the top seed in the Bergen
37:22
County semi club to get them into the final in what is
37:25
probably her third sport. And many kids aren't playing
37:28
their third sport and a lot of them aren't playing their second
37:31
sport. So I if we keep banging the
37:33
drum, we can get them back out maybe.
37:35
They, they have to and, and I don't know if kids are listening
37:38
to this, but I had a kid named Pete Derocher.
37:44
I remember at at at at Emerson, starting quarterback, starting
37:48
shortstop. Yep, Never played a summer
37:52
league game with me, with me. But when it came time for
37:57
basketball season, that was his sport.
38:01
Like he didn't he didn't. A lot of kids will say, well,
38:03
I'm really a baseball player or I'm no, you're not when you're
38:07
playing that sport, that's your sport.
38:09
And that's like you're telling about this girl Grace, like,
38:11
like look at her. What she didn't get Pete, the
38:14
Rocher would bring so much energy to us in a basketball
38:17
game. I like it was incredible.
38:19
But that's like you said, it's not that kids aren't doing that.
38:24
And they make an excuse and say, well, this isn't my best sport,
38:27
Not listen, that's an excuse. When you're playing that sport,
38:31
you owe it to your teammates and your coaches.
38:33
That's your sport. Yeah.
38:34
You don't have to be the best player.
38:36
No, you go out there, you go out there, be the guy who gives a
38:38
foul with, you know, 20 seconds left in the first half.
38:41
Exactly, the role player doesn't exist anymore.
38:44
Yep. All right, well, and I'll and
38:47
I'll piggy back. I'll piggy back off of that real
38:48
quick for all the kids that are listening.
38:50
Right when my brother was going through his recruiting process,
38:53
right before he went to Arizona, we went out for the his official
38:56
visit and Coach Lopes, who's a two time College World Series
38:59
national champion. It's a lot, you know, baseball
39:02
player right here. I was, you know, is a two time
39:04
all American in high school. And he says, you know, you know,
39:06
is it OK if I play basketball? He says, yeah, I want you to
39:09
play, play all sports, play as many sports as you as you can
39:12
play all three sports because I want my kids, I want my kids to
39:15
be diverse and, and athletic and and no, I don't want kids that
39:20
just play 1 sport. There's not a kid on my roster.
39:22
I only played one sport. Yeah, it's true.
39:26
I mean, you don't have to play 3 sports and be great at all
39:28
three. Don't play all three sports.
39:30
Yeah, do something, be active. You know, you know, I hate I
39:33
hate the the the ones you know, it's tough.
39:36
You know, it's coming from me as an apology.
39:38
Yeah, you know, but but yeah, I mean, I, I want kids who are
39:41
diverse and, and have some toughness.
39:43
You know, you get some toughness by playing football and and, you
39:46
know, different different things, different aspects of and
39:49
it prepares you for life better. But.
39:50
Yeah, you get a little. It's humility if you get dunked.
39:53
On Yeah. Exactly.
39:55
Exactly. Well, Speaking of getting dunked
39:58
on, Johnny Ziemba dunked on us with some knowledge tonight.
40:02
And absolutely, I don't know why we've waited so long in between
40:05
tips, Johnny, but we're going to do this again for sure.
40:08
Sounds good. I, I love, I love your show you
40:11
guys. And as we could see, we could
40:13
talk about this all night, and I appreciate the insight.
40:16
Good. Maybe you'll put in a good word
40:17
for me with the Jambo committee. I'll try, Corey.
40:23
I don't know. Yeah, I don't think so either,
40:25
but that's alright. Anyway, all good Johnny, We'll
40:27
see you soon. Best of luck in the.
40:28
Play. Take care.
40:29
Take care, Brad. Follow the leader.