Countdown To Hoops

Well, folks, it’s less than a month until the first day of high school basketball practice so I think it’s time we started talking hoops. This is my third year as the Shore Scout and it’s great to be back!  Between camps, summer leagues, AAU and fall leagues Ive seen a lot of the Shore Conference kids in action and I’m looking forward to giving you some insight on all things Shore Conference basketball. Here’s a few random thoughts heading into the year.

Things will be a little different this year at the Shore . There isn’t the star power there was last year. There are no Jarelle Reischels, no Sean Grennans going to high major programs. But that’s okay.  There is still plenty of good talent out there and it’s always fun to see new kids emerge. Last year I thought I had a good handle on all of the quality kids and all of a sudden I’m hearing a lot about a kid named Thommond Hammary from Asbury and he turned out to be quite a player. Who will come out of nowhere this year?……I’d rather talk about the players but there’s one question I’d like to pose. Can someone please explain to me why adults get so worked up watching summer and fall league games? They are glorified scrimmages with incomplete rosters. If you’ve ever seen Rodney Dangerfields classic movie Back To School then you’ll remember Sam Kinison playing a crazed history professor. More and more often I seem to be sitting next to that guy. And I’ve had several people come up to me and talk about a “big win” in a summer or fall league game. Are they kidding? The ironic aspect is that, since these games mean absolutely nothing, what better opportunity to just sit back ,relax and enjoy watching the kids play. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen…..Ok, back to the kids. The big buzz right now is about Neptune coming into the year. There’s a good reason for that. They will be as deep as any Shore Conference team I can remember, especially at the guard position. They can go six deep at the guard spot led by returning B North POY Jaheem Woods and lose very, very little. Combine all of those guards with a frontcourt that includes Keith Kirkwood, Josh Jenkins and Fuquan McDonald and that’s a powerful high school team. Neptune actually lost a major contributor when forward Spencer Hubbard transfered out but I don’t think that will hurt them. They’re that good. The biggest problem Coach O’Donnell may face is how to get all of those guards playing time. Nice problem to have…..Colts Neck returns a lot of talent also. Hunter Wysocki and Sean O’ Reilly are proven scorers and the Cougars also have 6’10″ big man Steven Faust and sharpshooting guard Brandon Federici. Speaking of sharpshooters don’t be surprised if freshman Chris O’ Reilly, Sean’s brother, sees some quality minutes down the road. He can flat out shoot the rock…..If I had to pick one player to break out this year it might be Tim Frawley of Middletown North. He’s a big guard with a smooth stroke. Jason Huelbig is the star at North and Eric Youncofski is a solid point guard but teams should prepare for Frawley also. Huelbig is an exciting player and has looked great in the pre-season…….CBA keeps a low profile over the summer and I haven’t seen them anywhere so believe it or not they’re kind of a mystery team. They have Kieran Hughes, Eric Shaw and Tom Aldridge so they’ll be solid but who will be their go to guy? Look for senior guard Jimmy Dengler to make an impact…..Toms River North will surprise some people with their talent led by guard Alex Levchenko and big man Bill Wrightson….Jackson Memorial has 6′ 6″ Brandon Mcdonnell and adds 6’3″ point guard Brian Kenny. McDonnell and Kenny are both scholarship players but I think depth will be an issue for the Jaguars….Another kid who will make a name for himself this year is Matt Farrell of Point Beach. He’s wispy thin but he has a slick handle and a knack for scoring. Beach also has tough forward Riley Calzonetti but, like Jackson, depth might be a problem….Here’s two more breakout players for you. J.R. Hobbie and Jimmy Walsh of Manasquan.You’ll hear plenty about them before the year is out….If you’re talking about good point guards at the Shore just make sure you include Shawn Cooke of Point Boro in the conversation…..Hey, I have to mention Mike Aaman of Raritan, returning POY. Mike will be his usual dominating self on the boards but who’s going to help him? Raritan graduated the entire supporting cast so he will have a VERY inexperienced crew around him…….Teams I wouldn’t want to play- Asbury Park, Ocean, Rumson, Holmdel, Lakewood, Barnegat. Asbury has Hammary and the Conover twins. That should be enough to make any team nervous. Ocean has a much improved Nick Gallombardo and some nice supporting players. Rumson has a pure shooter in Jack Donnelly and also has an underrated supporting cast and Holmdel returns a senior laden team that will play very, very hard. Lakewood has good guards in Jameer Jones and Tyrice Beverette and Barnegat has the underrated McGuigan brothers. …Other players to watch you might not have heard of- Raquan Haynes (Howell), Vince Lombardi ( Brick Memorial) P.J. Kineavy (Point Beach)

Ok, that’s enough for now. More to come next week. I’m the Shore Scout and I’ll see you at the games.

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