WaynesWord on Hoop, June 2008

*Post-AAU Season Blog for City Rocks Orange 16U

While I never quite finished my summation of the ’07-08 High School Season—which was climaxed by Bishop Maginn of Albany’s stunning run to capture the NY State Title, a win in the first round of the Federation, and an ultimate loss to mighty Lincoln of Brooklyn in the Federation Final itself—the AAU season picked up right where that left off.

I still plan to go back and recap the season and note the games that I saw, detailing the players and teams who excelled in certain games. I’ll do that for the archives this summer, so the names of the graduating seniors who played serious ball around here are recorded in the blogosphere, so to speak, but also to point out 1) which players are still around for next year, and 2) which teams are likely to look better or worse, unofficially, in the coming season.

But paying attention to AAU ball is also one way to do that. While there are many quality teams playing spring-summer basketball in the greater Capital District, you will find a litany of some—not all—of the highest quality players by visiting www.cityrocks.org where the rosters for each age group are posted, with team shots of each Black and Orange team in each age group. That’s a good indicator of Who’s Who in the local Hoop Universe, now and in the near future…

Tryouts & Roster-Selection

Somewhere in the later weeks of March, the word goes out: City Rocks Tryouts this weekend at Siena. It gets posted on the Times-Union sports page in very small print, and maybe shows up in a couple of other places, but it is largely by word-of-mouth in the hoop world that worthy players find out. You don’t even show if you can’t play.

You would think there would be innumerable dozens, if not hundreds, of kids who think they can play trying out for these teams, as they are considered elite, and usually travel nationally or regionally to major tournaments. As a resume item alone, making the CITY ROCKS roster gives you some clout, and usually some notice. It’s like a hoop pedigree, but you still have to live up to it, and earn it.

Three years ago, trying out for the 13U team with my son were over 80 other earnest & hopeful aspirants, some of them clearly out of their league. At some point, City Rocks became probably the only upstate team to charge ($20) to register your kid for the tryout itself. But for kids wearing $90 pro replica jerseys (I saw Gilbert Arenas, D. Wade, Kobe Bryant, Iverson…), what’s another twenty for pops to throw in the pot in pursuit of immortality? Unfortunately for those kids, most of them insecure enough to wear those jerseys did NOT make the team. Miles went with a plain grey tee with a black swoosh—it’s a NIKE-sponsored team. Let your game speak more than your attire.

We had been away from the team for 2 years, as he chose to play with the Saratoga kids he grew up with-- 14U Wilton Hornets, and 15U Hoop Nation--for those seasons. Kids try different teams all the time—I first saw Jimmer Fredette play AAU ball as a 15U kid with the Clifton Park Sharks, for instance, before he became the co-star of the Rocks A team for his final two years. But there is a tendency to want to see how you would match up with, or fit in with, the better, most serious, players in your area… so he was anxious to come back to the ROCKS.

You are now Rockin’ with the best…
--P. Diddy

This March at Siena the gym was swarming with good players of all ages, although a lot of the great players for 16U and 17U were still in street clothes. The reason was two-fold: they had been on City Rocks A teams before, thus were certain of “making the cut”; and/or they were still playing high school ball as their teams were still alive in the upper echelons of the Sectionals, and then in some cases, Regionals & States.

ALL-STARS IN STREET CLOTHES, TO START…

If you were there you saw Taran Buie (Maginn) casually dunking in street sneakers and floppy jeans. Shavar Fields (Albany Academy) was rockin’ some regal black jeans & jacket, conversing behind the hoop rather than competing. Kam Ritter (CBA) rebounded for shooters wearing those Jordan gym sandals I first saw Jimmer wear a few years back. Jamel Fields (Academy) was dribbling on the sideline but clearly not dressed to play that day. Chris Pelcher and Tyler Foster (also both of Academy) were chatting with fans and parents on the sidelines, assessing their chances against Bishop Gibbons in the upcoming Class A Finals that week. I thought I glimpsed 6’8” Andrew Stire (CBA), and thought I saw Nick Sarchioto (Gibbons) hanging out in street clothes that day too, and he ended up, along with stalwart B.G. guard Brian Hamor (who was not present that first day, as far as I could see), playing with the City Rocks 17U team anyway.

Bunduka Kargbo, who was poised, like Buie, for a great playoff
season with Bishop Maginn, was slated to be on the 17s already, and
Raja Johnson (also of Maginn), who always looked about 5 years older than anyone else in his age group, would be playing for the 16U Black. In other words, you could’ve put together a hell of an area All-Star team that day just from the players who weren’t dressed to play. It was amazing how many of the area’s best players were on teams that were still alive in the Sectionals among Class AA & A teams, but I guess that makes sense.

AND THEN THE GUYS ON THE COURT…

But still there were others: on the 17U Main Court there was the great Jordan Stevens (Saratoga Springs), for the first time playing with his own age group instead of competing UP as he had for so long. And since the Colonie team had just lost to Maginn in a well-fought game at the Times Union arena a few days before, Sean Peer and Herb Tedford were both free to compete for spots on the Rocks. There were also two juniors from CCHS running the floor well that day—Denzel Pascal (back from a bad knee that cut short his junior season) & Gerard Jacques—though both would opt to play for the Capital District Raptors later.

A shooter from Gloversville whose stats I’d noticed named Matt Baldwin looked good that day. Steve Hunt (Tamarac), whose father Chuck was one of the 17U Coaches, showed up strong as a 6’4” guard. James Tucker (Saratoga) would make the 17U B team as well, and was sweating heavily from the fast-paced runs of the scrimmage. I think the 6’10” center from Scotia, Jim Janson, was there that day too—we later saw him impressively dunk two balls at once during an exhibition at City Rocks media day a few weeks later.

There were plenty of other players I didn’t recognize who were good, but what casual observers of AAU might not realize is that a lot of slots are taken on these elite teams in advance by recruits from outside the area, who are invited to participate independently of tryouts. Therefore you are not seeing a player like Candon Rusin (17U) of Vermont, or Mike Goodman of Syracuse (who’s been on the Rocks since he was in 8th grade), or Will Regan (16U) of Nichols HS in the Buffalo area at these workouts—all of whom, like NY State Tournament MVP T. Buie and a few others, are D-1 prospects and a lock for the ROCKS A teams in their respective groups. When you look at the names and the schools listed on the City Rocks’ website rosters, you will realize that many of the players on the A teams are from outside the area, and believe me, they are all good, or they wouldn’t be invited.

Having said that, Miles knew that, realistically, he was gunning for a spot on the B team, as the 15U Black (A) team of last year had come in 11th place in the D-1 National Tournament, and were within a whisker of a 4th place finish. They did not need a lot of help, and in fact only 2 players from these tryouts would secure a spot on the A team to fill out their loaded roster. (More on those two below.)

BACK TO 16U LOCAL PROSPECTS…

Even on the B team, there were several returnees who were more or less automatic to make the roster, though we noticed the absence of some kids had opted not to return. Brian Hooks, a good soph shooter from Shaker, was playing with the Ballston Blizzard, we heard. Guard Josh Dennis of CBA had hooked up with a team from Schenectady. Julian Wukitsch of Bethlehem Central had opted not to go out at all, taking some time off or playing with BC’s team, we weren’t sure. Terence Inman, once of Albany High, was rumored to be back in Florida—Moo, as he was called, had been one of the fastest up & down-court players I’ve ever seen in the area. I didn’t know who else might be missing from last year’s team but it seemed to me Miles had some openings to shoot for.

As with any open tryouts for elite teams, there was some anxiety among the parents on the sidelines.

One woman, who we would become friendly with later, asked me right off the bat—“Is this team picked based on politics, or who you know?” I replied, No, not really, this team is picked purely on talent, unlike many other situations. Then I asked her which kid was hers, and she pointed out a square-jawed, dark haired player with a tattoo on one shoulder and one forearm, under 6 foot tall, who on cue threw down more than one nasty slam in the lay-up line, early in the workout.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Mary Anne,” I told her, “City Rocks’ tend to like guys who can dunk….” Her son, Lucas Marino, in fact had no trouble making the team, though he reportedly hadn’t even been a starter on his JV team at Shen, given the competitive numbers at that Suburban Council campus in Clifton Park, with reputedly the second largest enrollment among public schools in New York State.

Dunks ‘R Us…

Lucas was not the only one throwing it down. At a City Rocks tryout, there are more kids rockin’ the rim than at any school tryouts you will see, outside of Bishop Maginn. Even without the kids in street clothes mentioned earlier, there were a handful of kids elevating to that extent: John Scurry (Maginn JV, up on varsity at the end); Ethan Mackey, a much-improved lefty soph who played varsity at Voorheesville High; another tall skinny kid with abundant curly hair, also left-handed, who turned out to be from Lee, Mass, named Trey Morin; Tony Lewis of Schenectady High; and Luke Marino, with his roughly 3-foot vertical, were foremost among them that first day.

Miles was among those who looked good going to the hoop but were dropping it just over the rim rather than ramming it down. Jerel Scott (a young soph at Maginn who ended up playing with the 15U A team instead) was snapping down the rim, but not quite finishing, as were several others. For some of the more earth-bound hoopers, it must have been a bit intimidating, as the City Rocks tryouts are supposed to be.

There were some very good area guards out there too: Derek Millinghaus, who had played varsity ball for Schenectady High as a freshman, was definitely a stand-out, slashing to the hoop at will in scrimmages. He and John Scurry were the two from that weekend’s tryouts to make the A team. Millinghaus was a mature, sturdy, penetrating guard with a knack for scoring who would provide depth at the point position, good under pressure. Scurry would be an athletic banger that any coach in the area would love to have as a varsity starter, though he hadn’t stood out yet (but will) on a loaded Maginn squad. As good as they were they would likely start out as role players for the City Rocks A team, though I heard later from Jimmy Hart himself that Millinghaus had stepped up and won an early season tournament game for them, at the Boo Williams in Virginia.

Mark Seager of Ballston Spa performed decently in tryouts but was not spectacular, as he was a few weeks later in the King of the Mountain in his explosive 1st half of a losing effort against these same Rocks. He would end up choosing to stay with the Ballston Blizzard. A thin, pony-tailed guard from Albany High’s JV named Jeremic Bennett looked to be an effective drive-&-dish type of point, but even though he qualified for the team, decided not to stick with it, maybe because he’d be competing for time with the varsity point from his own school.

I could see some of the other parents of players doing the math as the tryouts continued, particularly while scrimmages or 4-on-4 half-court drills were going on. One guy from Amsterdam whose kid I didn’t recognize seemed agitated that his kid wasn’t getting the ball enough to show his stuff. While that might have been true, I said: “Have to go get it on the boards, or on defense—tell him he’s got to be aggressive to get noticed. You can’t just wait for it with your hand up on this team.” I counted about 23 kids in the 16U group that first day, and there were 4 or 5 others in addition who showed up the next day for part 2. Since there were only 2 openings for the A squad, and exactly 5 returnees for the B squad, there were over 20 kids who walked away disappointed not to become Rocks this year.

Those who made it and played with the team at least part of the year (other than Ethan Mackey--scroll below for his pic) are shown below, as of City Rocks Media Day, April 2008:

City Rocks Orange 16U—2008 Team

Front Row: Tony Lewis (#23), Miles Perras (#44), G. Chapple (#2), Lucas Marino (#25), Owen Daniels (#34).
Back Row: Kevin Donahue (#21), Zach Morton (#50), Trey Morin (#51), Mike Branche (#15), Coach Jim Daniels. Missing from picture: Ethan Mackey (#54).

THE RETURNEES:

There were five players I recognized from the prior year’s team, which I had seen play in the Ballston Blizzard Tournament last spring. I knew they’d secure spots, and here’s my unofficial rundown on them:

ETHAN MACKEY: Listed at 6’6” from Voorheesville. More broad-shouldered and less-mechanical than when I’d first seen him, he had good hands collecting the ball around the rim, and seemed to put everything in…that first day he was stroking threes as well as scoring at will around the hoop. He looked much more dominant than he’d been on last year’s team, and other parents confirmed that they thought so too. I might’ve ranked him ahead of Scurry based on that weekend’s showing, though Scurry was a bit faster down the court and fit what the A team needed in terms of an extra banger, content to come off the bench for that team. Mackey would have some phenomenal games early in the Tournament season for 16U Orange, but the continuity of the team was hurt a bit when his high school coach instead he play with the Voorheesville 17U team instead of City Rocks 16U in the local league, which accounted for roughly half the team’s games. I can’t blame Coach Catellier for that, though I don’t think the Voorheesville AAU team featured Ethan enough in the Blackbirds offense in those league games against the City Rocks 16U bunch, who beat them twice by comfortable margins. On the other hand, when Ethan rejoined the 16U team for late-season league playoffs, he led the team with 24 points when they played and beat the 17U B team, dominating a team that featured James Tucker and Sean Peer up front. Not bad for a 16 year old from a Class CC school (though I had always thought of them as more like a B level).

Watch for Ethan to be one of the leaders on the Voorheesville High team next winter as a junior as they do battle in the Colonial Council, and later on advance deep into the CC Playoffs.

Ethan Mackey (#54) scores 2 of his 24 vs. City Rocks Orange 17U team in the playoffs.

WILL “G” CHAPPLE: “G” was a young junior on Albany High’s varsity this past year, and is the only member of City Rocks 16U Orange who will be a senior next year. He is about 5’10” but is a great leaper, averaging 4 or 5 rebounds in a typical game, as a point guard. A pesky defender and a confident floor leader, he is lightning quick and cuts hard to the hoop on backdoor plays and slicing drives. His aggressive play sometimes got him into foul trouble, but could also net 5-7 steals a game when he was rolling. Though not a deep threat, he could hit his 15-18’ jumper when open, though he probably scored most of his points this year on driving lay-ups, steals, and surprising putbacks over bigger defenders. G only missed one game, due to taking SAT’s on a Saturday morning during a tourney at UAlbany, but was consistent and steady as a starter for this team, whether calling out the offense or leading the break. Miles really enjoyed playing alongside him in the AAU setting, and I thought they made a great backcourt tandem, especially defensively.

Look for G. Chapple to start in the backcourt for Albany High in the Big 10 this year. He’ll be the one stealing the ball out front, with a very serious game face on.

G. Chapple contemplates offensive options in running a half-court set for the Rocks.

MIKE BRANCHE: Mike is the younger brother of Jon, who was a D-3 All-American tight end in football at RPI, and got some NFL attention. As a 6’3” forward with some muscle, Mike made varsity on an excellent Colonie High team as a soph, got good minutes early in the year, but played less late in the year. He is a tenacious battler on the boards, has great touch around the hoop, and started hitting several threes with a nice looking jumper in AAU as the season went on. An effective corner shooter, he also finishes well on the break, as he did often that first weekend of tryouts. Also an exceptional defender, Mike was one of the best I’ve seen in high school at “hedging” to prevent the ballhandler from driving unimpeded around the screen in a pick-and-roll. Just a savvy, hard-working player with a good attitude toward his teammates, though a feisty attitude towards opponents. Mike is a kid Miles really enjoyed playing with and getting to know on this team.

Mike should be part of an excellent front line for Colonie High in the Suburban Council this year as a junior, along with seniors-to-be Sean Peer and Herb Tedford, both battle-tested and rugged.

TONY LEWIS: Tony has been a featured player on this version of City Rocks for 3 or 4 years. Mostly a 2-guard who can fire from distance, or wind through traffic to get to the hole and finish, he was a streak scorer who put up 25 points in a hurry in one league game in the middle of the season. Schenectady High split up their minutes and scoring between 10-12 players last year, and Tony got his share as a sophomore on varsity. If he is in the right frame of mind he can score 15-20 points per game in an up-tempo system, but would probably have to show more defensive intensity to log steady minutes.

It will be interesting to see whether Coach Sausville features Tony in his offense this year, along with strongman Mark Blair (a senior next season), and the longball shooting forward Reece Jackson, also a junior-to-be, plus the aforementioned Derek Millinghaus as lead guard. Schenectady is always going to be a threat, with a loaded roster depending on who shows up to play, and I hope we see Tony Lewis as a part of it. For reasons that remain between him and his parents, he didn’t complete the season this year with City Rocks, and some of our scoring punch—the “microwave factor” off the bench-- was lessened in Tournament games as a result. Whatever happened, Tony’s departure was a loss to the team.

OWEN DANIELS: A 6’2” small forward who scores a host of sneaky baskets inside, and is a Luke Walton-type unselfish passer, Owen is also a fine soccer player, and applies some of those field skills to his hoop game. With good court vision, he frequently made the “pass that led to the pass” that was the assist, as well as a fair share of primary feeds to teammates as well. Defensively he has always been tenacious, and was often called on to play against hot-shooting 2-guards even though he started out as an inside player. He also developed more confidence in his outside shot as the season went on, and had one game against Scotia where he hit 4 threes on his way to 21 pts. to help win that game…that was during one of those nights when the roster was depleted and only 5 guys were present to play for the 16U City Rocks in league play against 17U teams. Owen is the kind of kid who does the intangibles, setting the picks, boxing out the rebounders, deflecting passes, making the good inbounds passes, which reflects the intelligence of his game, and his versatility. When he missed games it was due to his Renaissance-man nature—he played keyboards in a Jazz Orchestra at school, competed in high-level soccer tournaments (coached by his mom, a former college player), and took his studies very seriously too.

Owen will be an asset to Albany High’s varsity after a good JV campaign for that program last year.

NEWCOMERS AND UP-&-COMERS….

TREY MORIN: A wiry 6’7” lefthander with a mad mane of hair who hails from Lee, Mass., just across the State Line on I-90, Trey and his dad traveled many miles east and west to show up for every game this Albany-based team played in league and tournament ball this season, and his game improved as the season went on. He faced much more physical play than he’d seen in high school ball back home, and was frequently getting pounded by frustrated players who were shorter but more muscular.

But when he played versus 6’10” Jim Janson of Scotia in our second league game against them he had one of his best outings in a short-handed win, and against the 17U City Rocks B team (although also not with all hands-on-deck), he hit 18 points, including draining a couple of threes. Playing in the league was interesting for him,
as he got plenty of minutes at center in the absence of Ethan Mackey, who was with the Voorheesville team except for our Tournament games and playoffs. Trey led the team in swatted shots, rebounded well, and showed a reliable 15-foot jumper. Reportedly the highest scorer in his HS league back home, I think even he would admit that scoring was likely much easier in the Western Massachusetts world of winter ball than the more rough-&-tumble Capital District AAU school of hard knocks. As far as I knew, he was the youngest kid on the team, still at age 15 even at the end of the season. He will be playing for the Western Mass. representative scholastic team at the Bay State Games this summer.

ZACH MORTON: Here is a player on the way up the charts (as most of these kids are, depending on whether you knew about them before or not), who may have improved the most in confidence and performance of anyone of this team from start to finish over a 3 month season. In tryouts he was strong but not enough to stand out, yet by the end of the year there were times when he was the main man on offense and the boards. as against Averill Park 17U A team when he hit for 22 pts, & 7 rebounds.

Now a broad-shouldered 6’5”—the third tallest member of a good-sized team—we remember him as a thin left-hander popping consistent 15 footers in CDYBL ball from 5th to 8th grade, matched up against Miles when Burnt Hills played our Saratoga team. Zach reminded us that Miles was bigger than him back then…which isn’t the case anymore, though Miles is not small for a guard. Zach wields his elbows and body with authority down low now, with good drop steps and spin moves in the lane and off to the sides, playing the part of low post player when needed, or stepping out higher for those deadly 15-18’ shots he can still hit. He was also probably either best or second-best foul shooter on the team in terms of percentage, and hit 12-12 in that late season playoff game against Averill Park.

Since the Burnt Hills 17U team—without Zach—was the only local team to beat this 16U Orange team, other than City Rocks Black—I can only imagine that they will have a nasty Suburban Council squad this year. Zach played well in their team’s last Sectional game—a loss to Bishop Gibbons—up in Glens Falls when moved up from JV, so I imagine his next two years will be productive at BH-BL from this point on, and Coach Martin will put him to good use.

KEVIN DONAHUE: Kevin is a 6’3” shooting guard from South Glens Falls who played a prominent role on varsity up there last year as a soph. In AAU last year we saw him torch our Hoop Nation team for about 28 points in a fateful league game last year when playing for the short-lived Saratoga Celtics. He should be tearing up the Foothills Council offensively this year, as he was consistently one of the leading scorers on this team, not shy about getting his shots off. He curls off screens well, hitting jumpers off set plays like they were designed for J.J. Redick. He mixed up mid-range and 3-pt. shooting well, and finished well with either hand on the break as well, with a nose for the hoop in all situations. There are parts of his game that still need work—as with virtually any high school kid-- but he’s the kind of scorer that would help most any team loosen up opposing defenses. He was almost always in the team’s top 3 scorers, and may have been top scorer overall, though precise totals for the entire season weren’t available to me.

If his high school coach appreciates Kevin’s talents as he should, and realizes what a good tandem he makes with big man Nate Uline (who excelled for the Ballston Blizzard this season as well), he could be among area scoring leaders in the next year or two for South Glens Falls’ resurgence in the Foothills Council. Kevin is playing for the Empire State Scholastic team this summer as well.

LUCAS MARINO: When Luke was on his game, you were guaranteed a couple of highlight reel moves during each contest you watched him play—he had a flair for the spectacular at times. He made some of the best floating left-handed scoop shot finishes, and spinning reverses, I’ve seen this side of Taran Buie himself. Like Buie, he is right-handed but loves to prove what he can do with his left. Along with Kevin, Tony, and Miles, he gave the team another deep 3-ball threat, and could get hot and hit two or three threes in a heartbeat. He was also deadly from the foul line, and went half the season before he missed his first from the line. He and Zach Morton probably both shot 90% or better overall.

Luke scored in the 14-19 point range several times, including an inspired 2nd half performance against Jim Hart’s City Rocks Black team in the friendly final of the King of the Mountain. More importantly from a team perspective, his passing improved from “reluctant” in the early stages of the season, to “quite creative” by mid-season. But he ended up missing several games, plus the league playoffs, toward the end of the campaign, due to a knee bang-up of some sort.

I’ve already mentioned his jumping ability, and the dunks he was capable of in practice and workouts, some of which were astounding for a white boy of his height (5’10” or 5’11). Once his defensive intensity matches his offensive prowess, Luke, like Kevin, would be a scary total package player. I would expect him to contribute extensively to Shen’s very deep and talented varsity squad next winter, and don’t see how he could miss being a star attraction.

MILES PERRAS: As a 6’1” guard from CCHS by way of Saratoga, Miles’s first concern is fitting in with a team concept. In this setting, with so many talented scorers already in the fold, he deferred to a passing style so much that even Coach Daniels was coaxing him to shoot more, which no one had to encourage in the prior two AAU seasons or back in CYO ball at St. Gregory’s. As his dad I’d certainly like to see him take charge more offensively, but he’s always been able to balance his overall game with assertive rebounding, good upcourt handle, and efficient delivery of dimes, or at least, like Owen, the pass that led to the eventual dime. In one tournament game at UAlbany he had 9 assists in the first half alone, without taking a shot. When G. was missing for one game and Miles had to play point exclusively, he ran it well in beating an urban team from Rochester, the Roc City Ballerz. Miles’ defense was under-rated, but he had 6 steals in the first game of the day at the King of the Mountain, up till he was hit hard on a breakaway after one of those steals and seriously sprained his ankle, which put him out of the KOTM and the following week’s Gym Rat Challenge, the two biggest & prestigious local tournaments. Most unfortunate and disappointing, as it kept him from showing the full range of his game at a critical time of the AAU campaign.

That injury put a crimp in the season for him, missing about 9 or 10 games for the first time in his playing career, and I feel he got less attention and notice this year than the others because of that. But he hadn’t really played up to his full potential even before the injury, and learned from this 16U season what he has to work on in months to come, and I think he’ll be ready for the Shen Summer League, and fall ball for sure.

With four hoop starters graduating from CCHS this June, Miles will get plenty of chance to play for the Crusaders in the Big 10 this coming season, along with fellow juniors and friends Keaton Woods and Kevin Wilkes, and recent Shen transfer Shiva Senthil.

2008 Season Summation—

At one point in May, after coming in second place with a 4-1 finish in the King of the Mountain, the team had a record of 18-3. Then the team hit a wall in the Gym Rat Challenge—without Tony (who stopped coming) and Miles (injured)—and missing some others sporadically—thus lost 3 in a row to good teams. Then they won out in the 17U league, having lost only one early season game to Burnt Hills, beating teams like Scotia and Amsterdam and Broadalbin-Perth and Averill Park’s A team and the City Rocks 17U B team, until losing to a team from Ulster County (Kingston area) by about 8 points in the Finals of the Adirondack League, down at St. Rose in Albany. I might’ve missed some in my game count, but it was something like 23-7 for this team’s record on the year. (Most of the losses were close games, and only one team all season, the NYC Jaguars, in the Gym Rat Challenge, blew out our guys by more than 10.)

This team’s record as I pointed out to the other parents was accomplished with a grand total of 3 practices early in the season, and none during the season. These guys would go a week or more at a time without seeing each other and still play cohesive ball together. Hampered by the lack of a true home court, all our games were on the road, or in Tournament settings. In the league, all our games were AWAY games at someone else’s home court, against 17U teams that had practiced together a lot more, knew the floors and the hoops, and had more fans than us there. The home teams were swarthier, mostly older, and usually much deeper (for about 3-4 games we had only 5 guys, for a couple of others, 6…), but talent and teamwork usually won out.

Even when Ethan was not present, the team’s size often caused match-up problems, and the interior passing of the big men was more and more impressive as the team progressed. Unselfish passing and looking for the open man, running the break and banging the boards were strengths for this version of the Rocks as well.

Most of the perks and all of the high-profile travel tournaments, regional and national, went to the City Rocks A team, and rightfully so, but it was still a good ride, and a way to get some competitive basketball under their belts during the off-season.
We didn’t have this opportunity when we were kids, as the other dads and I always say. The 30-game season of AAU ball is more compressed and hectic than the 20 game winter season, especially when there are four or five games (or more!) running in one weekend. People who don’t have kids playing AAU hoop have no idea how intense it can be, or how physically demanding, or how good the comp can be.

The kids who are only practicing in their driveways or playing pick-up at the Y or attending local day-camps, or playing helter-skelter playground ball with out-of-shape dudes past (or never-in) their prime will never get the same burn or uplift to their game as they would from serious AAU ball. They will not understand why kids like these named here have gotten so much better in between seasons. While it lasts, it’s the best game in town.

All-Opponents Team, 2008 AAU

For the most part, these are local players who showed me something as a spectator at different points in the season. Just wanted to give some props to some of those who weren’t ON City Rocks teams, but went up against them…

REECE JACKSON: A Schenectady High varsity player since his frosh year, this 6’4” junior-to-be is rangy and long-armed and shoots threes with impunity, kind of like a local Donte’ Green. Our boys played his Schenectady Skywalkers team, where Reece was given a green light to shoot as much as he liked, and he took advantage—he hit something like 27 in the first game against us, and around 20 the second time. Kid is lights out when he turns and fires and doesn’t hesitate. Though he seems a bit reluctant to bang inside, he got a large share of defensive rebounds anyway, and will certainly be a star-quality player in Big 10 ball this year if Coach Sausville gives him a bit of free rein (or rain!).

JUSTIN BOYLES: A slender 6’6” post player for Broadalbin-Perth,
this kid should be pretty tough to stop in the Colonial Council this year.
He scored at will from a variety of slinky angles, with jumpers, bank-shots, and put-backs. I think he ended up with 24 points or more against our 16U team when we visited his team’s gym in early June, and though we came away with a win, he made it close. As a senior, he should be a high-scoring threat for a B-P team that is always pretty good, and returns all but two players from last year’s squad.

CONNOR SHAPIRO: This kid was not yet slated to be a star for Scotia-Glenville’s varsity, and he was still on JV last year as far as I know, but against the Rocks Orange team in the first league match-up of the year, he had a huge break-out game, scoring about 18 or 20. He hit off clever drives and slicing baseline moves, as well as a fair share of short jumpers, and never took a bad shot. Having seen him as a 5-8th grader in the CDYBL years back, I can testify that he’s come a long way, though he always had a nose for the hoop. Scotia has a lot of hard-core hoopers returning for their senior year, but as a junior Shapiro should get some good burn if what I saw back in May was no fluke.

MARK SEAGER: Ballston Spa’s hoop powers-that-be anointed this player to be the team’s point guard ever since the start of his freshman year, and the experience has served him well. A feisty 5’10” bundle of drive with churning legs, he hit 3 driving deuces and 3 clean three-balls out of seven shots taken in the first half in the second game of the KOTM Tournament, while Miles was regrettably waiting for X-rays on his ankle at a nearby med clinic. Mark had 15 points early and finished with 23, along with some nice drop-passes for a handful of dimes. Though our guys won by 12, he was stellar that day. Look for him to have an extremely confident junior year for B. SPA in the Suburban this year.

EVAN BOYLE: If Averill Park’s varsity was wondering who was going to step up to take the place of graduated 3-year star Gerard O’Shea, I think this kid is getting nominated. He had the kind of second half against us that Seager had in the above-mentioned first half. By my book Boyle only had 6 points in the first half, but hit 18 more in the second half of a great effort in the first round of the play-offs, at Scotia-Glenville’s court in mid-June. We won by ten or eleven, but it would’ve been worse were it not for Boyle. He was stroking it from deep, from mid-range, and in close, without more than a few misses. Watch for #5 on the A-P team in the Suburban this year, a blond 6’1” shooting guard. I would think they might advance pretty far in the A bracket of Sectionals as well, with a lot of talent alongside Boyle.

GENE BOUYEA: This amazing athlete was a thin-shouldered 6’4” kid who played center and defensive stopper for an under-sized team from the Ogdensburg area called the Maple City Ballers. He blocked no less than ten of our team’s shots, many of them in spectacular off-the-board fashion, in a KOTM game at the Saratoga Catholic gym.
While his offensive game was more erratic and less polished, he was the best single defender I’d seen in AAU play around here this year, and I told his father exactly that after the game, even though the kid himself was glum that his team had been beaten. I don’t know if they keep records for shot-blocking on a statewide basis but this kid might break the career record if they did. His high school team ended up in the State Finals at Glens Falls--in Class B ball, I believe—and his talents were evident enough that he received a write-up in the Glens Falls Post Star, which does an extremely thorough job of covering hoop every March.

TOBIAS HARRIS: Most of the players of the City Rocks Black 16U team are familiar to us, but this kid, who was not on their initial roster, was a surprise. When our team had to face CR Black in the finals of the KOTM Tourney in late May, their team had already played 8 or 9 games that weekend, including a whirlwind tour in Long Island on Saturday in between Friday and Sunday games up here. So Taran Buie as their featured star was exhausted (and eating a hot dog as the game started), center Will Regan was on his way back to Buffalo, and Vermont-based shooter Kyle Callanan was out with a knee injury. This gave some of their other guys a chance to shine, and this 6’7” big man with moves showed why Jimmy Hart had coaxed him north from Half Hollow Hills High on Long Island to supplement their forces. He was working crossovers out front and getting to the hoop in a variety of ways, draining shots from mid-range deftly, and muscling inside when he had to. We could have used him on our team if we had chosen to go to Nationals, and any team (except Maginn, which has enough talent already) in Section 2 would be drooling to have a player like this added to their roster. Watch for his name at a D-1 school in a couple of years, no doubt. It just shows how loaded the City Rocks A team is that a kid who’d be a star and a starter anywhere else was ordinarily a supplemental player for them.

That’s it for my AAU summation for mid-2008—next year we hope
that all or most of these players on City Rocks Orange will be part of a Rocks team that goes further in pursuing Regional and National Tourneys and Showcase events, but there is a lot of hoop in between now and then to be played.

In my next piece I’ll be detailing some of what I’ll see in the Shen Summer League in July featuring a mix of Big 10 teams (Amsterdam, Schenectady, CCHS, and LaSalle), Suburban squads (Saratoga, Shen, and Guilderland), and one lone Foothills Council team (Scotia). Those games are to be played indoors at the Shen high school and Gowana Middle School gyms in Clifton Park on Wednesday evenings, with hourly starts from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on those 5 consecutive July nights.
Again, it is an off-season peek at next year’s HS season.