Ray Floriani

SETON HALL GOES DOWN SWINGING, BUT WITHOUT A FIGHT

By Ray Floriani

NEWARK, NJ – A week ago Seton Hall still had hopes of a bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Now the season is over. The Pirates were handed a quick exit by Texas Tech, 87-69 in the opening round of the NIT at the Prudential Center. The three key points:

1. Herb Pope’s ejection. Seton Hall’s outstanding sophomore forward was ejected just under 6 minutes into the game for a flagrant foul. The first few times down the floor Pope and Darko Cohadarevic of Texas Tech jostled for position. “Herb thought he was getting pushed and retaliated,” Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. “I didn’t get a good look at what Herb did but the officials were adamant in tossing him. I told Herb you can’t retaliate, you just have to keep your head and play through things.”

Minus Pope the burden fell on John Garcia and Ferrakohn Hall to produce. Garcia, playing in what would be his last Seton Hall game, had a creditable 7 point, 10 rebound effort. Hall was not much of a factor with two points and four boards.

2. Defense. Texas Tech coach Pat Knight pointed out his team does not have trouble putting points on the board. The defensive end is another thing. “We had a lot of games we gave up 80 points,” Knight said. “Seventy is our cutoff. We give up under 70 we are tough to beat.” Tech gave up 69 and in the process limited the Hall to 35% shooting from the floor that included a 5 of 26 mark from beyond the arc.

3. Here’s to you Mr. Robinson. With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel…Jeff Robinson was the only consistent performer for Seton Hall. The junior forward scored a game-high 23 points, added 12 rebounds and did a little of everything for the Pirates. Unfortunately for the Hall, Robinson had little or no help. Jeremy Hazell, with a bad back, struggled through a 6 point night and was 0 for 4 from three. Eugene Harvey, also playing in his last game, added 12 points and 6 assists. It was not enough.

“Jeff (Robinson) was spectacular,” Gonzalez said. “But for us to win we need contributions from Herb Pope and Jeremy Hazell. Herb (Pope) was gone and Jeremy (Hazell) had one of his poorer offensive games. He wasn’t at full strength but also cedit Texas Tech’s defense for that (Hazell’s performance) as well.”

Texas Tech had five players in double figures, a well-rounded attack. Guard John Roberson led the way with 22 points. Junior forward D’Walyn Roberts had a well rounded 12 point 11 rebound effort. The 6-9 Cohadarevic showed the ability to step outside (12 points) while battling inside (9 rebounds). Tech shot 30 of 60 (50%) for the game. Gonzalez said he broke down about four tapes of Tech in preparation but, “tonight they stepped up and hit some shots they normally do not make.”

Tough night overall for the Big East as NC State edged South Florida and UConn held on for dear life just getting by Northeastern by two in Storrs.

Some teams enter the NIT with disappointment. Not Texas Tech as Knight noted there was about a three week stretch when the Red Raiders lost several close games. The NCAA picture was basically out so his team refocused on getting to the NIT. “We are thrilled to be here,” Knight said. The Tech mentor also commented on his respect for the tournament. “That goes back with my father who admires this tournament so much. In fact my middle name is Clair after Clair Bee (a coaching legend with success in early NITs).”

Texas Tech advanced to 18-15 and the Hall finished at 19-13. “We had nineteen wins and were 9-9 in the best conference in the country,” Gonzalez said. “We had a successful season. You just have to look at the whole body of work not just tonight.”

Attendance was a disappointing 1,829. The atmosphere was also devoid of any excitement. It felt like two teams were playing a 3 p.m. game in a neutral site two time zones away. Unfortunately the only energy in the crowd was supplied by a sparse Seton Hall student section under one basket. They began with ‘Robert Mitchell’ chants, in support of the Hall junior recently put off the team. Later through the evening the chants changed to ‘fire Bobby..’.

Sad way to end what was the first post season tournament since 2006.

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2010 BIG EAST TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: DAY THREE RECAP

by RAY FLORIANI and MATT WHITFIELD

NEW YORK CITY – The quaterfinals of the 2010 Big East Tournament served as reminder, as if we needed one, as how tough and unforgiving this conference is. Also, how interesting and exciting for those of us watching and/or analyzing.

The Scores:

Georgetown 91, Syracuse 84

Marquette 80, Villanova 76

Notre Dame 50, Pittsburgh 45

West Virginia 54, Cincinnati 51

Ray’s ten points of emphasis from Thursday…

1. Syracuse exited the tournament one and done. For Orange faithful, the weekend to quote Steeley Dan, “didn’t turn out as you planned”. Orange fans can also take solace from 2003. That year they won a quarterfinal game before being eliminated by UCONN in the semis. Less than a month later they cut the nets down in New Orleans. ESPN reported no team lost its first conference tournament game and won the national title. Interesting, but right now Syracuse is concerned with Arinze Onuaku who exited the Georgetown game with a knee strain that needed further evaluation.

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2010 BIG EAST TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: DAY TWO RECAP

by RAY FLORIANI and MATT WHITFIELD

NEW YORK CITY – Day two at the 2010 Big East Tournament is complete and one thing is definitely certain, we will have a new champion.

The scores:

Georgetown 69, South Florida 49

Marquette 57, St. John’s 55

Notre Dame 68, Seton Hall 56

Cincinnati 69, Louisville 66

Ray’s ten points of emphasis from Wednesday…

1. Georgetown did it the old fashioned way. They defended the heck out of South Florida. Dominique Jones of USF had 21 points to lead all scorers but the Bulls outstanding junior talent had no one to lend a helping hand. Credit the Hoya defense that forced South Florida into a 29% afternoon from the field.

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BIG EAST TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: DAY ONE RECAP

by RAY FLORIANI and MATT WHITFIELD

NEW YORK CITY – The first round of the 2010 Big East Tournament is in the books. Four games, one upset with St. John’s over UCONN in a surprisingly lopsided contest . The scores:

South Florida 58, DePaul 49

St. John’s 73, Connecticut 51

Seton Hall 109, Providence 106

Cincinnati 69, Rutgers 68

—Be sure to visit NBE’s 2010 Big East Tournament home page (HERE!) for the full schedule and links to get tickets to each session—

Ray’s ten points of emphasis from this first day:

1. Loved the attitude of South Florida coach Stan Heath. His Bulls defeated DePaul and are 20-11. Rather than discuss the bubble Heath simply tells his players to keep playing. “We win we get to keep playing,” Heath said, “and that takes care of itself.” Bulls jumped out to a 30-15 halftime lead and outside of a late run fueled by DePaul’s Will Walker (20 points), did a good defensive job.

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SETON HALL HOLDS OFF RUTGERS RALLY FOR WIN

Bobby Gonzalez and the Pirates keep NCAA hopes on life support with 76-70 home win Tuesday

by RAY FLORIANI

NEWARK, NJ – Six in a row. Seton Hall defeated Rutgers 76-70 on Tuesday at the Prudential Center giving the Pirates their sixth straight Big East win at home. For Seton Hall, the start was big.

The Keys :

1. As noted the Pirates got off to a blazing start. Bobby Gonzalez’s troops jumped out to a 28-10 lead just over eight minutes into the contest. The Hall forced turnovers, got out in transition and simply played with a great deal of energy. “We jumped out to a great start which is something we wanted to do,” Gonzalez said. “We came out with some great energy.”

2. The lead was never lost. Rutgers gradually settled down and got back in the contest. Down the stretch it was a two possession game (as close as 68-64 with just under three minutes left). Seton Hall not losing the lead was crucial from a momentum standpoint. The Scarlet Knights were able to get back into the game by getting stops and, more importantly, cutting down on turnovers. The First half Rutgers has 12 turnovers. After intermission they had only four. Simply, not losing the ball due to the dreaded turnover gives you an opportunity to end a possession with a shot, at least.

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SETON HALL HOLDS OFF VISITING DEPAUL

By RAY FLORIANI

NEWARK, NJ – In a game they never trailed, Seton Hall posted a 79-71 decision over DePaul at the Prudential Center. The St.Valentine’s Day victory gave the Hall its fifth straight home triumph in conference play.

Three keys to the game:

1. The start. A deep three pointer at the buzzer by Jeremy Hazell sent Seton Hall into the locker room with a 50-35 first half lead. “Giving up 50 points is too much,” said DePaul interim coach Tracy Webster. “Once you do that you are playing catch up basketball right from the beginning of the second half.” Actually the start was even sooner. Over the course of the first four minutes of the game the Hall sped out to a 10-1 lead. By the first media time out the tone was set.

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SETON HALL HOLDS OFF NOTRE DAME IN OFFENSIVE SHOOTOUT

by RAY FLORIANI

NEWARK, NJ – It came down to two last second three point attempts. Both misfired and Seton Hall held on for a big 90-87 win over Notre Dame at the Prudential Center on Thursday. Seton Hall’s struggles at the foul line nearly cost them. In the final minute Herb Pope and Keon Lawrence missed one and ones. The last possession saw three-point attempts by ND’s Tim Abromatis and Carleton Scott misfire and the Pirates were victorious.

Three keys to the game :

1. Jeremy Hazell. The junior sharpshooter led all scorers with 35 points and was in an outstanding shooter’s grove. Hazell shot 12 of 16 which included 8 of 11 from beyond the arc. “Hazell gets this team going especially in this building,” said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. Hazell was coming off a two point game at Pitt where he shot one of seven from the floor. “Pitt just did an outstanding job defensing him,” said Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez. Naturally, after a rough game, Brey was concerned that Hazell would have a break out game. He did, in a big way.

2. Defense . It’s a tough sell when a team like Seton Hall allows the opposition to post a 1.23 mark in points per possession while shooting 54% from the field. “It may not seem like we played defense,” Gonzalez said, “but we got the stops when we needed them.”

Not to mention turnovers. ND came into the Rock with an impressive 14% TO RATE and a reputation of caring for the ball. Seton Hall forced 14 Irish turnovers for a 20% rate. And those turnovers led to the Pirate’s 20-5 edge in scoring off turnovers.

3. Luke Harangody. See defense. The 6-8 leading scorer (25 PPG in conference) for ND, left the game with about 5 minutes to go. Harangody suffered a knee injury which, at post game press conference was announced as not being serious (Harangody Tweaks Knee in Second Half – ESPN.com). The Hall had defended the Irish star extremely well. Gonzalez kept fresh bodies as Jeff Robinson, Herb Pope and John Garcia on Harangody all night. He finished with 13 points on 4 of 10 shooting in 29 minutes. “I thought Herb (Pope) and Jeff (Robinson) especially defensed him (Harangody) tremendously,” Gonzalez said.

At the half the Hall had a 49-39 lead. Chalk it up to Hazell (17 points) and a defense that forced 9 turnovers and gave the Pirates a 13-2 advantage off turnovers. The second half saw ND make a few runs. “When we got tops we were able to put a run together,” Brey said. While Harangody was being closely watched, Tory Jackson (a team high 25 points) and Tim Abromatis (18 points) were threats. Jackson got in the lane and knocked down threes while the 6-8 Abromatis worked inside but was also effective on the perimeter.

Two big factors in the Hall’s favor: they never relinquished the lead in the second half and turonovers. The Irish came into the game with a reputation of caring for the ball. Their pre-game turnover rate (percentage of possessions ending in turnovers ) was an impressive 14%. On the night they had a 20% rate and their 14 turnovers gave the Hall a 20-5 edge in points off turnovers. That figure went a long way toward deciding the outcome.

Notes: Attendance was 8,403. ND flew in on Tuesday before the storm hit the New York metropolitan area. Notre Dame, now 17-8 overall (6-6 in the Big East) hosts St. John’s on Sunday.

The loss last night creates longer NCAA basketball odds against the Irish in making the Big Dance as the work ahead is tough.

After hearing the result of St. John’s-Louisville, Brey was quite concerned about his next opponent. “The good thing about the Big East,” Brey said, ’is it’s hard and you get opportunities. The bad thing about the Big East is it’s hard.”

Both teams shot over 50% (ND 54% the Hall 55%). Seton Hall had a curious stat on three pointers and free throws. The Hall was an identical 12 of 19 (63%) from both. Jeff Robinson added 14 points 4 boards to complement his defense and Eugene Harvey had an impressive 9 point, 10 assist , one turnover outing.

Seton Hall is 13-9 (4-7) and hosts DePaul on Sunday. “This was an important win,” Gonzalez said, “especially after coming off three straight road losses.”

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JERSEY SUMMER LEAGUE KEEPS BIG EAST REF SHARP

By Ray Floriani

JERSEY CITY, NJ – Last summer Pat Devaney, who coordinates the Hamilton Park (high school) Summer League, asked if Brian O’Connell might be interested in officiating. Brian is an outstanding official who works a good portion of his schedule in the Big East. Brian and Pat are friends from their days growing up in Bayonne (NJ) so there would be a shot at getting him. The one problem would be if his conferences, as the Big East, would permit Brian to work summer ball on a prep level. As it turned out there was no problem and Brian accepted a schedule in the Hamilton Park circuit. A high school or lower division coach might be thrilled to be in a huddle with Roy Williams or Coach K. How many get the chance? Yours truly was fortunate to get the chance working three games with Brian last Tuesday.

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RETROSPECTIVE OF A CLASSIC

The Syracuse/UConn six overtime thriller will live on in memories

By Ray Floriani

NEW YORK CITY – It has been billed a classic. Some are calling it the greatest college basketball game ever. Whatever the opinion, the six overtime epic between Connecticut and Syracuse, won by the Orange, 127-117, was discussed quite frequently on Friday.

Let’s say it defines the 2009 Big East Tournament.

As the Friday night wore on, overtime stories were exchanged during time outs. Three overtimes, not too frequent, but I have seen or covered one or two. Actually the most overtimes witnessed was this past January playing EA Sports NCAA09, That was four OT’s and I thought that was long…

The nuances and momentum changes, missed free throws and great shots (even the one by Eric Devendorf at the regulation buzzer that didn’t count) are well documented. Some of the behind the scenes stories are worthy of telling.

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BIG EAST TOURNAMENT SESSION II RECAP

by Ray Floriani

NEW YORK CITY- The afternoon sessions of the 2009 Big East Tournament saw upsets with DePaul stopping Cincinnati as the UC Collapse is Complete to end the season. The afternoon also saw Georgetown dropping a decision to St. John’s for the second time in a week, as Norm Roberts and the Johnnies Live to Fight Another Day.

The evening session held to form as the favored seeds moved on to live another day and keep their dreams of five imporbable wins in five days alive to make the 2009 NCAA Tournament with the Big East’s automatic bid. Notre Dame eliminated Rutgers and Seton Hall defeated South Florida.

Need Tickets to the Big East Tournament?? Still time to get them and for some GREAT Prices. As little as $9 can get you into the door with a ticket.

Check out our 2009 Big East Tournament & Tickets page for the schedule and links to purchase tickets and have them for the game!

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SETON HALL/ST. JOHN’S RECAP

by Ray Floriani

NEWARK, NJ – Mark it down as three straight for Seton Hall. The Pirates defeated St. John’s 91-81 at the Prudential Center on Thursday evening. A tempo free breakdown…

Final totals…

Team………….Possessions………….Efficiency
St.John’s…………71…………………114
Seton Hall………..73…………………125

What Seton Hall did well. Impose their ‘will’ on the game. Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez noted that getting an uptempo team to slow things down as opposed to doing the reverse, force a slower team to kick it high gear. Seton Hall did just that. St.John’s prefers a low sixty possession outing but by going small and applying some pressure defense, the Hall increased the tempo and built a significant early lead.

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HOOP GROUP HIGH SCHOOL SHOWCASE OBSERVATIONS

By Ray Floriani

NEW BRUNSWICK , NJ – A final look back on the Hoop Group Showcase with a few notes and observations.

A few of the traditional New York City powers as Rice and St. Raymond’s were among the missing. Regardless, it was a competitive field with some local schools as Plainfield (NJ) and the Nia School stepping up and getting attention.

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ST. PATRICK TAKES HOOP GROUP SHOWCASE

Ray Floriani offers unique perspective on championship game as one of the referees

By Ray Floriani

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – St.Pat’s served notice that last March’s season ending loss to St.Anthony’s is behind them and they are primed for another TOC (Tournament of Champions) title. The Celtics captured the Hoop Group High School Showcase defeating Windsor of Connecticut 54-17 in the championship game.

The tournament was held June 21 and 22 on the campus of Rutgers University with games at the Livingston campus and the College Avenue gym, better known as ‘The Barn’. The way St.Pat’s dismantled the competition on Sunday was reminiscent of another great team that actually called the Barn home, the ’76 Rutgers Final Four team. Pat’s defeated Seton Hall Prep in the quarterfinals before dismantling St.Benedict’s 61-35 in the semis.

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SIGHTS & SOUNDS FROM MSG: PICTORIAL

Ray Floriani spent Wednesday night and Friday night in Madison Square Garden and provided us with two nights of coverage with his Sights & Sounds from Madison Square Garden from the opening night and the Semis. 

Today, Ray shared some if his photo memories from his MSG experience as we take a look back at some of the Big East Tournament experience for the players, fans and cheerleaders with his quick Big East Tournament Pictorial.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS FROM MSG: THE SEMIS

by Ray Floriani 

NEW YORK CITY – The championship game will be a rematch of last season. Pitt will be returning to the finals and appearing in its seventh Big East Tournament title game in the last eight years. Georgetown, looking very formidable these past two days, aims to defend the title and secure a number one seed in the NCAA tournament

The Scores :

Georgetown 72 West Virginia 55
Pitt 68 Marquette 61

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SIGHTS & SOUNDS FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Ray Floriani was in Madison Square Garden checking out the action from Day One of the Big East Tournament. Before heading off to Atlantic City for the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Ray filed a brief report on the action from Wednesday:

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IMPRESSIONS FROM ST. JOHN’S/MARQUETTE

By Ray Floriani

NEW YORK CITY – Marquette stopped St.John’s 73-64 in a Big East Conference game at Madison Square Garden. It appeared early on this might be another blowout loss for the Red Storm. After trailing by 21 in the second half, St.John’s regrouped and actually made a nice run. A rundown on the game…

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NOTRE DAME/SETON HALL IMPRESSIONS

Ray Floriani provides the NBE Basketball Report with a running commentary on last night’s contest at the ‘Rock’.

By Ray Floriani

NEWARK, NJ – About ten minutes prior to tipoff of Notre Dame-Seton Hall official Tim Higgins comes over to say hello. “Nice buiding, my first time here,” Higgins says. Kind of surprised this is Higgins’, a New Jersey resident, first trip to the ‘Rock’. But he’s been on the move just having done Michigan-Ohio State the night before. “Just a great game,” he adds before rejoining his partners on the floor.

20:00-13:56
Jamar Nutter buries a deep three on his first attempt. A good sign for the Hall? Luke Harangody’s first two baskets are fifteen footers. Not a good sign as the Irish big man has yet to go in the paint. Hall runs a nice pick and roll with Augustine Okosun finishing. Kyle McAlarney, courtesy of some great ball movement, buries an open three for ND.
16-8 Notre Dame

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SETON HALL-SOUTH FLORIDA GAME REPORT

By Ray Floriani

NEWARK, NJ – On a night Jeremy Hazell found the range, Seton Hall earned its first Big East victory of the season, stopping South Florida 74-64 at the Prudential Center.

Hazell struggled in his first Big East road trip last week. The freshman guard scored two at Marquette and was scoreless at Pitt, both Pirate losses. Hazell led all scorers with 22 points. He was 5 of 11 from three point range and had several scores on penetration. The win snapped a two game losing streak for the hall. Seton Hall is 11-6 (1-3 conf) while South Florida fell to 10-8 (1-4).

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NIKE SUPER SIX RECAPS

January 17, 2008

On Sunday afternoon, six of the top teams in the NYC/NJ region convened at Madison Square Garden for the Nike Super Six event. Ray Floriani and Adam Zagoria took in the action from the event as Mount Vernon staged a furious late rally to edge Paterson Catholic, St. Benedict’s edged Rice and St. Patrick got by St. Raymond’s.

Five players headed to the Big East next year played in the Nike Super Six Invitational. The group included Paterson (N.J.) Catholic point guard Jordan Theodore(Seton Hall), Rice (NY) point guard Kemba Walker (UConn), St. Raymond (N.Y.) point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant (West Virginia), Mount Vernon (N.Y.) forward Kevin Jones (West Virginia) and St. Benedict’s (N.J.) power forward Samardo Samuels (Louisville).

Earlier this week we had a Zag’s Recruiting Round-up from the Nike Super Six as Adam Zagoria took a look at some of the top potential Big East prospects from the action. Today, we take a look at the notes from Ray and Adam on the action and, especially, on the players headed to the Big East next year.

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Mount Vernon 66 Paterson Catholic 60

by Ray Floriani

New York City – For just over three quarters Paterson Catholic did what was needed. The Cougars were running the break, penetrating and taking care of the defensive end. Then, the final six minutes it all came unglued. Mount Vernon rallied down the stretch to post a 66-60 victory.

Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino was hesitant to trap or press the quick, athletic Paterson Catholic. Down double digits with just over 5 minutes to play he had no choice. It worked as the young PC squad suddenly came unglued and Mount Vernon rallied for the 66-60 win.

West Virginia will benefit from the services of a major addition in Kevin Jones next season. The Mount Vernon big man earned game MVP honors with a 25 point 19 rebound effort. Thing I liked most about Jones was when PC’s defense collapsed on him and limited the touches , Jones never stopped working. Some marquee players don’t see the ball and they stop working , or worse, sulk. Jones just kept active on both ends and in the fourt quarter he was dominant. One sequence late in the game saw him sprint down court while PC was in transition and eventually block a shot on the wing. Bob Huggins has the real deal headed to Morgantown next year.

“We couldn’t match their (Mount Vernon) intensity the last three or four minutes,”Paterson Catholic coach Damon Wright lamented during post game interviews. “We just couldn’t close it out. We are young and their (Mount Vernon) maturity just paid off especially the last quarter.”

Notes:
• Cimmino used a little ploy to get Sherrod Wright going.” He’s (Wright) a North Carolina native and wants to play for UNC,”Cimmino said. “At the start of the fourth quarter I pointed out to Sherrod who was in the stands.” None other than North Carolina coach Roy Williams who saw the junior swingman score 13 of his 20 points the final quarter and play a huge role in the Mount Vernon comeback.

• Impressed with Lance Brown who led PC with 16 point 8 rebounds. A junior forward, Brown did a nice job getting in the lane and finishing.

• Seton Hall got a really nice lead guard in Jordan Theodore. The PC senior runs the break well and gets in the lane. Whether in transition or breaking down defenses Theodore finds teammates with beautiful fingertip pinpoint passes. He scored 12 points whit 5 assists and 5 steals. Spoke to a PC assistant who feels Theodore will get appreciable minutes at the Hall either spelling Eugene Harvey or teaming up with him in stretches. “The thing about Justin,”the coach added, “is he also plays outstanding defense.”

• There was absolutely no need to motivate players on this date. “At Madison Square Garden, a top notch opponent, the kids are in a ‘ candy store’ ,” said Cimmino.

• There was no shot clock used in the games. New York state employs one while New Jersey doesn’t. Cimmino was asked the effect of having no shot clock to which he replied in jest, “you mean we didn’t have one today.” Simply, none was necessary.

St. Benedict’s 55 Rice 52

by Adam Zagoria

New York – Louisville commit 6′9 Samardo Samuels came off the bench to score 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and grabbed 13 boards in St. Benedict’s 55-52 victory over Kemba Walker and Rice.

Samuels earned MVP honors despite being benched to start the game by head coach Danny Hurley, who was less than impressed with Samuels’ behavior during and after the team’s loss last week to Academy of the New Church(Pa.).

St. Benedict’s, currently ranked No. 2 in the Prepnation.com national poll, had been No. 1 and undefeated prior to that loss.

“Sometimes you look at these kids, he’s 6-9, he’s 245,” Hurley said of Samuels. “He’s built like a man, and sometimes it’s hard to realize that they’re teenagers and that they make mistakes.

“Some other coaches would maybe have looked at what happened this week and said, ‘No big deal.’ I got from my old man (St. Anthony head coach Bob Hurley) and other coaches, small things are a big deal with me.”

Walker, a UConn commit, scored a game-high 18 points but also made eight turnovers in a losing effort for Rice. The Raiders were coming off a thrilling 81-74 overtime victory over St. Raymond the night before. Walker poured in agame-high 29 in that game and exerted his will down the stretch.

A Few More Notes From Ray Floriani:

Dexter Strickland of St.Pat’s announced after the St.Raymond’s game that he would attend North Carolina. Strickland originally was heavily involved with Michigan State.

Among the college coaches in attendance was UCONN assistant Patrick Sellers. When he took his seat Sellers took friendly condolences from fellow assistant Orlando Antigua of Pitt. Sellers was still replaying the action of a day ago when Georgetown knocked off the Huskies on a Roy Hibbert trey. “That’s a shot myself, coach Calhoun, our whole team would give anytime,” Sellers said, “and he (Hibbert) goes and hits it.”

Thought St.Pat’s was not too fluid and a little rough around the edges. Still, Kevin Boyle’s club earned a 64-56 win over a good St.Raymond’s club. Kansas bound Quintrell Thomas was a force (25 points) inside and a big difference maker.

St.Pat’s and St.Anthony’s are headed on a collision course in the New Jersey Parochial B section of the state tournament. And that’s one many of us can hardly wait for.

Even with 6 outstanding programs, the Super Six drew just about 4,000.

A Few More Notes from Adam Zagoria:

Walker and WVU commit Darryl ‘Truck’ Bryant may have been a little tired after their thriller Saturday night. Bryant scored 17 points on 5 of 19 shooting in a game the Ravens lost to St. Patrick, 64-56. St. Raymond had been undefeated coming into the weekend before losing back-to-back games to Rice and St. Patrick.

Another WVU commit, 6′8 Kevin Jones was a monster on the boards, finishing with 25 points and 19 rebounds to earn MVP honors. He made 11 of 28 shots, but was just 1 of 10 from beyond the arc.

All these teams will jump back into action in showcase games next weekend. St. Benedict’s and Paterson Catholic will face off Saturday in the Dan Finn Classic at the Jersey City Armory. Rice and St. Patrick would meet in the McDonald’s Classic in Erie, Pa., assuming both teams win their first-round games.