Awright… We’re off to a nice easy start to boys basketball season, just two days and there’s really been nothing too crazy out there, no upsets, and just few interesting events and numbers to chew on as we dig out of our second Nor’easter of the week.
Before I begin, here are the links to Connecticut Post’s first two days of call-ins.
Day 1: Wednesday, December 12
** Game story: Good debut for Desantis, ND
Here’s what we know so far…
1. Steve Zazuri of Masuk is off to an incredible start, while doing his best Jovan Holden impression. Drive, make layups or make all of your foul shots. He’s scored over 40 in both games and has made almost every one of his three dozen foul shots.
2. Central may be young and small, but they dumped 90 on McMahon on opening night to offset a 27-point night from Shawn Simmons, who was plagued by early foul trouble (we hear he had four in the first quarter… if that’s possible).
3. Anyway, Simmons of McMahon turned right around and dropped 11 (ELEVEN) 3-pointers on St. Joseph and scored 41 points. But McMahon lost, 84-82, and St. Joseph–which had its four best players in double figures–is 2-0.
4. Greg DeSantis musta been eating his spinach in the offseason. Not only does he overshadow teammate Matt Maya’s hot-shooting night with a scorching 34 points, he leads ND past a Bunnell team many have pegged to contend for a league title. …
5. But Newtown must be pretty good itself, holding Notre Dame down and getting four players in double figures, led by Matt Maher’s 19 and P.J Cochrane’s 16 to win their tournament final.
6. Bunnell needs some serious help in the guard department. We all knew that was going to be the case when we learned that seniors Taylor Lasko and Dan Paolini weren’t going to play this season. But those were FAR too many turnovers in that Newtown Tipoff tournament loss to Notre Dame.
7. I got an email from somebody on the inside who told me “NOT” to sleep on Notre Dame-WH this year and that it could be a special season.
8. Jury’s still out on Kolbe Cathedral. They hung with NFA on the road, but they couldn’t stop R.J. Evans and lost by eight. Then they beat Berlin 64-48, also on the road.
9. The NVL is the toughest conference in the state, with Holy Cross, Torrington, Crosby, Sacred Heart and Wilby all hoping to contend. Makes you feel for Seymour and Ansonia who probably would have a shot at the state tournament every year in any other conference.
10. Everybody’s saying that New Canaan is legit this year. Judging by the sudden surge of New Canaan calls to report their scores (we don’t take NC boxes unless they’re playing a local team), I’d say that the NC coaching staff believes they’re legit, too. An 80-63 victory over Ludlowe certainly perked a few ears around here.
11. I’ll leave the rest of the observations to the new top Top 10 from Birdseye Sports’ Tommy Razor, who for some reason or another can’t get onto our blog site.
(I told him to dump iexplorer 1.0 circa 1996 from his IBM PC XT, but no word on if he’s done so.)
TOMMYRAZOR’S TOP 20 RANKINGS
Rank/School/Last Week’s Rank/Record
1. Hillhouse-New Haven: (2) (0-0) IDLE This Week: (12/18 @ Hamden, 12/21 vs. Guilford)
2. Crosby-Waterbury: (3) (2-0) Bulldogged their way over Woodland-Beacon Falls 87-36 and Kennedy-Waterbury 95-53 This Week: (12/18) @ Wolcott, 12/21 vs. #13 Sacred Heart-Waterbury)
3. Weaver-Hartford: (1) (0-1) Lost to Hartford Public-Hartford 77-67…Down 2 starters to begin the game (SG Moreland: DNP-CD for first half, PF Talbert: DNP-Illness) the Beavers struggled against the ‘Pub, a late comeback kept them close. This Week: (12/18 vs. Bloomfield, 12/21 @ Hall-West Hartford)
4. Windsor: (3) (0-0) Hall-West Hartford (No Score Reported) This Week: (12/18 @ Conard-West Hartford, 12/21 vs. Wethersfield
5. Hartford Public-Hartford: (7) (1-0) Put one on Weaver-Hartford 77-67…Hartford High looking for some respect after this game…PG Lawhorn (Sophmore) looked outstanding and the Owls frontline was devastating. This Week: (12/17 vs. Enfield, 12/18 vs. Rockville, 12/21 vs. South Windsor)
6. Trinity Catholic-Stamford: (5) (2-0) Cruised to easy victories over Trumbull 75-42 and Westhill-Stamford 88-59…Crusaders proving they still are the class of the FCIAC. This Week: (12/18 vs. Bassick-Bridgeport, 12/20 @ Danbury)
7. St. Joseph’s-Trumbull: (6) (2-0) Crushed Warde-Fairfield 79-37 and escaped the hot shooting Senators hot shooting SG Simmons by beating McMahon-Norwalk 87-85. This Week: (12/18 vs. Westhill-Stamford, 12/20 @ Trumbull)
8. Wilbur Cross-New Haven: (9) (1-0) West Haven 75-60…Markus Wright was a beast but had help in PG Pittman. This Week: (12/18 @ Shelton, 12/20 vs. East Haven)
9. New London: (8) (1-0) Dominated Wheeler-North Stonington 81-36…The Whalers toughest games might be played out of conference. This Week: (12/21 vs. St. Bernard’s-Uncasville)
10. Holy Cross-Waterbury: (10) (2-0) Pasted Wolcott 67-40 and Ansonia 81-44…Coach Generali has the Crusaders ready for another title run. This Week: (12/18 @ Woodland-Beacon Falls, 12/21 @ Seymour
11. Maloney-Meriden: (11) (1-0) Survived at #19 East Hartford 72-70…Spartans looking to get healthy after losing PG Vereen (Head injury-will return)…SG/SF Bunch is a sick athlete who holds them together. This Week: (12/18 vs. Newington, 12/21 @ Bristol Eastern-Bristol)
12. Torrington: (12) (2-0) Bombed on Watertown 86-44 and Seymour 85-55…Red Raiders face an early test when they travel down route 8 Tuesday. This Week: (12/18 @ #13 Sacred Heart-Waterbury, 12/21 @ Ansonia)
13. Sacred Heart-Waterbury: (16) (2-0) Overpowered Ansonia 79-62 and finished off Wilby-Waterbury 69-66…Super sophomore SF Turner and the Hearts have a very tough week ahead-NVL title like conditions. This Week: (12/18 vs. #12 Torrington, 12/21 @ #2 Crosby-Waterbury)
14. East Catholic-Manchester: (13) (1-0) Humbled Cheney Tech-Manchester 58-22…Eagles look to be on cruise control until after Christmas. This Week: (12/17 @ Plainville, 12/20 vs. Rocky Hill)
15. Norwich Free Academy-Norwich: (18) (2-0) Subdued then #20 Kolbe Cathedral-Bridgeport 62-50 and destroyed St. Bernard’s-Uncasville 65-21…SG Evans putting up big time numbers. This Week: (12/18 vs. Windham, 12/21 @ East Lyme)
16. E.O. Smith-Storrs: (15) (0-0) IDLE This Week: (12/18 vs. RHAM-Hebron, 12/21 @ Rockville)
17. Northwest Catholic-West Hartford: (14) (1-0) Gutted out a tough win against Bristol Central-Bristol 72-69…PG Prescott (32 points) may have lost the duel with PG Brooks (33 points) but his Indians won the war. This Week: (12/18 vs. Middletown, 12/20 @ RHAM-Hebron)
18. Glastonbury: (17) (1-0) Smashed Newington 69-48…PF Pinone Jr. and friends can legitimize their ranking later this week. This Week: (12/18 @ Manchester, 12/21 vs. New Britain)
19. East Hartford: (19) (1-1) Lost to #11 Maloney-Meriden 72-70 and stung Bloomfield 75-49…Fabulous freshman PG Jernigan and sensational sophomore C McCallop are looking to be CCC title contenders. This Week: (12/18 @ New Britain, 12/21 vs. Southington)
20. Notre Dame-West Haven: (NR) (2-0) Annihilated Derby 87-40 and routed East Haven 76-54…C Mangano can do just about everything. This Week: (12/18 vs. Cheshire, 12/20 @ Fairfield Prep-Fairfield)
Dropped out: Kolbe Cathedral-Bridgeport (20) (1-1) Lost to #15 Norwich Free Academy-Norwich 62-50 and tamed Berlin 64-48. This Week: (12/21 @ Weston)
whats with all of the hartford teams?
theres only like 4 maybe 5 regional teams
I’d agree that he’s slightly skewed northward.
I’d take Harding somewhere toward the second half of Top 15, and then added another large FCIAC team in there…
But aside from those, I’d say he’s pretty good, at least through 15.
After that, theres not much difference between any good teams you could throw in there.
no posts in 2 weeks? hope everything is ok spb