GMC Hoops Blogosphere

2010 Linden Team Camp–Analysis

LINDEN, NJ–The week has concluded at the fifth annual Linden Team Camp, and it was the best field ever with 16 teams representing five different conferences. Among those sixteen squads were two teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference: Piscataway and Sayreville. The Bombers were a last minute replacement in the camp as they filled the spot left open when Asbury Park dropped out.

Looking at the field, you have the perennial powerhouses in New Jersey High School Boys Basketball in St. Patrick’s, St. Anthony’s, Christian Brothers Academy, Linden, and Elizabeth, but there are also a number of teams that are coming off very successful campaigns in 2009-10 such as Hillsborough (lost to Plainfield in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV Championship), Newark Central (lost to Newark University in the North Jersey Section 2 Group I Championship), Point Pleasant Beach (lost to Woodbury in the South Jersey Group I Championship), and East Orange Campus (won North Jersey Section 1 Group IV Championship before losing to Plainfield in the Group IV state semifinals). There are also solid teams in Cranford, St. Mary’s of Elizabeth, Raritan, Immaculata, and Hillside, which also qualified for state tourney play this past season.

Of the sixteen teams in the field, there were four teams ranked in the final Star-Ledger Top 20 (St. Patrick’s, St. Anthony’s, Christian Brothers, and Newark Central). GMC Hoops did not get out to the camp until the final day of action due to commitments to the Kean Pre-Summer League and the Montgomery Team Camp. The site did learn that Piscataway and Sayreville did play earlier in the week in a very good game that the Chiefs won by about ten. Speaking with P-Way head coach, Guy Jensen, we learned that the Chiefs were playing in this camp without six players, which had commitments to AAU.

The site was able to see Piscataway and Sayreville play both of their games on Thursday. The Chiefs faced off against Hillsborough in its first game, and then East Orange Campus in its lone crossover matchup. P-Way garnered a hard fought win in the opener against Hillsborough (40-37), but lost to East Orange Campus (47-34). The Chiefs have plenty of talent with an incoming junior class that won the 2009 Perth Amboy Freshman Tournament when they were 9th graders. As sophomores, many of them contributed to the Junior Varsity squad’s success. The JV reached the finals of the 2010 East Brunswick JV Tournament before losing to Hillsborough’s JV. Speaking of the Junior Raiders, they reached the Final Four of the EB JV Tourney in each of the past two seasons.

In addition to that incoming junior talent, there are seniors such as Brian Wong, Thierno Diallo, Anthony Greene, and Danny Cole as well as soon to be sophomore, Marcus Freeney, the younger brother of former P-Way standouts Rodney Freeney and Robert Freeney Jr. The Chiefs sorely missed senior Wayne Newsome down the stretch, but this talented group got valuable experience of playing in games without the four year varsity player, and that may help the team going into this summer and next season. Meanwhile, Sayreville, which had been a surprise to some experts this past season, won’t be one at all next season with a solid core returning including: Mark Keir, Darryl Stephenson, Syd Holt, soon to be sophomore Joe Saitta, and newcomer and Bomber football standout, Delon Stephenson.

The question for the Bombers will be their depth. Michael Phair will be one of the key players off the bench for head coach, Shawn Currie, who gave the reserves playing of opportunities to get experience on the last day of the camp. First, he played them in the entire fourth quarter against St. Patrick’s, which still had Michael Gilchrist and Derrick Gordon on the floor early on in the period. Then, in the nightcap at the Linden P.A.L., he played the youngsters for a good six to six and a half minutes of the final period against Point Pleasant Beach after his starters put together a 13-4 showing in the third by holding the Garnet Gulls to no points over the final 6:57 of the third, and no field goals for the final 9:32. The reserves preserved the lead, and the Bombers went on to win, 44-39.

Sayreville has several key ingredients again this season that will help them be a force again in the GMC: solid guard play with Keir, Saitta, and Delon Stephenson, size with Holt and Darryl Stephenson along with Phair, and tough, physical defense. These were the same ingredients that allowed the Bombers to reach the semifinals of the GMCT for the first time since winning it all in 2000. Expect both the Chiefs and the Bombers to be factors in the 2010-11 season.

2010 Linden Summer League–GMC Results–Day Four–June 10th

LINDEN, NJ–On Thursday night, GMC Hoops was able to get out to Soehl Middle School and the Linden P.A.L. to take in the action from the fourth night of games in the 2010 Linden Team Camp, and has results from all four contests that involved GMC teams. The results are listed below:

2010 Linden Team Camp–Day Four–GMC Results–June 10, 2010

• Piscataway 40–Hillsborough 37
• St. Patrick’s 59–Sayreville 28
• East Orange Campus 47–Piscataway 34
• Sayreville 44–Point Pleasant Beach 39

GMC Hoops thanks Marty Luc, and the folks at Linden for their cooperation.

Sayreville Replaces Asbury Park At Linden Team Camp

LINDEN, NJ–On Thursday, GMC Hoops learned that Sayreville is competing in the Linden Team Camp. The Bombers have taken the place of Asbury Park, and will be facing St. Patrick’s at 6:00 PM and Point Pleasant Beach at 8:00 PM at the Linden P.A.L. Sayreville joins Piscataway as the two teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference at this camp.

2010 Linden Team Camp–Schedule–Thursday, June 10th

LINDEN, NJ–On Thursday morning, GMC Hoops received the schedule for all of today’s games from the Linden Team Camp. Piscataway and Sayreville are the only GMC team that is competing in this year’s camp, but there is plenty of great competition from around the Garden State in this camp including perennial national powerhouses St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth and St. Anthony’s. GMC Hoops already posted the schedule for the crossover games, which will be held later in the day during the 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM hours. Below is the schedule of contests to be played in the 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM hours.

Linden Team Camp Schedule–Thursday, June 10th–Early Games

• Linden vs. Cranford, 5:00 PM @ Linden H.S.
• East Orange vs. Raritan, 5:00 PM @ McManus Middle School
• Newark Central vs. Scotch Plains, 5:00 PM @ Linden P.A.L.
• Piscataway vs. Hillsborough, 5:00 PM @ Soehl Middle School
• St. Anthony’s vs. Point Pleasant Bech, 6:00 PM @ Linden H.S.
• Immaculata vs. Elizabeth, 6:00 PM @ McManus Middle School
• St. Patrick’s vs. Sayreville, 6:00 PM @ Linden P.A.L.
• Christian Brothers Academy vs. St. Mary’s of Elizabeth, 6:00 PM @ Soehl Middle School

Again, the crossover games that are scheduled to take place at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM are already posted here in the blog. You can also get more information on the Linden Team Camp

2010 Linden Team Camp–Conferences Represented

LINDEN, NJ–As mentioned previously, there are 16 teams participating in the fifth annual Linden Team Camp representing five different conferences. According to Linden boys basketball assistant coach, Marty Luc, “this year’s field is the most competitive field that we’ve ever had, with some of the best teams in the area involved.”

• Greater Middlesex Conference
• Skyland Conference
• Shore Conference
• Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference
• Super Essex Conference

Note: –St. Patrick’s and St. Anthony’s are independent. GMC Hoops plans to be out at the Linden Team Camp for all the action on Thursday.

2010 Linden Team Camp–Directions

LINDEN, NJ–For those, who are planning to head over to Linden this evening, or the rest of the week for some of the action from the 2010 Linden Team Camp, here are the directions that I posted in the blog last year to the sites that will be hosting the games. In addition, there are directions to School #4 in Linden as well. Below are the directions to the sites in Linden.

Directions To Linden Team Camp Sites

• Linden High School
• McManus Middle School
• Soehl Middle School
• Linden P.A.L.
• Linden Recreation Center
• Linden School #4

Directions From Linden High School To School #4

• Make a right hand turn out to the front of Linden High School onto St. Georges Avenue.
• Travel through 6 traffic lights (Wood Ave is the 1st light).
• After the 6th traffic light (Cranford Ave), make the 2nd right hand turn onto Grant Ave.
• Travel two blocks and make a right hand turn onto Mildred Ave.
• The back entrance of the school is directly ahead.

Note: Grant Ave is the 1st right turn immediately following the CVS mini-mall. Also, this site is only going to be used on June 8th. See info posted in the blog about this.

2010 Linden Team Camp–Special Note

LINDEN, NJ–A special note for all of those who may be headed out over to Linden to catch the second day of action there. Due to the statewide primary that is taking place, a couple of the facilities being used for the team camp, will not be available. As per Linden Boys Basketball assistant coach, Marty Luc, due to the election on Tuesday June 8, the P.A.L. and McManus Middle School cannot be used. Instead the Linden Recreation Building and School 4 will be used. Directions to these facilities as well as the other ones are already posted on this site, and will be linked to shortly.

2010 Linden Team Camp–Full Schedule

LINDEN, NJ–Over the past couple days, GMC Hoops has received requests regarding the full schedule for the Linden Team Camp being held this week. For those of you that are interested in seeing a good deal of the action involving different teams, you can get the full schedule of games at the Linden Boys Basketball web site.

2010 Linden Team Camp–Crossover Games Schedule–Thursday, June 10th

LINDEN, NJ–GMC Hoops has obtained information from Linden Boys Basketball assistant coach, Marty Luc for the upcoming Linden Team Camp. The web site has broken the schedule down to provide the crossover matchups, which will be held on Thursday, June 10th at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM. One of the games includes St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth against St. Anthony’s of Jersey City, two of the top teams in New Jersey and the country.

Linden Team Camp–Crossover Games

• Game #1–Linden vs. Newark Central, 7:00 PM, Linden H.S.
• Game #2–Cranford vs. Scotch Plains, 7:00 PM, McManus Middle School
• Game #3–Piscataway vs. East Orange, 7:00 PM, Linden P.A.L.
• Game #4–Raritan vs. Hillsborough, 7:00 PM, Soehl Middle School
• Game #5–St. Patrick’s vs. St. Anthony’s, 8:00 PM, Linden H.S.
• Game #6–Immaculata vs. Christian Brothers Academy, 8:00 PM, McManus Middle School
• Game #7–Point Pleasant Beach vs. Sayreville, 8:00 PM, Linden P.A.L.
• Game #8–Elizabeth vs. St. Mary’s (Elizabeth), 8:00 PM, Soehl Middle School

Note: This schedule is subject to change. GMC Hoops plans to make every effort to get out to Linden’s four team camp sites, and catch as much action as possible next week.

2010 Linden Team Camp–Piscataway Schedule

LINDEN, NJ–GMC Hoops has obtained information from Linden Boys Basketball assistant coach, Marty Luc for the upcoming Linden Team Camp. The web site has broken the schedule down to provide the ledgers for the lone GMC teams playing in this camp: Piscataway.

Piscataway’s 2010 Linden Team Camp Schedule

• Game #1–June 7, 2010–Piscataway vs. CBA, 6:00 PM, Linden P.A.L.
• Game #2–June 7, 2010–Piscataway vs. St. Patrick’s, 8:00 PM, Linden P.A.L.
• Game #3–June 8, 2010–Piscataway vs. St. Mary’s (Elizabeth), 6:00 PM, Linden Recreation
• Game #4–June 8, 2010–Piscataway vs. Asbury Park, 8:00 PM, Linden Recreation
• Game #5–June 9, 2010–Piscataway vs. Scotch Plains, 5:00 PM, Soehl Middle School
• Game #6–June 9, 2010–Piscataway vs. Newark Central, 7:00 PM, Linden P.A.L.
• Game #7–June 10, 2010–Piscataway vs. Hillsborough, 5:00 PM, Soehl Middle School
• Game #8–June 10, 2010–Crossover–Piscataway vs. East Orange, 7:00 PM, Linden PAL

Note: This schedule is subject to change. GMC Hoops plans to make every effort to get out to Linden’s four team camp sites, and catch as much action as possible next week.