Red Division Teams Combine for Best Record Versus Teams Outside Middlesex County
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–We are now at the midpoint of the 2014-15 season. This season has gone by so fast. Pretty soon we’ll be talking about tournament seeds. Anyway, every year, GMC Hoops tracks how teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference are performing against schools outside of Middlesex County. So far through 90 games, the GMC has gone 46-44, which isn’t terrible, especially considering that many of the Gold Division teams aren’t playing as many non-conference foes, and the conference as a whole has struggled against Union County Competition.
Breaking down the season to date performance by the GMC against out of conference opponents by division: The Red Division teams hold the best combined record of all four divisions in the GMC with a 14-8 mark, or a .636 winning percentage. The Blue Division is next with a 13-12 record, or .520 winning percentage. Both the White and Gold Divisions are below .500 with the White at 10-12, or a .454 winning percentage while the Gold is 9-12, or a .429 winning percentage. Usually by this point in the season, the Gold Division has a non-conference record that is far and away, the best non-conference record of all the divisions of the GMC. However, since Highland Park and Piscataway Tech moved down as part of the new realignment, Gold Division teams now play 16 league games each, which means fewer non-conference and crossover matchups.
As a result, the Gold Division teams have not been able to fatten up on the non-conference foes like say Noor-Ul-Iman or Somerset Tech, etc. Instead they are playing tougher opponents outside of Middlesex County. While this may hurt the Gold and the conference as a whole in terms of the non-conference record in the short term, it could reap significant benefits in the long run, especially if it helps the quality of play in that division improve, and helps those teams be more successful in state tourney play at the end of the year. Breaking down the GMC non-conference record by conference, Greater Middlesex Conference teams are treading water against other conferences in the Central Jersey region. Despite an 8-1 mark against the Colonial Valley Conference, the GMC is a combined 30-31 against the Shore Conference (9-10), Skyland Conference (9-10), and Union County Conference (3-10).
The only loss suffered by the GMC against the CVC occurred in the 5th place game of the 2014 Joe Silver Holiday Tournament in Hillside on December 30th where Notre Dame of Lawrenceville defeated Piscataway (58-51). Meanwhile, the GMC has struggled against Union County teams. Those struggles began with the UCC teams winning 8 of the first 9 meetings against Greater Middlesex Conference squads. The only victory by the GMC during that stretch was a 72-35 Amboy Tech rout of David Brearley of Kenilworth in the opening round of the Hudson River Classic at McNair Academic in Jersey City on December 27th. The GMC has split its last four games against the UCC with Colonia rolling past Johnson Regional in the Mike Murray Games at Kean University on Sunday (76-46) and Spotswood downing Roselle (59-41) in the opening game of the MLK Roundball Classic at New Brunswick HS on Monday.
GMC teams that have performed well against non-conference competition include: Cardinal McCarrick (5-0), South Brunswick (4-0), Spotswood (4-0), East Brunswick (3-0), North Brunswick (2-0), Monroe (3-1), Woodbridge (3-1), St. Joseph’s (2-1), Sayreville (2-1), Old Bridge (2-1), and East Brunswick Tech (2-1). Some Notable non-conference wins include Cardinal McCarrick over 13th ranked in NJ CBA on January 2nd, McCarrick over Marist (2nd ranked team in Hudson County at the time) on January 11th, East Brunswick over Bridgewater-Raritan this past Saturday, North Brunswick over Hillsborough and Hunterdon Central in the Hillsborough Holiday Hoops Tournament, Woodbridge over Hunterdon Central, St. Joseph’s over Middletown North, Spotswood over Somerville and Bound Brook in the Bound Brook Crusader Classic, and J.F. Kennedy over Morris Catholic in the opening round of the 2014 J.P. Flynn Tournament and a regular season victory at Watchung Hills on January 3rd.
South Brunswick and East Brunswick also accounted for half of the GMC’s wins against the Colonial Valley Conference so far this season by each going 2-0 against West Windsor-Plainsboro North and West Windsor-Plainsboro South in the 2014 Brunswick-Windsor Classic over the holidays at SBHS.