Breaking Down the Seeding for the Four Team Pods that Begin This Week
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–On Monday morning, the GMC Pod Seeding Committee will get together to hammer out the seeds for the 2021 GMC Boys and Girls Basketball Pods. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the season had been shortened, and there is no GMCT or State Tournament this season.
Thirty teams competed in some shape or form this season although about half of the schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference had their boys basketball seasons impacted by COVID-19 in terms of either a delayed start, quarantine, or not playing at all. When play begins in the GMC Boys Basketball Pods, 28 of the 30 schools that competed this winter will participate.
Edison and J.P. Stevens opted out. Edison, which had been on quarantine since the middle of the month, requested to play its crosstown rival, J.P. Stevens as a part of pod play, but the Greater Middlesex Conference could not guarantee that. The Eagles and Hawks play every year despite being in different divisions. The City of Light Game is a huge fixture in the Edison community, and the two teams will continue that tradition with a game on Tuesday night at Edison High School starting at 7:00 PM.
Now, we have the other 28 teams. GMC Hoops does not know how the actual match-ups will be determined. According to Central Jersey Sports Radio earlier this month, the GMC Pod Seeding Committee, co-chaired by Spotswood Athletic Director, Mike DelAversano and South River Athletic Director, Carl Buffalino, will seed the teams much like they have in the past for the GMCT. So, GMC Hoops has put together a mock seeding for the Pods.
Key Match-Ups Impacting Pod Seeding
There were a number of important match-ups around the Greater Middlesex Conference in boys basketball during the course of the 2020-21 season. Some were within division, and others were across divisions. Nevertheless, there are a number of games that could have a big impact on seeding the pods on Monday morning:
BLUE DIVISION
Obviously, the match-ups between the top three teams: South Plainfield, Dunellen, and Metuchen will play a role. The most important of these games will be Metuchen’s triple overtime win at South Plainfield (60-58). The Bulldogs road win at SPHS gives them a key victory over a team likely to be off the board when they come up for seeding. Another key match-up will be South River’s win at Dunellen, which gives the Rams a quality win over a team likely to be off the board when they come up for seeding.
GOLD DIVISION
Several games in the Gold could have some bearing on seeding. Wardlaw and Timothy Christian only played once this season, and there are some in both camps that would like to play again as part of the GMC Pods, but like with Edison and J.P. Stevens, that cannot be guaranteed. Nevertheless, Timothy Christian’s close loss on the road at Wardlaw (60-57) gives the Tigers some credibility especially since they didn’t play anyone outside the division as of the time this article was posted.
Another game, perhaps not as important in terms of best record in division, but will go a long way in breaking a tiebreaker, is Perth Amboy Tech’s 70-35 victory over Calvary Christian on February 20th in Perth Amboy. Both teams are 6-6, and before anything can be done regarding where these teams are seeded, the seeding committee has to determine, which of the teams comes out first. In this case, it will be Amboy Tech, which has also played Wardlaw and TCS the toughest of any other team in the GMC Gold.
RED DIVISION
Some key games in this division include: East Brunswick’s 68-56 win over South Brunswick at EBHS on February 13th, J.P. Stevens buzzer beating 38-37 win over EB in North Edison on February 20th, and St. Joseph’s wins over both EB (60-57) on February 11th and South Brunswick (69-64) on February 6th. Those helped Joes win the GMC Red, and with both the Bears and Vikings defeating North Brunswick, negate the effect of North Brunswick’s upset of the Falcons on Saturday.
WHITE DIVISION
St. Thomas Aquinas’ dominating win at Colonia (75-63) on February 13th solidified the Trojans position in the GMC. Couple that with a victory over North Brunswick earlier that week (62-59), and the Raiders win over St. Joe’s on Saturday, and there should be no doubt that STA will be the top seeded team in the GMC Boys Basketball Pod. Colonia also defeated North Brunswick decisively early on in the season in Colonia, which could help the Patriots edge out St. Joe’s for the second seed. Kennedy’s close loss at home to Edison on February 13th could give the Mustangs an argument versus Dunellen.
GMC CROSSOVERS
There were not as many crossover games due to the limited number of games played. However, due to a number of teams having to quarantine, teams did manage to arrange several crossovers. Some important ones to note in terms of the seeding would be Edison’s wins over Dunellen (69-56) on January 26th at The Faber in Dunellen and a victory over Metuchen on January 29th at Cangelosi Gymnasium in Edison’s Southside.
South Plainfield’s decisive win on the road over J.P. Stevens in North Edison on January 28th could give the Tigers an argument when they go up against EB for the fourth or fifth seed. The Hawks defeated the Bears on a buzzer beating three by sophomore Jordan Robinson on February 20th in North Edison. After starting the season at 0-2, Stevens has won 7 of its last 11 including four straight.
Middlesex’s crossover road win at Woodbridge on February 5th could have some important implications for several GMC Blue teams including Dunellen (beat Middlesex twice), Metuchen (also beat Middlesex twice), and South River (split with Middlesex). The Rams also have a win over Dunellen at The Faber, which also strengthens their hand against Woodbridge.
Speaking of Woodbridge, the Barrons recent home win over Monroe on Friday (47-46) gives them an important crossover victory in terms of seeding because it is very likely that the Barrons and Falcons will fight it out for a seed. In addition, Monroe has a quality win over East Brunswick on February 15th in Monroe. Then, there are the crossover games involving North Brunswick.
The Raiders played crossover contests against Metuchen (February 22nd), South Brunswick (February 20th), East Brunswick (February 25th), and St. Joseph’s (February 27th). North Brunswick was 2-2 in these games including an upset of the Falcons on Saturday (61-57) in North Brunswick. However, the crossover losses at South Brunswick and East Brunswick lessens the impact of the win over Joes since the Falcons beat the Vikings and Bears earlier in the season.
NON-CONFERENCE
It will be interesting to see how the GMC Pod Seeding Committee will handle non-conference games. Most of the time, non-conference games are not really utilized in the seeding process. However, in the 2018 GMCT Seeding, non-conference games were used as a means to distinguish Old Bridge from Carteret to obtain the 3rd seed that season. So, they can be used.
With the teams scrambling to find games since division foes, especially in the big school divisions were impacted hard by winter storms on top of COVID quarantines, non-conference games may have a bigger impact on this year’s seeding. Colonia (5-2), J.F. Kennedy (2-0), Aquinas (3-4), and St. Joseph’s (2-2) all registered quality non-conference wins including victories over such schools as Paterson Eastside, Rumson, Newark Eastside, Teaneck, Hudson Catholic, and Montgomery.
Both St. Joseph’s and Aquinas defeated Hudson Catholic, the 11th ranked team in the state coming into this weeek. The Falcons also defeated a solid Skyland Conference school in Montgomery. Meanwhile, Colonia and North Brunswick defeated Newark Eastside while the Patriots also downed a solid Group 2 School in Rumson, and Big North power, Paterson Eastside, a perennial contender in Group 4.
SEEDING THE PODS
With all of that said, it is time to seed the GMC Pods for boys basketball. I’m going to be brief with just some small notes on each team after posting their seeding position:
1. St. Thomas Aquinas (7-4)–Undefeated in GMC White. Defeated Colonia, North Brunswick, and Hudson Catholic.
2. Colonia (9-3)–2nd in GMC White. Defeated North Brunswick. Lost to Aquinas. Also defeated Rumson, Newark Eastside, and Paterson Eastside.
3. St. Joseph’s (9-3)–Undefeated in GMC Red. Beat South Brunswick, East Brunswick, and Hudson Catholic. Lost to North Brunswick.
4. South Brunswick (10-2)–2nd in GMC Red. Beat North Brunswick. Swept Stevens and Monroe. Lost to Joes.
5. East Brunswick (8-3)–3rd in GMC Red. Beat South Brunswick and North Brunswick. Split with Monroe and Stevens. Lost to Joes.
6. North Brunswick (6-5)–3rd in GMC White. Beat St. Joseph’s and Newark Eastside. Lost to SB, EB, STA, and Colonia.
7. South Plainfield (11-1)–1st in GMC White. Beat Stevens, Dunellen twice, and split with Metuchen.
8. Wardlaw (11-1)–1st in GMC Gold–According to GMC Rules all Division winners seeded in Top 8.
9. J.F. Kennedy (4-4)–5th in GMC White. Beat Monroe, Woodbridge, Teaneck, and Hillsborough. Lost to Edison (52-50).
10. Dunellen (8-4)–2nd in GMC Blue. Beat Middlesex and Metuchen twice. Lost to SP twice, South River, and Edison (69-56).
11. Metuchen (7-5)–Third in GMC Blue. Gave SP only loss in 3OT. Beat Middlesx twice and South River. Lost to Dunellen twice, and Edison.
12. South River (5-6)–4th in GMC Blue. Beat Dunellen. Split with Middlesex.
13. Middlesex (5-8)–5th in GMC Blue. Beat South River and Woodbridge.
14. Woodbridge (2-6)–6th in GMC White. Beat Monroe. Lost to Middlesex.
15. Monroe (3-8)–5th in GMC Red. Beat EB. Lost to Woodbridge.
16. Timothy Christian (11-1)–2nd in GMC Gold. Lost at Wardlaw (60-57).
17. New Brunswick (2-5)–6th in GMC Red. Split with J.P. Stevens.
18. Old Bridge (2-7)–7th in GMC Red. Won at New Brunswick. Lost twice to Stevens.
19. Piscataway Tech (8-5)–3rd in GMC Gold. Lost to Wardlaw in OT (42-40) on February 26th. Lost non-conference at Raritan (54-33).
20. Perth Amboy Tech (6-6)–Tied 4th in GMC Gold. Defeated Calvary Christian (70-35) on February 20th in Perth Amboy. Lost twice to P-Way Tech. Lost twice to Wardlaw by an average of 7 points. Lost twice to Timothy Christian by an average of 5 points.
21. Piscataway (0-6)–8th in GMC Red. Lost to New Brunswick (58-54) on January 28th. Lost to St. Joseph’s (73-68) on February 20th.
22. Spotswood (2-9)–6th in GMC Blue. Defeated Highland Park twice. Playing better in 2nd half of season.
23. Sayreville (0-2)–7th in GMC White. Lost to South Brunswick (68-54) and Woodbridge (56-50).
24. Calvary Christian (6-6)–Tied for 4th in GMC Gold. Lost to Amboy Tech (70-35). Beat EB Tech 3 times. Beat South Amboy twice. Beat Somerset Tech.
25. Highland Park (0-6)–7th in GMC Blue. Lost to Spotswood (60-54) on February 26th. Lost at Dunellen (67-55) on February 26th.
26. East Brunswick Tech (2-10)–6th in GMC Gold. Beat Somerset Tech and South Amboy.
27. South Amboy (1-9)–7th in GMC Gold. Split with Somerset Tech.
28. Somerset Tech (1-10)–8th in GMC Gold. Split with South Amboy.
GMC Hoops will not be at the seeding, and will not be tweeting the seeds due to work obligations.