Champing at the bit as I count down the minutes to Central Catholic and Hendricken. We’ve got it as a 3 p.m. tip.
Look, I’m a straight shooter, so I’m going to tell it like it is, once again.
I was extremely down Friday night. Pinkerton Academy is the reason. Not that Manchester Central isn’t a heck of a team, because they came to play. But for three quarters, Pinkerton played with zero intensity, zero desire and zero passion.
I don’t get that. Here’s your chance to shine on a statewide stage, make a statement. And for three quarters, Central was allowed to pick its shots, be it wide open layups, wide open threes, whatever.
The Little Green is good, I wouldn’t say spectacular … this is not the 2005 Alosa’s All-Stars from Trinity we’re talking about … it’s a solid team. But three three quarters, they were shooting around 70 percent. Why? Nothing was contested.
Now, I’ll give Ben Proulx credited. He stuck his nose in their, got a little physical on the glass and basically ignited his mates with an injection of spirit. Brendan Peguero was active on the defensive end, and Colby Verge finally hit his stride late.
Still, it was a listless try by a team looking to make a name for itself.
Now, i see the “is Doc a good coach?” argument has leaked onto this blog. I will say this, I”m not a huge believer in coaching making a giant difference.
When EJ’s crew stunned that Trinity team, the greatest team of alltime supposedly in the playoffs, it was the athletes who deserves the credit, not the coach.
EJ did some great things, sure, the inbounds play to Terry Doyle for one, comes to mind. But it was an immortal win for the players.
EJ didn’t make the 3-pointer at the buzzer off the dribble to win the state title in ’07, it was the Savage Nation getting it done.
So, is Doc a good coach? You tell me. Do his kids get into and graduate college? That’s the measuring stick for me, folks. Not wins and losses, do they succeed in life?
As David Fazio once told me, “as great and special as all this is, we don’t want it to be the high point of these kids’ lives.”
So as depressed as I was with the Pinkerton effort Friday night, I needed a lift on Saturday.
I first got it when Ollie Longo and the Grade 3-4 Wizards of the Haverhill YMCA completed the perfect season, 14-0, to win the title. See the attached photo. (And believe me, I’m joking about the importance of this!!!! Still, I’d attach a photo is the folks back in our tech department would grant me such status. But like the photo of Michael Garcia and Zak Adamopoulos on letter of intent day, I was denied. Maybe after another 20 years of service to the company, somebody will grant me that amazing ability that my 8-year-old has on his own web site, but until then, all my readers will suffer. If this sounds like a rant, well let’s just say it’s a duck.)
But then, I headed to Andover for an instant classic at Lowell.
To watch that go down, Lowell toying with the Warriors early; an incredibly athletic Nate Simpson absolutely dominating with 11 points in 10 minutes of play in the first half … and Andover somehow rallying for the miracle win by holding Lowell to 13 points. Just a stellar, stellar event.
There were downers there, too:
The men in stripes did not have a good night, either way.
And there were folks in the crowd, adults, who mercilessly let them know about it. How paying 5 bucks gives one man the ability to verbally assault and berate another human being, I’ll never know.
I thought the moronic parents screaming “travel!” and “double dribble!” at the refs in my YMCA game were bad, (Third-graders travelling???? The carnage of it all) but the vicious beating from the adults in the Andover-Lowell crowd bordered on despicable.
The guys are not pros, they’re educators, construction workers and widget salesmen trying to pick up a buck on the side. Be angry, tell your buddies about it, but don’t scream and berate the guy. There’s a level of humn decency involved here. I rip officials rarely here but never calling someone out. I’ve mentioned some guys, Jimmy Slattery, Billy Adams, etc, only because they always seem to be in control and do a great job.
That said, there was a major gaffe, that could have been huge in the final seconds, especially if Simpson’s buzzer-beater falls in.
The final foul called on Lowell sent D.J. Fazio to the line with six seconds to go. It was the 10th foul of the half. They gave Andover a 1-and-1, not a 2. D.J. missed, meaning Simpson’s runner would have won it. He should have gotten a second FT.
How am I so pompous and sure of myself?
2:40 … DJ misses the front end of a 1-and-1 … foul 7
1:47 … DJ makes both FT on a 1-and-1 … foul 8
:16.1 … Joe Bramanti misses the front end of a 1-and-1 … foul 9
:06.4 … DJ misses the front end of what should have been a two-shot foul … foul 10!!!!!
That’s how. Watch the tape.
As Dave Giribaldi said, “OOOOHHHH, that could have hurt.”
What a game!!!
Flat out awesome.
Let’s talk Simpson first. The kid is a stud, a beast, just nasty, unbelievably quick, a rebound machine, just a ton.
“He’d be my No. 2 in the league MVP voting right now,” said Dave Fazio, behind Carson, of course.
As much as I love Big Shot Billy, remember he won the E-T MVP as a junior so you know how I feel about him, you have to say Simpson is a stud. I’d agree with Faz.
A couple huge lifts for Andover in the second half:
1. Josh Torres …. Like a gnat, he just frustrated Simpson to the point where his Lowell mates looked elsewhere.
2. Jimmy Johnson … A “freak” according to Giribaldi. How the kid rebounds and scores at 5-foot-9 (OK 5-10ish) is scary. Best sequence to describe this kid in a nutshell … Johnson grabs an offensive board over several lowell bigs, pumps and scores off the glass, then goes down on the other end and picks up his defensive assignment … on the Lowell point guard. Is Johnson a 1 or 4? … “Probably a little of both,” he said. “You have to be on this team.” All I can say is I wondered who he was as an athlete when he kept popping up with catches in football. Now you see what kind of a heart he has up close in personal in hoops. Just an impressive effort.
3. Joe Bramanti … The sophomore had been struggling a bit offensively lately, perhaps with a little bit of “Carson-itis” but the kid, who actually was under the weather last night,” showed plenty of grit in the second half, with a three and a driving hoop, plus another drive for a foul in the pivotal third quarter. He’s still only a soph, remember that. But you had to like the guts he showed last night. File that one for the future.
Wrapping things up for now, I’ve got stats to tend to:
Great chatter from you guys, especially on the NH-Mass stuff.
Whoever had the “pine cone” line was priceless.
I will say that you elitist Mass. folks had better realize that some state line doesn’t change things. Is a kid a better athlete because his family stays in Methuen and doesn’t move to Salem? I think not.
We listened for a long time to these MVC football mavens mumble about night in and night out the MVC is a tough battle. It was all a bunch of hooey.
Right now, D1 football in NH is just as good if not better than the MVC.
Pinkerton has proved that slugging heads with Brockton every year. And this, “try playing in this league week after week,” thing holds no water.
The MVC has its tomato cans every year, just like NH Division 1.
If you took 2008 for example, and took Pinkerton, South, Central and Londonderry and played a round robin with Dracut, Methuen, Billerica and Chelmsford (I think that was the Valley top 4) the NH schools would easily hold their own.
Now, where NH loses its cred comes in sports like hoop and baseball where there are 20 teams in the league. The bottom half is laughable, usually every year. But the top 10 is usually comparable with the MVC.
Athletes are athletes. Top quality programs are just that, regardless of zip codes. And it’s time for the MVC zombies to realize that. In fact, it was time 10 years ago.
