Took in the Hoops for Hope finals, impressive showing by Andover, even in defeat.
Warriors played without Brian Miller, who was off on the football recruiting trail, I’m told at UCLA and Stanford.
What, you guys get snubbed by Pete Carroll? Let me make a call.
Seriously, courageous uphill effort by the Warriors.
Yes, Lynn English’s Ryan Woumn is the real deal. We all saw that at Tsongas Arena. A strong summer with Leo Papile’s BABC reportedly has George Washington and UNH on his radar screen.
And English has added a stud in former Classical star Jarrell Byrd.
But sorry folks. Andover’s Joe Bramanti was the best player on the fieldhouse floor last night.
24 against NA, 34 against English, just a big night for fireballing Joe. (That’s a baseball reference, folks).
Interesting what this summer has done, putting Andover on the radar screen on a Division 1 North level.
“I wasn’t sure we belonged at the beginning of the summer, but the way we played, I can say we certainly do,” said Bramanti.
Back to Woumn for one second. In this era where every bigtime hoop talent, save for Carson Desrosiers, reclassifies and slides on to prep school somewhere, most often at the urging of an AAU coach, Woumn has indicated he’ll remain at English for this his senior, potentially planning a fifth year at a prep school like BABC favorite Tilton.
Part of it is Woumn’s loyalty to Buzzy Barton and the English program. But as Woumn said school is still weeks away. In this hoop world, there are no certainties.
You have to give it up for North Andover, reaching the semifinals. This was a big showing, pushing Andover to the brink.
That can’t bode well for the CAL. The Knights again look balanced and show that typical NA grit.
OK, I can barely keep my eyes open. And camps have officially opened in NH.
Let’s bring on football season baby.
