A Look Back at SCT Quarterfinals

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As usual, it was a fun day of basketball at Brookdale, some of it a little rough around the edges and other stretches leaving fans groaning about the officiating, but entertaining as always.

The refurbished Collins Arena is a much better venue with new seating, a better floor surface and more accommodations, so that was an immediate upgrade. I went 3-1 with my picks, with Point Beach’s upset of Christian Brothers Academy being the only loss, which is one that most people not wearing red and white would not have completely seen coming but certainly wasn’t crazy considering how well Beach played CBA in that spot last year.

My final four prediction before the tournament was Lakewood, Raritan, CBA and Neptune, with Lakewood winning it all by beating CBA, which has obviously changed. Essentially, I got one side of the bracket pretty much totally right, and the other side was a debacle. At least my potential champion is still alive, although the Piners had me a little worried in the third quarter of that Asbury Park game.

As for the games, here are some thoughts:

Asbury Park vs. Lakewood

—Any team that can consistently get offensive rebounds and turn the opponent over with its press in the midcourt area will always have the ability to come back, and that’s what Lakewood did. Asbury Park didn’t have enough solid ballhandlers after the Conover twins fouled out, and it also didn’t have enough bodies to keep Lakewood off the offensive glass.

—The Conover twins have become a big factor in Asbury Park’s success. They haven’t even been on the team a month since becoming eligible, but as Matt wrote in his game story, they have become a major factor for Asbury Park. Those two are junkyard dogs. Just hard-nosed players who do whatever it takes to get a win. They make momentum-changing plays, whether it’s a steal or an offensive board or a basket in transition. When they fouled out, no one on Asbury Park stepped in to save the Bishops while they were watching their lead disappear.

—I think everyone was waiting to see Maurice Dickerson for Asbury Park or Jarrod Davis or Tony Walker for Lakewood to take over in that final four minutes or so, but to me, the best player at crunch time was Lakewood’s Jameer Jones. Davis did have some timely buckets, but Jones created offense, came up with some steals and was a huge difference in Lakewood’s win. When the star players cancel each other out, it comes down to which lesser-known player is going to step up, and Jones was the guy. If Lakewood wins this whole thing (they were my pick before the tournament), it will look back and thank Jones for saving its backside in a game that Asbury Park seemingly had in the bag.

Shilique Calhoun Dismissed from Team at Midd. North and More

Updated with *****Breaking News***, 1:40 p.m. Shilique Calhoun has been dismissed from Middletown North’s team, according to a text sent from head coach Mike Iasparro to All Shore Media’s Matt Manley.

My thoughts are still the same, but obviously take the post below with the knowledge that Calhoun will no longer be with the team. Calhoun was averaging 17.5 points per game and 10 rebounds per game before being dismissed for his actions in yesterday’s loss to CBA.

I agree with Iasparro’s decision, for the record.

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Gee, did anything controversial happen in yesterday’s 69-35 win by Christian Brothers Academy over Middletown North?

Of course, I will start with the Shilique Calhoun situation, which just got updated with his dismissal from the team. First, here is the take of the Shore Scout, which you can read by clicking here.

I was sitting right behind the Middletown North bench, so I saw the whole thing unfold, as I detailed in the game story. Perhaps the strangest part of it was the utter lack of emotion on Calhoun’s part after head coach Mike Iasparro subbed another player in for him after being upset with a lackluster defensive effort that led to a wide-open shot by CBA’s J.P. Koury with five minutes left in the third quarter. It’s not like Calhoun knocked the Gatorade jug over or punched the bleachers or cursed. With a blank look after taking a drink of water, he turned around, took his jersey off and just walked out the door. I thought maybe he was blowing off steam in the hallway and would come back, but obviously it didn’t work out that way.

My first hope for this situation is that it is a unilateral decision on his future. I have seen similar incidents in the past where the coach wants to crack down on discipline but the administration doesn’t want to see a potential championship season go out the window or caves to parental pressure and disagrees with the decision. There also is the flipside of that argument, where the coach may be too lax in the discipline and the administration wants to be much more severe. To me, there needs to be an agreement between Iasparro and the administration about what they decide to do. I also think it can’t strictly be left up to the team. Adults have to make this decision.

There has been a pattern of this behavior, so I can’t really see how one more “I’m sorry” from Calhoun to his teammates is going to have any impact on them because they’ve heard it before. It’s just so strange because after the Lions stunned CBA earlier in the season, Calhoun gushed about how he loved his teammates, and his teammates talked about how they really made it a point to become good friends with Calhoun off the court in the offseason. That all went out the window yesterday and the statements by Calhoun after the first CBA game ring hollow at this point.

If I’m on that team, I don’t know how you can go back into battle with him. That was the ultimate selfish act in team sports. You would always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I would rather know now the way it’s going to be for the rest of the season rather than being on pins and needles half the time wondering if Calhoun is just going to walk away, literally or figuratively, because he is upset about something.

CBA’s Matt McMullen Commits to Colgate

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Christian Brothers Academy senior forward Matt McMullen said late on Tuesday night that he has verbally committed to Colgate.

McMullen received an offer from Colgate last week and quickly decided that was where he wanted to go after already holding offers from Hartford, Holy Cross, Boston University and Monmouth University and receiving interest from other Patriot League schools.

“Colgate just jumped out to me, being a great academic school in the Patriot League and somewhere I can go and contribute right away,” McMullen said. “I looked at what (former Monmouth Regional star) Joe Willman did as a freshman at Bucknell with his versatility, and I think that’s something I can do (at Colgate). It was just head and shoulders above the rest of the schools that had been looking at me.”

The 6-foot-7 center/forward was an All Shore Media first-team selection who averaged 14.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game as a junior, which were both team highs for the Shore Conference’s No. 1 squad, which has won 42 straight games against Shore competition. McMullen helped the Colts win the overall Class A North and Shore Conference Tournament titles. He also averaged 1.6 blocks and 1.1 steals per game for one of the Shore’s best defensive teams and is a three-year starter for CBA.

McMullen was returning late on Tuesday night from Orlando, where his Jersey Shore Warriors AAU team reached the final of the Silver bracket in the prestigious Orlando Super Showcase before falling to the Delaware Panthers, which feature Pittsburgh recruit Jalen Bond.

He had already taken an unofficial visit to Colgate over Memorial Day weekend and plans to take his official visit in the fall. The plan was to get a decision made before his senior season.

“I definitely wanted to get something done before I go back to school so that I can focus on my schoolwork and on the upcoming season,” McMullen said.

Like Willman, he projects as a combo forward at the next level who can create mismatches on the perimeter with his shooting range and ability off the dribble.

McMullen joins Monsignor Donovan guard Sean Grennan (Davidson College) as Division I commits from the Shore Conference Class of 2011. He could end up being one of two Division I recruits on his own team, as senior swingman J.P. Koury has also received interest from Patriot League and other programs.

One of McMullen’s future classmates will be a girls basketball star, St. John Vianney’s Missy Repoli, who also has committed to Colgate. Colgate’s men’s team went 10-19 overall and 6-8 in the Patriot League in 2009-10.

Recruiting Update: CBA’s Matt McMullen

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Here is an update on one of the top Shore Conference players returning for next season, Christian Brothers Academy forward Matt McMullen, a rising senior who led the Colts in scoring and rebounding this past winter.

He said he already has scholarship offers from Lafayette, Colgate and Iona and also had ones from Holy Cross and Fordham, but that was before both of those schools got new head coaches, so it remains to be seen if the new regimes honor those. He said he has had interest across the board, from as high as Notre Dame in the Big East.