Kendall Marquez was the player who led Western in scoring and then transferred to eastern. He had gone to Windham high as I recal and his father had played for Eastern as well.  From what I know of Fentons recruitment- Eastern was not interested initially and tried to get involved late but not at a serious level. Fenton could always dunk like he does, but he was a late bloomer as a player. Believe Fisher, Thomas College and some other schools were involved along with Western

7, it was brooks who made the pass and robinson who made the layup. Great to look back and all as usual but those teams underachieved when compared to their talent that's just fact. There is great reason to be excited about THIS western group and what the future may hold. They play 5 freshman 10+ minutes per game and run out some truly gifted athletes for this level.

Gonzalez is a titanic loss for Eastern. He impacts them in every way. Gashi is a slightly slower version of Collagen, should be impactful.

As long as a kid isnt a fulltime college student his eligibility clock stops, i played with him and Jensen was a freshman when I was a senior and then he took time off at one point. Happens every year in the LEC especially. That's how you reload instead of rebuilt. Btw past colonials like will jarrett and dewayne dickens were at least 5 years older then Jensen. Marquan watson is the real deal for AMC.

Coach Rancourt will do a great job. Metro recruiting connections along with in state tuition will bolster roster. I hear the Nichols college coach has gotten the RIC job. Has had success but LEC different then CCC

been awhile for me on this site. Coach Campbell from western has decided to retire as of November 1st. Has had some health problems. So it was the right decision. Long time assistant to retire as well. This years coach I'll be an interim, and I was told will not get heir current assistant e.j. Harrison, Danbury native, 15 years played overseas which in my opinion is a joke. Guy has a strong connection to the school and loads of connections in the tri state area. Coach Campbell helped so many people so much, no matterr what- ends career just short of 600 wins with 12 trips to the ncaa. Hope western gets all of this young talent back.

Watched the Framingham game, coach quick has the colonials playing a really aggressive pressing man defense and consistently attacking the rim out of transition and a scramble motion offense with hand offs and ball screens. Controlled chaos basically, think this team may have a shot. Style tailored perfectly to their strengths

Been awhile since I've posted. Has anybody had trouble with the new live broadcast site? I'm on an iPad but it used to work well, I go to the broadcast and the site comes up with a blank screen, doesn't say to download anything etc.

Westerns roster- very surprised Joe groski didn't exhaust his last year of eligibility, he had redshirted his second year at southern so there was one left to play. Maybe a second semester add on, who knows. Rest of front court doesn't look great, outside of Cassius there isn't many bangers, the guys with size and length fit more of the finest type of 4, seldon, perry who has reappeared etc.

Guard situation, here in lies the problem with coach Campbell in that nobody can screw him over enough for him to give up on them. Payton is clearly not a good teammate, gets frustrated and quits every time quick and Campbell don't let him play 2001 allen iverson style. I believe that they have more or less recruited by guys like Payton and Starks, who in my opinion works best as a off the bench 3 pt threat, and gotten guys like Bynum and the juco point guard who really appear to be more about winning then stats. No matter how bad tcnj is, a 20 pt win over an njac team is a good sign.

Interested in Friday's game, plattsburgh has a few guys from down around my area including jordan moody who I coached for 3 years. They are a very talented team with a alot If options. Definite ncaa tourney team. May check it out.

Other then that, eastern looks like they've reloaded. The kid leumene from my trinity catholic has been let loose by Geiger, matchup problem at this level, played behind Salzillo last couple years. Love the kid lindos game as well, veryyyyy unique. Ric has a lot of talent back, will be interesting to see if this guy who was a big time prep school coach at one point. Will get the same type of talent that Walsh did who had legitimate division one contacts and arolodex a mile long of coaches.

Some of my observations- ric although has some nice players and young talent, don't appear to be at the same level as usual.  Giving up a boat load of points to lasel doesn't bode well for their defense, and their offense lacks much flow and has a lot of quick shots going up, sanders is a eat combo guard for this league but he's also a combo guard, which is basketball talk for small 2 guard who dribbles a bit too much. I've noticed some of their young talent sitting out, the small shooter, as well as the. It guy I have spoken of Brian Daniels (knowing his attitude, this is not a huge surprise)

Eastern has an interesting team, again they lack their usual flow and continuity which is a shame, but appears to have brought in so e forwards who love to rebound, too compliment their two all league level guards.

Keene- overhauled everything, couple nice freshman that are playing more the they should, Howard developing nicely, Doyle and wolcott not developing as nicely. Seeing them get blown out like they did was a surprise, no matter who against. Looks like a serious rebuild job.

Western-looks like their overhaul was a success one year after complete disaster.have to hand it to the coaches, they seem to be working their asses off to a) bring in that much contributing talent and b) completely change a system that was your bread and butter for 20 years. Their very deep, and see to be in great shape.the dribble drive offense their using seems to fit their talent, no surprise there. I have seen them go back and run some flex when some time needs to be taken off, which I'm glad to see, should utilize that more often. Shame about laportes good kid, had talent, but seemed to fall behind on the depth chart, last year when given the opportunity he wasn't nearly as effective as he should be. Traditional teams like Bowdoin will give western a huge problem, they slow the game down, and  will kill them on the glass, not much they can do about it besides try and dictate tempo. I think they can compete, I will say the league seems to be pretty down, but wins are wins.

Would've rather seen western play purchase then mitchell. Panthers beat eastern at eastern, and has some talented quick guards and good size wings with a solid coaching staff with the Charneys. Nice matchup and a comparable one with an ric type of team, that plays worse defense.

Overall however I like what Ive seen from the colonials outside of the consistently bad defense, but again this style of play is by design, and I think it matches their personal very well, one of the downsides of maximizing possessions by keeping the floor spread and taking some quick shots is that the other team alsoooo gets a lot of possessions, it is what it is. Seems like western has the right players to play this way which is a huge part of it.

Like Washington a lot, athletic do it all wing, Bynum Maybe a gem in this league if he realizes that this is the right level for him. I know he was a all state point at hill house and what not but he's a talented undersized combo guards, and those guys tend to succeed at western. Big guys not as solid as the guards, glad to see Britter rebounding instead of shooting face up jumpers because he's a guy with a ton of physical tools. Groski has gotten himself in great shape, and he's rebounding like it. Wish he would be with Britter starting though, as I feel they compliment wax eachother the best.


Eastern had a couple good wins on the road this weekend playing at manhattanville in their basement dungeon uhhh I mean gym is always tough, and catholic has about as solid as a program as they can get. Garrow having that redshirt year really helps them this year, combo of him and Salzillo will be very dangerous. Also looks like they brought in big physical forwards who ready to play right now.

After checking box score of western game I didn't want to post until I watched the game.

16 guys is a lot. But, there are a few reasons for this, a) at western with the usual revolving door of the roster, recruiting and carrying more guys makes sense, so in the second semester they don't have to pull guys off the street who aren't in basketball shape, and had no intent of playing, b) quite simply coaches like to have 15 bodies in order to have 3 groups of 5 for practice. C) the majority of these guys are sadly in school just to play basketball, I have seen in the past guys who were recruited to the school and cut, get involved in the wrong stuff and fail out of school because they weren't doing what they were there to do. D) and most importantly. This isn't an atmosphere where anyone is guaranteed anything. Coach Campbell isn't worried about getting everybody in the game, he's worried about being competitive.
if I had to guess grossing and laportes playing time was different because the team was just plain bad last year so it was a necessity, and more importantly it was clear that western was trying to run calipers dribble drive offense, without all of the bells n whistles where the point guard picks a side, passes to the wing, the wing attacks the middle of the floor and reads the defense, can either take the shot, kick to the corner or hands off to the weak side wing, who will then attack the middle, while the guard who passed to him filters through or replaces. This offense is based on spacing, fairly quick shots, and having defenders running at you.
The western point guards were making the mistake of taking pull up 3s without making a pass, and not picking a side. Besides when they get into their traditional 1-4 set, this style of play does not play to groski and laportes strength, as you only need 1 big for the dribble drive, of course the lineup will change throughout the year. They have some promising pieces and some serious athletes, but they need to show more discipline In the dribble drive, or they run into trouble if a time has size even if their very average like Bowdoin.

thoughts on newcomers/returning newcomers-

Happy with some additions to the roster. Underwood can really put the ball in the hoop, beat out both gates and payton for minutes on a good western team that first semester, and is much more mature two years later, good enough to be a all league player.

Gates- great scorer, heard he was a headache at times. wait and see there.

Seldon- started 5 games for susquehanna university, not a bad league, comes from one of campbells favorite recruiting grounds northwest catholic so he most likely knows the game. has size so will be needed.

washington- I know hes been trying to get eligible for years, and he played a nice role on bridgeport centrals state chip. team a few years ago, as well as at herkimer cc, see stats- http://www.njcaa.org/colleges_college_player_game_by_game.cfm?sid=6&collegeid=1274&category=Roster&slid=2&teamid=106650&athleteid=315816
huge scorer, no, more of a do it all combo guard with nice size and athleticism so comparing to brooks who was small and mostly worried about scoring is apples to oranges. all the same seems like a nice piece to have if he stays eligible.

casseus- played a nice role at nassau cc- about 7 pts and 8 rebs a game, comes from a good uniondale program (li), size and bulk, if he can play, he will.

osafo- http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/div3/players/ikeosafov324- dont know anything about him but those are his stats at his cc, seems like he can play.

payton- with what they have already, adding him may not be a good thing.


like some of these additions, hopefully they can pick up the system soon enough. if so can be a very athletic team and competitive team.

Preseason prediction. Definitely.

Nice to see western succeeding again in football. During my 4 years and change on campus it was painfully obvious they were not meant to be in the njac with accepting to my first year (fall 2005). The old liberty league they had been in was probably the best match but the Mascac is a good place to start.

Just funny how a team of mostly the same guys can preform so much differently In a year, maybe they can get into an Ecac tourney so McKoy can be seen by more people and have a chance to go out with a title.

Think that comparison between Starks and brooks was wishful thinking, he had a decent year and had promise t hat level but its hard to judge how he would have done on even a .500 sud. Seems like well see a more Workman like group this season. Not always a bad thing, I know they didn't recruit at all down by me. Once I see a roster I will usually recognize a name or two from my travels.