Coach Storm’s EMass Top 25

Written by Tom Hellen

February 11, 2008

 

 Somerville MA – Early things I think I think about the state tourney right now…In D3 you have to love the competitiveness in both the North and the South.  It’s my favorite group with some great clubs who have played each other very tough already and we’ll see who is the hot team at the right time.  In the North Swampscott looked super beating Winthrop with Beaulieu and Nimkar playing great and the “D” was tough.  Pentucket has the pieces with Daamen’s size and Viselli’s scoring but Andover shut them down pretty good so we’ll see how they rebound from that.  Winthrop looked terrific against Peabody but Swampscott may have their number giving them both losses to date.  They found a way to make scoring very hard for the Viking triplets in the Finn sisters and Mallios.  Pope John with McCarthy is the unknown as they play mostly D4 clubs but any girl like “A-Mac” who hit 11 three pointers one game can cause a stir if she’s on like that again.

 

In the South it is all out war between the Archies’ and Spellman.  Flip a coin between these two and you may still not pick a winner.  Poor Fairhaven has a real good club with Baldwin and Rossi pumping in the points but may be a notch below.  Jill Greenberg’s Westwood club is very good but it’s hard to tell as they don’t play any of the higher ranked clubs and it may hurt them in the tourney.

 

Note that I won’t do a Poll next week as there are too many great tourney games going on every day.  The next one will come out before the state tournament.  Much movement up and down this week due to all the rivalry games that were played.  I decided to shake things up a bit to more align teams and their rank with what I feel is correct.  Always feel free to e-mail me at coachstorm5@comcast.net with any comments.  Enjoy!   

 

 

Top 25 Rankings

 

NOW

LAST WEEK

DESCRIPTION

#1.       

#1.

Cardinal Spellman (D3 S) – 16 - 0 Been riding atop this Poll for a long time and solid win over tough AC keeps them there.  Now Fenwick at home and the road rematch with the Archie’s on Valentine’s Day…me thinks not a lot of love will be shown by these 2 clubs on the court that night!

#2.

#2.        

Bishop Feehan (D2 S) – 16 – 0 Club finishes with 4 on the road including at Durfee and at Fontbonne on Monday and Tuesday…will the back-to-back hurt?  Nothing has so far so don’t expect it to.

#3.

#4.        

Masconomet (D2 N) – 16 – 1 Pumped in 78 at Wilmington and should run the table and get top seed in D2 North bracket…need to stay on their game to keep little “Mo’” on their side for the states.

#4.

#7.        

Brockton (D1 S) – 15 – 1 Smoked bitter rival Durfee by 35…Another team ending with 4 road games…can they get a payback for loss to New Bedford at home earlier?...We find out Tuesday.

#5.

#9.        

Archbishop Williams (D3 S) – 15 – 3 – Archies’ play anyone…anywhere…anytime and it’s paying off with superb wins over Andover on the road and D1 RI super power LaSalle Academy.

#6.

#8.        

Walpole (D2 S) -- 15 – 1 Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’…keep those wagons rollin’…Rawhide!...the Rebels are rollin’ baby.  By the way that’s the theme song from Clint Eastwood’s old cowboy show on TV in the 60’s…LOL.

#7.

#5.        

Andover (D1 N) – 16 – 3 – Losing trap game with Archies after emotional league win over Lowell hurts but right back in the saddle beating real good Pentucket club solidly.

#8.

#3.        

Lowell (D1 N) – 14 – 2 Tough rivalry loss in the Andover gym they hate by 3 but back on track to beat Billerica.  Now Peabody and maybe L-S in St. Mary’s tourney then close with very interesting road game at Swampscott.…rugged stretch will help in the tourney.

#9.

#6.        

Pentucket (D3 N) – 14 – 2 Up graded the schedule to include the likes of Andover on the road and even though they lost it has to help come tourney time.

#10.

#12.     

Swampscott (D3 N) – 16 - 1 VERY impressive road win over revenge minded Winthrop.  Allie Beaulieu was just boffo with 30 points and 11 boards.  Tara Nimkar is strong yet athletic and went for 18 with 8 boards.  Coach Hughes tricky defense executed perfectly…got my respect now!

#11.

#18.      

Franklin (D1 S) – 14 - 3 Passed mid-term with squeaker at OA…If they win 2 this week sets up nice rematch Final with Brockton on 2/18 and all 3 at home so stars are aligned…just gotta’ get the W’s now.

#12.

#19.      

Barnstable (D1 S) – 14 – 3 Red Raiders will be favored over Dartmouth.  They then get Central Catholic in the Comcast…Their great guards against the Katie Z factor with her size and skills…interesting…their 3 losses all on the road by 3 by 6 and by 6…club to watch.

#13.

#16.      

Westwood (D3 S) – 15 – 1 Great win by 28 at Medway and Greenberg goes for 24 with 10 steals and 5 assists…clutch win.

#14.

#13.      

Acton Boxborough (D1 N) -- 14 – 2 Gotta’ be pleased to split 2 road games against the iron and prove with a 2nd win over L-S that you should be ranked above them.

#15.

#11.      

Lincoln-Sudbury (D2 N) – 14 – 2 I talk on their “D” last week  with only 2 teams scoring 40 plus on them and they give up 51 to AB…Probably happy they can’t see AB in the states after losing 2nd one to the Colonials.  Reading in 1st round of St. Mary’s tourney on Sunday.

#16.

#15.     

Westford (D2 N) 14 – 3 – 2 squeakers…1st over AB by 3 then downing Weston by a point.

#17.

#10.     

Winthrop (D3 N) – 13 – 2 Swampscott just outplayed them so they need to win 2 this week to go against the highly talented Archies in the Comcast…can they combat Driscoll’s size?  Time will tell.

#18.

#14.

Melrose (D2 N) – 15 - 3 Finally lost to Reading but Reading then loses to Lex and so club again has Middlesex League title in their sights.

#19.

#20.

Peabody (D1 N) – 13 – 3 Back in gear with 2 more wins including close 3 pointer over LE to wrap up NE League title.  Got to keep it going and win 2 this week as Lowell is on the horizon Sunday at St. Mary’s.

#20.

#20.

Fairhaven – (D3 S) -- 16 – 4 Tough 4 point loss to New Bedford at home hurts but should win last 2 to get solid seeding.

#21.

Cusp

New Bedford (D1 S) – 12 – 4 Nice win over tough Fairhaven and now bitter Big 3 rival Brockton on Tuesday.

#22.

#25.

New Mission (D4 N) – 15 – 1 Titans want to be remembered so they toughed one out against the Brighton Bengals…bring it on now.

#23.

#23.

Oliver ames (D2 S) – 14 – 3 Heartbreaking 2 point home loss with Franklin but came back strong vs. Sharon.

#24.

#24.

Reading – (D2 N) -- 13 – 3 I said they stay in the Poll if they beat Melrose and they did so losing to Lex again after being up 12 doesn’t get them booted…lose to Belmont Tuesday and the boot comes out though.

#25.

Cusp

Rockland (D3 S) -- 14 – 2 Always seem to have W-H’s number don’t they?  Favored to win last 4 but Hanover this week will be tough.

         

                  

On the Cusp

Dighton Rehoboth – (D2 S) -- 14 – 4 Heartbreaking loss to Somerset on halfcourt 3 at the buzzer by Mello but downed Wareham later…at Bourne and the tough 6’2” Courtney Donovan in a nice matchup with 6’2” Mary N on Tuesday.

Belmont (D2 N) – 15 – 3 Tough one at Reading Tuesday…club you might not want to play in the tourney.

Whitman Hanson (D2 S) – 15 – 4 Lose to Rockland it seems like all the time and now end with 2 good ones hosting Marshfield and visiting highly motivated New Bedford club.

Arlington Catholic (D2 N) – 9 - 6 Brady’s ladies hung with Spellman on the road for most of the game so they may be close to rounding into tourney time form…better hurry though.

Falmouth (D1 S) – 12 – 3 Are they really only playing 16 games?  Hard to get battle tested if true but it is what it is.

Medway (D3 S) – 14 – 2 Rough night hosting Westwood with Tri Valley title hopes on the line losing by 28 but rallied to beat Ashland.

Silver Lake (D2 S) – 15 – 2 Won 6 straight now including 18 point payback over Duxbury in rematch.

Lexington (D1 N) – 13 – 4 Lex wins tough roadie at Reading after only scoring 12 in 1st half…should end strong with 2 wins this week and good tourney seed.

Sacred Heart (D4 S) – 17 – 1 Got a chance to run the table and be top seed in D1 South.

Pope John (D3 N) – 15 – 1 “A-Mac” leads Tigers to close win over Matignon by 2.  Can they surprise in D3 North this year?...The seed will be good so who knows.

Central Catholic (D1 N) – 11 – 6 Confidence up…confidence down…heading back up again but may be short lived as they host Andover on Valentine’s Day and then get Barnstable in the Comcast…3 tough wins to end the season would boost anyone’s confidence…but…

 

 

Things I Wonder About…

 

Started thinking about all the great guards playing in EMass this winter.  It seems unfair because a lot of clubs have 2 of them on 1 team.  Made me wonder…Who has the best guard duo in EMass?  How about Fairhaven with Baldwin and Rossi both 1,000 point scorers?  I love what Jill Lyons and Morgan Kendrew bring to Barnstable’s table and both also 1,000 point scorers.  Doesn’t it seem like Christine Duffy and Casey Capello of the Archies’ are joined together at the hip?...and both are 1,000 point scorers as well…Wow.  How many like Thomann and Renfro from Andover as they both can bomb the 3 ball and also defend with anyone in the state?   Anyone partial to Lowell with Rivera, one of the best pure point guards, and Cavannaugh with the nice shooting stroke?  How’d you like to have a 6’ point with a shooting machine like Pat Lamb has at Spellman in O’Kane and Schlehuber?  You gotta’ like what Durfee has in Alex Fiola and Kate McDonald right?  Then you have Masco’s cerebral Annie Burns and the mercurial Jamie White…dynamite combo there…the guard list goes on and on…Jill Greenberg, Sarah Wetmore, Jackie Lyons, Amanda McCarthy, Meghan Kirwan, Amy Lepley, Allie Beaulieu, Stephanie Houtman, Miesha Reynolds and more and more and more.  Who are your favorites?

Gotta run folks!.…  Remember…  “No ability without eligibility!”