Welcome to the GMC Hoops Notebook section on the Bound Brook Summer League. This is a new feature that we are presenting here on our web site in response to all the team camps and summer leagues that are being run. This is basically going to be a section, where we'll talk about some of the goings on in the league as well as some games or players that have stood out during the course of the season.

GMC HOOPS NOTEBOOK: MAY 22, 2009-BOUND BROOK SUMMER LEAGUE

For the third straight summer, GMC Hoops will be at Bound Brook High School to take in the Bound Brook Summer League. After the league took a break in 2006, it has been growing steadily from six teams in 2007 to now 13 teams this summer. Included in this growth is the number of teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference from two teams last year to four teams this summer. Since the league returned iin 2007, the number of GMC teams has quadrupled. Middlesex is a brand new team to join the league while New Brunswick is returning after taking the 2008 summer off.

Last summer there were 12 teams as the league's size doubled from six in 2007. This year, there is a net of one addition to the league with Middlesex and New Brunswick coming in from the GMC while Hunterdon Central is joining from the Skyland Conference. Two teams from last year are not competing though including Warren Hills of the Skyland Conference's Delaware West Division, and Montgomery of the Delaware East Division. This year's league has some great competition with four teams that had 21 wins or more this past season including Immaculata (27-4), Piscataway (24-6), Rutgers Prep (22-6), and Middlesex (21-7).

In addition, there were a total of seven teams that qualified for some sort of state tournament including Bound Brook, Hunterdon Central, Immaculata, Middlesex, Piscataway, Rutgers Prep, and Somerville. The league is a great mixture of teams from all around the Central Jersey area as well including Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, and Union Counties, and representing the GMC, Skyland Conference, Mountain Valley Conference, Colonial Hills Conference, and Patriot Conference. Looking to repeat this summer will be Piscataway. The Chiefs have reached the Championship Game of the post-season tournament in each of the past two seasons. In 2007, Piscataway lost to Immaculata in the title game while in 2008, P-Way knocked off regular season champ, and host school,, Bound Brook.

Middlesex will be looking to build off of this past season's 21-7 campaign that got the Blue Jays to the Championship Game of the Central Jersey Group II State Tournament. Last summer, Middlesex competed in the Elizabeth Summer League, and did very well there so it won't be reluctant to mix it up with the teams in this league. Meanwhile, the other two teams, J.F. Kennedy and New Brunswick will be looking to improve for next season. The Mustangs are coming off a 4-17 season while the Zebras were 3-19 this past year. The league will run on Tuesday and Thursday nights with five games each night starting at 4:45 PM, and running until the 8:45 game completes. Three teams will get byes for a particular day depending upon the schedule.

After two very successful seasons that saw it reach the semifinal round of the Tournament of Champions, the Immaculata Spartans of the Delaware East Division of what was the Skyland Conference, will be looking to retool while Bound Brook, a team that had dominated the Valley Division of the Skyland will be looking to improve on last year's 13-14 campaign. Somerville, which moved up to North Jersey Section 2 Group III, and lost to Fort Lee on the road in the first round of this year's tourney, will look to reclaim some of its old form after going 15-9, and finishing second to a much improved North Plainfield team in the Skyland's Raritan Division while Union Catholic has a good nucleus returning, and will try to break the double digit win column for the first time in several years in 2009-10.

Outside of the teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference, many of the teams in this summer league will be playing somewhat different schedules next season thanks to the state's realignment. GMC Hoops looks to be out a lot at this league this summer.

Greg Machos
Webmaster/President
GMC Hoops

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