Welcome to the GMC Hoops Notebook section on Eastern Invitational Basketball Team Camp. This is a new feature that we are presenting here on our web site in response to all the team camps that are being run. Since this camp is such a huge camp, one of the top team camps in the country, there are many teams so we're not going to be able to have information on all of them, particularly those from outside New Jersey unless they played one of the GMC schools participating in this event.

GMC HOOPS NOTEBOOK: JULY 12, 2004--EASTERN INVITATIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM CAMP

For the first time since launchiing this web site in December, 2000, GMC Hoops went down to the College of New Jersey to see the annual summer camp event, the Eastern Invitational Basketball Camp. By going to Eastern, GMC Hoops has already covered action in two team camps this summer. Kean Team Week back in June was the first one, and we're very proud to say that is another first.

Hoping to get out there for the first round of games at 10:15 including South Brunswick's matchup with Staples from Connecticut, we didn't get out of the house until about 9:50 AM, and then on the way down, we forgot to make a turn off somehwere, and got a bit sidetracked. You see, I used to work at Bristol Myers-Squibb in Hopewell on temporary assignments that Spherion would give me, so I used the route the I had always taken to work to get to Eastern.

However, I forgot exactly how to get there, and that's why I missed a turn in Rocky Hill, and nearly ended up in Belle Meade. Nevertheless, we were able to get back on track, and things eventually worked out even though we were late, and missed the first games entirely. On top of that, it was quite hard to figure out where to go at first since we had never been there before, and wasn't familiar with all the courts. There were also a lot of teams, and many were out of state so it was a bit overwhelming.

Nonetheless, I had my brackets in hand, and luck come my way when I saw St. Joseph's enter the Gymnasium inside the Student Recreation Center at TCNJ. They happened to be scheduled for an 11:30 game with Blake, a team from Silver Springs, Maryland. So, with that I was able to get down to business, and settle down. From there, I became very comfortable, and really enjoyed the overall experience.

As mentioned in the team section, there were 64 teams in two Divisions: American and National. Some notable teams participating: St. Anthony's of Jersey City, CBA, Plainfield, Bridgewater, St. Benedict's, Trenton, Plymouth-Whitemarsh of Pennsylvania, Blake of Silver Springs, Maryland, McCorristin, Staples of Connecticut, Manasquan, Gwyn Park of Maryland, Hun, and Monmouth Regional.

GMC Teams featured in this showcase event were: Cardinal McCarrick, South Brunswick, and St. Joseph's. Other teams from around Central New Jersey involved were North Plainfield of the Mountain Valley Conference, Ewing, Hamilton West, Hopewell Valley of the Colonial Valley Conference, St. John Vianney in Holmdel and Brick Memorial of the Shore Conference, Montgomery of the Skyland Conference, and the Hun School of Princeton from the Prep League.

This year, we decided to only cover one day of action at Eastern since we have such a hectic summer league schedule. However, the great thing about this camp was that it was on a Sunday, and it gave us an opportunity to get good looks at St. Joseph's and Cardinal McCarrick, which we haven't seen much of this summer. St. Joseph's was without Andrew Bynum, the 6'10" soon to be senior center, that transferred into the school last year after being at Solebury Prep in Pennsylvania.

The Falcons still managed to get good performances out of Nigel Robinson, Kenny Widgeon, and Sean Baptiste, who has simply been a workhorse this summer not only traveling with the varsity to team camps and tournaments, but helping out the two younger squads that are playing in the local summer leagues at Middlesex County College, and at Perth Amboy in the Hawks Summer SlamFest. While they did have tremendous problems with turnovers against a very quick, athletic, and talented, Blake team from Maryland, the Falcons played much better in their second game of the day, which they still lost to Bishop O'Connell.

Meanwhile, both Cardinal McCarrick and South Brunswick, which played in the other division, won both of their opening round games. South Brunswick, which was without the services of Dan Stonkus, downed Staples of Connecticut while Cardinal McCarrick defeated one of the squads from Gwynn Park in Maryland. However, in their next round games held later in the afternoon on Sunday, they both ran into trouble as Truman dominated the Vikings, 56-34 and McCarrick was out of sync in a 49-33 loss a solid Montgomery team.

The only real bright spot for the Eagles in the loss to the Cougars of Montgomery was Kevin Olivieri although Jayvee Obaze did have some good moments with five rebounds, two assists, and a block. Olivieri, who is now running things at the point guard spot for Joe Lewis, came up with 10 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and only one turnover. Donnie Reid, who recently was sidelined with an injured foot, was back in action although he struggled against the Cougars. He does look like he's put on more bulk, which will help him especially if he wants to get opportunities to post up.

Other Notes: Did talk to a number of the Cardinal McCarrick parents as well as some of the players, and learned that recent graduates Billy Wagner, and Mike Garcia will be attending college in the fall. Wagner, who was also a standout in football for Cardinal McCarrick, will be playing football for the Peacocks of St. Peter's College in Jersey City this coming fall while Garcia will be attending a Division I JUCO, and already has drawn interest from a couple of Division I schools in St. Bonaventure and Morgan State. We plan to have this information posted in our news section soon and eventually in our college recruit section as well along with all the other commitments we have.

Now, in other news, or shall we say, rumor mill around the camp, Jermaine Clark and Marcus Carty were the subject of some talk. There has been a wide amount of speculation on both of these players especially since neither of them have played all summer with the Perth Amboy squad down in the Hawks Summer SlamFest.

While Clark did play in the opener against Plainfield, where he scored 36 points including a three pointer late to give the Panthers their only win of the summer, Carty hasn't been seen at all. Some have mentioned it is because of disciplinary reasons while others say he was expelled. Nevertheless, there has been no official word on what the story is with either player. Clark has been mentioned to be headed toward McCarrick, but again, this is not official as of this time. This is only stuff that we have heard either at Eastern, or at the various summer leagues we've been attending.

With that out of the way, we did happen to see plenty of college coaches from all levels attending the team camp here at Eastern. There were the usual suspects such as Bruce Hamburger of Kean, Coaches from Rutgers Newark, and other local colleges from around the state of New Jersey as well as the Metropolitan area. However, there were a number of coaches and scouts from major colleges as well such as Wake Forest, North Carolina, University of Miami, Boston College, Northwestern, Siena, Marist, Canisus, St. Bonaventure, LaSalle, St. John's, and even American University of the Patriot League.

As a matter of fact, American, which has reached the Championship of the Patriot League only to fall short the past several years, and lose an opportunity to get their first ever NCAA bid, was represented by Jeff Jones, who was formerly the Head Coach at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He is optimistic about next season, and is glad not to have Brian Wilson of Holy Cross to deal with anymore. Wilson was a standout at St. Joseph's, where we was a teammate of former Duke star Jay Williams, who is now on the mend, and eyeing a return to the NBA after a motorcycle accident almost cost him his career.

Greg Machos
Webmaster/Owner
GMC Hoops

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