Welcome to the GMC Hoops Notebook section on Kean Team Week. 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. It's just very hard to go to many of these camps, and get all the information we want to post on this site such as standings, etc. So, we are just going to provide a summary here on what happened at the Kean Team Week, particularly with the GMC teams.

GMC HOOPS NOTEBOOK: JUNE 22, 2004--KEAN TEAM WEEK

For the second year in a row, the folks at GMC Hoops took a trip up to the Kean Team Week Team Camp that was held at Kean University. This year, there was only a total of 30 teams participating as supposed to the 36 that played in it last year. However, there were twice as many teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference as East Brunswick, J.P. Stevens, Middlesex, North Brunswick, South Brunswick, and South River all represented the conference while only J.P. Stevens, North Brunswick, and South Plainfield represented the conference last year.

Another change from last year was that this year, there were no playoffs, and no regular season standings. Each team played a total of ten games over the five day period, which started on June 11th and ended on June 15th, 2004. The teams were also split up in three divisions of ten teams each as supposed to two divisions last year. According to a source at the camp, the reason there were no standings or playoffs was because there were no professional officials to referee the contests, only college kids, which led to some controversy in last year's playoff round.

Despite the changes, some of the Greater Middlesex Conference schools that participated, played against other schools in the conference, and in some cases, twice. Last year, none of the three Greater Middlesex Conference schools squared off against each other with most of them playing tough competition including teams from the Watchung Conference. One team that performed very well at Kean was the South Brunswick Vikings, who ended up 9-1 overall including a win over a very talented Hillside program, according to people close to the team.

The Vikings, who have players such as Tommy Hill and Dan Stonkus returning, also have a good nucleus of young talent coming up with the likes of Coron Short, Mike Zwiren, Nick Fazio, James Harvey, John Perry-Okonny, Joe Clancy, and Marin Soaries coming off fine seasons at the Junior Varsity and Freshman levels. The Junior Vikings were the top seed in the East Brunswick JV Tournament, and reached the finals before bowing out against East Brunswick. Meanwhile, the Freshman squad finished third in the Perth Amboy Freshman Tournament after being the top seed, and losing to Sayreville in the semifinals.

Martin Soaries, who played most of the season on the Vikings Freshman team until getting an opportunity for an injured Tommy Hill in the Central Jersey Group IV State Tournament against Marlboro, came up big in the second half of the Vikings second game against East Brunswick. Soaries connected on several jumpers in a row from the right wing to spark the Vikings second half surge against an East Brunswick team that was without Aaron Horace.

Speaking of the Bears, EB fared alright at Kean this year although they lost to the Vikngs twice, and J.P. Stevens once as they ended up about .500. In addition to playing South Brunswick and JPS, the Bears took on New Providence, Immaculata, St. Mary's of Elizabeth, Walkill Valley, Westfield, Newton, and Morristown Beard. Most of these teams fared very well last year with Immaculata, Walkill Valley, Westfield, Newton, and Morristown Beard all compiling more than 14 wins on the season last year.

In addition to their hard work at Kean, South Brunswick also recently participated in the team camp at Seton Hall University, and went 2-2 overall with losses to St. Benedict's by 12 and Plainfield by 6, and wins over Passaic Tech by 15 and Piscataway by 11. Moreover, South Brunswick could have ended up 3-1, but couldn't hold the lead against Plainfield although they still did quite well with six freshman playing in the mix. Other teams that participated at Seton Hall were St. Anthony's, which came off an impressive 30-0 unbeaten season, and Bloomfield Tech, which reached the Tournament of Champions final against the Friars before losing. The Vikings will be at the Elizabeth Summer League this year again, and also participate at the Eastern Invitational the week of July 11th.

Other Notes: In a game prior to the start of the East Brunswick vs. South Brunswick game that we saw on the final day of events at Kean Team Week, two Watchung Conference schools, Elizabeth and Irvington squared off in a classic game. The Minutemen, who are led by Corey Williams, an unbelievably quick guard that had quite a battle against South Plainfield's Corey Gilmore in the opening night of the Tip-Off Classic in December, fell at the buzzer to Irvington. Williams had caught our eye last summer at the Elizabeth Summer League, which we'll be attending this year as well.

Refereeing the game between the Bears and the Vikings was none other than Perth Amboy's Ralph Lora, who went on to have a fine career for Kean. For those who don't remember, Lora led Perth Amboy to the 1999 Greater Middlesex Conference Semifinals as the 14th seed before bowing out to second seeded Colonia. In that tournament, Perth Amboy skirted past Edison in the first round, then stunned third seeded North Brunswick in overtime, and then knocked off sixth seeded St. Peter's in the quarterfinals.

Greg Machos
Webmaster/Owner
GMC Hoops

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