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78
Hall of Fame
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 4058
Location: Near Boston
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 Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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Couldn't agree more with Dickie regarding well-rounded athletes. The goalie for Gov's lacrosse team is also starting goalie for the soccer team. That starting goalie for the JV soccer team is one of the better basketball players at the school, etc,. etc. etc. I really loathe the age of spcialization.
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BishopMVP
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Joined: 07 Apr 2004
Posts: 761
Location: JQA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Dickie Dunn wrote: | | BishopMVP wrote: | | I'd love to think we're a Tier 1 school, but at best we're at the top of Tier 2, a Tier that contains Fairfield, Towson, Hobart and Villanova. |
But should we be striving to move up among the elite, or settling down into Tier 2? After all, how many of those schools were in the national championship game within the last five years? |
Sure, we should be striving to be The elite school, but I think we have to be honest about our place - and that's not just a lacrosse thing. Do you get mad when we can't compete for basketball recruits with Virginia, Syracuse or Duke? Then why do you assume lacrosse should or could be different?
If anything, our consistent success over decades is a testament to the ability of some great coaches to find overlooked players, coach them up and mold them into a team capable of competing with the blue-bloods.
(I also think that clearly that drive for glory/elite status is lacking in some of the most important places - as indicated by things like our weak funding from the legislature, low endowment and weak conference affiliation due to our FCS football team and a general lack of upward ambition over a 30 year period. We're not just maintaining a lower tier status there - we're standing around passively as former peers like Pitt, UConn, Syracuse, Xavier, and former no-names like Old Dominion, South Florida and Boise State all soar past us.) | Quote: | | I guess my point is that the ISL doesn't seem any more likely to produce the elite-level, Quinzani/Connolly-type recruit these days than the public school, for various reasons. |
I don't think that on the whole the ISL produces more or better players than the publics as a whole - but there are many fewer ISL schools and even amongst those the talent is largely consolidated in 5-6 teams. You started this by asking whether we'd rather have a pipeline into Middlesex (5 D1, 5 NESCAC in the last 2 years+2010) or Billerica (next best players after Whiteway have ended up at SNHU or Merrimack) and comparing Belmont Hill (4 D1, 3 NESCAC recruits in 3 years) to Norwood (0 and 0) and Marblehead (1 D1, 1 Salisbury). | Quote: | | Again, proving my point even more. Is it fair to compare ISL to public schools if that is the case? Would Lawson have been any different of a player if, like Kell, he had stayed at Westford Academy and then done a PG year? I don't know the answer. |
Is it fair? No, but I'm not arguing they're on a level playing field - I'm saying that (the good) ISL schools have more D1 prospects (not due to coaching, but because they recruit, and because they can give players an extra year.)
The Lawson/Kell example wasn't to say that either player was better or worse for having gone the route they did - clearly both are doing fine - it was to point out that Lawson was both a "bigger" recruit on the IL list because he went to Middlesex and more ready to play as a freshman because he was 2 years more physically mature than his "peers". | Dickie Dunn wrote: | | That's unfortunate, if that's the case. I've seen first-hand what the "club" (junior) level has done to HS hockey when players are forced to make a commitment. I happen to be an advocate of being a well-rounded athlete, for various reasons ... heck, some of those guys at C-C are excellent hockey players as well. |
| 78 wrote: | | I really loathe the age of specialization. |
Trust me, we're quite the advocates of multi-sport athletes at CC (although it can backfire - the best one of those hockey players tore his ACL on the lacrosse field in the spring and had to delay his full immersion into juniors by a year), and based off the number of football players you see on UMass, or on Virginia, I'd say most college coaches are as well. I do think the fears and reports of one-sport specialization are overblown. I can think of one decent lacrosse player in my time as a coach or a player at CC that didn't play at least one other sport, and maybe 4 elite athletes - and those were all soccer or tennis players.
Even the club teams that are eager to step up their game in terms of offseason coaching/conditioning are careful not to interfere with football and hockey because they know they'd lose those good players to a club that isn't making them choose. The 1-2 clubs that did try playing in the spring weren't doing so at the high school level but 5th-8th, basically an attack on town programs, and wiser head have prevailed (at least for now.) |
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BishopMVP
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Posts: 761
Location: JQA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Two more 2012's - John Brainerd M - New Canaan and Kurt Hunzinger M - Masco. I've seen Hunzinger a couple times - he has size (listed 6'3 210) and a hard shot - definitely a guy I could see developing into a top-4 dodger from up top. I've also seen a rumor on Bob Fahey D - Bishop Guertin, but haven't heard it confirmed. |
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BishopMVP
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Location: JQA
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Old Cage
Hall of Fame
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Posts: 5070
Location: The Eastern Provinces
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| Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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I met Hunziker at Garber earlier this year. Nice kid. Large.
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BishopMVP
Senior
Joined: 07 Apr 2004
Posts: 761
Location: JQA
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| Old Cage wrote: | | I met Hunziker at Garber earlier this year. Nice kid. Large. |
Last part certainly rings true. He's still a bit raw - there are actually two other JR middies just as good at the HS level on Masco in Gillespie and Towler - but Hunziker is/would be a legitimate CAA-level football recruit if he went that route.
One other semi-interesting note - Brandon Gamblin transferred last summer to the Mike Andreassi-led Sachem North high school. So far they haven't been able to win vs. West Islip and Ward Melville, but I think they are pretty easily the highest scoring team in Long Island Class A, and hopefully the two are developing some lasting chemistry. |
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78
Hall of Fame
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 4058
Location: Near Boston
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 1:09 am Post subject: |
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If you guys want to see outstanding middies, try to catch a Governor's Academy game before the season ends. They are 10-0, but have their toughest games coming up in the next few weeks. They by far have the best midfield group in the ISL, which includes two Penn State commits, a Georgetown commit, and a sophomore who has already verballed to North Carolina.
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BishopMVP
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Location: JQA
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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| 78 wrote: | | If you guys want to see outstanding middies, try to catch a Governor's Academy game before the season ends. They are 10-0, but have their toughest games coming up in the next few weeks. They by far have the best midfield group in the ISL, which includes two Penn State commits, a Georgetown commit, and a sophomore who has already verballed to North Carolina. |
It helps that the sophomore is 18 years old , but I actually would like to see them match up with one of the top 4 publics (Dux, Billerica, Wellesley, CC) in a game to get an idea just how good they are. Guess I'll have to settle for watching NESLL vs. other club teams.
(FWIW, the one player I have really liked on their team that I wish was staying in-state is the Defenseman Reed Kennedy. Seems that Tambroni is building a pipeline to Mass with the 3 Gov's commits, Wellesley's G Connor Darcey and LSM James Burke of Duxbury.) |
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78
Hall of Fame
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 4058
Location: Near Boston
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| BishopMVP wrote: | | 78 wrote: | | If you guys want to see outstanding middies, try to catch a Governor's Academy game before the season ends. They are 10-0, but have their toughest games coming up in the next few weeks. They by far have the best midfield group in the ISL, which includes two Penn State commits, a Georgetown commit, and a sophomore who has already verballed to North Carolina. |
It helps that the sophomore is 18 years old , but I actually would like to see them match up with one of the top 4 publics (Dux, Billerica, Wellesley, CC) in a game to get an idea just how good they are. Guess I'll have to settle for watching NESLL vs. other club teams.
(FWIW, the one player I have really liked on their team that I wish was staying in-state is the Defenseman Reed Kennedy. Seems that Tambroni is building a pipeline to Mass with the 3 Gov's commits, Wellesley's G Connor Darcey and LSM James Burke of Duxbury.) |
The sophomore is not 18. It is Tate Jozokos and I am pretty sure he is 16. My son goes to Governor's and plays on the JV team, so knows all of these kids. Reed Kennedy is a great player. They would easily beat all of the top public teams. No question in my mind.
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If only I could be as great a fan as Pierce9999.... |
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BishopMVP
Senior
Joined: 07 Apr 2004
Posts: 761
Location: JQA
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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| 78 wrote: | | The sophomore is not 18. It is Tate Jozokos and I am pretty sure he is 16. My son goes to Governor's and plays on the JV team, so knows all of these kids. Reed Kennedy is a great player. They would easily beat all of the top public teams. No question in my mind. |
The 18y/o comment was a poorly phrased inside joke. As for ISL vs. Public I hate the debate because it can't be settled, but I think saying they would easily beat the top publics is pushing it - especially since they have lost to less talented teams each of the last 2 years. That's why I'd like to see an actual game this year vs a Duxbury/Wellesley/CC that excel at eliminating transition, or even a Billerica team that is on fire offensively right now.
Oh well, 2 different sides, and both have good games coming up - Gov's with arguably 5 of their 6 toughest games left, and hopefully the MIAA seedings setting up correctly for rematches between the aforementioned public teams at Harvard (along with Coho/D-S in D3), although there are a couple other towns in each division good enough to crash the party.
Oh also, if you've seen Gov's games I've seen UMass linked to D Finn Sullivan from Roxbury Latin, but I forget where. |
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