The ShoreLine: Dear Knowshon, the TOC, Power Points and More

Shore Sports Network basketball blogger Tim "Nep84" McCollum gives his take on the latest in Shore Conference boys basketball and more.

Dear Knowshon,

Welcome home!

Ever since the Super Bowl was awarded to MetLife Stadium I’ve been asked maybe 100 times what I hoped would be the match-up in this Super Bowl. My answer has always been “A Subway Super Bowl ,  of course.”

This is a nice consolation prize. I’ve been rooting for the Broncos all season to make this game. It’s not because I’d like to see Peyton win another ring and cement his legacy (even though I would). It’s not to see Wes Welker stick it to the Patriots (even though I would). It’s not because I have something against Seattle or Marshawn or the Legion of Boom or Starbucks (which I don’t).

I really want to see you come home and win a ring in your house (or at least as close as we can come since they won’t move the game to Middletown South for some reason) in front of your fellow Jersey people.

You’ve probably been given sound advice from hundreds of thousands of people but all of that means nothing compared to my advice for you. Ignore all of them, from Coach Fox all the way down the line. All you need to do to win the Super Bowl is envision the Seahawks wearing Neptune Scarlet Flier uniforms and you’ll be fine. Heck, you’ll probably rush for 300 yards and score 6 TDs just for old time’s sake.

It’s OK, we’re over all the times you beat our football teams up. We’re on your side now.

So from all of us Shore people, good luck and score one for the Shore Conference.

That is all.

Regards,

Nep

I’ve written frequently on the ShoreLine about adversity. Go read some of the news stories about Moreno. It’s OK. I’ll wait. This kid has gone through his share of adversity on and off the field. But this is where his story gets good because he gets this Super Bowl. Everyone has adversity in their lives. You can’t let the adversity define you. Facing and overcoming obstacles is when you character reveals itself. I’d say Moreno has handled the adversity thrown his way just fine. It makes it really easy to root for him.

Besides, you didn’t think I’d miss an opportunity to add to all of the gratuitous Super Bowl hype now did you? Really?

OMAHA!

In the history of the boys basketball NJSIAA Tournament of Champions, private schools have won 21 titles while publics have won four (Elizabeth ’90, Shawnee ’92, Orange ’94, and Camden ’00). In other words for every one title all of the public schools have, the privates have 4. St. Anthony’s alone has more than twice as many (12) TOC titles as all of the publics combined.

There have also been only 9 finalists from the publics in that time (Elizabeth ’85, Middle Township ’93, Shawnee ’95 and ’96, Teaneck ’99, Shabazz ’01, Neptune ’02, and Bloomfield Tech ’04 and ’07).

How dominant have the privates been in the last 15 years? They have won 14 of 15 TOC finals and a public school was the opponent in only 5 of them.

I got to thinking about this looking at the recent Star-Ledger statewide top 20. When was the last time a public school sat at the top of the poll? Or had the #1 and #2 positions in the poll?  Or three of the top 4 positions? I know, I can’t recall either. But there they are, a top 5 with three publics (Newark Eastside, Paterson Eastside, and Linden) sitting on top of the poll. With those three teams in two groups plus a very strong Group 1 contender (who is as good as those Bloomfield Tech teams were), is this the year where we break the ice and have a public school TOC champion? Would the world survive an all-public school TOC final?

OMAHA!

I refrained from thinking about the power-point system implemented for basketball last year, figuring I’d give it some time.  Since the top 20 got my curiosity, I decided to take a peek at the latest power points, and the system seems to be doing a pretty good job. There are some anomalies (Millburn and Jefferson for example) that have significantly better records than the teams ahead of them but are apparently losing the residual point battle with those teams. You have a team like Point Beach who at 9-0 sits third in its section but has four less games worth of power points, which looks like it will correct itself. You have the top teams in the rankings generally at the top of their sections. And you have teams like Orange at 7-6 ahead of 3 teams with records at least 7 over .500. Their schedule must be insane.

I’m liking this system more and more.

OMAHA!

Speaking of power points, those footsteps some of y’all are hearing from behind you are the Neptune Scarlet Fliers, who are having one heck of a week. First they eek out a win against one of the hottest teams in the Shore in Matawan, and then they eek out another against a team that thoroughly outplayed them (despite the close score) early in the season in Long Branch.  If they can somehow score another win over Lakewood on Saturday, that would cap a huge power-point haul and bring them right into the mix for everything.

If you have a chance to see a game on Saturday, Neptune-Lakewood is a game not to be missed under normal circumstances, but especially this installment. The Fliers have been lurking out there, winning and losing the close games, but appear to be putting something together now.

Is it me or does it seem that at least one of the Shore Sports Network top 10 teams is dropping ball games on a nightly basis? Good luck making out your top 10 this week fellas. Have fun with that.

What is in the water in Keyport? Seriously, Alex Thomson statistically has had a really good season all just within this week.   Twenty-six points and 23 rebounds? Routinely getting the double-doubles now? I have to get me some of this.

I think it should be a rule that you must score your 1,000^th point on a dunk. I mean, if you are going to go through all that trouble scoring those first 998 points the least you could do is get the last two in style. I’m going to call that the Farrell-Thomson Rule.

Very quietly Freehold Township is 9-5 and 6-1 in A North, sitting a game-and-a-half behind CBA for the division lead. You didn’t think you could sneak that past me did you guys? I told the rest of y’all not to let those Czajkowskis shoot.  Hey, don’t say I didn’t tell you so. Thanks for making me look smart Patriots. With two shots at CBA coming up, this could get real interesting.

Here’s a question. What do the numbers 4,5,8,9, and 16 all have in common? Those are the seeds you don’t want to draw in the Shore Conference Tournament because it most likely means a meeting with Point Beach.  The SCT is going back to its roots a bit this season with the quarterfinals in Long Branch and the semifinals at Brick Memorial. This is purely due to scheduling problems with Brookdale. I’m torn a bit on this because the large crowd in those two gyms will be both exciting and frustrating.  I’m not going to miss Brookdale’s funky floor and having the feeling that I’m sitting in the basement, though.

Anytime you have no trouble filling a set of bleachers with folks from ages 15 to 50 to pay tribute to someone, you know they must have done something right. I know it’s a sad time at Southern but reading the story about the tribute to Kathy Snyder here on the site I recalled one of my favorite quotes from the movies. “Heroes may come and go, but legends never die.” Giving your life to a community is a great legacy to leave behind.

Speaking of doing something right, have you seen a game in Rumson-Fair Haven’s gym? Half the gym is covered with girls basketball championship banners. Congratulations on 600 wins, Coach Sourlis. And 20-plus seasons of 20 or more wins in high school basketball are impressive.

But more importantly, these two coaches, like so many others, make better people, not just better basketball players. Each and every one of them is a treasure to the game, and to their communities.

Have any of you tried seeding the Shore Conference Tournament yet? I’d rather have another 4 ½-hour drive home in a blizzard like last Tuesday then take a shot at this. And I didn’t get past the top 5! Usually there is some separation by this point in the season. Not this year.  You couldn’t pay me enough to sit on the committee this year. Well then again…..

OMAHA!

Aren’t you sick of hearing that yet?

See you soon …. On the ShoreLine.