Tonight Linden 71 The Patrick School 67
- Thread starter Knights 1212
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My old Linden Tigers playing ball. I was hoping to see them play when I was home for Christmas, but they were playing tourneys in NC and Va.
The Patrick School has 7', 6'11" and 6'10" and Linden only has one 6'4" kid and a bunch of hard nosed defensive kids. It is amazing how hard they play. Just so proud of these kids.
Was proud to be a LHS Alum last night. The gym was rocking. The fans were awesome. That win was almost as nice as the 2007 county final.
I believe this was the 2nd matchup between these two (Patrick won the first one over Holiday break at Kean).....was going to be a hornets nest to try and win on Linden's home court.
Ironically the boxscore shows another of CBS2 Sportscaster Otis Livingston's kids playing for Linden....had another solid game last night, although I don't know what grade he is in....
The other Livingston son is at George Mason playing major minutes and doing OK.....the other guard Eddie completely missed but got involved with way too late, was Matt Farrell, who a lot of fans thought wasn't a B1G caliber player.....kid plays hard and takes and makes big shots for Notre Dame....There are a LOT of ways to recruit NJ for basketball players, the question is whether this staff gets caught up in the recruiting ranking hype of certain kids or looks for the team-oriented grinders that you need in the B1G.
Matt Farrell and Livingston are not dominating or likely future NBA players, but they remind me of the complimentary pieces on a great program like Wisconsin has with Bronson Koenig or Showalter....kids that if you leave open, they'll make you pay....if you foul them, they make their FT's... they are good kids, level headed etc...
I know I keep talking about culture change, but Mike Williams is part of that evolution that gets things done....Corey Sanders has bought in defensively and plays hard on both ends of the court...Geo Baker is another step in that direction, talented, etc....so is Doucoure....so has been Gettys and Sa etc...it's what Linden has now, year in and year out.... their kids buy-in, they scrap and defend, they rebound and they have the best coach in the state by a country-mile in Phil C.....and yes that included the legendary Bobby Hurley.
It's easy to see how and why Linden is successful.....I don't see just anyone playing for Phill C.......just my opinion....
Ironically the boxscore shows another of CBS2 Sportscaster Otis Livingston's kids playing for Linden....had another solid game last night, although I don't know what grade he is in....
The other Livingston son is at George Mason playing major minutes and doing OK.....the other guard Eddie completely missed but got involved with way too late, was Matt Farrell, who a lot of fans thought wasn't a B1G caliber player.....kid plays hard and takes and makes big shots for Notre Dame....There are a LOT of ways to recruit NJ for basketball players, the question is whether this staff gets caught up in the recruiting ranking hype of certain kids or looks for the team-oriented grinders that you need in the B1G.
Matt Farrell and Livingston are not dominating or likely future NBA players, but they remind me of the complimentary pieces on a great program like Wisconsin has with Bronson Koenig or Showalter....kids that if you leave open, they'll make you pay....if you foul them, they make their FT's... they are good kids, level headed etc...
I know I keep talking about culture change, but Mike Williams is part of that evolution that gets things done....Corey Sanders has bought in defensively and plays hard on both ends of the court...Geo Baker is another step in that direction, talented, etc....so is Doucoure....so has been Gettys and Sa etc...it's what Linden has now, year in and year out.... their kids buy-in, they scrap and defend, they rebound and they have the best coach in the state by a country-mile in Phil C.....and yes that included the legendary Bobby Hurley.
It's easy to see how and why Linden is successful.....I don't see just anyone playing for Phill C.......just my opinion....
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Hurley has been the best high school coach in NJ for a very long time because St.Anthony has won state championships and ranked number one in the country.The only head coach that could compete with him was the former St.Patrick head coach Boyle who now coaches a powerhouse team in Florida.
The Linden head coach clearly is top notch and gets the most out of his players who aren't as highly rated as the schools cited above.I would like to have him as a assistant coach at Rutgers.
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I was not at the game myself as we a wake in our family as my mother in law passed away. I think Pikiell was at a different game last night.
Linden has a D1 recruit that I've been watching for a few years now. He's a 6'3 junior shooting guard (Class of 2018), rated a 4 star prospect by EPSN and all the major recruiting websites. He's got a Seton Hall and St. Joe's offer but none from RU.
I know Pikell has been building relationships with coach Colicchio over in Linden but I hope Pikell makes this kid an offer..he's the real deal.
Skill set is very similar to Khadeen Carrington of Seton Hall. Natural scorer who can handle, create for himself and others and guess what? He can shoot the ball!
I know Pikell has been building relationships with coach Colicchio over in Linden but I hope Pikell makes this kid an offer..he's the real deal.
Skill set is very similar to Khadeen Carrington of Seton Hall. Natural scorer who can handle, create for himself and others and guess what? He can shoot the ball!
Doesn't fit the system...
Seriously though he looks like a good shooter. I'm no expert but the one complaint I'd have is his shot windup starts way too low. Something coaching can fix though