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Subscribe to our NewsletterThe long wait is finally over. There has been more anticipation for the start of this season than ever before thanks to the first ever JCC Draft. There were way more question marks coming into this season than ever before:
- would there be team chemistry
- how would the many new players joining the league fit in
- would Smuly hit a three-pointer (the answer is yes)
But before I get to recapping what was a fairly non-competitive week 1 (largely due to player attendance), I want to start by thanking everyone who makes this all possible. Thanks to Josh Tannenbaum for handling everything at the scorer's table (along with Osaze and others). Thanks to Matt Ceccarelli for the many hours it takes weekly to do the stats. Thanks to the refs for tolerating our constant whining. Thanks to Rick Auyeung for the many media-related tasks I'm sure I'll be ask you to do throughout the season. And thanks to the captains and players who really make this all happen. So without further ado, let's get to recapping...
Team Psycho 73 - Splash 49: The season kicked off with Captain Colin Neff's Team Psycho taking on Jon Ackerman's Splash squad. Splash was missing their top two draft choices, Phil Romero and Shamar Mason (who recently welcomed a new daughter into this world), but did have Adam Driansky despite what Captain Ackerman claimed was a likely multiple week absence due to a knee injury. The miracles of modern medicine. Next season we will be implementing a draft combine with team physicians on hand. The big story for Team Psycho was how would Colin fare now that he is the alpha male on a team instead of being surrounded by Adam Hynes, Ben Carr, Eric Sass and Smuly/Kanarek. If Colin's performance in his first game is any indication, he seems more than ready to lead his own squad. Colin led Team Psycho with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. This game was never really close as Team Psycho got out to an early lead and never relinquished control of the game. Rumor has it that Daryl Hannah's attorneys have reached out the Jon Ackerman becasue she doesn't want her acting legacy to be tarnished by such an inept basketball performance but Captain Ackerman has assured her reps that once they get their stars back on the court they will make her proud (TBD). Speaking of Captain Ackerman...in his post game news conference he was asked if he named his team Splash because that is the sound a brick makes when you throw in into the water and this team was certainly throwing up a lot of bricks. Ackerman led the team with 17 points and 11 rebounds however he shot a paltry 0/8 from long range. Adam Driansky, who recently returned from his PRP treatments in Germany to speed up the knee recovery, added 16 points of his own. Lorne Bergstein made his JCC debut by contibuting 6 points and 6 rebounds and trying to battle big Dan in the paint due to the absence of Phil. As for Dan, last season's leading rebounder by a wide margin, put up 18 points (on an efficient 7/9 shooting) and added 13 rebounds.Gary Levine contributed 13 points while bring his high energy to both the defensive end as well as on the boards. TJ Farrell added 10 points, Shane Calendar had 9 rebounds including 5 of the offensive variety and newcomer Ben Gerstein (who also recently welcomed a baby into the family) showed everyone that he might be a major steal in the 7th round. Luckily for Colin he was the only captain to attend the one pickup run Ben attended and then downplayed his skills (well played grasshopper). Splash will look to rebound this week with Shamar and Phil returning to the fold.
Team Psycho vs Splash 5/6/2025
The Greatest Show on Courts 101 - JCC You in the Finals 48: The big story of this game was JCC You in the Finals playing with only 4 players. Missing from action were Damien Jackson (who was a late scratch minutes before gametime), Jim Korn, Steve Bachman and Alex Stone. So it fell upon team captain Jason Narod, Ed Seiden, Jason Stern and Justin Chodos to play a full 48 minutes. The Greatest Show had all 8 players including team captain Matt Ceccarelli. What wasn't expected was that Matt decided to call upon the services of Martin Kove as a guest team motivator on the sidelines. For those unfamiliar with who Martin Kove is, he is best known as Sensei Krees from the Karate Kid franchise.
I have to admit, having played in the game, that it got tiresome hearing "Mercy is for the weak" and "We do not train to be merciful here" repeatedly all game long even when trailing by 40 points. But despite playing 5 against 4, the Greatest Show certainly showed no mrecy. Greatest Show outrebounded JCC You 59-28 and had 32 assists compared to just 10 for JCC You. It was a very well balanced scoring effort for Greatest Show with 6 players scoring between 10-19 points led by Flex Huberman (AKA neighbor) with 19, followed by Matt Ceccarelli with 18. Big man Eric Sass had a double-double with 11 points and 19 rebounds. Newcomer, Will Howarth, showed off his hoops wizardry with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Finally, Justin Dank and Dave Steinbruck each amaassed double digits though much of that came late in the game when their opponents were running on fumes and not contesting shots. Vegas is currently taking bets on how many games it'll take Steinbruck to total the 16 points he had on this evening (current over/under is 3.5 games but I'm taking the over). I only recall 100 points being scored in a game one other time and that was the Grey squad in Adam Hynes/Ben Carr rookie season and that was against a full roster. But they did score 100 points nonetheless though it comes with an asterisk. As for JCC You in the Finals, they were led by Ed Seiden (AKA commish) who scored the team's first 13 points en route to a game high 24 points. Sadly, Ed finished with no assists because after captain Jason Narod heard Captain Ackerman went 0/8 from deep, Narod felt the need to outdo Ackerman and proceeded to shoot 2/17 for the game (including 0/10 from three). Jason Stern made a big impression in his first game in the JCC league, scoring 14 points and adding 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Justin Chodos rounded out the scoring with 5 points to go along with 7 rebounds. JCC You in the Finals will attempt to bounce back this week against Team Psycho as they welcome their top two picks back into the mix.
The Greatest Show on Courts vs JCC You in the Finals 5/7/2025
Bagels and Blox 62 - The Pipe Layers 59: This game was by far the most competitive game this week and pitted two captains who have been teammates and neighbors for years. The big question for this game was how would Jamal Berry fare in his first game in the JCC league. Well it looked like I was watching St. John's and NYC playground legend Walter "The Truth" Berry instead of Jamal Berry (The Truth long before Paul Pierce). Berry picked (see what I did there) his spots when he would just take over the game. In the first half, every time Bagels and Blox fell behind, Jamal seemed to answer with a timely three pointer. In the second half, after his opponents knew they needed to respect the three, he began knifing his way into the lane with some incredible finishes in close. But the game started with Adam Hynes doing what he does and that is hitting buckets. The guy can just flat out shoot the rock and what might not get enough attention is the fact that he never stops moving, making it that much tougher for defenders to stay in front of him. Adam went off early, hitting his first 6 shots and when he wasn't scoring it was his childhood buddy and partner in crime, Ben Carr making things happen. The Pipe Layers maintained a 6-10 point lead for most of the first half, though as mentioned earlier, any time they stretched the lead out it seemed Jamal had an answer. Adam finished with 23 points on 10/15 shooting but it seemed like in the second half they didn't keep feeding the hot hand. Ben Carr and Jordan Perlmutter each tallied 12 points. The second half was a back and forth battle which would come down to the final possessions. Unfortunately for The Pipe Layers, the final few possessions were more like laying cable than pipe laying because it was a bit of a shitshow late. Adam had a chance to tie the game late, trailing by 3 and just missed on a well diagrammed play to get him open from deep. But other than that one look, the final few minutes for The Pipe Layers was a mess and it cost them the game. Jamal was everything he was billed up to be, scoring 40 points on a ridiculous 15/21 shooting while also contribtuing 9 rebounds and 4 steals. Ben Huber added 9 points while Brian Schiller, in his big return to the JCC league, had 7 points, 8 rebounds and was a menace on the defensive end of the floor. Mike Korn scored 8 points in his debut for the Pipe Layers. The big question for Bagels and Blox will be whether Jamal will get enough support from the rest of the squad and whether Captain Kanarek missed the opportunity to surround him with shooters to open the floor up. But it all worked out in the first week as they secured the 3 point win.
Bagels & Blox vs The Pipe Layers 5/7/2025
99 Problems (But a Swish Ain't One) 74 - The Silent Killers 58: The final game of the week was a lot closer than the final score would indicate. (Unfortunately the stats are not yet done for this game but I will do my best without them). This was a back and forth contest right up until the final 11:00 of the game. 99 Problems got out to an early lead which grew to double digits thanks to the very balanced scoring from their very deep roster.Jorge Mangui (AKA L'il Annoying) did what he does whether it was converting steals into easy fast break layups or scoring from deep (3 threes for the game en route to a team-leading 20 points). But Jorge wasn't the only player hitting from deep for 99 Problems. Mike Gerstein, looking to build on his stellar rookie season, hit 3 threes of his own and totaled 14 points. Newcomers Steve Shelton (9 points) and Jason Lorenzo (10 points) hit an additional 5 threes combined and the great thing about having captain Bryan Minasian on your team, he's usually there to clean up the offensive glass when the shots aren't falling. The Silent Killers (AKA Team Peak) were playing without Rory Schulman. Up until the final 11:00 of the game, every time 99 Problems went on a run, The Silent Killers answered with a run of their own. The combination of defending JCC MVP Siri Carpien (17 points), plus newcomers Jason Pompeo (14 points) and Orlando Jean-Charles (17 points) combined for 48 of the team's 58 points. Eric Lai, in his return to the JCC, scored 7 points. This game was tied at 50 with 11:00 remaining and that is when the game completely changed. 99 Problems went on a 17-0 run over the next 7 minutes to put the game out of reach. The biggest concern for Siri's team coming into this game was the lack of height but that wasn't a problem in this game. Once they figure out how to gel as a team this team will be way more dangerous.
99 Problems (But a Swish Ain't One) vs The Silent Killers 5/8/2025
Normally I would list stat leaders here but we are still waiting for the final game stats to be done. Additionally, I plan on doing a team Power Rankings going forward but I'm going to hold off a week before doing that becasue two teams played so shorthanded in week 1 that its tough to really gauge how competitive those teams will be. Good luck to all in week 2
