JCC of Central New Jersey Men's Basketball

Three weeks down and we are starting to get a clearer picture of where each team stands in the league hierarchy.  Much like last week, we are left with one undefeated team (Greatest Show on Courts) and one winless team (The Pipe Layers) while the other six teams all sit at either 2-1 or 1-2. The biggest news of this past week was the fluky and unfortunate injury to Phil Romero in Spalsh's game. Last year's rookie of the year broke his finger on the opening tip and will have surgery today to reapir the injury.  I'm sure I speak for eveybody in wishing Phil a speedy recovery and we all look forward to seeing him back on the court soon. Phil is being replaced by Mike Glanzman for the rest of the season.  For those unfamiliar with Mike's game, I will be sure to include plenty of clips of his game in the coming weeks.  Now onto the recaps:

99 Problems (But a Swish Ain't One) 65 - JCC You in the Finals 54: Both teams came into this game with matching 1-1 records and hoping to get above .500.  JCC You came out determined to get that second win and quickly built up a 23-10 lead.  It was a balanced scoring effort from JCC You with 5 guys totaling between 7 and 12 points.  Jim Korn led the way with 12 points and 7 rebounds.  Steve Bachman, playing in his first game of the season, added 11 points while Jason Narod scored 10 points including 2/3 from deep (bringing his 3-point percentage up to 16.7%).  It took some time for 99 Problems to get it going offensively but they emphatically answered with a 15-0 run to take the lead at 25-23.  99 Problems had 4 guys score in double figures including Jorge Mangui (16 points, 9 rebs and 4 steals), 14 apiece from Mike Gerstein and Jason Lorenzo followed by 12 points from Steve Shelton. Bryan Minasian contributed 9 points along with 13 rebounds.  The one stat that really stood out in this game was the disparity in steals (11-2 in favor of 99 Problems).  JCC You was very sloppy with the ball leading to many easy fast break points.  In the second half, 99 Problems maintained a 6-12 point lead for most of the way.  JCC You team captain was asked by the postgame assmebled media whether he regretted his team's name, to which he responded, "I just meant we will be there to see whoever makes it to the finals."  They will look to bounce back this week against the red-hot Siri Carpien-led Silent Killers.  99 Problems will take on the slumping Bagels & Blox squad.

Greatest Show on Courts 74 - The Pipe Layers 56: The second game on Monday night pitted the lone unbeaten team taking on the lone winless team and unfortunately for Adam Hynes and The Pipe Layers, the two teams would leave this game the same way.  Matt Ceccarelli's team has shown over the past two weeks that they are more than capable of beating teams with more than 4 players.  The Greatest Show has really excelled in a few areas this season which have largely contibuted to their 3-0 start: (1) rebounding - especially on the offensive end; (2) steals and (3) shooting percentage - they are shooting at least 5% higher than every other team. This game was certainly no different when it comes to rebounding - Greatest Show outrebounded The Pipe Layers 49-29 including 15-3 on the offensive end.  This game was never particularly close with Greatst Show getting out to an early lead and basically cruising the rest of the way.  Matt Ceccarelli led the way for Greatest Show mixing up his inside/outside game en route to 21 points.  Flex Huberman flexed his way to 18 points and 4 steals while Will Howarth continues to show why he should've been drafted two rounds higher (15 pts/10 rebs/4 assists).  For the Pipe Layers, it is not a lack of talent on this roster because on paper I thought they had one of the best rosters after the draft. Unfortunately the game isn't played on paper and so far they have been unable to find their team identity.  The one thing I know for sure is that Adam Hynes taking only 6 shots in a game is not a recipe for success.  Greatest Show has a lot of length and athleticism to throw at Adam but he's one of the best offensive players in the league and they need to figure out ways to get him the ball and create favorable matchups for him.  Mike Korn led the team in scoring with 12 points followed by 11 from Josh Goodhart (showing last year's form from deep), 9 from Jordan Perlmutter and 8 from Ben Carr.  The aforementioned Adam Hynes finished with what is likely a career low 6 points. Greatest Show dominated all aspects of this game throughout to move to 3-0 and will likely be favored in Vegas for all remaining games.  Of note, it's not so easy to hit those 3-pointers against 5 players, David Stein"brick" (0-5 in the game), though he did convert his layups.  Next up for the Greatest Show is a Wednesday night matchup vs Colin Neff and Team Psycho.  Meanwhile, The Pipe Layers will try and get their first win of the season against the new look Team Splash (though Mike Glanzman apparently will not be making his season debut in that contest).

The Silent Killers 67 - Splash 52: As mentioned earlier, this game took a bad turn very quickly.  Splash was coming off a great win against 99 Problems and had high hopes for the season when everything changed on the opening tip. Phil went up for the tip with his left arm but his right hand hit Clay's elbow on the way up resulting in a displaced fratcure of his right ring finger.  

Phil managed to remain in the game for the next three minutes but it became clear to him that there was something wrong.  So what was already an undersized lineup became slightly more undersized, though his replacement is fairly close in size.   The Silent Killers were missing Rory Schulman (still recovering from the stitches above his eye), Eric Lai, Dave Livingston and Seth Niessen.  John Potamousis, former JCC league player as well as Peak league member, filled in as a fifth player for the game. The game was not that competitive and Phil's absence was quickly felt by Splash as they were outrebounded 51-26. In fact, 4 out of 5 Silent Killers players amassed double digit rebounds in the contest.  While the reigning MVP had been relatively quiet offensively in his first two games, that was not the case for Siri Carpien on this night.  Siri scored 29 points and added 11 rebounds.  Jason Pompeo tallied his third double-double in three games with 12 points and 16 rebounds.  Splash seemed to come in with a strategy of allowing Orlando Jean-Charles to shoot from three instead of watching him blow by defenders like he has for most of the season.  Orlando responded by hitting 3 threes as part of his 15 point output and also had several great passes leading to 7 assists.  Alex Fisher had 10 boards (including 5 offensive) and Potamousis fit right in as the replacement player.  Splash was understandably in a state of shock seeing their top pick go down with an injury but they did have 4 players score in double figures starting with captain Jon Ackerman (16 points), Brandon Wendel (season high 12 points), Adam Driansky (11) and Shamar Mason (10).  This was the second straight strong showing for the Silent Killers and they moved to 2-1 while Splash fell to 1-2 with Mike Glanzman arriving next week to fill in the big hole left by Phil's absence.

Team Psycho 56 - Bagels & Blox 44: Both of these teams were coming off a loss last week and were hoping to bounce back in a big way.  Team Psycho was happy to welcome their big man back into the fold, as Dan Amsellem was back after his one-game absence.  With both teams at full strength, this game would be a good gauge for where both teams stood versus one another. Team Psycho has been getting it done on the defensive side of the ball all season while their offense has yet to fully click.  Coming into this contest, Team Psycho hadn't given up more that 50 points in a game and that trend would continue.  The combination of Colin Neff and Gary Levine with their on-ball smothering defense, combined with Dan patrolling the middle has made scoring against this team very difficult.  Colin was in his lab, much like Matt was last week, trying to come up with the best strategy for trying to neutralize Jamal Berry.  They went with a diamond-and-one defense (sometimes referred to as a Junk defense) and managed to hold Jamal to a season-low 16 points (though he did also add 19 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks).  Brian Schiller stepped up with 11 points (mostly on steals and fast breaks) but no other player scored double digits.  Jamal has by far the highest percentage of any team's points on the season (80/169 points scored for Bagels & Blox or 47.3%) and until this team can get more scoring from their supporting cast, teams will continue to throw the kitchen sink at him.  For Team Psycho, Colin Neff led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds followed by Dan Amsellem who also had a double-double (10 pts/13 rebs).  My annual reminder to teams that TJ Farrell is a really good shooter especially when you give him clean looks.  TJ had several clean looks in the first half leading to him scoring 11 points for the game.  Bagels & Blox will try to get back in the win column against 99 Problems while Team Psycho will face a stiff challenge against Greatest Show on Courts.

Here is my attempt at team power rankings:

1. Greatest Show on Courts - Most complete team on both ends of the court.  This team has lots of height and atleticism and defensive stars in Eric Sass, Justin Dank.  They also have a lot of firepower offensively with Matt Ceccarelli and Mike Huberman each averaging over 20 ppg.  Newcomer Will Howarth has been getting it done on both ends of the floor, And they have a solid bench especially when facing only 4 guys.
2. 99 Problems - Bryan Minasian's team is super deep and they can really shoot the three-ball. Led by Jorge "L'il Annoying" Mangui, this team harasses it's opponents on the defensive end.  Jason Lorenzo has been a steal at his draft spot and were it not for his being away for the playoffs, he'd have been taken two rounds earlier.  Mike Gerstein and Steve Shelton are both capable of going off offensively in any game (as can Rick Auyeung based on his offensive explosion last week).  And team captain Bryan Minasian is Mr. Dependable, dominating the glass and defending bigger centers while even sprinkling in the occassional three and flex for good measure.
3. Silent Killers - (AKA Team Peak) - the top 3 picks for this team have all been dominating.  Siri Carpien found his offensive game this past week. Orlando Jean-Charles has brought his intensity to both ends of the floor - harassing opponents defensively while also scoring 18 ppg.  And Jason Pompeo (Mr. double-double) has been getting it done to the tune of 14.8 ppg and 13.8 rpg.  The big question for this team is whether they will be able to handle some of the taller lineups but the early results have been very promising.
4. Team Psycho - Colin Neff has been freed to become the main offensive weapon for the first time in his JCC career and he's getting it done. But this team thrives on defensive intensity.  They make you work for every basket and will win lots of slugfests this season.
5. JCC You in the Finals - Led by the dynamic big man duo of Damien Jackson and Jim Korn, this team has underwhelmed up to this point.  But they have played shorthanded and there have been glimpses of how good this team can be in stints this season.  If team captain Jason Narod can get his shot going and Steve Bachman can continue to contribute offensively, this team will be a challenge for many teams (especially those lacking height)
6. Splash - This team is especially tough to rank having just lost their top pick.  But this team is led by a trio of young and fast guards (Shamar Mason, Jon Ackerman and Adam Driansky) that will be tough for teams to matchup against defensively.  If Mike Glanzman can come in and show off his dynamic post game and defensive/rebounding talents, then this team can make some noise.  But this team was small before the Phil injury and height could be a problem
7. Bagels & Blox - This team features the best player in the league but he is going to need more help from the supporting cast of Brian Schiller, Ben Huber and Jake Lillie. Jamal is an ageless wonder who doesn't seem to tire but he needs at least one of these guys to consistently step up especially on the offensive end.
8. The Pipe Layers - This is a case of the record tells the story. I do not think this is the least talented team by any stretch, but this team is going to need to gel quickly and figure out their identity on the offensive end of the floor.  Adam Hynes is not used to losing and I'm sure he is trying to come up with ways to turn this thing around before it's too late.

Stats leaders:

Points:

Jamal Berry - 26.7 ppg

Siri Carpien - 20.7 ppg

Matt Ceccarelli/Mike Huberman - 20.3 ppg

Rebounds: 

Jason Pompeo - 13.7 rpg

Bryan Minasian - 13.0 rpg

Dan Amsellem - 13.0 rpg

Assists:

Jordan Perlmutter - 5.7 apg

Orlando Jean-Charles/Justin Dank -  4.3 apg

Steals:

Jamal Berry - 3.7 spg

Jorge Mangui - 3.3 spg

4 players tied at 3 spg

Blocks (Total):

Siri Carpien/Dan Amsellem - 4

Jamal Berry/Eric Sass - 3

Three-pointers made (Total):

Mike Huberman/Ed Seiden - 8  (The Manitou Way connection)

4 players tied at 7

Good luck everyone this week