Friar Basketball
Home / Recruiting News / NEPSAC Championship Weekend is Here

NEPSAC Championship Weekend is Here

Graham

The final week of the prep season is upon us with the NEPSAC semifinals and finals taking place this weekend. Championship Sunday at Endicott College in Beverly, MA is typically one of the best days of basketball in the country as the Class A, AA and AAA championships are held consecutively. The talent has been overwhelming in recent seasons.

2010 had one of the best championship games I’ve seen. Brewster Academy (fresh off of a blasting of Andre Drummond-led St. Thomas More) featured the top shooting guard in the nation in Will Barton, a pair of seniors that could find themselves on All American teams this season (CJ Fair and Melvin Ejim), a soon-to-be Friar commit turned Kansas point guard Naadir Tharpe, and big man Mo Walker (now at Minnesota) squeaking out a three point win over a Winchendon team led by future McDonald’s All American Khem Birch, SMU big man Markus Kennedy and a trio that, unsurprisingly, became mid-major stars in Anthony Ireland, Devon Saddler, and Eric Ferguson.

(video via Brewster Academy)

The next season I brought my (pre HD) camera with me to watch another matchup of stacked teams, as Tilton (Nerlens Noel, Wayne Selden, Georges Niang, Goodluck Okonoboh) held off St. Mark’s (Alex Murphy, Nik Stauskas, Kaleb Tarczewski). It was Selden who stole the show in Tilton’s victory.

A year later St. Mark’s got their revenge behind Stauskas (and clutch shooting by young Aaron Falzon), ending the high school careers of Noel and Niang with a surprising loss in the title game.

(BallasTV)

And last season it was Jalen Adams hitting a 35 footer as Cushing Academy won the AA title over St. Andrew’s.

(BallasTV)

Sunday is seemingly always a tremendous afternoon that annually sees players making names for themselves, young men who will be stars at the college and pro levels, and just highly competitive, well played basketball.

Previewing the Weekend

With the semifinals taking place on Saturday, the field for Sunday isn’t yet set, but there will be plenty to see as a fan of college basketball and Providence recruiting.

Saturday’s AAA semi between Brewster and Northfield Mount Hermon should be a terrific. 7’0 2015 center Josh Sharma and Falzon (also 2015) head to Brewster to take on a trio of PC recruits in Devonte Graham, Donovan Mitchell and Jarred Reuter. Graham could well be a make or break recruit for PC once coaches can contact him in May. Brewster head coach Jason Smith told me a month ago that Providence is one of a handful of teams Graham will be interested in learning more about come May.  Mitchell and Reuter are both 2015 prospects that Ed Cooley and Co. have been after for a while.

The winner there will take on either second seeded St. Thomas More or #3 New Hampton. Brewster is the field’s top seed.

Locally, Rhode Island natives get a Saturday treat, as #4 Cushing and AA’s top seed St. Andrew’s play in a rematch of last year’s title game. St. A’s is led by Notre Dame signee Bonzi Colson, while Cushing has Syracuse commit Kaleb Joseph and Adams, the superstar junior who recorded a triple double in a quarterfinal win over Tilton.

The other half of the AA bracket features two of the country’s best 2014 big men in Goodluck Okonoboh (UNLV) and Abdul-Malik Abu (NC State). Okonoboh had 22 points, 15 rebounds and 9 blocks in Wilbraham & Monson’s win over Marianapolis, while Abu put up 16/12/4 in a narrow win against Vermont Academy. This is the final stretch of a seemingly endless prep career for Okonoboh who played alongside Gerard Coleman when the latter was just a junior at Tilton. Okonoboh may be the best shot blocker in the US.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

 

You must be logged in to post a comment Login