The Winning Moments Show: Season 1 Episode 15

John Lim, Coach Chris Ward, and Kevin Devaney Jr. recap the Section One Basketball Championships at the Westchester County Center.

From record performances and major upsets to overtime drama and state tournament previews, the crew breaks down the players, teams, and moments that defined championship week.

A must-listen for anyone who loves Section One high school basketball.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Welcome back to the winning moment show. Post County Center, Post Section One Championships. Now we're going to the States. I'm joined here by the legendary Coach Ward and the hardest working man in this area, Kevin Devaney Jr., most well known as uh KDJ. And I'm John Lim, and we have a beautiful show for you guys. Kevin, I just want to comment real quick that uh your your Pat Riley suit game at the county center was coach, was it not top nine? It was it was it was power four level conference good.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Remember when people used to wear suits and ties?

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Yes. Like all the time? Yeah. Maybe coaches used to wear stuff. So Tim Patrulli, right? So Tim Patrulli, there was a great picture of Tim Patrulli um jumping up after they won their semifinal game. And I posted because he was airborne. He was up there, right? He was he got up. And I posted it, and I didn't realize that people are gonna be so critical of the fact that he's wearing jeans and a hoodie. And people were like killing him about the jeans. How could a coach wear jeans? So I went up to him and uh before the championship, and he's wearing jeans and a hoodie, and I'm in a suit. And he goes, listen, he goes, I don't really care what anyone says what they think. He's like, I wore this on a dirt when we started a winning streak, and I'm wearing it until we lose. He's very superstitious. I am not changing anything. He's like, I don't care what people say. He's like, we went. That was before the Tabazi game. He goes, We win that. Um, we win this game, I don't I'm gonna I'll I'll retire the jeans, whatever. But uh they lost. But again, it's uh the the suit and tie, you know. I mean, listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I like to interject something about that picture, it was a fantastic picture. Yeah, Coach Petrulli. If it almost looked like he was jumping off a speaker as the league guitarist for either Motley Crew or Poison from one of the 80s bands, you know, 80s rock uh glam bands or whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Oh, yeah, and the legs are out there with the guitar, the pilot and over. That's over. He's a good friend of ours, so we can we can speak about these.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Let's be kind to the ball, man. Nah, we love it. We love Claudia. Truly did an awesome job.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

That's probably the that's probably a good place to start. Obviously, the county center week um was exhausting. Um, obviously, for guys like Claudio and Justin for what they did. What you guys did. Uh it was it was pretty awesome. Um, I can't tell you if I've the the county center year after year, the way they dressed the building up, the way that they um section one signage, the lighting, the dim lights, the spotlight, all that stuff. I thought that was like the crescendo, right? I thought that was that was as good as they can ever make it. And then the winning moments crew showed up and made it even better. And you guys were phenomenal. Um, I wish I could have taken more part in it. Obviously, I was still busy. And there's only so much a human being could talk in a given day. Um, so I need to sort of rest a little bit, but the way you guys came, so the lights and the cameras and the whole thing, all the stuff we have here right now. Um, the professionalism. I had a parent say to me uh during one of their while while their kid was being interviewed by you guys, they said this is almost as cool as the game after they won a section championship.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

That's very that's very kind of a lot of things. So that's very sweet.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

That was a really awesome uh uh compliment to you guys. And uh the fact that it was, you know, listen, this is the one the one part I had in this was saying to Todd Santa Barbara and the crew, we have let's make it front and center because people are gonna walk in and go, What the hell is this? What is this new thing here? And it wasn't so much about yes, it was great, great visibility for winning moments and and everything, but it was better visibility for Section 1 athletics and for Section One basketball and for the county center week. And I think that is a lifetime memory you guys created for them. So I, on behalf of coaches, players, parents, athletes, it was phenomenal what you guys did. And then the show, you guys managed to trim it down to seven hours. Somebody said to me, some some teacher said to me, he goes, he goes, I watched it at school today. I go, school's not that long. You couldn't watch the whole thing. You couldn't have watched the whole thing. Seven hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Well, listen, one thing, thanks to the to to Justin, Claudio, Anastasia, our entire crew for the setup. Uh, we did put chapters in that so you can skip to the chapters you want. Uh, we will have all 10 episodes come out.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

But it's like the Netflix era. The Netflix era. They used to make movies, right? Now they just make 10-hour shows. 10-hour shows. And people watch the whole thing. So this is you're kind of you're kind of ripping them off on that. It's good.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

I was gonna say though, we have we have some some I got a lot of controversy at the County Center because we were compared to like the TNT halftime show. Like halftime went on, the lights came on, right? Who would you be? Who would you be? Well, so listen, I'm on one of the episodes. You said you saw that, right? I I admitted that I have my Barkley haircut going on, right? I mean, I'd probably be Shaq in that scenario, but uh it's who's you're Ernie Johnson. Who's Ernie? Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. That's who you are. The argument is which one of you guys are Ernie? No, I think we're our own people. Okay, we're our own people.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

We do our we we just be who we we're just who we are. Now, Chris Ward, I'm gonna tell you something. Of all the performances at the county center, uh yeah, Brandon Burrell was great. He was awesome. I don't know if anybody was better than Chris Ward on a game broadcast. During the first quarter, the second quarter, so he joined our sports engine broadcast for a. I said, I'll let him, let's let him have him do a game, whatever. And then after the first quarter, I'm like, the hell is Kai's awesome at this? I'm like, he's better at this than anybody. So it reminds, I remember though, he watches a lot of basketball. He watches a lot of game broadcasts.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

He knows what broadcasters should say and what they should do and when they're he might he might rival you in the amount of games that he watched.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

It was it no, no, he watched, he watches on TV way more games than I was. Oh, yeah. I mean, insane. Like almost to the point where it's like he might have something wrong with him. But he he watches and listens and knows, and he he slid into that chair with literally no training or like no conversation. I was just like, hey, if that's your headset, put it on. This is where you mute. Um he never hit the mute button, by the way. Um he he um I'm like, this is where he's understands, and he was so good from the first start, to the point where I was like, I can't get him on every game, but man, I gotta get him on the big one. Like the, you know, so Chris, you were you were you were so good, man.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

I I I was honored, and it was a privilege, and thank you for trusting me to be on air with you.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

I appreciate it. Double duty, by the way. Coach coach, some of those games, he did the did the game, okay, then left at halftime, ran across the court, okay, to do the halftime show, then ran back to do the third and fourth quarter, and then ran back to make sure there. So, like listen, you know what? We always talk about you being the hardest working man in the industry. MVP, yeah, MVP in the county center, okay. Very strong. I'm MVP goes to you, all Tony goes to Kevin.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

I I know that I know that there's two children and a and a and a lady that I live with that would love to have that button. You put a button to have that at home. And I do know that.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Yeah, that was uh that you were you were great. And it added so much sense between the sports engine, the game day one, the interns that we had. These kids were phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Our interns also, everybody was famous.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

I mean, the coverage of it was was pretty awesome, and I think it uh added a lot. You know, so um Colin Warden, who played for Yorktown, came up to me, and I get I'm unbelievably lucky in life that people go out of their way to like wait. Well, they'll wait online to say thank you to me, right? So I'm very lucky, I never take it for granted. But Colin Warden said, he goes, Thank you so much for all you do. And I said, Awesome, Colin, great job this season. He goes, You make it so much more fun. And I'm like, that is like the greatest compliment. That's what it's like. That's awesome. That's awesome. I think you guys did that, did that also. So um, listen, enough of this, enough pattern. Yeah, let's talk about the actual games.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Well, let's let's not forget about Mr. Sandabar. Let's talk about Todd Sandabar and his crew uh in uh section one, allowing us to have a platform and be a part of not just uh a basketball tournament. I felt like it was an event.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

An event, yeah, exactly. And it is an event, yeah. It is a big event. And uh the crowds came out for it um on the weekend, which was great, and the games were awesome. I mean, that there was there was no there was no buzzer beater, but there was some good drama. Uh yes, there was. There was no huge upsets, but there was a couple of teams with dark jerseys that won, which was good to see. Absolutely. Always adds to it. Um, and uh let's go back to so I mean go back to all it feels like so long ago that the first day, Saturday, March, whatever, um, or February, February 28th. Yeah, um, the Class A game start rolling along, and uh we could start talking about the players who just kind of stood out. Players who remember forever, and Adriana Dorrio for Tappen Z hitting hitting how many threes in the town? 10. 10 threes.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

She either point she either tied it or broke it.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yeah. I think she broke it. I think it was I think I think she broke it.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

That was it was a phenomenal. I think she was what, 10 for 13?

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Yeah, that was that was phenomenal. What she did in that game, 10 three-pointers, 10 or 13 from threes at the county center. Um, despite everyone kind of knowing she was gonna shoot a lot of threes, she made 10. I mean that that is just off the charts. I watched Jonah Walsh last night from America hit six. It felt like he like lit the world on fire, and she had 10. Right. So um it was to me, that was like such an awesome way to start the week off. Um and then TZ Girls obviously going on and winning the section championship. And they look pretty dominant, man. I mean, forget, let's not even let's we won't even get into the state tournament game. We'll do the state tournament at the end. But from their two games that play at the county center, Tappensee looks like state championship caliber team.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

They certainly do. Um we'd be shocked if they don't get to Troy. I think that um Emma McHugh, CUNY, and and Diorio and company, I mean uh McHugh. Emma McQueen, yep. I uh they're they're so good.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

They're so well put they're well-rounded, well put together team and everything they do. Um it is and they're deep.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

They you know, off the bench. Sanchez, don't forget to go. Melissa Sanchez. So, so um they're very deep and they're very good, and they're very well coached.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

And they go into that championship game, and obviously, Diorio goes out and hits 10 threes in the semifinal. So Pelham wins, Brooke Green was phenomenal um in their semifinal, semifinal win over Han Hudd, where they were up, and then they Han Hud comes back, and then she kind of stabilized things down the stretch, and they get to the championship game for the second year in a row. And it's just like it's just so hard to kind of stop all the things. So they did a nice job defending the perimeter, but then the TZ could just beat you other ways. And so someone said to me, they go, Well, they're not gonna let her make 10 threes. And I go, Yeah, that's that's not really all that they can do. They're they're probably better at getting out in transition and turning up the tempo of games. And that's kind of what they did. They kind of did enough to win the championship. And Pelham's good. Pellem got out in the shooter as well, and it was a little bit of an ugly, low-scoring game, but TZ just does what TZ girls do now. And that they've won four, she's won, um, Coach Riley Chevrier's won four goal balls in her life. She won as a as Riley Harrington as a point guard at Irvington back in 2010. Now three times as a as a section champion um as a coach, and she has a chance to become what I believe will be the first female to ever win a um state championship as a player and as a coach. Who's the only male? Drew Watson. Drew Watson. Alexander Hamilton high school. Stumped Alexander. He won as a player and as a coach.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

So uh that's pretty great. She'll be in rare area. Two of our closest people. She'll be in rarefied area, there's no doubt about it. And I'm I want to make this comment too about Tapin Z for one second. Defensively is where they won the championship. Yeah. And people well, let's not forget how they took um Pelham's ability to Pelham's ability to get in the lane, couldn't do it. Their defense is what got them the championship on Saturday, whatever. Friday, Friday. Friday night. Friday night.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Well, they're I mean, their offense on on starting on the States, like Kevin, you were at that game on uh 69-23. Weren't they up like 32-nothing?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

34-0.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

34-0, they were up.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

It was hard, man. We're gonna get to that in a we're gonna get to that. But the 34-0, it was yeah, it was like uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Yeah, you feel bad.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Yeah, yeah. Because they were just totally overmatched.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

There was a game in South Carolina in my home area. The team was won the game 89 to 4 or 89 to 5.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Was it a Catholic school? Was it a private school against the public school? All right, still, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

But but and they tried not to make it worse.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

And so did so did Tapman Z. So um Taban Z girls win, and then of course on Friday, Tapman Z Boys. So we got we got we had two good matchups in the semifinals with um T Z knocking off Westlake, and you know, this is TZ is just so so darn good. Um, and then you had the other semifinal was Byron Hills beat Pearl River for the for the another time at the county center. They meet for the championship. And man, have you ever seen a guy score five points to dominate a game more than Jack McCone did?

SPEAKER_02 12:50

No, never, not not never seen anything like it. Not like that. Not not the influence that he had on the game and the influence he had on winning. The his influence on winning is invaluable and understated unless you really know what you're looking at.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

You have to watch the so I I don't give away. I don't throw people under the bus here, but um so game day one, my other company, we we hand out the the um MVP and the old tournament team for for uh boys and girls to the county center. I hand them out, I don't pick it, sponsor it, but we don't really select it, the committee selects it, and they ask for my input.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

And I'm glad you brought that up because people think that it's the coaches. Say it again.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

No, it's not the coaches, it's the committee does it, and they do input from the coach. Sometimes it's like the problem is they just so often just look at the number of points. So if a player had 12 points, another player has 11 points, the player with 12 points will get the old tournament. And then what happens is sometimes I do in this with like a minute to go, and then the 11 point scorer scores on the basket, and they're like, Oh, we gotta switch. That's just a bad way to do it. Watch the game. If you watch the game, Jack Bacone was off the charts dominating that game, and he was kind of almost on the outside looking in of being all tournament because he only had five points. I'm like, watch the game. Correct. Um what he did defensively, sharing the ball, just the emotional lift he gives. And obviously, we know what he's been through. We've talked about what he's been through. We talked about it on there. Well documented. And it's uh pretty, pretty phenomenal to see. And goes, and we'll talk about the state tournament, but he went and did it again against Beacon on uh on Tuesday night. And it was just it just continues to be more than just this player who does this thing and plays good defense, it's almost like kind of the embodiment of a phenomenon of TZ basketball. And Jack Walco, nobody has uh Sean Berrigan um in terms of just like the guts and the scoring and the clock, and like, but this kid does it on the other side of the ball, and it's just kind of a special, uh maybe maybe more special because it is so selfless the way he plays. Um, and uh to see him get the MVP, um, to be able to hand him the trophy was pretty special for me personally. Of course, and it was uh it was awesome. So TZ wins for the third time in four years with a goal ball, and um they go and uh now they're moving on to say tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

He's he's the embodiment of a phenomenal basketball player, yeah. Right? Like to your point, like he he he's the heartbeat of of it all, right? And whether he scores a lot of points or plays a lot of defense, like basketball's about rhythm, the game is about rhythm, and he is the rhythm setter and carrying the rhythm through that entire game. Like he's really fun to do.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Um, he says, it's amazing what can be accomplished by a team when nobody cares who gets the credit. And you all say, as parents, as players, oh, I don't care who gets the credit, I just want to win. There's a little part of everybody that wants some credit. Yeah. And not on Tappen Z. And that's what makes him special. Selfless. No, selfish. Pretty awesome. It's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

And happy for Isaiah Lavelle. Uh the way that he stepped up. And he's such a nice the interview, interviewing with both of those kids was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Extremely knowledgeable, too, right? Holy shit. Nose is section one stuff, you know? Yeah. Um, it was it was pretty awesome. So they um they highlighted our Friday schedule of championships. Um, we go to Saturday. So Tucco girls hadn't played in like three weeks and uh struggled early on, but Juliana Mangianelli uh in that championship game did things that was just like wow. I obviously she's been around for a few years for Tuckahoe and and and and Chloe Angelo and Brooke Metarazzo. Like these girls are just you feel like they're only sophomores in fresh, it's amazing. It's crazy. Um, but Mangianelli has kind of taken her game to another level. And coach, you you know what I'm saying here when I say that you could tell a player who puts time into their game. There's some players who are just naturally gifted and naturally talented, yeah. And then there's players, but it jumps out so fast in how much Mangianelli is clearly working on her game.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Oh, she's gotten so much better.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Yep, and and just not just a shooter. I mean, she's a terrific shooter, but just like it seems like everything slowed down for her so much more. Um, and for a player who plays at her speed, it's pretty special. So uh they um Tucahoe beats North Salem on the girls' side, and then on the boys' side, our first real upset, I guess we'll say North Salem boys beating Tucaho. Coach, were you surprised with the uh North Salem win on the boys? I I was.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

I was I was absolutely um astonished at at what took place because I saw I was saying this before, I saw North Salem play, children's village. They didn't, they looked, you know, they looked like they were, you know, they they were playing hard. They didn't play very well. Yeah, and I'm going, well, if this is if they play like this in a championship, I'm Tucco's gonna walk away with this.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

And somebody forgot to tell me that they were they don't they were not, you know, Chris Brandt and company. No, yeah, yeah. You know, they were gonna be ready to go. And um, Max Curtrone was unreal. That's what it was. I mean, because because the Tucco guards are good guards for Motto and Briante, but Max is so much physically, you know, he's bigger, he's stronger, and I think that caused problems. Um, I think they did a great job taking away triple penetration. And then Bryce Bryce Bryant, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

Bryce Bryant Bryce Bryant was extremely talented.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

I mean and he was probably probably played the best game of his career at North Salem in the final.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

Yeah. So the thing about North Salem when you when you watch all the pieces that they have, they all kind of have to be doing their job individually, and that would allow Bryce Bryant to be the best player on the court. That's sort of what they didn't do in the first half, they were struggling offensively, and you saw things kind of fall into place in the second half when Max Catron took the game over. So the big advantage that we sort of, people like myself, gave Tuckahoe was that they were the defending champions. Yep. And you think that, oh, they they they won basketball last year, but then you forget like these North Salem guys have won a lot, also, and soccer players, Max Catron. So they've been in big games, maybe bigger games. And Max Catron went out there and in the second half, very quiet in the first half. We were kind of tiptoeing on saying that he wasn't playing well without saying it. Um and I think he would agree, and he just completely took control in a way that was calm. So he's really like one of these high-energy guys, he has a good presence on the court, frame, he's built. Um, but he sort of was smooth in the second half of that game and just very in control. And I was so impressed with the way that he handled um the moment and the way he was allowed and everything else to open up.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

He did. I mean, listen, Tuck Tuckerhoe was was winning that game 24-17 going into the game. Yeah, they were upset and Bryce Bryant. He uh he was also in foul trouble.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

Was the foul the fouls? What do you think about the fouls? Foul calls against Tucko. Was it uh there was obviously um Jack Bamford and um Luca Luca Del Conte bought into foul trouble?

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Absolutely took away two big two six fives, and it and it and that way it took away that interior presence for Tuckahoe. And now what happened next was North Salem when Katron and Company exploited it. Yeah, but I'm gonna tell you what the big turn for me was Lucas Verzi, eight points in the third quarter, and that really got them going because when Lucas made those, you know, knocked down at three, had a pull up, uh, had another jumper. When he got going, they got in rhythm quickly offensively. And then Jamison Juan was great defensively on the ball. He did a great job of taking away dribble penetration. Delarco and Delarco was good, very good rebounding.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

So the offensive rebounding of the second half of that game. Yeah, it gave them extra possessions. Yeah, that just that kind of broke the spirit because it was a reminder of the guys sitting on the bench with fouls. Because if they're out there, they don't get those offensive rebounds, extra possessions, even when they didn't score on some of these extra possessions. You still felt like, man, that North Salem's not gonna get beat here today. Well, it was interesting.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Bryce Bry Bryce Bryant wasn't in the game in that case, and they went on a 27-11 run in the third quarter. We were talking about it like he's not even gonna be able to get the bigger. Bryant was out with the third foul. Yeah, and they and they and they got it going.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Chris Brent, really impressive. I mean, just as a coach, I thought he did a lot of things. Never never kind of blinked with everything going on.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

So he's very even keeled.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Yep. Those teams, Tucco girls, North Sound boys, have a bye now to the state's regional finals on Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

I want to say something about my my son's uh girls' team at Tucaco. Yeah. They sprint Sylvio's De Salvador, yeah. So people I forget. Silvio De Salvatore's team, they sprint the floor the way Tap and Z sprints the floor in transition.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

They, I mean, it was a they get out in the break and they get it going, and that was it.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

And that's that was something that Silvio's been working on to get a team to do that consistently, and it's like the lights are on now for the state tour. They have a chance to win a state championship. Yes, they do. And um, this has been talked about for years. Class C and D at the small school level upstate is so competitive, and people think that oh, Tuckles gets a bye to the state final four. Doesn't always work like that. The teams are very good. If you watch Truesburg over the years and all these teams, um, yeah, they are they're they're they have a chance. They have a real chance. If they're gonna play this, they have a real chance. Yeah. Um, so that's our A and Class C. The double A games on Saturday. That was worth the price of admission for the entire week. So you had so let's just talk. So Nyack girls, um, they win their semi, they get to the championship. Austin girls don't score a point in the third quarter of their semifinal win over defending champion Rye and still win. And you thought to yourself, like, okay, that's just like this is just, I don't know what this is. This is like destiny, right? Austin back on top, hasn't won since 2018. 2019. So, you know, this is where they get back. They're gonna get to the final, they're gonna beat Nyack. And uh struggled again offensively in that first quarter, and you're like, man, what is going on with this team? The fouls uh in that game. Wild game, coach.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

Um it was it was bedlam in there. Yeah. Um we're talking about the five, we're talking about the final. Yeah, the final, yes. Uh first of all, how good was Madeline Pesky for Nyak? Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Yeah, the thing is as much as we talk about Rakhia Mohammed and Casey Cummings, they can't win with two. They won with five, they didn't sub the whole game until Rakh Mohammed fell down.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Right. I mean, 32 minutes that those girls played. Um uh uh Casey Cummings.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Yeah, tough.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Tough. I mean, tough. And and I was really impressed with um Maya Cormille's composure. Yeah, they they were all composed, and then Kervin's for Dillis runs the twirl play, Bob Wall, St. John's, runs it, but he ran it reverse, where he the girl chased, yeah, curled, they hit Cummings on the with the layup, which proved to be the winning basket in the section championship.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Coach, he he didn't he didn't run that play. Remember we found out afterwards. So he never ran that play all year long. Coach couldn't wait to interview Coach to talk about that play Walsh and the rest.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Basketball nerd talk, yeah. Right, basketball nerd talk.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

I don't even know what we were talking about. John, you remember that current Bob Walsh? I'm like, who's Bob Walsh? St. John's. So they run the play. We go back to the coach, and coach tells us that hey, we never ran that play all year long. We saw it. Mayapak did it against us, so we saw it. Great. I call a different play. Casey said, no, coach. Casey Cummings. Casey says, no, Coach. We're not calling that play.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

We're calling this play. Line. They call it lying. And he and he and you know what and you know what Kerbin said? Casey, let's go with it. You got that feeling. Trusted his senior to make that call.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

She calls the play, she executes the play, she scores the winning basket on that play. Yeah. And during our interview, she didn't say anything about it. But when Coach was like, Yeah, I didn't run that play. What do you mean you didn't run that play? Not Casey ran that play. Absolutely. And we saw Casey run the play, Coach. She executed No, no, she called that play.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

That's amazing. And uh Casey Cummings is a special, special player. I mean, such an athlete. She brought she she went to varsity lacrosse in seventh grade at Nyack, and now they're section champion. I mean, it's it's incredible what she's done this last year. Um, and she obviously still has her old lacrosse of the play coming up. Best ball's gonna cut into that a little bit right now. They're still playing. But um, I was so impressed. Um, and Rikia Mohammed. Rakia Mohammed. So Rakia Mohammed, I'll say this the best defense on the boys' side all week probably was played by Jack Bacone on the girl's side. It might have been Taija Carver on Rakia Mohammed. How good was she inches? How good was she on the ball? So good on the ball. I mean, she was she was so good. Um honestly, Rikia Mohammed fouling out, they've moved Carver to Cummings. That is such a different. She just played 29, 30 minutes of one style defense and then has to switch them to a completely different style type of player. Um, but uh I thought, you know, she was she was fantastic. And and you know, they had their opportunity at the end of the game. You know, they lose uh Nyak lost Rake Mohammed to fouls. Three seconds later, Austin loses Claire Snecker. Claire Schnecker to fouls. And on the offensive foul, clearly they were pounding the ball inside because Rakeem Mohammed's gone. Right. And she gets an offensive foul call. I don't know. I I watched it a hundred times. I can't decide if it's a good call.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Our vantage point was we I told, and Dan asked me, Coach Ricky asked me about it. Did you get the answer? Uh yeah, I did. I said, I saw the hook.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

I saw her hook her on the back on the hip to turn and make that move. But you didn't have to. That's a that's a good she wouldn't have needed to do that.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

I yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

So but there's a weird call that hook, though.

SPEAKER_03 26:01

But championship hook, play, point, I mean, fifth foul, offensive foul, championship game. I understand it's a foul, it's a foul. Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

I mean, that is a foul, that's the advantage. However, there's some uh conversation, and some people said there was a two-hand push in the back when she was prior to the hook that took place when she tried to establish the first position.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

And the whole game was physical, and it was a hard game to officiate. So I'm not saying officials. Very, very difficult. When the ball's not going in the basket in girls' basketball, it is so hard to officiate the game because it's a loose ball, rebounding over the back. It's so hard. I mean, that referees love when the ball goes to the basket because it's just like inbound, let's go up the floor. It's so difficult. And that game was the was like the antithesis. That was like the total example of how hard it is to officiate a game.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

By the way, give Dan Rickey's crew 40 down 40 to 23 or 25. They go on a 17-0 run, and the building was shaking.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah, freshmen um making the threes. Oh, yes. Um, yeah. Her dad's assistant coach. He covered him in high school. Yeah. Uh Amaya Yancey was fantastic. She was fantastic. So she needed to find a spark. Amaya Yancey gave it to them as a freshman. So uh they lose Claire Schnecker. Yeah, Maya Yancey might be the next uh the next player that comes through Austin.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

You know, so it was one of the most exciting games, I think, uh that Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

Saturday night, though, was was electric. Yes, sir. The boys' game, Rye, upset, suffering. They make, I think I talked to this coach Scott Rye from Suffering. I think he said they make eight of 12, eight of eleven threes in the first half of the game. They're on fire. Unbelievable. And that's just what Rye does. I mean, Rye, Rye is not going to ever in any sport come in and not be the more confident team. Um, there was a lot of pressure on Suffering. Obviously, we know Jake Pampolina. Yep. Gold ball, goal ball, gold ball. All they talked about. Rye was like, good, you guys keep talking. We're gonna go out and play basketball. And they they were the better team. I mean, I don't know if they're the better team overall, but they were the better team on that night, which is all that matters. Um, they were they were phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

They couldn't miss in that first half. No, they were really confident.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

It was it was, you know, obviously eight threes is you know, a lot of points, but emotional, emotional damage it did to uh my son just still had emotional damage from the back. Um it's a YouTube thing. So emotionally emotional damage it did on Suffering was was was dramatic. We saw it. They they they they tried them out to come back in the second half, but it wasn't what it was.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

They got it to eight, but they didn't get, I don't think, any closer than that. How about Callahan Wing comes off the bench, stand cold and knocks, but he knocked down the first two shots he took were deep threes. Yeah, he knocks them down of the eight of twelve. Left everybody that shot the ball, yeah, knocked down. They couldn't miss. Ben Hansen was great in the first quarter of that game.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

You know, and then everybody just contributed. I mean, that was like that was probably as good of a team game. Like you could say Tabasy based team basketball, five guys. Rye did team basketball with like 10 guys. Yeah, it was it was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Hess, uh uh Luke Scully, you know, Shira Cower came in and had a great assist. We have like five minutes and made like three great plays.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Absolutely. You know, so um it was it was great. It was fun to watch that Rye team win. Clarkson North, um, you know, they win their they win their semifinal over Yorktown, and uh clearly they look like a team on a mission. And Kyle Kirkland in that championship game on Saturday night was as great in a losing effort as I can remember since Eric Pascal.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Uh he was That's a great that's a great that's a great comparison.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

Eric Pascal from Dos Ferry, he lost he's the only player that I can remember that lost the section championship and won MVP. Um which never happens. Triple over time again. Um but so Kyle Kirkman goes out and just shoots the lights out. I mean, he made he made the Kawhi Leonard three where he's like falling down into the corner almost out of bounds, and um he hit that straight on three, and that was the eighth three that he hit in the night. And I'm like, Clarkson North is gonna win. They're gonna win the section championship. And Rye never let him score again. I scored at one basket the rest of the way. The speed that that kid has.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Oh my god. He might have been the fastest kid in the gym. He was electric. He was electric. He never stops right.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Even he gets back. He hits a three. The way he gets back on defense is sprint, right? Sprint speed. It's it's it's insane. Um Ratimia Ciso and He was fantastic too.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

He was great. Rye did a good job on him in the second half because Rye's transition defense was not good in the first half.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

No, it was not. They did a better job in the second half. Um, they almost lost to it to a shooter, and that's really what it was going to get down to. But then the the team that kind of had the guts at the end, uh Rai and the shots that Schumaker made, Henry Schumacher was so good.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

He was so good in the second half, wasn't he? I'm believing. Three-pointer, yep, post-action. Carson Miller started finishing. Totally, totally. Ben Huston came alive in the second half. Yeah, he did really play well in the field.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Really just great team basketball. I thought Tommy Prudien was, in my opinion, the coach of the week last week. Um, obviously, anyone that wins a championship, you should put him in a conversation of doing a great job coaching. But I think, considering the way that they were so, not such underdog, but they were underdogs against suffering. He came out, fired, coached up, um, coached his team up, and was so in control. I think in control is what I would say that Rye, coach Tommy Prudion was last week at the county center. More in control of his team than anyone that I can remember in the last few seasons. He was just command, knew what he wanted to do in every possession, absolutely. Knew what to say to the refs, knew what to say to his teammates, every substitution, guy came in and made a play. It yes, it it's a credit to those players, but it's also a credit to the coach to trust. We see a look, some coaches lose a little bit of trust in their guys, their bench guys. They do.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

He was so good in the post-game interview. He basically asked him, like, hey, what did you say at halftime? Listen, we got we got punched in the face, and but we're just gonna keep playing our game. Yeah, right? He knew going into that game that those kids were not gonna shoot the same way that they did in the semifinals. Yeah. That's fine. We're just gonna keep playing our game, and and for 32 minutes, as long as we play our game, we're going to win. Yeah. So get these next 16 minutes, play the 16 minutes, play right basketball, and we're gonna win.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

It was a it was a what what what hurt Clarkstown North was being one for 12 from the foul.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Yeah, I don't want to bring it up. But you did. So uh I was gonna bring it up. That was that that really hurt that. That'd be the bearer of bad news.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

And as a parent, the low life as a parent, because we're all parents, they were down three at the uh at with the three shot opportunity with about a minute 35 left, and my heart broke. They missed all three, and that that was.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Yeah, there's a part of me that wonders does that make it like we were the better team, we just couldn't make foul shots, and so you can go into the rest of your life saying that. Uh foul shots, you know, that's what it was. That happens, you know. I don't know. I don't know what it is, but um that's a that's a it was a great season for Clarkson North. Kenny Ampara did it. Unbelievable job.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

41 years.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

41 years.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

They had never been to they hadn't done anything like the way they did it. And at CISO, Kirk, Kirkland and Company, Coach Amporo and his staff were fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

So good. So Sunday comes. Um Albertus Magnus Girls start the day off. They beat RC Ketchum. I gotta tell you, Allie, Ali um Kaminsky for Ketchum was fantastic in the semifinals. Yeah, so good. And uh then you just see that Albertus Magnus is just a they're they're a machine. I mean, the Julius Scott, there's just too many pieces in this team. Matty Zuppi, um, Saraneijay, um uh Kier Brescia, they just they just kind of have all the pieces right now. Um I don't know if they're as good as they've been the last two seasons. Julius Scott's better. Um obviously Matty Zuppie's gotten better. Sarnajai's got more confident. They used to have I I would say they would probably have a little bit more depth in years past. Um, but now they got to go on to the state tournament after winning a third straight goal ball to try and win that three peat. And um expectations are they they kind of I was there for the Newburgh game last night, and um, you could see that there's definitely some pressure on them. They feel a little bit of pressure. Uh they had no problem with Newburgh either. But now they got you know, they're gonna have Baldwin, um, who definitely beat them, and uh they're gonna have um Shaker waiting in the state final four if they get through ball, but so um Albertus, no real surprise, nothing really to uh no Scott was just dominant.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

I mean, they they you know, give Coach Mealy and catch them credit. Yeah, it was they were within striking distance uh at halftime.

SPEAKER_04 33:57

They were, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

But but but you kind of got the sense that they were gonna get worn down, yeah. And then I then they also weren't hitting threes. They were that close and not really hitting threes.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

So they needed to hit like 10 threes.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Kaminsky had to be as brilliant in the second half as she was in the first. And I think Allie got tired because a lot of minutes couldn't take her off the floor. No, and the defensive uh pressure and the way they guarded her in the second half um really affected the game. And I think going into the lane against Julia Scott proved to be a lesson in eight blocks. Eight blocks, yeah. She almost had trouble. You're not doing that. You're not and she's learned how to defend. We talked about she's learned how to defend without fouling.

SPEAKER_03 34:43

Yeah. I mean, that's yeah, her alone. I mean, again, again, they have a tough road to to winning a state championship for the third year in a row, but they got Julia Scott, so they're in good shape. Right. You know, she played very skilled.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Her her she her hands were soft that day. Like she she everything she put up was going in, she didn't seem rushed. Uh left hand.

SPEAKER_03 34:58

No, there's no there's no fatigue on their on their like, there's no like uh championship fatigue. You win so much, sometimes you just kind of like you expect it to happen, and uh no, they're they're they're on a mission.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

If she makes, I'm gonna say this now, she's very good with her left hand. Yeah, I don't think people realize how good she is with her left hand. She finished everything with her left hand. If she can step out and knock down jumpers like she's been doing the last part of this year, it's gonna be tough for Baldwin and Shaker to guard her.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

No, totally, totally. So um, all right, so then we go to the triple A. This is where things got real interesting on Sunday. Triple A boys, Mount Vernon near uh Mount Vernon never showed Mount Vernon and never shop was a couple years ago. Umeranick. And it was very weird to say that all the pressure was on memorinick to win.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

But it was it was absolutely destiny vs. Dynasty coach called it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

And uh so we've got this matchup. Mamarinick, I don't think memarinick would want to beat anybody else to win their first ever gold ball, then have to do with Mount Vernon. And from the start, Brandon Burrell. So Brandon Burrell goes and scores 20 uh 30 points in the semifinal win where he was just on another level. They got behind. Remember, they're they were down to Arlington early in that game, and they look like they were totally out of sync. And they're, you know, he he talked about demons and the and the county center and how artists will win there. And I'm like, man, it's just basketball. Just play basketball. And that's what Tyrone Carver, he was just totally in good. Another coach was very in control of his team. Just knew that what it's like that guy got caught up in the first three minutes. The old Tyrone Carver might have. Not this one. Yes, this guy was this guy looked like he was ready to win a championship.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

He was listen, he's very in intense. Uh we know he's very demanding. We know that as coaches, you can you can sometimes um get a little more passionate than you should.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

And um, and and so I and it and he's and I think he's been that way in the semifinals several a couple years before. Yeah, he was remarkably composed the entire time from the all through the weekend.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I got too. I interviewed, I didn't interview him. I met with him before the game in the finals. And for a man who was so intense, he he just seemed like hit a calm of back.

SPEAKER_03 37:10

I watched it last year, and I and I really kind of put my finger on it now. I don't know if any coach trusts their team more than Tyrone Carver trusts by Marinick right now. He trusts them to figure it out, to work through it, to make the right play, make the right pass. You know, Brandon Burrell on on Wednesday night in the state tournament, like did hit his first couple shots, and Brandon Burrell was just like, okay, I'll just be the facilitator then. You know, other guys are hitting the shots. And had like he had eight or ten assists, whatever it was. He has so much trust that Brandon's going to just kind of steer the ship and do the right thing. And if he has to score, he'll score. I just think what Brandon Burrell did in that championship game was next level. I didn't I saw it in semis when you see it in the championship game and a player who we know is putting a lot of pressure on himself to per not just win, but to perform, right? So he wants to go out and show I am a division one player, I'm the best player in Section One, I am worthy of all this attention, all his accolades that I that you know he wants to have coming to him, and he did it. And he absolutely deserves everything. And I mean nobody was better the whole week. Nobody's better the whole week. Him and Jack McCone, for very different reasons, were the best players.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

Agreed. I but my my thing was this when we interviewed him after the Arlington game, I was like, okay, you played it at really high level. If I don't know if you could play any better. And then guess what? Yeah he played he played it at different levels.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

He was flawless in the championship.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

The ball in the third quarter was like he had a shot, and I was like, I kind of like pretended to gasp, but like, oh, it should have Brandon Burrell just took his first bad shot of the of the week. You know, like four to three, and he knew it, and he kind of turned to coach and went like this, and he kind of pat his chest. Like, and that's why you trust your players. Absolutely. Because they know when they make mistakes. You don't need so coaches yell at players a lot because they don't know when they make mistakes. They don't yell at them when they know they make mistakes. So he doesn't have to really yell at his team. He doesn't have to get like kind of 10 seniors. Yeah, 10 seniors.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

His basketball IQ, Brandon's basketball IQ, and to your point of self-awareness. Yeah, like you always talk about like shooters shoot, how do shooters get out of a slump, you keep shooting? This kid, no, like if he's in a shooting slump, he's gonna drive the lane, he's gonna dish the ball. Like he is just a phenomenal basketball player mind. And you're right. That that championship game, yeah, he was as smooth as you could be on everything he did.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

People see or hear is that he's going to Harvard, a division one player, and Harvard's obviously very good basketball.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

They're one of the they're they're they're one they're one of two in the ivy right now.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Yeah, yeah. So you have this expectation, and then the only way that basketball people feel that that val that that gets validated is if he goes out and scores 30 points. And if you think that he's a division one player because he scored 30 points in those two games, you're wrong. It's the plays he made to score those points and to sc and to dish and and to defend and handle pressure. Mount Vernon couldn't press. You take away Mount Vernon's press because Brandon Burrell you can't press him.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

They try to press him three or four times. They broke the press, they finished uh after they attacked the press, they broke it down and they finished, and and Coach Semino had to take it off.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

Yeah, I mean, and Coach Semino was it's tough. That doesn't happen very often. It's the same thing against Iona Prep. Like, you know, they were in the game against Iona Prep in the regular season, but then they they were down, they started to press, and then Mount Iona Prep just passes right over the press, and it's like, damn, that that was our wild, that was our our our hip pocket card here. We can't play it because it doesn't work. So it's tough.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

And I was like, you gave me a great segue about Brandon Burrell being so good about he won't, he he makes all the right plays. Will Plunkett didn't have a point in the first half. Yeah. Kevin Devaney, Will Plunkett, Will Plunkett 15 points in the second half.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

Who Will Plunkett's beneficiary, the person who who helped him, yeah, was who?

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Brandon Burrell.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Yeah. And so you you think that Will Plunkett played better. It actually happened was that Brandon Burrell helped position Will Plunkett to score more. So it is Will Plunkett played fantastic. He played great. Even though he didn't score, he was playing well in the first time. He was fantastic defensive rebounding and the presentation. Even if they'd won the goal ball and it was 36-32 and they won, whatever, like it felt good to see them go and play at a high level and win. Absolutely. It felt good as like a basketball person who says, like, hey, American earned it. They totally earned it, they totally deserve it, and they played really well for four whole quarters.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

And I want to, I I also want to say this don't and this is coming from me.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Bob Semino and his staff, what they did to get this team to the county center, this is one of the best coaching jobs him and his staff have done since I've lived here.

SPEAKER_03 41:48

Because yeah, I mean Tyrone Carver won coach of the year, and he did a phenomenal job bringing this group along over the last four years. So if you want to say this is a coach of the last four years, whatever, but in terms of what started on 2025, November, whatever date they started, he started with zero returning starters and very few guys that had like serious minutes in big games. Correct. And he took them to the section championship game. So to me, Bob Semino, the coach of the year, he probably should get more attention. But he'll never get coach of the year. It's unbelievable. He's a guys in the Hall of Fame, best sex one basketball coach in history, winningest coach in history, and he doesn't get enough credit for coach of the year awards because they figure, well, he's you know, he's too good, or he's got too many players.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

You know, but I gotta say, watch Coach on the sideline. When we were talking about breaking the press, he's like, all right, John, Claudio, everybody, come over here. Come over. We got a class going on here. Uh, here's what Coach Mir is gonna do he's gonna run this type of press and this type of press, and put it this way. And sure enough, coach comes out and runs the press. And sure enough, he has to change the press because it's broken really quickly.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

And then and then Ty Carver runs what we call 2G stack, which we run that press break in um in our program. Yeah, and the 2G stack will show, came back, caught it. They flashed the off guard there. Brandon goes behind the press. That's where they hit Brandon over the top, and it was two on one.

SPEAKER_03 43:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

So Kevin, we're seeing, we're seeing right now, okay, and you understand what he's saying, and I understand what he's saying. Uh Claudio, our executive producer, who is a a section one star athlete, okay, in multiple sports, played college, right? Played, played hockey, played tennis, played soccer. Coach is saying this stuff to him, and I never seen Claudio's eyes light up like I don't know what he's talking about. Yeah, 2G. Well, here's the thing. So back to 3G cell phones.

SPEAKER_03 43:30

Final thought on coaching, and I'm gonna get myself into trouble for this, but I really don't care. Um, I watched a bunch of Section 9 teams play this week. My daughter and I watched a bunch of Long Island championship games last week. Section one coaches are at a different level. And I'm just gonna say that. So I'm gonna put it on. If you if if you watched certain games last night in Long Island and you saw what happened in the final minutes of these games, you're like, where the hell is the coach? Like, why why are they not why are they not doing this? Why would they why is that the play? I watched a team It's embarrassing. The team was inbounding at half court out of a timeout and they ran a stack and they did all the motions and the screens and everything. The defense was in a 2-3 zone. So I don't know who they were screening. Like that's that's what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

The curl away.

SPEAKER_03 44:15

They did all of it. I'm like, you don't have to do it.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

They're not there just inbound to pass the ball in.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Yeah, hand the ball. And they almost got a backcourt because the kid caught the ball on this side. I was just like, this wouldn't, this is section one is coaching is really hard. I'm gonna say I'm gonna really it was rough. And I was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

I'm gonna say this, and I'm gonna get in trouble probably too. But section one coaching right now is as good or might be the best that it's ever been since I've lived here from top to bottom. Yeah. Like we've got coaches that are really now tuned in to uh a more of a European FIBA style continuity college approach. We've got more coaches in our section doing that than we've ever had before. And we've got young coaches that are gonna be around for a long time on the both the boys and girls side that that are going to really enhance and strengthen basketball in our section.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

I mean, coach, it's easy because most of these kids came out of the the Chris Ward basketball program. So they're really easy to coach. Not all of them.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

I mean, not all of them, we can't we can't be a great coach when the kids come out of that program.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Listen, I'm not gonna do, we're not gonna do that. You don't do it, we can do it, all right?

SPEAKER_02 45:32

But I mean, but listen, there there's we've got really good coaches. Yeah, I was very impressed with our with our level of play and and the the sets and the attention to the execution was fantastic. Absolutely. So I we're in a good spot. No, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 45:50

We're in a good spot. So we've got two more, two more. So the last two games of the week, and they saved these two for last. Well, they did. Well, they saved the girls' game, the Class B girls game, was probably the one that I felt like right when it started, there was a lot of tension. Hamilton and YMA split the regular season. There was very awkward, like little vibes between the two teams. They because you know what? Hamilton feels like they didn't get enough credit. They feel like YMA said that they played this way tougher schedule, and Hamilton didn't belong as the number one. And like it was a little, and then they beat each other in the regular season. The games were contentious in the regular season, then they get to play for a championship. Uh YMA was a better team, right? Yoncas Montessori was a better team, a little deeper. Yeah. Um, you know, Hamilton just couldn't get things going offensively, and uh testament to YMA's defense. I mean, they were and it the funny thing is that in the first five minutes, you thought YMA was gonna get run off the floor because of Hamilton's defense. It was crazy the way it turned.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Hamilton, eight to one punch in the face, first three minutes of the first quarter, and I go, oh boy.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

And then, well, I can tell you this. They're not, I don't think anybody's gonna have dinner together from YMA or Hamilton. They're not gonna share coffee or anything like that. No ice cream, no ice cream shores.

SPEAKER_03 46:56

Emily Darty and Lily Antoro just signed up, took that game under control. Um, we obviously um Alexa Mustafa was good inside, and Nisa Mustafa came off the bench and made a couple big threes to just kind of like relax things a little bit in the second quarter of that game, and uh YMA goes on and wins back-to-back section championships under coach Dr. Eli Moyes. Yep. And um listen, this was this was their goal. Last year it was, you know, it was like this this dream that came reality of winning the gold ball. They did it in pretty dominant fashion, and then there's different level of pressure when you gotta do it back to back with a team that had so much returning. And um Darny was great. Uh, they just they're just so tough, man. They're just really, really tough to beat.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

You and I did that game when you were on the call. I was uh I I color commentated for you. I've never seen as intense uh a first half as that game was, but I also have never seen as uncharacteristic sloppy play from both teams. It was I mean, it was turn. I mean, we didn't get through three possessions before there was a turnover at times. Sure. Both teams were like wanted to win it so bad.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Yeah, both teams have a you know, they've had they have some soft spots in their schedule because of their league and different things. Right. But um they both pay Tuckahoe and it's you know that but sometimes it's hard to get things that are just open like against the press. Like normally you turn, you pass back, and there's nobody there at at the middle court. And here comes Hamilton flying up the floor. And so you're like, you have to kind of remind yourself, like, oh yeah, these teams are pretty good. So these look these things that are open all year long are not open here in the championship. And then and and YMA adjusted. Yeah, they settled down because they were not they were not settled in the first half at all. And they were the they were the better team in the end, and uh, you know, went in the goal ball for the second year in a row, and uh they move on to the state tournament, they win their first game. They they have a tough road, but we'll we'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 48:40

But um, our last game, real quick, how do they do the schedule? Like how how did how did the this class B one become the last game?

SPEAKER_03 48:47

So the Class B boys champion game, that was the main event, obviously. It was the game with the No no they so it they work backwards from what the state tournament has, and literally they go to um the state final four for rest has you know, and they and they try and work backwards as much as they can. There's also regionals where we teams are traveling for regionals. Yep. Um, so it's it's a little long convoluted answer, but they work backwards basically. So they they put this game on uh Sunday night at 7:30, and it was the main event, and it lived up to it, right? So you have Woodlands, two-time champion, Dallas Ferry, Anthony Ficarata, section one scoring champ. It was like made for the marquee uh game. And you thought to yourself, like, ah, well, Dobbs, yeah, nice, nice, nice try, Dobbs. You you're you're down, you're down double digits to Woodlands, you're not coming back to win this game. And you know, Dobbs played really sloppy in the first half and were kind of lucky to be within this. Were they within five at halftime?

SPEAKER_02 49:38

No, it was it. I think seven. Seven.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

Okay, so seven point game at halftime. And that was like, you were like, okay, they're in striking distance. Um, but how are they gonna how are they gonna come back?

SPEAKER_00 49:49

But then Woodlands went on, went up to by 13 or 13. So they grew the lead up in the third quarter. Because that's what they're doing. You can't beat you come, those guys when they're out, when they're out in the lead, they just run with it. So to your point, it was like, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 50:00

Good, you know, Dobbs, you you earned your way to foul trouble against Noah Trubin, foul trouble against uh Sean McKenney, foul trouble against uh Sebastian uh Benitez, and then just kind of like I would say an off night from Aaron Woodbury, but I think the defense of um of Nasty of Nastique Smith was awesome. I mean he was fancy. He changed the whole, he kept them in that game. He did. And when you really look, when he fouled out, that's kind of when Aaron Woodbury was able to kind of put up the points late in the game to win the game.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

I'll tell you it was Woodbury's was Woodbury's best defensive effort ever seen him play. And I've seen him play a lot because I mean obviously scratched in the same side, but uh the the the rundown block, the LeBron James chasing down block off the backboard.

SPEAKER_03 50:41

I mean he was awesome. But Dobbs goes, they're down, they come back in the fourth quarter, and you're thinking to yourself, like, oh, maybe they'll have a chance to get you know within reach here. And then you know, Calvin Higgins hits the three-pointer, ties the game up, place explodes. Mateus Hertzburg is making the right plays. Obviously, Anthony Ficarada had 30 points. Um, and he was quiet, I'm not quiet, but like he kind of like missed some free throws, missed some shots early on. I don't think that's that was nerfed. I think Williams is just it it makes you play like that much faster um and that much tougher. Um, you know, he got to the line a lot and uh you know got them in in foul trouble. They came back, they had their chances in the end of regulation. And now the question is it's like, you know, we heard it, everyone's heard it about, you know, Anthony not getting a shot in the final seconds of regulation. Coach, so you said exactly in our in our pregame show what I thought. Woodlands the the defense in that situation, the defense is in the denial denial, it's not in contesting the shot.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

You have a much better chance of winning the game if you deny him the ball than if you have to defend him shooting the ball.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

The denial was great, and that's why he was and and and and I want to I want to say this publicly because there's a lot of banter.

SPEAKER_04 51:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

I'm I'm I could use a different word, but this is a family show. Starts with a B. There's a yes, there's a lot of banter about um the decision for uh that that Anthony didn't get the last shot. I'm gonna say this right now. Coach Petrillo and his staff coached their ever-loving tails off to even give them a chance to to have a chance to knock off Woodlands. Yeah, he coached his ever-loving tail off the entire season. Yeah. Okay. And don't think that Coach Petrillo had something drawn up to get Anthony the ball both at the end of regulation and at the end of the overtime.

SPEAKER_03 52:39

The thing is that you everybody who sits there and watch you watch everyone who this time of year watches so much basketball and watches down to the wire, last second. It's it's so different. Not that I've been in it, but when you're in it 11 seconds, it feels like that, right? So Matthias Hertzberg is waiting for Fickerata to go through the screens and come around. And meanwhile, he's getting pressure. Is knocking him off course and he's getting pressure, and Noah Trubin's there and he's denying him. And then when it's immediately not there, it's like, oh my God, now we can't. I can't be dribbling the ball and let things run out. Right. So you got to put the shot up. Shot goes off. I thought it was going in.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

It was Claudio and I were sitting there. I go, it's got a chance. When it left his hand, I said, It's got a chance, Claudio.

SPEAKER_03 53:16

It was a good look. It wasn't a bad look. Back of the rim. Back of the rim.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

And and you know, and it and and then and then one more thing, Kev. Here's my thing. At the end of overtime, yeah, whatever what Scott was gonna run, yeah, somebody I think, from where my vantage point was, wasn't in the right place because there were two guys in the same place.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

There was two in the ball, and then the third defender came over.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

The two guys offensively were right beside each other. Yeah, it's hard, man.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Listen, guys, we can analyze the coaching side of it all.

SPEAKER_02 53:48

But I'll tell you really, but I want Scott Scott Petrulo coached his tail off all year long, and I can promise you he wanted Anthony to have the ball in his hands. So the nonsense and the banter and the social media nonsense needs to stop. That man coached his tail off.

SPEAKER_00 54:06

Yep. Good credit to him coaching his tail off. I totally agree. You have Aaron Woodbury, who I think had five points or six points, right? He he's their best player. They they need to win the game. They put the bet the ball in the hands of the best player. Yeah. How Anthony Figuera, okay, whatever plays we're talking about, 17.7 seconds, not 11 because they brought up to the half court. That's right, yeah. 17.7 seconds, end of the game, chance to win. You can't lose anything because they're not down. It's a tie game. Yep. Okay, so 17.7 seconds. Are you talking about the notion? End of regulations. End of regulations. Okay, 17.7 seconds. They brought it to half court because they don't have the signal the girls have where to do it to then run the play at half court. Like, if you just look at like from the basketball sense, you want your best player to have the ball in his hands. And credit to Woodlands for that out-of-bounds play where they denied him. Yeah. But I feel you just I feel you should have given the ball full court, 17 and a half seconds. Let the balls.

SPEAKER_03 55:00

If he had ball full court, you gotta let him maybe let it go then. Let it go. And let him let a player make a play. It's great. Yeah, you want to you want to call the timeout and draw something up. But you also have Anthony Ficarata who could just, he's Mr. Draw it up in his head. I see both both ways.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

It could go both ways. You know, everybody's got a different analytical approach and mindset. Scott probably felt very confident in what they were going to run. Yeah. And and and they he thought that, you know, taking it out of bounds, uh, getting a timeout, settling his guys down, and getting them in the right place was going to be the right thing.

SPEAKER_03 55:36

It was a wild environment at that point. It really was. I mean, that that that was like you couldn't hear anything. Greenberg showed up. Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

The Dobbs Ferry Nation showed up upstairs.

SPEAKER_03 55:45

It was a great way to end the week. Um, Dobbs Ferry had the ball up two in overtime and didn't win. Give credit to Woodlands. That that is some serious fortitude there from Woodlands, who's been in a lot of big games and we saw it.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

I'm gonna say this. Woodberry, the shot he makes was highly contested. You see the kid trying to get his hand up, the defender trying to get his hand up, and he knocks that down.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

Um, you know, he didn't blink. Even though he struggled, he didn't blink. And and I want to go out and say this Noah Cherubin and Sebastian Benitez had the games of their lives, and they had to. They were so efficient. They both had 19. Yeah, and I think they probably had nine, so 38 points combined. Yeah. Probably on no more than 25 or 26 shot attempts because their decision making and offense really that efficiency is what won the game.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

Benitez hitting those threes early on. I mean, you don't see big men shoot like that. It reminded me of Jameson Stevens a few years ago. I guess that was very when he's last year when he stepped out and started hitting those shots, and it was like, how are we gonna defend this? So give credit to Dobbs. Give credit to Woodlands, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 56:58

Uh Coach Rappaport, this is his third consecutive goal ball with Coach John Gersell.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

So we so we uh Did you guys think though, like we're sitting here talking about we'll just recap, we're gonna go to the state state tournament. We're sitting here talking about it. How amazing is it that Woodlands, Dobbs ferry, overtime, last game, and the weekend. Like I never would have predicted. It's like scripted. It was like it was awesome. It's like a movie.

SPEAKER_02 57:22

Yeah. And and and I want to give a shout out to Greenberg and Woodlands. They've really gotten behind their this program, this uh this uh basketball program the community has. And what Coach Rappaport does with those kids on and off the court is invaluable and unmet and immeasurable. Totally. He just and I'm happy, you know. Obviously, somebody's gotta win, somebody's gotta lose. But this man, this is his third consecutive goal ball, and they've got a legitimate chance to make it to Glen's Falls for a third consecutive time.

SPEAKER_03 57:55

They go to Glenn Falls, they're in the wrong spot. It's in Binghamton.

SPEAKER_02 57:57

I mean, I mean in Binghamton. I'm sorry, Binghamton. Yeah, I forget it's Binghamton. I kept saying that. It should be Glen's Falls, but it is it's Binghamton. And and they're in rare, if they go back, they're in rarefied air instead of the city.

SPEAKER_03 58:09

No, three times is hard, man. You you need to do you basically need a team and a half. Like you can't, you you get you get back-to-back runs with a team like when you have a group of guys, but they have this is now bridging. Bridging two groups here together and making one program is pretty special.

SPEAKER_00 58:23

I'll tell you guys, uh uh the winners of this weekend were the were the fans. Us. I mean, getting to watch these kids sit us play. It was such a great weekend. And again, credit to section one for putting it.

SPEAKER_03 58:32

And then all those champions, they all won their state regional semifinal. Uh, and they all pretty much did it handily. I mean, eight and oh against section one versus section nine. Um it's like the second year in a row where they've kind of really kind of owned things in this part of the state. I don't love the way the state now is doing it's a regional rotation. There's an at-large bid. So section nine got two teams in the state tournament um in in some classes. Yeah, let's not talk about it. Okay. Uh there's a regional rotation within the middle of 12, 12, uh, 11 sections to go to one final four. The numbers are kind of like awkward. It's like puzzle pieces that don't fit. So they're trying to expand the state tournament and trying to do a regional rotation because section one has had to win two games to get to the final four, where other sections only have to win one. And they're like, well, section one's got a great track record of success here. Why do we have to win two? So they section one pushed this whole new system of regional rotation. It's gonna be great. Uh but uh starting off, you guys gotta play Section 9 and Long Island to go. So to me, it's it's the most idiotic system in that. So in class triple A, if you look at the number of schools that are in Section 1, Section 8, Nassau County, Section 11, Suffolk County, they make up more than half of the teams in the state in Triple A. They have to play each other just to go to the final four. So to me, the final four, the final team should be in each region. For the final four, it should be representing 25% of the state. It'd be great. It's gonna represent like 55% of the state in one region. So this is a rotation, it's gonna, it's not gonna be this way every year. It was dumb that it's even this way one year. That's what I'm gonna say. So I'm just gonna say then we've seen it in soccer. Um, and so it's triple A and double A. So it's actually not even fair to Long Island schools. They have to go through Section 1 to get to the final four. Um, because this is a bad year to have it, because it looks like the Section One teams at the highest levels were all really good. So and they've they've shown why. Um Ryewin by 15 over Goshen. TZ takes care of Beacon. TZ beats Beacon 51, it was actually 36. Um they averaged Beacon averaged 70.5 points per game and had 11 points to the half against Tappen Z. And people in Beacon were just like jaw on the floor. Now, Beacon used to be in section one, they know they know what Tappen Z is. They moved to section nine a couple years ago. Um, but this is just next level defense that I don't care what you've done all year, I don't care how many shots you made from threes, and they and you could tell me that you think, oh, well, they miss a lot of open shots, but the work that it takes to get those open shots, and those open shots were coming with five or less seconds on the shot clock, they don't always go in. And so TZ defensively was just masterful in this game. And honestly, TZ can win a state championship because no team they're gonna face now knows really all that much about them than what they see on typically one film or one paper.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:11

And if you don't know it unless you play them. And if you don't, and if you look at them, if you're from upstate, uh central New York, Northeast, so remember, Southeast New York, one champion, Northeast New York, another champion, Northwest, Southwest. If you are from any one of those three areas and you see Tap and Z, are you really going to be blown out of the water?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:33

Because on paper they play five guys. One of them, the really good player only averages like seven points a game. And their biggest guy's 6'3. Best guy's 6'3. Um, and you know, they have a guy on the team that plays that he's like 5'9. Like there's nothing imposing about them other than reputation. Their will. People like me have. Other than their will. The only thing to intimidating people about Tapazzi is us talking about. Absolutely. Right. And uh, that's it. So let you know, they're a lot of teams learn the hard way. And uh, I think Beacon did, and we'll see what uh other teams have uh you know coming up. They got to play, uh they got to go to Long Island this week. They're playing, who's who's Tabazi playing? Um, I'm blanket. They're playing on Saturday. They're playing their state regional um regional final. I don't see it on my list here. No, I don't see it on the list either. I have it on my computer, but uh they're in good shape, man, because it's a Long Island school that pretty much doesn't know anything about them. Oh, Smithtown, Smithtown West, is that the team? Yeah, Smithtown. Smithtown West. So Smithtown West, I watched them play last night. They're very similar to Tap and Z. I saw them beat uh Southside, who's a well-known program. They are so Smithtown West to me has a little bit of beacon in them in terms of just how they're how confident they are as a program. Um they're young, they're up and coming. So uh this would be a good challenge for TZ, but I I do think T Z wins. Um and then the other teams, everyone else is going on. So you have American boys are moving on, you have um Woodlands Boys, Rye, and of course Marcel had the bye. So the on the boys' side, they have five regionals. The schedule is set for this uh for this weekend. Um Rye Boys is playing uh tomorrow night, Friday night. Umerinick plays Saturday against Base Shore.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:04

Up in Yorktown, right? Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:05

TZ boys play um blank. So I had this wrong. So it's Floral Park they're playing, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

Yeah, because Rye's playing Smithtown.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:11

Rye's playing Smithtown West. That's what I'm sorry, I'm totally wrong. That's why you should look at your paper. Umerinick's playing who? Right, Tappezzy's playing Floral Park, who Tappez is playing Florida. I think they have a they're a pretty big favorite. I think Rye has the toughest game of the five teams remaining in section one. Smithtown West was pretty tough. I just don't know if they're they I don't remember them. I watched the whole game. I don't think they have nearly the depth that Rye has. Rye's depth um should be the difference. And their physicality. Yeah, the physicality, um, and just also just how like teams, some teams get on a roll, man. And Rye's on a roll right now. They're they are they're marching on.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

So um that's where I feel I think I think Henry's gonna have to score more than he did in the last game, though.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

Carl Place is the team that Woodlands is facing. Um, I think that Carl Place is was was pretty tough. Uh so I think Woodlands Woodlands is uh is a slight favorite, um, you know, but close game going the fourth quarter would not surprise me. It's hard to beat Woodlands. And you're and you're out in Long Island. Yeah, you're out in Long Island, and um the problem is it's gonna be playing 32 minutes against Woodlands. We saw Dobbs had a hard time with I mean not everyone, but like a couple of the players, it's just 32 minutes was too much. And then the other thing is you need to defend all five positions, and that's something that Dobbs I couldn't do um for the entire game. And so I think Carl Place is gonna be challenged in that in that sense too. So um I like all their chances on the boys' side. I think all have a really good chance. I would say I do too. 75% are better on all of them. I think Marinick even um, you know, they're taking on Bayshore, who's who's you know, a six-time Long Island champion, not in a row, but sixth-time ever. Um, so they're a program that's been here before. I I just don't know how you beat this marinick team the weather. I the execute, the execution, you know, you can you can know their plays. Kingston knew their plays, knew where they're new, knew where Will Planka was coming, curling around on these paths. It didn't matter. He still executes these plays. So they they're they're really it goes back to that rhythm you were talking about. They're just not a rhythm, just like Ryan. Jonathan's gonna make six threes like he did on Wednesday night. They're not gonna no one's gonna beat them.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

And by the way, the Reese brothers give you 10 fouls at their buttons. And their zone Reese. And their and their physical.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:07

Johnny Smith made some great passes. He made some big shots last night. He made some great passes last night. Um, to me, this the fact that they're they're an a true eight-player team right now. Yes, they are, um, is really what that's the only way you win the trip.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

And by the way, they beat a traditional powerhouse in Kingston.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:23

Yeah, they kind of demoralized Kingston in the second quarter. It was Kingston came back in second quarter, they demoralized them in the third quarter by stretching the floor and making those three-point shots. Um, so and and credit to Plunkett and Burrell in terms of just you know, it it takes a it takes some veterans and some mature players to allow what happened last night and Jonah Walsh being the hero. Absolutely. Six threes was awesome to watch. On the girls' side, um, we have the Nyak girls against West Hampton Beach. I watched I watched West Hampton Beach last night. Um, they're one for the first time ever, so they're kind of like Nyak in the fact that they're here for the first time ever. Um, I don't think they have the foot speed, the athleticism to continue. With Nyak. So it's which is good because Nyak obviously doesn't play more than five players. No. So I think Nyak's in a in a really good position to go up to Troy. Albertus is playing defending champion Baldwin. They were the state champions last year in AA. They moved up to AAA. They are a team that I don't think they're nearly as good as Albertus, but they could beat Albertus. If Albertus doesn't show up, um, you know, Julius Scotts gets into foul trouble, and you know, they they need to play uh their best game to win. Not not at their best, but they need to play a really good game to beat Baldwin.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

Saranaji has got to play the second half of the section final. Yeah, four quarters. Four quarters. Yeah. Totally.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

And last night I watched him against Newburgh. They were just they just dominated from the start. And they didn't really run anything. I mean, they just Matty Zuppie made uh Julius Scott had 10 of the first 15 points. He had eight rebounds before the end of the first quarter, and they were up 15 to 3, and then Matty Zuppi hit three straight threes.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:52

And it's like, okay, that's game over.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:54

Game over. Um and then on the girls' side, obviously, TZ girls are playing on Sunday. So some of the girls play on Sunday, three of the girls getting teams play on Sunday. Tappan Z girls play plain edge. Um I watched that game last night, down to the wire game. And so it's an advantage for Tappen Z. They just came off a game where they were up 34 to nothing early in the second quarter on Highland. Um it was it was hard to watch. Um so they kind of coasted through, and then they're facing a team that just comes off just coming off an emotional win to beat Garden City for the Long Island Championship. So I think TZ is catching them at a good time. I think there's a there's winning Long Island Championship is unlike anything else. It's it's similar to winning Section One, where it's like you're going to this big event and the feeling of accomplishment, they'll talk about being long. Long Island people don't care about Long Island. Um, so you you win Long Island, um, you you tell for people for life we won the LIC, right? That's a big every sport. NASA versus best of NASA. All the people care about uh in Long Island. Uh I don't think that they have enough to M Talk versus the bridge. Yeah, so it's uh it's they're in a good spot. YMA um on the girls' side is gonna play against Cold Spring Harbor on Sunday, also out of Sunday Farmingdale, Baltos games at Farmingdale. Cold Spring Harbor's good. Uh Cold Spring Harbor won out of section this year, played a really good schedule. They were in the state final four last year. I think that they're they're talented. I think YMA's got the toughest game on the girls' side by far. So uh they're in the tough position. Tucko against Pearson. Um, I think Tugho's just rolling. I think I just don't I don't think Pearson can match up with them whatsoever. So I think Tucko moves on. YMA's got the hardest challenge. They want to get to the final four for losing last year in Binghamton. Uh Teasy, Albertus, Nyak, all in really good position. By the way, those three schools, all from Rockman County.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

Yes, they are. Um Kevin's favorite case.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:35

Real quick, uh Cold Spring Harbor, I believe that's where Wally Serbiak um grew up. And um and Cold Town. It is a basket. People don't realize that because it's like cross town. It's really good across town. And it's and it's on the water, and you know, it's uh it's it's scenic and all that stuff. But there's good athletes out there at in Cold Spring Harbor.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:56

Yeah, it's Cold Spring Harbor is gonna be is gonna be challenged. So I I I think of the 10 teams remaining, we could have eight. Maybe, maybe more going to the final four. Uh the boys, the boys' games are all, you know, I don't say the coin flips, but I would give the advantages to the teams that are playing locally. Um but uh if there was eight teams on the final four, I would not be shocked.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

No, it's it's it's very reminiscent of before the world was shut down. We could have had in 2020 how many teams.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:25

Oh, well here let's talk about that for a second, real quick, because um Nick Townsend from Horace Greeley leads them to their first ever goal ball. He goes on to Yale. He got just got named the Ivy League player of the year. We got robbed in section one because he was only a it was under class only a junior. He was gonna win, they they beat Newberg in the first round of the state tournament that year. Oh, they beat uh, yeah, they won't beat Newburgh. Um they had a chance to win a state championship at Horace Greeley, which would have been unbelievable. And then they all came back, they were coming back the next year. That's one. Then on the girls' side, Sony Citron, who's in WNBA, she was a junior at Ursulin, they won this uh championship. COVID actually like kind of originated in America, right next door to Ursulin school. Um so they got shut down real quick, but they um they uh you remember that? Yeah, it's all right. It was in the news. I do. So um they they would have won back-to-back state championships at Ursulin, and we got completely robbed. One's in WNBA, one's the Ivy League player of the year, two phenomenal players who sort of just kind of at the wrong time.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:23

And and and how about John Aguilar, right? They they destroyed everybody in Section One that year. Yeah, Hamilton was gonna go to the state championship. I forgot about the Hamilton. Hastings was gonna go to the state, was gonna go to Final Four on the boys' side.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:37

Yeah, it's very you're gonna girl side.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:39

Are you wishing something bad happening? You're just you're bringing up old for these coaches. When they watch this, you know the kind of shit we're gonna get. You know what, man? Like I I got over my 2020.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:50

I understand, but I'm just saying it's reminiscent of that. This our groups are very strong this year. Yeah, and we have a lot of teams that have a shot at going to Binghamton and Troy. And this is the first time since that time that we've had that many teams that have a chance.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:06

All right, for the record, if uh if we have some uh pandemic or something happening in two weeks from now, blame Coach Ward. Blame Coach Ward. Okay, hit him on Twitter, so I mean everywhere, hit him right there.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:19

So while so spring season spring sports started in New York State last week. So a lot of these guys like Will Plunkett's a big time baseball player, he's still playing basketball.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

Um Binghamton can commit the Reese's Division I Binghamton's baseball program won the American East last year. Um I like college baseball. I know you're yeah, here we go. So so what don't you like? So I so um they went to they represent the American East. I'm sorry in the NCAA fine, in the NCAA East five at regional.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:48

We're we're running out of time, but to your point, where it isn't like I was talking about people like, oh man, you know, I I I heard Coach Ward on the commentary with Kevin Devaney, and he's doing the show, this and that. Like, like, like what is he like? Like, how does he know all this stuff? I'm like, yeah, hey, when you when you see Coach Ward, okay, when you see him, ask him about cricket. Just ask him.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:06

Ask him about cricket because he likes cricket. He watched cricket live one time, but it don't I know I know something he doesn't like, I know something he doesn't like. That bridge over to Long Island. He does not like Long Island.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:17

Oh no, I don't. I'm sorry, Long Island. I do not sorry. Listen, the whole point of the thing is lotteries. I had to sneak that in.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:25

Yeah, had to sneak it in. I didn't stick it in. He's not going to Long Island ever. Uh not not not anymore. But yes, uh, we want all the kids to play sports here at the Winnie Moments. But yes, uh coach is knowledgeable about everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:37

It's odd, uh especially the cricket game, which was just I mean as Jim McKay said when he went for the opening of ABC Y World of Sports. Some of us are old enough to remember ABC Wide World of Sports. Jim McKay that he would do the voiceover.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:53

And it was the thrill of victory, and then the ski jumper fell off the side of the ski jump and the agony of defeat. Oh, that was that was a good idea. That was that was Jim McKay. So so guess what? You know, I like all sports. Of course. So if I know what an over is or a wicket is in in in cricket, which I do, you know, and a four, I know what this is. It's like a double in baseball.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:16

Now you're just showing off.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:18

All right, all right. So anyway, that it is what it is. I love I love the thrill of athletic competition.

unknown 1:13:23

Love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:24

Well, listen, uh, ABC, if you guys want to have the wide world sports for high school. Just bring it back. Bring it back to the winning moments. We're happy to do that. Uh, and just you know, cut the check. We're here to go. So, listen, guys, I gotta tell you, like, as we're getting, as we as we end this Section One championship, we started this show 14 weeks ago. Put this thing together, like, hey, what are you doing doing on Fridays? I could be here.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:48

He had no idea who I was. What are you doing on Fridays?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:51

Kevin, who?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

I could do I could be, I could be how did I get on how did I get on the Dean Martin roast today?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:01

No, no, I'm saying John didn't know who I was on. Oh, no, yeah, no, yeah, yeah. He had, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:04

He's like, Do you know who Kevin Devaney is? I said, I do. I have a somewhat of a relationship with Kevin Devaney.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:10

We can wrap it up. I know his partner. Uh my partner, I mean his uh his beautiful wife. So now, okay, I don't know how I don't even know how to wrap it up. Threw me off. So thank you guys. Seriously, like we couldn't pick the the best year to start basketball. So many record breakers. Incredible great great tournament. I mean, Kevin, you no one will know this when it comes to uh the championship in the county center. That was put together on a Wednesday. Yeah. And we showed up on a Friday. Yeah. And and yeah, I mean, listen, it's it's thank you so much, Kevin, for to be a part of it. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:44

If we're ever gonna start a show on sectional high school basketball, this was the year to do it. This was the year to do it. Exactly. It really was.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:49

And on that note, we are very lucky for all you players and coaches because you're the ones that gave us that opportunity. Uh, we just show up here and and and coach and Kevin look pretty. And I'm just trying to wrap it up here. Uh, thank you guys. We're not stopping at basketball. Coaches who are in section one right now, we wish you the best to win this championship. We're all big fans. We're all grateful for what you gave us this year. Like and subscribe, share this across uh every social media platform that we're on, and yeah, we'll be back next week with uh some more updates and hopefully it's state tournament, state final four.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:23

Yeah, hopefully it's uh Bingham T and Troy. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:27

Yeah. And that's a wrap.