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  • Restoring The Feeling

    Restoring The Feeling

    Brooklyn native and Grad transfer Kadary Richmond hits the game winner on Saturday against Providence Photo Credit: St. John’s Athletics

    Words like First place and nationally ranked are something we haven’t heard when it comes to the St. Johns Red Storm in the past couple of years but in 2024-25 they have become the norm. It speaks to the growth of the program since the hiring of Rick Pitino two seasons ago. 

    On Saturday, January 18th, we were live in Newark NJ. Where the Red Storm played Seton Hall. 

    After the dominant win over the Pirates, RJ Luis Spoke to the press about reaching first place after the win against St. John’s he was excited but remained focused on the goal. “It feels nice to be in first place but the job is not done,” said Luis who scored an efficient 24 points and grabbed eight boards in the 79-51 win. 

    The 19-3 overall record and 10-1 Big East record is one of their best starts in 20-plus years. During the month of January I got to cover them three times in person and there are so many takeaways I have about this team. 

    They got an answer for anything their opponent threw at them. 

    The St. John’s Red Storm at their full strength will shut down just about anything their opponent has. Shooting hot from three? They will shut that down in the second half with perimeter defense. Win the battle on the offensive boards in the first half? Not anymore they will make the adjustments to dominate in the second. Their depth along with their fortitude makes them very hard to beat. 

    This was also proven on January 22nd when they beat Xavier in OT. The win puts St. John’s at 17-3 overall this season and at 8-1 in conference play. The 8-1 start in conference play put them in sole possession of 1st place and put them back in the national rankings standing at 15th in the Associated Press Poll and 14th in the USA Today Coaches poll. 

    RJ Luis is On An Absolute Tear And There’s No Stopping. 

    While averaging 21.5 ppg. While shooting 50% from 3pt range and from the field RJ Luis Jr. should be in everyone’s mix for Big East Player of the Year honors. 

    Surviving without Smith 

    St. Johns has been able to win some of the last two games with little to no contributions from their glue player Deivon Smith. The 6-1 guard who is still dealing with a shoulder injury will be out against Georgetown tomorrow night but the Red Storm has found ways to win without him. As this team continues to rise in the rankings the schedule will get tougher, Deivon Smith’s absence was missed at times but the Red Storm held things down plus he’s slowly returning to the lineup as they will be going through their most challenging stretch this week beginning with 11th ranked Marquette tonight

    Kadary Richmond Making things happen 

    The South Shore HS and Brewster Academy alum earned weekly honor roll honors with averages of 19 points 7 rebounds and 5 assists per game. Kadary’s production has shown and came up big during this stretch. There’s no question that Kooks will continue to show out to keep the team ahead of the rest of the conference. Against Providence on Saturday Kadary put up a monster statline of 24 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.

    The Attendance is skyrocketing and St. John’s has made NYC a College Basketball town. 

    Against Villanova on January 11th, St. John’s had 18,171 fans in attendance a record number of fans at Madison Square Garden. Against Providence on Saturday it was a sell out of 19,000. The fact that this team is 14-0 at home this season at Carnesecca and MSG combined, the numbers will grow even more as the season progresses St. John’s Red Storm Basketball is the hottest ticket in the town along with the Knicks who are a top 5 team in the NBA Eastern conference.

  • Smartball Classic Opening Night Thriller: Hayes edges Eagle Brooklyn 59-58

    Smartball Classic Opening Night Thriller: Hayes edges Eagle Brooklyn 59-58

    Cardinal Hayes rising Jr. PG Jermel Thomas driving past defenders during Monday nights 59-58 win over Eagle Brooklyn at the Smartball Classic in Harlem.

    Smartball Classic opening day finished with an intense nightcap game between Cardinal Hayes and Eagle Academy Brooklyn on Monday.

    The Hayesmen featured No.16 PG in the nation in the class of 2026 Jermel “Magic Mel” Thomas along with top returning senior guard Kaelan Destin and Junior Malik Fields. This night cap game also was the debut of top incoming freshman Hector Almodovar Jr. and Sophomore big man Amadou Barry.

    The 2X PSAL 4A City Champion Eagle Academy Brooklyn featured Jeremiah Jacobs a 6-8 forward which put him in the convo of best big man in the city along with returning players such as Hunter Frazier, Amir Dockery (2027) and the newest addition to the squad Rich Jackson a 2026 PG who transferred in from Bishop Loughlin.

    Hayes had a slight edge early in the game as they led by as much as eight in the first half. Eagle BK behind the stellar play of Jackson, Dockery and Frazier were able to close the gap, but Freshman Hector Almodvar Jr.hit a midrange jumper to give Hayes a 28-26 lead at the half.

    From that point the intensity of the game only got bigger Eagle Brooklyn had a big third quarter outscoring Hayes 19-14 to take a 45-42 lead going into the 4th quarter.

    From that point the intensity continued to grow as Hayes was able to answer back to anything that Eagle gave them.

    This game had all of the spectators at Abraham Lincoln Playground at the edge of their seats as the back and forth battle ended with a defensive play by Thomas which forced Eagle BK to turnover the ball to seal the 59-58 win.

    Reactions

    Magic Mel Continues to Mature:

    Jermel Thomas’s 22 points and 10 assist performance showed how much his game has grown this summer. His unselfish play and his defense in the final seconds is one thing that sealed the win for Hayes last night. You gotta like their chances of being a CHSAA contender if we see this every night from Hayes.

    The Supporting Cast is Intriguing

    Aside from the core trio of Thomas, Destin and Fields, Sophmore Big man Amadou Barry and Nazier Campbell came up huge at times for the Hayesmen. This Hayes team definitely sticked together and never backed down when they lost the lead to Eagle in the third quarter.

    Amadou Barry’s inside presence helped Hayes a lot and it showed how much he is needed going forward if Hayes looks to win this tournament that will give them some momentum going into the fall ball season and HS hoops season.

    Eagle Brooklyn was still impressive

    Even though it’s a brand new team with the amount of players that have graduated the returnees on this team made it seem that they have not lost a step. Dockery will look to make the leap as a sophomore and the addition of Rich Jackson will help them. Credit to the coaching of this Eagle squad who kept them disciplined.

  • NY vs NY Season 6 Opening Night: Gersh Edges Dyckman 63-58

    NY vs NY Season 6 Opening Night: Gersh Edges Dyckman 63-58

    Thomas Jefferson guard Connor Spratley ’25 (13 Points) Drives past a defender in yesterday’s win for Gersh Park over Dyckman. Photo Credit: Sage Media Solutions.

    The Finale of Week 1 of NY vs NY didn’t disappoint as Gersh Park and Dyckman Closed out last night’s festivities on a high note. It was a strong start for Dyckman in the first quarter behind the strong play from D’andre Gibbs, Kamari Whyte, Tavien Tyler, and the inside presence of Keiner Aspirilla as they ran out to a 15-5 lead. Dyckman led by as much as 7 until Gersh fought back to close the deficit to 4 going into the half.

    In the third quarter, Gersh continued their momentum but Dyckman’s Tavien Tyler (red #2) always had an answer as they had a slight lead at 44-43 going into the 4th quarter. In the 4th and final quarter, Gersh took over outscoring Dyckman 20-14 and winning 63-58. It was a hard-fought game from start to finish. There were times where Tyler the 5-7 guard from Mount Vernon and the big man Aspirilla had Gersh on their heels but Gersh proved to be resilient as Jahda Swann, Connor Spratley, Christian Jeffrey and the rest of the Gersh squad sealed the victory in the end.

    Christian Jeffrey (Overtime Elite’25) led Gersh with 17 points while Connor Spratley added 13 and Jahmere Brewer (South Shore ’24) scored 11.

    For Dyckman, Tavien Tyler led Dyckman with 18 points.

  • Big East Press: A look back at Seton Hall’s “Blame The Committee” Tour in the 2024 Postseason NIT

    Big East Press: A look back at Seton Hall’s “Blame The Committee” Tour in the 2024 Postseason NIT

    Credit: Seton Hall Athletics

    When you don’t get chosen to play in the Big Dance there are only three things you can do at the point. You can either raise hell on social media or you can take the snub on the chin but make everyone pay by going on a revenge tour. This is what led to Seton Hall’s magical NIT run as we like to call it the “Blame The Committee “ tour” Credits to Basketball announcer and NYC hoops ambassador Dave “Chaching” Teele for the Slogan.

    There’s no question that it was great to cover the Seton Hall Pirates this season and out of all of the Big East games we covered, we got to witness them beat UConn while shooting only eight threes and then rally down 19 to beat St. John’s. Those were games that proved that they belonged in the field but the selection committees believed that many undeserving teams that made it were more worthy. We ain’t saying no names though…

    The Walsh Gymnasium Boost.

    The Blame The Committee tour began with an OT thriller at home against St. Joes out of the A-10 The pirates who got a top seed decided to have their games on campus at Walsh Gymnasium which gave them a boost the whole tournament. From there, the Pirates would go on to dominate North Texas then UNLV on their way to the Semis in Indiana where they stood on business against Georgia. Every game proved that the Pirates would have made a deep run in the tournament if the selection committee had some sense.

    Playing with a sense of urgency.

    The Pirates got great play from their core of captains Kadary Richmond, Dre Davis, and Al-Amir Dawes throughout the tourney, but others such as Dylan Wusu, Jaden Bediako, Isaiah Coleman, and even sophomore Jaquan Sanders stepped up in the semis with 11 points. Seeing the inspired play from the Pirates is something

    The final stop on the Pirates Blame the Committee tour is Hinkle Fieldhouse, a familiar territory for the Pirates who travel there to play Butler every season but this time around the Pirates face a disadvantage as the sold-out crowd included mostly Indiana State fans. The Sycamores were another team that fell short of making the NCAA tournament. This is what the Pirates dealt with throughout the game, especially in the first half where they were up double digits but the Sycamores went on a huge run to tie the game. The Sycamores went on a huge run and took over the game late but the Pirates never backed down.

    Down 77-70 with less than two minutes left, Seton Hall would cap off an improbable 9-0 run and a huge defensive stop to clinch the NIT Championship. It was a memorable run that is just as good as any run that’s going on in the NCAA tournament, it has improved the Postseason NIT’s Value in our opinion. There’s no question that the Pirates will build on this run into next season. The Pirates 2024 Postseason run will always be known as the “Blame the Committee” tour in our eyes.

    The off-season will be a very interesting time for the Pirates as well as all of the other Big East teams. Many of the core players still have eligibility left but there will be some space on the roster as some will graduate and there could be some players entering the portal.

  • Video Recap: McEachern Dominates Camden in the 2nd half at the Battle behind Historic performance from Rutgers Commit Ace Bailey

    Video Recap: McEachern Dominates Camden in the 2nd half at the Battle behind Historic performance from Rutgers Commit Ace Bailey

    Photo Credit Scott Faytok: NJ Advance Media

    During the Holiday Hoops season, there were many great performances but many of them couldn’t top the performance from Ace Bailey at the Battle in New Jersey at Rutgers on December 29th.

    The Rutgers commit out of McEachern HS in Georgia went off for 40 points and 21 boards in the 77-52 win over Camden HS which features Kentucky Commit Billy Richmond who had 20 points and 10 boards. It was a back-and-forth first half between both teams as they were trading shots Ace Bailey felt comfortable going off for 17 points and 11 boards, but Camden held a slight 31-27 lead at the half.

    Rutgers fans and head coach Steve Pikell were in attendance to witness what they will be getting next season and the hecklers were in attendance too, we don’t know what was said to Ace but let’s just say he went off in the second half propelling McEachern to outscore Camden 50-25 with Ace scoring 23 of the 50 before going to the bench the last few mins of the game to a standing ovation of the Rutgers fans that were in attendance.

  • Video Recap: Kennedy Ends TMA’s Winning Streak with a 67-60 Win

    It was a pivotal game for both teams on December 4th as Kennedy was looking to bounce back from a blowout loss at home to Eagle Bronx and TMA was on a five game winning streak but came into the game short handed with a few players down due to injury. It was also a big game for recruiting purposes as Norfolk State Head coach Robert Jones was in attendance. TMA came out hot to start the game with big shots hit by senior Blake Underwood and junior wing Ahmad Torrence. Kennedy answered back with finding their groove on offense to close the gap and tie the game at 32 going into halftime.

    late in the second half, Kennedy’s defense overwhelmed TMA as they went on a 8-0 run to take a 60-52 lead. Mohammed Diarrosso threw down a dunk to give TMA a 62-54 lead to seal the win. Ahmad Torrence (#13) led TMA with 28 points, 9 boards and 6 boards. Blake Underwood(#3) scored 14 points and shot 4/5 from 3pt range, while Justin Prado (#22) added 13. It was a team effort for Kennedy who was led by Quentin Richardson who scored 18 points and dished out seven assists. Mohammed Diarrosso scored 17 and Kyler Emanuel added 10.

    Update: Kennedy swept the season series against TMA with a 51-44 win at home yesterday afternoon.

  • Video: Poly Prep vs Xaverian: The Battle of Bay Ridge @ The NYC Prospects Sunday Service

    A look back at Poly Prep’s 43-38 win over Xaverian at “The Sunday Service” presented by NYC Prospects on December 3rd. It was a high defensive low scoring game where Poly Prep got 18 points out of 2025 guard Karim Camara a 6-0 guard who gave Xaverian’s defense the fits throughout the game. Senior guard Pat Evans led Xaverian with 12 points which made a very late run from being down by double figures throughout the contest but the defense led by the anchor junior forward Connor Igor helped the Blue Devils seal the victory.
  • Video Recap: Hayes Balanced Attack Downs Archbishop Molloy 83-71 for First Win Of The Season

    Video Recap: Hayes Balanced Attack Downs Archbishop Molloy 83-71 for First Win Of The Season

    Photo Credits: Matty Ice / Manny Ariza

    Video Recap of Cardinal Hayes’s 83-71 Win over Archbishop Molloy on Friday Night. It was a balanced attack by the Hayesmen who used their stingy defense to force turnovers and get steals that led to transition buckets all night in the 83-71 win.

    4-star senior point guard Adam Njie led 5 players for Hayes in double figures with 21 points. 2025 Guard Kaelen Destin scored 18 while Malik Fields added 13, Trey Lewis Scored 12, and Super Sophomore PG Jermel Thomas ran the offense very well contributing 11 points and 9 assists.

    Molloy was led by 4-star sophomore guard wing Josh Powell who scored 27 points while senior forward Eli Smalls scored 18 points. This win was a great bounce-back game for Hayes which lost their first two games to Nazareth and rival St. Raymond’s to begin the season.

  • A Look Back at Seton Hall vs Saint Peters

    A Look Back at Seton Hall vs Saint Peters

    Dre Davis Throwing down the Exclamation point with 1:14 left in Seton Hall’s 70-59 win over Saint Peters.

    The Seton Hall Pirates opened up the season against Saint Peter’s and it was a huge wake-up call for the Pirates as a slow start had them in a tug-of-war against a young athletic Peacocks team for a majority of the game. “We were playing selfish. No one was playing team basketball we were playing me basketball” Coach Sha told the press after Monday’s game.

    The Pirates found themselves 44-40 until Dylan Wusu and Al-Amir Dawes hit some big shots to go up 52-50. The late surge would continue as Dawes big threes had them up 61-55 with 3:50 left in the game and they never looked back as they were able to outlast Saint Peter’s and win 70-59.

    Here are some things we have learned about both teams since last night.

    Kooks Impressive Senior Year Debut

    South Shore HS great Kadary Richmond filled the stat sheet last night with 18 points 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals in the win. This stat line puts him in elite company as he’s the 5th player in NCAA history to do this. According to Matt Ambrose Seton Hall’s assistant director of digital media and communications, Richmond joins Iman Shumpert, Elfrid Payton, Kris Dunn, and Marcus Smart as players who have had that stat line.

    This is just a glimpse of a more comfortable and assertive version of Richmond. Expect more of the NBA scouts to be at Seton Hall games going forward because of this.

    Dylan Wusu’s debut showed how vital he is to the Pirates’ success going forward.

    Dylan played a huge part in the Pirates late Surge yesterday as he scored 10 points and 3 rebounds all in the second half. Head Coach Shaheen Holloway pointed out how his energy helped in the postgame press conference. “We need Dylan to be Dylan for 40 mins” Coach Sha added.

    This Game Prepares them for an In-state showdown with FDU.

    The next game for the Pirates is the FDU Knights at Walsh Gymnasium on Saturday. The Pirates will be facing a confident FDU squad that took down Buffalo on the road to open up their season. With the Pirates surviving Saint Peter’s last night they have something to learn from so the same thing doesn’t happen on Saturday.

    Armoni Ziegler Has Arrived

    On Saint Peter’s side of things, OSL alum and Amityville native Armoni Ziegler was one of the bright spots for the Peacocks as he scored 10 points and grabbed 3 boards off the bench on 75% shooting. When the Pirates had the game in control in the last minute, Ziegler threw down a thunderous dunk over a defender that went Viral. With his energy and athleticism Ziegler could get more minutes off of the bench going forward.

  • A Look Back at Fordham Vs UMBC

    A Look Back at Fordham Vs UMBC

    On Sunday Afternoon Fordham Hosted UMBC in an Exhibition game benefiting Able Athletics. A non-profit organization dedicated to inclusion in sports.

    Even though the game didn’t count, it felt like it did from seeing the intensity and energy of both teams. Both teams looked like they were in mid-season form.

    Here are a few takeaways from the Game.

    The Rams are Unbeatable from three-point range.

    The Rams shot 9/17 from three-point range in the first half and they looked unbeatable as they held a 10-point lead late in the first half. Even though the Rams had fewer attempts in the second half, their hot three-point shooting is one thing that is going to win them a lot of games this season. The Rams finished the game shooting 43% from beyond the arc. It’s also worth noting that they have players from positions 1-4 that can shoot from deep.

    This game marked the debut for many new Rams including Japhet Medor the 6-0 guard who transferred to Fordham from UTSA (Texas-San Antonio). Medor shined in his debut with 23 points and seven boards on 9/14 shooting. Medor pretty much did what he wanted on offense against UMBC slashing his way to the rim for layups and hitting mid-range jumpers.

    Marcus Banks jr on UMBC had a decent game too with 21 points and 3 steals. banks were one of the driving forces behind the big run in the second half that briefly gave them a five-point lead before Fordham came back.

    The Bigs came through and Free Throws Matter.

    There was a time when the three-pointers that carried the Rams throughout the first half weren’t falling but the Rams front court of Elijah Gray and Abdou Tsimbla who provided inside scoring as well as oLafayette transfer Josh Rivera who grabbed 14 rebounds held it down keeping the Rams ahead in the rebounding department. The Rams outrebounded UMBC 44-34. Free throws also played huge as Fordham who had fewer attempts shot 9/12 from the line (75%) compared to 58 % for UMBC.

    Overall there are so many reasons for excitement as this Rams Squad who had a 25-8 record and 12-6 conference record has the chance to build on that this upcoming season. From their 3-point shooting to their ability to find other ways to score when the shots aren’t falling, it will be another exciting season ahead for the Rams.

    We’ll see the Rams again this season which starts on November 6th as they will face Wagner at home at 7:30 pm.