CHSAA playoffs
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- March
- 6
As some of you might have seen, Rice lost to Holy Cross in last night’s CHSAA AA Division semifinal at St. John’s University, as you see in the Daily News story here. The Great Sylvan Landesberg had 30 points in the victory as Holy Cross will meet Christ the King in the Saturday championship at 3 p.m. at Fordham University.
Interesting story in the Daily News about one of their reporters being banned from the PSAL playoff game at Lincoln.
The A and B finals are tomorrow night at Iona College. Iona Prep meets Bishop Ford in the A championship and Blessed Sacrament faces St. Agnes in the B.
CHSAA A Championship
Iona Prep (22-4) vs. Bishop Ford (21-5)
When: Friday, 8 p.m.
Where: Iona College
How’d they get here: Iona Prep defeated Mount St. Michae, 60-55. Bishop Ford topped Moore Catholic 69-63.
Previous meetings: Iona Prep defeated Bishop Ford, 68-62, at home on Jan. 9
Match-up to watch: Andre Pope, Iona Prep vs. Chaz Williams, Bishop Ford. Two of the league’s top point guards square off. Pope has played so well in the second half of the season and needs a similar defensive effort that he had on Tony Taylor in the game at Iona Prep.
Who’ll decide the game: Bryan Voelkel, Iona Prep. We saw what a difference there is with this team when the sophomore forward is on his game (winning 16 in a row) and when he’s not (losing to Mount and Hayes in the final week). Voelkel will also have his hands full with Ford big man Tyrik Tucker, who’s a smooth 6-foot-5 forward.
How Iona Prep can win: Play humble. We’ve said it all season that this is Iona Prep’s championship to lose. But when they started acting like it, the Gaels got picked off twice in the final week. Those losses were attributed to overconfidence and a lack of defensive intensity. Ford is a talented team but Iona plays better together. That is, of course, when it plays together.
How Bishop Ford can win: Set the tempo. Williams is a dynamic play-maker who plays so unselfish. He averages 10.1 assists per game because how well he runs the floor and penetrates. He’ll look to set his pace and create for the athletes around him. Frustrate Williams and the Gaels have a good shot to win this.
Who will win: Iona Prep. I haven’t backed off my prediction from early January that the Gaels would win the championship. It’s a team dominated by underclassmen, and they’ve matured a lot this season. Jordan Bronner and Pope in the backcourt will be too much for Ford to handle on both ends and playing a mile from their home court will certainly help. PREDICTION: IONA PREP 66, BISHOP FORD 64.
CHSAA B Championship
Blessed Sacrament (15-9) vs. St. Agnes (18-7)
When: Friday, 6 p.m.
Where: Iona College
How’d they get here: Blessed Sacrament defeated Cathedral, 52-47. St. Agnes beat Scanlan, 66-54.
Previous meetings: St. Agnes won 72-49 on Jan. 13. Blessed Sacrament won 62-59 on Feb. 10. St. Agnes won the B Division regular season title game, 73-69, on Feb. 24.
Match-up to watch: David Samuels, Blessed Sacrament vs. Matt Wafula, St. Agnes. The 6-foot-6 Wafula is a talented big man who has played some of his best basketball against the Cardinals. He had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in the last meeting. Samuels, a 6-7 sophomore, must do a good job containing him in the paint.
Who’ll decide the game: Jhared Hall, Blessed Sacrament. The most explosive scorer in the conference, and maybe the area, needs one of his best efforts. Hall, who is headed to Loyola, scored 42 points against St. Agnes in the last meeting and it wasn’t enough as the Cardinals blew an 18-point lead. Hall not only has to score. He has to lead.
How St. Agnes can win: Let Whitaker lead. Brandon Whitaker, like Wafula, has played exceptionalyl well against Blessed Sacrament. Whitaker is an electric 5-foot-8 point guard who ignited the comeback in the B final with his ability to create off the dribble.
How Blessed Sacrament can win: Take the pressure off Hall. As great as Hall is — and he is great — the Cardinals cannot win with him alone. Whether it’s Darryl Nesbit or Samuels, whoever. You can pencil Hall in for 30 points. But somebody else needs to come up and hit shots, especially early on, in order to win.
Who will win: Blessed Sacrament. I’ve thought about this a lot. St. Agnes won the first meeting, a game the Cardinals were short-handed, and won the B regular season championship thanks to an unthinkable 18-point comeback. Blessed Sacrament, the two-time Catholic state champs, have found a way to pull off postseason upsets the last two seasons. They’ll make it a third. PREDICTION: BLESSED SACRAMENT 70, ST. AGNES 67.
Kev,
The thing about the CHSAA AA and the city title the last couple of years, is that even though Rice lost, and got knocked out in the semi’s of the city playoffs, they could possibly still win a fedeartion title. Here’s how. After the city title game, there is usually a four way playoff for the federation spot; the city champ (tbd), the bronx/manhattan champ (rice), the brooklyn/queens champ (ctk), and the LI champ ( tbd – http://nychoops.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=779135 ) If the city champ is also the bronx/manhattan or brooklyn/queens champ, they get a bye in the first round, and meet the winner of the LI champ vs. b/m or b/q game. The team that wins that game represents the city for the federation title. There is a little of a monkey wrench in this years tournament because of how the LI catholic league played out this year, check out the link to the article, Chaminade beat St. Dom’s 58-38. Mt. Vernon better hope either they don’t have the “mini” tourny, or that Rice doesn’t win if they want to win a federation title, because as everyone who folloows this stuff knows, Mt. Vernon always beats Lincoln, Lincoln always beats Rice, Rice always beats Mt. Vernon. I’m pretty sure Mt. Vernon would play Rice in the first round, with Lincoln getting the bye into the championship game this year.
PS you put the city champ game as saturday at 3 at fordham, it’s sunday. there is also a senior all-star game right before the champ game, and even though it kinds turns into open gym, it’s still pretty cool to see all that talent on the court at the same time.
CHSAA AA,
thank you for the information. I knew there were some silly loopholes in the way the bracket sets up and that Rice (the team Mount Vernon should want nothing to do with should they advance) is still alive. I appreciate you letting us all know the details.
dear kevin, i hope when you say you will see two of league’ s top point guards you mean 2 out of 4.the kid from hayes could be the best and william williams is right there.i did not see semi but my reports were he almost pulled it out with mounts last 12 points.i know i keep pushing him but i also know him personally.did you ever see him play?i give iona all the credit for their year and beating mount in semi’s but why say when mount beat them it was overconfidence.we who rooted for mount did not say we lost because of it. we got beat by BETTER TEAM THAT DAY!
These are the two best point guards in the CHSAA and they’ve played against each other in AAu and don’t like each other very much
Who ever told this person this about the AA playoffs is totally wrong..There is no playoff this year between the LI champ and the NYC diocesan champ. The plan was the the winner of the City this year would have played the NCHSAA winner if it was a AA team on the 16th to go upstate. But since the winner was Chaminade an A team there will be no playoff and the City winner will go upstate and they will have a bye until the 30th because there is only 3 teams represented in AA and the bye is rotated every year. He is righ about the city CHSAA final is sunday the 9th at 3pm at Fordham
not to start a debate but tony taylor is the best p.g. in the chsaa along with chazz hands down – which is why they are playing d-1…you can make an argument for who is better…and both players have the utmost respect for each other. what is the recruitment process for bronner / pope / paulino / williams – any one have any info?
after tony and chazz i think jordon bronner is the better of the other guards or at least will be better… hopefully they all go d-1 and don’t have to worry about paying college tuition!!!
good luck to both ford and iona – should be a great game!
Kevin,
When looking at Bishop Ford, don’t dismiss the impact the two wing players have on their fortunes. In the Stepinac game, Bishop Ford’s wing players shot lights out and were the biggest impact on their team in the second half. Tyrik Tucker is very smooth, skilled and athletic and will be a good matchup for Voelkel. Chaz Williams didn’t hurt Stepinac nearly as much as the wing players did in my opinion. Bishop Ford also has a 6’9” big man who seems relatively athletic and skilled. Stepinac’s freshman big man, Conroy Baltimore, seemed to get the better of him under the boards though.
NY Hoops,
That is very interesting. I thought Rice still had a chance to go upstate. I know that the CHSAA AA has the bye this year, which will make it even tougher for the winner of the game between the PSAL and the NYSPHSAA.
Hoops Fan, or anyone else, is this the same with the CHSAA A division? Does Iona Prep go to the Federation if they win this game, or are there other playoff games to determine the Federation representative?
Whoever wins tonight has to play with Long Island Chsaa winner and Buffalo chsaa winner to take care of the states. Last year Buffalo Nichols beat St.Anthony’s of Long Island then Hayes beat Buffalo Nichols(Laettner’s high school) at Fordham University for the state title. This year I think Buffalo gets the bye and the winner of the other game has to travel to Buffalo like Mount did two years ago. In chsaa AA there is no Buffalo rep just Long Island. Good luck to Iona Prep tonight – the beginning of a 3 year run.
According to NY Hoops there is not even a CHSAA AA Long Island rep this year? I guess Chaminade will play the winner of tonight’s game then the winner goes to Buffalo? It would be nice if the CHSAA link at the bottom of this blog was able to explain everything. If there is a website that explains or gives dates of games someone please tell me. Thank you
Jimbo try the link I included above. it explains the situation pretty well. to NYHoops, if you re-read my post I did explain that this eyar it is different. but, for the last 5 years or so, since there has only been 2 LI AA’s, they have gone to the “mini” tourny format. Before then, the federation tourny was the public school champ, city catholic champ, independent champ, and psal champ. LI lutheran used to tbe the perennial independent champ, but they haven’t been a part fo the tourny for a while now.
Kevin,
you put in your little story that pope has to have a defensive night like he had against Taylor. If I am not mistaken, Taylor had 29 points when they played prep at prep. He is unguardable. There hasn’t been one player that has stopped him.
prue:
you are right that you can’t guard tony…which is why he avg. 30 points per game. i think what kevin means is the constant pressure on trying to wear the opponent down and really make him EARN AND WORK HARD for his points! i am sure there were games where tony scored 30+ easily and then other games where he really had to work and maybe alter his shot selection to get his 30+ – which is a big difference!
love tony’s game and wish him the best of luck at gw – they need him!
Good clarification!!!! I am a ttfan, and just wanted to add my two…...c
Chaminade, the LI Class A Champ, plays Buffalo tomorrow (Saturday) at 3pm on the St. Dominic gym on Long Island.