BW

[BoyznBlue]

Well yea, you are talking about a game in NYC versus other schools who recruit. Not sure if you want to drive to see BW play in Romney or Accident.

Southern games are already SRO, including the girls many times. You can't get a seat in Oakland when Alco goes there. I know many who were turned away last year. City games have not been SRO, but they have a pretty full gym. Those football games actually have more people in attendance, the stadium seating is just 100 times larger. Smash mouth football, never throwing the ball, has never been an issue for fan attendance the last 75 years in Cumberland.

Maybe I'm not understanding you. Earlier you made an argument why the BW games won't be packed. "So I would assume for the same reasons they won't spend time or money to see BW basketball blow outs. They gyms will not be packed, they will be empty. So this whole "great gate money" theory I don't see when it comes to beating local teams by 50-80 points. And that is what the scores will be seeing how bad area basketball has become."

Now you're saying they will be packed.

 

[MCsoccerplex]

I don't understand what the complaint is. How is this different from Alco and FH playing Silver Oak and Capitol Christian?

You mean the same Silver Oak football team that has Calvert Hall, Middletown, Boonsboro, Mount Saint Joseph, Walkersville, Saint Frances and Friendship Collegiate on its schedule this year?

I noticed you conveniently only mentioned Fort Hill and Allegany...

 

[TDHelmick]

Maybe I'm not understanding you. Earlier you made an argument why the BW games won't be packed. "So I would assume for the same reasons they won't spend time or money to see BW basketball blow outs. They gyms will not be packed, they will be empty. So this whole "great gate money" theory I don't see when it comes to beating local teams by 50-80 points. And that is what the scores will be seeing how bad area basketball has become."

Now you're saying they will be packed.

Yea we got lost in communication.

None of what I say should not be confused with the fact I love the ACIT and seeing top level teams play top level teams. So when you say you will see them in NYC and mark your calendar for a Georgetown Prep game, absolutely! Those games should be a good crowd. Not the same as traveling to Romney to see them play Hampshire though, where I don't see a large crowd. But the reason some people have tried to justify BW playing a full local area slate is that all these teams will make money at the gate, so it's worth it to play BW even with the 80 point blow out. I don't think the gate money will be significant. No more significant then when the BW of years past went to Southern, Alco or FH where the gyms already actually had a decent crowd. That is where we got lost in communication. In other words, Southern will pack the gym no matter who they play. City games were always pretty full attendance. So how does this BW team coming in to win by 80 points increase the numbers that already existed at these local games? Will it be by a significant amount to say it's worth it at the gate? And half of the local games are in the BW gym. As for the challenge argument...

In a nutshell, I can't see this BW team with all their new D1 talent playing this if MaxPreps is correct.
at Southern
Mountain Ridge
Tucker County
at Allegany
Calvary Christian Academy
at Hampshire
at Fort Hill
Northern
Fort Hill
Frankfort
at Keyser
at Lighthouse Christian

With the state of area basketball, all these games will literally be 108-34 type games. Even when BW has their subs in. If you think that is a good thing, we just won't agree. I could see maybe a small handful of those type games but not that full slate. Honestly, I did not foresee BW putting this type of team together this fast with D1 kids from around the globe. I'm guessing local schools did not anticipate this grand scale thing so quick either when the games were discussed. I don't know. Me thinks BW had to do this to make sure they had home games to play. And since the other schools said OK, I'm obviously not on their same page. Outside of this local slate BW currently has 3 home games and hosts a tournament.

This will be an interesting experiment rarely seen anywhere. You won't find top level hoops teams like this playing this amount of struggling small class programs. When I helped BW put a football schedule together years ago I never would have tried to line them up against the likes of Calvert Hall and Good Counsel - teams with a quantity of D1 kids. Nor would BW have allowed it for the same reasons.

Please don't misconstrue what I say into thinking I am against BW basketball. Not the case at all. I just know how poor area hoops has become. These local games will be MONSTER beat downs on every single one of them. I don't want to see all our local kids go through that. Not sure what it accomplishes. Of course I am wrong if BW basketball isn't as good as people tell me they will be.

 

[BrianH1974]

Yea we got lost in communication.

None of what I say should not be confused with the fact I love the ACIT and seeing top level teams play top level teams. So when you say you will see them in NYC and mark your calendar for a Georgetown Prep game, absolutely! Those games should be a good crowd. Not the same as traveling to Romney to see them play Hampshire though, where I don't see a large crowd. But the reason some people have tried to justify BW playing a full local area slate is that all these teams will make money at the gate, so it's worth it to play BW even with the 80 point blow out. I don't think the gate money will be significant. No more significant then when the BW of years past went to Southern, Alco or FH where the gyms already actually had a decent crowd. That is where we got lost in communication. In other words, Southern will pack the gym no matter who they play. City games were always pretty full attendance. So how does this BW team coming in to win by 80 points increase the numbers that already existed at these local games? Will it be by a significant amount to say it's worth it at the gate? And half of the local games are in the BW gym. As for the challenge argument...

In a nutshell, I can't see this BW team with all their new D1 talent playing this if MaxPreps is correct.
at Southern
Mountain Ridge
Tucker County
at Allegany
Calvary Christian Academy
at Hampshire
at Fort Hill
Northern
Fort Hill
Frankfort
at Keyser
at Lighthouse Christian

With the state of area basketball, all these games will literally be 108-34 type games. Even when BW has their subs in. If you think that is a good thing, we just won't agree. I could see maybe a small handful of those type games but not that full slate. Honestly, I did not foresee BW putting this type of team together this fast with D1 kids from around the globe. I'm guessing local schools did not anticipate this grand scale thing so quick either when the games were discussed. I don't know. Me thinks BW had to do this to make sure they had home games to play. And since the other schools said OK, I'm obviously not on their same page. Outside of this local slate BW currently has 3 home games and hosts a tournament.

This will be an interesting experiment rarely seen anywhere. You won't find top level hoops teams like this playing this amount of struggling small class programs. When I helped BW put a football schedule together years ago I never would have tried to line them up against the likes of Calvert Hall and Good Counsel - teams with a quantity of D1 kids. Nor would BW have allowed it for the same reasons.

Please don't misconstrue what I say into thinking I am against BW basketball. Not the case at all. I just know how poor area hoops has become. These local games will be MONSTER beat downs on every single one of them. I don't want to see all our local kids go through that. Not sure what it accomplishes. Of course I am wrong if BW basketball isn't as good as people tell me they will be.

Thank you. Guess we will be accussed of being butt buddies again. LOL. For those that want to see top tier games in Cumberland there is still the Alhambra and the new Bob Kirk Tourney with teams still tba. Other than that BW has no significant home games at all. Maybe Gorretti to a small degree. But nothing like other city private leagues get. We live in the sticks. BW had no choice to play a full load of local teams none of which will stay eithin 50 points given a shot clock. BW has money now, have Nike buy home games and stop thumping every local team in a 30 mile radius with D1 recruits from far away. That's a joke. What years did you help BW fI'll football games?

 

[OneRing]

Thank you. Guess we will be accussed of being butt buddies again. LOL. For those that want to see top tier games in Cumberland there is still the Alhambra and the new Bob Kirk Tourney with teams still tba. Other than that BW has no significant home games at all. Maybe Gorretti to a small degree. But nothing like other city private leagues get. We live in the sticks. BW had no choice to play a full load of local teams none of which will stay eithin 50 points given a shot clock. BW has money now, have Nike buy home games and stop thumping every local team in a 30 mile radius with D1 recruits from far away. That's a joke. What years did you help BW fI'll football games?

I dont think that would happen with us, but I agree with both of you. The crowds on BW road games with area teams will not provide any significant bump in attendance.

And I know schedules were already made, but no way Calvary and Lighthouse should be on the schedule. That's like FH and Allegany combined in a football game against the midget division Cumberland Raiders roller hockey team.

 

[otnorot]

Yes it is Sunrise. If I hear the names of the schools I will know them a guy told me the teams I can only remember the states they are from. I believe the other school in the tournament is from Philadelphia

Looks like some of the other teams are Wasatch Academy from Utah and LaLumiere from Indiana who were at the ACIT a few years back.

MaxPreps preseason Top 25 has Sunrise at #7 in the country and LaLumiere at #8. Wasatch Academy is one of the "next five":
http://www.maxpreps.com/news/zCHyGE...on-top-25-high-school-basketball-rankings.htm

WCAC teams at #6 and #11 as well.

 

[cumbfanatic]

Coach Prete accepted the coaching position in May. He has done a lot in the short time. Besides some of the local schools its a good schedule. It wouldn't have been right for him to come in and cancel on the local teams so they remained on the schedule. They will not embarrass or put a beat down on them as ppl are describing. Local kids probably look forward to playing a good coach. There will be 2 top 10 teams in the Nation playing at BW. In that small gym it will be a good atmosphere for highschool competition. These three teams and their supporters will be spending a couple nights in local hotels, eating locally etc. The gym will not be short of D1 scouts those couple days either.

 

[BoyznBlue]

You mean the same Silver Oak football team that has Calvert Hall, Middletown, Boonsboro, Mount Saint Joseph, Walkersville, Saint Frances and Friendship Collegiate on its schedule this year?

I noticed you conveniently only mentioned Fort Hill and Allegany...

My point wasn't to take a shot at FH or Alco, my point is if you have no problem with blow outs in football year after year, then why are you complaining now about blow outs in basketball?

 

[loco09]

I agree with cumbfanatic on this, I think the real problem would be next year if this many locals remain on the schedule, ideally there would be 2 or 3 local games a year toward the beginning of the season. Not being in a real conference hurts BW right now with no guaranteed home games other than IPSL games against Mercersburg and Goretti.

 

[cumbfanatic]

Oakhill is ranked #2 in the country. BW will be playing them in Kentucky. Very tough competition for anyone especially a first year team. They have a couple games against top 10 teams. Forward Oliver Nkamhoua got an offer from St. Joes

 

[cumbfanatic]

BW has an 8th grader, Malik Bowman, he can jump out of the gym. Bigtime player and not too often this area has an 8th grader that can dunk easily.

 

[loco09]

Bob Kirk Tournament Announced

 

[cumbfanatic]

I like the line up. BW should win against Takoma Academy fairly easy. Lol they already have the winners picked out from the first night. That puts BW in at least the consolation maybe the Championship the third day and they have BW playing the 8 game the first 2 nights...very nice.

 

[BrianH1974]

Bob Kirk Tournament Announced

View embedded media

That's actually pretty awesome. Where is this tournament at AC gym? Are the teams staying at the Ramada Inn like at the ACIT?

Hope you folks can keep filling us in on the teams BW is playing, like who plays on what team and where they have committed to college. That just keeps generating more interest in unknowlegeable fans like me. Double thumbs up!!

 

[loco09]

That's actually pretty awesome. Where is this tournament at AC gym? Are the teams staying at the Ramada Inn like at the ACIT?

Hope you folks can keep filling us in on the teams BW is playing, like who plays on what team and where they have committed to college. That just keeps generating more interest in unknowlegeable fans like me. Double thumbs up!!

The tournament will be at BW, not sure of the accommodations, the first day features "showcase games" the four opponents listed first are all regional, Rock Creek and Takoma from PG county, Rock Creek was 26-3 last year and has some talent. Mercersburg from PA who BW will play earlier in the year and Virginia Academy from Ashburn. Those teams are a step below the other teams in the tournament and will only play the one game. LaLumiere was 24-4 last year and is preseason #8 nationally, Wasatch from Utah was 24-2 last year and is #30 nationally, and Sunrise was 22-2 last season and is #7 in the preseason. All three of those teams have multiple D1 commits. Needless to say BW will be tested in these games, i know there was discussion about the local games that are on the schedule for a variety of reasons but this tournament will be phenomenal basketball that hopefully the community supports.

 

[cumbfanatic]

Takoma Park who BW plays first, beat Dunbar last year in a tournament so they have a good basketball team. Even tho they picked the winners of the Thursday games the other 4 aren't weak teams, just going against great teams. Its interesting to see talent on a good basketball team compared to teams with National Attention.

 

[towpath94]

They didn't "pick the winners". It's not your typical ACIT setup. The regional teams other than host BW play one game. The other teams traveling a distance are guaranteed three games. The tournament doesn't actually start until day 2.

 

[cumbfanatic]

Goodpoint Towpath. It is obvious tho they will be the 4 winners. Anything can happen I guess, it will be a good weekend

 

[otnorot]

Sunrise Christian won the St. James tournament last year and looked really good in doing so. Some of the players from that team appear to have moved on to their "prep" team, which includes some postgrads and plays jucos, but as far as I can tell their regular high school team should include N'Faly Dante (5* junior center), Grant Sherfield (UCLA), Jordan Turner (Baylor), Tray Jackson (Missouri), Austin Crowley (Vanderbilt), Bryce Cook (Tulsa), and some others that will commit to D1 schools later on.

Here is their schedule, they will be on national television several times:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dq83xlWV4AAceWw.jpg:large

 

[cumbfanatic]

How do you think this BW team compares to last years St. James team.

 

[otnorot]

How do you think this BW team compares to last years St. James team.

On paper it looks very similar talent-wise. How it will fit together on the court is still unknown.

 

[cumbfanatic]

BW has 16 players listed on the varsity roster with 2 locals, 1 from Cumberland and 1 from Lavale. 5 players 6'7 and over with the tallest being 6'11

 

[rbg444]

BW has 16 players listed on the varsity roster with 2 locals, 1 from Cumberland and 1 from Lavale. 5 players 6'7 and over with the tallest being 6'11

any idea what is going on with all the other local kids who would have made up the team...did they transfer to fh or alco?

 

[cumbfanatic]

I dont know. I heard Coach Prete wasn't going to cut anyone, probably why they have 16 on the roster. I also heard he was encouraging kids to play.

 

[rbg444]

I dont know. I heard Coach Prete wasn't going to cut anyone, probably why they have 16 on the roster. I also heard he was encouraging kids to play.

that's good to hear.

 

[loco09]

First chance to see the teams, should be a fun event for the community as well.

 

[loco09]

Also the game in NYC has been announced, they will play Archbishop Stepinac who is listed in several Top 25 preseason rankings as well. Aside from the local games this schedule is pretty challenging for a first year program.

 

[cumbfanatic]

The Bob Kirk tournament is at AC correct? Looks like the home uniforms are all black with white print

 

[loco09]

The Bob Kirk tournament is at AC correct? Looks like the home uniforms are all black with white print

No the Bob Kirk tournament is at BW and the home uniforms are white with burgundy letters and road uniforms are the black and white ones.Also BW scrimmaged at Paul VI a couple days ago who are the number 11 nationally preseason team. Not sure how they did.

 

[otnorot]

 

[loco09]

Pretty good story that does a good job of trying to explain the program and vision for the future. I'm sure the schedule will change some next year despite what the article hints at but other than that it's a good write up. https://www.times-news.com/sports/l...cle_3a497672-f51d-11e8-aeec-d383308badff.html

 

[otnorot]

Bishop Walsh-Georgetown Prep video:

 

[cumbfanatic]

Thank you for the video. That was not a good shooting night. When their shot is on they will be tough.

 

[cumbfanatic]

BW is ranked #12, in Maryland top 30 rankings.

 

[TDawson1991]

Yea we got lost in communication.

None of what I say should not be confused with the fact I love the ACIT and seeing top level teams play top level teams. So when you say you will see them in NYC and mark your calendar for a Georgetown Prep game, absolutely! Those games should be a good crowd. Not the same as traveling to Romney to see them play Hampshire though, where I don't see a large crowd. But the reason some people have tried to justify BW playing a full local area slate is that all these teams will make money at the gate, so it's worth it to play BW even with the 80 point blow out. I don't think the gate money will be significant. No more significant then when the BW of years past went to Southern, Alco or FH where the gyms already actually had a decent crowd. That is where we got lost in communication. In other words, Southern will pack the gym no matter who they play. City games were always pretty full attendance. So how does this BW team coming in to win by 80 points increase the numbers that already existed at these local games? Will it be by a significant amount to say it's worth it at the gate? And half of the local games are in the BW gym. As for the challenge argument...

In a nutshell, I can't see this BW team with all their new D1 talent playing this if MaxPreps is correct.
at Southern
Mountain Ridge
Tucker County
at Allegany
Calvary Christian Academy
at Hampshire
at Fort Hill
Northern
Fort Hill
Frankfort
at Keyser
at Lighthouse Christian

With the state of area basketball, all these games will literally be 108-34 type games. Even when BW has their subs in. If you think that is a good thing, we just won't agree. I could see maybe a small handful of those type games but not that full slate. Honestly, I did not foresee BW putting this type of team together this fast with D1 kids from around the globe. I'm guessing local schools did not anticipate this grand scale thing so quick either when the games were discussed. I don't know. Me thinks BW had to do this to make sure they had home games to play. And since the other schools said OK, I'm obviously not on their same page. Outside of this local slate BW currently has 3 home games and hosts a tournament.

This will be an interesting experiment rarely seen anywhere. You won't find top level hoops teams like this playing this amount of struggling small class programs. When I helped BW put a football schedule together years ago I never would have tried to line them up against the likes of Calvert Hall and Good Counsel - teams with a quantity of D1 kids. Nor would BW have allowed it for the same reasons.

Please don't misconstrue what I say into thinking I am against BW basketball. Not the case at all. I just know how poor area hoops has become. These local games will be MONSTER beat downs on every single one of them. I don't want to see all our local kids go through that. Not sure what it accomplishes. Of course I am wrong if BW basketball isn't as good as people tell me they will be.

Todd I have a question/statement for you that you could probably answer for me. Everyone continues to bash the BW schedule this season. They continue to say that it isn’t right for them to play the 13 local games they have scheduled. My question is if they were to drop all 13 of those games at the time that they realized they were getting D1 talent wouldn’t it be very difficult for them to fill all those games? Also the same goes for all the teams that would lose 1-2 regular season games. To me it seems like it would have been worse for the new coach to come in and just say forget all the local area school I’m going to cancel all those games. I realize that having teams like Calvery on the schedule looked terrible but just as recently as last season that was who they competed with.

 

[TDHelmick]

Todd I have a question/statement for you that you could probably answer for me. Everyone continues to bash the BW schedule this season. They continue to say that it isn’t right for them to play the 13 local games they have scheduled. My question is if they were to drop all 13 of those games at the time that they realized they were getting D1 talent wouldn’t it be very difficult for them to fill all those games? Also the same goes for all the teams that would lose 1-2 regular season games. To me it seems like it would have been worse for the new coach to come in and just say forget all the local area school I’m going to cancel all those games. I realize that having teams like Calvery on the schedule looked terrible but just as recently as last season that was who they competed with.

I don't believe the local schools realized BW was going to recruit at this level immediately when they all agreed to play. I think most knew BW had plans to reach this level in time. But the influx of talent took off quick. So last season is definitely not this season by 50 miles.

To say each local school would have lost 1 game (2 in the case of Fort Hill) and struggled to fill the hole just isn't so in the least. But I believe it is extremely difficult for BW to find home games if the local schools won't play them as evident by looking at their current home schedule for this season. Outside the local teams, how many home games does BW have? That's always going to be a problem.

When local hoops is as down as it's ever been, playing a full load of teams like Hyndman, Northern, Hampshire, etc. just makes zero sense. I will sum it up again by saying that when BW lost to DeMatha about two years ago in the ACIT by nearly 100 points...BW almost folded the program and their was even rumblings about the future of the ACIT. Now I say the same about playing local schools. It's not good to get beat like that at all for teams that struggle. And area teams are struggling to the extreme.

Being a football guy, BW dropped all the local teams in football a long time ago for a reason, and I don't blame them. The Spartans were struggling to compete at that level and thought it best to find another direction. I see this bball scenario no differently. So the shoe is on the other foot to some degree and I can't see how BW supporters would not say they understand.

 

[TDawson1991]

I agree last year isn’t this year but they really had no idea what they had as far as talent until after the schedule was already made correct? Any good program regardless of sport is not going to schedule games that they cannot compete. If you look at what they had at the time the schedule was made local teams are good games for them. It’s not like fort hill football where they have a (very very good) established program. You can look ahead and see what you have at the jv and freshman levels. BW has always “wanted” to bring in this level of talent but have been unable to do so. So for them to make a schedule that would have all these nationally ranked teams on it with the roster they had last season just wouldn’t have made sense. I get what you are saying about it will be hard for them to get home games but local people aren’t bashing the number of home games they have. They are bashing the amount of local games in general. That brings me back to my original question, how hard would it to have been for BW to cancel/find 13 games at the time they realized the talent they had?

 

[loco09]

This will be my last comments on this schedule situation until next season's schedule is released. First off I agree in principle that playing most of the local teams is not beneficial to either side. I wouldn't mind seeing a Southern, Allegany, or Fort Hill stay on the schedule. Southern and Allegany have a history of playing one or two challenging games a year anyway, why not make that a local game too.Coach Prete has already said he is going to use those local games to get the kids playing time that don't see much action, you're not going to see all the starters in there with the score 120-30. Trust me, nobody on the BW team or staff will be beating their chest about being AMAC champs, I read an article where they asked a player what game or games they were looking forward to and the answer was Oak Hill and the coaches have mentioned the ACIT, nobody is going to gloat over beating Keyser or Frankfort this year. BW wants to play nice because they still need to play all of the local schools in other sports.

As far as replacing those games if they were dropped in the summer, it would have been BW more in a bind than the other schools. Losing one game or replacing it isn't that bad compared to 11 or 12 games needing replaced. Todd's remarks that the local schools didn't know BW would accumulate talent this fast is also precisely why they don't have home games with regional or national powers. Nobody is going to agree to drive to Cumberland if they don't think they will get a good game, hopefully in the next year or two as the program grows that won't be as much of an issue. In a perfect world BW would get into the Baltimore Catholic League and be guaranteed home games through that, play a local game or two and then do their tournaments. This year's schedule is the most difficult one any team has ever played in this area, playing 3 of the top 10 preseason teams in the country is crazy, along with the other teams they are playing or have played. Hopefully they can find a nice balance in the years ahead.

 

[Redwhite90]

So , let me ask you this... Does the thinking change at all if, by some chance, a local team like Southern, Frankfort, ALCO, etc who only play them once this year pulls out a Princeton/UNLV upset and beats this team of all-stars? I realize the odds are low and to do it twice would be pretty impossible but anything can happen once. I mean it is still basketball and if one team has a "lights out" shooting night and the other goes cold, it is possible. Then BW would be in danger of losing the AMAC with their group of talent. Would that be a blemish on their new "brand" or would they still not care at all? I am thinking they may not care if they win the AMAC but they certainly care if they lose it. It is exciting though to have a team like this in the area knowing they will bring other similar teams to their gym in the future!

 

[TDHelmick]

I agree last year isn’t this year but they really had no idea what they had as far as talent until after the schedule was already made correct? Any good program regardless of sport is not going to schedule games that they cannot compete. If you look at what they had at the time the schedule was made local teams are good games for them. It’s not like fort hill football where they have a (very very good) established program. You can look ahead and see what you have at the jv and freshman levels. BW has always “wanted” to bring in this level of talent but have been unable to do so. So for them to make a schedule that would have all these nationally ranked teams on it with the roster they had last season just wouldn’t have made sense. I get what you are saying about it will be hard for them to get home games but local people aren’t bashing the number of home games they have. They are bashing the amount of local games in general. That brings me back to my original question, how hard would it to have been for BW to cancel/find 13 games at the time they realized the talent they had?

Sounds like you have a misunderstanding about putting a basketball schedule together. In hoops games are being added and dropped continuously up until the first game. And for teams like BW those scheduling changes even occur as the season progresses. It's not like football where games are locked in 8 months in advance. So no, it would not have been an issue this past summer and fall had the local teams said no thanks we are not going to play BW.

Which leads to another question...I have heard here that the BW JV team may end up playing teams like Calvary and Hyndman. I don't k now the numbers game right now at BW so maybe someone can answer. If they have talked about having two teams at BW, why can't they play most all of the local teams with this JV team and a few others mixed in?