The 2011 All-Centercourt Team: The Best in WNY

Job well done CC.
A fantastic first year for “The View from Centercourt.”
Looking at your team(s), it’s amazing to see that even though WNY graduated so many talented players last year, this year’s team is still very much senior-laden. That goes to show just how important senior experience and leadership is. After Paige and Taplin, it’s really anyone’s guess who becomes the next star in WNY basketball. Can’t wait until next year to find out!

TML1000

What was your criteria, CC? More heavy on “best” players or more to success of the program as a whole?
To me, I have Agbeko, Farrant, Street and Alexander, on your fifth team, ahead of everyone on your fourth team, except Bova, who I can’t comment on.
I would also have Funk, Bailey, Edwards, Alexander(Lack) and Feggans ahead of all those on your fourth team.
Do you really think Pierce, Moxham, Bomasuto and Licata are better basketball players than those on your fifth team and the few I mentioned there? Just trying to get into your head, but I can’t see how you could think so.
Finally, no Richardson on HM?? I thought you were a fan of his…also, no Bono? Apparently the missed games hold a lot of weight.

TML1000

Alright…just heard you on the radio mention the 60 best “seasons.” Sort of puts it in better perspective. Still, I would argue that when ranking the players, I couldn’t justify most of the 4th team guys being ahead of the other 8 or so guys I’ve mentioned.

JohnFrederickPSU

Congratulations to the selected above 1st Team through Honorable Mention for being selected to the 2011 All Center court Team.
A special “tip of the hat” to those selected above for also being named to the Buffalo News Super Seniors for their accomplishnents in the class room. You represent your schools and communities very well and are true student-athletes with very bright futures. The individuals selected include; Darrius Edwards, Tyler Funk, Joe Licata, Brennan Moxam, Kevin O’Connell, Connor Rehbaum and Gordon Lyons.
Andrew, I’ll take a swing at who will be among the best next season. Timon’s Kyle Kobis and Jordan Williams will be among the 1st two teams. To get an idea who else will be there, find out when Coach Rodney Nevins AAU Dragons will be playing, the best players in WNY are on that team.
Great work CC.

Team

I like the teams, however a little bit too Niagara Orleans skewed for the 4th team. I would take Farrant for sure on 4th team along with Agbeko. I also think 3rd team is too high for O’Connell. He is not a better player than Licata.
Also I think a player alot of people forget about is Justice Feggans from Riverside. Check out his numbers vs. some of the best teams in the Yale Cup. Scored over 20 points a game in the league and led his team to the Class A-2 Finals. I feel like he is overlooked because he is a sophomore which is not right. If Feggans is a senior I guarantee everyone is talking about him more. He should be on one of the 4 teams.

guest

this is all for fun,and we all have our favorite leagues-CC is a N-O guy,TML-NFL,Pat-MM,Statechamps-YaleCup. It is all argueable but all these kids are fine players.

Hoopfan

Very good job by CC! The only guys in the top 25 that didnt reach the semi-finals are Estarfaa, Taplin, Bova and Farrant so how how a player helps the team success is clearly an important criteria. Glad to see all the leagues represented. I think Taplin is in the right place on 3rd team after seeing the 10 guys on the first 2 teams, but look out for next year…he’ll be a 1st teamer. Also agree with OConnell ahead of Licata because I think he made South go. Darius Edwards is a top 25 guy but I guess Frontier’s season wasnt strong enough. I count a total of 18 guys from ecic with half coming from ecic 1.

Hoopfan, you say that about ecic 1 but I don’t think he gave it enough respect. It was arguably the best the leagues ever been and was the second best league behind the Yale cup. I also think funk, hill, and Edwards should have been somewhere on the five teams and young and Safir honorable mentions. But hey it is what it is, CC is an N-O guy

please

some very good players from that league but lets not get carried away. if the league was the best its ever been and the second best team was will north or lancaster then what does that really say? willi east would have been the second best team in ecic 1.

TML1000

Well…Wil East would not have been the second best team in ECIC 1…that is clear.

missed it

Missed the boat on Edwards and Funk – take over taplin and all of your 5th team – must not have seen enough ECIC 1 games – Taplin is good but not 3rd team over these two guys. Buffalo news will have them higher….

please

really tml? willi east beat willi north & clarence this year.

TML1000

Yes…in the non league. Depew also beat Lancaster in the non league, so would Depew have been 2nd in ECIC 1? I don’t think so. It’s one thing to beat a larger school in the first game of the season or the final regular season game when a team was clearly not at it’s best.
Wil East also lost to Ken East in the sectionals, at home. So I suppose Ken East would have been second in ECIC II, right? Well, they actually would have been, come to think about it. Maybe the NFL was stronger than people think.

please

harington didnt even play against depew so that makes no sense at all. neither does saying a team isnt playing best at the start and end of the season. ken east was good when bono and the other dude played but i heard that was like never and lets not turn this into a nfl thing because all im saying is ecic 1 had some good players but the teams were nothing specail.

TML1000

Well, ECIC I had 5 out of the 8 quarterfinal teams in AA and 2 semifinalists. No other league had that good of an output other than the Yale Cup.
It’s not an NFL thing…clearly the NFL was not as deep as ECIC I. Wil East would finish no higher than fourth in ECIC I…I’m sure anyone else that also followed the season would tell you the same thing.

please

dude your trying to make the case that ecic 1 teams were good because their better than nfl teams? the nfl was worse! both leagues had one good team. besides those two and willi south all the other good large schools were private and city. willi east could easily have been second in ecic1. when we beat willi north they had everyone and no way they wanted to lose to us. same with clarence. i dont know where you make this stuff up from.

TML1000

First of all, Wil East lost to Ken East, so by your logic, Wil East would also lose to Ken West, Lew Port, N-W and Lockport.
Second, Wil East beat Clarence the first game of the season. Sure, you can say that both teams improved as the season went on, but Clarence finished fourth in the league. In the North game, Taplin barely played and was clearly not the player who had played so well for the bulk of the season. It was still a good win for East, but everyone who followed the entire season took that game with a grain of salt.
So the point you’re trying to make is that Wil East would have been second in ECIC I…it simply would not have happened. That league was tough top to bottom…a team like Frontier was near the bottom but was still a solid team. One could make the argument that they would have finished second in ECIC II, by the same fuzzy logic that you’re using.
Are you trying to garner more respect for Wil East? They had a solid season and played in one of the weakest leagues in the section. They had a few good nonleague wins, but did not deliver in the sectionals. There’s really not much more to be said. To me, they’re in the same category as teams like Ken West, Amherst, Clarence and Frontier.

please

i aint trying to garner repsect for willi east. if you were following along this whole time you would see that this all started out by me saying that ecic1 wasnt full of top teams. they will end up with one team in the top ten. i used my team as an example of one that beat two of the teams from ecic1. then you jumped into the argument with your all knowing wisdom and formula of how this wins somehow dont matter. dont twist my words with the ken east loss because i said willi east beat two teams they did beat. i never uded any of your nonsense formulas. and by your own logic the ken east loss doesnt matter cause it happened at the end of the year. i think you want ecic1 teams to be considered dsomething special because they beat your nfl boys like ken west and nw at the end of the year. just because ken west lost to frontier and lancaster at the end of the year dosnt mean ecic1 was great. you have both the nfl and ecic1 teams over-rated. this whole thing started because someone else called ecic1 arguably the best it has ever been and to that i say PLEASE. then you jump in with a bunch of twisted talk and trying to speak for everybody with your ‘evryone that followed knows’ stuff. dude whatever.

TML1000

I didn’t say the win didn’t matter because it was at the end of the year, I said North was not the same team they were for the bulk of the season for that game, and clearly for their sectional game as well.
Listen, I don’t need ECIC, NFL, NOL, CCIAC, MMA, AAU teams or YMCA teams to be considered as something special. I stand up for leagues like the NFL because they often don’t get the respect…in all sports. Was ECIC I at it’s best this year? Who knows, you can’t bring back past years’ teams. What is clear is that it was the second best league in the section, to the Yale Cup. That is counting MMA as not being technically in the section.
Also, Lancaster should, and likely will, end up in the final top 10 of the poll, not because they beat “my boys,” Ken West, because they had a strong season. You gain respect by winning games when it counts, in the sectionals. Wil East didn’t do that, either did “my boys,” either did North or Clarence.

Thank you

Please,
FYI: Harrington did play against Depew. He was held to 0 points. If you want to call that not playing, so be it.
Thank you

please

maybe north was just over-rated all year. after taplin they were very average. you say clearly they werent the same the last two games and i ask who did they even beat this year besides lancaster once? i know we were better and mckinley was way better. you cant count the win against jamestown without page cause a few days later they got destroyed against him. and if ecic1 is the third best league after city and private they should be cause their the only league thats all aa.

Division1

I’m not going to get into discussion about which leagues were better because I didn’t get to see top 4 teams in each league. As far as rating of players first 2 teams were fine, 3rd team had a one or two questionable picks. From 4th team onward all I can say is thank God it is a free country and we are all entitled to our opinions. But from my prep school and division 1 basketball experience I can only say wow, almost ridiculous. Agbeko behind most of those guys on 4th is comical. He has 9 division 1 programs including 3 high majors that are currently recruiting him and would definitely disagree. Nice job anyways for taking time out and coming up with your assessment of who the best of the best are in western new York.

Bill Walton

Centercourt – your 4th team is way off !! Must have been because you kept going to the Newfane games.

overrated

i dont agree with alexander being on the fifth. he had a good year LAST year. i didnt really pay that much attention so i could be wrong but i think he is getting all the respect from last year. i think he is a little overrated. i also dont agree with o’connell. when i saw him at buff state he had at least 10 turnovers in those games. but again i think reputation for schools and other things like that plays the biggest part in picking these teams.

Team

Just cause Agbeko is getting recruited by D1s doesn’t mean the kid should automatically make All-WNY. He barely even played in the Manhattan Cup playoffs. I agree with centercourt.

Division1

Please you are correct that getting recruited doesn’t mean you should make all western new York. However Agbeko got hurt at tipoff of Timon game in Manhattan Cup and could barely walk but still tried to give it a go in championship against Canisius. So I guess since he was at 40% for the Manhattan Cup he shouldn’t receive recognition for what he did during the regular season and first game in playoffs. I guess all western new yorkers should only be from teams that win it all and if you get hurt, sorry buddy wait til next year.

Sean Bruso

CC,
Great job buddy hope you can make it in Saturday. Great work and alot of work. In defense of the mount rushmore contributor TML, as you know I see alot of ECIC 1 and see a fair share of NFL games. I can say honestly that ECIC 1 and NFL was very talented with alot of parity. Ken-East with Bono was very solid, we forgot to mention Niagara Wheatfield who was amongst the top in the league. Many times teams could not account for Grandits against Ken-West. Lew-Port (ecic 3) who was very very talented as well.
In ECIC 1 anyone could knock off anyone any given night. It is the same as AA in football, anyone can. The Larger schools generally are more competitive on a weekly basis. I did see the Lancaster Depew game and Harrington played around 6 minutes. I am not sure if it was an injury issue but he was near the end of the bench for the remainder of the game. I am interested in CC’s view on ECIC 2…

Butters

CC
It’s tough to argue with your top 10 with anyone on the 2nd team could be on the 1st team. That is a solid top 10.

Tripp

I will defend the fourth team vs fifth team by saying this. Yes, Physically the 5th team is much bigger than the 4th team, but as far as fundamental basketball skills the 4th team is far better. Level of skill is what separates all of these rankings. Very good job, CC!

TML1000

Bomasuto, Licata and Pierce are not more skilled basketball players than Farrant, Street and Alexander.
Also, the comment regarding Alexander…if anything he is underrated. He is a very string overall player and had to play a Holland-like role for OTC this year.

tah

I couldn’t say for sure that Alexander was the best player on his own team this year.

Yale Cup

Alexander did not play a Holland-like role at Middle this year or ever. Not sure where that statement comes from. He didn’t bring the ball up, wasn’t the leading scorer on the team, didn’t guard the other teams best player. He did miss a couple games for fighting with the coach…don’t think Holland did that either. He is hardly under rated.

guest

PAL/ACE showcase rosters are set. Missing some of the biger name kids but the way the other all star events have gone might be better off. Wed. April 6th first game at 6:15, don’t expect to see the McDonalds game ,good talent and 2 blue collar games. $5 admission proceeds benefit Niagara PAL. Should be a fun night. No Music,no contests just basketball

Tripp

I never saw Bomasuta play.
Pierce plays just as hard as anyone in wny, leads his team in doing the dirty work and Newfane does a lot of that. Signed D1 baseball.
Licata is sniper from three pt range,with a shot fake jab steb, shot add the target on his back. has signed D1 Football.
Two(that I saw) are solid athletes that lead there team to a lot of victories!
If the skill of post feeding bigger players wasn’t a lost art i would agree with you!

St. Mary”s

sean, I appreciate your input on the harrington @ Depew game. He played most of the first half and was completely shut out. HE got into an argument w/ coach @ halftime and was benched for the second half. i believe coach walters was trying to motivate him and he didnt respond well. this is all irrelevant as he had a very good year for the redskins, and deserves some recognition for helping to turn around the program. heck if we had him and notaro we could have won the manhattan cup

Andrew Webster

Hey Guest, could you share the PAL/ACE rosters, or tell me where I could find those. Also, if anyone was at the Roundball Classic yesterday, I would love to hear about it.

Andrew,
I”m working on getting them now.

Here are the complete rosters for both games:
http://www.buffalosportsdaily.com/rosters-set-for-palace-all-star-game/
Obviously, there is a lot of star power missing: Most notably guys like Paige, Holland, Butts, Holland, Lyons and Nevins.
But there’s plenty of talent that will be on that floor to make two compelling games. Rosters on both sides for both games look to be evently matched. Maybe we’ll few guys really break out and become known commodities for next season.

Andrew Webster

Thanks Patrick.

I should probably check my spelling habits before posting on this board, lol. That looked really bad.
You know what I meant though. Not a ton of “big names” on those lists, but that doesn’t mean the games won’t be any less exciting. IN fact, they may end up being even better.

sal

Thanks,Pat I think some kids stay away because we try to keep the “Mcdonald game” atmosphere out. Last year we had kids taking charges ,diving on floor and guarding end line to end line. Playing a real basketball game. Kids worked hard yesterday and I think they won’t disrespect the game like so many events do. For the record 3 kids came late and they had to run before they were allowed to tryout. KIDS NEED rules not people telling them how good they are. Hope to see you there

Not related to this topic or basketball at all for that matter. But I know there are a lot of multi-sport HS fans in here, so I’m reporting that I’ve heard that Timon has fired their entire football coaching staff.

Wayne Rooney

I watched part of the McDonald’s game last week. It was a joke of a basketball game. No D, very sloppy play. Looked like an AND 1 game. Plus they overhype these kids. You wonder how they get big egos. I know Austin Rivers can score but he better learn to play defense or he won’t get off Coach K’s bench at Duke.

snooki

mcsheas first team
paige
butts
holland
nevins
fisher

For HS Football Fans (I didn’t know where else to throw this). News on the Timon Football Staff Firings
http://www.buffalosportsdaily.com/source-bishop-timon-fires-entire-football-coaching-staff/

centercourt

I wanted to give a little time before I responded to some of the comments regarding my All-Centercourt selections. After reading through everything, it seems the main points of contention from those who gave an opinion are with fourth and fifth team, Tyler Funk and Darius Edwards not making a team, and guys like Dante Bono and Forest Richardson not being anywhere.
First off, let me be clear about the criteria I use. It’s honoring the players who had the BEST SEASON…THIS SEASON. It’s not about who’s getting Division 1 looks, who would dominate if you put them on Ellicottville, or who finished where last year. If it was just about finding the most talented basketball players, you wouldn’t even have to wait until the end of the season to produce a team. But talent doesn’t automatically equate into an All-WNY worthy season in my book. As far as the correlation with team success, generally speaking, top players lead their teams to success. There are some exceptions to that, such as a player on an otherwise untalented team playing tough competition, or a very balanced team that experiences success due to the contributions of many, rather than being lead by one or two players.
Also, unlike some, I see a wide variety of teams and a great number of games – over 120 this season. There wasn’t any one team I followed exclusively, and other than Michael Bova and Jordan Farrant, I saw every player in my top 25 at least twice, and 20 of the 25 at least five times. So not only did I see the guy you were rooting for, I also saw the guy you never saw, but are sure he doesn’t belong.
With all that in mind, the players on my fourth team are absolutely deserving of their selection, and of being placed a team above those on fifth team. Yes, two of the top twenty players came from the N-O. They were the two best players from that league and leaders of teams that were top ten small schools for the entire season, league champs, and Section VI finalists in their respective classes. The only leagues with two teams representing it on Championship Saturday were the N-O and the Yale Cup.
Brennan Moxham was the guy at Wilson, and one of two players at season’s end who was even trusted to handle the ball. Despite being the focal point of the opposition’s defense, he led his team to a win over Cleveland Hill and to within four points of the overall Class B champion. He played every game for his team, led them in points, assists, and steals. He had a signature performance against St. Mary’s, finishing with a game-high 27 points, went 14 of 14 from the charity stripe, hit three 3-pointers, and sank the game winning shot from just inside the arc, with ten seconds left on OT. It was the same St. Mary’s team that beat Clarence and Hutch-Tech, and only lost to St. Joe’s by five.
Rohn Pierce is a similar type player to Gordon Lyons, in that he was the hardest working player on the court everytime he stepped on it. He averaged 19.9 points and 12.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 3.5 steals per game, while connecting on 18 of 44 attempts from downtown. His best games included a 29 point first half where he finished with 35, and a 34 point, 22 rebound performance. In seven of his 21 games, he did not play in the fourth quarter. In the Class B1 final, he was the only player that kept his team in the game, scoring 22 of his team’s 35 points and drawing high praise from Lackawanna coach Tim Foley afterwards.
Michael Bova of Westfield faced a double-team in nearly every game, and still averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds. He posted 14 double-doubles, and in one of his two triple-doubles, he registered 26 points, 20 rebounds, and 19 blocks. His season-high in points was 38 and his season-high in rebounds was 21. In the quarterfinals against I-Prep, Holland had to guard him because he presented a match-up problem for Hillman. Bova is the school’s all-time leading scorer with over 1,400 points.
Vinny Bomasuto led Dunkirk to an undefeated regular season that included a pair of wins over Olean. He was a scoring machine and the team’s best defender, thriving in the press and at the top of the 2-3 zone. His signature game was a 42 point, 15 assist performance, and he also registered a Section VI playoff-high 47 points in his teams quarterfinal win.
Joe Licata was part of a three-headed monster at Williamsville South that set a school record for wins in a season. Call him one-dimensional if you must, but that one dimension was so deadly that every team he faced knew it was coming, but could not stop it. The state’s all-time leader in 3-pointers was vital to the Billies success this year and his presence opened up the court for the rest of the team and allowed them to thrive in their style of play.
The five guys on fifth team are all excellent, but their seasons were not as defined as the guys on fourth team.
Agbeko was dominant at times, but also inconsistent as he developed. He was not his team’s first option, didn’t start every game for the Marauders, and missed stretches of games in foul trouble. The Marauders also showed on multiple occasions that they could be an elite team without him in the lineup.
Street was another player who was at times dominant. But Street wasn’t as consistent as Feagin, and played for the only team to have four different guys in the top 60 (and that’s without mentioning Jermaine Crumpton). In order for Street to finish higher, he would have needed to be more consistent and carry his team farther, given all the talent around him.
Anyone who knows me, knows I’m as big of a Kadeem Hillman fan as there is. He improved by leaps and bounds from a year ago, and added enough to his game to go from an athlete to a basketball player. I think he was a big part of the Presidents success this year, but still not as much as he could have been. He was never the focus of the offense (except in a game against Tapestry), and had I-Prep gone through him more, he and the team may have finished higher. Still an excellent season for both he and the team, but with Holland on first team, Hillman being higher than fifth team would likely indicate a Class C state title.
Jordan Farrant is a great player who is a lock to be in the top 20 next year. He put up very impressive numbers this season, particularly in the postseason, and led his team to a pair of quality wins over Randolph and Salamanca in the process. But that consistency was lacking over the course of the season. Of the six regular season wins that Farrant led his team to, two were against winless Eden, one was against Cardinal O’Hara, and one was against Gow.
Davon Alexander was a player who I had on my fourth team last season, due in particular to his helping to lead the Kats to a Class C state title and earning state tournament MVP honors along the way. This season, OTC enjoyed far less success and had no signature wins after a November victory over Hutch-Tech. Not only did this year’s team bow out in the semifinals, Alexander missed multiple games within his control and was held out of the starting lineup for others. He also missed some time this year due to injury. All things considered, for as many times as Alexander was in the starting lineup out of the 20 games the Kats played this season, I think fifth team was generous.
If there’s one player I missed on, it would be Darius Edwards. According to anyone I’ve spoken with, he is a player with first team type talent. Unfortunately for me, the last time I saw him play was when he was a sophomore, and that’s on me. The only thing I had to go on were his numbers, which were good, but not eye-popping, and where he led his team. One coach I spoke with told me if he played for a team like Williamsville South that liked to get out and run, his season would have been near the top. He is also a player that many are predicting big things from at the next level.
Tyler Funk is a player who I’ve liked since he showed flashes as a sophomore. But coming off of last year’s Class AA final, this season has to be viewed as a disappointment. Funk is likely to walk on at Canisius, but wasn’t the leading scorer on his own team and wasn’t a dominant player in the post. David Hill led the team in scoring and became only the second player in Clarence history to eclipse 1,000 career points. Also, Stephen Hughes returned to give the Red Devils solid play at the point. Between the talent and experience that returned for Clarence this season, the results didn’t correspond with that of a team who has a D1 big man playing with the second leading scorer in program history. The team lost to Williamsville East and St. Mary’s in nonleague games, and were swept by Jamestown, Williamsville North, and Lancaster in ECIC I, before losing in the quarterfinals.
TML1000 asked: “No Richardson on HM?? I thought you were a fan of his…also, no Bono? Apparently the missed games hold a lot of weight.”
They sure do, especially when your talking multiple games under a players control. Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea how many games each of those players missed this season? I do, and when judging them against other talented peers who had great seasons and never missed a game, it’s not a very difficult decision for me. By the way, I was definitely a fan of Richardson’s basketball talents and Dante Bono can score with the best of them.
I’ll be on “Officially Yours” on WECK 1230 AM radio at 8 pm Thursday night. I’ll be discussing these selections further then. Feel free to call in.

WNYHOOPS

Great job Centercourt, and about the football comments I love them and they are very much needed now that the BuffaloNews has basically shut down the Prep Talk Blog. Maybe this is a call to Milt Latimer (hopefully it’s not all about Iroquois…) or one of our other distinguished football bloggers to start their own site like Centercourt has here. I would be willing to start one, but I don’t have the insight, time, or dedication to travel all across WNY for H.S. football. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my Red Raiders and the Southern-Tier teams, let alone the rest of WNY. Milt or Sean Bruso you out there?

tah

If snooki is correct cancel my subscription to the Buffalo News and Prep Talk Blog.

hoopster