The 2012 All-Centercourt Team: The Best in WNY

As a Canisius alum, very happy to see Hart and Weir make your first team. I like the Taplin pick 1st team sure a lot of people will disagree, and Stan and RA were locks. How hard of a decision was it for POY?

Truth Be Told

The same old MMA and ECIC bias. I realize that the selection system is more of an art than a science, but hopefully, when the Buffalo News picks its team it goes past its “tip of its nose” being Erie County into Niagara County to give some of those players who are just as good some love. And Crumpton is not first team????

Digger Phelps

How does the coach with the player of year receive coach of the year? Doesn’t make any sense. More deserving coaches like Jones, Domzalski, Gill, C. Kensy, Rumschik

TML1000

1st team is right on…A. Weir and Crumpton could go either way. I had Bathurst and Williams on second team, at least both ahead of Keenan. I probably undervalued Keenan as he had a poor game when I saw him, but 2nd team is a bit overvalue.
I’d have Williams and Bailey ahead of Simmonds. There has to be a place in the top 25 for Williams from NF. Also, Feggans has to be top 25…I know he was hit and miss early in the year but he turned it on in the second half. If Riverside beats EA and gets to A crossover he is probably 2nd or 3rd team. Other than that, can’t really argue…looks mostly right.
Taplin, Weir and Crumpton first team locks next year…likely with two of Bathurst, Eckstrom and Campion. I’d expect a big year from Feggans and Z. Williams, with both teams returning plenty. McKinley returning probably the best crop of talent outside Falls and Canisius..J’town right with them, as well. If Campbell consistently agressive for KW, they should be second in NFL…North, of course, and Clarence should be AA contenders.

centercourt

716 –
The POY choice was an easy choice for myself.
Truth –
The same old MMA and ECIC bias? How about the same old blogger criticism, absent of offering which players deserved a spot and who should come off to make more room. I’m having a hard time finding your team to see what Niagara County players you think i snubbed. By the way, I live in Niagara County, but I’m sure you get out to a lot more games than me.
Digger –
Because Stan Wier is the POY, Koselny can’t be a good coach? Now that doesn’t make sense. The choices you listed are all excellent ones. Add Genco from Silver Creek to that list – he was my runner-up.
East Aurora improved as a team over the course of the season, from a team that lost to Pioneer, to a team that won the overall Class a title (beating the #2 large school in WNY and undefeated Yale Cup champs in doing so). The Blue Devils wins at Buffalo State against Riverside, Amherst, & McKinley were a result of a team effort to break the press, knock down shots, and defend. They evolved from an average team that relied on Stan, to a really good team that complemented Wier’s talents.
EA was unranked all season, yet won the overall Class A title. Wier wasn’t dropping 30 per game in the postseason. It was a masterful coaching job of getting all the players to buy into the same concept, one that worked well enough to advance to regionals.

Gus Buster

CC, nice work on your teams. I could quibble with some guys here or there, but in a year where the level of play way was down as it has ever been guys could have been shuffled around and I wouldn’t argue.
Thanks for your excellent coverage all year!

Ricky

Good work CC. I think Adam Weir and Torres should be switched, but other than that good work!

centercourt

Thanks guys. I could quibble with some guys here and there also. I’ve been doing that for the last four weeks.
There were some difficult cutoffs. An argument could definitely be made for Crumpton on 1st team, and I can also understand why people would like to see Torres there as well.

ECIC/MMA FAN

Opinions are great,but some just dont seem right.Taplin 1st team is just not right,his season as a whole is not worthy of 1st team & sure he played 2 good playoff games okay,what about the other 18?Base it on this season and his actual game not the past or player you think he may be some day.MMA/ECIC bias?If those are where the best teams are from then thats where the players will come from and if whomever you speak of was that good people would know him and he’d be recognized.Numbers dont say it all & just b/c one scores a lot of points doesnt mean they are a good player.
Hey Digger,all those coaches you mentioned for coach of the year,what did they win?Nothing,thats why they didnt get named,sure koselny had wier but at least they won down the stretch.
Wier,Agbeko & Weir are locks on 1st team and Hart close as well.If anyone would be moved its Taplin, again its body of work.Whelpley seems too high on 2nd team & Simmons on 3rd?For what?Some small school bias maybe?Too much talking with Mcshea who for some reason on his “power 10” has St Marys #4, really?They got slammed in the cup finals & would beat all teams rated below them?No chance,sure they did beat some but at end of year,no.Joes & Timon lucky not many good teams b/c they probably should not be ranked either.Close doesnt count when you dont win.
Torres ahead of Weir?Not even worth talking about.Congrats to Torres on nice year.
Let the discussion continue.

StateChamps2003

Any of the regular bloggers going to the BCANY/Prep-Talk Awards banquet on April 16th? TML? Hoopster? MIG? centercourt?

PatrickMoran

I’m planning on being there.

centercourt

I’ll be there, presenting a an award – The Centercourt 6th man Award.
I know MIG will also be in attendance. It would be nice to see all the regulars there. After all, HS hoops and Prep Talk is what made us all “regulars” in the first place.

StateChamps2003

I’ll be there as well with A’aron Mungro who will be presenting the “A’aron Mungro All Hustle Team”…only fitting right. Looking forward to it.

Jim jones

Michael kyarunts from will east didn’t even make honorable mention? The only reason they were even in the McKinley game was because of him.

perplexed

when was last time 2 kids from same team made 1st team, How many game did Hart miss this yr? I think the News will be very similar to CC picks.

Gus Buster

That’s a good question. I think it was a year where the talent level and play was way below an average year which opened the door for something very unusual. The best team this year Canisius losing to a sub 500 team was mind boggling since they were so much better than the rest of the MMA.

WT716

According to my sources, Washington from Honors has sent his transcripts to CHS and shadowed the school. Cumerford who apparently works in admissions at Timon called CHS and asked for his transcripts. Huffman who played JV at CHS as a freshman is playing AAU ball with some kids from Timon and they are pushing him hard to go there. This isnt the first word of Timon going after other schools players for both football and basketball. Its about to be the Wild Wild West.

Ricky

What are the odds Huffman goes to Timon?

Keith McShea

Cuple things:
* The All-WNY issue is print-only. Get thee to the Buffalo News retailer of your choice ASAP tomorrow morning. And don’t steal mine off my stoop while I’m in my post-All-WNY coma.
Stuff will be online Sunday, but – not just being a salesmen here – I think many of you know that the All-WNY issue is an entirely different experience in print than reading what we’ll have on here. We’ve got another wraparound cover and some great historical stuff that regulars on here will love poring over.
It’s so great, you should buy at least two papers. Now I’m just being a salesman. Heh.
* Organization for the banquet is going very well, thanks in a HUGE way to Al Monaco of Will South/BCANY and Dick Gallagher.
We hope to have room for a table for the folks who are members of the unofficial Prep Talk Blog Hall of Fame, but we are still playing the numbers game and it is tough to gauge how many people will be in attendance. We will know more next week and I’ll be contacting people as we learn more.
My apologies about that, but with it being a first-time event and our first obligation to the award recipients, that’s where we are right now.
Thanks everyone.
PS: Appreciate the lack of ‘leaks’ after the initial ones. For those that were wondering, I had to snuff out three different leaks on the twitter. Thanks again.

Keith McShea

Speaking of leaks, statechamp, so much for that special surprise presenter for the All-Hustle team! haha 🙂

If Keith doesn’t let me give an award I won’t b going since he is only famous because of my name.
CC I have no opinion on your teams. The only thing I will say is if 60% of the 1st team is white guys it must b a down year in HS basketball 🙂

coach

You have to go all the way back to last year to find two players on 1st team. Hart missed two games

StateChamps2003

Keith – No one reads blogs anyway……right???

perplexed

cant remember last yr what 2 were on it

centercourt

Jamestown had Paige (POY) and Butts.

Dark LMT

Bailey only 4th team is a joke.

Roundman

Mcshea is god ……. When I look at the 1st team I see 5 talented basketball players some are tall some are short but all are talented I don’t see a down year because of height

April 8, 2012

If u go 1-5 starting w Stan vs Paige 2012 losses 2 2011 in every slot.
My 5 year streak is over. I only got 4 of 5. Still think Crumton should’ve been over A Weir. I also think A White, J Wilkins should have made it. But hey o well.

Lakemen Fan

April 8, 2012

Will Mr. Cotton be complaining about CC’s All WNY team like he did with the Buff News?

sal

April 8, 2012

save the Date July 21st, NFHS team camp at NFHS participants are-NF,Canisius,Cathedral Prep,Jamestown,Aquinas,Batavia(last years champ),Depew,Grand Island,Holland and Niagara wheatfield. One day event if anything like last year going to be a long day of great hoops. Come and join us

Fan at the game

MIG sticks his foot in his mouth one more time. CC, i would suspend MIG from this site indefinatly for his comment. There is no place for that here or anywhere else. What does color have to do with the quality of HS basketball or anything for that matter. Another inappropriate comment by someone who has nothing better to do with their life.Very disrepectful to the young men who worked so hard to achieve this honor. unbelievable……grow up MIG. Almost got a coach fired earlier in the season for his inappropriate comments and now this stupid comment. Show some respect to all the HS players.

hoops

Fan & Ricky. Chill the you-know-what out. It was a joke. You guys are so tight if you stuck a lump of coal you know where, in two weeks, you’d have a diamond. Unbelievable. MIG almost got a coach fired? Wow! Tell us more!

Fan at the game

Hoops,
I don’t care if it’s a joke or not, it’s not about being tight, its about right and wrong. There is no place for those types of comments, anywhere. Grown men should know better. Jokes like that have gotten better people ridiculed in the media and fired from real jobs. If this was a national media person ESPN would spend a week on this. Ask Fuzzy Zoeller, Jimmy the Greek, Kelly Tillman (Golf Channel), to name a few about their jokes. As for earlier comments that almost got a coach in trouble, if you read this blog you would know what i’m talking about regarding MIG comments from the MMA/ECIC challenge that CC had to remove from this blog. I’ll leave it at that.

Ricky

I agree MIG is rude and disrespectful. His/Her jokes are tasteless and not funny.

hoopster

Alright enough of the MIG bashing! You may not like some of what he posts, but he’s a huge fan of hs hoops and offers his opinions. A site like his would die on the vine without commentary from committed hs hoop fanatics. Don’t like what he says, give your opinion or read a different blog.
Anyway, on to more important stuff.
First, congrats to the All-WNY honorees!! You’ve joined a long list. Congratulations! Remember what made you successful and build on it in all your future endeavors. And equally important work on those areas where you fell a bit short and get better. You may think that advice applies only to the hardwood, but it goes to everything you do. We all wish you the very best in college or on the hs hardwood next year as the case may be. It is truly amazing what someone can accomplish with hard work, a good attitude and consistent dedicated effort. The sky is the limit. My advice seize every opportunity that comes your way and make the very most of it for if you don’t those opportunities may become fewer and far between as time evolves.
Second, unlike previous years I can’t offer any insightful comments, other than the selections are the product of a lot of hard work and dedication, on the All-WNY selections. Due to a combination of factors just didn’t get out and see as many games as I would have liked. However, I am, indeed we all are, fortunate to have enjoyed and followed the outstanding work of Keith McShea, Chad “CC” Andrews and Pat Moran. As I’ve said before, reading their work is the next best thing to being there. Thank you gentlemen!!
Third, talk about rotten luck; My wrap-around edition of Saturday’s Buffalo News was either not delivered or stolen from my doorstep. What’s worse, when I brought it to the attention of customer service, they apologized, but couldn’t get me my paper. That s*@#ed. What’s strange is that I got Friday and Sunday’s editions, but not Saturday’s while I was out of town celebrating Easter with my family.
Lastly, the 16th should be a fine celebration of boys basketball. It’s an idea Keith floated a couple years ago and apparently with the help of Dick “Mr. high school sports” Gallagher and Al Monaco it is about to happen. Hopefully there’s room for a table of has beens and never weres for me(of course that doesn’t apply to SC2003) and other like-minded blokes so we can share in the festivities. Regardless it should be a fantastic evening and one in which Allen Wilson would be extremely proud and honored I am sure. Enjoy and again congratulations to all on an outstanding season!

First of all Roger – I mean ‘Fan’ – focus less on what I say and more on mixing in a salad once in a while. I have no respect 4 any man that makes love 2 a box of cheese and crackers.
Ricky u can **** me. At least u respect the fact that I am a woman.
Getting who fired? Dan is my man. We tweet back n forth all the time. Even if he hates that I jinx his Buckeyes every year by following them 2 the NCAA’s.
This is AMERICA boys. I can make jokes and say what I want 2 say. USA! USA! USA! Fan Roger and Ricky go live with Fidel and Ozzie Guillen in Cuba where u have no right 2 say anything u liberal anti American people make me sick. Next thing u know u will say u voted 4 Obama.
Finally speaking of Twitter Sterling Taplin sent out a tweet about a St Mary’s camp he will b going 2 later this month….know Dan is such a fan of Twitter I will look 4 the announment that Sterling will b taking his talents 2 Lancaster St Mary’s 2 via a Dan tweet in the weeks 2 come.
I love upsetting people. It’s fun, truly it is!!!

StateChamps2003

Hoopster – I apologize. I had every intention of bringing your Saturday paper back to you when I got out of work but I completely mishandled it. Sincere apologies :).
As much as MIG’s comments can irk me at times, most of the time I laugh it off and shake my head. The dude is one of the more prominent bloggers on here who knows what he is talking about and I actually look forward to what he has to say along with CC, Moran, hoopster, and others. He’s right, this is America and even more so, this is a blog. You can write whatever the hell you want on here.

Chris S

I hear the same thing as well. Sterling will be taking his talents to Dan Gill and St Mary’s for the next 2 seasons. Will be interesting to see. I feel under Dan’s coaching with his Ohio State contacts it will help further Sterlings career. Good luck to him and his family at St Mary’s of Lancaster next year.

hoopster

No apologies necessary SC. Just make sure you don’t steal any of my food at the banquet. People have died for much less. 🙂
Good luck to Sterling whether he stays or goes. He’s in good hands with his Mom and Dad, good people!

Who’s your daddy

If true, can’t wait to watch Taplin, Washington from city honors and the 2 freshman from Nichols at St. Mary’s next year. Will be great manhattan cup matchup vs. Canisius.

CHS

You could add all the rest of the MMA all-stars to that list and they still wouldnt touch the Crusaders. The 3-peat was already guaranteed. If Taplin was leaving he wouldnt have stayed as a soph and Washington is coming to Delaware Ave next year. CHS will rule the MMA for a long time, this is only the beginning!!!

TML1000

A lot of people are throwing plenty of hype on Washington but I just do not see it…I realize he was just an 8th grader this season, but in the 4-5 times I saw Honors play, he did nothing to stand out from most other players. There is some potential, particularly due to his length and the fact he could grow plenty more, but one can say that about a number players his age.

PatrickMoran

I didn’t want to comment at all about any all-star teams until after my own was published. As always, excellent job by both Keith and CC with their All-Star teams, I know for a fact a whole lot of thought went into them. What’s important to remember is there isn’t any list that’s right or wrong because ultimately, they are a matter of opinion. Also, kudos to the majority of posters in here for listing their own versions of their teams and offering some great insight and opinions. I can’t speak for Keith or CC, but I know I took a lot of what I read into consideration.
My All-Star team(s) naturally differ in some spots from these guys. Most notably, unlike CC and Keith I have Jermaine Crumpton on my first team over Sterling Taplin. I love Taplin as a player and man that kid is going to be special, but I think that THIS YEAR Crumpton’s body of work was slightly better and more effective. I also had Jordan Willams on my second team (one team higher than CC, two than Keith) and had Ryan Whelpley on my third (one team lower than Keith and CC)
It is impossible to list four teams and 30 honorable mentions for a total of 50 and not leave off a few deserving kids, but in this case I do want to make a publicly apology to one kid in particular, who deserved to be honorable mention but wasn’t— Darnell Carson of CSAT. He’s extremely deserving but inexplicably I left him off that list of 30. The problem is I am not going to take anyone off that list who’s on it now, that would be even worse. So when I update this image on my site later, I will include Carson.
Anyway- shameless plug time, here is my article with my BSD All-Star Teams and also my Coach of the Year.
http://www.buffalosportsdaily.com/2011-12-all-bsd-high-school-basketball-team/

Huskies Fan Club

Olean’s Sam Eckstrom averaged 15.3 points per game, including the playoffs, not the 14.8 points that were reported with the News’ All-WNY and BSD’s All-WNY teams.
Not a big deal … but just for the record…

April 12, 2012

Man it stinks Nerlen Noels picked Kentucky. I thought I had him going 2 Cuse I was all over him in New Orleans. I failed.
Taplin should go 2 Canius….White at the PG, Taplin the 2, Weir and McDonald at F…that big kid who was kind of un-polished at Center.
Honestly all the money it costs 2 go 2 that school a booster needs 2 step up, pay Sterling what he deserves, and have him bring his talents 2 Delaware Ave. It would b a super team like Nichols in 2010.
I still can’t believe Falls isn’t going 2 play Canisius next yr. Dump that stupid team from Canada that lost like 6 games, nobody cares. It doesn’t matter if the tourney is in your gym u r maybe talking about 100 people. Falls-Canisius could possibly sell out Buff State as part of the MLK classic…
American Reunion btw great movie every1 go c it.

sal

April 12, 2012

Brunswick is from Ohio not Canada,Canisius has an event the same time as Cataract Classic, 6 losses in Ohio is not the same as 6 losses in WNY. This area is very competitive with each other but the top 2 ranked teams did not fair well outside of wny(us in Erie and Canisius in DC), We are not a hotbed for hoops in comparison for the rest of the world its good for all our teams to play unfamiliar opponents because we see each other all yr. round(team Camps and scrimmages-NF vs. Canisius 3 scrimmages last yr and met 3 times in summer)If you want to see the Falls play local privates talk to NFL AD’s I only get 4 games-2in Classic and this yr. we are attendingRAP event and going to Kearney. If we are lucky we can play Kearney 3 times next yr. as they have moved to AA. Thanks for your concern,feel free to call me 228-7916 if you have any questions.

Ricky

CHS would be nowhere near the team of 2010 Nichols. Mosely is a big man with a very limited skill set. Unless Reggie turns out to be a junior and transfers to CHS they will not be anything like the 2010 Nichols team

SJCI

CHS should be banned from representing the MMA even if they did 3peat. They have been beaten badly in states.

845

SJCI nice season by the Marooooders. I have lawn chairs that don’t fold as well. Perhaps some scrimmages before you played St Mary’s would have helped you “work on the finer points”. Where you been hidin since Feb 27?

huh