Class AA Bracket – 2013 Sectionals – The View From Centercourt

NFHS over Willimsvile North in the semi’s.
Jamestown over Clarence in the semi’s.
NFHS over Jamestown in the finals.

North upsets Falls – IF they don’t look past Ken West – then beats Jamestown in the Finals. Taplin and Maceo lead the way.

Tarheel23

I’m with StateChamps. As long as Sal listens to his assistants, particularly Carlos like he did in last years final, they have the talent to win the thing. Unfortunately they have to travel to Rochacha to face either WS or Fairport and their fate will b same as last year. Taplin and Campion will go crazy though, probly 30 pt games for both.

Jim

Frontier over west
Lockport over o.p
Lancaster over n.t
Ken west over n.w

Jelly Donut

Frontier, Lockport, NT, Ken West
Jamestown, Clarence, Niagara Falls, Will North
Jamestown, Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls (58-56 win)

Gus Buster

Jelly! I thought Chris Christie devoured you. We haven’t heard from you in eons. Watch out for the New Jersey governor!

centercourt

Awesome job by Jelly Donut with all the picks, neatly laying out the winners, round by round. Great format. I’ll leave mine in the morning. Everybody should get their picks in before the games start and then we’ll figure out a scoring system. Brackets!

ilovethisgame

me as well and i to like the format…and it looks correct we will see!!

centercourt

ilovethisgame –
If you can follow the format, you win. I think we could all agree on that much.

jim

I don’t think nf beats Lancaster.nt had more wins cuz they got to play alot lower competition.Lancaster played jamestown,north,clarence twice. Tough schedule

jim

N.T thats supposed to be not n.f lol

ilovethisgame

i think so…it looks pretty good.

Tarheel23

$100 bucks a game. (Kidding)
Jtown over Frontier
Clarence over Lockport
Falls over NT
Wil North over Ken West
Jtown over Clarence
Falls over Taplin
Niagara Falls 64 Jtown 63
Bonus: WS 72 NF 58

Fan

North has matchup problems with Ken West. Don’t count OP out against lockport, in there last two games they had the lead going into the second quarter against Clarence and Jamestown.

CC your pre season prediction said Jamestown in AA and MEC in C1 u can’t switch now!!!
I am going with:
AA-Jamestown over Will North
A1 – McKinley over Sweet Home
A2 – Amherst over O’Hara (this class is a joke)
B1 – Olean over East Aurora
B2 – East over CSAT
C1 – MEC over Oracle
C2 – Maple Grove over Silver Creek
D – Clymer over Brocton
MC – Canisius over Joe’s in OVERTIME
Save these CC and c how I do!

J Smoove

niagara wheatfield over ken west

centercourt

Here’s a copy & paste of the preseason predictions I made in the season preview:
Manhattan Cup: Canisius
Class AA: Jamestown
Class A1: McKinley
Class A2: Amherst
Class B1: Olean
Class B2: East
Class C1: Middle College
Class C2: Silver Creek
Class D: Clymer
– McKinley, Olean, & Middle College will all advance to Glens Falls
– Olean will win the Class B State Championship
– Canisius will win the CHSAA Class A State Championship
– Section V “super power” Bishop Kearney will lose one of its games played against a WNY team this year (Falls, Canisius, St. Joe’s, Timon)…or maybe Jamestown)

Center Ice

AA
Lockport Over OP
Niagara Wheatfield over Ken-West
NT over Lancaster
Frontier over WSW
Lockport is the sleeper team in this division, very athletic and very young. Second round game vs Clarence will be excellent. Clarence may be the youngest team in the division. Both have height and athleticism plus some great 3 point shooters. I honestly believe both teams have a shot at taking down Jamestown.
To say the NFL is weaker than the ECIC is yes this year. To say NT has played a softer schedule is not entirely correct. They split with Lockport and Ken-West. Losing to Amherst, Oracle Charter, Cleveland Hill is an impressive non-league look (combined records: 50-4…yikes). Lancaster has not seen a zone or big court like NT has.
The NFL bigger courts vs the ECIC smaller courts. Interesting come sectional time. Interesting to see how it affects teams that A.) Like to Run or B.) full court trap.
The youth movement in AA is incredible this year…Jamestown starts 3 underclassmen, Clarence only graduates 2 seniors, 1 in the rotation. Lockport has 4 starting underclassmen, NT has 1 senior in their rotation amongst 4 sophomores, Ken-West has 3 underclassmen starters, OP plays 2 freshmen. Should make for an interesting playoff.
Can we finally take an indepth look at the power points system. Niagara Falls goes undefeated in league play, while Jamestown loses one and ends up the one seed.
(NFL combined teams record:(68-58)
ECIC1 combined record: (71-56)
So the argument about schedule strength is moot. It is hard to understand how an undefeated team ends up the 2 by a matter of hundredths of points. Look at the Falls who is in all favorable opinion the best public school team in WNY, they had 64 points. Would it make for a better system if basketball mirrored football and just played class games all season? AA plays AA, not ECIC plays ECIC and so on.
This is the best team the Falls has had since Sal took over. I think that it is their year and will make for a heck of a game vs a section v opponent.

jim

Don’t forget Lancasters youth.leading scorer is a sophmore,another sophmore whos been their 6th man.junior starting c,guard.very good jv players coming up. Also north has a very good jv comming up along with jack and there c,and whos that kid thats only a junior? I forget his name

TML1000

N-W over KW?? KW has beaten them twice this year with scores of 67-40 and 60-42…those predictions are just ignorant.

jim

If he’s a part of n.w i cant blame him for having faith in his team.we all do right?

centercourt

AA
Fron, Lkpt, KW, NT
Falls, WN, JHS, Clar
Falls, JHS
Falls

central avenue

all of lancaster’s “good” players will transfer to st. mary’s like they always do.

Yale Cup

top 4 seeds will move on with Jamestown beating Falls in the final

Love the ECIC

Clarence Red Devils are better than you think. Keith saying that NF and JT played last 9-10 times in finals is incorrect. Clarence was in the finals 3 years ago vs JT and to be back again with a nice year is an accomplishment for their program. Centercourt made a great point giving the Red Devils kudos this year. Maybe not Falls or Canisius but they have done a nice job over there. Looking foward to their game with Lockport tomorrow. Also, Ken West will upset Will North. Campbell is too much.

Clarence stinks. Jamestown beats them by 10-15 points. Will North isn’t losing until THEY play Jamestown in the Finals.
2011 – W North loses Quarters 2 McKinley
2012 – W North loses Semis 2 Falls
2013 – W North loses Finals 2 Jamestown
2014 – W North wins AA Title
Assuming Taplin doesn’t go 2 Oak Hill Academy.

Yale Cup

I do like North’s chances as well. They played the Falls tight last year adn this could be their year. I heard One of the Konst twins is taking him with to Nichols next year

HAHA

McShea is god – you must be Taplins dad!!! for real ! Or Coach Sweirski !

Drew Rosenhaus

I’m getting sick of all these rumors about Taplin leaving North. I’ve heard Taplin to Canisius, Taplin to Oak Hill, Christ I’ve even heard he will forego his senior year and play over seas in Barcelona. All not true. I’m here to tell you Sterling Taplin will definitely finish his stellar Career at Wil North, then will sit back with his family and me as we decide where he will take his talents to Division1 program, and ultimately the NBA

centercourt

Niagara Falls just got word today that guard Vinzell Watkins is out for the remainder of the season after fracturing a bone in his growth plate against Lew-Port.

TML1000

Was it a finger growth plate?

centercourt

I was under the impression that it was a leg or foot, but I’m really not sure. I just know he’s done for the season and that he had been a very good player for Falls, I believe averaging around 13 ppg.

Tarheel23

Wow. That is gonna be a bigger loss than people might think. I guess he didn’t score in senior night win vs lockport, but he has been a key contributor for the falls all season. As CC says, 13pts a game tough to lose for ANY team come playoffs. Having said that, Falls 71 NT 59

ilovethisgame

the growth plate is located where the ankle os….tib and fib rest on or near it….my daughter fractured hers at beginning of cheerleading landing funny…had to have a scew put in and it was a one day surgery home same day as soon as she was not groggy…it can be very serious as it is how your bones grow together and childrens did an awesome job as she is a flyer for her brothers team…..wish him the best but he is done for the year as its nothing to mess with at that age…..all the best for god to heal him correctly to get back at it next year….

Wow I need 2 eat crow Will North goes down HORRIBLE loss, season was basically a waste. Looks like ill b at Niagara-Rider Thursday night!

Love the ECIC

Mcshea is god – i told you KW would beat North. Now what?

WhereintheworldisPatMoran

The difference between last year’s and this year’s Will North and Ken West games was that last year Taplin got help from his teammates. This year he scored all but 2 of North’s points in the 4th quarter. If you tell me that Ken West got only 6 points from Campbell and won I would have said you are crazy. Alex Price and Terrell Ford were the men last night.

ilovethisgame

thats bullcrap……one man dont win big games i dont care if its your golden boy sterling or not end of story,end of north and end of player of the year…because the player of the year is still playin at the end of the year.go back and polish your crystal ball hoop Gods.

WT716

MIG, does Taplin finally transfer to Canisius….North won’t be any better next year right?

StateChamps2003

How does a returning first team ALL WNY’er get bounced in sectionals before Buff State…on his homecourt?? One that isn’t deserving of a spot on the first team this year. But once you make a team, your basically grandfathered in barring a transfer out of the area or injury. There are more players deserving of 1st team ALL-WNY than Taplin IMO.

Gus Buster

Because basketball is a team game and one player does not make a team.
And who are the 5 players more deserving?

StateChamps2003

Exactly. But one player can make everyone around him better. Such as these guys who are no brainers for 1st team:
Weir – Canisius
Crumpton – NFHS
Eckstrom – Olean
Hell, I would even consider moving these guys up based on how well their post season goes:
Campion – J-Town
White (tremendously overshadowed by Weir) – Canisius
Bathurst – Olean
Williams – Silver Creek.

Division 1

StateChamps2003, i must disagree with you on this statement “How does a returning first team ALL WNY’er get bounced in sectionals before Buff State…on his homecourt?? One that isn’t deserving of a spot on the first team this year”. Judging from your posts in the past you must have played at some level. A player cannot be judged by a single loss, each game has a different complexion. 5 positions, 1 player can’t play them all at the same time and take responsiblity for them all at the same time. Bad losses have been suffered by all of us that have played. I am 17 years removed from college and there are 2 that still burn me up. I do think Taplin is a solid guard who is very hyped locally and will be hard pressed to adjust to college game if he chooses to stay at North and go to a power conference school. Last night takes nothing away from him; One game season now, anyone can have a better 32 minutes.

Gus Buster

Niagara Falls struggled to defeat North Tonawanda last night.

Firt off 2 claim Taplin should not b on first team – u r clueless. He is the best player in the area – PERIOD. Does he deserve Player of the year now – NO WAY. I’ll repeat what I said last month if CC would like 2 pull the post – I’ll go w a white guy named Weir again.
Will North – ya wow season was a waste. Taplin can’t transfer 2 MMA school they don’t do senior transfers so I guess he will b back at North.
I would argue Falls season is a waste as well if they don’t get 2 Glens for the FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW w the ‘super school’ – it’s getting 2 b more and more of a joke. Canisius I would say there entire season is a waste as well if they don’t get 2 Albany 2 at least PLAY in the Fed. Not saying they have 2 win the Fed. But not ONE Long Island Catholic has been ranked all year in the State. They get that game at home this year (after they beat Joe’s in OT Wednesday). Then the top ranked NYC Catholic is Nazereth (where Jesus is from) who they already beat.
SO – yes Will North, wasted year – but Falls and Canisius could b headed 4 wasted years as well.
I will b skipping Thursday at Buff State. No desire 2 c Falls and Jamestown beat up on league teams 4 a third time this season. Will b fun 2 c that game again – always the game of the year on Saturday at Buff State.

Also if u include M Cup as a ‘class’ out of the top 4 seeded teams in the 9 classes 32 of 36 made the Final 4 pretty impressive.
I think two #3’s lost (North and some 1 Barker beat) and two #4’s (North Collins/Hamburg)
CC may have 2 double check that but 32 of 36 top 4 seeded teams advancing means they did a pretty good job with the seedings.
Yankees start today! Entire team on Social Security!

Kobe

To say Taplin isn’t a first teamed is ridiculous… And to say he doesn’t make his teammates better is even more stupid. If you saw him play the entire season, and saw will north play the entire season you would understand. He is the best player in the area and one game shouldn’t change that

Yale Cup

Campion-Co-POY
Weir Co-POY
Crumpton
Eckstrom
Taplin

centercourt

The only comment I could find of your regarding POY was this. Not surprising really:
McShea is God said:
Taplin – WOW!!! Player of the year race is OVER! Crumpton and Weir haven’t played yet!!!
Reply | Edit | View | Dec 7, 2012 on Preview: 2012-2013 …

centercourt