Who’s earned a spot on All-Centercourt?

You think it's easy to come up a top 60? How about about separating it into a top 25 first? Give it shot. Five teams, with five players on each team, and another 35 players for honorable mention.

In about three weeks, the 9th Annual All-Centercourt Team will be announced, honoring the top 60 seasons turned in by WNY high school players this year. The selections are broken down into a first, second, third, fourth, & fifth team, with five players on each, along with 35 honorable mention selections. There is also an award for the CC MVP (the WNY Player of the Year), Coach of the Year, and Sixth Man of the Year.

The top 60 may sound like a lot, but when you start putting names down on paper, the list fills quickly and inevitably some very good players get left off the list. The main criteria I focus on is the 2015-2016 season, not what you did in the past, and not where you're going in the future…it's all about honoring the top 60 from this season.

Use the comments section below to tell us what your 5 teams would look like and maybe even why. If you're really ambitious, try coming up with the entire team including the HM selections.

Please keep all commentary appropriate when discussing high school athletes, and remember, it is lame to say someone does not belong on a team, without offering up who should be on one. It might be even more lame to give only one or two teams. Show us you've paid attention this season and provide all five teams.

-centercourt

144 responses to “Who’s earned a spot on All-Centercourt?”

March 23, 2016

Unguardable?? LP and South played man against Amherst.I remember Amadi dominating the paint in the 2nd half after they were losing to LP and also that Amherst scored in the 40s against South.

Reuben5231

March 23, 2016

1st Team
POY: S. Truehart
J. Nwora
T.C. Brown
F. Foster
Greg Dolan
2nd Team
D. Welch
M. Jack
B. Eckstrom
A. Ikpeze
K. Harris
3rd Team
J. Jones Canisius
E. Ramadhan
J. Jackson
J. Rojas
S. Jones McKinley
4th Team
T. Kemp
J. Stanton
C. Nodine
P. Moore fredonia
G. Dolan

Cmonman

March 23, 2016

@ajm – agreed. Point is, he should be in the same convo as these others.
@ gang green – good win by Nichols. The sun shines on a dogs a** every now and again too. Kemp handled Nichols all 3 times they played. Nichols won when it mattered, but trying to act as if Nichols somehow stopped him, or even slowed him down, is laughable.

Gang Green

March 23, 2016

We realize Kemp is a very good player and never said we stopped him. We showed him the love!

jj43

March 23, 2016

@Cmonman, I think the reason Kemp isn’t getting the love is because of something you just pointed out in your comment which was funny and made me lol but its true. In his most important game of the season he couldn’t lead his team past a dog’s a**. To me that is would have been like Olean losing to Depew and not getting to Buff St. Its not that they didn’t win a title thats keeping him from the love, its losing to a team that was the lowest seed and didn’t even win 10 games all season at the most important time. It would actually be crazy to have him any higher than most people have him IMO.

ECIC basketball

March 23, 2016

MB, Lew Port played a tandem/match up zone with the backline outside guys playing the wings. That’s why the short corner and post were exploited.
South played pack line and switched all screens which turns into a zone.

Bbball fan

March 23, 2016

1st Team
Truehart
Nwora
Foster
T.C. Brown
Welch
2nd Team
Dolan
Jackson
Jack
Ikpeze
Eckstrom

AJM

March 23, 2016

Cmonman-
I agree thats why I put Kemp on my Third team All-WNY if you look back on this blog

Victor Cruz

March 23, 2016

I said Dominick Welch has 1600 pts going into hisenior year lol. And it’s funny how your trying to forget what these two players did the last couple years for there schools. It’s crazy takal single handely out his team on his back as well as dominck Welch so whatever your trying to prove is funny 😂😂

Victor Cruz

March 23, 2016

Brandon Roach is also another talent to watch for.also gets no recognition like half of the buffalo players

Centercourt Is God

March 24, 2016

Great stuff all. State champs is the mannnnnnnn

StateChamps2003

March 24, 2016

hahaha. Glad to finally see you on here.

Music

March 24, 2016

Victor Cruz…I saw Jackson at Buff State and against NF Falls earlier in season. He’s a great player. But once Amherst started turning the pressure up in the second half his production dropped off just like Welch’s would, Nwora’s would, Truehart’s would and MOLSON’s did too. Your point is lost. Any good coach can design a defense to take someone away or slow them down. 1600 pts is an accomplishment. Especially when you get it with consistency every year. Health Science players need more experience from what I saw. They’ll get there eventually with coaching staff they have.

Booster

March 24, 2016

Jernard Jackson hands down is first team,TC is one of the most overrated guards in wny,we won’t even talk about his dirty plays.Walsh played Lewport on a back to back were lp faced Lockport the day before,kids were dead.Kemp is the second best guard behind Jackson this yr.

wny talent

March 24, 2016

There are currently a few WNY Players playing on the AAU shoe circuits.
On the Nike EYBL Circuit for City Rocks:
17u
Dom Welch, Cheektowaga
16u
Greg Dolan, Will South
Joe Jones, Park
15u
Noah Hutchins, Park
On the Adidas Gauntlet Circuit for I-90 New York:
16u
Jalin Cooper, Medina
Davonte Gaines, Health Sciences
15u
Daniel Scott, Christian Central
The thing is that these teams aren’t based out of Buffalo. They have a collection of talent from New York state but City Rocks is based in Albany and I-90 is based in Rochester. With the current talent from WNY that is already playing with those teams, it wouldn’t be possible to field another nationally competitive team.
City Rocks will be playing in Brooklyn April 15-17, and in Indianapolis april 22-24. I-90 New York will be playing in Dallas April 15-17 and Atlanta April 22-24. Both weekends are open recruiting season and college coaches will be in attendance.
For further reference or info:
http://www.cityrocks.org/page/show/1237339-home
https://www.facebook.com/TeamI90NewYork/?fref=ts
http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/story/1647092-shoe-companies-finalize-spring-schedules

Bballfan

March 24, 2016

Mason bosley from Randolph is getting overlooked on everyone’s list.25 ppg and 10 boards and always did it against best competition. Watched him several times this year and he can shoot the ball from anywhere. He had over 100 threes on the year.

coach g

March 25, 2016

Jaylen Prophet , Ticket and Lott from Health Science deserve spots. All 3 had solid seasons . Should have played in the B Championship game. Bunch of very contraversial calls kind of ruined the B2 title game tho. But those 3 guys certainly deserve consideration.

WannaBeCoach

March 25, 2016

1ST TEAM:
Stafford Trueheart- Canisius
Jordan Nwora – Park
Fred Foster – MEC
Dominik Welch – Cheektowaga
Greg Dolan – Williamsville South
2ND TEAM:
Elijah Ramadhan – Olean
Jojo Staton – MEC
Jenard Jackson – Lew-Port
TC Brown – Amherst
Maceo Jack – Williamsville North
3RD TEAM:
Amadi Ikpeze – Amherst
James Rojas – Jamestown
Shaquan Jones – McKinley
Justin Jones – Canisius
Breon Harris – NFHS
4TH TEAM:
Madut Ayiy – Canisius
Noah Hutchins – Park
Brandon Roach – Olmsted
Davon Gant – I-Prep
Takol Molson
5TH TEAM:
Ben Eckstrom – Olean
Julian Cunningham – St. Francis
Kyle Harris – Park
Davonte Gaines – Health Sciences
Quinton Lamar- Timon

BBall Truths

March 25, 2016

Maceo Jack, Ben Eckstrom, and Tavien Kemp will all be playing together for Primetime Ballers (Based out of Rochester) during this summer’s AAU circuit! Traveling this weekend to Orlando, to play in the Adidas sponsored Showtime Ballers Annual Tip Off Tourney!

Hoops fan

March 25, 2016

Great write up in buffalo news yesterday recapping high school basketball playoffs!!

fundamentals

March 25, 2016

Dear Coach G
I watched that Fredonia against Health Sciences game very closely and remember it well. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Fredonia have a huge lead at halftime? If HS ever even had a lead in that game it was very early and I’m not even sure that happened. So blaming officials for losing a game you never had control of is kind of lame. Wouldn’t it sound lame if Emerson said the same thing after losing a close game to HS to get to Buff St?

Pioneer

March 25, 2016

Out of almost everyone’s 1st and 2nd team lists I’m pretty certain ONLY 1 WNY player has High Major and Power Conference offers and that Park’s Jordan Nwora.

B. Woods

March 26, 2016

Hoops fan

March 26, 2016

Read the buffalo news review the other day!! There is one name that stands out during championships week!!

jj43

March 26, 2016

^Greg Dolan^

Hoops fan

March 26, 2016

Headlines!!

Just Sayin

March 26, 2016

Much respect & congrats to Coach Anastasia, he desrves the recogntion, however the amazing job that Olmsted 1st year coach, Andy Bush did desrves at least HM. Doubt if anyone predicted Olmsted becoming C1 Champs except Andy, his staff, his Players & the Owl fans. Great 2016 story of Heart, Hustle & Belief!y

Mike Smith

March 27, 2016

POY: D. Welch
1st team:
S. Trueheart
Greg Dolan
J. Jackson
J. Nwora
2nd team:
T.C. Brown
F. Foster
B. Eckstrom
M. Jack
P. Moore
3rd team:
T. Molson (would be higher if not for situation at school)
S. Jones
C. Nodine
A. Ikpeze
J. Rojas

Obvious

March 28, 2016

Bosley averaged 25+ points this year, although Randolph lost to OTC early on it was by 3 points. If 2 OTC kids are deserving of high honors he should be as well.

Richie K

March 30, 2016

Dom Welch is an amazing player and deserves first team. He has his downs and stuff but numbers don’t lie. We all witnessed or heard about when Dominick Welch play against Maryvale in the quarter final playoff game at Maryvale right? He was almost shut down by a 5’8 sophomore the whole second half. Congrats to whom that sophomore was. Domonick Welch is an amazing athlete but if that’s possible he isn’t POY material but he IS First team material. He averaged almost 30ppg and has 1600 career points heading into senior year. You have to respect the Stats!

I-86

March 30, 2016

Finally, Bosley is being mentioned. You still have other “high scorers” that are not being included such as Robson and Brawdy. Also there is more to the game than the “scorers”. You have Assists, Rebounds and Defense out of Stein, Lecceadone and Eddy.

Wnys finest

March 30, 2016

Competition for schools like Randolph and Gowanda is what keeps kids like Bosley and Brawdy from coming up. Also, shots per game against that competition is also a factor to many. There is a big difference between scoring 25ppg against the teams that Randolph or Gowanda play, and scoring 25ppg against teams in the MMA or NFL. I think everyone can acknowledge that. No disrespect to anybody playing in a weak league, but if you shoot the majority of your teams shots, and you are playing against competition that is low level, then you can expect some players to put up big number stats in those leagues. However, if you take a kid like, say, Marcellus Cooper, or Justin Jones, or even the Bailey kid from Lew Port, and you put him on a team like Randolph or Gowanda – and you let him take the majority of his team’s shots, then you would see extremely gawky numbers being put up. WNY All Star teams (1-4) should be the best basketball players in WNY. Honorable Mentions are there for a reason

Music

March 31, 2016

Richie K….Welch should be considered for POY. At that game against Maryvale? He played the entire game and had a hell of a first half. Which included double and sometimes triple teaming on his drives to the basket. One of which he dunked on 2 defenders. He also had 15 rebounds. I’ve seen Trueheart defensively slowed down by special defenses as well as Nwora, Rojas and Jenard Jackson. Obviously coaches were concerned for some reason. And he done it with less talent around him.

hoopster

March 31, 2016

My 2 cents for what little it’s worth. Saw very little hs hoops action this year, but did catch a handful of games at Buff State and Villa so I obviously defer to all of you who saw many more games than I.
However, with that said my general observations;
1. Jernard Jackson was hands down the very best offensive player I saw, and it wasn’t close. He had a plethora of moves, pull up jumpers, drives to the goal, great outside touch, made smart timely passes, shot a high percentage from long range and did all this while making his teammates much better than they were. Kudos to you JJ! Good luck in the future.
2. Ikpeze from Amherst is a beast and will be a very good college player with potential to be a great one. Having not seen many of his games tough to say where he belongs on the ALL CC or WNY teams, but he’s definitely a first team talent POY in his future. The motor though has to hum 100% of the time, which is something he’ll learn quickly at the next level. Only drawback he’s going to Bona. Boo! Just kidding, good luck young man!
3. Greg Dolan remains impressive as anyone in WNY. He does it all and in a most unselfish way. Count me among his biggest fans.
4. Generally speaking the play of many of those I heard so much about during the year wasn’t quite where I thought it would be.
5. The Big Green of Nichols are to be commended. They easily could have run the white flag up the flag pole at any point during the season having been dominated during regular season and MMA play. Rather than quit they continued to work, got better and went on a great post season run to win MMA B. The lesson? Never quit and always work hard!
6. Congrats to the state champs! Winning has become a habit at Middle College, Olean and Canisius. Good work one and all!

StateChamps2003

March 31, 2016

I know I always appreciate ‘hoopster”s two cents. Good to hear from you again.

Richie K

April 4, 2016

Music… Did they win that game? Did he play good the second half? And why not? That 5 foot 8 kid.

Please Stop

April 4, 2016

No one player ever slowed Welch this season. Please stop or we will arrange a televised one-on-one battle between Welch and all the 5-8 kids from Maryvale!

jj43

April 4, 2016

lol you could make it a 3 on 1. I’m sure thats what he saw when they played him anyway. Love when players talk about themselves on here though.

PJB

April 5, 2016

CC
Following is my attempt. Let me preface it with the fact that I see very few Southern Tier or N-O teams:
1st Team:
Trueheart- Canisius (POY) Best Player on the Best Team
Greg Dolan- Will South
Jackson- Lew Port
Nwora-Park
Welch- Cheek
2nd Team:
Eckstrom-Olean
Ramadhan- Olean
Foster- MEC
Brown- Amherst
Kemp- Walsh
3rd Team:
Nodine-Starpoint
Ikpeze-Amherst
Jones- Canisius
Jones- McKinley
Atkinson- Canisius
4th Team:
Hutchins- Park
Jack- Will North
Moore- Fredonia
Graham Dolan- Will South
Harris- NF
5th Team:
Rojas- Jamestown
Harris- Park
Cavana- Olean
Quinton Lamar-Timon
Hill- Will North
HM:
Fogan- Tapestry
Outlaw- Mc Kinley
Gant- I-Prep
Anderson- East
Harris- South Park
Stanton- MEC

WNY Hoops

April 6, 2016

Willard Anderson should definitely be in the mix. The future that kid holds is scary.

Music

April 6, 2016

Richie K…..You obviously are cracked up!!! If that kid got called for the fouls he should have?? (There is a no holding rule in basketball you know and the coaches used him as the pick in the pick and roll or if the coach clears everyone out and posts Welch up He would have scored 40 in that game. STOP ALREADY. What u a maryvale alum??

WNYHoops

April 7, 2016

The main debate seems to stem from the Amherst boys and their case in intriguing. Put up monster numbers and won a partial title. Weak division so I see how they played against top talent in the area. How did they play against Park without Jones? Brown was mediocre and Ikpeze was similar in a situation where you figured the matchups better suited them. Instead a freshman guard and Nwora stop that. On the flip side Brown and Ikpeze were magicians in the win against a hearty Aquinas squad with a top PG in the nation. Go either ways but love the discussion.

StateChamps2003

April 8, 2016

WNYHoops – Amherst never played Aquinas this year. Maybe you’re thinking of Bishop Kearney. Kearney doesn’t feature a top PG in the nation though.

Bob Uniden

April 9, 2016

Hart from canisius as sixth man. Kid really knew his role and helped his team win their 2nd straight state championship. Easily could’ve been a stand out at any other school, but decided to be an unselfish team player and help his team do something special.