High School/Prep Sports
High School/Prep Hoops Update: Roselle Catholic Ready for Primetime
By Josh Rosenfeld - (Special to DigitalSportsDesk.com)
ELIZABETH, December 16, 2011 - Ground zero for high school basketball in New Jersey has been centered in recent years within the triangle formed by Jersey City (St. Anthony), Elizabeth (St. Patrick) and Newark (St. Benedict's Prep). Roselle Catholic, a school known more for its academic excellence than its athletic prowess, is bidding to stretch that triangle into a rectangle as the NJ hoops season begins on Friday.
Roselle Catholic welcomes the return of the top six players from last year's squad that finished at 22-7 after winning 18 of its final 20 outings including 6-8 Jameel Warney, who averaged 20 points and 16 rebounds per game. The Lions will add a 6-4 freshman to its rotation from day one. But the biggest reason for the ever-growing expectations are the arrival of juniors Tyler Roberson and Hakeem Saintil, who will become eligible in mid-January and could move Roselle Catholic to the head of the class in one of the state's toughest leagues in one of the state's strongest counties.
“I think the guys that are returning from last year are very confident in what they can do and we're confident in the things that we can ask them to do. They know their roles,” said Dave Boff, who is beginning his fifth year as RC's head coach. “The situation with our season this year is that we're going to get valuable pieces eligible in mid-January. The question at that point will be how well can we mesh those groups together and how quickly, because when those guys are eligible the big games are going to come at us very quickly.”
The entire starting lineup returns in point guard Nikko Velez, off guard Steve Bush, wing Wesley Cherry, power forward Chris Gross and center Jameel Warney, along with sixth-man Eddie Harris.
Warney posted seven 20-20 outings and a couple of 20-20-10 (block) performances. The 6-8 senior is reminiscent of a young Dwight Howard, a devastating rebounder and game-changing shot-blocker with raw offensive skills. He has improved tremendously as a passer over the last two seasons, making teams pay when they try to double-team him by finding the open man among his capable teammates. And he has shown a knack for his playing his best in the biggest games.
“He was such a huge force for us last year,” Boff said. “In our biggest games last year the one thing we could always count on was that he was going to find a way to 20 points and high-teens rebounds.”
Warney received more than 20 scholarship offers and committed to Stony Brook in August, foregoing offers from schools like Iowa, Temple, St. Joe's, Dayton and VCU. Warney is already the school's all-time leading boys scorer and needs 52 points to surpass Allison Skrec's overall school record. He is understandably excited about his senior campaign.
“This is the best team we've had in the four years that I've been here,” Warney said. “We have everybody back so we have more experience and we have more depth.”
Boff and his staff are optimistic that 6-4 freshman Isaiah Still,will be able contribute immediately at the 2-3 spots.
“The more I see Isaiah the more I see him playing, he's a kid that has really come in and impressed us,” Boff said. “In our four scrimmages he's played better in every scrimmage.”
And then everything changes in January when Roberson and Saintil become eligible.
The 6-8 Roberson, a transfer from Union, is a fluid, versatile wing who appears capable of playing all five positions. ESPN.com rates him 27th among the nation's juniors as offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville and Pitt would attest.
Sandy Pyonin, Roberson's highly-respected but hyperbolic AAU coach, has set the bar even higher. In consecutive sentences last year Pyonin projected that Roberson would be “the greatest player ever to come out of New Jersey” and, eventually, “better than Kevin Durant.”
Saintil, a 5-10 point guard who played for the nation;'s top-ranked team for most of last season at St. Patrick, is a terrific on-ball defender with great quickness and the ability to burn the opposition from the rim to the 3-point arc, and anywhere in between. Kansas State has made him an offer, too.
Boff knows that one of the biggest challenges facing his team this year will be the transition and sacrifices when Roberson and Saintil become eligible.
“I think the biggest challenge we probably face is not only getting the kids to understand their roles but to accept their roles,” he said. “So many kids in our program could go someplace else, or go to their local public high school and be a star and play 27-30 minutes a game. When they come here we ask them to play sometimes 10 or 12 minutes a game and that's a big change for some of these kids and that's a lot to ask of them.”
Another challenge facing the group is a more challenging schedule due to its promotion to the Watchung Division of the Union County Conference, arguably the state's strongest league. The competition now includes St. Patrick, defending Group 3 champion and Tournament of Champions runners-up (to St. Anthony) Plainfield, Linden, perhaps the state's premier public school program, and Elizabeth, the state's largest school.
“I think it will be new for our kids, there aren't any nights off,” Boff said. “Last year in our league we had to bring it almost every night, this year we've got to bring it every single night. We have to play well every night and even if you do that you're still going to lose some games.”
Warney said his team is ready for the spotlight. Boff said his team has no choice.
“This is what they wanted, all of these kids have wanted to play on the big stage and play against the best teams and be considered as a real good team in New Jersey,” Boff said. “Now it's in front of them and we just have to do what it takes to compete at that level.”
