Season Award Predictions

MVP: Bradley teDuits

Many view Bradley as the most skilled player in the league which could come as a surprise as just a year ago he led his team with 0 points and 1 technical foul in the most important game of his season. When you look at his team however it is evident he will need to step up and put up big numbers if this team is going to win as you can't imagine Colin tossing hand grenades at the hoop will get them the points they need to go the distance. Bradley should be able to guard just about anyone in this league and it's hard to bet against him scoring 20+ a game, which if this team goes as far as we predict them to, should be enough to win himself the MVP award. 

Other potential contenders: Derek Caruso, Will Bordes, Sammy Eggiman, 

Defensive Player of the Year: Colin (Quail) teDuits

It's quite scary to think Colin and his less handsome brother could take home the 2 most prestigious awards this league has to offer, but it's a very real possibility. He is practically useless when it comes to offense, but you can bet on a quiet day for whoever he is guarding on the other end of the floor. Colin is known for sending poor small freshman's shots miles into the stands and pick pocketing just about anyone who tries dribbling by him. His incredibly lanky arms and aggressive mentality on the defensive side of the ball leaves him in the discussion for DPOY every season and if he could pull it together on offense, he could easily be in the MVP talks as well. 

Other potential contenders: Sammy Eggiman, Jacob Strauss, Cole Connerty, Simon (Handsome) Chandler

Rookie of the Year: Evan Laudenslager

This is another one of those tough awards as no one really knows how this batch of freshman will play until the season stars, but Evan Laudenslager looks to be the early candidate for ROY. In evals he showed some maturity and the confidence that not to many could handle and could end up being one of the most impactful freshman we'll have the pleasure to watch this year. He is not one of the taller freshman and it's possible he doesn't quite have the muscle to hang with the upperclassman, but we hope he proves us wrong.

Other potential contenders: Rhein Stelzer, Jimmy Anzivino, Will Vogel, Nate Spinale, 

Sixth Man of the Year: Joseph Pang

This man knows how to be heard by his team mates, his clapping from the corner can be heard by anyone who is near the Lawrence Academy gym in the early hours of Sunday morning each week. Joseph Pang is known for his lethal 3 ball and when he gets his shot up you almost know it's going to fall. He could be the key for team teDuits to get them over the hump this year and secure them a championship. 

Other potential contenders: Ryan Taylor, TJ Sannazaro, Dylan Cianci, Ethan Ebersman, Rhein Stelzer

Most Improved Player: Jon Eisenklam

Jon has what many of the athletes this season don't have. The height. He's a slept on man mountain and has the potential to really break out this year and be a star. He's on a team full of players that can be labeled average at best and a breakout from Jon could be what this team needs to pull them off the bottom. Word on the street is he suffered from a scary back injury that we all hope he recovers from in time for week one, but we also hope he takes as long as he needs to nurse that precious back of his all the way to full strength.

Other potential contenders: Alex Caruso, Ivan Sturm, Richard Silva, Ethan McNamara

Worst Player: Ryan Bernard

It is a bit of a mystery why team Bonaventura drafted Ryan Bernard. The only logical reasoning is that they wanted his younger brother and he got dragged along with him. Most coaches wouldn't draft Lebron James had he been in the draft if it mean't they had to draft Ryan Bernard as well. Time will tell if he's gotten better since last year, but Ryan Bernard you are truly a poison to team Bonaventura. His jump-shot is terrible and he's constantly getting blocked and handing the ball back to his opponent.

Other potential contenders: Will Kenny, Sam Smethurst,

Worst Shot Form: Will Kenny

This goes hand and hand with the worst player award so it is no surprise to see Will Kenny and Ryan Bernard's names pop up again in this section, but our favorite has to be Will Kenny. It is truly a mystery how he started shooting the ball like this, but we would be shocked to see a single shot fall this season. He takes his shots like he's trying to make a bridge between a soccer throw in and a basketball shot. Let's just hope he can pull it together for team Cianci/Hanneman because as far as were concerned, he could be about as useful as a lamppost out on the court.

Other potential contenders: Colin teDuits, Zach El Masri, Ryan Bernard, 

Coach of the Year: Jarboe

This is the obvious tough one each year, but Mr Jarboe has the resume to back it up. He is the only coach that has a championship to his name and his pure passion for the sport is normally replicated by his team who often put in great performances. Only time will tell if he will be bringing the trophy home for another year. 

Other potential contenders: Mcnamara (Has to deal with Castelano, good luck)

  

Most likely to be the first to dunk this season: Jared Phelps/Sammy Volante

There have been many rumors circling around the rec league that the boxtroll has been spending countless hours in the gym bouncing between the leg press and the box jumps. It will not come as a surprise if he's throwing down everything from windmill dunks to between the legs posterizers. If it wasn't for Sammy Volante's sneaky hops, the boxtroll would be the odds on favorite without any doubt, but Sammy's also looking scary good. 

Other potential contenders: Derek Caruso, Simon Chandler

Best Foreigner: Paul Waltz/ Harald Gemmel

These two players are both foreigners who may have never touched a basketball before showing up to the GD Rec league. They are both starting from scratch and are a real unknown for mostly everyone in the league. Both are tremendous athletes and have all the room to grow in the world and if they hit there maximum potential from there size and athletic prowess, they can easily be huge impact players for their respective teams. It should be a amazing battle to see who pulls this one out. A battle between Germany and Sweeden, soccer and football, Paul and Harald, good luck to the both of you.

Other potential contenders: None

Pre-Season Power Rankings

Now that the draft is done and rosters are set, we are ready for our first set of power rankings for the year. Please keep in mind that this is all for fun and by no means is this meant to throw shade at any individual or team. As has been proven before by Team Jarboe who went from being ranked 2nd to last, and then winning the championship last year. Everyone has a great chance at going all the way so don't let this discourage you.

1. teDuits
This team has the star power that no other team can compare to.  The teDuits twins are no joke and in the areas where one lacks, the other has it covered. Colin's Draymond Green play style adds very little if anything to the offense, but his defensive prowess on the other end of the court makes up for the liability he is on offense. Bradley on the other hand can sometimes find himself getting streaky hot and can take over games, but usually comes crashing down to earth when his massive head gets in the way. Jared (Boxtroll) Phelps was also a sneaky good pick and knows how to score himself a bucket. Time will tell if this team really is the real deal, but if Joseph (Pangarang) Pang, Jay Fulreader, and Jack Cunningham can get their 3 balls falling, this team will be extremely hard to stop.

2. Jarboe
Coming in at the 2 seed has to be team Jarboe as they look to defend their title. This team has a player for every category you could want on a basketball team. Expect to see first year rec player Brendan Ferrari doing everything from finishing around the rim, to cashing in on the three ball, as well as clamping the opposing teams best player. The incredibly well rounded Simon Chandler knows how to not only get himself a hoop, but also find some of the hot 3 point shooters he's surrounded with. Max Jarboe, Richard Silva, and Raef Burhoe can all hit the 3 ball with confidence and it's hard to see where this team will struggle.

3. Anzivino
This team is headlined by Will Bordes who has been slept on for much too long and it wasn't till the end of last season when he began eating his way through the competition and led team Manzi to a 2nd place finish that many realized he was in fact the real deal. He can drop 25 points on any given morning and with Logan Hillberg and Zac Elmasri this team is not short of height. This team is another team who really lacks any weakness and could keep their place close to the top of the power rankings all season.

4. Connerty/Dzwonek
This team is one of the biggest teams the rec league has ever seen. This team has quietly taken 4 of the tallest players in the league and although they may not be good at it, they all like to shoot the 3. They should be a force to be reckoned with this season, but could very easily be beat on the fast break. Stevie Dzwonek is without doubt the Luka Doncic of the league because he is incredibly good, but really no one knows how. Pairing him with the awfuly strong Tommy Raymond and Cole Connerty and letting the man in Groton with the most beautiful chin (Sam Smethurst) hoist up his fair share of 3's could be a recipe for a lot of wins.

5. Donaruma/Beigel
Team Donaruma/Beigel could pan out to be a real nice team this season with quite possibly the best 3 point shooter this league has in Alex Bushnell. Although he is only 1/4 as good as his handsome older brother, he can still let them fly from all over the court. Evan Beigel is one of the most athletic kids this league has and should have the ability to guard just about anyone other teams will throw his way. The real question that faces this team, is will they handle the Sri Dendukuri turnovers and forced shots that comes with having him on your team well or will that be their downfall.

6. Kelly
This team is built around twin towers Josh Booth and Mason (Boofma) Noseworthy. They should out-rebound just about every team in the league this season. Sammy Eggiman who is mostly known for his dashingly handsome all red school outfits and impressive leg press records will lead mostly everything that goes right offensively for this team. They have two athletic wings in Declan Lowney and Eugenio (Papa) Rivera who will contribute nicely on both ends of the floor. However most of the unknown from this team comes from the 5 freshman who are yet to prove themselves in the rec league.

7. Cianci/Hanneman
This team isn't the most talented in the league, but make up for it in their outstanding chemistry. All these boys know each other like brothers and it will be interesting to see if that love for each other will carry over on to the court. There is no doubt they have one of the best three point shooters this league has ever seen in Down-Town-Jake-Brown, but this team could often be short of players as almost all of their players are known to have spotty attendance records. We'll have to monitor the tedious shoulder injury that Sammy Volante has suffered during the football season, but once he returns to action this team will have one of the most talented point guards in the league.

8. Bonaventura
There are really only two sure things on this team and its Derek Caruso hitting 16 foot mid range shots and Ryan Bernard turning the ball over at least 10 times a game. It will be extremely interesting to see how the rookie combination of Ben Ansted, Will Vogel, and Evan Laudenslager fair and if this team has aspirations of making a run this season, they'll all have to contribute signifcantly. If it wasn't for the god awful Ryan Bernard this team may be higher, but it's hard to imagine such a liability not hurting this team. Good luck to team Bonaventura and if Ryan decides not to show up I'm sure you'll do great.

9. Strauss
This team has a clear and obvious weakness and it's height, their obscure draft strategies never fail to surprise others, but more often than not it works. This team could be pretty solid on the defensive side led by DPOY candidate Jacob Strauss, but it's not clear who there primary scorer will be. This team certainly has the ability to surprise us this year as so many of their players are rec rookies, but it's hard to see how such a small team will be able to handle a team of giants like Dzwonek/Connerty.

10. Mcnamara
This team could very easily prove me wrong, but I would never bet on a team with Alex Castelano as a key contributor. Although he has amazing hair and a real handsome smile, he is known for oversleeping his alarm and being quite the nuisance when it comes to his contributions to a team. Sophomore stud Curtis Lacombe will have to make his presence felt week in and week out if this team wants to make some noise throughout the season. Warren Callen has without doubt the most intimidating frame of all big men in this league and very well could get rebounds by scaring his opponents away, but unless this team really clicks on offense and shots fall consistently, I can't imagine this team winning a ton of games.

Open Gym

Lawrence Academy will be open to anyone who wants to shoot around or play small games from 8:00-9:30 PM both Tuesday 11/19 and Thursday 11/21.

2019-2020 Rec Basketball Season

Welcome to the 2019-2020 Rec Basketball season

The season will start with evals during the week of the 11th, with the schedule looking like this

Last Name	Date	Day	Time	Location
A – G	11/12	Tues	8 - 9:30	LA
H - Z	11/14	Thurs.	8 - 9:30	LA

There will not be any formal practices until after the first round of games which will take place on 12/1, but it is possible there will be an open gym or two before those games for anyone who's interested in playing some pickup or shooting around.