West Milford…..….. Last year Connor Healy’s West Milford squad finished #16 in the Hoop Journal Top 20 rankings to end the season! Alot of that had to do with the play of Healy. An energy player with a deadly jump shot, Healy(pictured left) will be one of the player’s to watch in Northern New Jersey for the upcoming season! But this year he will be looking for help from a team that lost most of it’s significant players. The #1 candidate seems like it will be 6’3 senior Jordan Wright(right) who did not play last year due to personal reasons. West Milford was one of the teams in the Paterson Fall League and Wright more than held his own! Wright is a very good athlete who can finish around the basket! He must be a quick study as teams will be keying on Healy until someone else can prove they are a threat. Wright will have his chance!  

              The one thing that was quite obvious during summer and fall basketball is the abundance of talent that’s coming up in the State of New Jersey in the sophomore class of 2013! Now, there may not be a kid that can go directly to the league or anything like that, but there are a bunch of kids that, should they continue their progress will be playing Division 1 basketball when everything is said and done!. The class is led by 6’9 St. Patrick’s forward Austin Colbert(left),who is ranked top 20 in most publications! He is a versatile player who has expanded his game from inside to perimeter. Colbert’s teammate 6’6 Jason Boswell, Hudson Catholic’s 6’6 Reggie Cameron and 5’10 Kavon Stewart( pictured together), St. Anthony’s 6’3 Josh Brown, St. Benedict’s 6’8 Mike Young and Gill St. Bernard’s 6’0 Jaren Sina are all top ranked players in the country! All have D1 offers in their portfolio’s and they all have big upsides to their games! The Northern New Jersey area is not missing a beat when it comes to the talent in the 2013 class! Hackensack, Teaneck, Paramus Catholic and DePaul are a few schools in the area with top young talent from that class!  DePaul’s 6’2 Josh Marquez established himself as a freshman and will look to continue his progress! Hackensack’s trio of 6’3 Rashad Figures, 5’8 Chris Myers and 6’0 Eugene Marshall will be counted on heavily, Paramus Catholic will look to 6’4 Elijah Davis and 5’9 Tommy Rivera, two newcomers with plenty of talent, while 6’0 Joel Hernandez will be making his mark for Teaneck this season!

Sophomore’s To Keep Eye On :

Austin Colbert – St. Patricks    Jason Boswell – St. Patricks   Amir Maddred – St. Patricks 

Josh Brown – St. Anthony’s(pictured)     Jordan Forehand – St. Anthony’s   Hallice Cooke -St. Anthony’s     Cody Jenkins – St. Anthony’s

Reggie Cameron – Hudson Catholic    Kavon Stewart – Hudson Catholic   Raekwon Kelly – Hudson Catholic   Travis Flagg – Hudson Catholic

Jaren Sina – Gill St. Bernards   Mike Young – St. Benedicts    Jarrett Hall –  Newark Tech  

Jordan Arthur – Newark Tech    Joshua Marquez – DePaul (pictured)    Spencer Weicz – Seton Hall Prep

Will Joyce – Newark Eastside    Joel Hernandez – Teaneck   Elijah Davis  – Paramus Catholic(pictured)    Tommy Rivera – Paramus Catholic

Chris Myers – Hackensack   Rashad Figures – Hackensack   Eugene Marshall – Hackensack

 Jetor Brown – Manchester     Travis Procida – Bergen Catholic    Manny Suarez – Cliffside Park       Kenny Grant Jr. – East Orange     Kenley Polynice – East Orange            

Paterson………. For Passaic Valley, they no longer have do it all guard Dom Coiro or three point shooter Mike Governali to be their leaders due to graduation. So it is time for guard Nick DiCristina(right) and forward Dave Clough(bottom) to finally take the lead! Both were big contributors last year, but now the ball has been put in their hands and it will be up to them to continue the recent success the program has had. DiCristina is a good ball handler who has a nice perimeter game, while Clough is a bruiser who doesn’t mind getting dirty. With help from junior Olumide Olajide and guard Jamir Lennon the Hornets don’t plan on missing a beat this coming season!