Top 10 Teams In State:

1.)  ST.ANTHONY –  The consensus top ranked team in the State! Was the mythical National Champs last year and have enough fire power to do it again! Of course they are led by 6’9 Senior Point Guard Kyle Anderson, the U.C.L.A. commit! They also have 6’6 Senior Jerome Frink who has not committed yet but has numerous D1 schools to choose from down low! 6’8 Senior JimmyHall, a Hofstra recruit will also be in the paint with Frink! Junior Joshua Brown(Temple Commit), Junior Hallice Cooke, Junior Chris Regus and Senior Rashard Andrews will be key contributors! Big addition in 6’2 Senior transfer Tariq Carey who is a legitimate D1 prospect!

2.) PLAINFIELD H.S. – The Cardinals are still loaded! They only loss guard Allen Brown from last year in a season where they were runners up to St. Anthony for the T.O.C.! They add St.Patricks transfer 6’3 Taylor Plummer to a strong unit led by 6’7 Senior Justin Sears,6’5 Senior Dijon Allen Jordan,5’11 Senior Sekou Harris and 6’3 Senior Jahmal Lane! Expected to win Group3 States again and meet St. Anthony in rematch!

3.) TRENTON CATHOLIC – After a disappointing season by their standards, Trenton Catholic brings back three D1 players in 6’7 Brandon Taylor (Penn St.), 6’3 Chazz Patterson( Mount St. Marys) and Charles Cooke( James Madison)! Expect big things from 6’8 Junior Amir Maddred and transfers 6’7  Junior A.J. Sumbry(NIA Prep) and 5’8 Junior George Sapp! 

4.) HUDSON CATHOLIC – Big expectations for this team, but are they ready? They carry five D1 players in 6’5 Senior Grant Ellis who is already an Iona signee and 6’7 Junior Reggie Cameron, 6’8 Junior Mike Young, 5’11 Junior Kavon Stewart and 6’3 Junior Raekwon Kelly(pictured) who all have offers on the table! The addition of Young is key to how far they can go! Also will get help from 5’10 Junior Travis Flagg, 6’2 Senior Mark Wilson and 5’10 Freshman sensation Nassir Barrino!

5.) TEANECK – Another team with high expectations! They are led by 6’5 Senior Chris Jones, 6’2 Junior Joel Hernandez, 6’9 Neville Fincher and 5’6 Junior Shakir Lindsey! If they stay out of foul trouble will see Plainfield in Group 3 North finals again!

6.) GILL ST.BERNARD – Probably ranked too low because of past success! Just not sure who will give Gill St.’s Big three the help they will need! 6’7 Senior Dom Hoffman, 5’10 Senior Alex Mottola and 6’0 Junior Jaren Sina are as good a trio as the State has to offer!
Won’t be surprised if they finish higher!

7.) SETON HALL PREP – Will miss all -everything guard Sterling Gibbs, but 6’1 Hofstra commit Dallas Anglin seems ready to assume that role! 6’5 Senior Stephon Moseley, 6’6 Senior Eli Brown, 6’0 Senior John Koribanics and 6’4 Junior Spencer Weisz will give Anglin all the help he will need!

8.) ROSELLE CATHOLIC – 6’6 Stony Brook recruit Jameel Warney will lead a squad that got significantly stronger with the addition of 6’8 Tyler Roberson who is ranked in top 30 Juniors in country by Rivals.com from Union! Look for other help to come from 6’5 Senior Chris Gross, 6’2 Junior Steve Bush and transfers 6’6 Scott Teresco(Westfield) and 5’10 Hakeem Saintil( St. Patricks)!

9.) ST.PATRICKS – Lost alot of players and their dynamic coach Kevin Boyle, yet are still a team loaded with talent! Led by 6’6 Sophomore Jarred Nickens, Pats will still be a tough out for anyone! The additions of 6’5 Junior Elijah Davis and 5’10 Junior Tommy Rivera from Paramus Catholic will help! 6’6 Junior DeAndre Bembry will also be counted on!

10.) St. Joseph (Metuchen) – A well coached team with very good talent! 6’5 Senior Quentin DeCosey is as good a player in the State! The Temple commit will get help from 6’3 Stonehill commit Dan Brix, 6’3 Junior Jalen Gilmore and 6’9 Freshman Karl Towns who definitely will contribute right away!

N.J. Hoops Annual Preseason Top 20 for Bergen And Passaic County:

1.)  TEANECK –  Teaneck brings back their nucleus from last year! They were one lost to Plainfield from being the Group 3 North Champion! They are led by 6’5 Senior Chris Jones and Juniors 6’2 Joel Hernandez, 6’8 Neville Fincher and 5’6 point guard Shakir Lindsey!(all pictured)Will miss guard Chris Hargraves who transferred, but will look for Senior Eduardo Perez or Senior Siddiq Patterson to fill the void!

2.)  EASTSIDE –  The Group 4 State Champs will miss the play of North Jersey Player of the Year point guard Dave Burgos, but they bring back depth and experience led by potential Player of the Year Senior DeAndre Noble! With the help of the tough tenacity of Senior Kyre Jackson and Junior Quatier Jackson they have a chance to go far in the coming season! They have alot of depth in Seniors Nassir Crawford, Shaquille Murphy and Jordan Smith and Junior Xavier Fulmore! Big key will be the addition of Junior point guard Jetor Brown!

3.)  DON BOSCO PREP –  Senior Jemal Mosley will lead the Ironmen this year! He is the one player who can create his own shot! Senior bigman Dajon Toddman will need to be a consistent scorer in the paint, while Sophomore guard Paul Jorgenson will have to man the point! Senior Paddy Quinn is the go to guy on the perimeter! Not to mention the all around play of Senior Leonte Carroo! The one constant for Don Bosco Prep is there ever present defensive! That is the key to their success!

4.)  HACKENSACK –  The Comets are back! High expectations are back! Despite a lack of size, Hackensack can score and has brought back their tough defensive style! Sophomore Rashard Figures is a future D1 player who will be looked to for scoring and leadership! Junior Chris Myers will have the ball in his hands and will be looked at to run the show! Senior Mershan Monroe, Junior’s Gene Marshall, Jamiek Moore and Keyon Lewis and Sophomore Corey Brown will all make major contributions for a team that should be fighting for a Jamboree “Chip”!

5.) DEPAUL – Senior Davon Jacobs and Junior Josh Marquez have as good a chance as they can have to a Passaic County Title this season! Jacobs is trying to finish out a stellar career before moving to the gridiron at Rutgers next year and Marquez is trying to lock his place as one of the best players in the area! Senior Mas Aronson, Sophomore Kiy Hester and Junior Sanders Green are key players for DePaul but the most interesting piece to the puzzle may be the play of Sophomore guard Juwaan Carter!

6.) PASSAIC COUNTY TECH –  Despite the loss of Xavier Nieves and Brandon James,the Bulldogs still have a strong core! Guards Assad Hinton(Sr.) and Isaac Williams(Jr.) will lead Tech on the offensive and defensive end! Sophomore Zaheem Beal and Senior Najee Wimberly will add more help in the backcourt! 6’5 Senior Shackquiel Scott will man the post and will get new found help from DePaul transfer Jarrad Sykes!

7.) ST.JOSEPH – This team is the sleeper of the area! Junior Terrence McNair and Senior’s Dan McKinless and Austin Hliboki are very good players that are under the radar! They play hard nosed defense and will be in the mix the whole way!

8.) PARAMUS CATHOLIC  – The Paladins will be a team to reckon with if they can find a consistent scorer! Senior Vaughn Dudley is the leader of the team on the defensive end as he can guard anyone on the floor! They will miss forward Elijah Davis and Tommy Rivera who both transferred to St.Patrick’s but will get plenty of help when transfer Junior Kyle Minard becomes eligible, as well as Hudson Catholic transfer Mike Alford(Sr)! Sophomore Jalen Hernandez may also be the answer to Paramus Catholic’s scoring as he has a ton of potential!

9.) KENNEDY – The loss of Dawon Lighty and Jahmir White will hurt but you can never doubt a Knight’s team! They will look to Senior Sammy Singletary to be the go to guy and he will get help from Senior’s Jamarr Ellerbee and Gary Simpson! Senior Syquese Clyburn will be the surprise addition this season! Expect help from Junior Rahmir Hayes and Passaic County Tech transfer Hassan Townes!

10.) BERGEN CATHOLIC –  The Crusaders have a new coach and a new attitude! New Coach Billy Armstrong hopes to inject some life into a good program but not quite the high profile program of the past! Junior P.J. Reed will be looked upon to up his game! Sophomore Nadi Beciri will also get major minutes for Bergen! Senior Charles Wingate leadership must show as he is the most experienced player coming back! Luke Cervino will help in the backcourt and Junior Kyle Quiero will also contribute!

11.) WOOD RIDGE – One of the most exciting offensive teams in the area, the Devils can score and are more than willing to do it! Averaged 82 points a game last year and bring back their entire starting lineup! Will compete for a Group1″Chip”! 6’6 Senior Vin O’Bierne leads a team who compliment him with perimeter shooting! Juniors Mike Gibney, Gary Whritenour and Seniors Angel Colon and Matt Alvarez  all can put it up and with their style of play, They Will!

12.) TENAFLY – Senior Chris Orozco who will attend New Hampshire University next season has a chance to become a 2,000 point scorer and leave Tenafly as maybe their greatest player! Tenafly is deeper than in years past as Senior Zach Rush and Junior Steve Sabo are the most experienced players coming back!

13.) PASSAIC VALLEY – Senior Olumide Onajide has as much energy as any player in the area! He was P.V.’s offensive rebounder and was great at cleaning up plays! Now he must become a more consistent scorer as the first option! His development in this role will be the key to Passaic Valley’s season! Senior Jamir Lennon will take over the backcourt chores for Nick DiCristino who graduated last year!

14.)  PASCACK HILLS  –  Connecticut College recruit Jared Shill will lead the Cowboys to another winning season!

15.) DWIGHT ENGLEWOOD –  Senior Wes Dickinson will go out with a bang in his last year! The athletic forward can score around the rim and hopes to get perimeter scoring from his teammates, particularly Junior Keon Osbourne who has good range!

16.)  WAYNE VALLEY –  Senior Jay Mustafa takes over the reigns as the leader of the Indians! Juniors Andrew Keene and Scott Arkin will provide tough interior play! If Chris Romsi can get healthy they will finish higher than this prediction!

17.) OLD TAPPAN – Travis Procida comes over from Bergen Catholic to help overcome the loss of star guard Shane McLaughlin! Shane’s Sophomore brother Troy will get major minutes as will 6’5 Senior Daniel Brogan!

18.) ENGLEWOOD – New Coach Ozzie Osbourne will try to mold Englewood back to it’s winning ways! He will look to Senior Tyler Kearney and Senior Austin Mufanananya to ignite his team!

19.) BERGENFIELD – Senior’s Corey White and Kevin Pineda hope to take Bergenfield on another ride like last year when they made noise in the Jamboree before falling to Don Bosco Prep!

20.) CRESSKILL  –  Senior Rich Van Cleft  and Junior’s Dominick Wilson and Tyler Jackson hope to lead Cresskill to another strong season after finishing 19-9 and 12-4 in league play!

           St. Anthony Senior swingman Rashad Andrews has committed to play in college at perennial Division 2 power Adelphi University! The 6’3 forward had a tremendous A.A.U. season with Sports U. and was getting alot of D2 and low D1 looks! He makes the fourth St. Anthony player to commit as Kyle Anderson( U.C.L.A.) Jimmy Hall(Hofstra) and Josh Brown(Temple) all have made their college choices!