Best Basketball Players in NJ & NY Area at Hoop Group Top 100

Sophomores

William Joyce- 6’4 guard from Newark Eastside is blossoming into a complete player. He is a very good athlete who does everything very well. A coach’s dream.

Freshman

Akbar Hoffman- 6’0 point guard from Newark Eastside had senior like poise running an offense. Already very physically developed Hoffman defended on the ball well and made plays offensively.

COACHES ALL-SUPER ESSEX TEAMS

FIRST TEAM
Kasim Chandler, East Side
Tariq Carey, East Side

SECOND TEAM
Aaron Bodie, East Side

HONORABLE MENTION

William Joyce, East Side

Newark's East Side High basketball personifies team effort heading into state tournament

Anthony Tavares stalks the tiny space along the sideline in front of his team’s bench, pointing fingers, shouting directions and stomping the hardwood for emphasis.
His forehead is doused with sweat.
His voice is grinding its way to oblivion.
And during timeouts, he crouches in front of the players, his head swiveling from face to face as he barks instructions.
The scene at Newark’s East Side High is similar to that of most boys basketball teams except for one detail: Tavares is an assistant coach. The head coach, Bryant Garvin, sits during games and whispers in the players’ ears during timeouts while Tavares shouts at them.
This quirky coaching configuration seems to be working at the school in Newark’s Ironbound section. In a decade together, Tavares and Grant have won two Essex County championships, two sectional titles and a state crown, making East Side arguably the most consistent team in Newark. Today, the Red Raiders (17-8) open the state tournament as the No. 2 seed in North Jersey Section 2, Group 3.
“They absolutely do not have the ego,” said Liz Aranjo, the former East Side athletic director who now is director of health, physical education and athletics for Newark public schools. “The players are definitely the focus, and that’s what these guys care about.”
Tavares, Garvin and the six other coaches in the East Side program each has a specific job. Dan Sharpe sets up the SAT tutoring program. Troy Long handles college recruiting. Robert Cole oversees feeder programs. Uron Hawkins keeps track of grades. John Thomason and James May coach the freshmen.
And no coach is more important than the next, prompting them to pool together their coaching stipends and split the money evenly eight ways, Tavares said.
To see Tavares, 32, and Garvin, 40, during a game is to see something that feels like a perfectly timed symphony of shouts and screams. They often instruct in concert — Garvin, from his chair, often using one-word instructions between Tavares’ constant chatter.
“It’s kind of natural for us because we just have to listen to both coaches,” East Side center Aaron Bodie said. “Coach Gar inspires us and Coach T motivates us. It’s like a team effort.”
• • •
As crisis counselor at East Side, Garvin has seen his share of altercations in the hallways, but the one in 2000 was different. A student believed to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol was attacking his father.
Garvin, a former college football player, tried to restrain the student, but felt something almost immediately as they tangled. He had collapsed two vertebrae that pinched against nerves in his spine, causing him to lose feeling in his legs.
Four screws would be inserted in his back to stabilize his spine and Garvin missed almost four months of work. The injury changed his lifestyle.
“If I do anything wrong, moving the wrong way, I can have some major issues where I could be out for a while,” said Garvin, who still looks fit and trim but moves with a slow gait. “I have to keep myself still and keep my blood pressure low.”
Despite his back problems, Garvin took the job in October 2001 at the urging of the East Side administration, which thought his stern approach would help quell the negativity surrounding the program. Garvin knew he would have to sit during games because of his back, but that was only one of the challenges he would face trying to turn around a program mired in scandal.
Ed Leibowitz, the previous coach, had been suspended indefinitely and the program was put on two years’ probation by the state’s governing body for high school athletics after an investigation into the sudden appearance of foreign basketball players at the school.
“There was just no order. There was a lot of chaos,” Aranjo said.
When Garvin was hired, Aranjo urged him to bring on board Tavares, a former East Side player. First Garvin wanted to meet Tavares.
“He sat down with me and he said, ‘I’ll do anything and everything you want,’ ” Garvin said. “I told him if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this together.”
In their second season, Garvin and Tavares led East Side to the Group 4 state championship.
• • •
During a Feb. 15 game against Columbia, the animated Tavares earned a technical foul for arguing, restricting him to the one place he never wants to be: the bench.
Even though it’s mandatory for coaches who earn technicals to sit the rest of the game, Tavares crept out of his seat several times, sometimes crouching low and slamming his chair against the ground to get his players’ attention.
“If Coach Garvin wants you to do something, he’ll pull you to the side and talk to you about it and make sure you try and apply it,” Bodie said. “Coach T, he just tells you in front of everybody. He’s just always amped.”
Garvin, on the other hand, is a man of few words and his players know it’s important when he speaks. It’s all part of the plan at East Side.
“It takes a village to raise these kids and we definitely have a nice support system,” said Tavares, who is now a vice principal at East Side. “We’re all in the building. We all stay on top of the kids so they can be role models for all the other kids in the building.
“All eight of us complement each other tremendously. There’s no ego. It seems to work pretty well.”

Villanova to retire jersey of Newark native Randy Foye

Randy Foye, a former New Jersey high school player of the year and standout at Newark's East Side High School, will have his No. 2 jersey retired at Villanova on Saturday at the Pavilion, according to a post on the school's website.

Foye was a consensus All-American and the Big East's player of the year as a senior in 2005-06.

"I'm honored to be joining the elite company of Villanova Basketball players with their jersey retired," Foye said in a statement. "My four years on campus were extremely memorable and I appreciate everyone in the Nova Nation for their support. I'd like to thank Coach (Jay) Wright, my teammates and the entire staff who were instrumental in creating successful seasons during my career. Villanova Basketball is built on a tradition of hard work, togetherness and pride, and I've carried this positive attitude with me throughout my NBA career."

Foye was part of Villanova head coach Jay Wright's first full recruiting class.

Randy Foye, a Newark native, will become the 18th Villanova basketball player to have a jersey retired. He currently plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Foye positive influence on Clippers

By DAVID LASSENThe Press-Enterprise
After an injury that hampered him early in the season, Randy Foye is beginning to make an impact on the court for the Clippers.
He's been making contributions in other places for some time.
Foye's reputation as a quality individual was influential in the Clippers' decision to sign him as a free agent last summer. And that reputation is born out not only by his conduct with the team, but also with his charitable organization for young people in his hometown of Newark, N.J.
"The big thing is Randy's a leader," said Neil Olshey, the Clippers' vice president of basketball operations. "He's had ups and downs in the league (with injuries), but he's a great guy. And I knew that he was a guy that, after drafting (Eric) Bledsoe, instead of trying to undermine his development to feather his own nest, he would be a guy that would embrace the role of mentor."
The importance of pairing such veterans with young players is something the Clippers have learned the hard way, Olshey admits.
"We had issues in the past where we had the wrong type of veterans around young guys," he said. "And you see it deleteriously affected DeAndre Jordan. It affected Eric Gordon. At times it affected Al Thornton when he was here. And there was no way we were going to put the future of the franchise -- which is Bledsoe, (Al-Farouq) Aminu, Gordon, (Blake) Griffin and Jordan -- at risk, in the hands of veterans that had their own agenda."
Foye has embraced the role of mentor with his Randy Foye Foundation in his native Newark, one of the toughest cities in the world as far as gang violence, drugs and murders. He knows this from personal experience, having had family members involved with drugs, and a mother who disappeared when he was 5.
"I'm just trying to keep kids away from it," he said. "I try to give back, mentor them, talk to them, and tell them everything's going to be all right. ... I always said if I talk to 10 kids in a room, and one of them takes something from me, I feel like I did what I was supposed to do."
Foye seems a little less comfortable with the word "mentor" in a Clippers context -- perhaps because at age 27, in just his fifth year in the NBA, he seems a little young for that role. But he certainly is willing to pass along what he's learned so far.
"When you're young, there's ups and downs," Foye said. "So you always need someone who went through it before, and someone to talk to. When guys are playing great, I always tell them, 'You can never get too high, you can never get too low. The main thing you've got to do is keep working.' "
Foye says the young players repeated that message to him when he was discouraged by the hamstring injury that kept him out of 20 of the team's first 28 games. Only now, a month after returning, does he say he's nearing full health, noting his ability to get off the ground to challenge a dunk by Shannon Brown in last Sunday's game with the Lakers, and his ability to stay with Indiana's Darren Collison a day later.
"My main thing," he said, "is I want to go out there and give the team what I can. And right now, I'm doing a little bit of the little things."
Coach Vinny Del Negro said Foye "can make some shots for us, and sometimes we can go with a three-guard offense with him, get him off the ball and use his skills a little bit more. ...
"He's been a pro. It's just that the injuries set him back early."
That three-guard option was significant in the win over the Lakers, Olshey notes.
"They spread the floor, it allowed dribble penetration, and it opened the whole game up. ...
"I think Randy's best days are ahead of him. He was a little snake-bit with injuries" -- the hamstring injury was preceded by a knee injury requiring arthroscopic surgery last summer -- "but as he gets back to 100 percent and he gets his swagger back, that (lineup) is going to be an incredible tool for Vinny."

NJ Boys Basketball: Statewide rankings for the week of Jan. 10

THE STAR-LEDGER TOP 20

1-St. Patrick (7-0)
2-St. Anthony (8-0)
3-St. Augustine (7-0)
4-Newark East Side (7-1)
5-Gill St. Bernard’s (8-2)
6-Paul VI (6-0)
7-Paramus Catholic (4-3)
8-Linden (5-2)
9-Seton Hall Prep (6-2)
10-Teaneck (5-2)
11-Shawnee (8-1)
12-Lakewood (6-1)
13-Lenape (7-0)
14-Hudson Catholic (8-2)
15-Passaic Tech (7-2)
16-Don Bosco Prep (6-2)
17-Christian Brothers (5-1)
18-Plainfield (6-3)
19-Trenton Catholic (4-3)
20-Columbia (6-1)


PLAYER TO WATCH

East Side's Kasim Chandler is always worth watching for his scrappy defensive play and well-rounded floor game. But for entertainment value, the best time to nix the text messaging and take notice of the 5-9 junior guard is when his team is losing. The entire East Side team kicks things up when facing a deficit in the second half, and Chandler is typically the sparkplug of those rallies. His on-ball defense becomes a bit tighter, passes are a little crisper and his fighting spirit practically becomes a visible statement on his jersey. Three of his squad's last four victories have been comebacks, including a 59-50 decision over Central Dec. 31 in the Newark Public Schools Tournament. This is not to suggest that Chandler, who averages 17.2 ppg. and four assists, occasionally takes plays off until the situation is dire. He never does. He simply has another level of energy and focus that few can match.

Statewide rankings for the week of Jan. 3

THE STAR-LEDGER TOP 20

1-St. Patrick (5-0)
2-St. Anthony (6-0)
3-St. Augustine (4-0)
4-Don Bosco Prep (4-0)
5-Trenton Catholic (3-2)
6-Paramus Catholic (2-2)
7-Newark East Side (5-1)
8-Gill St. Bernard’s (4-2)
9-Union (4-2)
10-Paul VI (4-0)
11-Linden (3-2)
12-Teaneck (4-2)
13-Seton Hall Prep (3-2)
14-Newark Central (5-1)
15-Shawnee (5-1)
16-Hudson Catholic (6-1)
17-Christian Brothers (2-1)
18-Lakewood (3-1)
19-Msgr. Donovan (2-0)
20-Columbia (5-1)














GROUP 3
1-Newark East Side (5-1)
2-Teaneck (4-2)
3-Plainfield (4-3)
4-Kingsway (4-1)
5-West Milford (5-0)
6-Barringer (5-1)
7-Passaic Valley (4-2)
8-Scotch Plains (5-2)
9-Freehold Borough (4-2)
10-Old Tappan (4-0)

Championship Pictures

Back-2-Back

By Mike Kinney

Junior guards Kasim Chandler and Tariq Carey had already done plenty to help East Side keep pace with upset-minded Central.

But both knew their jobs would not be nearly done until one of them fed the ball to Aaron Bodie for one of his thunderous dunks. Because when Bodie soars high above the rim and throws one down, it’s always worth a lot more than the two points recorded in the scorebook.

Chandler did the honors with a feed in transition to Bodie, who finished it with a two-handed jam that highlighted an early fourth-quarter spurt and sent defending-champion East Side to a 59-50 victory in the finals of the Newark Public Schools Tournament yesterday before a capacity crowd at Barringer High.

``We had to get a dunk,’’ Chandler said. ``When we got that dunk, the crowd got going, our momentum got going and we started making a little run.’’

That dunk opened a 43-42 lead and Bodie scored again a half-minute later on a putback jam. Carey scored on a fastbreak layup 1:54 into the fourth quarter for a 48-42 lead it never relinquished.

It was not quite as stirring as East Side’s 29-12 fourth-quarter rally that beat University, 62-57, for last winter’s NPST crown. But it was darn good.

Chandler scored a game-high 19 points and also had four steals, Carey collected 18 points and nine rebounds and Bodie closed with 11 points and eight rebounds for East Side, No. 9 in The Star-Ledger Top 20. Central, ranked No. 13 and playing in its first final, received 14 points and six assists from senior guard Patrick Cole and 13 points and 12 rebounds from senior center Ramon Johnson.

Cole was an all-round spark for Central with his ability to locate open shooters or drive hard into the lane and Johnson was a steady presence off the low block. Their team had comeback opportunities, but was undone by 2-of-8 foul shooting in the fourth quarter, 4-of-16 for the game.

``Free throws cost us,’’ Cole said. ``Next time in practice, we have to stop messing around during free throws and take that practice more seriously. How you practice is how you play.’’

East Side likely would have won even if Bodie had kissed in Chandler’s skip pass off the glass instead of jamming it home. But the 6-6 junior is a gifted athlete whose feats are already well known among the student population. Chandler and Carey both understand how important a frenzied fan outburst can be to a run.

``Every time Aaron gets a dunk, the crowd gets up and we go from there,’’ Carey said. ``He’s an engine and he never stops working.’’

Carey was a scoring force in the second quarter with eight points, including four on feeds by Chandler and two on one of his three offensive rebounds. Chandler added seven points that period to help East Side to a 30-29 edge.

``Our coaches said play smart, share the ball and make hustle plays,’’ Carey said. ``Once that happened, things fell into place for us.’’

Cole scored six points and had two assists in the third quarter to help Central grab a 42-39 lead.

SHP Edges East Side In Thrilling Opener To Get SEC-American Season Off & Running

By Steve Tober
for sidelinechatter.com

NEWARK- Just another season opener you say…No way, not when two Top 10 teams tip-off 2010-2011 before a packed house, Down Neck, on a Friday afternoon in the hectic Brick City, where Essex County hoops fans willing to brave the holiday traffic in and around Penn Station and a snarled McCarter Highway found it all worthwhile once they sat crammed together while taking in a little primetime Jersey high school basketball.

Seton Hall Prep and Newark East Side treated the fans packed in the Red Raiders’ gym to a memorable debut to the regular season for both Super Essex Conference-American Division teams, each a favorite in their respective state sections this winter, Non-Public A for the Pirates and Group 3 for East Side, and if the first of possibly three meetings this season is any indication of what’s to come than brace yourself.

With junior center Stephon Mosley scoring eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, Maryland-bound senior guard Sterling Gibbs pouring in a game-high 30 points, and junior guard Dallas Anglin putting together a solid 20-point, 5-steal performance in his Pirate debut, SHP hung on to edge the Red Raiders, 69-67.

With the two teams scheduled to meet again Thursday, Jan. 20 (7 p.m.) at SHP, and, perhaps, in an Essex County Tournament final the end of February, there could be plenty more fireworks from two teams that appear destined to cause all sorts of headaches for the opposition throughout this season.

“A great high school basketball game between two teams that really played hard,” said SHP veteran coach Bob Farrell, happy to escape Ironbound with a season-opening win. “They are a real excellent team with great penetrators.

“I told our kids that playing on the road we will have to overcome adversity and our kids, for the most part, did that.”

When Anglin connected on a free throw to give his team a 69-66 lead with 5.1 seconds left, the cagey, experienced coach made a critical decision, one which would ultimately pay off: foul the dribbler and force East Side to try and score off an offensive rebound to tie or win the game.

SHP fouled East Side’s superb junior point guard Kasim Chandler (18 points, 4 steals) with 2.5 seconds showing and the Red Raider made the first free throw and purposely missed the second.

However, a tap by sophomore forward Will Joyce was well off the mark and junior center Aaron Bodie’s off balance put-back also was off target.

It was a very long 2.5 seconds since the clock operator failed to start the scoreboard clock right away, but the Pirates survived the extended extra couple of ticks and came away with the win.

“Last year, when we played here, we were up three at the same juncture and they had the ball,” recalled Farrell. “I told our guys to stay on the shooters and don’t get sucked in, but we got sucked in, they missed a wide open ‘3’ and I said I wasn’t going to take that chance again.

“I wanted them to win on an offensive rebound…The timekeeper said to me he was watching play and was sorry….It was some exciting basketball game, that’s for sure!”

East Side’s splendid 6-2 junior guard Tariq Carey (18 points) scored six points in the final 1:20 and his two free throws with 53.1 seconds left brought the Red Raiders to within 66-64.

After a Mosley layup off a nice feed from Anglin with 43 seconds showing, Carey hit a runner, to make it 68-66, with 29 seconds still left.

A key block by SHP junior guard Zahki Davis led to the ball going out of bounds and the Pirates regaining possession with nine seconds remaining.

Anglin missed the front end of a two shot opportunity at the charity stripe, but made the second, setting the stage for the coach’s decision to foul and not allow the tri-fecta to tie.

“He’s been doing this for 34 years and Coach Farrell knows everything about basketball,” said SHP sophomore swingman Spencer Weisz, who didn’t score, but had a fine floor game (12 rebounds, five assists). “We have total faith in our coach and if he wants us foul we’re going to foul.

“Heck, it all worked out in the end and we earned a hard-fought victory against a very good East Side team!”

Anglin, watching his backcourt mate Gibbs put on yet another superb show, his classmate Mosley come up big with key buckets and rebounds in the fourth quarter, and the rest of his teammates hold off a splendid Red Raider squad in a classic season opener, couldn’t help but soak in the afterglow of a fine debut for all, including himself.

“This is a great way to start the season, against a very tough team, but we knew it would be hell coming in here,” said Anglin, who played his freshman season at St. Peter’s Prep before transferring early in his sophomore year (Jan. 11, 2010) to SHP and sitting out the rest of last season. “Sterling is simply clutch and Stephon is a great prospect whose in my grade and I love playing with him.

“This is a great group of guys and coach Farrell has us ready for every situation. It definitely was a tough game, but we’re thrilled to begin the season with a big victory, that’s for sure!”

Seton Hall Prep (1-0) 14 24 17 14 -69

East Side (0-1) 15 16 19 17 -67

SHP: Sterling Gibbs 7-2-10-30, Dallas Anglin 5-1-7-20, Stephon Mosley 4-0-4-12, Spencer Weisz 0-0-0-0, Elijah Brown 1-0-0-2, Kelly Willoughby 0-0-0-0, Zahki Davis 2-0-1-5. Totals: 19-3-22-69.

East Side: Kasim Chandler 1-3-7-18, Tariq Carey 6-0-6-18, Aaron Bodie 6-0-2-14, Jamal Reid 4-1-2-13, Will Joyce 2-0-0-4, Omar Martinez 0-0-0-0, Shaquan Johnson 0-0-0-0, Victor Oliyani 0-0-0-0, Abdul Lewis 0-0-0-0. Totals: 19-4-17-67.

Top 20 Preview: Newark East Side

Head coach: Bryant GarvinLast season: 19-7 NJ Hoops Final Ranking 17thPostseason: Advanced to Group 3 North 2 semifinals, Advanced to Essex County semis
OverviewAn excellent group of juniors and a big time sophomore. If they play together and stay focused it could be a memorable year.

NEWARK EASTSIDE
Point guard Kasim Chandler is one of four very good juniors for the Red Raiders.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tariq Carey Wing
Aaron Bodie Post
Kasim Chandler Point
Jamal Reid Combo
Will Joyce Wing
Ismael Sanogo Wing

Akbar Hoffman Wing

Backcourt
A potent three guard lineup of explosive scorer, 6-foot-2 Jr. Tariq Carey. 5-foot-11 Jr. Jamal Reid and quick penetrator 5-foot-9 Jr. Kasim Chandler. A very dangerous high scoring group provided they share the ball and play together.
Frontcourt
6-foot-6 Jr. Aarom Bodie is an excellent leaper and good a few putback dunks every night. He is capable of a double/double every night. 6-foot-3 So. Will Joyce is an exciting prospect who can also score in bunches and go get the ball off the backboard.

Bench

There is not great depth although the reports on freshman Ismael Sanogo are good.

Coaching
Year's back the administration went with almost co Head Coaches in Bryant Garvin and Anthony Tavares. They have done a remarkable job working together and creating a winning program.
Season Prediction
Our pick for the Group 3 title although Teaneck will provide a major challenge. The interesting aspect of the roster is there are no seniors in the nucleus.

NJHoops Preseason Top 5? Let's Go!

Joyce Visits St. Joes

Will Joyce Loved his second unofficial visit to St. Joes and sent a picture to prove it. He also picked up interest from Drexel.

Carey's EGC Recap

Tariq Carey The Newark (NJ) Eastside guard finished with 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals for the NJ squad on Sunday. Carey has bounced around the AAU scene, playing some with the NJ Playaz last summer and indicated he is now playing with the NY Panthers. Carey is looking forward to the upcoming high school season and is putting the recruiting process aside for now as the number of schools showing interest in him continues to grow.

“It’s going good,” Carey told Jeff Borzello Sunday night, “but I just took a step back to just focus on my game because I really don’t want to worry myself about that right now. I’m not making the decision right now, so until then, that’s when I’ll worry about it. But it’s going good overall.”

As for the schools, Carey updated NBE off the top of his head, but there are more and more schools showing interest that he is having trouble remembering them all.

“Clemson, Virginia Tech, Creighton, Wake Forest, Villanova, Providence, Seton Hall, Notre Dame and Duquesne, and a lot of others,” Carey said. “I can’t remember all of them right now.”
_______________________________________________________________________________

Tariq Carey, 6'2", Newark East Side, NJ: Skilled at getting to the basket off the bounce. Inconsistent finisher when he gets there. Didn't shoot the ball particularly well in this contest.

Top 3 prospects in the game from a VU perspective: 1. Anderson, 2. Jefferson, 3. Arcidiancono - with Arcidiancono making the list more based on past performance than this game. Fincher, Anglin, Carey and Walker are worth keeping an eye on as well.

Andre Flanigan Adjusts to College Life

Flanigan new coaches at La Roche College in Pittsburgh, PA has high praise for the freshman and is saying he is working hard on and off the court. Andre sent all of the East Side coaches a text message saying thanks for all of our help and we just wanted to return the love and wish you much success. Keep up the hard work Dre. He will be wearing #11 this year.