Metro Boston Basketball Club: 2008 in Review

Boston, MA:  Metro Boston will be updating the web site in the coming weeks.  Metro Boston has plans to compete this upcoming season in the 17 & Under/Juniors & OPEN Division and in the 15 & Under Division.  Also, Metro Boston will be planning to host an event in the early Spring of 2008.

According to Coach Mo, “We re-signed with our sponsors.  Continuing our relationship with Reebok has been big for our program.  We’re the only program in the state, to have a kid receive an invitation through the camp process in the Spring to attend RBK U.  Not only participate but play well to draw votes from the All-Star selection committee.  If Stevie (Mejia) wasn’t already committed to a school before attending RBK U, the premier camp in the country in July, he would have left the camp with offers at all levels in various conferences.  He’s a kid that committed to us, stayed loyal, and developed his game with our assistance and program regiment that earned everything coming his way.  I’m very excited about his success.

I love coaching kids like Stevie (Mejia), Dwight (Brewington), Matt (Cahill), Jovan (Robinson), Ryan (Maloney), Corey & Remy (Cofield), Dorien (Brown), Sal (Abdo), Willie (Phillips), Bilal (Abdullah), Breno (Giacomini), Tommy (Driscoll), Dave (Jaehnig), Omar (Moreta), etc.  I could go on for days listing all thte players.  We’ve had a great deal of success with the type of kid that is willing to work harder, willing to listen and not be persuaded by nonsense from make shift coaches or organizations.  The kids that participated in our program became better ball players through our training regiment and their commitment to excel on and off the basketball court.  We plan on continuing to train and educate many more kids that want to be a part of something special.  We’ve had a great run the past ten years and our plan is to make the next ten years even better than the previous ten. 

We will be posting our try-out dates and information in late January once we’ve confirmed the date and time.  We will not have a try-out during the high school season because we firmly believe we would not like to have someone attend our events and risk getting hurt for their high school basketball season.  We have quite a few open slots and are hoping to draw a good response to get a solid team in place.”

Coach Mo goes on to add. “Over the past ten (10) years, I feel we have had a great track record.  No empty promises from our end.  Our goals have never changed: 1.) Provide positive role models through a solid volunteer-based program that are solid contributors to the city and state, 2.) Educate the kids on how to succeed on and off the court through the pursuit of higher learning, 3.) Continue to keep the main rule of participating in place with no exceptions – Don’t take of your school work – you won’t play!, and last but not least 4.) Once you’ve earned it - Provide Exposure.

The event we are planning on hosting this Spring of 2008 should be something special.  We’re planning on having a top flight competition with a few good prizes.  We’re planning on hosting a 17 & Under/Unsigned Seniors division and a 15 & Under event.   More to come on this, in the near future.  So stay posted.”

If you need to contact Coach Mo, please feel free to email him at:

Mo_Metroboston@yahoo.com

Metro Boston tryouts will be held Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Huntington YMCA in Boston, MA (next to Northeastern University).  Bring your sneakers, shorts, shirt and a postive attitude with the eagerness to work hard!

 Try-outs will be held for 15-18 year olds (post-grad/prep).

According to Coach Mo, "Once again, it's that time of the year to start the season.  I can't wait to get started, I expect great things for us this year.  Our schedule, as always, speaks for itself and our track record for placing kids in schools has been very good.  Once again, our official sponsorship with Reebok is in place.  The only program in Mass. to develop a kid's game to receive an invitation to RBK U (Formerly ABCD).  I can't wait to start preparing the kids for upcoming AAU season."

 More to come....

Boston, MA - Metro Boston will finalize it's roster this weekend.  They will be headed to Pittsburgh to play in the OPEN division and the Prvidence Jamfest to play in the 17's division.  Both events are sanctioned and open for college coaches (Division I included) to attend.

According to Coach Mo, "Every year we head to the premier events and ensure to be at the 'live-sanctioned' events for the NCAA for our kids to get a look.  The first event we are playing up in the 'OPEN' division to get tested early.  We could have played in our age bracket but I wanted to see what this group is made of and give me a good read on them.  They definitely will be challenged.  The following week we will be participating in our own age brackets."

 More to come...

James Cormier is headed to Le Moyne College in New York.  James is currently completing a PG year at Proctor Academy in NH. 

According to Coach Mo, "This is a great get for Le Moyne and James.  He can definitely contributed right from the jump there.  They play in a great conference and we'll get a chance to see him when he plays against Bentley and other schools in the area that play in that highly competitive conference.  I talked to him upon returning from the visit and he seemed to enjoy it.  I'm very happy for James and his family."

Metro Boston alumni Stevie Mejia (Lawrence Academy) was selected as the Mass. Gatorade Player of the Year.  Great job, Stevie!

Coach Mo adds, "This is great for Stevie.  He is one hell of a kid.  He truly deserves this and the little guy has come a long way.  I'll never forget the first day he came to the gym.  He was happy to be there and willing to learn the game from the entire staff at Metro Boston.  The kid is a grat leader and team player.  I can't wait to see him at URI in the Atlantic 10 conference.  I truly feel he will adjust quickly to that level of play because he has always played up in the older age divisions in our program when we competed in the events we participated in.

Along the way, he has played with other great members of the program like Remy Cofield (UPenn), Jovan Robinson (Canisus), Asenso Ampim (Columbia), Salah Abdo (UNH), Napoleon Lherisson (Brandeis), James Cormier (Le Moyne), John Hegarty (TBD) and numerous other I'm forgeting to mention (Sorry guys, didn't mean it).  Also with current members of the program: Chris Flores (Marianaopolis), Ndubisi Ezegwe (St. Andrews), Dean Lambright (Hyde Park), Brian Grossman (St. Marks), Sarkie Ampim (Lawrence Academy), and I'm sure I'm missing a few others.  It's great that the new kids in the program, like Shabazz Napier (Charlestown), Jay Freeman and Russell Braithwaite (St. Marks), as well as the others get an opportunity to compete with him at practice and also learn a few things from him.

 Stevie, keep working hard at it.  Great things happen, for great people and you are definitely one of them."

Mansfield, MA – Metro Boston lost in the Semi-finals to New England Playaz by a final score of 70-67.  Metro Boston finished 4^th in the event because Coach Mo opted to forfeit the final game.  He provides his perspective down below.

According to Coach Mo, “We have got to learn to close out games.  We were up 8 points with a little over two minutes left in the game and unfortunately for us we took a few bad shots and missed on a front-end of a one and one.  This is definitely growing pains for us.  We’re a very young team.  Quite a few of the kids on the roster are still 16 years old or younger.  This year has been the first time they’ve played this level of basketball and at it shows.  The trips to the National events in April helped put them in this type of situation.  They are definitely realizing they belong on the National level.

I love this roster.  In the coming weeks we’ll continue to practice and play in events to continue getting these guys to gel and excel.  We have solid depth at every position and the kids are starting to realize how good they can be.  Not one kid from this team, after that loss, felt good about that loss.  A majority of them came up to me and apologized for their mistakes.  I told them it is great that they are starting to realize and have that competitive urge to know when they gave a game away without me having to stress the points.  The kids on this roster are always willing to work hard just like the guys before them.  The kids on this roster are definitely making a name for themselves on the national circuit and with college coaches.

Before the season started all I kept hearing in the background is Metro Boston just lost Stevie (Mejia – Mass. Gatorade Player of the Year) to graduation, therefore they have nothing left.  But just like Stevie and all the other guys before him, who showed up to the gym to try out for our program, Shabazz (Napier), Mario (Monroe), Jay (Freeman) and Ike (Azotam) were there the first try-out session.  I heard how some of them might not be ‘good apples’ but to this day I have yet to see it.  They definitely have a competitive streak to them; that I don’t doubt.  These kids show up to the gym and work hard.  Two of them are still 16 years old.  They continue to listen and work hard in both the classroom and on the court they will be fine.

Key returners for us have been Chris Flores (O’Bryant/Marianapolis), Ndubisi Ezeigwe (St. Andrews) and Brian Grossman (St. Marks).  Chris is still battling through an injury that is still limiting his mobility.  He hurt it in early April playing in some local event at the community center.  These guys have helped bring along the new guys as well as the young bloods Marco Banejas (O’Bryant), Sarkie Ampim (Lawrence Academy) and Dimitry Coronel (East Boston).  Ndu has been playing real well all spring with the exception of foul trouble.  He continues to improve.  Brian defensively has been doing one hell of a job.  Chris has been battling a bad ankle sprain and is just now starting to get back into playing shape.  It doesn’t hurt to have the two recent additions of Jerome Cohen (Everett) and Willie Lyons (Newton South).  Jerome for his size handles the ball real well and has a soft touch.  Willie has been very solid throughout and is starting to learn the sets.  For that I have got to thank Claude Pritchard and Bernard Johnson for entrusting their kids with us.

Coach Mo goes on to add, “As for forfeiting the final game of the day for us, it was a no-brainer.  The team we were suppose to play had forfeited the semi-final game against BABC therefore there was no way I was going to allow my guys to play against a team that didn’t even compete in the semi-finals and opted to forfeit.  That is an unfair competitive advantage for them.  That would have been our third game of the day (our day started at 8:30 a.m. in the morning and then we played again at 11:00 a.m.) while they waited after their 8:30 a.m. game until 4:00 p.m. 

In events like this everyone needs to be on an equal playing ground -same amount of games and time slots, no exceptions.  Up to this point, the event was going great and smoothly.  Some might argue they are in the same organization; that is no excuse.  That is like arguing two brothers shouldn’t compete against one another if they play for different teams.  I have nothing else to add on that.  This is probably one of the best state tournament in recent years.”

John Hegarty will be attending Portland Univeristy on an athletic scholarship for the upcoming school year.

According to Coach Mo, "This is a great get for Portland.  They will love John.  He's a great kid.  He's hard working and he is definitely going to continue to get better as he get's in shape at the collegiate level.  He is a beast in the paint.   He was unstoppable down in Florida last summer."

Keep up the good work, Big John!

Christopher Flores will be attending Marianapolis Prep (CT) this upcoming season.  He will be attending as a Post Graduate.

According to Coach Mo, "Coach Vitale is going to love Chris.  He can go to the cup, shoot it from the perimeter and sees the floor real well.  His handle has gotten much better and he has definitely has gotten stronger.  Academically, he's already a qualifier but wanted to go to prep school to get his SAT scores above an 1100.  He is a great kid!"

Keep up the Good Work, Chris! 

Boston, MA - Alumni Breno Giacomini was recently drafted by the Green Bay Packers.  He was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.  Breno completed 4 years at University of Louisville on a football scholarship.

 According to Coach Mo, "It was great talking to Breno shortly after the draft.  He is very excited and greatful for the opportunity to play professionally.  His entire family is proud of him and I know for a fact the entire staff in our program is excited for him.  Knowing Breno, he will continue to work hard.  I'm very proud of him. 

I'll never forget the trip to Florida.  Breno had to buy a huge duffle bag just to fit in the clothes he purchased for school at the outlets in Florida.  In the conclusion of the events, he had a few schools that were highly interested in him for his basketball skills but everyone knew he was definitely cut out for football because he definitely loved the contact.  He was a physical presense in the paint at all times."

 Keep up the hard work!

Boston, MA - Metro Boston 17 & Under/Junior team will be headed south this summer.  They will participate in the Super Showcase Event and AAU Junior Nationals (D1) in Orlando, Florida.  The team will consist of 12-13 guys heading down for 10 days from July 23rd - August 1st to participate in both events.

They are also in the works of finalizing the first leg of the July period which are also sanctioned by the NCAA for college coaches to attend.

According to Coach Mo, "This time of the year is always big for our program.  We head down to events that are NCAA sanctioned for the kids to get an opportunity to be seen by college coaches.  They will have at least 8-10 games during this period to be evaluated and peek the interest of college coaches.

This group is pretty good.  We're still in the process of working out a few things in regards to players understanding and grasping our sets.  Hopefully we'll get this together in the coming weeks.  It's just a little tweaking here and there to get everything aligned.  This group is very solid in the front court and back court.  My one knock on this group, and they know it, is that they have yet to hit their peak.  They haven't played a complete game yet from start to finish.  At times defensively we look great, but we have got to put it

They're headed in the right direction but they know and I definitely know they are not there yet.  We didn't lose a game the entire month of June and we beat a few big name programs during that time frame (Sam Rines (PA), Team Expressions (RI), Boston Warriors, Rhode Island Hawks, etc.)"

Coach Mo goes on to add, "In the past we've been fortunate for guys to receive offers from schools after attending these events.  In the recent past four/five years, we've had guys like Jovan Robinson (Canisus), Remy Cofield (UPenn), Bilal Abdullah (Lafayette), Stevie Mejia (URI), John Hegarty (Portland), Ryan Maloney (St. Michaels), Chris Donald (UMass-Lowell), Salah Abdo (UNH), Asenso Ampim (Columbia), and a few others I'm sure I will get hell from for forgeting to mention them.  I'm sorry guys."

Boston, MA - Metro Boston will be announcing the final roster for the Summer of 2008, in the coming weeks.

 We'll keep you posted.  More to come.....

Boston, MA - Metro Boston 17 & U/Junior team has received and accepted an invitation to participate in the inaugural 'Super 16' event hosted by NERR recruiting services and will be held at Quinnipiac College (CT) on July 15, 2008.  The event is NCAA sanctioned for college coaches (D1) and the team will play two games, for the day, in front of the college coaches and scouts.

According to Coach Mo, "This is definitely good for the region.  There is a good amount of talent here in the New England area and the kids will definitely benefit from this.  This will give the kids two additional games to be evaluated this summer.

College coaches have been calling us to ensure where we will be at this summer.  We're in the process of finalizing the schedule and hope to have it done by early next week once I talk to Oscar and Courtney.  More to come on this."

New Jersey - Five (5) members of the 17U/Junior basketball team participated in the Eastern Invitiational Camp hoseted by the Hoop Group (NCAA Live Period) event held from July 5-8th in New Jersey.  The participants were: Ike Azotam (O'Bryant), Mario Monroe (North Cambridge Catholic), Willie Lyons (Newton South), Chris Flores (O'Bryant/Marianapolis) and Shabazz Napier (Charlestown).

Shabazz Napier was selected and played in the All-star game (players ranked 20-40 in the capm based on performance). 

 According to Coach Mo, "This is great for the kids as long as they get something good from it.  Often you have kids that barely touch the ball because everyone is going for self.  The bigs have it the hardest because they were rarely touch the ball.  Usually the only pass is made during the inbound play.  Hopefully they shake off some of the bad habits they picked up while being there and get back to focusing on team ball and the tasks ahead of us in the coming days and weeks."