The Basketball Coaches Association of New York has announced its finalists for the state's coveted Mr. Basketball on its web site, and half of the group is from Western New York.
Jermaine Crumpton of Niagara Falls and Adam Weir of Canisius are two of the four finalists, joining Connecticut recruit Terrence Samuel of South Shore and Christ The King's Jon Severe, who is being recruited by several Division I programs.
Canisius College fans should like this news; both Crumpton and Weir have signed to play for the Golden Griffins next season.
Also announced were the Miss Basketball finalists: Cassidy Chapko of Hoosic Valley, Saniya Chong of Ossining (signed with Connecticut), Alexandrea Flint of Keshequa, Lexi Martins of Irvington (signed with Lehigh) and Emia Willingham-Hurst of Albany High.
The Mr. Basketball award is traditionally announced during either the public school state championships in Glens Falls or the Federation championships in Albany.
Every week during the basketball season a panel of voters participates in The News' large and small school boys basketball polls.
And every week we let you know, like the title says ... how The News voted.
This week marks a change at the top as Canisius takes over the No. 1 large school spot for Niagara Falls. Canisius had a great start to what should be a fun month, winning at Timon Friday, beating Section V Class AA power Fairport (then ranked second in the state) on Saturday, becoming the top-ranked team in the Class A state poll on Monday and ascending to The News No. 1 spot today.
This is just one ballot -- there are nine other voters in each poll. This week's News poll is available via the high school home page. Here's the direct link.
1. Canisius (15-3) [last week: 2] -- I said I was waiting to see Niagara Falls and Canisius this past weekend to see if there was a move to be made for this spot, and the results made it a clear one. Canisius was all over Fairport from the start and then made the plays to hold on. Fairport, Bishop Kearney (which Falls lost to Sunday) and Webster Schroeder (which Falls lost to Saturday) are considered to be tightly grouped together when it comes to who is the best Class AA team in Section V.
Hello again for my third straight day of great high school hoops to start a month full of great high school hoops.
Today we have a fittingly super matchup as News No. 1 large schoolNiagara Falls plays at Section V private school power Bishop Kearney at 2:45 p.m.
I'll have updates from games in the live blog below and I'll also be providing #preptalkscores updates on Twitter, which will also appear in the blog.
If you want to chime in from any of today's high school contests (of any sport) -- your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores will appear in the live blog as well.
Hello from what should be an outstanding tripleheader of boys basketball games at East High in Rochester. It's the RAP Invitational, an event named for the local AAU group the Rochester Area Players. Great lineup of games all weekend.
Today's Buffalo-area partipation begins with News No. 2 large schoolCanisius vs. No. 1 Section V large school Fairport at 5:15 p.m., followed by No. 1 large school Niagara Falls vs. No. 2 Section V large school Webster Schroeder at 7. Then it's No. 7 Bishop Timon-St. Jude against the host East Orientals at 8:45.
I'll have updates from games in the live blog below and I'll also be providing #preptalkscores updates on Twitter, which will also appear in the blog.
If you want to chime in from any of tonight's high school contests (of any sport) -- your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores will appear in the live blog as well.
Keith & Lauren welcome guests from Niagara Falls boys basketball and look back at the week in high school sports.
0:00 -- Opening, discussion of McShea's Prep Talk column on Oracle Charter.
3:40 -- Interview with Niagara Falls coach Sal Constantino and seniors J.J. Wilkins and Jermaine Crumpton
16:25 -- Wrestling (Clarence, Wednesday's matches, Mariacher's blog on the 'Pit' at Iroquois
27:20 -- Sacred Heart girls basketball (including coach Sister Maria Pares' pregame speech & a flashback to the Sharks' PTTV visit last week)
33:25 -- Amherst boys basketball (including coach Chris Kensy's postgame speech after the Tigers first win in Maryvale in 10 years, one that came over Maryvale coach Mark Kensy, Chris' dad)
37:45 -- Look at this week's boys basketball polls
39:10 -- PrepTalkTV Rewind (St. Joe's basketball, Lockport girls basketball coach Bill Shaw's halftime speech, Tonawanda girls basketball, Mount Mercy's "Mercy's Heroes")
43:15 -- A look ahead at ton of action from Thursday to Tuesday; closing.
For this week's PrepTalkTV Weekly -- which you can see right here tonight at 9 -- we'll welcome in Western New York's No. 1 large school boys basketball team has they head into a super weekend of matchups.
Niagara Falls coach Sal Constantino and seniors Jermaine Crumpton (who has signed with Canisius College) and Jaleo Wilkins will be our in-studio guests for what will be another loaded show of highlights from boys and girls hoops as well as wrestling. We'll also have more highlights in PrepTalkTV Rewind, our weekly look at the boys basketball polls and a look ahead to this weekend and beyond.
Every week during the basketball season a panel of voters participates in The News' large and small school boys basketball polls.
And every week we let you know, like the title says ... how The News voted.
This is just one ballot -- there are nine other voters in each poll. This week's News poll is available via the high school home page.
It's a Super Week, and we're not talking about Sunday's football game. As you'll see throughout the blog, there are several big-time games this week -- there's even one on Super Bowl Sunday that is worth a bit of hype.
1. Niagara Falls (10-1) [last week: 1] -- The 100-18 win over Kenmore East revived calls for the Niagara Frontier League to allow Falls to play as an independent. I've said they should have remained that way since the 2005 Federation championship team.
Keith McShea has covered high school sports at The News since his hiring in 1999. The 1995 University at Buffalo graduate and Long Island native (North Babylon Bulldogs) covers — and live blogs — everything from scrimmages to state championships & helps head The News' All-Western New York selections.
Lauren Nicole Mariacher joined The News in 2009 after graduating from the Columbia University School of Journalism. The Elma native and Iroquois graduate can usually be found on a sideline, capturing highlights for PrepTalkTV. She also hosts Prep Talk's weekly live show, with Keith McShea, as well as The News' live postgame Bills show — [BN]TheHuddle.
