BROOKLYN, NY - With four players from the now defunct Rice HS transferring to Cardinal Hayes and the Cardinals moving up to CHSAA Class AA, the unanswered question is, can they compete. On Saturday, NYCHoops.net was on hand to check them out during a scrimmage versus the Boys & Girls Kangaroos of the PSAL Class AA.
Almost all hands were on deck for Hayes except for point guard and floor general Naasir Williams. The 5’11 senior transfer was sidelined with a knee injury suffered during a practice. Williams said he is going for an MRI on Monday. Also absent was Fadil Yacoubou who due to academic issues, head coach Joe Lodes says his membership on the team was “up in the air.” Conversely, Boys & Girls was fully loaded.
SET ONE
The Roos came out aggressive defensively just as they did the week before during a scrimmage against Cardozo. As a result, 6'6" senior Joel Angus and 6'0" junior Wesley Meyers put points on the board. Quickly down 8-0, Hayes didn’t put up points until 6’8” senior Jalen Jenkins scored inside.
With the ability to bring the ball up the court as well as defend and rebound, Jenkins began to stretch out Boys & Girls defense. 6’8” Fairfield commit Amadou Sidibe also posed problems for the Roos in the paint. While the Kangaroos remained ahead throughout the set, Cardinal Hayes managed to close the gap utilizing their height advantage.
(17-13 Boys & Girls)
SET TWO
In set two, Boys & Girls started with bench players while Hayes kept their starters in. The set would end up being a low scoring defensive match with Jenkins leading the Cardinals to a 5-2 advantage with a 1:28 left in the set. 5’10 senior guard Dyweil Bryanplayed assertively and cut Hayes’ lead to a point with 37 seconds left. Solid defense would lead to turnovers and the Roos were in position to score and win but misses by 6’0” senior Bryce Jones and 6’6” freshmen Marvin Prochet would give the Cardinals the win.
(5-4 Cardinal Hayes)
SET THREE
With both team inserting their heavy artillery, the Kangaroos drew first blood and led 4-zip early. Jenkins, however, was successful penetrating the Roos defense to score as was 5’11” junior transfer Tyler Wilson and the score was knotted at four with 4:25 left in the set.
Angus and 6’6” senior wing Leroy “Truck” Fludd would break the tie but Sidibe and Wilson would tie the game again at eight with 2:25. Fludd proved throughout the evening couldn’t be stopped and drew a foul with 1:30 but also drew a donut from the charity stripe going 0-2. With a minute on the clock Sidibe scored down low to put Hayes up by two points and held off Boys & Girls on the defensive end.
(10-8 Cardinal Hayes)
SET FOUR
Both team played their benches in set four. At the top of the set, the rebounding ability of 6’6” sophomore Mustafa Jones was on display. That along with the offense of junior guard Derrel Bailey gave Hayes an early 6-2 lead. At the bottom of the set, the Kangaroos would make a run. Prochet along with the perimeter abilities of Courtney Darnley would leave Hayes standing still and down 7-6 with 1:57 on the clock. B. Jones and Bryan would close the curtain on Hayes as time ran out.
(15-8 Boys & Girls)
SET FIVE
As the result of a technical foul on B. Jones at the end of the set four, Hayes got two easy points from the foul line to start the fifth set. 5’11” junior PG Tyliek Kimbrough would even the score with a steal off of 5’11” sophomore Shavar Newkirk and spark a 8-0 run led by Fludd.
Down 8-2, Jenkins would score inside followed-up by a dunk by Sidibe on Angus’s head which narrowed Boys & Girls lead to only two. The posterization seemed to spark Angus to retaliate and retaliate he did with a 3-ball from the corner. 6’4” senior forward Nick Johnson would attack the rim to score and another trey by Angus gave the Kangaroos a 10 point lead with2:13 remaining.
Newkirk had the first of two good sets as he began to get his bearing and slashed his way to rim. As the Hayes guard began to break Boys & Girls press, Jenkins led his team on a 12-2 run that tied the game as time expired.
(20-20 Tie)
SET SIX
With a mix of players on both teams, Bryan kicked off the set with a trey for Boys High but Newkirk responded. Fludd countered with a drive a strong dunk to the hole and Jenkins counterpointed to tie the game again but he went down and out for the day with a leg cramp. M. Jones subbed in and soon gave Hayes a 7-5. Hayes was on a roll and with 2:56 left in the final set, up 11-7.
Boys & Girls was playing catch-up and catch-up they did as Fludd would eventually tie the game at 13 with a putback over the top dunk with 1:13 left to play. Newkirk would put Hayes up 15-13 with 50 seconds but Myers would counter with an and-1 with 2 seconds on the clock for the win.
(16-15 Boys & Girls)
ANALYSIS:
Cardinal Hayes is a balanced team with a solid contingent of guards as well as bigs. With Jenkins’ ability to handle the ball and play either the wing or in the paint and Sidibe’s athleticism and defensive ability their front court presented a match-up problem. Hayes able to give Boys High problems even without their primary point guard Naasir Williams. Their bench was also pretty good. While Hayes was the more consistent team with Jenkins and Sidibe leading the way, what hurt them was their inconsistency closing out sets. This may be due to lack of playing time between the transfers from Rice and the original Hayes player
Boy & Girls clearly had problems with Hayes’ size in the frontcourt and while Fludd rose to the challenge, he didn’t have much help. On the defensive end, the Kangaroos should have had a big advantage with Hayes missing key players and their lack of experience playing together but they had problems covering Hayes’ quick guards that oftentimes broke t heir press. As a consequence, the Roos played catch-up, relying on too many clutch buckets to come from behind and win or tie sets. On this day, Fludd, Darnley and Myers were clutch players.
Please remember that scrimmages are not actual games. Scrimmages are six sets as opposed to four quarters and often times coaches are trying out different groups of five starting players and rotations. In addition, the scoreboard is re-set to 0-0 after each set with no deficit being carried over and no one fouls out. While there are no winners or losers, evaluations can me made as to how players perform, how a team performs and is progressing as a unit and how they could potentially match up against other teams.
This post was edited on 11/19 11:36 PM by mwingate
Team Preview: Cardinal Hayes
Almost all hands were on deck for Hayes except for point guard and floor general Naasir Williams. The 5’11 senior transfer was sidelined with a knee injury suffered during a practice. Williams said he is going for an MRI on Monday. Also absent was Fadil Yacoubou who due to academic issues, head coach Joe Lodes says his membership on the team was “up in the air.” Conversely, Boys & Girls was fully loaded.
SET ONE
The Roos came out aggressive defensively just as they did the week before during a scrimmage against Cardozo. As a result, 6'6" senior Joel Angus and 6'0" junior Wesley Meyers put points on the board. Quickly down 8-0, Hayes didn’t put up points until 6’8” senior Jalen Jenkins scored inside.
With the ability to bring the ball up the court as well as defend and rebound, Jenkins began to stretch out Boys & Girls defense. 6’8” Fairfield commit Amadou Sidibe also posed problems for the Roos in the paint. While the Kangaroos remained ahead throughout the set, Cardinal Hayes managed to close the gap utilizing their height advantage.
(17-13 Boys & Girls)
SET TWO
In set two, Boys & Girls started with bench players while Hayes kept their starters in. The set would end up being a low scoring defensive match with Jenkins leading the Cardinals to a 5-2 advantage with a 1:28 left in the set. 5’10 senior guard Dyweil Bryanplayed assertively and cut Hayes’ lead to a point with 37 seconds left. Solid defense would lead to turnovers and the Roos were in position to score and win but misses by 6’0” senior Bryce Jones and 6’6” freshmen Marvin Prochet would give the Cardinals the win.
(5-4 Cardinal Hayes)
SET THREE
With both team inserting their heavy artillery, the Kangaroos drew first blood and led 4-zip early. Jenkins, however, was successful penetrating the Roos defense to score as was 5’11” junior transfer Tyler Wilson and the score was knotted at four with 4:25 left in the set.
Angus and 6’6” senior wing Leroy “Truck” Fludd would break the tie but Sidibe and Wilson would tie the game again at eight with 2:25. Fludd proved throughout the evening couldn’t be stopped and drew a foul with 1:30 but also drew a donut from the charity stripe going 0-2. With a minute on the clock Sidibe scored down low to put Hayes up by two points and held off Boys & Girls on the defensive end.
(10-8 Cardinal Hayes)
SET FOUR
Both team played their benches in set four. At the top of the set, the rebounding ability of 6’6” sophomore Mustafa Jones was on display. That along with the offense of junior guard Derrel Bailey gave Hayes an early 6-2 lead. At the bottom of the set, the Kangaroos would make a run. Prochet along with the perimeter abilities of Courtney Darnley would leave Hayes standing still and down 7-6 with 1:57 on the clock. B. Jones and Bryan would close the curtain on Hayes as time ran out.
(15-8 Boys & Girls)
SET FIVE
As the result of a technical foul on B. Jones at the end of the set four, Hayes got two easy points from the foul line to start the fifth set. 5’11” junior PG Tyliek Kimbrough would even the score with a steal off of 5’11” sophomore Shavar Newkirk and spark a 8-0 run led by Fludd.
Down 8-2, Jenkins would score inside followed-up by a dunk by Sidibe on Angus’s head which narrowed Boys & Girls lead to only two. The posterization seemed to spark Angus to retaliate and retaliate he did with a 3-ball from the corner. 6’4” senior forward Nick Johnson would attack the rim to score and another trey by Angus gave the Kangaroos a 10 point lead with2:13 remaining.
Newkirk had the first of two good sets as he began to get his bearing and slashed his way to rim. As the Hayes guard began to break Boys & Girls press, Jenkins led his team on a 12-2 run that tied the game as time expired.
(20-20 Tie)
SET SIX
With a mix of players on both teams, Bryan kicked off the set with a trey for Boys High but Newkirk responded. Fludd countered with a drive a strong dunk to the hole and Jenkins counterpointed to tie the game again but he went down and out for the day with a leg cramp. M. Jones subbed in and soon gave Hayes a 7-5. Hayes was on a roll and with 2:56 left in the final set, up 11-7.
Boys & Girls was playing catch-up and catch-up they did as Fludd would eventually tie the game at 13 with a putback over the top dunk with 1:13 left to play. Newkirk would put Hayes up 15-13 with 50 seconds but Myers would counter with an and-1 with 2 seconds on the clock for the win.
(16-15 Boys & Girls)
ANALYSIS:
Cardinal Hayes is a balanced team with a solid contingent of guards as well as bigs. With Jenkins’ ability to handle the ball and play either the wing or in the paint and Sidibe’s athleticism and defensive ability their front court presented a match-up problem. Hayes able to give Boys High problems even without their primary point guard Naasir Williams. Their bench was also pretty good. While Hayes was the more consistent team with Jenkins and Sidibe leading the way, what hurt them was their inconsistency closing out sets. This may be due to lack of playing time between the transfers from Rice and the original Hayes player
Boy & Girls clearly had problems with Hayes’ size in the frontcourt and while Fludd rose to the challenge, he didn’t have much help. On the defensive end, the Kangaroos should have had a big advantage with Hayes missing key players and their lack of experience playing together but they had problems covering Hayes’ quick guards that oftentimes broke t heir press. As a consequence, the Roos played catch-up, relying on too many clutch buckets to come from behind and win or tie sets. On this day, Fludd, Darnley and Myers were clutch players.
Please remember that scrimmages are not actual games. Scrimmages are six sets as opposed to four quarters and often times coaches are trying out different groups of five starting players and rotations. In addition, the scoreboard is re-set to 0-0 after each set with no deficit being carried over and no one fouls out. While there are no winners or losers, evaluations can me made as to how players perform, how a team performs and is progressing as a unit and how they could potentially match up against other teams.
This post was edited on 11/19 11:36 PM by mwingate
Team Preview: Cardinal Hayes
