Monday Musings

On Friday many of us were breathing a sigh of relief over the fact that the weekend storm we were expected to get would bring rain and not snow.
I’m sure there are some around our area today questioning how much of a break we really got from Mother Nature. Heavy rain and very strong winds made it seem very close to hurricane-like conditions over the weekend and wreaked havoc around the shore area. There are still homeowners without power with fallen trees and downed power lines the main culprits and flooding also caused problems. All in all it was fitting final weekend of a winter that will not be forgotten.

The field of 65 for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was announced Sunday night and as expected the region top seeds are KANSAS, KENTUCKY, DUKE & SYRACUSE. Many will be using some of their office time this week to fill out their bracket sheets and I’ll talk more about that tomorrow. This year’s tournament is also notable for the teams that did not make the cut as for the first time since 1966 North Carolina, UCLA, Connecticut and Arizona will all be on the sideline.

The Ritacco Center in Toms River played host to eight NJSIAA Boys and Girls basketball title games over the weekend and as usual brought out its share of college coaches for a first-hand look at the abundance of talent. Among those catching last night’s Camden Catholic-St. Peter’s Prep game were head coaches Fred Hill of Rutgers and Phil Martelli of St. Joseph’s.
Basketball continues this week as the Ritacco Center hosts the Tournament of Champions Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Ryan Phillips is one dude you want to hang with. The Toms River High School senior was the lone player to experience the Indians two improbable overall state championships in the last four months. Phillips was a part of the soccer team which captured the Group 3 title in November and was a regular on the Ice Hockey team which claimed the Public A title Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Randolph at the Prudential Center. Phillips and his hockey teammates have sophomore goalie Patrick Kerney to thanks as he stopped 46 shots in a game which saw the Indians outshot 47-10. Kerney was spectacular and South got goals from Todd Unger and Andrew McGee
to win it all at The Rock.