St. Anthony basketball coach Bob Hurley entered his team in the AND1 Basketball Classic at Seton Hall University last weekend, simply as an opportunity for his young Friar team to get some experience competing against some of the best teams in the Northeast for a weekend.
However, there was never a thought that the Friars could actually win the tournament and move on to the national championships in Philadelphia the following week.
"In fact, we all had different things scheduled for this weekend," Hurley said. "The coaches were going on vacation. Kids were going to different tournaments with their AAU teams. My basketball camp starts Sunday. We just wanted to do better than we did last year. We knew that there were some really good teams playing in the tournament, so we just wanted to do better. We didn’t even know what the next step was."
Well, the Friars did more than simply improve on last year’s showing. They won the thing.
"Everyone is thrilled," said Hurley, who sat back and watched assistant coach Ben Gamble guide the Friars to the team championship in the 48-team field. "We’re getting an all-expense paid trip to Philly (to St. Joseph’s University) with a lot of exposure for the players. It’s a wonderful opportunity and totally unexpected."
The tournament represented a coming-out party for Friars Otis Campbell and Derrick Mercer. While both players were key performers for the Friars a year ago, they really didn’t get a chance to shine, taking back seats to established seniors Terrence Roberts and Obie Nwadike.
However, with the two standout seniors graduated (Roberts to Syracuse, Nwadike to Central Connecticut State), Campbell and Mercer stepped forward and showed that they can possibly become marquee players themselves.
The 6-2 Campbell averaged nearly 20 points per game during the six games of the tournament, opening the eyes of several college coaches throughout the country.
"Basketball is so Internet-driven these days," Hurley said. "Word got out about the way we played almost instantly. You have to have the right moments. It’s all about timing."
In the case of the 5-7 Mercer, he also made leaps and bounds, scoring a game-high 18 points in the 66-55 victory over Seton Hall Prep in the title game.
"Derrick is playing with so much poise," Hurley said. "He’s so confident now. He did things like a veteran guard."
When you add the play of Marcus Williams and Sean McCurdy, two established standouts, as well as the rapid improvement of 6-5 Barney Anderson, then perhaps the Friars have something special in the making.
"Barney might have been the MVP of the tournament," Hurley said. "He was terrific. I think it’s all part of the emotional maturing process for him. He’s such a good kid. Things were really clicking with these kids and I’m really happy for them."
The Friars are now excited to get the chance to play on a national level this weekend, with the possibility of playing on national television come Sunday.
"The kids are all feeling real good about themselves right now," Hurley said. "This is the beginning of the summer for us and we have perhaps 12 or 14 games together. Then the kids go to their different AAU and summer teams. Everyone knows right now that if they win two games this weekend, then the game will be on national TV (Fox Sports Net), so they’re all very excited. It’s really incredible how this turned out."
It will be even more incredible if the Friars somehow win this weekend, giving them a gigantic boost of confidence that should carry throughout the remainder of the summer. -Jim Hague