ccSCOOP PATROON CONFERENCE PLAYER POLL
Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports
This year ccSCOOP decided to bring back our popular Boys' Basketball player poll. We polled a minimum of two players from every team in the Patroon Conference asking them to answer a variety of questions about their fellow players. The rules were simple: Do not vote for your own coach, team, teammate, or self unless you feel that was the best answer beyond any shadow of doubt.
First up, we’ll take a look at the categories and see who we'd choose, based on all the games we witnessed this season. After that, we’ll take a look at who the players voted for and see the top vote getters in each category.
ccSCOOP SELECTIONS
Top Coach 1. Scott Hanrahan, Maple Hill; 2. Will Ferguson, ICC; 3. Bob Piano, Cairo
Hanrahan has won the league the past two years; it will be interesting to see what he does next without as much talent. Ferguson and Piano have proven track records in the league.
Coach You’d Most Want to Play For 1. Scott Hanrahan, Maple Hill; 2. Dominick Pitaniello, Rensselaer; 3. John Brantley, Chatham
Hanrahan has been winning and lets his teams run. Pitaniello and Brantley are both young coaches who give their teams some freedom on offense.
Top Offensive Team 1. Maple Hill; 2. Catskill; 3. Ichabod Crane
The Wildcats get up and down the court, can score from deep, and look inside. The Cats are a great transition team who get everyone out and running. The Riders run a super-structured offense and get quality looks inside and out.
Top Defensive Team 1. Ichabod Crane; 2. Cairo-Durham; 3. Maple Hill
ICC runs a zone about as well as anyone in the Section let alone Patroon. Cairo has a great defensive coach who runs lots of different schemes and sets to slow down opposition. Maple Hill has the pieces to press and trap and make things difficult.
Top Shooter 1. David Briggs, Maple Hill; 2. Josh Ingham, ICC; 3. Jeff Crank, Hudson
When they've got their feet set, these three were automatic from deep. Briggs showed a good ability to shoot off the dribble as well, while Ingham can come off a quick off the ball screen and fire, and Crank can roll, receive, and fire it up.
Best Slasher/Driver 1. Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 2. Will Gauthier, Chatham; 3. Larell Roberts, Hudson
Britt is the league’s most dangerous scorer and nearly impossible to slow down with the ball in his hands. Gauthier is fast and lengthy and has a quick crossover and the ability to jump and finish over opponents. Roberts is a power slasher who operates in the mid range and punishes opposing defenders.
Best Low Post Scorer 1. Chris Larm, ICC; 2. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill; 3. Jarrid Wilkinson, Rensselaer
Larm is a power guy for ICC who showed an ability to go left down the stretch. Danaher uses his size to pound on defenders and gains great position down low. Wilkinson works hard and has good touch down low.
Best Playmaker(Passer/Scorer) 1. Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 2. Will Gauthier, Chatham; 3. Derick Horn, ICC
Britt is a terror driving the basketball, can shoot with range, and is a very creative passer. Gauthier is the only true point guard on the list—a fantastic scorer with good passing instincts. Horn moved from post to perimeter this year and showed he can drive it, shoot it, and pass.
Best Rebounder 1. Chris Larm, ICC; 2. Jason Jones, Catskill; 3. Brett Zimmerman, Cairo-Durham
Larm does a great job gaining position on both ends and fighting for boards. There are three very good “true big guy” rebounders in the league: Jones, Danaher and Simmons; but Jones' ability to elevate and clear space with his body was impressive. Zimmerman is not your classic big guy, but he worked as hard as anyone to rebound at a high rate.
Best Shot Blocker 1. Austin Simmons, Coxsackie-Athens; 2. Jason Jones, Catskill; 3. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill
The trio of true bigs were all excellent shot blockers. You could throw all three names in a hat and pick them out in any order, and I don’t think you could go wrong.
Best Defender 1. Josh Ingham, ICC; 2. Dean Forrester, Catskill; 3. Cian McGeever, Cairo-Durham
Very active at the top of the Riders' zone, and when they went man, he guarded the opponents' best player. Forrester is an athletic and lanky forward who could guard anyone from power forwards to point guards. McGeever was a hard worker for Cairo and an integral part of their vaunted defense.
Most Underrated Player 1. Jeff Crank, Hudson; 2. Nate Tailleur, Coxsackie-Athens; 3. Brett Zimmerman, Cairo-Durham
Crank scored well, was one of the top shooters in the league, consistently defended, and was one of the more underrated passers, in our opinion. Tailleur was the league’s sixth leading scorer, yet you barely heard about him, a big-time versatile scorer. Zimmerman scored, rebounded, and defended and was a key reason this team finished anywhere close to where it did.
Put Together a Six-Man Squad 1. Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 2. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill; 3. Chris Larm, ICC; 4. Derick Horn, ICC; 5. Will Gauthier, Chatham; 6. Nate Tailleur, Coxsackie-Athens
Britt was the league’s leading scorer who can also pass and defend. Danaher is a monster in the middle, good low post scorer, shot blocker, and defender. Larm is not as big as Danaher but works ultra-hard in the post. Horn has good size, can defend, rebound, drive, and became a very good shooter. Gauthier is a scorer supreme who is a top-notch defender, passer, and good rebounder, for a guard. Tailleur is long and skilled enough to play power forward, small forward, or shooting guard.
Now on to the players top vote getters in the poll.
Top Coach 1. Scott Hanrahan, Maple Hill; 2. Will Ferguson, ICC; 3. Bob Piano, Cairo-Durham
Can’t argue here since the players selected the same coaches, in the same order, we did.
Coach You’d Most Want To Play For 1. Will Ferguson, ICC; 2. John Brantley, Chatham; 3. Scott Hanrahan, Maple Hill
A little surprised here since Ferguson is known as a tough-nosed defensive coach, but players respect him. Brantley hasn’t proven anything yet in the league but is young and seems to relate well to the players. Hanrahan has shown he can win, and he lets his teams run.
Top Offensive Team 1. Maple Hill; 2. Ichabod Crane; 3. Catskill
Again no major shocks here since MH and ICC both ran very good offenses in the half court plus MH runs. Catskill was more of a run-and-gun team but still has good scorers.
Top Defensive Team 1. Ichabod Crane; 2. Cairo-Durham; 3. Maple Hill
Just as we predicted. These three teams were clearly the class of the league in terms of defense.
Top Shooter 1. Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 2. Jeff Crank, Hudson; 3. Josh Ingham, ICC
Britt was a great scorer and averaged the fourth most triples per game of any player in the league. Crank was a pure shooter with good range. Ingham transformed himself into a deadeye from deep for his senior year.
Top Slasher/Drive 1. Will Gauthier, Chatham; 2. Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 3. Chris Despart, Maple Hill
Can’t argue much here. Britt and Gauthier are fantastic off the bounce, and Despart provided an excellent slashing complement to Maple Hill’s inside–outside attack.
Top Low Post Scorer 1. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill; 2. Chris Larm, ICC; 3. Jason Jones, Catskill
Danaher and Larm can punish defenders and score with ease down low. Jones didn’t get a lot of looks in the half-court sets of Catskill, but when he did, he was tough to stop.
Top Playmaker (Passer/Scorer) 1. Dominic Prinzo, Maple Hill; 2. Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 3. Mico Perez De Los Santos, Rensselaer
Prinzo is a pure playmaker and passer who swings the ball and gets inside for handoffs—not a great scorer but capable. Britt is an excellent scorer and passer, while De Los Santos, the team’s “point guard” shot, drove, and got the ball in positions for others to score.
Top Rebounder 1. Chris Larm, ICC; Tied for 2. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill; Jason Jones, Catskill; Austin Simmons, Coxsackie-Athens
The three most dominant big men in the league led the voting. Larm ran away with the vote as the top rebounder, while the other three true bigs were all tied as top-notch boarders.
Top Shot Blocker 1. Austin Simmons, Coxsackie-Athens; 2. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill; 3. Talib Barksdale, Hudson
Simmons and Danaher are true big men who swat shots, but I was a little surprised to see Barksdale on the list because I didn’t see him block a ton of shots, but obviously the players felt the big man in the middle for Hudson altered enough.
Top Defender 1. Michael Beauford, Catskill; 2. Derick Horn, ICC; 3. Brett Zimmerman, Cairo-Durham
Beauford is known for running the high-powered Catskill offense but was known by the other players in the league as a ball-hawking guard who harassed other team’s point guards. Horn played on the wing in the Riders zone, but opponents thought enough of his ability to spring at shooters and help down low to vote him second. Zimmerman worked hard for the hard-nosed Cairo defense.
Most Underrated 1. Chris Larm, ICC; 2. Dean Forrester, Catskill; Tied for 3. Brandon Johnson, Chatham; Nate Tailleur, Coxsackie; Jeff Crank, Hudson
Despite being a vaunted scorer and rebounder, his peers still thought Larm could get even more recognition. Forrester’s ability to score, rebound, and defend resounded with opponents. A three-way tie for third pitted two big-time shooter scorers in Tailleur and Crank with a solid low post scorer and rebounder in Chatham’s Johnson.
Put Together a Six-Man Squad 1. Chris Larm, ICC; Tied for 2. Sean Danaher, Maple Hill; Chris Britt, Rensselaer; 4. Will Gauthier, Chatham; 5. Derick Horn, ICC; 6. Nate Tailleur, Coxsackie
The players obviously came away very impressed with Larm this year, voting him the top low post scorer, rebounder, and most underrated player, and he earned the most votes in building a team. Danaher was arguably the best player on the best team in the league, while Britt was voted Most Valuable Player by the coaches. Gauthier was the only underclassmen named to the 1st Team All Conference list by the coaches. Horn and Tailleur both showed their skills as big forwards who could score inside and out as well as do other things all over the court.
