by Alex Schwartz

It's going back a few weeks, but I figured better late than never for my recap of the 09 Rumble in the Bronx, which is run by the City Rocks AAU program. Mainly held at Fordham University, with games also at Iona College, Manhattan College, and Hooperstown. One of the premier AAU tournaments of the spring, the Rumble in the Bronx features top-notch squads from all over the country. Teams from states such as California, Iowa, and Florida made the trip to the Big Apple for the event. I had the chance to talk to many of the players and get school lists, which I have already posted (Part 1, Part 2). In this post I wanted to just give you a brief rundown of how the tournament played out. Take a look:

I'll start with the U16 division. The semifinals had a real Northeast feel to it, with the Playaz (NJ) facing the Metro Hawks (NY) and New Heights (NY) playing Expressions (MA). The Playaz squad, which was without arguably its two best players in Myles Mack '11 of Paterson Catholic (NJ) and Desmond Hubert '11 (NJ), had Keith Lumpkin '11 of St. Peter's Prep (NJ) at its disposal, despite the fact that he usually just runs with the U17 team. Although Mack and Hubert were at the Nike Hoop Jamboree, the Playaz—who some feel are the best U16 AAU squad in the nation—advanced to the finals. Meanwhile, the other semifinal was a matchup between the finalists at the 2009 Providence Jam Fest, which Expressions won handily. This time, New Heights had the advantage of being closer to home, and whatever the reason, the NYC squad pulled the upset of Alex Murphy '12 and Co. and made it to the championship, winning in three overtimes. That set up an NJ/NY showdown in the finale.

In a low scoring affair, New Heights held an 18-17 lead over the Playaz at halftime, with Vaughn Gray '11 of Don Bosco Prep (NJ) leading all scorers with a mere five points for the Playaz. The scoring picked up a bit in the second half, but not much. New Heights, led by Jermaine Sanders '11 of Rice (NY), led 30-28 with 8:00 to go. From there, the team slowly increased its lead, and it was 38-34 with 3:30 to play, then 47-39 with 1:15 left, as the squad began to pull away. When the final horn sounded, New Heights had a 51-44 victory over the Playaz to take the 2009 Rumble in the Bronx U17 title. Jermaine Sanders led all scorers with 17 points, almost all of which came in the second half. Chris Gayot '11 of Cardozo (NY) was named U16 tournament MVP for his play throughout the event.

At the U17 level, I will start with the Silver Bracket, which was for teams that finished in second place in their pools. Sports University (NJ), led by the play of St. Anthony's (NJ) ballers Derrick Williams '10 and Eli Carter '10 knocked off Kyrie Irving '10 of St. Patrick's (NJ) and the NJ Roadrunners, who were without Jarrod Davis '11 of Lakewood (NJ). In the other semifinal, Connecticut Basketball Club, which was led by player such as Majok Majok '10, crushed Louisiana Select, which was without almost all of its top players, including St. Joseph's-commit Langston Galloway '10, Ricardo Gathers '12, and Oklahoma State-pledge Markel Brown '10. This setup a title tilt between Sports U and CBC, which I did not get a chance to watch. The boys from Connecticut ran by the Garden State squad, and CBC won the 2009 Rumble in the Bronx U17 Silver Bracket championship.

The U17 Gold Bracket was totally loaded, to the point that big-time squads such as the Playaz (NJ) and NE Playaz did not even get past the first round. Once the teams were cut down to four, it was Nike Team Florida vs. California Supreme and Team Final (PA) vs. the City Rocks (NY) in the Final Four. I decided to watch the matchup between the two non-local teams, and it was a great contest. Nike Team Florida was lead by Florida State-pledge Okaro White '10, Anthony Lee '10, and Wilfried Yeguete '10. Cali Supreme was without three (Gary Franklin '10, UCLA-bound Tyler Lamb '10, and James Johnson '10) of its top four players (arguably its top three, period). The team, which use to also have Jeremy Tyler before he chose to go overseas, still had a number of talented players, in USC-commit Dwayne Polee '10, Keala King '10, Portland-commit Keith Shamburger '10, and Miles Cartwright '10. The game was close throughout, with Nike Team Florida holding the advantage early, before Cali Supreme took control of the game a bit. The Golden State squad led by single digits for much of the final 20 minutes, and eventually won 64-58, making it to the championship. Team Final knocked off the home team, the City Rocks, in the other semifinal. Team Final was playing without Syracuse-bound Dion Waiters '10, though Rakeem Christmas '11 played U17 ball for the first time this spring/summer, and he faired very well. The NY squad was also missing a key component, in arguably its best player, Tobias Harris '10.

I had to leave before the U17 championship game, but apparently I did not miss much, as Team Final won in a rout over the shorthanded California Supreme squad. Although the team had enough to get through its previous opponents, Team Final—arguably the best U17 team in America—proved to be just too much. Rakeem Christmas of North Catholic (PA) was the leading scorer in the finale. It was Michael Gilchrist '11 of St. Patrick's (NJ) who was named U17 tournament MVP. Gilchrist has become the consensus #1 players in the class of 2011, and some even feel he is the best player in the nation regardless of class.

In the U15 age division, the Garner Road Bulldogs (NC) met Martin Brothers Select (IA) in the championship, while the Playaz (NJ) faced off against the Westchester Hawks (NY) for the U14 crown. I left before those games were completed, and never was able to find out who the champs were, but if I do, I will update this article with the winners.

So again, here were the winners from the older age groups at the 2009 Rumble in the Bronx:

U17 Gold: Team Final (PA)
U17 Silver: Connecticut Basketball Club
U16: New Heights (NY)

In the U17 division, the two champions were actually in the same pool, and CBC gave Team Final a tough game when they squared off. The 09 Rumble in the Bronx was, as usual, a very good event with top-notch teams.

Note- photo on the left is of Jermaine Sanders and photo on the right is of Michael Gilchrist; both are from http://scouthoops.scout.com/