by Alex Schwartz

One of the two fierce New Jersey "Holy Trinity" rivalries will take place tomorrow evening when St. Patrick's faces St. Benedict's. Historically, St. Patrick's has dominated the series, losing just one to the Gray Bees (in 2008). Last year St. Benedict's was favored to win and make it two straight, but the Celtics crushed Danny Hurley's team from the tip to the final buzzer, winning in dominant fashion, and that was while Texas-bound Tristan Thompson '10 was still in the fold. Now, in the 2010 edition, St. Patrick's will return to being the favorite in a matchup of two one-loss teams.

The Celtics enter the game ranked #1 in my New Jersey High School Fab 15, which was released yesterday, while the Gray Bees are #3. Both teams are amongst the top 15 nationally, with Kevin Boyle's team in the top five. There will be an extremely high number of Division I players on the teams, many of whom will end up at high-major programs.

St. Patrick's will have the top two players on the floor in Michael Gilchrist '11 and Duke-signee Kyrie Irving '10, ranked #1 and #2 respectively in my New Jersey's Fab 45 Upperclassmen. The Gray Bees are more well-rounded though, with seven players ranked on the list—two in the top six—as well as one honorable mention. Meanwhile, the Celtics have just one other player ranked—Julian Washburn '10 has transferred out of the school—and one on the honorable mention list. Though St. Patrick's has the top two ballers overall, Danny Hurley's team has seven of the next eight.

St. Patrick's is undersized, starting no true big man and no one over 6'7, while St. Benedict's has a lot of talent in the paint. The Celtics, though, showed last year that guard play trumps post play.

In the backcourt, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Boyle, Jr. '10 are both seniors who have very different games for St. Pat's. Irving is a skilled overall player who can do it all, while Boyle is a quality long-range shooter who can also distribute. Western Kentucky-commit Derrick Gordon '11 is the third guard who starts for Kevin Boyle, with Jarrel Lane '11 as the main backup, and Kevin Seabrook '10 and Rich Dobin '10 providing depth.

Texas-bound Myck Kabongo '11 is the floor general for St. Benedict's and, as one of the top players in his class, he is having a fantastic junior season thus far. An ultra-quick guard, Kabongo teams with Temple-signee Aaron Brown '10 in the backcourt, with Mike Poole '10 on the wing. Although all three are quite talented, Kabongo is the only true guard of the bunch, and the reserves, Wil Martinez '11, Andris Misters '11, and Marcello Kambola '12 are not nearly at an elite level.

In the frontcourt, St. Patrick's is small, but talented nonetheless. Michael Gilchrist is one of the team's two tallest player who gets minutes at 6'7, but he is more of a 3 than a 4, but is forced to play more down low for the Celtics. Gilchrist is versatile and skilled enough to be able to do this, while Wagner-bound Josh Daniell '10 is also more of a shooting 3 who may play a lot more down low due to his height at 6'7. UMBC-signee Chase Plummer '10 is the other main forward, but at 6'6 he is more of a combo forward than a big man. The Celtics have gotten away with being undersized for a year and a half and Boyle is a good enough coach to mask it, as showed last year when the St. Benedict's bigs had little impact. Austin Colbert '13, a 6'8 freshman, can provides some minutes too if need be. Monitoring Gilchrist's knee and ankle injuries will be important.

The Celtics frontcourt is outstanding, but lacks that one player who can matchup with Gilchrist, just as most teams do. The closest one would be Arizona-pledge Sidiki Johnson '11, a 6'7 power forward with a good build and some ability to play away from the hoop. He may end up with the task of trying to slow Gilchrist, assuming his injuries do not do so. JP Kambola '10 and Rutgers-bound Gilvydas Biruta '10, at 6'10 and 6'9 respectively, will likely be the two tallest players getting regular minutes and will have a shot to dominate down low. The Gray Bees also have 7'0 Blaise Mbargorba '11 coming off the bench, so size is not an issue for Hurley's bunch.

All said, the Gray Bees are more stocked with talent from top to bottom of the players that get regular minutes, but the duo of Gilchrist and Irving will be too much to contain. Irving is having a sensational senior season and Kabongo will have to be outstanding defensively for St. Ben's to have a shot, while Biruta and Kambola will need to control the paint. Even if this all happens, Gilchrist creates a mismatch, as he wil be able to handle Johnson at both ends. The only issue would be if his injuries limit him. Both coaches are fantastic, and both teams have a great will to win, but the best two man tandem in the nation will lead St. Patrick's to victory.

My pick is St. Patrick's over St. Benedict's by a score of 73-65. The game will be played at 8:15pm this evening at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Note- photo on the left is of Kyrie Irving and is from http://blog.steveboylephoto.com/ and photo on the right is of Gilvydas Biruta and is from http://www.sbp.org/