Penn / Rocky / Goodbye

We woke up for the final day of the summer tour nice and early and completed our packing. We proceeded to meet up with the University of Pennsylvania Basketball coaching staff on the campus of Penn. We were treated so nicely by Coach Murphy and Coach Gallagher, who took us on an expansive tour of the beautiful Ivy League campus. We were impressed by the history and the beauty, and the history of the basketball program is second to none. We loved the Palestra, and it was good to see Jerome Allen working his camp on the floor of the famed building. We said our good bye's to the coaches and headed for the Student Union, where we had lunch with the other Penn Quaker students. Our guys enjoyed the choices and the food. We then headed out to the Museum of Art where we visited the stairs that the movie "Rocky" made so famous. We took pictures and ran the stairs, and of course shared a good deal of laughs. We returned to the hotel for the final time to pick up our bags and head to the airport. As I write this we are sitting at the terminal waiting to get on our plane to head back to Fort Lauderdale. It will be a sad good bye for me, as I have really enjoyed the past 2 weeks with these 7 players and Coach Arlen. I will post again tomorrow with a wrap up.

Villanova / LaSalle

As our Monday morning started, we were all excited an anxious for the day ahead. We had 2 appointments scheduled - a morning meeting with Coach Giannini and the LaSalle Explorers, followed with an afternoon appointment with Coach Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats. At each stop we would be impressed (check out the photos), and even blown away by how impressive each setup is.
One of my former peers in the high school coaching world of South Florida is now on staff up here at LaSalle. Coach McNelley was more than a gracious host, and, in fact, the Head Coach (John Giannini actually led our team on the campus tour, and hosted a film session with our players. He was very good in front of our guys, and he was a very good speaker. We finished our day at LaSalle by watching the Pro guys and the college guys do their daily workout. Our guys came away knowing that no matter how hard they work or how good they get, they have to work harder and they have to get better. It was a really good visit that we concluded by having lunch at their student union.
We then headed up to Villanova University. Villanova is hot right now - coming off a final 4 appearance this past season in Detroit. Coach Donnelly was our host, and he was awesome. He was prepared and he also made our guys feel both at home and like they were important. When we arrived he introduced us to every player and coach - including Scotty Reynolds and Coach Jay Wright. From there we took a tour of the facilities - their facilities are second to none - and concluded our visit with some time in the film room watching the 2008 highlight video. Our guys came away very impressed.
We headed back to the hotel for a short time, and then we all walked about 10 blocks to our dinner destination - Applebee's. We had a great time again, and tons of laughs were shared.

Atlantic City

When planning the summer tour, I had originally planned for today to be part of the Temple team camp. Team camps are a little different up here in the northeast, and in actuality the Temple team camp was over last night (not just for us, but for every team involved). As a result, we had some un-planned time off today. We decided to sleep in a little bit, and then head over to Atlantic City. It turned out to be a good decision, as the 1 hour drive was not bad at all, and we all were very happy once we arrived. We ate a great lunch at the pier on the boardwalk by Caesar's Palace - at a very modern sports bar - and then enjoyed the sights. We finished up our afternoon with a trip to the Nike Outlet store, where a couple of our guys bought some items.We returned back to Philadelphia for a quick dinner, where we are now preparing to see the schools in this area. Over the next 2 days we will visit LaSalle University, Villanova, and Penn.
Happy Father's Day to all the dad's and all the coaches who sometimes play the role of dad.

Temple Team Camp Day 2

We played three tough games today here in Philadelphia. We competed hard, played with enthusiasm, but our mental and physical fatigue played a part in the outcome of our games. I was impressed with certain parts of our basketball today, but also left Temple University knowing that we have a ton of stuff to work on, and our team must get better. I told our kids after the game that I am OK with a loss here or there if we are able to improve and make the team better. We played against a top 25 team this afternoon, and while we have nice players on our team, we have a ways to go to compete on that level right now. I want all 7 of our players to know that "What got you here will not get you there". We have to work even harder and do better.
After a quick shower and change at the hotel we headed out to Dave and Busters for dinner and some arcade games. We laughed a lot, shared a good meal, and continued to develop chemistry. Tonight was one of my favorite nights of the trip.
We decided to let our guys sleep in a little tomorrow, so we will be meeting downstairs at 8:30am. I like to usually get an earlier start (and thus attack the day), but our guys are a little tired, so we will get the later start.

Temple Team Camp Day 1

We got a late start this morning and headed out to fill the van (with the finest Shell gasoline we could find) and head over to our new hotel which is in downtown Philadelphia. We checked in, and saw the lay of the land - which is very impressive. We were able to visit a local hot-spot for lunch, taking in a meal at Rex's Pizza. Rex's was terrific - they were nice to us and we ate a lot of carbs before our game tonight. We had fun at lunch today - we had a mini NBA draft with non-superstar players, and Ryan, Sami, Jake Silver, Jake Wheeler and I each drafted teams. The other players and coaches then voted on the best teams. I'm convinced that my team was the best, but that lead to a huge debate with tons of spirit.
Speaking of spirit, we then got ready and went out to play against a team named Archbishop Carroll. To their credit, they came out with tons of energy, and our team played very, very flat basketball. I think the cumulative effect of our 2 weeks of the road caught up with us tonight, and our senior leaders were not able to lead us out of the funk. It was a close game early (29-23 with 13 minutes to go), but we ended up losing to them (they are very good - a defending state champion here in Pennsylvania). It wasn't so much the loss that concerned me, it was the lack of urgency with which we played tonight - the first time I had seen that out of this group. The good news is we have 3 games tomorrow (all against teams with 20+ victories last year, and at least 1 more state champion), so we will have time to redeem ourselves.
We headed out after the game to Pat's and Geno's, where we tasted the Philly Cheesesteak that the world has come to know. We tasted the cheesesteak from both places, and we took a team vote as to which was the best. Our 9 people voted in a close one - but Geno's ended up besting Pat's by the closest vote possible - 5 to 4.
We ended the night on a good note with lots of laughs and smiles, even though we played a poor game tonight. The weariness of 2 weeks on the road showed up tonight in the 2nd half, but I know we will bounce back strong tomorrow.
I am looking forward to the games tomorrow.

Princeton University

We woke up this morning and said good-bye to New York. It actually worked out to be great timing, because the weather outside was just awful. Worst weather we have seen in 10 days. The timing was good because that weather easily could have happened on one of the days that we were scheduled to be in Manhattan and / or walking the Brooklyn bridge. Luckily for us, the weather in New York was good to us. We got a quick bite to eat, and headed for Princeton, New Jersey. Traffic was bad for the first half an hour, and I am sure the terrible rain contributed to a couple of the accidents that we saw along the way. We actually drove through Canal Street, so our kids were interested in what was going on around them.
We pulled into Princeton University and made our way to the basketball facilities. On the way I briefly discussed the history of the basketball program with our players, but I think once we walked inside our guys realized that they were seeing some big time facilities, and were very impressed. The arena was nice, the weight room was just re-done and looked very impressive, and the team locker room was great. The best room was a room they call the "team room", which was home to 4 big screen TV's, a nice leather sofa set, a room for the team to meet, and also a mini-kitchen with refrigerator and microwave. Coach Greenman and Coach Earl were very, very warm and welcoming to our players, and certainly made all of us feel good about Princeton Basketball. The coaches spoke to us in an informational setting that discussed the benefits of Princeton University, the absolutely ridiculously tough admission standards, and that 92% of all applicants to Princeton get denied entry. He also mentioned that US News and World Report had ranked Princeton the number 1 educational place in the USA for 8 of the last 10 years. Impressive.
At the conclusion of the visit, Coach Greenman recommended that we try a local favorite for lunch. He said "Hoagie Haven" was the favorite place for lunch for the students and the basketball players, and that when he was attending school here that it was the place he frequented most often. We were sold on the idea, and headed over to the small store. The place was great, and we were happy. Talk about a small store - this place did not have any place for you to eat the hoagie once you have purchased it - only to stand outside and eat it. Luckily, the down pour of rain had slowed to a mini drizzle, and we were OK.
We then headed to the City of Brotherly Love. We arrived in Philadelphia at our hotel (Sheraton Suites), checked in, and were able to get about an hour of relaxation time along the way.
We spent the evening together at the mall in King of Prussia. It is a beautiful mall, with very, very good food options. Chick Fil-A was the most popular amongst our team, yet again.
Tomorrow will mark the beginning of the Temple team camp, and I am anxious to get back onto the basketball court and compete.

Fordham / Manhattan College

Today was a busy day that included stops to 2 division 1 schools, a little bit of early morning shopping, and a nice day spent together developing chemistry. (See all the pictures by clicking here). We opened the day with a walk to pick up our van that included stops along the way to shop. Our guys like to shop for shoes, and a couple of them made some purchases. I am constantly amazed by how much our players LOVE shoes, but it never ceases to amaze me.
We picked up the van (which was parked at Long Island University) and headed to Fordham University. Fordham is a different than all the other schools that we have EVER visited, because for this visit we were also going to meet with the football coaches, who have an interest in Jake Wheeler. We battled some morning traffic on the way out there, but when we arrived Coach Armstrong was ready for us and showed us around the campus. Jake and I spent some time with Coach Masella, the head football coach, who spoke nicely about the academic side of things and the football program. We then headed over to the basketball offices and met with Coach Wittenberg as he tried to put all the pieces together to see if they could make it work with Jake playing both sports. It was a good visit.
We then headed for a quick bite to eat as we were running a little late for our appointment at Manhattan College. Coach Alesi was patient and waited for us, and he and the entire coaching staff showed us a good time. They represented the Jaspers very well.
We finished up our day by going to Yankee stadium on the way back to the hotel. We saw the old Yankee Stadium, and right next door is the new one. It was great to see, and our kids enjoyed the view. We were not able to go inside, as the Yankees host the Washington Nationals tonight in an interleague game.
We returned to the hotel to get changed and ready for dinner. We walked down to Brooklyn Heights (what a beautiful area) and had dinner at one of my all time favorite places - Five Guys Hamburgers. Only 1 of our players had been there before, but when we all had left we had 7 happy players and 2 happy coaches. We then walked down to the water, and laughed a ton on the way. We have 7 happy players right now, and that is a good thing.
Looking forward to tomorrow. Princeton, here we come!

Columbia University and New York City

What an AWESOME day! We started the day with a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We were able to see the skyline of New York, and the walk was a half hour in some really nice weather. The walk across the bridge was something that not one of the 9 of us had done before, and after going through it, I am really glad we did it. After the walk we were given the task of navigating the city by switching subway trains in order to get to Columbia University. We were able to get to Columbia without getting lost, and made it on time to the Ivy League school for our appointment. Columbia's coaches were very ready for us, and Coach Murphy and Coach Strahorn gave us a great tour of the facility and a video highlight session, and then followed that up with a great question and answer session (Barack Obama and David Stern are alumni of Columbia). We then spent time with the Head Coach, Coach Jones, who was really impressive in his talk with us. Marcus Blake and Jake Wheeler and I spent time with Coach Jones in his office, and we all came away impressed by the coach and his demeanor.
Following our departure from Columbia, we jumped on the subway and headed to Times Square. First order of operation was lunch (we continue to eat well!), and we ate at the ESPN Zone. A good time was had by all, and we were now ready to attack the day with a visit to Manhattan. We left ESPN Zone and headed to the NBA Store, FootLocker, M&M store, Burberry, Starbucks, Trump Tower, Apple Store, Central Park, Radio City Music Hall, and a few other places. We were busy and loved every minute of it.
We ended the day with dinner at Angelo's, and had New York style pizza. The food was good, but the evening got better when as we were leaving, we noticed that we were in the area of the Screen Actors Guild Directors Studio, and a movie premiere was happening tonight. We were able to get up close and personal with Kathy Bates, Michelle Pfeifer, and the one and only Donald Trump. We all had a great time. We ended this evening with a ride on the subway back to our awesome hotel - the Marriott on the Brooklyn Bridge. Let's hope every day continues to be as good as this day.

LIU (Long Island University)

Today was our day to leave Rutgers and head to the great state of New York. We ate breakfast at the Embassy Suites and then departed on the 40 mile journey that would take us to Brooklyn. Our day today was devoted to the LIU Blackbirds, where Coach Pitt had planned a great visit for us. Before we went to the school, we were able to get an early check in to the Marriott Brooklyn Bridge (photo is below), which will be our hotel for the next couple of nights. We really, really, out-did ourselves with this hotel - it is a beautiful hotel in a great location and our kids were very very happy when we arrived. We checked in, and headed over to LIU. After seeing the school and meeting with the staff, I can tell you that I am not surprised that LIU finished tied for 2nd place in their league last year. The head coach here, Coach Ferry, was more than gracious with his time today, even spending a good hour with our guys in a question and answer session on a wide variety of topics, including academics, NCAA Clearinghouse, basketball, and the transition from high school to college. Coach Ferry is very impressive in person, and I am thankful to him for giving American Heritage so much of his time today.
After we left LIU, we returned to the hotel where we were able to get in a team weight lifting session. It turned out to be a good hour and a quarter session, and I was happy our guys worked hard.
We finished the day with a huge meal at JUNIORS Cheesecake. Oh my - what a meal! Our guys ate a lot, and finished the meal off with some of the most amazing cheesecake ever.
We had a great day today.
Tomorrow we head over to Manhatten, where we will visit Columbia University, and NYU. We will also spend time in New York City and enjoy the scenery.

Rutgers Team Camp

We returned to Rutgers today for the conclusion of the Rutgers team camp. Before we arrived at the RAC, we went to the football complex to check out the facilities (the picture above is from the football stadium). It was Sunday and there was no staff on the premises, so we worked together to find a way to see what Rutgers football had to offer. We got some great pictures (www.GoodBasketball.com/photo). After our football tour, we went to the RAC. We played a team from Trenton, and jumped on them early, getting out to a 4-0 lead and a 17-10 lead with 2 minutes to go until halftime. At that point we went into a scoring funk, and just couldn't put the ball in the basket. Now we had a tough game on our hands, and the court we were playing on was a little smaller than a regulation court, and we ended up turning the ball over way too many times. The game finished with a 38-36 loss, and our team was very, very disappointed that we did not win the game and the tournament. After the game I was quick to remind our guys about now having an opportunity to rebound from a bad game and play well next game, and we also talked about having a killer instinct from the opening tip to the final buzzer. Our team rebounded from the defeat well (with a quick trip for lunch to Au Bon Pain in the student union) and jumped on the team we played from Middleton. Our guys are fatigued and sore, yet they wanted to play better than they did the game before. My hat goes off to the 7 guys on the trip with us, and they were certainly game to play well and play hard. Thanks to Jake Silver, Jake Wheeler, Sami Jafri, Marcus Blake, Juan Ferrrales, Ryan Andino, and Mikon Hewitt. Coach Arlen was on top of his game too, and we ended our week with a 10-2 record over 2 team camps. Sami played really well, and he hit big shot after big shot all day long.
We then returned to the hotel to freshen up, and headed out for a big dinner at Champps Sports Place, and enjoyed a big dinner while watching the first half of the NBA finals. Our team is pretty much split on who they are rooting for, but I would like to see Game 6, so I am rooting for the Magic.

Rutgers - Day 4 of Summer Tour 2009

Today was the first day of the Rutgers team camp. The Rutgers staff has prepared a great camp with 32 quality teams, from as far as Florida (hmmmm... who could that be?), but yet as near as Newark, NJ. The facility that the camp is held in is called the RAC - Rutgers Athletic Center, and it holds 5 full size courts, and is home to the camp. One of the nice things about this team camp is the fact that it is all knock-out play, with no pool play games. This means that every game is important, and can essentially end your bid to win the team camp.
Our first game was at 10:15am, and we played Newark Central. Our opponents have been very good here in the state of New Jersey, and we were warned about how good they were. Our kids came out a little slow, and we found ourselves in the middle of a tough game as were up 2 at the half. Halftime saw our kids get together and put it together, and we ended up winning the game by 20+ points. We had a 1 game rest, and followed that with a game against the team South Regional. They were ready for us, but our guys came out focused from the beginning. This was a tough game, but we were in control. We led from start to finish, and ended up pulling out the 47-40 game. The win put us in the quarterfinals tomorrow at 1:00pm against another good team.
As the coach of this team, I can be nothing but happy with them. Over the last 2 weeks we have posted a 9-1 record while playing against some really good teams. The players have bought into the style that we are playing, and are really, really defending well. Our team is coming together, and I am looking forward to tomorrow's games.
After the game we returned to the Embassy Suites for a quick rest as we were able to nap or visit the jacuzzi. I was able to spend some quality time with a couple of our players.
We finished our day with a great dinner at TGI Friday's, where we laughed and shared a good meal, and a visit to the movies tonight. We have an early curfew tonight, as we focus on our quest to win the Rutgers team camp tomorrow.

Fairfield University and Rutgers University - Day 3 of American Heritage Summer Tour

Today saw our 9 man travel group leave the Boston area in the morning and head toward the Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey area. Our first stop was Fairfield College in Fairfield, CT. Coach Maciariello and Coach Cooley were absolutely awesome and showed our team a good time. We were able to see a bit of Fairfield, watch a highlight tape, and spend about 30 minutes with the coaching staff. It was an informative session, and, at the conclusion of the meeting the coaches told us about a place called Vino's - a local eatery in town. Our team went with the suggestion, and absolutely loved lunch - big sized italian food. We really had a good meal.
After lunch we headed to Monmouth University in New Jersey. Unfortunately our plans needed to be flexible, as we were stuck in a 3 hour traffic delay on I-95 South right outside of New York. We ended up going straight to our hotel in Piscataway, and at this point our entire van was tired of being couped up in the car for multiple hours. We checked into the Embassy Suites and got ready for our shoot around. We went over to the Rutgers Athletic Center where we met Coach Nee, Coach Bloom, Coach Gregory, and Coach Winterbone. We were able to get the blood flowing again and soon we were having a great pre-game shoot around - our kids broke a good sweat and got a good number of shots in before we departed. We came back to the hotel and got ready for dinner - the players requested a dinner of White Castle - and - since I like to do things and go places while on the road that you cannot do while at home, we obliged. I saw Jake Wheeler eat an enormous amount of food (trust me - enough to feed small classrooms of children!) - and a couple of our other guys give it the old college try.
We are now back at the hotel where we are resting in preparation of the team camp, which begins tomorrow at 10:15am for us.
Happy Birthday to Coach Arlen - who was kind enough to share his birthday with the team.

Summer Tour - Day 2 - Boston, MA

Today was an awesome day for us - we spent the morning and early afternoon with Coach McCarthy and Coach Scalzi of Northeastern University. What an impressive place! Northeastern is in the middle of downtown Boston, yet has a definitive feel of being on a college campus. The Northeastern staff was ready for us - we met with the Academic Advisement office, saw the practice facilities, visited the on campus dining facility, and even dropped in on an academic classroom. Our guys enjoyed the lunch on campus, and all of our players and coaches came away from Northeastern with as a fan of the Huskies.
Our afternoon was spent visiting Harvard University and seeing the history and beauty of Cambridge. Our players loved seeing the difference between the Northeastern campus in the morning, and the Harvard campus in the afternoon. We finished off the afternoon with a visit to NIKE-TOWN where some of our players purchased some clothing to take home. Coach Arlen was up to his usual self and made sure that enough photographs were taken (www.goodbasketball.com/photo).
Our evening was spent at the Prudential Center for dinner and that was followed by Game 4 of the NBA finals between the Magic and the Lakers. So far - this has been a GREAT beginning to the summer tour of 2009!

Summer Tour Day 1 - Boston, MA

Finally - Summer Tour 09 has arrived! I write this as I sit in the hotel room in the Sheraton Prudential Center hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The hotel is beautiful (I have put a picture of the hotel below this blog entry), the surrounding downtown area is fantastic, and the Boston area is alive right now after the Red Sox big win over the Yankees. Boston is GREAT.
Today started with a 6:00am trip to the Fort Lauderdale airport. We flew to Providence, RI and immediately began our college tour with a visit to Boston University and the terriers. We saw the facilities, were able to take a great tour with Coach Orlando Vandross, and spend some time with the new head coach, Coach Pat Chambers. Coach Chambers spoke to our guys about drowning out all the negativity that comes with each day.
We then took our visit to Emerson College, which was fantastic. Coach Smith met us and was able to be our host as we met with the academic advisor and talked basketball and reviewed film with the head coach, Coach Smith. Emerson impressed our team and coaches, and it was a good, good visit.
Our final visit of the day saw us go to Brandeis University. While at Brandeis we were able to meet the coaches, and spend time with the training staff. Brandeis is an impressive place, and the facility stood out to us all. We were able to get in a quick shoot around, so that we can stay ready for the Rutgers University team camp that we will play in this weekend. Our 7 seven players were treated well at Brandeis by their athletic trainer, Niki Rybko.
All in all, a great start to our summer tour. I cant wait to enjoy the next 2 weeks.

SUMMER TOUR 2009

Summer is here and that means only one thing - American Heritage Basketball is going on the college tour! This year our travels will take the varsity team to the Northeastern United States - we will spend 2 weeks on the road (in very nice hotels!) as we visit Boston, New Jersey, New York, State College, and Philadelphia. We kick things off in Florida as we visit FAU for their team camp from June 5 - 7.

You can SEE THE PICTURES by clicking HERE.