So I decided to dive into this Morris County basketball tourney prediction thing after watching Delbarton wipe the floor with Chatham last Tuesday. Grabbed my beat-up notebook and started scribbling thoughts right there in the bleachers. My jeans still have popcorn grease stains from that game – classic move.
Scouting Process Begins
First I hit up all the local coaches’ pre-season mixer last month. Stood near the coffee urn pretending to refill my cup for like 20 minutes while listening to Randolph’s assistant coach stress about their point guard’s ankle sprain. Wrote that down in all caps with three exclamation points.
Then came the data rabbit hole – ended up with 47 browser tabs open at 2AM tracking:
- Last season’s overtime losses (Morristown had FOUR)
- Summer league stats where Jefferson’s new transfer dropped 30 ppg
- That weird pattern where Parsippany always chokes in quarterfinals
My spreadsheet looked like a ransom note with color-coded cells.
Cold Call Chaos
Texted my cousin who referees county games – dude left me on read for two days before finally texting back “Morris Knolls freshmen scare me” with zero context. Typical.
Worst moment? When I called Roxbury High’s athletic director for injury updates and got voicemail. Left this awkward rambling message that ended with “so… are the Gaels starting Henderson or what?” Never called back. Rude.
Putting Pieces Together
Last Thursday I spread all my notes on the kitchen table – looked like a detective’s murder board. My dog tried eating the Morristown roster sheet. Bad dog.
Kept flipping between Delbarton and Randolph for top spot until I remembered watching Randolph’s coach lose his mind during a timeout last month. Guy looked ready to have an aneurysm. Crossed them off my championship list right then – no way that stress doesn’t trickle down to players.
The Final Predictions
After spilling coffee on three different draft versions, here’s what I’m sticking with:
- Dark Horse: Morris Knolls
- Most Likely to Choke: Roxbury
- Finals Matchup: Delbarton vs Jefferson
- Champs: Delbarton (unless their center fouls out like he did against Mendham)
Full disclosure – my wife thinks I’m nuts spending this much time on high school ball. But hey, last year I predicted the exact semi-final upset when West Morris beat Morristown. Proof’s in my Twitter archive somewhere.