What happened to Long Island basketball?

St. John's sure had their share of very good players from The Island including: Frank Alagia, Beaver Smith, David Russell, John Farmer, Reggie Carter, Bill Wennington, Wayne McCoy, Ron Stewart, and Shelton Jones to name a few.

Remember going to Holy Trinity H.S. in Hicksville to see Matt Doherty play for McKillop. Matt's sister was on the St. John's swimming team at the time.
 
Zendon Hamilton
Chris Obekpa

IMO, Long Island had good teams, not individual players. I was surprised a kid like Zendon was averaging 30 PPG.
 
Perhaps it's because of video games and other distractions. Maybe its because schoolyard basketball is dead today. Maybe its logistics. In Pitino's day, the most competitive leagues were CYO - walk to your parish, and if it was an away game hop a ride with a coach. Today it's AAU - expensive to join, expensive to travel, and requires a commitment from parents who are engaged in their kids.
 
Greg Cleuss and Richie M. Jackson played at St. Agnes.

Joe DePre played at Westbury

Randy Graham played at Calhoun.

Fred Lyson played at Oceanside

Eddie Kelly played at Maria Regina

Felix Balamou played at Our Savior New American

Tim Doyle played at St. Dominic's before tranferring to Northwestern

Derrick Brown was from Suffolk County, I beleive

Did Marco Baldi play at Lutheran ?

Was Gordan Thomas from Long Island ?
 
I thought Derek Brown was from Garden City area but I might be wrong. Baldi, Obekpa and Balamou are hardly LIer's having moved there exclusively for hoops as teenagers. Wennington probably fits that bill as well. But you forgot Ed Brown and Tom Bayne, two great LIers recruited in the '90s. ;) The aforementioned David Russell played at Bellport which meant a visit to my HS gym each year for the one game that sold out throughout my HS days. He was definitely something to watch in HS.
 
I thought Derek Brown was from Garden City area but I might be wrong. Baldi, Obekpa and Balamou are hardly LIer's having moved there exclusively for hoops as teenagers. Wennington probably fits that bill as well. But you forgot Ed Brown and Tom Bayne, two great LIers recruited in the '90s. ;) The aforementioned David Russell played at Bellport which meant a visit to my HS gym each year for the one game that sold out throughout my HS days. He was definitely something to watch in HS.
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Derek Brown went to Carey, which is in Franklin Square.
 
I believe Derek Brown went to Carey and Gordon Thomas was from Bay Shore. Long Island is becoming more known for Lacrosse and Soccer these days as compared to basketball. AAU has definitely change the landscape of HS Basketball. Also, don't forget Matt Brust, Babylon HS.
 
I thought Derek Brown was from Garden City area but I might be wrong. Baldi, Obekpa and Balamou are hardly LIer's having moved there exclusively for hoops as teenagers. Wennington probably fits that bill as well. But you forgot Ed Brown and Tom Bayne, two great LIers recruited in the '90s. ;) The aforementioned David Russell played at Bellport which meant a visit to my HS gym each year for the one game that sold out throughout my HS days. He was definitely something to watch in HS.
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Derek Brown went to Carey, which is in Franklin Square.
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I'm a Suffolk boy. Don't even know where Franklin Square is. Near Garden City? ;)
 
I thought Derek Brown was from Garden City area but I might be wrong. Baldi, Obekpa and Balamou are hardly LIer's having moved there exclusively for hoops as teenagers. Wennington probably fits that bill as well. But you forgot Ed Brown and Tom Bayne, two great LIers recruited in the '90s. ;) The aforementioned David Russell played at Bellport which meant a visit to my HS gym each year for the one game that sold out throughout my HS days. He was definitely something to watch in HS.
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Derek Brown went to Carey, which is in Franklin Square.
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I'm a Suffolk boy. Don't even know where Franklin Square is. Near Garden City? ;)
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South and west of it of it, but I think Brown grew up closer to the Elmont side than the Garden City side.
 
All I know is that AAU is such a giagntic money grab from almost every organization involved. I had once heard that the AIM High Silver Bullets (Suffolk County) had $250,000 in the bank, and that was ten years ago. Debbie (who played softball at SJU) was thinking of buying or building their own gym similar to the island Garden. Coaching a team a year or so later, a guy who ran tournaments told me you have it all wrong, the money is in running tournaments. Then a tournament entry fee would cost $350-400. Some tournaments have as many as 100 teams, each playing 4 games in a weekend. So with 100 teams playing 4 games each, you basically have to schedule 200 games at various sites, get schools for free, and pay referess a small amount for reffing all day multiple games. 100 teams x $400 is a cool 40 grand for the weekend. Nice money as a gross, and the profit margin is at least 60%.

Now you have teams who usually play 6-8 tournaments. LEt's use 7 as an average. 7 tournaments x $400 costs 2800 per team. BAck then most teams charged about $700 per player for the season plus uniform costs. Carry 12 kids and you gross $8400 and net 5600. Of course coaches kids play for free, and there is room to add a poor kid who is a great player without charging him or her.

No wonder there are so few great players coming out of LI. Most of the kids who can afford to play the highest level around are white middle class kids who could play every day of their lives and still not be D1 talent.
 
Remember those great teams at LI Lutheran. Reggie Carter, Wayne McKoy, Kevin James.

Newsday wrote about McKoy as if he was going to be better than Kareem. He stopped growing & he never seemed to improve as the years went on.

Other than Julius Erving, Jeff Ruland may have been the best Long Island player ever. Am I missing someone?
 
Wally Szerbiack (spelling prob wrong) cold spring harbor and Tom Gugliotta from Walt Whitman in Huntington
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Kenny Wood was once No. 2 on the all-time scoring list right under Kenny Anderson, so definitely need to list him.
 
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