Ram Zabala earns Lohud All-Star Honorable Mention but Trojan hoop dawgs Brookman and Zimmerman don't
May 8, 2024 at 9:49 p.m.
Basketball is in the air, and it is the time when the big dawgs come out to play.
But there are dawgs and there are dawgs, the name synonymous with the best basketball players who rise to new heights in crunch time.
But some of those dawgs have better pedigree than others, play for better teams, compete in tougher programs, get more media attention.
In pro basketball, for example, the NBA playoffs are raging, and it is the Hicks (Indiana) versus the slick Knicks, the mecca that is Madison Square Garden compared to the Hoosier hoops of Middle America, the Knicks’ big dawg Jalen Brunson going up against the Pacers’ bow wow Tyrese Haliburton, two of the games’ most electric point guards going head to head in the Eastern Conference semis.
The mistaken calls
Even in the high stakes NBA, mistakes happen with the human zebras (refs) arguably erring on close calls in the dying seconds, those disputed calls giving the Knicks the series opening game Monday (5/6) at the Garden. The post-game film showed a kicked ball foul that wasn't because it went off a Pacer hand, not a leg. There was also an alleged interference call that saw a Knick player give an acting performance worthy of a Broadway Tony or Hollywood Oscar to draw a foul as he flopped the ground. Both calls went against the Pacers. And the Knicks held on to win with the help of those late controversial whistles.
The local dawg house
In local scholastic sports circles, mistakes also happen albeit on a lesser stage. Because when it comes time to hand out the major awards to the starriest of the high school star dawgs, different factors come into play. And the best of the best dawgs from Port Chester and Blind Brook ended up barking up the wrong tree when the 2024 Lohud Westchester-Putnam Boys Basketball All-Star Team was announced Apr. 28.
And that was a dawgone shame because a case could be made that three local top hoop dawgs deserved to be there albeit one received Honorable Mention.
Here's why we think the locals rated more than an Honorable Mention for Rams senior guard Guillermo (Memo) Zabala on the Lohud team while the Trojans junior guard Noah Brookman and senior guard Eli Zimmerman were completely shut out.
The first reason: When the Lower Hudson Basketball Coaches Association selected its 2023-24 All-Section 1 Team Feb. 14, Zabala was named to the Conference 1 All-Section Team drawn from the larger schools while Brookman and Zimmerman were selected for the All Conference 3 small school All-Star Team.
Judging dawgs differently
But the criteria were different for the Lohud team.
Players selected for the Lohud All-Star squads first, second and third teams were picked based on their impact this past season. Nominations were sent in by coaches and statistics were reviewed, along with strength of competition. Team success was a major factor as well.
And given that criteria, Port Chester and Blind Brook didn't cut it. Zabala was the last player listed in the Honorable Mention category with the names listed alphabetically. And Brookman and Zimmerman weren't listed at all.
That set off howls from at least one local coach who shall remain nameless.
"Lohud is political," he said.
And Port Chester and Blind Brook get no respect when it comes to pedigree, strength of program, competition, team success.
But while the Rams admittedly had a dismal season record despite Zabala's stellar play, and the Trojans played a small school schedule, Zabala, Brookman and Zimmerman nevertheless have shown they could play with the big dawgs.
The case for Memo
Zabala, for example, set a school single game scoring record by going off for 60 points and came back to hit for 45 in the next game and carried the Rams on his shoulders despite being double and triple teamed. He has earned a scholarship to play fast-paced travel team ball with the Chris Ward AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) Elite 17U Green Team out of Ardsley, with the post-season program having a track record that includes 120 of its most talented players in Division 1 through 3 collegiate programs as well as JUCOs (junior college programs). "And Zabala is killing it playing the point and leading the AAU team in scoring and assists," according to the local coach who pointed out that Memo is starring on the same Elite team as Cosmo Hardison of Mamaroneck who was selected to the Lohud first team (along with Stepinac's seniors Boogie Flan and Braylan Ritvo, Mount Vernon's junior Tavien Taylor and White Plains senior Logan McCormick).
All are admittedly top dawgs locally, but then so is Memo.
Zabala, a Dominican Republic transfer who couldn't speak a word of English when he moved to Port Chester two years ago, recently signed to play for Western Arizona Community College, the same school that former DeWitt Clinton High School great Nate (Tiny) Archibald played for before moving up to play for Texas El Paso and graduating into pro ball with the Royals and Celtics on his way to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Only time will tell how Zabala will match up against the other Lohud big dawgs including second team selections Danny Carbuccia (Stepinac), Jaden Chavis (Peekskill) and Matt Nachamkin (Haldane), all juniors, and seniors Eric Woodberry (Woodlands) and Kas Mirza (New Rochelle). Also the third team All Stars Lucas Morillo (Iona Prep) and Jake Sussberg (Scarsdale), both juniors, and seniors Brandon Montero, Chris Popotte (Greenburgh/North Castle) and Tyson Repa (Byram Hills).
They are all big dawgs, stars in the local hoops scholastic sports galaxy. But then so are Zabala, Brookman and Zimmerman. And Port Chester and Blind Brook deserve more respect. So do two pro dawgs nicknamed Ant and KAT as in the Minnesota Timberwolves Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns with the Wolves and Boston Celtics emerging as current faves to be the last teams standing in the NBA playoffs. But dawgonit, mistakes happen in hoop calls, and you can't count out the Knicks or Pacers or the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Or will it be the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Dallas Mavericks pitting two of the world's most marvelous 25-year-old hot dawgs against one another in the marvelously named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of OKC and the Mavs Luka Doncic in their own hoops shootout at the OK Coral. And waiting in the wings, waiting to spread their wings, are our own teen-aged hoop top dawgs, recognized or unrecognized though they may be by Lohud.
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