Peach Jam

[007]

I thought he might be Garfinkel when he sat down, since I'd never seen a photo of either one.

Hello darkness my old friend...wrong Garfinkel, but funny

 

[cuse2013]

 

[50YRsofCuse]

Drove over from Atlanta to catch the late games at Peach Jam yesterday. There were 4 or 5 games going on at 8pm, and 3 at 9:30. We found the gym the Cuse staff was watching, and of course it was Jalen Carey. Boeheim and Gmac were watching Carey play. We watched the first half of his, game and he hit a 3, and a just seemed to be up and down the floor a lot, and was all over the place grabbing rebounds, passing the ball, driving to the basket. Looks like a very good player. Very athletic and fast. I didn't see any other noteworthy coaches watching Carey. Cal and Coach K were in a different gym. Jay Wright was watching Swider, who we watched for a little bit. Very impressed with Swider. Wish we would have landed him.

Boehiem left at halftime of this game and moved over to watch Team Melo play. Red was already there watching this game. They watched this game until the end and headed out the coaches area to wait for Bazely's game at 9:30. We got a chance to talk to Allen Griffin a little bit, and congratulated him on his recruiting wins so far. Griff asked us if we'd seen Gerry yet, but we hadn't had a chance to talk to him.

We spotted Coach B talking to Mark Few for a long time-seems like they are friends. When he was done, we went over to say hello. My 10 year daughter had her Peal shirt on, so Coach thought that was pretty cool, and shook her hand. I asked if he was watching Darius Bazely's game next, and he said "yeah..he's really good". JB, Gmac, Red and Griffin all sat together watching Bazely. Mark Turgeon came in at halftime and sat next to Boehiem. They talked for a long time. I thought there was some friction between them a few years ago, but apparently not. Oddly enough, John Beilien sat one seat over from JB and there was an empty chair between them, and they never spoke or looked at each other that I saw. Wonder if they don't get along. That struck me as odd, since Beilein coached at LeMoyne for a while.

Baze is a pogo stick. Super athletic. He reminds me of Derrick Coleman and Hakim Warrick, but plays more like Carmelo. Didn't post up, handles the ball, good passer, and shoots it well. He brought the ball up court a lot. He's fun to watch. We were able to sit down on the court, and the older guy next to us was taking notes. He saw my daughter's Pearl shirt, and told us he'd known Pearl very well, since Pearl was a freshman in high school. He told us Pearl was one of the nicest, gentlest people he'd ever known. We talked to this guy for a bit, and told us we should watch Buddy Boeheim play. I told him Cuse fans are hoping to land Buddy, and he smiled and said he thought we have a good shot.

This was the guy:

Tom Konchalski Stands Out on the Court, as a Scout

After the game, we headed out to leave and ran into Red. Talked to him for a minute. Nice guy, and very charismatic. We are headed back to Atlanta at 11pm, and stop at the first gas station. I buy a scratch off for my daughter and we leave. She wins $2 and wants to go back in to cash in. As we get in line, my daughter points out Darius Bazely in front of us, still in uniform, with his AAU coach. Baze sees us in our Orange gear and says "Syracuse! Yes Sir!". Seems like a nice kid.

Fun trip, and glad to see all 4 Cuse coaches there. Last time I went two years ago, it was only Hopkins that was there. I didn't see Hopkins this time. As someone else mentioned, it would have been nice to see the staff in Orange. They all wore gray/white for some reason.

Edit: Forgot to mention we saw Greg Paulus there talking to Beilein. He didn't have any school gear on, and I don't think he's found another job, since losing his at Ohio State.

Great write up and thanks for sharing about your encounters with the staff and Bazley. I worked at Fort Gordon the last 6 years of my career and was about 20 minutes from the games but never made it to one. I now regret that. I moved to Fort Myers full time last year. Maybe I will get to go to the City of the Palms Tournament this year. If I do, I hope that I enjoy as much as you just did.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

View attachment 104080

Hadn't thought of that. Could be! I thought I recall JB saying he was undefeated against John Beilein right before the 2012 FF and then Michigan beat us. Maybe both.

Gotta love that JB looks like the most alert guy on the floor. Julie's "vitamin mix" will pay dividends. Good things to come, y'all.

 

[MSOrange]

Excellent write up! Really enjoyed the review of Bazely's game and I love reading about the behind-the-scenes experiences at events like this.

 

[shermstheman]

View attachment 104078

Not that I noticed. We were up on the track jockeying for a spot to watch the game. Hard to tell.

Seeing that pic of JB makes me realize that JB's legs have not seen much sun.

 

[orangefog]

Was that Nerlens Noel hugging him at the end?

 

[cuse2013]

Was that Nerlens Noel hugging him at the end?

Yes. I believe MCW was committed by then but that game but him on the map w/ recruiting services. Him and Nerlens were (are?) very good friends

 

[FanFromOhio]

View attachment 104079

He seemed the like nicest, most authentic person ever. It was like talking to your grandfather. I knew he was someone, but I wish I knew who he was at the time. I probably would have asked him a hundred questions, while he was trying to work, though. Just the way he spoke, and the way he looked you in they eye, you could tell he was a special person. Seemed really humble. Very nice talking with him.

Loved your write-up. You are correct, Tom is all that and more. I had the good fortune to talk to Tom several times and grab a quick bite to eat with him at a tournament this spring. He is the type of guy you just listen to and he has some great stories. He doesn’t drive, doesn't have a cell phone or computer and types his scouting report on a typewriter. Click on the link on the top of the article for a short video on Tom, he is one of a kind.

Hockumentary: Tom Konchalski, Basketball Guru

 

[Deano]

Was that Nerlens Noel hugging him at the end?

Yep way before he got the bag ala QG

 

[ssbriefcase]

Loved your write-up. You are correct, Tom is all that and more. I had the good fortune to talk to Tom several times and grab a quick bite to eat with him at a tournament this spring. He is the type of guy you just listen to and he has some great stories. He doesn’t drive, doesn't have a cell phone or computer and types his scouting report on a typewriter. Click on the link on the top of the article for a short video on Tom, he is one of a kind.

Hockumentary: Tom Konchalski, Basketball Guru

I believe he also was the first one to start telling everybody about Jordan, after seeing him at one of the hs summer tourney's or something like that.

 

[iommi]

Glad I opened this thread. It was such a vague thread title, it didn't catch my eye at first. Outstanding stuff. Thanks for writing all of this up. Fantastic posts.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Great stuff. Thanks. We have our differences but this is good stuff!

 

[sutomcat]

I believe he also was the first one to start telling everybody about Jordan, after seeing him at one of the hs summer tourney's or something like that.

PROSPECT CENTRAL: MJ b4 MJ: The Discovery of Michael Jordan!!!

 

[ssbriefcase]

PROSPECT CENTRAL: MJ b4 MJ: The Discovery of Michael Jordan!!!

I stand corrected. Here's an interesting article also, complete with a Syracuse reference;
The Bonus: Konchalski cements legacy as evaluator, great mind

 

[sutomcat]

I stand corrected. Here's an interesting article also, complete with a Syracuse reference;
The Bonus: Konchalski cements legacy as evaluator, great mind

Good stuff. I remember Tom used to attend the early editions of the Empire State Games, when they were held in Syracuse and attracted the best HS players in the state (including Pearl Washington). Good guy.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Yeah AlpharettaCuse mention of being able to talk to Tom K., was my favorite part of that write up. I've always wanted to run into him at the big AAU tourney we used to have in Denver (Pump-n-Run), just to meet the man, the legend. Good stuff.

 

[Sherman20]

View attachment 104080

Hadn't thought of that. Could be! I thought I recall JB saying he was undefeated against John Beilein right before the 2012 FF and then Michigan beat us. Maybe both.

Unless something has changed or the Battle recruitment really caused a rift, I'd be surprised by that. JB and Beilein were definitely friendly off the court for years. During Michigan and SU's 2013 Final Four runs, Beilein praised JB for helping him early in his career at Lemoyne and advocating for him to land the job at Canisius.

As for Mark Few, besides Coach K I think Few is one of JB's closest friends in the current coaching ranks. They've discussed their friendship the past couple times SU and the Zags have played. And Few talked about JB several times during the Zags' tournament run last season. Discussed what JB told him about losing a national championship game.

 

[realorange]

Thanks for sharing.

BTW - Tom Konchalski is indeed a very nice guy. I used to chat with him from time to time back in the OrangeNation days when I was going to all these recruiting events. He's super knowledgeable and a great judge of talent.

Mason

As an aside, for those that weren't on any of the old boards, Mason used to give us great reports from many of his recruiting trips. It's almost like a flashback reading AlpharettaCuse's excellent post.

 

[GooseMutt]

Thanks for sharing.

BTW - Tom Konchalski is indeed a very nice guy. I used to chat with him from time to time back in the OrangeNation days when I was going to all these recruiting events. He's super knowledgeable and a great judge of talent.

Mason

Mason, may I be as bold to ask your profession? Don't mean to get personal but my curiosity got the best of me when someone mentioned you as having been on the recruiting trail. I'm new here and a bit lost sometimes.

 

[RF2044]

Unless something has changed or the Battle recruitment really caused a rift, I'd be surprised by that. JB and Beilein were definitely friendly off the court for years. During Michigan and SU's 2013 Final Four runs, Beilein praised JB for helping him early in his career at Lemoyne and advocating for him to land the job at Canisius.

As for Mark Few, besides Coach K I think Few is one of JB's closest friends in the current coaching ranks. They've discussed their friendship the past couple times SU and the Zags have played. And Few talked about JB several times during the Zags' tournament run last season. Discussed what JB told him about losing a national championship game.

Good point -- that could very well be the root cause.

 

[orangefog]

Mason, may I be as bold to ask your profession? Don't mean to get personal but my curiosity got the best of me when someone mentioned you as having been on the recruiting trail. I'm new here and a bit lost sometimes.

He is a professional phone case designer.

 

[GooseMutt]

He is a professional phone case designer.

Works with you?

 

[orangefog]

Works with you?

Oh gosh no, pure amateur hour here.

 

[cuseattle]

He is a professional phone case designer.

I'm in on the next batch.