What’s Sam Sullivan saying “Congrats Marina you going to be playing with the best”
The best player in the State of New Jersey is going to the 2nd best basketball team in the country. The best player in New Jersey will join her OLDER sister and for the Mabrey family, it doesn’t get much better. The best player in New Jersey picked a school that is considered one of the best in the country and that school is way more than about basketball . The best player in New Jersey is just like the school she will be attending, she is way more than a basketball player….Marina Mabrey has given a verbal commitment to NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY… and oh by the way she doesn’t like to be 2nd in anything!
Winning a title with Michaela was fun…so why not do it again
Three years ago Marina Mabrey joined her sister Michaela at Manasquan High School and won the State title. They ran though the competition and played a style of play that was fun and exciting. They had 5 ultra-competitive players; all would go on to play Division one basketball. They were kids who wore their emotions on the sleeves. They were physical, aggressive, and played hard every night; with a in your face attitude. They were a special group and it looked like they would go on a major run the next three years. But life is like a box of chocolate’s folks and you never know what you’re going to get. Marina Mabrey took her talents to Pt Beach and the Beach fans got a special box of chocolates.
Marina and friend Katelynn took Pt Beach on a ride of a lifetime
When Marina Mabrey arrived at Pt. Beach they were not exactly a basketball powerhouse, but when she left they had won a state championship and Marina Mabrey took a town on a ride of a lifetime. Beach made it all the way to the TOC semi-final; where they lost to Shabazz in a hard fought game. They were many nights during Marina stay at Beach where the games where lopsided and my guess not much of a challenge for the superstar. But sometimes its not rebounds, points, asst or steals that helps a player to grow.
The older more mature Mabrey became a SUPERSTAR TEAMMATE
The first time I saw Marina Mabrey play was in the Run for the Roses; her team was playing Rumson in the finals. Grace Stant, led that Rumson team to victory over Marina’s St. Cath’s team. But what I saw that night was a young lady that wore her emotions on her sleeve like no kid I had ever seen. I was not sure what to think, I like aggressive players and I love passionate players. Marina was all that and a bowl of chips, but she was immature. She was like a lot of kids at that age. Unlike her older sister Michaela who you could never rile and when you did, she ripped your heart with her scoring and passing. Marina was one, that had to let it out, it’s funny but the best players I have ever coached all had two things in common…. PASSION and they played ANGRY….
Sharing the attention was something Mabrey was willing to do!
During Marina’s stay at Beach, I believe she learned that people want to share in your success. It’s great to win championships but you must make those around you feel part of it. When you are one of the best players in the country all eyes are on you. Your teammates can be pushed aside and be made to feel they are not part of the success. Marina Mabrey learned how to win and make everyone feel part of it at the same time. She put her teammates on her back and drove Beach to a TOC appearance and Group 1 state title and she did it with everyone smiling. You see when you’re a great player, people think you are promoting yourself, they think you write all the articles in the paper, they think it’s you that asks to be interviewed. Jealously creeps in and it becomes ugly and sad. Marina Mabrey learned to share that spotlight with a group of kids who may never forget what Marina Mabrey did for them and a town. Those kids and Pt. Beach will hang a banner in a gym for the next 100 years. Those Kids will be able to tell their kids, I played with Mabrey and WE GOT IT DONE. It may have been a short ride for Pt Beach but it sure was a good one.
The Mabrey’s are a basketball family!
I was sitting in the Hoop Group and I received a phone call from Pt. Beach. The person on the other line said I need to inform you that Pt. Beach would not be playing in the Battle of The Boardwalk. The first thing that came to my mind was that this is going to be ugly conversation. But then the voice says “Tiny before you get upset let me explain” Marina Mabrey and Katelynn Flaherty are transferring. Then I thought, thank god they not going to force us to let them play in the event, because George Sourlis, is not going to be interested in playing Beach at this point. When Marina Mabrey decided to transfer some people were upset and said was breaking the rules. But in reality I believe this young lady could have made a very strong case that she’d be allowed to play immediately, but that’s a story for another day. Instead Marina sat the full 30 days after transferring from Beach. She had given Beach a year out of her life and I believe most understood that the competition just was not in Marina’s Mabrey best interest.
NO SONG IS MORE APPROPRATE FOR MARINA MABREY... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBOJpIwF47Y
Yes academics are important but the truth be told, Mabrey is already a good student. For God Sake, she’s going to one of the best schools in the country, I believe she just wanted to return to her hometown team. Somehow people tried to say there was a big conspiracy…LMAO. Let me explain it folks, I went to one school, enjoyed it and now I’m transferring back to my local school. It happens every day of the week…The problem is its Marina Mabrey…LMAO. My daughter transferred from her local high school for one reason BASKETBALL. She still managed to get a degree in Neuro- Science at Colgate University. Marina Mabrey’s parents did what any parent with a brain does…WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST FOR THEIR CHILD! There is also another reason that nobody is talking about why I believe Marina Mabrey returned to Manasquan…she has a little sister named Dara and maybe just MAYBE she may want to play a season with DARA….oops… Conspiracy just got blown RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW!
Manasquan was already good..but Mabrey gave them that edge…a SUPERSTAR TEAMMATE
Manasquan was a great team without Marina Mabrey; make no mistake about this folks. They had the best freshman in the Shore, they had Hoop Group All Shore 1st Team and Division one bound Sam Sullivan , Miss Blood and Guts Eva Hart( big announcement soon) and Future D1 guard Courtney Hagaman. Manasquan was in the Shore Top 5 all season. They had won the WOBM and beaten Shore powerhouse RBC. Manasquan was a real threat to win the SCT, before Mabrey, but with Mabrey they could be the favorite. But time was working against them and finding Chemistry would be the real issue… because this was not the team Marina left a year ago…MANASQUAN was a true team, with no stars.
Patty Mabrey is no stranger to coaching….
When you are a great player and join a team that’s already good, things can go wrong for a lot of reasons, none bigger than jealously. When Marina Mabrey suited up, in her first game for Squan, almost all the attention was directed at her. Players who worked hard all year were not getting the same attention. But remember this was an older, wiser and seasoned Marina Mabrey. When interviewed what did she talk about? Her teammates and how they are the key to victory. When Manasquan lost to SJV, what did Marina say? We just need more time together as a TEAM. When she didn’t start right out the gate and didn’t get maybe the time a player of ability deserves, what did she do? Not complain… You see Mabrey had grown up folks and we were about to see something that comes around once in a lifetime.
The Mabrey kids..love each other and support each other...hey look Annette Snow is trying to soak in some of the Mabrey talent…can’t blame her for that!
You don’t become Marina Mabrey by yourself folks. You need to have supportive people around you and you must work at it. Marina Mabrey spent hours traveling to US Hoops in her younger days. She also spent 3 -4 hours a day in that gym developing her skills. She ran beaches and lifted weights after working out all day in the park, She is a physically a dream and insanely dedicated to getting better. But you need to understand the Mabrey family are all basketball junkies. Patty Mabrey has coached and trained her kids over the years. She demands they give 100% and work at becoming better. This family lives in the gym. Roy jr. players at St. Anslem’s College and was a great player in high school before that. Roy Sr. takes great pride in his kids, he is not a loud mouth or brags about his kids. He understands that their will be jealous and resentful people. He just wants what’s best for his kids on and off the court, no different than any other parent. His kids just happen to special at playing basketball. They have been a strong close knit family and it has paid off in more ways that one. Michaela and Marina are as close as any two sisters can dream of being and its because of one tiny word…LOVE
THE MABREY’S ARE ALL GROWN UP NOW AND DOING BIG THINGS
When the SCT tournament started I really felt SJV would win it. They are stacked with D1 players and were great all season. But Manasquan had something they didn’t have…a superstar and superstar teammate. Marina Mabrey had become this superstar teammate in her 2nd round with Manasquan and against SJV she put this new talent on full display. She had a pass in this game, am here to tell you was the best pass I have EVER SEEN, since watching shore basketball. I rarely jump out of my seat in a game and Miss Mabrey had me twerking folks, I was standing and shaking my bootiey and everything else a fat man can shake. The pass was so unselfish and sweet you had to love it, Marina Mabrey was making basketball fun to watch, regardless of what team you were rooting for. Then Mabrey took over the game when she had too…but never dominating the ball. Then late in the game Mabrey did something that told me she had become the superstar teammate. With the clock winding down she passed the ball, not knowing if the ball would come back to her…guess what? it did come back to her. Mabrey and Manasquan would beat SJV and she would go on to win her first SCT title. Marina Mabrey was named the ASBURY PARK PRESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR for the 2nd year in a row and was named 1st team ALL State for a 2nd consecutive year. But I believe the biggest award she received this year was being PART of something special. She joined forces with a group of girls and led them to the Mountain top. They would not have done it without her and she would not have done it without them…HOW SWEET IT IS….
Manasquan won the SCT for a 2nd time in 3 years…
Marina Mabrey has been in the Spotlight now for 3 years and has had to grow up in a fish bowl. She has not had to ability to grow up like most kids. When she makes a mistake it news and when she makes good news sometimes people are jealous. This is a lot for any young person, but she has grown up and made it though the tough times and now she is becoming this beautiful basketball player, this teammate, sister and friend. She made a wise decision to return to Manasquan, it took courage and mental toughness. Now she has made other wise decision by choosing one of the finest schools in America…CONGRATS TO MARINA MABREY AND NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY.
MARINA MABREY IS LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE
“Hey Marina we charging right over to your house..we need you”
MY THOUGHTS ON MARINA MABREY’S VERBAL COMMITMENT TO NOTRE DAME
ROY MABREY ALREADY HAS HIS NOTRE DAME GEAR
This is a no brainier folks, Marina Mabrey gets to play another season with her older sister Michaela, who will be a full blown star at Notre Dame by the time she arrives, if her performance in the NCAA Championship game is a signal of things to come. Notre Dame offers one of the best packages in America for a student Athlete. She will get a great education and have a chance to win a National Championship every year. Marina is use to playing for titles, so I think it was important she attend a school that gives her that chance, Notre Dame does this for her. While people may realize Mabrey is a great scorer, what they don’t know is that she is a major college defender RIGHT NOW. She is a complete player now, she can pass and more importantly prefers to pass and make her teammates better, but yet knows when to dominate, this is a true sign of maturity in a player. I believe Marina Mabrey will not only have a great career at Notre Dame but will have a long WNBA/European and financial wealthy career after…I am so proud that we get to see the mature Marina Mabrey and didn’t have to wait till college…Enjoy folks because make no mistake you don’t get this type player very often….
H
“Hey little sis…these uniforms are sweet! You gonna look great in one!”
UPDATE: This Saturday at Hoop Group we will Conduct The spring skills session...great for AAU players who are not playing this weekend… http://hoopgroup.com/headquarters/clinics/
