The truth of the matter is I have not had much to say or write about this summer in terms of the 2028 class. If you’re a college coach you are in a wait and see mode in terms of recruiting. There is real potential in the class. Ari Wissen of Brick and Allison McAndrew look like future D1 players and both had the look as front runners for Freshman of The Year. But like anything else in basketball things change and they can change quickly. One day a young player is just part of the crowd and the next day a household name. So much is based on development and certainly environment. Well newsflash the Freshman of the Year race, just became a three women race this preseason. That’s because Casey Zammit just may be the most complete entering freshman and her growth has been remarkable. Holmdel High School might have another star on the way.
I always watch freshman the summer entering high school. So often kids get a false sense of security. They are on weak high school teams or are performing against weak competition. They have some successful and think they are on their way. Well the fact of the matter is, many entering freshman will be gifted time on weak programs and the lack of real competition thought-out the summer stalls their development. The real measuring stick is can they preform against real competition? Do they show that improvement that separates them from their peers. Well right now, no player in the up coming 2028 class has impressed me more than CASEY SAMMIT OF HOLMDEL. In fact right now she is far and away the most improved freshman in the class. I say this because I have seen her get it done against some of the best upper classmen in the Shore Conference. I believe she will have a major impact at Holmdel High School next season
Now while many freshman stay in their bubble. They hang around their AAU or spend time sucking up to the high school coach. Casey Summit has quietly got away from her environment to test her game. She has made a point to get in the gym vs killers and she has gained confident. While many of her peers skipped the most competitive camp of the summer in NBS. There she was in the gym vs future D1 players. There she was, taking the heat. But anyone can take the heat and get in the gym for show. But preforming now that’s a different story. Casey Summit, brought her bag with her to NBS. She displayed a crafty game at the rim, dropped show stopping dimes and showed she can score in transition of behind the arc, she did it against real competition. She just may have been the biggest surprise of the week. So much that I thought to myself, I must be missing something. So I did what I always do, I wanted confirmation. So I did the one thing you can never run from, I went and watched a little tape.
It’s hard to find competitive AAU games for rising 9th graders. That’s because the best 9th graders play up and the ones that don’t usually are blowing out weaker AAU programs. But I wanted to watch Casey Zammit against top competition. Now her Shoreshots team got roughed up against some very talented teams this summer. But what did I notice? In the three games that I watched against D1 level type competition, Miss Zammit was the one player that looked comfortable and more importantly able to compete at that very high level of competition. Watching this confirmed what I had no idea was brewing. So when one of my asst coach “BULL” came up to me at camp and said “Tiny she may be the best freshman in the Shore” I responded “right now she is and she is proving it.” Casey Zammit is a great example of why you don’t form opinions about kids to early. Why you always give them a chance to grow and shine. She is not shinning right now… but she is shinning like a future star if you ask me.
Now Holmdel has some great freshman entering next season. It’s the best class they have had in recent years. But they also have a lot of 2 sport players. But the last 3 years. Abby Ferguson( Colgate), Allision Cannon(NJIT) and Mackenzie Teevan(Holy Cross) have all gone D1. But they also played high level AAU and trained consistency all year in competitive environments. Now the questions is what will Zammit do? My guess is that she is built for real competition ,real training and has the right competitive nature. They is no reason to believe she won’t work like the Holmdel D1 players before her. She attended NBS by herself and that was a major step in falling into the right inner circle of gym rats. Now Casey Zammit is a hard worker and I believe moving quickly towards becoming a gym rat. That because she loves the game, you can tell by her seriousness and no nonsense approach. Her improvement has been dynamic and their is no doubt in my mind, she will be the apple of many college coaches eyes come next April. For now, I believe she’ll kept focusing on getting better and maybe, just maybe joining the rare players that get to call themselves …FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR!
THIS WEEKEND FRIDAY AN SATURDAY
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