There have been number great teams over the years, when you talk to shore basketball purists about the greatest teams they’ve ever seen. It’s the usually the same list of characters when this topic comes up. The Richardson, Davis teams of Neptune, the Marina and Michaela Mabrey Manasquan teams. Then of course the SJV and RBC teams of years gone by. But the truth of the matter is those teams and all other teams are looking up at this years 2022 ST. JOHN VIANNEY TEAM.
This years SJV TEAM for my money is the greatest team of all time to date. If anything they are the most accomplished team of all time and that’s not debatable. SJV has won 15 titles over the years. But no SJV team has won games and beaten teams in the fashionable way this crew did. SJV demolished the competition. But what made it more impressive is we have never seen a team take on the level of competition this 2022 SJV team has… and totally humiliate great teams in there own right. This SJV crew left no doubt who the heavyweight champ is. They didn’t just beat every top contender, they broke they hearts, Spirit and soul, like we have never seen any team in the past do in recent, present of maybe the future. They made every top teams in the state look ordinary…. ordinarily bad for at least one night, the night SJV showed up on their doorstep!
Last years 2021 SJV team was special. They too won the State and Shore Conference Chips. There were those who said that group was the best team ever. But those who been around knew better. Many SJV teams had won SCT and TOC’s. But this years SJV group did them all better. In fact they did everyone better. They beat National Ranked teams on the road, not once but four different times. They beat nationally ranked Top 5 teams, they beat Nationally Top 10 teams. No shore team in history has ever put a resume together like this SJV team. In fact no team in New Jersey history has put together a resume like theirs. It’s why we must acknowledge them as the best team ever. It’s why they are the most accomplished team ever. It’s why we must call this team
The G.O.A.T.S of ALL NEW JERSEY BASKETBALL TEAMS.
The bottom-line is that the results of SJV’s games this year are only half of this story. When real basketball fans speak of this group in the coming years. They will talk about the 2022 SJV TEAM with admiration and most of all with respect first . That’s because of how this team achieved its success, with a reputation for playing one the most unselfish, team friendly, self sacrificing, exciting, fun styles in NEW JERSEY GIRLS basketball history.
This isn’t Tiny Green myth-making. Bragging about another Shore team. Making a group bigger than life. This was a team with the most decorated and best player in New Jersey History in Madison St Rose. More importantly a player whose teammates loved her because she was humble and unselfish. She never made it about herself EVER! It’s why her teammates let her lead and were willing to follow her. This was a team with a guard who was so talented and creative that nobody thought she would fit. They thought she’d never be willing to give up her PLAYER OF THE YEAR chances for Chips. Will she did and she fit like a glove. Zoe Brooks made the biggest sacrifice of all. She gave up her ego but grew in stature. She will win that PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD next year.
Megan Cahalan and Ashley O’Connor are both D1 players. Megan is the best post player in the state by a million miles. Ashley O’Connor may be the best defensive guard in the entire state. Yet they were perfectly fine not having the spotlight. They were fine not getting credit. They understood something special was happening this year. Bachmann, Delaney, Hubbard, Ashley, Dinker are just names to many. But they all will play D1 basketball. They all would be stars on another rosters. But to be part of the SJV family of stars they had to be willing to sacrifice playing time, the spotlight, the attention. They had to be willing to read about how good other players were, the very players whose teams they slapped around by 40 points. You see this SJV Team will be remembered for being different. For having a different type of kid. For playing a style we may never see again.
A STYLE THAT CENTERED ON WINNING LIKE NO OTHER TEAM HAS EVER DONE.
If you wondering how SJV became the greatest team ever. Look no further than Dawn Karpell. She is not a young coach anymore. She now is a seasoned veteran on the sidelines. She is the best Coach in COUNTRY in a lot of eyes. She is now a polished coach. She is now the leader and organizer of the best program in New Jersey and one of the best programs in the country.
SHE ALSO CAN NOW SAY SHE COACHED THE GREATEST TEAM IN SHORE HISTORY… strike that, NEW JERSEY HISTORY!