Bronx Sports Column: A Borough-Centric Tournament Breakdown

Bronx boy Kemba Walker has UConn dancing.

Today marks the beginning of the best four-day stretch in all of sports: the opening two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Nothing compares to the drama of the Big Dance. Every game -- there are 16 today, 16 more tomorrow and another 16 over the weekend -- is a dogfight. Every game contains potential for heroism and heartbreak. It's 18- to 22-year-old kids playing the biggest games of their lives. The quality isn't as high as you'll see in the NBA, but the desire and hustle and passion is immeasurably greater.

Let the Madness begin!

(For the record, I'll be rooting hard for my hometown Washington Huskies, a 7th seed, who face Georgia Friday night with a matchup against 2-seed North Carolina looming. I've also become an increasingly fanatic St. John's supporter. The Johnnies, led by Bronx-bred point guard Dwight Hardy, play a tough Gonzaga team in Denver tonight without senior DJ Kennedy, who blew out his knee during last week's Big East tournament. Final Four Picks: Ohio St., Pittsburgh, Purdue, Duke. Champion: Ohio St.)

Because this is a borough-centric blog, I'm going to highlight all the Bronxites playing in the tournament and break down their teams' prospects for advancement.

Bronx News Roundup, March 9

Late start for the roundup today as we began distributing the latest edition of the Norwood News. We'll be rolling out all the latest stories over the next few days on this site. So, without further adieu, to the news!

Story of the Day: 
My obsession with Bronx-bred St. John's guard Dwight Hardy's rise to national prominence this year is well-documented on this site (see: here and here), so it tickled me deeply (thoroughly?) to see a profile of the John F. Kennedy High School product in the New York Times today. The story follows Hardy's winding path from Kennedy to a North Carolina prep school to an Iowa community college and then, finally, back to New York City and St. John's. After coming off the bench last year, Hardy was named All-Big East earlier this week and is the primary reason St. John's is on its way back to the NCAA Tournament. One problem with the story: the reporter writes that Hardy grew up in Melrose and then attended "nearby" JFK, which is in Marble Hill, nowhere near Melrose. The Bronx is a big place, New York Times!  

Quick Hits:
The State Senate's Latino/Puerto Rican caucus elected Adriano Espaillat, who represents part of Riverdale, as its chairman and northwest Bronx rep Gustavo Rivera as its vice chairman.

A Bronx transgender woman was denied a marriage license by the borough's city clerk's office, which then issued an apology for the error.

A fire at the St. Mary's Houses on Westchester Avenue smoked out a woman who was harboring some 60 cats, and a badly-outnumbered dog. Nary a litter box was found. Three cats died in the fire.

Many of the dogs rescued from a Grand Concourse apartment building fire are still in treatment.

Robberies in Crotona Park spiked last year compared to the year before.

A Hunts Point apartment building is overrun with insects and vermin.

A hot dog vendor who plies her trade near Montefiore Medical Center is the focus of a story about how food-cart permits are "skyrocketing."

The Bronx Sports Column: Two Bronxites Named All Big East; Boys HS Tourney Update

We'll continue today with my twin winter sports obsessions: tracking Bronx point guards playing in the Big East and following the high school basketball playoffs. (Note: Looking for more on varsity girls swimming results? Boys gymnastics? Let me know via e-mail-- akratz@norwoodnews.org -- or by leaving a comment.)

The Big Bronx:
Boogie Down ballers Dwight Hardy (St. John's) and Kemba Walker (UConn) made the All-Big East first team, with fellow Bronxite Corey Fisher (Villanova) earning a spot on the second team.

A few weeks ago, I opined that Hardy, a high-scoring guard from John F. Kennedy high school, deserved a mention in the "Best Bronx Point Guard" conversation after torching Walker's UConn squad. Still, I put him in third place on the list, behind Walker (1) and Fisher (2). It's still hard to put Hardy above Walker, but he's definitely surpassed Fisher in recent weeks. While Fisher's Villanova squad has faded, Hardy's St. John's team is streaking into the postseason. 

Here are the season averages of the Bronx's best:
--Walker: 23.1 points per game, 4.3 assists per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, 1.8 steals per game
--Hardy: 17.9 ppg, 1.9 apg, 3 rpg, 1.4 spg
--Fisher: 15.5 ppg, 4.8 apg, 2.8 rpg, 1.5 spg

Bonus points to Hardy, who is averaging nearly 24 points per contest over his last 11 games, for getting the best of the head-to-head battles. Hardy put up 33 vs. Walker's UConn team and 34 vs. Fisher's Villanova squad -- both St. John's wins. Walker's heating up of late, but is only averaging 21 over his last 11. Fisher's averaged a little more than 15 over his last 11.  Fisher gets a bump for being the best passer of the trio, while Walker's 5-plus rebounds per game is remarkable considering he's 6-foot-1, 172 pounds.

We'll see how the Big East and NCAA tournaments to shake out before making a final call on this.

High School Hoops Playoffs Update (how the Bronx teams are doing):

The Bronx Sports Column: Who's the Bronx's Best Point Guard? Dwight Hardy Makes His Case

Dwight Hardy, welcome to the conversation. (More on Hardy in this Bronxnet video above.)

Before this season, the question of who is the best current Bronx-bred point guard came down to two names: Villanova University senior Corey Fisher and Kemba Walker, a junior at the University of Connecticut.

After a highly productive three-year run mostly coming off the bench for Nova, Fisher, who attended New Jersey hoops powerhouse St. Patrick's Catholic School, etched his name in NYC street ball lore over the summer when he dropped 105 points in a summer league game.

A highly-touted McDonald's All-American out of Manhattan's Rice High School, Walker started the season in flames for the unranked Huskies, torching ranked foes Michigan St. and Kentucky during a preseason tournament and single-handedly putting UConn back on the national map.

Both play for top 10 teams and are worthy heirs to the point guard throne held in the past by Bronx legends like Rod Strickland and Kenny Satterfield. Both are more like so-called combo scoring guards than classic pass-first versions like Strickland, a Truman High alum who starred in the NBA.

But on Thursday night, JFK grad Dwight Hardy, the starting point guard for a resurgent St. John's team, forced his way into the conversation. On a nationally-televised ESPN game, Hardy outplayed Walker in Madison Square Garden on his way to 33 points. His performance carried the Red Storm to a convincing 89-72 victory and put St. John's in a position to possibly earn a NCAA tournament birth.

In the aftermath, Hardy told the Daily News: "I was just in a zone. When I'm in a zone, I just kind of black out. . . . The basket just keeps getting bigger and bigger."

Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 10

Cold, but sunny today in the Bronx. Warmer temps on the horizon. 

Story of the Day:
Not so sure about this little Valentine's fund-raising effort by the Bronx Zoo. For a $10 donation, the Zoo gives you the opportunity to name a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach after your sweetheart. "Nothing says forever like a cockroach," Zoo Director Jim Beheny told the Daily News. "They are resourceful, resilient and have been around for hundreds of millions of years." They are also offering a Courtship Quiz for those who are still look for that special someone. The result of the quiz determines which creature matches up with your "wooing" style. (We linked to a different story about this yesterday.)

Quick Hits:
Paradmedics saved a toddler from a Hunts Point fire that injured nine. 

Two Bronx-bred hoopsters, University of Connecticut's Kemba Walker and St. John's Dwight Hardy square off tonight at Madison Square Garden. (More sports updates in tomorrow's "Bronx Sports Column." In the meantime, here's a roundup of the first round of the Bronx Boro Championship tournament.)

The Bronx ranks number four out of the five boroughs in pedestrian deaths. (Speaking of pedestrian deaths, Gun Hill Road has long been considered one of the borough's most dangerous roads. Tonight, there will be a town hall-type input meeting to discuss congestion and safety problems on Gun Hill Road at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center.

Hunts Point residents came out to protest a new strip club planned for the area, which owners say will bring 20 new jobs for exotic dancers. Residents say that's not the type of economic development they're looking for.

And finally, our favorite Bronx political columnist Bob Kappstatter re-appears on a new day, Thursday, as the Daily News revamps its borough coverage (no more Bronx Boro News on Tuesdays, unfortunately). Kappy reminds Pedro Espada that he still needs to pay $62,580 in sanitation fines for illegally taping and stapling posters to public property. Espada, as we reported yesterday is holding a rally this morning publicly fight charges that say he looted his nonprofit network of health care clinics. Plus, Kappy alerts us to the New Yorker's report that the Dos Equis commercial's "Most Interesting Man in the World" is played by Jonathan Goldsmith, a Jewish actor from the Bronx.

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