VASJ vs Euclid - Season Opener
- Thread starter Bball216
- Start date
CoventryTrackXCguy
Well-known member
Yeah, this game parallels the Cavs Celtics opener. Complete with a high profile transfer between the two teams.
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brusharc1986
Active member
Why the big interest in this game? Didn't Euclid win less than 5 games last year? And VASJ won a state title? Surprising that Euclid is even on the schedule.
Unlimited Potential
Active member
Euclid does have talent, returns all top players plus a few transfers, and played some of the top teams in the area very close last year despite the record. Former VASJ assistant and brother of VASJ head coach is now the coach at Euclid.
brusharc1986
Active member
Thanks for the update. I'd like to take this game in but the Arcs take on Bedford at home on the same night so I'll be there. This used to always be a backyard rivalry in football and I'm glad to see that it still takes place in hoops. It sounds like this game will be a real family affair on Friday night with the new Euclid coach being a connection to VASJ. Should be interesting to see the two compete.
C'Town216
Well-known member
Considering the fallout Babe and TJ had with eachother after the 2016 season. It will be interesting.
brusharc1986
Active member
Fallout? What happened? I seem to remember from an old thread that VASJ had a bunch of players transfer this year. Were the transfers related to the fallout?
brusharc1986
Active member
Well, I'm sold. I want to see a good game and I may not have an opportunity to get down to see Joe's the rest of the year. I'm looking forward to seeing a great game between the rivals. The last time I saw Joes play was against Beachwood last year and some lady came out of the stands yelling at one of the Beachwood coaches as he walked off the floor. That was pretty wild, but it was a good game. I'll hope for a good game this time without the other theatrics.
Lakeshore5
Member
Should be a good one. Your history of posts tells me you care much more about St Joe's hoops than you do Brush, so I'm sure you'll enjoy the Viking Village.
C'Town216
Well-known member
From what i understand, Babe and TJ had a falling out because of Babe taking over for TJ after he decided to come back from his leave of absence instead of letting TJ finishing out the year.
There are many rumors as to what happened and when it comes to someone's family I rather not say anything. Whatever happened it's something where only they know all the details and only they can fix it. I rather focus on the actual basketball. I can tell you Euclid is confident and chirping on the social media front. VASJ like normal is not getting involved in the pre game talk as they are taught to do their talking on the court. Euclid thinks because a few kids transferred and Gaffney is gone that the Vikings are vulnerable. I think people will be very surprised how good Joe's will be and how talented the incoming freshman are. Going to be a very interesting and exciting atmosphere in Viking Village. Go Vikes
brusharc1986
Active member
Lakeshore, I will take that as a compliment. I love highschool sports, and try to attend as many local football and basketball games as I can. I also follow social media posts, as well as online with the PD and News Herald. You can say I do my homework.
Bball216, I don't like what I am hearing about what happened. I took a peek at both VASJ and the Euclid coach's recent posts on social media to help gain some insight into this falling out. I was glad to see that there were not any posts dealing with any family disputes, at least from what I can see. I will say that I was impressed by the sheer volume of meaningful, almost philosophical, type posts from the VASJ coach. Although adults may take the posts as cheesy and fake, I would think that student athletes eat them up. Does the VASJ coach have another position within the school, or is he simply the coach? With the West Point pedigree, one would think that he would be a great role model for a student athlete.
Bball216, I don't like what I am hearing about what happened. I took a peek at both VASJ and the Euclid coach's recent posts on social media to help gain some insight into this falling out. I was glad to see that there were not any posts dealing with any family disputes, at least from what I can see. I will say that I was impressed by the sheer volume of meaningful, almost philosophical, type posts from the VASJ coach. Although adults may take the posts as cheesy and fake, I would think that student athletes eat them up. Does the VASJ coach have another position within the school, or is he simply the coach? With the West Point pedigree, one would think that he would be a great role model for a student athlete.
brusharc1986
Active member
As for the Euclid coach, all I could find was a cryptic post about a school hiring a father as an assistant coach to secure the player's enrollment. Does this have anything to do with the fall out? Anything to do with this game? I get the sense that the Euclid coach isn't as caring or thoughtful with his social media posts. Just my interpretation.
C'Town216
Well-known member
Babe had a position with the administration of the school in charge of fundraisers and what not. However he wasn’t brought back for that position in fall of 2015 but that wasn’t why he took the leave.
brusharc1986
Active member
CTown216, I see that Coach Babe Kwasniak's social media page had pictures from an event in 2015, some Hall of Fame dinner. Was he in charge of that event? It looked like Grbac, Fletcher, Howard and both Golics were there for a roundtable discussion and received some type of honor. What a great recruiting and fundraising advantage to have those guys as alumni! I am sure that event raised a bunch of money for the school.
Lakeshore5
Member
brusharc1986
Active member
Any word on if tickets are still available? I’m planning on going to Coorky and Lenny’s for a late breakfast then heading to one of the schools to pick up a couple tickets tomorrow.
Euclid has a VASJ transfer on its squad as well. It will as intense a high school regular season game as you will ever see. Freshman start at 4:30 followed by JV and Varsity. If you are not sitting in a seat by halftime of the JV game you will struggle to find a place to sit.
Standing room only in Viking Village tonight to watch Joe's sweep all three games tonight. The game that was supposed to be close ended up being a 98-66 laugher as Jerry Higgins totally dominated every aspect of the game on his way to 33 points and a ton of hustle plays. Euclid has been chirping about this game ever since their new coach showed up with some VASJ transfers. Like always you can talk but eventually you have to back up your words with actions on the court and Euclid could not come close to doing that. Euclid looked surprisingly like Euclid - only with a different coach. Joe's did all their talking as usual - on the court. You just don't take the culture and tradition of St.Joes, put it in a backpack and transfer it to another school. Tonight even with a ton of young players Joe's looked like a team used to winning and Euclid looked like a team used to losing.
Jerry Higgins controlled the game from the opening tip and proved to everybody that Joe's is alive and well. Sure kids transferred out and by season end they might regret it because Joe's is a lot more talented than people thought they would be. The three freshman at VASJ are going to be really special and by seasons end Joe's is going to be a tough out. But this was the Higgins show. He scored 33 points and came up with every loose ball, every tipped pass and every hustle play. He showed off his improved jump shot that now allows him to not only kill you from the paint - bit from 3 as well. He set up his teammates and showed why he is the ultimate leader of men in NE Ohio. These kids really played well tonight and showed early on that Euclid was greatly overmatched. Joe's is going to be really good come playoff time and Euclid appears to be in for another long season.
Jerry Higgins controlled the game from the opening tip and proved to everybody that Joe's is alive and well. Sure kids transferred out and by season end they might regret it because Joe's is a lot more talented than people thought they would be. The three freshman at VASJ are going to be really special and by seasons end Joe's is going to be a tough out. But this was the Higgins show. He scored 33 points and came up with every loose ball, every tipped pass and every hustle play. He showed off his improved jump shot that now allows him to not only kill you from the paint - bit from 3 as well. He set up his teammates and showed why he is the ultimate leader of men in NE Ohio. These kids really played well tonight and showed early on that Euclid was greatly overmatched. Joe's is going to be really good come playoff time and Euclid appears to be in for another long season.
brusharc1986
Active member
Thanks for the recap. It should be a good year for the Vikes.
The hope is this will quiet some of the so called Joe's supporters that do nothing but talk bad about the program. There was a lot of talking prior to this game from the Euclid side - funny not so much to say today. Joe's had a lot to deal with in the offseason with coaches moving on, graduation, transfers of keys players - yet they looked pretty damn good last night. Euclid on the other hand had the same amount of time to get ready for the game and had several kids returning - but you could not tell in their play. I think people expect because you hire a coach who played and coached at Joe's and had some Joe's players transfer in - that you will get Joe's results. It's not that easy. That Joe's program is developed over 40+ years to get to where it is. You cannot tak tradition and culture and just move it to another location and set up shop. Joe's is special and Euclid needs to develop their own winning culture and style - who knows they very well might. I think the Euclid fans need to step down from expecting the Panthers to be Joe's 2.0 - won't happen. The team won 2 games the last few years - change takes time.
brusharc1986
Active member
Bball216-I was at the game last night and was impressed by VASJ. I have followed Higgins career and it appears that he is ready to become the next great point guard to come out of St. Joes. You also hit the nail on the head, Euclid won two games last year. While it was a great atmosphere, did any person with an ounce of high school basketball knowledge truly believe that Euclid would beat St. Joes on the Viking's Home Court? Of course not.
I would also caution you about your comment about these so-called St. Joe's supporters as you are out of your element and do not know what you are talking about. My friend and I went out to a local Euclid establishment after the game and came across of few of these Viking alums. These alums made the school, supported the school, still support the school, gave everything they had to that school, and now, feel a disconnect with their school because of certain people, be it coaches, former administrators, or naive board members. These alums were disgusted with that shameful disgrace of a banner raising yesterday. These alums were disgusted with how a certain basketball coach treated his family and friends. These alums seemed to know what really happened in that "falling out." It appeared that loyalty to these alums, was earned through honesty, integrity, hard work, action, rather than shameful self promotion, social media facades, and an excessive use of superlatives. It appeared that these alums would not simply give their blind loyalty in exchange for an assistant coaching position on the freshman basketball squad. These so-called Joes supporters were not hoping for a Viking loss. And if you believe that, you completely missed the picture. These alums were proud of their friend for being named the Euclid head coach. These alums I spoke to felt terribly for their friend, and still can't believe what was done to him. Finally, these alums stood proud watching their friend come back to his former school and coach with class and dignity.
Sadly, it was the view of this group, that the departure of the current AD may mark the end of the once great relationship with the school they love. As one alum said, never did they feel as disconnected with their school as they did last night. My hope for these alums is that this troubled time will pass. But based on my observations from last night, I am not confident.
I know more than I will ever post. I know of the alums you talk about and they are constantly tweeting negatives or taking shots at the head coach. That is not supporting your school. It comes across more like sour grapes because their buddy did not get the job. The class you speak about was not present last year at Garfield Heights. There are many that are happy to see the current AD leave.i have heard both sides. I have heard both sides tell lies to make their position seem like the right one as well. Based on what I saw last night Joe's is in very good hands and Euclid looked like Euclid. I hate to see any family have differences that separate them. The Kwasniak family is a great family and they were very good to my son. I know my son left as a much better person having gone through the program. Unless these people are perfect, they have no right to throw stones. Babe has done a lot to make this program not only elite - but to keep it elite year after year. Just think how great things would be if everybody pulled the rope the same direction. There is always two sides to every story and I'm sure you heard one side last night. You will hear the other side at some point and the truth IMO will be somewhere in the middle. I only know what I experienced and the school, Papa and Babe were very good to my boy. That is why I don't get involved in all the things that don't concern me. Family issues should be handled by families - in private not on Twitter by outsiders. I hope one day everything goes back to normal because in life you only get one real family. In the mean time I will continue to cheer in a positive manner for the Joe's team, school and coaches. They have done NOTHING to me to make me act differently.
* As for the banner raising was the soon to be former AD involved in that - he always has been. I like how no blame was put on him. He only gets credit when things go good. It was almost like he enjoyed the difficulty with the PA and ceremony. IMO he can't leave soon enough.
* As for the banner raising was the soon to be former AD involved in that - he always has been. I like how no blame was put on him. He only gets credit when things go good. It was almost like he enjoyed the difficulty with the PA and ceremony. IMO he can't leave soon enough.
MugnMaul78
Member
Euclid is a town of 50,000 people with incredible youth programs (Panther Youth Football and Panther Hoops). Additionally they get 10 to 20 superb athletes in mid high school form that Rotsky brings in every year from other school districts. Unlike VASJ, tuition is FREE for residents. All you got to do is live in the city limits. If Euclid High's athletic and academic programs can't keep those quality kids in their system, it's their own fault. Nobody is feeling sorry for them but you. Hopefully TJ Kwas is one piece of the long term puzzle in turning that around.
James x2
Well-known member
I hope Euclid starts winning bigger in football.Starts to give Mentor a run for its money and one day soon looks like Pickerington Central did Sat. Night.I don't think they bring in that many kids from the outside though I could be wrong.Did Rotsky talk Jaylyn Harris away from the football program at VASJ? Or did he follow Malik Smith to Heights like a sheep?
MugnMaul78
Member
Smith was going either way, that was Rotsky. Gibbons was a standup coach for Euclid and it is not fair of many to compare his record to Rotsky. Rotsky had 17 transfers his first year. Sad part is Harris already had a Ohio State football offer after his 800yd freshman year at VASJ. If he stayed at VASJ under Babe's guideance, he could have picked from basketball scholarships too. The silver lining for him was playing for Mac Stephens when he took over for Rotsky. Mac was exactly what Harris needed to help Harris personally, academically, and professionally.
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Bennie is no different. They actually pull from a much larger area than VASJ. They to have benefitted from playing in lower divisions. Home of Champions sound familiar ? Joe's does have a tradition rich sports history. They are also the ONLY school to ever win a state championship in every division of basketball. They did not choose to be the size they are. The Vikings play all comers in basketball and can hold their own. It is obviously easier in basketball because you don't need as many players. So when you say stuff about VASJ it applies directly to Benedictine as well. We got moved up to D2 and that will make it much tougher to reach state for another record 6th time - but they are not complaining. The Vikings will contend for a state title in the near future - if not this year. There is a lot of young elite talent. The question is how many titles in any sport will Benny compete for now that they cannot pick on lower division schools. It will be interesting to see how long the Bengals stay in the tough Euclid D1 district. I'm guessing one or two rounds.