Reading 70 Dieruff 46

A great opening night win for the Red Knights in front of an excellent crowd at the Geigle. Here are my thoughts on tonight's game:

1. Great to see Jordan Burdine back wearing the Red Knight colors, it was as he had not left. You can see that he is probably even becoming our number 1 scoring option which i didnt expect. He now needs three more points to reach 1000 for his career which he should get tommorrow night against Conestoga Valley.
2. Jermain Jackson had a consistant and solid night tonight. While he didnt have a lot of points you can see the maturity in his game coming through.
3. It was clear to see tonight that Cook is a beast on the boards and when he is in the lineup this team is a lot better. The key for him will be keeping him out of foul trouble and not having him pick up silly fouls.
4. Give credit to Coach Reyes he really had the team fired up at the start of the game and they let Dieruff know that the game was over in the first quarter.
5. My last point is to give big props to acting Athletic Director Pat Slator for having new lights installed in the gym and replacing the ceiling tiles. By the way, when is the administration going to give this guy the full time gig. He has the student athletes interest on the top of his agenda and it was nice to see the game run smoothly from a fan standpoint and Mr. Slator deserves big props for this.

The below video is a collection of the picutures I took at the game.

Season Preview

Welcome Back Friends. I am back blogging as the opening of the season is upon us. As we enter the season I look at this year’s edition of the Red Knights as a team that has a lot of potential and promise. I will give a summary of what I expect to see out of the contributing players in our lineup.

Jermaine Jackson: I expect big things out of Jackson this year. He got the college decision out of the way and can fully concentrate on his senior year. I think you will see him take on a leadership role as this year develops. In the postseason you could see him start to do this. I think you will also see someone who is very driven to bring home some hardware to the castle on the hill, because lets face facts this is his team and he is the face of the 2007-2008 edition of the Red Knights. I still think he will score in the 15 point per game range but he will be the guy this team leans on when the team is in need of points in a close game.

Jordan Burdine: To me Burdine is the most talked about and exciting part to the team this year. I think the year away from Reading will help him as a person and as a player. A lot of times with high school kids they need an eye opening experience to help them grow up. As a player I think he will be an upgrade over Lawson in that he isn’t just a shooter and he has the talent to become one of the better shooting guards in recent Red Knights history. I expect him to average in the 15 ppg range. But I think it will take him a few games to get totally comfortable with his new teammates, but it is good that he did get to play with them over the summer and in the scrimmages as well.

Nelson Leon: Leon was one of the bigger surprises from last year’s squad. He is a nice complimentary piece to this team. He seems to excel being the third or fourth option on team. He has the talent to be a number 2 option on a less talented team but what makes him great is that he is fundamentally sound and rarely makes a careless mistake on the court. Also, if you’re going to be a championship team you need players like Nelson Leon.

Justin Rodriquez: The vocal leader of the team. I love the confidence this kid plays with and really gives the squad a swagger. He needs to improve on his jump shot to become a great player. But with that being said he has no fear which helps make him the player that he is.

Demrick Cook: Cook is the best rebounder on the team and when he is on the court we are a totally different team. The big thing with Cook is to keep him on the floor and out of foul trouble. Cook is coming off a good football season where he was a first team Lancaster Lebanon League selection on the defensive line. So hopefully this can catapult him into a solid season on the hardwood.

Trenity Burdine: Burdine has a lot of potential and great size. I believe he needs to become more forceful on the court. At times last year he look lost and felt at the beginning he was rushed into playing time. Hopefully he will continue to develop and improve as the season goes along.

Gaston: I do apologize for not knowing his first name. I believe Gaston could me a very intriguing player who can play 3 different positions and give match up problems to the opposition. I think he could make himself into a very good player. When he saw varsity time last year the thing that stood out was his excellent defensive play. I see Gaston as a defensive stopper who you put on a team’s best perimeter player.

Marcus Dawkins: Dawkins is this year’s player who will start on the JV squad but push for varsity time. From all reports the kid has great talent and will be a valuable asset when he gets action on the varsity level.

Tonight’s opener against Allentown Dieruff is a game where we should go in as a clear favorite. We did beat them last year 65-51.and they did finish with a 12-14 record. Hopefully this is a game where we can get a lot of people some varsity playing time in the first game of the year and with us playing three games in the first five days of the season and 5 games in the first 9 days of the season.

I will be back after the game to give my summary on tonight’s game as well; I will this year be taking pictures with my new digital camera and be uploading them tonight on here. As always I love your comments and questions. I promise to answer email within that same day.

Prediction for tonight
Reading 70
Dieruff 51

Sincerely yours,
Tom Schlegel