South River’s Jeremy Grospe looks to make a move against Spotswood’s Aiden Scher in a GMC Blue Division game on December 19, 2022. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The teams atop the Greater Middleex Conference White and Blue Divisions both suffered losses this Saturday, with South River taking its first L of the season, and South Plainfield picking up its second.
There’s still a lot of basketball to be played, but how will it affect the seeding in the GMC Tournament next month?
Well, a lot still depends on what happens in the Red Division.
There has been much talk about South River getting one of the top three seeds in the tournament after the Rams shocked St. Joseph with a win over the Falcons in Metuchen by eight on the day after Christmas. Any Blue Division team beating a Red is a big deal, let alone one considered at the top of the division.
But what about a loss to a Red Division team, and one that has been struggling immensely?
That’s what happened Saturday, when South River suffered a stunner of its own, falling by a single point to Piscataway, which is now just 5-8 on the season.
Put a pin in that for a moment and let’s circle back to the Red Division title race. With Colonia having beaten St. Joe’s, and St. Thomas Aquinas beating Colonia last Thursday night (as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio), the division comes down to this: if Aquinas can beat the Falcons on the road Tuesday night – also to be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio – the Trojans will be division champs. Colonia will be second, and the Falcons third.
Should that happen, Aquinas is easily your No. 1 seed, followed by Colonia. What about South River?
The prevailing thought was the Rams could – and should – get the third seed by virtue of having beaten St. Joseph head-to-head. And while there has long been a perceived Red Division bias in many sports in the GMC, there are rarely head-to-head matchups to consider. More often, a debate has been something like: “Do we go with this undefeated Blue team or this 5-win Red Division team as the sixth seed?”
The head-to-head makes this one different. Will the loss to Piscataway make a dent? After all, if a Blue beating a Red is such a big deal, that would be because of the preconceived notion that a Blue team is not supposed to beat a Red. So, why should a loss to a Red team be a knock on South River?
Should the Rams lose one of their remaining Blue Division games, all bets are probably off. And that’s not out of the realm of possibility; they host Spotswood on Friday night in a rematch of an early season game that saw the Rams win by their closest margin against a GMC opponent all year, just six points. But if they finish the season without another GMC loss, they really should be in play for one of the top three seeds.
The White Division played itself out of one of the top three seeds (Why top three? Because everyone wants to avoid playing the No. 1 in the semifinals.) in the past week when the Tigers lost to St. Joseph, and the division took its final body blow when North Brunswick beat South Plainfield Saturday, leaving the top two teams in the White with division losses (the Raiders already lost to Perth Amboy earlier this season).
In the GMC Tournament seeding room, it goes like this. All the division winners are considered first. So – if Aquinas wins Tuesday – you would likely have Aquinas from the Red, North Brunswick or South Plainfield from the White, South River from the Blue, and Highland Park or Calvary Christian from the Gold.
Aquinas goes first. Then Colonia. Now the four on the board are Joe’s, North Brunswick/South Plainfield, South River, Highland Park/Calvary. The Gold will get the eight-seed, the lowest a division winner can be seeded. North Brunswick would be out, with a loss to Amboy, so it comes down to Joe’s and South River. Assuming the Rams are unbeaten in Blue play, with the win over Joe’s, and despite a loss to Piscataway of the Red, it would be mighty hard to still pick Joe’s over South River.
The real wrinkle? Well, that comes if St. Joe’s beats Aquinas at home on Tuesday night on Central Jersey Sports Radio. That would force a three-way tie in the division, and Aquinas, Colonia, and Joe’s would be co-champs. The rematches would not factor into who the champions are, per a one-year pilot program in effect this year in the Red Division where the teams only have to play each other once. However, the rematches would be used to “break the tie” among the three teams, a process done by the seeding committee before slotting teams in the bracket.
That means that if Joe’s wins, and all three are tied, the committee would use all available games to see who comes out first. The three-way tie would give new life to St. Joe’s. For example, if they win both rematches with Colonia and Aquinas, they would have three wins in the series, more than anyone else, and could go No. 1 in the tournament. That would push Colonia and Aquinas to Nos. 2 and 3 in any order, and leave South River no better than fourth, most likely.
(Of course, there’s also the question of: should South River be seeded ahead of Piscataway?)
The upshot is this: The White Division won’t have a shot at one of the top four seeds in the GMC Tournament. But South River should still be very much in play as long as St. Thomas Aquinas takes care of business Tuesday night.
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