Famous Alumni

[abpk2903]

Good points crimson. It is an amazing accomplishment to score that many points but I was just wondering on the opinions of how he got to that number. As I said, I have very vague memories of the accomplishment. I remember WTAJ following him around for a few weeks game by game, I remember the few games I was at, but that's about it. Was the team around him that bad? Like I said it would really like to see the following things:

-Highest game point total (and opponent)
-Shooting percentage
-In the Sidling Hill League there are always 3-4 teams that just don't have a competitive team on the floor at all. Did he play those entire games?
-How my PPG did NBC average over his 4 years?

Incredible accomplishment. Does anyone know where he ranks nationally in scoring?

[Nets77]

I played against AJ when he was a freshman and I was a Senior. From what I remember, he took a ton of shots when we played them. He would shoot from anywhere on the floor. He had a decent team around him, but nothing great. I also played against his brother Joe my sophomore year. The teams he played on were very good at NBC (think they won a couple D5 Championships). Having played against both I would say Joe was the better of the two, he didn't score as many points, but I remember him being a team player, but he had some talent around him. One of them was a Drenning kid, and I think there was a Muthler also, if I remember correctly. Two great athletes that went on to play D1 Football, Joe at PSU and AJ at WVU.

[S Cube]

NB also had Chris Muthler who was a year older than A.J. He was like 6'7" and walked on at St. Francis for a year or two. They had a good team around A.J., would have been very competitive even without him.

[Coach]

They won 3 I believe and about 100 games on his 4 years. He averaged 39 his senior year.

[Coach]

One year they lost to Kennedy by like 4 when they won states.

They won 3 in a row when AJ was a soph-senior.

TM was also great in that time. NB beat them more than they lost. Miller and Snider also averaged double digits and Gable averaged around 9.

Those NB teams always lost to a WPIAL team until they beat Geibel.

[Coach]

TM had a team with Pat Snyder who scored 2000+. Those years were great in district 5. Nothing even comes close now.

[TheAnalyst]

That was about the time that Ryan Wilt and Bill Benbow played at Bedford too. I think they made it to the sweet 16. Definitely was a great time for basketball in Bedford County.

[deliverance]

AJ would shoot from anywhere and make it from almost anywhere. His record may be a joke to some, but watching him play was unreal. Was he better than a guy like Kobe Bryant? Of course not. However, he owns the record for points in the state of PA. He has more points than guys like Kobe and McNamara. It's one heck of an accomplishment no matter what his field goal percentage was from the floor. He ended up playing at WVU on a scholarship for football and was pretty successful before injury.

[Head Roadie]

El Moldo says: C'mon coach. The 3-point shot INCREASED the scoring ability of many high school players. It was a rule change that benefitted the shooter. It's like when Roger Maris played MORE games per year than Babe Ruth, and hit more home runs in a single season.

I really doubt that Tom McMillen (6'10" C from Mansfield, PA who played at Maryland and in the NBA) who's record AJ broke would have ever even shot a 3-pointer in his career, same for Wilt Chamberlain.

Are any of the guard oriented scorers in the top 10 who played pre-3 pt. line within 400 points of AJ? Because I can't imagine too many people who would have had 400 treys or more in their career? Just asking.

[WPIAL~Titan]

I agree that 3800 points is a lot no matter who you scored it against. AJ scored 51 pts against a really good Duquesne HS team in the PIAA playoffs and nearly singlehandedly beat them. That was the most legendary loss ever by a D5 boys' basketball team. Competition is relative too. Not sure AJ would've started on the New Castle HS teams of that same era. Would've been a great 6th man good for 8-10 ppg off the bench though. He did well at WVU as a wideout on richFRAUD's first few teams.

I also agree that the really big scorers are at their best when the other players are involved. Now if a big scorer goes off for 50 all bets are off, a team can beat virtually any opponent with a player who's that unconscious. I watched another 2000+ point scorer score 40-50 points several times, watched him score 10 points in :18 one time as well. However, the best game that I ever saw this kid play was a game where he scored 15 points...and had 16 assists while getting into the lane at will and carving up every junk defense ever invented. He made the opposing team look foolish by dishing teammates for uncontested layups the entire game, and led his team to a blowout win against a quality opponent.

I also have to agree that any player who scored nearly 4000 points against Sideling Hill competition had to be playing late in the game on the winning end of some 90-40 blowouts. I'd also have to believe that had the current mercy rule existed during this time, it would have shaved about 200-300 pts off of AJ's total. So let's be honest: had the mercy rule existed it would've shortened enough games where I'm doubting that AJ would have the PIAA scoring record. Don't want to discount that accomplishment though, that's a ton of points. Plus he seems like a really good guy.