The Valley’s All-Underrated Team
The Lehigh Valley has a number of star athletes who have excelled throughout the regular season and the first few weeks of the playoffs.
The star athletes get the most attention for their accolades, abilities and impressive statistics. However, I always try to look beyond the marquee names and highlight some of the tremendous efforts that might not get as much attention as they should.
With that in mind, here a look at my “All-Underrated Team” members–based entirely on my experiences of games I’ve either announced, reported on or attended as a fan.
- Nazareth’s Maihan Ramin
Nazareth’s point guard got a huge lift when Ramin’s good friend and Penn State-bound Jahan Dotson returned to the school this year, but Ramin was “the engine that drove the ship” according to Blue Eagles’ Head Coach Joe Arndt. Ramin ran an efficient offense, delivered some of the best passes I saw all year and, when Dotson was not available, stepped up with some key buckets. In his final home game against Liberty in last week’s district playoff game, he had one of the best all-around games of anyone in the post-season thus far. - Central Catholic Girls Basketball Team
Aside from us (see our blog two weeks ago), no one had the Vikettes advancing to the EPC final. Central Catholic’s team contains a number of people who have flown under the radar this season. Margaux Eripret has been one of the top girls players in the EPC the last few years but hasn’t seemed to have gotten the recognition of other top girls players in recent years, and Eripret realizes when other players have the hot hand, to find a way to give them the ball.Her teammates also have gone unheralded this winter and their improvement as the season has gone on just recently came into the spotlight with the team’s success in the post-season. Regular contributors Jess Davis, Kayla Reed, Diana Kocsis, Morgan Dietz, and Lizzy Szmigiel all deserve to be in this category. Emily Vaughan is one of several outstanding freshman ball handlers who should NOT be in this underrated category by next season, and has outstanding potential that should be recognized sooner rather than later. - Allen’s Malik Gordan
Some of the most aggressive defense and best passes I’ve seen have come from the Canaries boys basketball team, and Gordan has been a big part of Allen’s success for a few years now. Last year, he fed two Division-I athletes the ball and played well in the shadows of two tremendous scorers. This year, the team has taken a more blue-collar approach in having success this year, and Gordan’s blend of athleticism, court savvy and unselfishness have paced his team with great court-making decisions. - Catty’s Cullen Bond & Miguel Hernandez
It isn’t hard to overlook anyone besides Isaiah Graves, who frequently scored over 30 points per game for Catasauqua this winter, but on a team that didn’t have much height, Bond was one of the guys chosen to guard the opponent’s big man and did a lot of the blue-collar work on the rare occasions that Graves missed a shot. Bond was the Rough’s tallest player (listed at 6-foot-2) and sometimes faced post players while giving up five (or more) inches in height, but never complained about his role in helping his team reach both the league and district playoffs for the first time in years.When it wasn’t Bond in the post (he missed the last few weeks due to lung surgery), it was Hernandez (listed as 6-foot-even) who did tremendous work inside this winter, guarding taller players and grabbing down rebounds. Hernandez’s singular effort in their game against a much taller Southern Lehigh team was one of my standout moments of the regular season.Bond is fighting to come back from the injury to help out his team during a playoff run and Hernandez missed last week’s games to be with his ailing grandfather in Florida. Both deserve kudos for their work on the court and for what they’ve had to deal with off the court. - Liberty’s Amadeus Cannon
Like Graves, Cannon’s efforts (over 11 points & nearly eight rebounds per game) go under the radar because of the awesome scoring machine known as Alex Serrano at Liberty. The Hurricanes had to win the final three regular season games to clinch a playoff spot and, with every opponent’s top priority being to shut down Serrano, Cannon’s efforts down the stretch run were even more pivotal. Cannon’s scholastic career numbers have been very solid over the last few years and he deserves a shout-out.(By the way, I listed Will Harper as a standout freshman star last year here at “The Shop” and he’s not getting the press he deserves, so make another note that you heard it here first if he shows up on an All-Star list a year from now). - Easton’s Jonathan Pineda
Wrestling teammate Jonathan Miers seemed to receive most of the individual attention for the Red Rovers this winter, but Pineda was a steady regular in The Morning Call’s “Top Wrestler Rankings” each week. Easton Head Coach JaMarr Billman was very complimentary when we asked about Jonathan’s success and abilities on a recent “SportsTalk” program. Helping his chances of making the “underrated” team—Pineda was also a big piece of another underappreciated squad this fall—the Rovers lineman on the school’s football team.Pineda got to shine last weekend as the Rovers continued “the streak” for their wrestling program by capturing a good medal in the District XI Individual Wrestling Finals. - Northampton’s Cory Weisenberger
On a team with Aidan Ellwood, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. But make no mistake, Northampton’s success this year was a great team effort, with lots of hustle and great defense all across the board. Weisenberger not only rose to the occasion when needed by providing some major offense during key games this year, but–on multiple occasions—also realized when Ellwood had the hot hand and read what the opponents’ defense was trying to do and found the best possible ways for the team—not necessarily him—to score.Weisenberger has also showed a tremendous amount of character during his career at Northampton and, without sounding too political, that’s a more-valued commodity nowadays than anything that will ever show up on a stat sheet or post-season awards listing.
I freely admit I’m missing some names from this list and invite you to email me (rcnsportstalk@rcn.com ) the names of athletes who you feel deserve extra attention and we’ll look to mention them either here on my blog or on upcoming editions of “SportsTalk.”
