When he was home in New Jersey last spring and summer, Stony Brook’s Jameel Warney would stop by his old school, Roselle Catholic, and play pickup basketball games in the school’s spacious gym.
There he sometimes met up with Isaiah Briscoe, the 6-foot-3 guard who led Roselle Catholic to the New Jersey Tournament of Champions title last year and is now a freshman guard at Kentucky.
“[We were on] different teams,” the 6-8 265-pound Warney told me by phone on Monday. “I probably won, I don’t even remember.”
Now the two former Roselle Catholic stars will meet again, but on a much bigger stage than the gym at their alma mater. Briscoe and No. 4 Kentucky (26-8) will meet Warney and No. 13 Stony Brook (26-6) on Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa in a first-round NCAA Tournament game in the East Region.
“I don’t know him personally but we have mutual respect being from the same high school,” said Warney, who’s averaging 19.8 points and 10.7 rebounds . “He took Roselle Catholic to another level, which I have respect for.”
Roselle Catholic coach Dave Boff texted with both players after the bracket came out.
“Both of them said it was going to be cool to see each other in that big of a game, but that they wished they were playing other people” Boff said. “Jameel has a ton of respect for what Isaiah did, and I know Isaiah has a ton of resepct for what Jameel’s accomplished.”
Boff, too, is understandably ambivalent that one of them will lose.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun obviously seeing those two guys face off in the NCAA Tournament,” Boff said Monday. “In an ideal world, I’d rather them be playing other people so I could root for both of them. It makes it a little difficult having them go head-to-head. It will also make for a really cool night being able to watch two of our great players go head-to-head in the NCAA Tournament.’
Warney, of course, is coming off an epic 43-point, 10-rebound performance in Saturday’s 80-74 win over Vermont that propelled the Seawolves to their first NCAA Tournament.
Boff described that performance as “one of my proudest moments as a coach.”
Briscoe, who went for 10 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds in Kentucky’s 82-77 win over Texas A&M in the SEC championship game on Saturday, is averaging 9.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He has yet to address the media about Stony Brook, but Kentucky coach John Calipari told reporters Monday that Briscoe is familiar with Warney.
“He’s a beast,” said Calipari, who will speak at a coaches clinic at Roselle Catholic on April 8.
While Kentucky’s guards — Brisoce, Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray — have been a major strength this season, their frontcourt has been plagued by inconsistent play and injuries.
Now here comes Warney, a monster in the paint who is a finalist for the Karl Malone Award given to the nation’s top power forward and has been seen by all 30 NBA teams this season.
“Jameel’s been playing great, not only the 43-point performance on Saturday but he’s just been playing really, really well recently,” Boff said. “I think he can play well against Kentucky.”
Warney said he’s looking forward to the challenge of playing Kentucky freshman big man Skal Labissiere, a projected lottery pick, and their other bigs.
“That’s a matchup that’s going to happen,” Warney said. “He’s playing well now. He’s playing to I think his potential and he’s only going to get better. Its going to be a great matchup on Thursday between me and him.”
While Warney is more of true low post big man who is a beast down low, Labissiere prefers to face up and play away from the basket. Kentucky, of course, has other bigs with Alex Poythress, Marcus Lee and Isaac Humphries who can give fouls to Warney.
“[Labissiere] has a better outside game than me and I guess he’s a better skilled guy than me,” Warney said. “I guess my strength is just being a bruiser and do what I do well.”
Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, who played for Jim Calhoun at UConn, was a guest Monday on The 4 Quarters Podcast and chimed in.
“Jameel’s played against the high-major programs,” he said. “We opened the year with Vanderbilt and it was an overtime game and they have three 7-footers. He’s a tough matchup. He’s long, he’s 6-foot-8 in size, but he’s got a 7-2 reach. He’s 265 pounds. The thing he does best is he passes the ball. He’s seen every kind of defense. He’s playing at a high level right now and his ability to pass the ball at a high level will come into play in this game, too.
“They got good players at every position, they’re deep, but we have three all-league players so we have some guys that have been around and can do a few things, too.”
No doubt the eyes of NBA scouts will be on this game, and Warney could certainly help himself with a strong performance against the Kentucky bigs.
“Obviously if I do well, it betters my chances of hopefully making an NBA roster one day,” Warney said. “But I have to try to beat Kentucky and for that to happen, I have to play a great game.”
Back home in New Jersey, Boff will be watching Warney and Briscoe, his two former stars.
“My hope is that both of the guys play well,” he said, “and whoever the best team is wins.”
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