The Northfield Mount Hermon quartet of Ian Sistare, Aaron Falzon, Josh Sharma and AJ Broduer are taking a cross-country trip with coaches John Carroll and James Cormier to visit numerous schools. They will be contributing a Player Blog to ZAGSBLOG along the way. Check back later for future updates on visits and offers.
Hello, everyone, my name is Aaron Falzon.
I’m a rising senior 6-foot-8 forward at Northfield Mount Hermon from Newton, MA. Just for a refresher, for those who have not been following our blog about our tour, my teammates Josh Sharma ’15, Ian Sistare ’16, AJ Brodeur ’16 and I have been on a road trip visiting colleges throughout the Midwest accompanied by our head coach, John Carroll, and assistant coach, James Cormier.
In the past two days we visited Wisconsin, Marquette, and, in Chicago, watched NBA draft prospects workout, which included Doug Mcdermott and Nik Stauskas.
We arrived in Madison on Saturday night, and drove through the city and got a great vibe from the people enjoying a beautiful night in Madison. On Sunday we visited and toured the facilities. We also played with some of the guys on the team in the Kohl Center. After the workout, we watched (unfortunately for this Lebron James fan) the final game of the NBA finals with the Wisconsin players at their apartment. The next morning we toured around the campus, met with the strength coach, who preached his philosophy and training motto, of “How good do you want to be?” We also met some wonderful people on academic side of the school; they embraced Wisconsin as a place like no other, and the coaching staff reaffirmed that as they met with us.
We finished the trip just how we started, and that was with outstanding food. On Saturday morning we waited through the long line to get into Mickie’s Dairy Bar, where were not disappointed with the breakfast, as they filled us up fast, especially both of our coaches as they ordered the “scrambler,” which was highly advised by some Badger fans, who follow Sharma on Twitter.
We ended the trip on Sunday full, but Coach Carroll said he could leave Madison without having a cheeseburger from the Plaza Tavern, which was highly recommended by some NMH faculty. On Wisocnsin! Go Badgers!
Now it was on to Marquette in Milwaukee, which is just about over an hour East of Madison. We arrived and we took a quick tour of facilities, and then we suited up, and played pick-up with current and former players from Marquette storied program, as well as our own member of NMH, Chris Sullivan ’15 who is a 6-3 guard committed to Brown.
After many physical games, the guys at Marquette compete, we showered and then continued our tour of the urban school. The campus surprised us, on how much of a college community it felt like even though it was in the middle of a big city and a it is a beautiful college campus. Also on tour back to the facilities we learned about the legendary coach Al Maguire.
After the tour Coach [Steve] Wojciechowski sat down with us individually, and offered me and my teammate Josh Sharma scholarships. Coach Wojciechowski really emphasized how he wanted to bring Marquette back into the National Championship, and improve the already great tradition of excellence they have at Marquette, without sacrificing anything academically, as Marquette has a good balance of both. Leaving Marquette there was a feeling of excitement for the growth program conveyed by their experienced and great coaching staff. Go Golden Eagles!
The next stop on the college tour was to Northwestern. Fortunately for us our teammamte Chris Sullivan lived in Wilmette, IL, just a town over from Evanston, where the campus of Northwestern is. We stayed the night with Chris and his incredible family.
Just before went to bed, Coach Carroll surprised us and informed us that in the morning we would watch Doug McDermott, from Creighton University work out for some NBA teams in Chicago. We went the next morning, and we were greeted by Doug before he worked out, as well as Nik Stauskas, from the University of Michigan, a former teammate of mine back at St. Mark’s School. It was good seeing and catching up with him since he graduated a couple of year ago.
It was great to see those guys workout, and to see the precision in which they executed every drill with, as well as seeing how hard they worked. It was especially good, because all of us on the trip want to be in those guys’ shoes one day and have a chance to play in the NBA. NBA legend Chris Mullin was in the gym. He and Coach Carroll connected on the their NYC ties. Coach Carroll played in summer leagues with Chris’ brother Terrance back in his St. Francis De Sales days.
Brian Shaw, Flip Saunders, and other NBA personnel took in the workout, too. Doug and Nick appear to have very bright futures in the NBA.
This leg of the trip was superb, pending most of the time in the state best known for its cheese, and we saw two terrific schools that demanded excellence from their players not only on the court but off it as well, just as we do from ourselves at the best prep school in America, Northfield Mount Hermon, which challenges an athlete not only in their sport but also in the classroom and social settings.
Thanks for reading!
Go NMH!
