THE BLUEJAYS VS. THE BLUEjAYS - WHO WOULD WIN?

I hope my main Southfield hoopster homeboys, Carlton "Captain Amazing" Brundidge, Desmond "Pee Wee the Great" Barnes, and Patrick "The Money Man" Onwenu aren't reading this right now. If they are and you are around one of them, PLEASE, PLEASE, for the love of god, do your best to keep all sharp objects as far away from them as possible. What I'm about to tell them and their cool as ice Bluejays teammates, might make them a tad bit mad.

In a recent interview with a local competing publication, former Southfield basketball great, Mike McCaskill, didn't seem overly-impressed with his alma mater's 2010 hoop squad, which made it all the way to the Class A Final Four for the first time since McCaskill's teams went to back-to-back state semi-final games in the early-1980s.

"There's no question we would win," he said after watching the Bluejays defeat Warren De La Salle and comparing them to his '82 and '83 teams. "I think we communicated a lot more on the floor. Our defense was the bread and butter of our teams back then. That's how we would take teams out. This current team has a little height and skill, but not as much toughness as we had back then.."

Now, first let me say, I have all the respect for the world for Mike McCaskill and his opinion. He was a superstar and played on a great set of team with mega-ballers like Ralph and Jerome Walker, Ray Kelser, Joey Walton, and Terry Darden among others. After leading the 'Jays to consecutive Final Fours in 1982 and 1983, McCaskill went on to have a stellar collegiate career at Eastern Michigan. His '82 team (25-2) probably should have won the state title, or at the least SHOULD HAVE MADE it to the championship game, but had their season ended in the most heartbreaking of fashion in the semi when a Flint Central player (Mark Harris) threw in a 50 foot prayer at the buzzer to win it.  The '83 team lost to eventual state champion Detroit Southwestern and Mr. Basketball Award winner, Antoine "The Judge" Joubert (Michigan).

Okay, so with that out of the way, I wouldn't be so quick to right off Brundidge, Barnes and the 2010 team. First, off these guys were primarily still just juniors and have one more year of ball to play together before you can make an accurate assessment of how they might stack up with McCaskill's pair of Final Four teams. Second, I don't know this for a fact, but I would guess that McCaskill , only watched the Brundidge and Barnes-led Bluejays compete, two or three times. This is a type of group you need to see play over a period of time to really appreciate how good they are. DONT UNDERESTIMATE THESE CATS' TOUGHNESS. They just out-work teams and Carlton Brundidge is simply a warrior every second of every game he has ever played. I've never seen a high school player with such finishing ability – When he makes it past the free throw line, forget about it!. he might not look it, but deceptively quick too. and yeah, don't put him on the line either, 'cause his misses are as much of a rarity as a 3 dollar bill.

Mike McCaskill might be the greatest Bluejay baller of all-time as of right now, however, by the time his career is over, I think there is a very good chance that Captain Amazing...er.....CARLTON BRUNDIDGE swipes the honor away from him on his to Michigan.

Granted, I never watched McCaskill play in person, yet I just have a hard time believing Brundidge couldn't bulldog his squad into competing with McCaskill's. Onwenu is a beast and improving at a brisk clip. Barnes would be a superstar on most other teams. Joshua Brown, Xavier Cross, Landon Atterberry, David Dawson, and Jaylon Floyd, all coming back to help their standout backcourt make a run back at the state title in 2011, each contribute to the mix as solid role players. Brown and Atterberry each showed flashes of stardom in their own right this season. I suppose only time will tell. but if we're sitting here a year from now and the 'jays have made another long run in the state tourney, i will go on record as saying the Brundidge era was just as good as the McCaskill era.

Quick Southfield Hoop History Endnote – Besides the 2010, 1982, and 1983 squads, the other Bluejays batch of ballers to accomplish the feat was the 1965 team, led by none other than future MLB all-star, Ted Simmons (also a star running back on the gridiron).