Rocks' Girard gets new test against best
Jim Hart, the creator and president of Albany City Rocks basketball, has been involved with several of the area's best players for more than two decades.
The organization's 2016 squad in the EYBL 17-and-under division featured Andrew Platek, a former Guilderland star who played at Mount Hermon Prep and is now headed to play for North Carolina, Anthony Gaines (New Hampton/Northwestern) and Hameir Wright (Albany Academy, New York's 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year).
How elite is it? A total of 22 players from the 2017 men's basketball Final Four — including eight from national champion North Carolina — are EYBL veterans.
Two-hundred and sixty EYBL veterans competed in the NCAA Tournament.
Hart compared Girard, who already ranks ninth all-time in Section II scoring history with 2,157 points with two years remaining, to Platek in the sense both do not rely on sheer athleticism to excel.
The only limits for him are the question marks that come up: size and athleticism.