Salem CC men grab top spot in JUCO Division III basketball poll
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — 66 games. One week short of two years since getting the job.
That’s all it took for Mike Green to take the Salem CC men’s basketball team from one that was three games below .500 on Christmas Day 2023 to the No. 1 team in the land.
Monday afternoon the undefeated Mighty Oaks (14-0) were installed as the No. 1 team in JUCO Division III supplanting defending national champion Mohawk Valley, which had been No. 1 all season and lost to Division II No. 14 Orange County by 30 Saturday.
The Mighty Oaks, who had been No. 2 each of the previous five weeks, received all nine first-place votes from the pollsters and collected 105 points, seven ahead of No. 2 fellow Region XIX member Northampton (12-0). Mohawk fell to No. 3.
It’s their first No. 1 ranking in school history.
“It’s good to see, letting the kids decide on the basketball court,” Green said. “You never know when these type of things happen so fast how the community feels about you. I’m glad we were rewarded with being No. 1.”
Green gave his players off Monday, but they were all in the gym working when the news of the poll’s release broke at 2 p.m.
“Being No. 1 in the country is a dream,” leading scorer Jarrell Little said. “A lot of players on our team, we weren’t a No. 1 team in nothing or never the best team in our area. Now we’re in college (and No. 1), that’s a real accomplishment. That means you’re really a winner.”
And it happened quickly. Green was was hired on Dec. 23, 2023, and his team went 9-9 the rest of the season. It went 26-8 last year, finishing fifth in the national tournament (losing to Mohawk in the second round), and is undefeated this year with virtually an entirely new squad.
“It’s a testament to everybody who has been around and helping out,” Green said. “It’s a big deal and should be a big deal for the Salem community … I’m just glad these kids get to see their name as No. 1.”
The Mighty Oaks have put it together with a balanced scoring attack that’s among the best in the country driven by sharp ball movement that averages more than 19 assists a game. They have four players averaging in double figures — Little (19.9 ppg), Nasseem Wright (19.6), Saaid Lee (14.4) and Zyaire Gibson (10.3) — and three of the four have more than 45 assists. Lee is second in the country (D3) with 75.
“(The key is) us playing together and us being more unselfish than other teams,” Little said. “When we put this team together people thought we wouldn’t get together. There were a lot of ball-dominant players and most people thought this team was not going to really work because they’re all going to need the ball. We put it together pretty well. We’re totally opposite (of that thinking).”
The Mighty Oaks already were playing with a target on their backs from their high tournament finish a year ago and were getting every team’s best shot this year. The No. 1 ranking just intensifies that, but their approach doesn’t change.
The Region XIX leaders put their newly minted ranking on the line for the first time Thursday at Ocean (7-3), a team they beat with 113 points at home last month and received votes in this week’s poll. They travel to Sussex (3-10) on Saturday.
Getting through those two games would give the Mighty Oaks a joyous noel (no Ls) at Christmas and should allow them to maintain the top billing into the new calendar year.
“Nothing changes,” Green said. “We’re still hunting. We like to say we’re still hunting. We don’t want to be the one getting hunted; we’re still hunters. We’ve still got to go out there and hunt like none of this ever happened.”
“We’re not done yet,” Little said. “We’re coming for everything.”
JUCO Division III poll
| TEAM (1st place) | RECORD | POINTS |
| SALEM CC (9) | 14-0 | 105 |
| Northampton | 12-0 | 98 |
| Mohawk Valley | 7-1 | 91 |
| Dallas College Richland | 9-6 | 84 |
| Riverland | 11-1 | 77 |
| Herkimer | 7-1 | 70 |
| Union (NJ) | 9-1 | 63 |
| Northern Essex | 14-3 | 56 |
| Sandhills | 9-4 | 49 |
| Montgomery County (Pa.) | 6-2 | 42 |
| Dallas College Eastfield | 8-5 | 26 |
| Dutchess | 10-3 | 24 |
| Anoka-Ramsey | 11-1 | 23 |
| Massasoit | 13-2 | 11 |
| North Country | 10-1 | 7 |
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