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Rodriguez, Millsip ready to team up permanently at East Stroudsburg

04/04/2017, 5:45pm EDT
By Josh Verlin

Marc Rodriguez (above) is one of two area seniors headed to East Stroudsburg. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Over the last four years, Marc Rodriguez and Mike Millsip have alternated being close teammates and fierce opponents on the basketball court.

In the offseason, the two bonded when Millsip joined Rodriguez’s Northeast Sting AAU program before the ninth grade, and they stayed on that team through the next four summers, through a move under the Team Final Black banner in 2015.

When the AAU season was over, they went to their respective Catholic League programs: Millsip to powerhouse Neumann-Goretti, Rodriguez to upstart Father Judge. And though the friendship certainly didn’t end, there were certain periods where it had to be put on pause.

That won’t have to happen anymore.

Both seniors have committed to play at D-II East Stroudsburg University, where they’ll suit up for the Warriors and head coach Jeff Wilson this fall. Before that, they’re partnering up with Just Clean It in the Donofrio Classic, playing alongside AAU teammates Collin Gillespie, Jesse McPhearson, Mike Power and a few new faces as well.

It’s a good opportunity to learn how to be on the same side yet again.

“The chemistry that me and him have from playing AAU together, we’re going to get it back,” Millsip said. “We’re used to playing in the Catholic League with other players, so we have to get the chemistry back that we had over the summer.”

Doesn’t look like they’ll have much trouble: in a blowout opening-round win Monday night, each impressed. Rodriguez was the star of the evening, scoring 25 points while hitting seven 3-pointers. Millsip added 17 points, including a pair of long balls of his own.

The two committed to East Stroudsburg about three weeks apart last month, with Millsip announcing first on March 5 and Rodriguez following on March 29. Both chose the Warriors over numerous other Division II schools, including the better part of the PSAC East Division in which ESU competes.

“The coaches, they wanted me the most, they really showed a lot of commitment,” Rodriguez said. “They probably came to 95 percent of my games, so that was huge for me.”

They’re so far the only two commits for East Stroudsburg, regularly one of the top programs in the PSAC. The Warriors are coming off an 18-11 season and PSAC Quarterfinal appearance; they’re three years removed from a school-record 30 wins and Sweet 16 finish.


Millsip (above) is honing his ball skills so he can be a full-time guard in college. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Millsip, a 6-3, 205-pound wing, came up through the Neumann-Goretti system as more of an undersized ‘4’ who made up for his lack of height with impressive athleticism and the ability to be a mis-match problem offensively with a decent handle and shot.

But he began to move out to the wing during his senior year of high school -- he averaged 8.5 ppg as Neumann-Goretti won its fourth straight PIAA Class 3A championship -- and the Warriors coaching staff will be using him almost exclusively on the perimeter. So he’s working this summer on his guard skills along with Rodriguez and rising St. Joe’s junior point guard Lamarr Kimble, another Neumann-Goretti product.

“Lamarr’s helping me with everything, better decisions, mostly ball handle and playing out on the wing and bringing up the ball more,” Millsip said, “and Marc’s areal good shooter so I was in the gym with him. Hopefully I’m going to get in the gym more with him and Fresh [Kimble] and my shooting’s going to begin to improve and my ball-handling is going to improve and so is my decision-making.”

Rodriguez, a 6-2 guard and four-year starter for the Crusaders, had an impressive senior year, averaging 19.7 ppg and becoming the first boys basketball player in Father Judge history to surpass the 1,000-point mark. Though Judge bowed out to Ryan in the quarterfinals of the PCL tournament, it was a breakthrough year for both Rodriguez and his team, which won 16 games and went 9-4 in the Catholic League, surpassing all outside expectations. (He didn't have as much success again Millsip in his four years, going 0-5, including a playoff loss his sophomore year).

The most stunning of those was a win over eventual league champ and Class 5A state champ Archbishop Wood to open up league play. It taught him some lessons about what it’ll take to be successful at the next level, too.

“If you just have a great work ethic and like an undying passion and faith, anything can happen,” Rodriguez said. “Gunning against Archbishop Wood, the chances of us coming out with a win were like one in a billion to some people, but to us it’s just another game, and we walked in there confident and won that game. Certain games like that, Prep, games we weren’t supposed to win, we just worked hard and had faith and at the end of the day, that’s it.”


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