Inside Ford’s Garage, a popular burger spot in Noblesville, Ind., the Middlesex Magic’s Hoop Group squad sat together for a team dinner, and a funny idea was born.
It was late May, and the Magic were in Indiana to play in the Midwest Jam Fest, one of several Hoop Group tournaments on the league’s calendar. The parents of the players sat at one table inside the restaurant, and head coach Lambros Papalambros sat with his team at the other.
Vibes were high for the Magic, who were playing well and took a 4-0 record home to Massachusetts from this tournament. Papalambros, who has long hair and wears it in a ponytail, was suddenly the subject of a good-natured bet from his players.
“They said, ‘Coach, if we win the title, you have to chop your hair off,’” Papalambros recalled.
Papalambros smiled. In his head, he certainly knew his squad had a chance to win the championship, but that opportunity wouldn't come for another two months, and everything had to break right. But, of course, he agreed.
“Is there a chance? Yes. Are there 50 other really good teams (on the circuit)? Yes,” Papalambros said. “(I was like), ‘Yeah, sure, guys. I’ll cut my hair if we win the Hoop Group title.’”
Little did Papalambros know what he was in for.
A championship message
For his players, it may have just served as some added motivation. From Day 1 of the spring, winning the Hoop Group 17U championship – which the Magic ultimately captured on July 14 – was the stated goal for this squad. And Papalambros sensed it was possible from the jump.
The Middlesex Magic’s Hoop Group squad is the program’s secondary team to the Magic group that is among the best on the Under Armour circuit. There are three sneaker circuits – Nike, Adidas and Under Armour – that are universally regarded as the three best AAU leagues in the country, and Papalambros firmly believes Hoop Group is next in line as the best independent grassroots circuit in the country. Before it moved up to Under Armour, the Magic’s ‘A’ team won three consecutive Hoop Group titles from 2017-19 under coach and Magic director Mike Crotty.
Papalambros, a former Magic player who’s been a coach at the program for about 10 years, is now the head coach of the Magic’s 16U and 17U Hoop Group teams while Crotty leads the Under Armour squad. Before each season, there are tryouts held for the Under Armour team, and Papalambros inherits the best that don’t make it.
This season, the program was loaded with some of the best talent it’s ever seen. When the dust settled, Crotty ultimately boasted 10 players who received six or more Division 1 scholarship offers this year – including Ryder Frost (Beverly, Mass.) and Daithi Quinn (Quincy, Mass.) – but Papalambros wasn’t exactly given scraps. Two players – guards Teagan Swint (Newton, Mass.) and Thomas Ferdinando (Manchester, N.H.) – returned from last year’s 16U Hoop Group championship that he coached. Then he added several more, including Matt Gaffney (Malden, Mass.), a three-time Massachusetts state champion guard at Malden Catholic, and Robby Fiore (Acton, Mass.), a NEPSAC champion guard at Rivers. While the Under Armour team had obvious Division 1 talent, Papalambros was still handed a very talented group ready to catch the eyes of Division 1 schools themselves.
When they met for the first time, Papalambros had one message for that: Win. While the AAU season’s primary purpose for many may be to gain exposure for the next level, Papalambros believes winning takes care of it all.
“Everyone wants to get college looks and that’s what I’m here for,” Papalambros said. “But when you lose in AAU, you get consolation games and you’re playing in the back gym at 8 a.m. on a Sunday, and there’s no coaches watching. …
“The fact of the matter is, if we don’t win, you won’t have eyes on you.”
Eye-opening practice
Papalambros was grateful that many of the players who didn’t make the Under Armour team stuck around to play for him, when some could have had opportunities to play elsewhere. Part of the allure of staying and being part of the program, among other things, is that they regularly practice against Crotty’s loaded Under Armour squad.
The first scrimmage of the season, though, went a little bit unexpected.
“He might kill me for this, but we kicked their ass,” Papalambros said. “We kicked their ass. We did. The ball was flying around. I was like, ‘OK, we do have something here.’”
Crotty wasn’t totally surprised. Inside his program, he’d bred a winning culture and an environment of structure and development that’s not commonly seen around the country. It’s proven to be successful, and attracts high-level players looking to take their game and recruitment to the next level.
Crotty already had familiarity with some of Papalambros’ players. In that scrimmage, he saw a group that blended well right away. They were connected right away. They had size, athleticism, skilled guard play and shotmaking all over the floor. They ran several actions and were precise with their passing, cutting and shooting.
“It’s really difficult to guard them,” Crotty said. “I always tell our guys, we’re not going to see too many teams on the (Under Armour) circuit that execute and have skilled shot makers like Lambros’ teams. They can play anywhere.”
They continued to prove that. The first weekend of the season, the Magic went to a local tournament and grabbed a comeback victory over Rhode Island Elite, which boasts several Division 1 level players. The Magic’s confidence was bursting.
Overcoming adversity
The Magic weren’t immune to some hiccups. They were 10-0 in April when they went to Pittsburgh Jam Fest, where they took a hard loss in which they gave up 85 points. While they finished the weekend with a 3-2 record, it was a needed reality check for Papalambros, who admitted fault. He said he had focused too much on their offense and not enough on defense.
That changed when they returned home. Papalambros hammered defensive coaching in practice. Ball screen coverages. Switching responsibilities. Everything.
“I think that’s when the season changed for us,” he said.
The Magic continued to roll, but they hit another bump midway through the season. Before the live period in mid-May, Luke Soden (Bedford, N.H.) – who was arguably their best player – asked if he could move up to the Under Armour team. His wish was granted, and he spent the rest of the season with them.
But the Hoop Group squad didn’t miss a beat. Papalambros inserted Gaffney into the starting lineup, and he fit perfectly next to Ferdinando.
“Talk about speaking to the depth of the program,” Papalambros said. “The B team loses its best player and still goes out and wins the Hoop Group title.”
Papalambros’ group started peaking at the right time and everything was breaking their way. When they went to New Jersey for Atlantic City Jam Fest earlier this month, they were in 11th place in the Hoop Group standings. They needed to get into the top six to earn an important bye into the following weekend’s Hoop Group championship round of 16.
Three victories later, Papalambros received a phone call that the Magic had won a double tiebreaker and got that No. 6 seed and a bye.
“Things were kind of lining up for us,” Papalambros said.
Poetic ending
The Magic narrowly edged Lone Star Elite in the round of 16 before producing their best game of the season in a statement 17-point victory over Brad Wanamaker HGSL – which some believed to be the title favorite – to advance to the Final Four. Two wins were needed on Sunday, July 14, to claim the title.
In the semifinals, Fiore scored 27 points to lead the Magic to a 62-49 win over New Jersey Shoreshots – who had been in first place for most of the season – to set up a championship matchup against George Hill All-Indy.
George Hill’s squad was loaded, described by Papalambros as “grown men” and led by point guard Azavier Robinson, a Top 100 ranked recruit by ESPN. Papalambros sensed some nerves before the game. Two minutes before tip, Papalambros pulled his squad in and put them at ease with a perfectly-timed one-liner.
“I said, ‘Fellas. I didn’t tell you this but I’ve been dying for a freaking haircut,” Papalambros said.
“I swear it loosened them up.”
The Magic were gassed, playing their eighth game in three-and-a-half days. They were down two late, but made all the plays down the stretch. Gaffney hit a 3-pointer before Swint split two defenders for a two to put the Magic up three, and after one more stop, they held on to win the championship.
“When that buzzer went off, I jumped around like I was a kid,” Papalambros said.
His hair was, of course, good as gone, too. When Gaffney got the trophy during the celebration, he looked directly at Papalambros and made a scissors sign with his fingers.
“He’s like, ‘Coach, that hair’s coming off!’”
The championship victory served as confirmation for Papalambros, who preached that winning would get his talented players the attention they deserve. Gaffney received a Division 1 scholarship offer from Chicago State, and there are several more on the roster – including John Kelley (Lawrence, Mass.) and Charlie Williams (Meriden, N.H.) – who are generating Division 1 interest in addition to high-academic Division 3 schools. Papalambros believes he has at least 4-5 players worthy of a scholarship.
“It’s my highest recruited team for sure as far as volume,” Papalambros said. “My phone has not stopped ringing about these guys.”
For Crotty, this championship was the latest endorsement of the quality and depth of his program, a standard of success that is not matched by many others around the country.
“It’s massive to me to have one of the best teams in the country on the Under Armour circuit, and then say your second team is probably the best independent team in the country,” Crotty said. “I take a lot of pride.”
