Mark Caruso and Rob Smernoff are like a lot of roommates. They save on expenses and there's a lot of Oscar and Felix in their banter, but they're not too odd a couple.
Besides living in the same apartment they also coach basketball in the same league. On Friday at 7 p.m., Smernoff's E.O. Smith-Storrs team travels to play Caruso's Manchester team in their first meeting of the season
"I think we are both looking forward to playing," Caruso said. "We're friends, we talk about basketball and hang out a lot. I think we both circled the date when we got our schedules."
Smernoff, an assistant at Windsor last season, was named E.O. Smith coach in mid-October. Both say the buildup has been fun. Smernoff was also Caruso's assistant on the Connecticut Starters 17-and-under AAU team this summer.
"We coached 30 games together in the summer," Smernoff said. "I'm sure they'll have something up their sleeve and hopefully we'll have something up our sleeve. But basically very little of what either one of us is going to do will surprise the other. That game I would figure is going to be decided by the kids and we know this."
Manchester (9-2, 5-0) leads the CCC East and E.O. Smith (6-4, 3-1) is a game behind. In addition to the significance of the game, there are plenty of ties that bind the teams and their coaches. Smernoff was a team manager for Geno Auriemma at UConn for four years and Geno's daughter, Jenna, plays at Manchester. E.O. Smith captain Amy Posocco and Manchester captain Tanya Iwanski were teammates for the two coaches last summer.
"I think it also helps and I think he thinks the same, is that I really like his kids," Smernoff said. "He had a kid, Melissa Corto, who was hurt and didn't play last game. The first thing I said to him when I found out was I hope she's going to play against us. We're going to want to beat Manchester, but other than that I hope they go 26-2 and win the LL state championship."
"It's going to be a competitive game," Caruso said. "He's going to have his kids ready to play and they're going to play hard. It's not going to be a gimme."
WEBMASTER NOTE (01/21/00): In a well-played game, the Manchester Indians prevailed 52-34. The teams next play at E.O. Smith on Tuesday, February 15th. Player names in bold are current or former Starters players.
E. O. SMITH (7-5) (4-2) (34)
Debbie Newman 0 1-2 1 Megan Leduc 2 0-0 5 Nicole LaPointe 1 0-0 2 Alicia Salonia 0 0-0 0
Emily Turner 1 0-0 2 Alex Lee 1 0-0 2 Amy Posocco 2 1-2 5 Kate Perch 4 1-2 9
Sara Wilcox 3 0-3 6 Annelise Rhodes 1 0-0 2 Dee Postemski 0 0-0 0
Totals: 15 3-9 34 3-point goals: LeDucMANCHESTER (10-2) (6-0)(52)
Erin Wassenar 1 0-0 2 Shakeya Evans 0 0-0 0 Jennifer Smith 0 0-0 0 Christie Vincent 4 3-6 11
Megan Taylor 0 1-1 1 Raenielle DeCastro-Cain 2 2-2 6 Erin Ogrean 6 0-0 12 Jenna Auriemma 0 0-0 0
Heather Rose 3 1-2 8 Tanya Iwanski 4 1-3 9 Melissa Corto 1 1-2 3 Brynn Crockett 0 0-0 0
Totals: 21 9-18 52 3-point goals: Rose
E.O. Smith 04 11 10 09 -34
Manchester 20 12 08 12 -52
WEBMASTER NOTE 2 (02/16/00): On February 15th, tied for first place in the CCC East, the two teams met again at E.O. Smith HS. The Manchester Indians won 64-53. Player names in bold are current or former Starters players.
E. O. SMITH (13-6) (10-3) (53)
Megan Leduc 3 0-0 7 Corinne Rustman 0 1-2 1 Nicole LaPointe 1 2-2 4
Alicia Salonia 1 0-0 2 Emily Turner 1 1-1 3 Alex Lee 1 0-2 2 Amy Posocco 5 1-3 12
Kate Perch 1 2-2 4 Sara Wilcox 4 4-6 12 Annelise Rhodes 2 2-4 6
Totals: 19 13-22 53 3-point goals: LeDuc, PosoccoMANCHESTER (15-4) (11-2)(64)
Shakeya Evans 1 0-0 2 Jennifer Smith 0 0-0 0 Christie Vincent 3 1-1 7
Megan Taylor 0 1-2 1 Raenielle DeCastro-Cain 6 4-8 16 Erin Ogrean 3 0-0 6 Jenna Auriemma 0 0-0 0
Heather Rose 4 0-0 11 Tanya Iwanski 7 4-5 18 Melissa Corto 1 0-0 3 Brynn Crockett 0 0-0 0
Totals: 25 10-16 64 3-point goals: Rose (3) Corto
E.O. Smith 12 08 09 24 -53
Manchester 18 17 16 13 -64