Paul Schwartz
When veteran Emerson boys basketball coach John Ziemba met with John Piccirillo, his 2024-25 captain-to-be, during the summer to discuss plans for the upcoming season, the graduation of three senior starters and the decision of another starter not to come out for the team led to an even better bigger change in Piccirillo’s role than the junior had expected.
“John had started as a sophomore but a lot of people overlooked him last year,” said Ziemba, who started his head coaching career at Passaic Valley during the late 1980s. “He was our fifth option for most of last year. That wasn’t going to be the case this season.”
“We met a few times and he told me he expected me to be the main scorer on the team,” Piccirillo says. “I knew as captain I would have a lot of responsibilities and this made it even more important that I had to be ready.”
The early results have been impressive. Piccirillo is the leading scorer on the 5-1 Cavos, averaging more than 26 points and eight rebounds a game in the early season, more than three times his average from a year ago.
Those who have seen Piccirillo and Ziemba play think the younger player plays a game reminiscent of his coach.
“He’s bigger and stronger than I was and he’s training his body well to develop that size and strength,” said Ziemba, a Hall of Fame basketball player at Garfield High School in the 1980s, and a Hall of Honor selection at Montclair State University. “We run everything through him and although he’s our leading scorer, he’s very unselfish.”
“The best part of basketball is being on the court and playing with my friends,” said Piccirillo. “As captain I have to learn to be a coach on the floor. And as I’m learning more about the game, I understand now that communication is one of the biggest things you can do to get better, especially on defense.”
“We watch a lot of film, both of the teams we are going to play and of ourselves and I notice that I’m doing a lot of pointing to the ball and man at the same time when I’m on defense. Sometimes that can look silly but it really helps reinforce what we’ve learned in order to be effective on defense.”
“I want to play college basketball,” said Piccirillo, who also pitches and plays outfield for Emerson’s baseball team. “I want to stay with basketball after college and teach and coach.”
“He’s stoic and doesn’t trash talk,” said Ziemba. “He plays the game the right way and doesn’t need to let everyone know how good he is. With one senior, John and three sophomores, this may be the youngest team I’ve coached in 35 years of being a head coach, and there will be some bumps in the road. But the boys have followed John’s lead and I’m confident we’ll do very well over the next few years.”
John Piccirillo
Sport: Basketball
School: Emerson
Class: Junior. Age: 17
Accomplishment: Was named the MVP of the Cavo Classic as Emerson won three games. For the week, he scored 68 points, 16 rebounds and had eight assists, including 28 points in a come-from-behind 18 point win over Bergen Charter.
