Over a six-day stretch, the Burlington Seahorses impressed with a pair of out-of-state wins in a Massachusetts weekend tournament, lost a key starter to injury and outlasted longtime rival Rice in the teams' championship rematch before South Burlington halted their perfect start to the 2024-25 season in an overtime thriller on Jan. 23.
The loss to South Burlington, though, magnified Burlington's suddenly troubling issues, particularly on defense. And senior Abdi Sharif took it upon himself to speak up in the locker room after the defeat.
"We weren’t playing like ourselves and we all knew that," Sharif said. "I had to tell the guys, 'It wasn't the end of the world, we just have to come back and play harder and it wasn't our style of play.'"
Sharif's emerging voice on a young, but talented squad was the turning point for the Seahorses, snapping everything into place for a championship run.
"He came to me and said, 'I gotta figure out how to be a better leader,'" Burlington coach B.J. Robertson said. "That made me realize that he’s locked in, he’s on board and more open to making the adjustment of becoming a leader."
After helping Rice to the 2023 Division I championship over the Seahorses with a game-high total, Sharif transferred to his hometown school and guided Burlington (22-1) to its first crown since 2016, scoring the most points in a final in three decades with a coolly delivered 29-point, 10-rebound, 32-minute performance at soldout Patrick Gym.
And today, Sharif earns one more title: The Burlington Free Press' Mr. Basketball, an honor given annually since 1991 to the state's top boys basketball player.
"He was the best player on the best team," South Burlington coach Sol ...
