November 2007 Archives

I watched the second half of a Cerritos-Gahr quarterfinal that was eventually won by Bishop Montgomery, over Wilson, in double overtime.

So that puts BM into the semifinals of the Gahr portion of the tourney Friday night at 7:30 against Gahr.

In the Cerritos semifinal, Martin Luther King of Riverside faces Los Alamitos also at 7:30.

By the, because of the Gahr's CIF football playoff with St. Paul at Gahr Saturday night, all of the afternoon (noon-on) games in the tournament will be played at Cerritos High instead of Gahr.

And, if Gahr is in the final, the title game will start at 4:30 to allow the Gahr players, coaches and their fans (and parents) to go to the football game if they wish.

Over at Redondo Union High, the semifinals of the Pacific Shores Tournament have Mayfair against Fairfax (6:30) and Loyola vs. Serra (8) Friday night.

Wow! I'm so engrossed in basketball, college and high school versions, as well as college volleyball that I nearly forgot to post my predictions on the Pac-5 CIF Southern Section semifinal football games Friday night at the Home Depot Center.

So, here goes:

Poly vs. Orange Lutheran
Frank Says: This is a rematch of a game won by the Lancers a year ago (23-22) en route to their Pac-5 and State (Div. II) championships. The most significant difference, though, is that Orange Lutheran is playing without playmaker-deluxe quarterback Aaron Corp, who is now redshirting at USC. This is going to be a bit of a defensive struggle, I think, when the team that can mount three scoring drives being the one that prevails (barring a barrage of turnovers, that lead to short-field situations, of course).
Prediction: Poly 21, Orange Lutheran 14. The Jackrabbits get their three scores via their very strong running game and a stout defense.

Servite vs. Crespi
Frank Says: Two weeks ago, I would have the Friars would win this one fairly comfortably. Now, I'm not so sure. Crespi was very impressive while smacking Mater Dei around last Friday night in Santa Ana Stadium, and the Celtics have a bit more explosiveness on the offensive side of the line that do the Friars. And Servite has proven vulnerable to good passing attacks and Crespi has a solid one.
Prediction: Crespi 24, Servite 17.

So I'm projecting a Poly-Crespi final in the Home Depot Center on Dec. 8.

And you know what that means: Be afraid Jackrabits and Celts . . . be very afraid.

I checked out the four games at Redondo Union Tuesday night . . .

Observations:

*Mayfair crushed Locke and will play Gardena at 5 o'clock today it what should be a more competitive game. Downey transfer Keith Thompson didn't play for the Monsoons and wasn't on the bench or in the gym, as far as I could tell. Not sure why.

*Serra pulled away down the stretch to beat Pacific Hills in the best game of the day. Pacific Hills has a very good 6-7 junior in Alex Osborne. He'll be someone recruiters will be very aware of shortly. And highly touted 6-8 freshman Kevin Johnson was impressive, indeed, in his high school debut with Serra. He goes about 230 pounds and has very good hands. Serra plays Inglewood at 3:30 today.

*Centennial played pretty well in its debut under new coach Chris Francis, who formerly coached at King-Drew. But the Apaches fell to a decent Peninsula team. The Apaches get Reseda in a 5 o'clock consolation game today in the girls' gym.

*USC head coach Tim Floyd and assistants Gib Arnold and Bob Cantu were on hand as Fairfax knocked off Reseda behind Renardo Sidney's 31 points and 21 rebounds. The Artesia transfer is obviously a dominant player and is good enough, with a solid surrounding cast, to help the Lions win L.A. City and State Div. I titles. I'll have a better idea how they rate against the rest of the southland, in a week or so (after the Westchester Tournament that includes the host Comets, Dominguez, Taft, L.A. Jordan, Bishop Montgomery and Leuzinger.

I was just courtside in the Anaheim Convention Center and watched USC's basketball team handle 19th-ranked (by the Associated Press) Southern Illinois with stunning domination, 70-45, for the championship of the first Anaheim Classic, which was sponsored by ESPN, which is always in search of content for its family of networks.

The Trojans looked very good. They would be unbeaten if Daniel Hackett had played against Mercer (their only loss, two weeks ago, in their opener).

But with him now recovered from his broken jaw, he is clearly in any discussion for "most improved player in the Pac-10".

And as O.J. Mayo (he had six turnovers and just one assist but knocked in three 3's; he was chosen the Most Outstanding Player; I voted for Hackett) and fellow freshmen Davon Jefferson (20 points ...he's tough to guard), Kasey Cunningham and Angelo Johnson continue to learn the Div. I ropes, and sophomores Hackett, Dwight Lewis and Taj Gibson continue to improve, the Trojans could crack the top four spots in the Pac-10 by March.

Coach Tim Floyd's team now gets Oklahoma (Thursday night) and Kansas (Sunday morning) over the next six days in the Galen Center, and Memphis in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 4. If Sunday night's performance is a good barometer, they could win all three of those games.

There was a team that disrupted the projected "Trinity League and Poly" semifinals but it wasn't Edison, which I thought could beat Orange Lutheran.

Nope. It was a bit of a stunner, at least in the final margin: Crespi 48, Mater Dei 26.

So that means, instead of a Mater Dei-Servite Trinity League rematch in the lower-bracket semifinal, it will be Crespi vs. Servite in a battle of the divison's 2 (Crespi) and 3 seeds.

Interesting sidebar to that one: Servite is coached by Crespi's former coach, Troy Thomas, who is in his third season with the Anaheim school.

Poly's offense was anything but balance and the Jackrabbits seem to lose interest in the second half. But they were still able to overwhelm Newport Harbor, 35-14.

They'll have to play a lot better than that, at least offensively, when they face Orange Lutheran next Friday night at the Home Depot Center.

Orange Lutheran beat Edison, 28-16, at Orange Coast College, located maybe four or five miles from Newport Harbor in Costa Mesa.

Servite knocked off Esperanza, 10-7, in the last of the quarterfinals. I didn't think it would be that close.

And how about Gahr (over Palos Verdes) and Valley Christian (over Blair) upsets.

And St. Paul over Culver City in the Western Division is an upset, but not a totally unexpected one, since top-seed Culver City struggled in Round 1 against Leuzinger.

Gahr gets St. Paul a week from tonight at St. Paul while Dominguez now travels to Palmdale in its side of the semifinals.

Here are some CIF Southern Section football predictions to chew on, 24 hours before diving into your turkey . . .

FRIDAY NIGHT
PAC-5
UPPER BRACKET
Poly (10-1) at Newport Harbor (8-3)
FRANK SAYS: This is a rematch of a game won, at the same location, by the Jackrabbits (34-7) on Sept. 14. Both teams have improved quite a bit since then. And, yes, I know that Edison spanked the Sailor, 47-0, in their Sunset League finale. Barring an obscene number of Poly turnovers and a total lack of focus on Raul Lara’s team’s part, this one shouldn’t be too close.
PREDICTION: Poly 40-7

Orange Lutheran (9-1) vs. Edison (8-3) at Orange Coast College
FRANK SAYS: This is going to be a defensive struggle. And, although the Lancers are the favorites in some circles (not here) to repeat as Pac-5 champions, I think the Chargers are the team that a lot of people are sleeping on in this division. Their quarterback, Nick Crissman, will be the difference, offensively.
PREDICTION: Edison 21-17

LOWER BRACKET
Servite (8-2) vs. Esperanza (10-1) at Cal State Fullerton
FRANK SAYS: I covered the Lakewood-Esperanza game last week. The Aztecs block well and execute their offense expertedly (Sean McDonald is a pretty slick QB). But they don’t have the breakaway speed in the backfield to fully capitalize on their blocking/scheme. Servite should slow down their running game just enough and the presence of D.J. Shoemate will, as usually is the case, be the difference.
PREDICTION: Servite 27-17

Crespi (9-2) vs. Mater Dei (9-1) at Santa Ana Stadium
FRANK SAYS: Fox Sports is televising this one, and it will be televising Mater Dei’s semifinal Trinity League rematch with Servite next Friday night, as well. And I guess that tells you how I think this game is going to turn out, eh? LOL.
PREDICTION: Mater Dei 38-20.

OTHER DIVISIONS
WESTERN
Dominguez over Alemany, 38-21
Palos Verdes over Gahr, 35-17
Culver City over St. Paul, 28-21

MID-VALLEY
Blair over Valley Christian, 24-14

NORTHWEST
Nordhoff over Centennial, 27-14

I just double-checked on the winners of coin flips last Sunday at the CIF Southern Section office in Los Alamitos.

Here are the matchups (and sites) for area football teams

PAC-5
Poly at Newport Harbor (rematch of Jackrabbits' third game of season, at same site; they won first time, 34-7)

WESTERN
Culver City at St. Paul
Alemany at Dominguez
Gahr at Palos Verdes

NORTHERN
Nordhoff at Centennial
Serra at Oaks Christian

MID-VALLEY
Blair at Valley Christian

Well, the Moore League was only 1-3 -- and, not surprisingly, Poly got the "1", hammering Santa Margarita at Veterans Stadium, 39-7 -- in the first round off the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 playoffs but certainly didn't do to boost the theory of those who believe it's the weakest league in the division.

I covered Lakewood's game against Esperanza at Brea Olinda High and, take my word for it if you're weren't there, the Lancers should have won but came out just short, 20-17.

There were some wobbly calls (or no-calls) by the officials that definitely stung the Lancers. But they had only themselves to play, at least defensively, after being victimized by three consecutive trick plays on the game-winning drive by Esperanza.

I don't know any details about Compton's 28-10 loss to a very good Edison team but I can't imagine the Tarbabes had recovered enough in the health department to be anywhere nearly as explosive as they were, pre-Poly game.

And I also don't know anything yet about what transpired in Moore League fourth-place finisher Millikan's 26-14 loss to Crespi at Pierce College, other than the Rams trailed just 6-0 at intermission in their game against the division's No. 2 seed.

General thoughts on the Pac-5 results:

*Esperanza (having seen the Aztecs Friday night for the first time) is just OK. It's hard to imagine that Servite will have too many times advancing to the semifinals. The Aztecs run their offense very well but have zero breakaway speed. Lakewood should have beaten that team.

*How about that Servite-San Clemente (54-43) score? Wow! I thought the Friars' defense was much, much better than that. They'll beat Esperanza next Friday night but will get thumped, once again, by Trinity League rival in the semifinals.

*I'm watching the Fox Sports replay of the Orange Lutheran-Mater Dei game right. Defending champion Orange Lutheran is very, very good and could repeat. Its game with Edison next Friday will EASILY be the best of the second-round games in the division. Sorry, Crespi fans. Your team will get launched onto the 5 Freeway via Santa Ana Stadium by Mater Dei.

*Poly travels to Newport Beach next Friday night for the second time this season because the Jackrabbits have a second-round game against a Newport Harbor they already beat in the the third week of the season, 34-7.

It might not be that close this time around. But props to Newport and its coach, Jeff Brinkley (the former star Qb at Excelsior HS), after a solid 7-3 upset at Notre Dame. The Knights were without quarterback Dayne Crist, who suffered a concussion in his team's Serra League loss to Crespi last week.

Other playoff comments:

*Wow. The Suburban League didn't look good, did it, as Mayfair (a second consecutive first-round stunning exit), Norwalk and La Mirada got whacked around.

*The San Gabriel Valley League held to form, with No. 2 seed Dominguez rolling and No. 4 Gahr pulling out a game after a frenetic rally. I think both have home games next week.

The depth of UCLA’s basketball team is getting a definite early-season test.

Bruins’ Coach Ben Howland said Thursday morning that preseason All-American point guard Darren Collison will remain on the sidelines when UCLA is in Kansas City next week for its College Basketball Experience game Monday night against Maryland, and then the next evening against Michigan State or Missouri.

Collison suffered a strained ligament in his left knee during an exhibition on Nov. 2 and missed the team’s opening three games against Portland State, Youngstown State and Cal State San Bernardino.

The decision to keep Collison in civilians was made after Howland watched Collison work out in Pauley Pavilion Wednesday evening.

“Unfortunately, his knee isn’t as healthy as we would like it to be,” Howland said Thursday morning.

“He was moving pretty good (Wednesday night) but he was wearing a brace on the knee and he is not as explosive yet as you would want him to be yet. We want him to be as effective as possible so it was my feeling to err on the side of caution. He saw the doctor (after the workout) and the doctor concurred that he should be out at least 10 more days. So, probably, the earliest he could be back would be the 28th (of this month), for George Washington.”

Added Howland: “I walked out of the gym (Pauley Pavilion) last night thinking that we are not going to rush him back. We have a long season in front of him and we need him to come back healthy and to stay healthy. It’s really too early to try to push him, especially in those high level games (next week) we’re going to play.”

Sophomore Russell Westbrook, normally Collison’s backup, has averaged 11.0 points, 6.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds in Collison’s absence.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a look at the four upper-bracket first-round matchups in the Pac-5 Division as much as I’m sure you’re going to be enthralled with my quick caps on the lower-bracket tilts . . .

LOWER BRACKET
San Clemente (7-2-1) vs. Servite (7-2) at Cerritos College
Frank Says: The Friars fell victim to the Matt Barkley Throwing Machine, aka, “Mater Dei” Friday night and should take out their frustrations by punching out, courtesy about 22 D.J. Shoemate carries, the Tritons in this one.
Prediction: Servite 31, San Clemente 7

Lakewood (7-3) vs. Esperanza (9-1) at Brea Olinda High
Frank Says: OK, here’s the so-called “upset” that some think will take place in the upper bracket (at the expense of Poly or Orange Lutheran or both). The Lancers’ offense has been rolling over the past eight games (other than in the Lancer’s 13-6 loss to Poly). Unless Lakewood coughs up the ball with the amazing frequency that it did so against Compton, the Lancers will get Servite at John Ford Stadium next week.
Prediction: Lakewood 27, Esperanza 21

Mater Dei (8-1) vs. Tesoro (7-3) at San Clemente High
Frank Says: Brian Barnes of Tesoro will be the Orange County Coach of the Year. But his magic isn’t going to be enough to slow down the Orange County Offense of the Year.
Prediction: Mater Dei 42, Tesoro 10

Millikan (7-3) vs. Crespi (8-2) at Pierce College
Frank Says: I’ve seen Millikan called the “weakest” team in this playoff division in several non-Press-Telegram publications. I’m not buying that (Millikan-Newport would be a very competitive game, much more so than almost any other game in this division). That being said . . . Crespi is too good, on both sides of the line, for the Rams to spring an upset in this one.
Prediction: Crespi 24, Millikan 17

As I’ve written about a zillion times over the past two seasons, the Pac-5 division in the CIF Southern Section is the toughest football playoff setup in California – if not the United States.

That being said, here’s my look and projections at each of the division’s first-round games Friday night, starting with the upper bracket . . .

UPPER BRACKET
Santa Margarita (5-4) vs. Poly (9-1) at Veterans Stadium
Frank Says: A lot of folks are pegging this is the one first-round upset, based on equal parts respect for the Trinity League (where the Eagles are located) and the fact that Santa Margarita knocked off the Jackrabbits in the 2006 regular-season opener, 9-7 (a game I covered, FYI). But Raul Lara’s team is playing too well right now and, with junior quarterback Morgan Fennell healthy, Poly’s offense is too balanced and explosive for the Eagles to slow down discernibly.
PREDICTION: Poly, 27-10

Newport Harbor (7-3) at Notre Dame (8-2)
Frank Says: If Knight’s quarterback Dayne Crist is playing (he suffered a “mild” concussion in the Serra League loss to Crespi last week), the hosts will cruise, say, 35-14. If Coach Kevin Rooney can’t play him, the Knights will still have too much power up front for the team from the Sunset League.
Prediction: Notre Dame, 35-14 (with Crist); Notre Dame 24-14 (without Crist)

Compton (8-2) vs. Edison (7-3) at Huntington Beach High
Frank Says: The Tarbabes were a shell of themselves last week in the loss at Lakewood, with multiple starters missing because of injuries, most notably starting running backs Donald Green and Curry Williams. If Calvin Bryant’s team is relatively healthy this week, the Moore League’s third-place team has a pop had knocking off a Sunset League champion for the second consecutive of year. If not, it will get ugly early.
Prediction: Edison 31, Compton 22 (if the Tarbabes are healthy); Edison 41, Compton 12 (if the Tarbabes are missing their RBs)

Mission Viejo (6-3-1) vs. Orange Lutheran (8-1) at Santa Ana Stadium
Frank Says: Many are touting this as the best game of the first round and it is going to be broadcast by Fox Sports Prime Ticket. This is strictly a “name big game”, however. This Mission Viejo team isn’t anything approaching the outstanding ones of seasons past, as its record would indicate.
Prediction: Orange Lutheran 31, Mission Viejo 10

I'm sitting in the media room at the CIF Southern Section office in Los Alamitos with stacks of football playoff bracket sheets and folders of team information to sort through when I get home.

But, for now, here's a quick look at the brackets, starting with (from top to bottom) the Pac-5 division. It looks a lot like the mock one that I posted earlier.

(teams on the left are home)
UPPER
No. 1 Poly (Moore 1) vs. Santa Margarita (Trinity at-large)
No. 2 Notre Dame (Serra 2) vs. Newport Harbor (Sunset 3)

No. 5 Edison (Sunset 1) vs. Compton (Moore 3)
No. 4 Orange Lutheran (Serra 2) vs. Mission Viejo (South Coast 2)

LOWER
No. 3 Servite (Trinity 1) vs. San Clemente (South Coast 3)
No. 6 Esperanza (Sunset 2) vs. Lakewood (Moore 2)

No. 8 Tesoro (South Coast 1) vs. Mater Dei (Trinity 3)
No. 1 Crespi (Serra 1) vs. Millikan (Moore 4)

Comments: All openers are Friday night at 7:30. Poly will play at Veterans Stadium, Compton at Orange Coast College, Lakewood at a site to be determined (Esperanza can't use its "home" stadium because it's on on Valencia's campus and Valencia also has a home game Friday) and Millikan is expected to play at Pierce College.

The biggest switch from my mock has Crespi and not Servite as the No. 2 seed. And I understand the logic, since Notre Dame had beaten Servite in a non-league game and Crespi beat Notre Dame for the top seed from the Serra League.

More analysis on the division later in the week, both in the Press-Telegram and on my blog.

A quick look at who the other Long Beach-area entrants drew in their divisions:

SOUTHWEST
El Toro at Bellflower
La Mirada at South Hills
Hacienda Heights Wilson at Mayfair
Norwalk at Charter Oak

WESTERN
St. Paul at Quartz Hill
Lancaster at Gahr
Warren at Palmdale
Highland at Dominguez

NORTHWEST
Centennial at Baldwin Parki
Pioneer Valley at Serra

NORTHEAST
St. Anthony at Mammoth

MID VALLEY
Valley Christian at Duarte
Mary Star at Bishop Diego

Well, it appears as if the Press-Telegram's blog machinations are up and clicking again.

My Pac-5 predicted playoff bracket is finally up after I actually wrote it really early Saturday a.m.

Modern technology kicks my butt repeatedly . . .

Anyway, here is a look again at my projected bracket, with the results of the coin-flips by the Trinity and South Coast League entries factored into it.

UPPER BRACKET
No. 1 Poly (Moore 1) vs. Santa Margarita (Trinity Wild Card)
No. 8 Notre Dame (Serra 2) vs. Newport Harbor (Sunset 3)

No. 5 Edison (Sunset 1) vs. Compton (Moore 3)
No. 4 Orange Lutheran (Trinity 2) vs. Mission Viejo (South Coast 2)

LOWER BRACKET
No. 3 Crespi (Serra 1) vs. Millikan (Moore 4)
No. 6 Tesoro (South Coast) 1 vs. Mater Dei (Trinity 3)

No. 7 Esperanza (Sunset 2) vs. Lakewood (Moore 2)
No. 2 Servite (Trinity 1) vs. San Clemente (South Coast 3)

The real bracket will be unveiled at the CIF Southern Section office at Los Alamitos at 11 this morning.

I'll try to get them up on this blog ASAP.

OK.
I know you’ve been waiting for this but it isn’t going to be etched into granite.
I can’t give you a team-by-team Pac-5 playoff projections this early Saturday morning, because the Trinity League (for slots 1-3) and South Coast League (to break a second-place deadlock between Mission Viejo and San Clemente) will conduct coin flips at more reasonable hours this morning to determine their playoff representatives’ pecking order.
And Friday night’s results certainly messed with a lot of what seemed to be solid bracket projections beforehand.
Crespi upsetting Notre Dame (which seemed a lock for the overall No. 2 seed behind Poly), Tesoro beating host Mission Viejo to win the South Coast League outright and Bishop Amat upsetting Loyola in the Serra League (eliminating Loyola from at-large consideration and, seemingly, allowing Santa Margarita to grab the extra Pac-5 bid in its place) all impacted most projected brackets.
So, with a little fiddling, here is how I see things unfolding Sunday morning at the CIF Southern Section’s office in Los Alamitos when the Pac-5 pairings are unveiled:

UPPER BRACKET
No. 1 Poly (Moore 1) vs. Santa Margarita (Trinity WC)
No. 8 Notre Dame (Serra 2/was ranked No. 2 in the division last week) vs. Newport Harbor (Sunset 3)
No. 5 Edison (Sunset 1) vs. Compton (Moore 3)
No. 4 Trinity No. 2 (Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran or Servite) vs. South Coast No. 2 (Mission Viejo or San Clemente)

LOWER BRACKET
No. 3 Crespi (Serra 1) vs. Millikan (Moore 4)
No. 6 Tesoro (South Coast 1) vs. Trinity 3 (Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran or Servite)
No. 7 Esperanza (Sunset 2) vs. Lakewood (Moore 2)
No. 2 Trinity 1 (Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran or Servite) vs. South Coast 3 (Mission Viejo or San Clemente)

Notes:
To refresh you on the Southern Section’s bracketing “rules”, 1) Teams from the same league can’t meet until the semifinals; 2) the Nos. 1 and 2 teams from a league must be put in opposite sides of the bracket; 3) teams in the same league must be seeded in the playoffs based upon the way they were seeded in their league.

Why does 5-4 Santa Margarita get the at-large bid over 7-3 Los Alamitos (Sunset League)? Based on the CIF Southern Section’s selection criteria, the Eagles have the edge based on vastly superior strength of schedule and the fact that the football advisory rates the Trinity League over the Sunset League – as, rightfully, it should.

And it's coming to you all the way from Claremore, Okl.

The 29th Press-Telegram Best in the West basketball special was set to be published on Sunday.