March 2008 Archives

Frank's Note: For whatever reason, this blog item didn't post to my blog site when I wrote it Wednesday.

Hopefully it posts NOW (Thursday morning).

Rumors have been rampant the past week that Cal basketball coach Ben Braun's job was on the line and those rumors proved fact Wednesday when he was fired.

Look for a replacement to come from among current successful head coaches at Saint Mary's (Randy Bennett), Pittsburgh (Jamie Dixon) and Virginia Tech (former Long Beach State coach Seth Greenberg) to be all have a shot, to some degree or another, of replacing Braun.

And it wouldn't surprised some insiders if Trent Johnson of Stanford, whose team is facing Texas in a South Regional semifinal in Houston Friday night, ends up as a candidate. He has one year remaining on his contract and, by some accounts, the school's administration doesn't seem to making getting him signed up to an extension a high priority.

The Louisville (over Oklahoma) and North Carolina (against Arkansas) blowouts, coupled with the Memphis survival (77-74) against Mississippi State, completes the semifinal field for Thursday and Friday.

Here they are, with our tipoff times:

THURSDAY
WEST (in Phoenix)
No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 7 West Virginia (4:10 p.m.) and No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky (30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game).

EAST (in Charlotte)
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Washington State (4:27 p.m.) and No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 3 Louisville (30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game).

FRIDAY
MIDWEST (in Detroit)
No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Davidson (4:10 p.m.) and No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 12 Villanova (30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game).

SOUTH (in Houston)
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Stanford (4:27 p.m.) and No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 5 Michigan State (30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game).

FRIDAY

Davidson (stunning Midwest 2 seed Georgetown), Villanova (knocking off Siena in a Midwest battle of double-digit seeds), Tennessee (prevailing over Butler in OT), Western Kentucky (earning a game against UCLA by knocking off the University of San Diego) and Texas (hanging on over Miami in Little Rock) are the five winners so far today in the NCAA Tournament.

So here is how the Sweet 16 matchups look so far:

THURSDAY
WEST (at Phoenix)
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky; No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 7 West Virginia.

EAST (at Charlotte)
No. 2 Tennesee vs. winner of this afternoon's Louisville-Oklahoma game in Birmingham; No. 4 Washington State vs. winner of this afternoon's North Carolina-Arkansas game in Raleigh.

FRIDAY
MIDWEST (at Detroit)
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 12 Villanova; No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Davidson.

SOUTH (at Houston)
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Stanford; No. 5 Michigan State vs. winner of this afternoon's Memphis-Mississippi State game in Little Rock.

NCAA spokesman David Worlock announced Sunday afternoon that the final score in the UCLA-Texas A&M second-round game played in the Honda Center Saturday has been corrected to 51-49.

Game officials had apparently waived off Russell Westbrook's dunk, saying that the ball was still in his hand when the final horn sounded.

In the confusion of the end of the frantic game, the basket was counted.

OK, Stanford and Marquette brought a little madness to Anaheim.

What an ending to an amazing game.

That was bigtime poise on the part of point guard Mitch Johnson not to panic and feed Brook Lopez with as good a post pass as possible and what a touch by Lopez, who scored 28 points in the second half and overtime.

And Trent Johnson gets a reprieve because his team earned a spot in the Sweet 16 in Houston next week.

My, oh, my.

Trent Johnson was hit with two technicals and ejected with 3:36 to go in the first half. Stanford was down, 25-24 at the time. After all the free throws had been shot and Johnson was escorted into his locker room, the Cardinal found itself down 11 (36-25) with 1:34.

But Stanford, now being directed by assistant Doug Oliver, is about to tie the score (assuming Robin Lopez converts a free throw) with play resumes with 14:56 to go in the half.

I wonder what made Johnson so angry.

The Blue Devils became the highest seed (a 2) to be eliminated when West Virginia knocked them off (73-67) earlier today in Washington, D.C.

Although they held a five-point advantage at intermission, they struggled all day to score against the Mountaineers and, with about 13 or 14 minutes to go, I realized West Virginia was too solid, at both ends of the floor, to give up the eight to 10 point advantage it held most of the second half.

In a nutshell: Duke had no real low-post offense, and its jump shooters weren't good athletes and its athletes couldn't shoot jumpers.

OK, here's the final assessemnt of the high-seeds' carnage in Tampa today:

Drake (No. 5 seed in the West), by way of a 101-99 loss to 12 seed Western Kentucky;

Connecticut (No. 4 seed in the West), via a 71-70 loss to 13 seed San Diego;

Vanderbilt (No. 4 seed in the Midwest), eliminated after a 83-62 loss to 13 seed;

Clemson (No. 5 seed in the Midwest), bounced by 12 seed Villanova, 75-69.

Tampa, obviously, is the NCAA Tournament hot spot in 2008.

Incredibly enough, the second first-round game played there today was also decided in overtime, and on a jump shot, when 6-2 De'Jon Jackson rose up and knocked in a jumper over the top of 6-9 Stanley Robinson with a little more than a second to go in OT to give 13 seed San Diego a 70-69 win over 4 seed Connecticut.

So, the second-round, West game played in Tampa will have San Diego, which finished third in the West Coast Conference but advanced to the tourney after winning the WCC tourney on its home court, facing Western Kentucky, the runner-up in the Sun Belt Conference but its representative after regular-season champion South Alabama in the conference tourney semifinals.

Amazing.

All the excitement that was missing Thursday (other than what took place in Washington, D.C., during Duke's one-point gut-cruncher against Belmont) was overflowing during the Friday morning/early afternoon NCAA games.

That Ty Rogers' Reggie Miller-like 3-pointer from darn-near out of bounds to give Western Kentucky an overtime, 101-99 win over Drake in Tampa? Be prepared to watch that thing nearly as often as we've seen Tyus Edney hit his winning shot against Missouri in 1995 and Christian Laettner his shot-for-the-ages aainst Kentucky in 1992.

And about that shooting performance by Davidson's Stephen Curry in his team's 82-76 come-from-behind (the Wildcats trailed by 11 points a couple of times) over Gonzaga in Raleigh?

It's halftime at each of the four first-round games under way this morning.

Thoughts:

Gonzaga (41-36 over Davidson) is playing well and exploiting its size advantage, as well as the shooting of freshman Steve Gray (five 3's).

Tennessee (29-22 over American U) is struggling. Bad shots, shaky decisions with the ball.

Saint Mary's (32-27 over Miami) is getting solid play from freshman point guard Patrick Mills.

Western Kentucky (47-38 over Drake) is getting solid play from its bench and the Bulldogs (a 5 seed) aren't guarded very well, in half court or in transition.

So much for the ho-hum, by the (seeding) numbers first half of the first day of NCAA Tournament action . . .

Kansas State 80, USC 67 (Wow! So much for my projection of the Trojans getting to the Elite Eight) and . . .

Duke 71, Belmont 70 (Now, would have been one of the all-time half-dozen or so greatest NCAA Tournament upsets).

Now we're cooking . . .

Since we last "talked", so to speak, Stanford coasted by Cornell, 77-53, and it could have been much, much worse if Cardinal Coach Trent Johnson had been so inclined. How did the Big Red every stay within 14 points of Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium?

Texas A&M jumped BYU 11-0 but the Cougars have settled down and trail just 13-8 now. This should be tight all the way.

Los Alamitos High graduate Landry Fields just clanged iron on a breakaway dunk attermpt for Stanford late in the first half of its game against Cornell.

What Fields just did is called "hanging himself", in basketball lingo.

It really doesn't matter: The Cardinal leads, 24-15, with 5:35 to in the first half.

The Golden Eagles actually had pretty solid control of this thing throughout, although the Joe Crawford (35 points)-led Wildcats were within two points with 22 seconds to go. Wesley Matthews scored Marquette's final eight points (over 30 seconds) at the free-throw line. Marquette 74-66 and it now gets a Saturday afternoon game with Stanford. That is, unless, of course, Ivy League champion Cornell scores a super-duper upset a couple of hours from now.

Lazar Hayward's 3-pointer from the right corner with three seconds to go increased Marquette's lead to four points, at 33-39, over Kentucky at intermission.

The game has been exacty as promoted: a half-court, defensive struggle between a couple of teams that don't jump shoot the ball particularly well.

The only surprise among the first three games completed today was in Michigan State beating Temple in Denver in a South Regional, 72-61. I thought the Owls would be a lot more competitive.

Xavier turned in a nice final nine or 10 minutes to come from 11 points down to ended Georgia's nifty little post-season run, 73-61, in Washington, D.C.

And No. 1 Midwest seed Kansas' game with Portland State in Omaha went about to script: Jayhawks 85, Vikings 61. Don't be surprised to see Oregon State make an effort to hire PSU's Ken Bone as its next head coach.

The UCLA Bruins were scheduled to have their pre-game "shoot-around" this morning at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, located just southeast a few miles away from the Honda Center.

UCLA video director Clay McKnight is the son of Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight.

UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland got a call Tuesday from a coach who wanted to know if it would be OK if he swung by Pauley Pavilion and watch the Bruins practice.

Howland had no problem with allowing the visitor.

But, unfortunately, Bob Knight's media duties as a DirecTV spokesperson precluded him from taking in the afternoon workout.

Knight, accompanied by Coliseum Commission member David Israel, did come by campus, though, and visit briefly with Howland his staff.

He also took a tour of Pauley Pavilion, the first time he'd been in the building, according to Howland.

Did they talk Xs and Os?

"No, mostly we talked about fly fishing," Howland said.

The flight out of John Wayne got into Sacramento at about 9:45 this morning.

My picture on the blog, the one with the film reel, basketball and Double-Double coming out of my sawed off skull?

Well, I had one of those items, with a side of fries and medium Diet Coke, at 10:30 on the way to ARCO Arena.

9:59
The Warriors came out and played at the Dominguez expense.

McClymonds dominated things almost from the mid-point of the first quarter on and never let up en route to a 73-54 victory.

At 32-0, it's hard to argue against any McClymonds' claim to being the best team in California this season.

9:29
After three it's . . . McClymonds 49, Dominguez 43.

The Dons trailed by as many as 10 points a couple of times. If not for six turnovers by the Warriors in the quarter, the team from Oakland might be leading by 12 to 14 points.

9:17
TV timeout, 3:55 to go in the third quarter . . . and the Warriors continue to dominate things, in large part because of they're playing harder at both ends of the floor. McClymonds, 45-37. And Cartwright is on the bench after picking up his fourth foul early in the quarter.

8:48
It's halftime . . . and McClymonds is up, 35-31. The Warriors are playing a lot harder than the Dons.

And Dominguez point guard Bryce Cartwright has three fouls. Not good for the Dons.
8:41
TV timeout, second quarter: Dominguez 29-25.

The Dons are playing much better defense now as the Warriors just committed their ninth turnover. Hamilton has hit three deep, deep 3s and the Dons have gotten 10 points from reserves.

8:30
End of first quarter: It's tied at 18

McClymonds is aggressive as heck and is attacking and penetrating the Dominguez man-to-man. The Warriors were up five but a Kalea King 3 and Jordan Hamilton driving jumper tied the score for the Dons. This is going to be a battle . . .
8:11
Dominguez and McClymonds . . . about to tip off.

7:40
THREE-PEAT!

It's three state D-I titles in a row for Coach Carl Buggs' Poly Jackrabbits. Berkeley had its own "three-peat", become a three-time victim to the Jackrabbits in the final, 55-31.

Narbonne was much than Berkeley . . . at least it appeared that was when I saw the Gauchos lead most of way in the second half a week ago before losing to Poly in the Southern Regional final in the L.A. Sports Arena.

6:43
Halftime: Poly 35-17.

Early in the game I thought Berkeley looked better than San Francisco Sacred Heart while winning the D-III title. The Jackrabbits are too good for the Yellow Jackets. It's really as simple as that.

Expert analysis!
5:58
Poly and Berkeley girls, about to tip off in a minute or so, for the third year in a row . . .Fox Sports Prime Ticket is broadcasting the game. Check it out!

4:37
Game over, man! Santa Margarita 72-55.

Klay Thompson (a Best in the West choice and Mychal Thompson's son, as I've now written about 47 times) finished with 37 points, knocking in a state championship-record seven 3's.

Chase Tapley finished with 35 points. But the Dragons played right into the Eagles' hands by forcing an open-court, up-tempo pace.

So the Southern Region boys' teams are 3-1, with Dominguez wrapping up things vs. Oakland McClymonds in a few hours.

4:15
Santa Margarita 55-42 after three quarters . . .

Tapley is as good an open-floor scorer as there is in the California Class of 2009. I thought I would lay that on you . . . deep jumpers, mid-range game, and the ability to take it to the rim . . . he's got it all.

But Santa Margarita shouldn't lose this game . . .Tapley 32 points, Thompson 29.

3:50
Wow! That was quite a frenetic half of hoops . . . Santa Margarita 40, Sacramento 29.

Thompson has 21 points and Tapley has all but six of the local favorite's points. I'm not sure he has passed yet but Tapley is a phenomenal scorer. He's an elite-level shooting guard on the NCAA Div. I level. He's much improved from last summer.

But unless the Eagles rattle against the Dragons' pressure or key guys get into foul trouble, Santa Margarita will join Mater Dei as a state champion out of the Trinity League.

3:32
End of first quarter: Santa Margarita 21, Sacramento 14.

The Eagles were up 15-3 but a very good junior, Chase Tapley (10 points) is keeping his team relatively close. Klay Thompson scored 15 points for Santa Margarita. Just a reminder: He's very good.

2:59
Sacred Heart 48, Magnolia 33: Game over, man.

Sacred Heart looked better after intermission. But No. 1 in the country? Wow. I guess I just don't have a feel for the girls' game.

Santa Margarita and Sacramento warming up for the boys D-II game. This game was supposed to tip off at 2:45 . . . yikes. I can't imagine that the Poly girls (6 o'clock) and Dominguez boys (8) are going to be tipping off on time.

2:05
Halftime of the girls Div. III game: San Francisco Sacred Heart 23, Anaheim Magnolia 18.

Sacred Heart is ranked No. 1 nationally and beat the Poly Jackrabbits in a December tournament. The Jackrabbits sure appear to have more talent that does Sacred Heart.

12:45 p.m.
Branson 40, Renaissance Academy 33 . . . in the Boys V final.

Branson is from the Marin County and just bagged its third consecutive state title. My guess is that the parents and administrators will be pounding the chardonnay tonight.

Renaissance Academy has a highly touted junior, 6-9 Anthony Stover. Several college coaches were here to watch him. He didn't get involved much and scored just six points. He's physically gifted but has to play with a lot more passion and involvement.

There's my five-cent analysis.

Thirteen minutes before tipoff . . . UCLA vs. USC . . . Pacific 10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

There's your introduction. It should be a wicked night of basketball . . .

10:53
Stanford 75, Washington State 68.

The Cardinal a lot of Cougars' jump shots and the all-around play of Kyle Weaver to earned a spot in Saturday afternoon's final against UCLA.

Do you think Darren Collison will hear many whistles blowing when he drives on the Cardinal Saturday?

If Stanford's players and coaches are still bitter about the foul call on Lawrence Hill after an apparent clean block of Collison that led to two free throws and put the Bruins into overtime when UCLA eventually prevailed in Pauley Pavilion last week, they get an on-court opportunity to act on those frustrations Saturday afternoon.

Before I hit the 110 Freeway (to the 405 and then 5) home and get ready to fly to Sacramento Saturday morning for high school hoopla (state title games involving Poly's girls and Dominguez' boys), here's a thought:

There was nothing approaching an upset in the first three days of the tournament.

UCLA has the No. 1 seed in the West under lock and key. Can Stanford play itself into a No. 2 seed (not in the West, though) by beating the Bruins Saturday. I'm guessing . . . yes, it could.

10:21
Stanford continues to hold 5-to-7 point advantages. Brook Lopez has been ridiculous around the basket (28 points). No wonder he'll be one of the first six or seven selections in the June NBA Draft.

10:07
It's Semifinal No. 2 and Stanford is in front of Washington State, 47-45, with 11:37 remaining.

It's time to break this one out: Both of the semifinals have been the equivilent of high-level NCAA Tournament contests.

In fact, I'm not sure that we'll see any two second-round games next week matching teams of the caliber that played in the Pac 10 semifinals tonight.

8:14
It's over . . . but only after Mayo missed a 3 from out top that hit the back iron with about two seconds to go. Daniel Hackett recovered the ball but with not enough time to launch another potential score-tying 3. Bruins 57-54. I'm not sure if Mayo was shooting over Josh Shipp or Russell Westbrook. My line of vision was blocked by UCLA coaches . . . such is the price to pay for such a close seat, I suppose.

7:58
O.J. Mayo -- I haven't written his name in a while -- just scored on a nifty, spinning move to cut USC's deficit to five points. And Jefferson just picked up his fourth foul and Love is shooting the 1-and-1, with play resumes following the last "media" timeout with 3:43 to play.

By the way: I'm a media member yet have never requested a "timeout" during any basketball game I've covered. What's the deal?

7:50
Timeout UCLA (its fourth). USC has the momentum, albeit not a lot of it. Bruins have three consecutive turnovers and USC trails 50-45 with 6:12 remaining. Bruins have the ball.

7:47
Timeout USC, 8:19 to go . . . Mbah a Moute is on the floor, with his left leg elevated . .

7:40
After that initial burst by the Bruins, the game has gotten a little stagnant. Alfred Aboya just committed an ill-advised foul on Jefferson when he was shooting a fallaway jump shot. Not sure if it was ruled a 3-pointer or not. But he will be shooting at least two free throws with play resumes. UCLA 46-39 with 11:32 remaining.

Mbah a Moute is sitting on the bench . . .

7:20
"Sprained ankle, no break; won't play again tonight" said UCLA bb PR guy Ryan Finney of Mbah a Moute.

In the meantime, UCLA has outscored the Bruins 6-0 in the first two minutes of the second half. Score is tied and Tim Floyd called time out.

In
6:59
Darren Collison just hit a 19-footer at the buzzer to cut USC's lead to six points (34-28) at intermission.

That was one of the few good things to happen for UCLA. If Mbah a Moute's apparent ankle sprain is severe, the Bruins' hopes for a third consecutive Final Four appearance have just taken a major hit.

6:45
Mbah a Moute was just helped to the locker room with what appears to be a sprained left ankle. He looked to be in severe pain. That's not good for the Bruins, either for tonight or the NCAA Tournament.

6:32
USC is playing well on offense. The Trojans are aggressive without taking bad shots. Excellent movement off the ball. Dwight Lewis just drove right past Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for a layup and 17-11 and Ben Howland just called his second timeout. Scoring isn't going to come nearly as easily as it did Thursday, Bruins.

6:25
OK . . . a little delay while I try to figure out what the heck I'm doing. Not with my life but with getting this blog up and going.

Trojans 12-9. Davon Jefferson is playing well for the Trojans. They are junking it up defensively, with a triangle-and-two. Kevin Love is stepping out on the perimeter and has missed one 3 but has a nice follow dunk and another power layup.

6:03
Two minutes before tipoff. I'm sitting front row behind UCLA bench, if you want to look for me. There is no Double-Double coming out of my head . . .

OK, it's the first TV timeout of the first game (Arizona State-USC) of Thursday's Pac 10 quarterfinals in the Staples Center.

Arizona State needs to beat USC (I believe) to get an at-large bid on Sunday. Oregon needs to beat Washington State tonight and maybe win again Friday night to get a bid (I believe). Arizona got in (I believe) by beating Oregon State Wednesday night but could certainly remove all doubt with a win over Stanford in the late game this evening.

Stay tuned . . .

10:30
It's over . . . for now.

Stanford just turned in a dominant second half, pounding the ball inside to the Lopez Twin on just about every position to prevail, 75-64.

So the second semifinal Friday night (8:30) pits the Cardinal and Washington State (which held on to beat Oregon a few hours ago, 75-70).

What have we learned today?

That the teams that finished 1-4 in the regular-season standings are the conference's four best team, with Arizona State the fifth best, Oregon sixth best and Arizona seventh best. Washington would have knocked off Cal Wednesday night if Jon Brockman would have been healthy, so let's make them eighth best.

But, other than Arizona State, Oregon and Arizona losing Thursday, pretty much everything else went right for the conference's "bubble" teams Thursday

A whole mess of bubble-types across the country, including Dayton (Atlantic 10), Florida and Mississippi (SEC) and Maryland (Atlantic Coast) also lost.

The coaches and players at Arizona State and Oregon should root like heck for Michigan State to beat Ohio State Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament.

I think Arizona is the safest bet of the three to get in, regardless of whatever else happens between now and Sunday.

Thaaaaaaaaaaat's all, folks, until Friday!

6:45
Huge turnaound in the last few seconds of the first half for Oregon. The Ducks trailed by 20 points before Malik Hairston hit a jumper from the left wing, then the Ducks got a steal and a 3 by LeKendric Longmire at the buzzer and suddenly they're down by 15 points at intermission and got some mo(mentum). But they're going to have to play a whole lot better than they did over the first 20 minutes. The Cougars cut their defense to freakin' ribbons.
6:20
Game 3 and Washington State is comfortably in control of Oregon, 20-8, a little more than nine minutes into things.

Does Oregon get an at-large bid if it doesn't beat the Cougars? Gut feeling: nope.

4:20
The Bruins have a bunch of subs in the game with a little more than two minutes to go, which means . . . it's UCLA vs. USC Friday night at 6. It's the first time the Bruins and Trojans will meet in conference tourney history! Fire up!

3:50
Kevin Love opened the second half by hitt three 3's in a row. This is the best the Bruins have played in a while. They are up 51-35 with 15:57 to play.

3:24
This "Pendergraph didn't go over Jefferson's back on the dunk" stuff is reaching epic proportions. No one who has watched the replay thinks Pendergraph crashed in the USC forward on the play.

Guess what: The play is over. No amount of debating is going to change the outcome. USC won. ASU lost. and the Sun Devils will be sweating, big time, on Sunday.

But they DO deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament.

As for UCLA-Cal game, it appears as if the Bruins aren't going to need any miracle (or, if you're a Cal fan, "illegal") shots from Josh Shipp to pull this one out. The Bruins are in front at intermission, 39-25.

If they don't self destruct over the final 20 minutes, the Bruins will have the No. 1 seed in the West securely in their grasps.

2:34
Just got out of the media/interview room and Sendek is being very diplomatic in his assessment of the call that negated Pendegraph's apparent score-tying dunk. That's a smart move, I believe.

I think of the 10-person committee in Indianapolis deciding who to use the final few at-large bids on get details of the game and how close the Sun Devils came to knocking off a very good USC team, well, that can only enhance ASU's hopes.

Whining about getting mistreated by the officials wouldn't . . .
2:04
USC advances . . . and ASU Coach Herb Sendek and his players are none too happy about it. The Trojans prevailed, 59-55, so will play the winner of the next-up game between UCLA and Cal Friday night at 6 o'clock.

The the officials' call that irked Sendek & Co. was the follow dunk by Jeff Pendergraph with 16.9 seconds to play that apparently tied the score. But it was waved off after Pendergraph was called for going over Davon Jefferson's back. According to some who had a better view of the play that I did (including those who had a chance to see the TV replay), it was a bad call.

Here comes for whining about Pac 10 officiating . . .

And it's not going to do a darn bit of good, boys and girls.

Anyway, USC is in the semifinals and continues to improve its tournament seed.

As for the Sun Devils, a win in this would have have put them squarely in the NCAA Tournament field. Now Sendek and his guys are going to be doing major sweating between now at 3 p.m. PT Sunday when the field is unveiled on Sunday.

ASU is one of the 34 best at-large candidates. But, if forced to say, that the Sun Devils are "in" or "out", I'd lean toward "sorry, guys".

12:51
Bang! Ty Abbott and James Harden combined for a steal of an O.J. Mayo dribbled, and Abbott dunked in transition with a second to go, to cut USC's lead to 32-30 at intermission.

It was a pretty solid half of basketball. The Trojans hurt themselves with 10 turnovers. USC has used three different defenders against Harden.

Now, if the Sun Devils can outscore the Trojans by three points over the next 20 minutes, I will call them official "tournament locks".

There's the motivation, guys . . .

12:28
The Trojans are getting into a much better rhythm, offensively, and attacking ASU's zone with much more purpose.

By the way, I need a nap . . .
12:15 p.m.
My press seat is right behind the USC bench but everything is calm so far. Sun Devils lead, 6-5.

I haven't been in the L.A. Sports since USC's last season (2005-06) as a basketball tenent.

Suffice to say, the place hasn't changed much. But I don't remember a large diet coke costing $5 the last time I was was here.

Anyway, I'm here for the whole day for the State Southern Regional Divisions I, II & II finals, on the boys' and girls' levels.

It's going to be a long day . . .

Oh, way a moment: I was wrong. The place has changed. There is no longer an overhead scoreboard. That was removed, I was told, because American Gladiator is produced here. Not sure why they wanted it removed, though.

So, to follow the time remaining in a quarter, you have to look at the shot clocks above each basket. The score is on a large TV monitor high above and behind one basket.

It'll do.

11:05
This day has been tooo long.

Poly's girls prevailed in overtime, 60-57, over Narbonne.

And the Dominguez-Martin Luther King boys D-I final didn't start until about 8:50 and wrap up until 10:20 with the Dons in front, 83-74, meaning, like the Jackrabbits, they'll play in state a title game next Saturday night in Sacramento.

Overtimes: I can do without them.

But let me tell you: Jasmine Dixon of Poly? She's the real deal, baby.

7:32
Three quarters have been played . . . and Narbonne is still in front, but barely, 33-32.

Monique Oliver scored four buckets to for Poly but Jasmine Dixon is on the bench with four fouls for the Jackrabbits.

7:05
Halftime, girls D-1: Narbonne 25, Poly 17

Very sloppy game . . .

6:01
I just heard Donovan Morris hit a mid-court shot to send Long Beach State's game with UC Santa Barbara. Incredible!

A little more than 16 minutes before tipoff for the Poly-Narbonne girls' D-1 final.

As I wrote earlier . . . it's going to be a long night.

5:45
The horn sounds . . . and the Monarchs have rolled over Fresno Edison, 75-59.

I'm guessing (though I haven't heard a NorCal final yet) that it will be Mater Dei vs. San Jose Mitty new weekend in Sacramento in a rematch of last season's D-II final, won in OT by the lads from Santa Ana.

Drew Gordon vs. David and Travis Wear will be entertaining.

5:20
Mater Dei 52, Edison 40 . . . one more quarter to go.

Mater Dei has too much balance and too many ways to score for Edison. Greg Smith, Edison's junior big man, has size and talent but is still a bit raw to do much against a team as big and solid as the Monarchs are.

4:05
Six more minutes of warmup for Mater Dei vs. Fresno Edison, Div. II boys final.

I just bought popcorn for $5. Total expenditures on concessions: $17.

3:39
Remind me never to comment on how "fast' games are transpiring. Mira Costa 72, Ayala 64 in three OTs.

At this rate, Dominguez and MLK are tipping off at about 9:30 p.m.

3:03
It's OT for Mira Costa and Ayala (score is 50-all). It figured, after I commented to someone "This thing is going to be over after just one hour!"

It sounds as if UCLA pulled off an even more improbable victory against Cal just now than it did against Stanford Thursday night . . . The Bruins are living life dangerously.

2:27
Dean Crowley, former CIF Southern Section commissioner, runs the Southern Regionals. Good guy.

A big of history: He was the Dean of Boys at Gahr High way back when I was a Gladiator a few years ago.

2:20
Intermission of the girls' Div. II game: Mira Costa 25, Ayala 24

Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" is cranking over the sound system. Whatever happened to Tone-Loc?

1:55
Ayala vs. Mira Costa, for in the girls Div. II game, just tipped . . .

I just made a solid $7 investment . . . two grilled chicken tacos, flooded with mild salsa, onions and lettuce on soft shells . . . now I need a nap.

I see UCLA is losing by nine with about 16 minutes to go in Pauley Pavilion. I can't figure that team out.

1:15
It's a wrap: Santa Margarita 67, Bishop Montgomery 39.

The Eagles dominated the second half, using a 13-1 spurt in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the third quarter to remove the miniscule doubt that existed before the game about the outcome.

Santa Margarita has lost just to Campbell Hall (playing in the Div. IV game at Mater Dei today), Mater Dei (twice; the Monarchs are in the DIv. II game here in a couple of hours) and Dominguez (twice; the Dons are in the Div. I game tonight at 8).

The Eagles are one of the half-dozen best teams in SoCal, along with the aforementioned three squads, Riverside Martin Luther King (playing Dominguez in the Div. I final) and Taft (the L.A. City champion that MLK upset Thursday night).

12:30 p.m.
It's halftime of the boys' Div. III tilt and Santa Margarita is holding a 30-25 advantage over Bishop Montgomery.

It's been a pretty well played first half, with both teams playing solid man to man defense. Justin Cobbs, a very good junior guard, has 11 points for Bishop Montgomery, despite being guard by the Eagles' Klay Thompson most of the way.

Klay's dad, Mychal, is in the stands behind the Eagles' bench. I'm not sure if the Lakers play tonight.

The stats were just handed to me: Cobbs if five of 11 from the field for 13 points. Thompson missed his first four shots but hit three of five the rest of the way and had 10 points.

11:30
Girls Div. III: Magnolia 40, Muir 39
As Bill Paxton, as one of the space marines, said in Aliens 2, "Game over man, game over!"

10:30 a.m.
There is no hospitality room (at least that I can find). So I just forked out $5 for the diet coke. What is this, a movie theatre or something?

I'm perusing the State Southern Regional basketball pairings on the boys' Division I level and there are going to be some rock 'em, sock 'em matchups as soon as Monday night.

As expected, L.A. City champion Taft got the No. 1 overall seed and Dominguez (which has lost twice, both times to Taft) was No. 2 in the 16-team bracket that gets underway Monday, and then continues Tuesday and Thursday night on the higher seeds' home floor, and wraps up in the L.A Sports with the title game at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The best of the Monday night games: L.A. Fremont (L.A. City semifinalist) at Riverside Martin Luther King (Southern Section IA champion), Hemet West Valley (SS IIIA champion) at San Diego (San Diego champion) and Perris (SS IIIA runner-up) at Fairfax (L.A. City runner-up).

Projected second-round games on Tuesday: Clovis East at Taft, Martin Luther King at Westchester, Etiwanda at Fairfax and West Valley at Dominguez.

Best individual matchups on Monday night: Paul George (Palmdale Knight) vs. Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez), Michael Snaer (Moreno Valley Rancho Verde) vs. Jared Dubois (Westchester) and Robert Smith (Perris) vs. Chris Solomon (Fairfax).

Chino Hills (which lost to MLK in the SS IA semifinal) apparently got the last of the Southern Section's eight Div. I bids instead of Long Beach Wilson, which surprised many by advancing to the IAA semifinals, where the Bruins lost to Mater Dei, 70-61.

Not surprisingly, Trinity League powers Mater Dei and Santa Margarita were the No. 1 seeds in the Divisions II and III, respectively, while Campbell Hall got the top slot in Div. IV and L.A. Price (smacked silly by Campbell Hall in the Southern Section IIIA title game Saturday, is the top seed in V.

Hardest seeding figure: How Westchester (with four losses, including one to Fairfax in the L.A. City semifinals) was seeded fourth while MLK (which won its championship and lost only to Dominguez and Mater Dei, the two best teams in the Southern Section, this season) was fifth.

Assuming both win Monday night, Westchester's better seed means it will face MLK at home. That is a huge advantage, although Tim Sweeney Jr.'s team is certainly capable of beating the Comets outside of the Riverside County limits.

Mater Dei is likely to face Fresno Edison in the Div. II final Saturday at 4 o'clock in the Sports Arena. Mater Dei twins Travis and David Wear would then face a Pump-N-Run traveling team buddy of theirs, 6-9 junior Greg Smith.

Valley Christian, the Southern Section's IVA winner Friday night, drew the third seed in Div. IV and plays host to Fresno San Joaquin Memorial (the Central Section winner) Tuesday night.

If the Crusaders prevail, then it's (probably) on to San Diego Horizon High to face the San Diego champion, which is led by 7-foot Best in the West selection and Arizona-bound, Jeff Withey.

Should Coach Bryan Branderhorst's crew win that one, guess who (barring an upset of something-beyond stunning magnitudes) would be waiting for the Crusaders in the 7 o'clock Saturday night final at Mater Dei High?

Jrue Holiday and his buddies on the Campbell Hall team.

It's going to be an interesting week . . .

I just read my Long Beach State mens' basketball story (re: the loss at Cal State Fullerton Saturday) on-line and realized I had the 49ers' Big West record incorrect.

The 49ers are 3-11 in conference play, not the 2-12 I wrote.

Coach Dan Monson's team closes its regular season with conference games against Cal Poly (Thursday) and UC Santa Barbara (Saturday) in the Walter Pyramid.