February 2010 Archives

Some thoughts about tonight's Southern Section and L.A. City boys' basketball playoff games:

There weren't many "real" surprises, albeit a mild in in Etiwanda advancing over Poly (58-55) in a Southern Section I-AA game at Long Beach City.

I thought the Jackrabbits would win if they would take advantage of their notable size advantage in the posts -- and if they were a bit sharper than they were in Rounds 2 and 3. Obviously, they failed on both accounts.

They'll still be in the Southern Regional and will likely host a first-round game on March 8 (I'm guessing against either Colony or Loyola, which lost in the SS I-A semifinals tonight). But then the going would get very difficult on March 9 with a possible second-round game, perhaps, at the L.A. City runner-up (Westchester or Taft) and then a March 11 semfinal at the I-AA champion (uh, you think that might be Mater Dei?). Survive all three of those and THEN the Rabbits would probably face the City champion at Pauley Pavilion.

Good luck, fellas.

Mater Dei, as expected, cruised past Rancho Verde (by 36 points) and will do the same thing against Etiwanda: I repeat, no one in the Southern Section can beat Mater Dei this season.

The I-A final is exactly as I expected it to be when the pairings were announced: No. 3 seed Leuzinger vs. No. 8 Santa Monica.

The III-A final is what I expected: No. 1 Serra vs. No. 3 Centennial. The Apaches had to suck it up and play some tough D in the second half to pull it out, though. Serra-Centennial could be the best of the finals played in the Honda Center next Saturday (although Leuzinger-Santa Monica will be very good as well).

The finals that will be played at the Honda Center are:
I-AA: Mater Dei vs. Etiwanda
I-A: Leuzinger vs. Santa Monica
II-AA: Eisenhower vs. Pasadena
II-A: Compton vs. Murrietta Valley
III-AA: Ocean View vs. Foothill
III-A: Serra vs. Centennial

The finals that will be played at Mater Dei or Colony, on Thursday or Friday (to be determined):

IV-AA: Price vs. Orange Lutheran
IV-A: Alemany vs. Crespi
V-AA: Windward vs. LaVerne Lutheran
V-A: Sierra Canyon vs. Besant Hill
VI-AA: Ribet Academy vs. Tarbut V'Torah
VI-A: Kilpartrick vs. West Valley Christian

Including . . .

I-A
Santa Monica over Colony: Too much balance and too much defense
Leuzinger over Loyola: Leuzinger is the most underrated team in Southern California and should do damage in the State Div. I regionals as well.

II-AA
Summitt over Murrieta Valley: No reason to pick against top seed yet
Compton over Burbank: The Tarbabes are helping demonstrate how tough the Moore League was this season.
II-A
Eisenhower over Damien: No team plays harder than Eisenhower
Pasadena over Mark Keppel: Nice Cinderella season comes to a close
III-AA
Ocean View over Palm Springs: Seahawks heading to another final
Foothill over Elsinore: Knights' playoff D amazing
III-A
Serra over Gahr: Gladiators meet a team that is better at their style than they are -- with much more talent
Centennial over Harvard-Westlake: This could possibly be the best game of the night
IV-AA
Price over Bishop Amat: Price will win a state title, as well
Inglewood over Orange Lutheran: The Lancers a little too young for title run yet
IV-A

Here you go . . . I'm fighting off the flu (I felt miserable Wednesday) but am feeling well enough to go vertical for a while and give you some predictions, starting with . . .

CIF SS 1-AA semifinals
Rancho Verde vs. Mater Dei (at Ocean View High): No high school hoops player in Southern California means more to his team than does Kyle Fuller for Rancho Verde. The Vanderbilt-bound guard will score 30-plus points on the Monarchs but his team doesn't have enough weapons to exploit Mater Dei's defense in another fashion.
Projected final: Mater Dei 84, Rancho Verde 68

Etiwanda vs. Poly (at Long Beach City College): The Jackrabbits have played two consecutive down-to-the-wire tilts and this should be the first of those. These are probably the two-best half-court defensive squads in the division and it's appropriate that they meet somewhere along the line. The Jackrabbits' size and depth should prove just enough of a difference.
Projected final: Poly 67, Etiwanda 63

Here are Friday night's CIF Southern Section boys' basketball playoff semifinals, with "home" teams listed second (schools must use "alternative sites" within their community):

I-AA
Upper bracket
Rancho Verde vs. Mater Dei (probably at Ocean View High)
Lower bracket
Etiwanda vs. Poly (probably at Millikan High or Long Beach City College)

I-A
Upper bracket
The Colony vs. Santa Monica
Lower bracket
Loyola vs. Leuzinger

II-AA
Upper bracket
Murrieta Valley vs. Summit
Lower bracket
Burbank vs. Compton (probably at Dominguez High)

II-A
Upper bracket
Damien vs. Eisenhower
Lower bracket
Mark Keppel vs. Pasadena

III-AA
Upper bracket
Palm Springs vs. Ocean View (possibly at Mater Dei High)
Lower bracket
Elsinore vs. Foothill

III-A
Upper bracket
Serra vs. Gahr (possibly at Cerritos College)
Lower bracket
Harvard-Westlake vs. Compton Centennial (possibly at Compton High)

IV-AA
Upper bracket
Price vs. Bishop Amat
Lower bracket
Orange Lutheran vs. Inglewood

IV-A
Upper bracket
Paraclete vs. Alemany
Lower bracket
Crespi vs. Notre Dame

V-AA
Upper bracket
Calvary Chapel-Santa Ana vs. WIndward
Lower bracket
LaVerne Lutheran vs. Pasadena Poly

V-A
Upper bracket
Sierra Canyon vs. Renaissance Academy
Lower bracket
Besant Hill vs. Linfield Christian

Junior guard Alexis Moore scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer with two seconds to go to give Poly a 61-58 victory over host Los Osos.

The Jackrabbits will play Etiwanda (a winner over Corona Centennial tonight) Friday night in a semifinal that will be played at either Long Beach City College or Millikan High.

3:09 to go.

. . . 30 seconds into the fourth quarter after a transition bucket by Poly's Alex Carmon.

The Jackrabbits have to play a whole lot better in this quarter or their season ends tonight.

Guard Kendall Williams scored 15 points in a stretch of 2:19 in the second quarter -- including eight points on one possession (three free throws after being fouled while shooting a 3; an ensuing two free throws after a tech on Shelton Boykin; and then he hit a 3 after the ensuing inbound pass after the tech FTs) -- to lead Los Osos, which trailed 14-7 late in the first quarter.

Los Osos has committed four turnovers but hit two 3s, one with a second to go in the first quarter.

The Long Beach State coach is here to watch his recruit, Shelton Boykin of Poly, and guard Kendall Williams of Los Osos, a recruiting target of the 49ers.

. . . in the city of Rancho Cucamonga. The last time I went this far north on the I-15, I drove to Las Vegas . . . .

Here we go . . . my picks on tonight's CIF Southern Section boys' basketball quarterfinal playoff games, starting with the . . .

I-AA
Mater Dei over Los Alamitos (this one will be "competitive" -- just not enough so that the Griffins will be in position to win it late in the game)
Rancho Verde over Upland (too much Kyle Fuller is can be lethal for opponents, as the Lakewood Lancers will attest)
Etiwanda over Corona Centennial (Etiwanda will slow down Centennial's transition attack)
Poly over Los Osos (the Jackrabbits will have to click on all cylinders in this one to beat a team with the best pair of players they have faced on on team this season)

I-A
Santa Monica over Chino Hills (No. 1 seed bites the dust)
Tesoro over Colony (No. 4 goes out as well)
Leuzinger over Corona Roosevelt (there sure are a lot of good programs in Corona these days, eh?)
Loyola over Mission Viejo (pace -- slow for MV, fast for Loyola -- dictates winner of this one)

II-AA
Saugus over Summit (another No. 1 goes by wayside)
Alta Loma over Murrieta Valley
Canyon/Canyon Country over Burbank
Compton over Edison (but only if Tarbabes don't turn it over much and can exploit a big size advantage)

II-A
Eisenhower over Mayfair (Eisenhower is just too relentless)
Damien over Irvine University
Baldwin Park over Mark Keppel
Pasadena over Mira Costa

III-AA
Ocean View over La Habra
Palm Springs over Sonora
Santa Margarita over Elsinore
Foothill over Arroyo Grande

III-A
Serra over Golden Valley
Gahr over Corona del Mar (but not if the Sea Kings slow things down and exploit the Gladiators gambling defense)
Compton Centennial over La Canada (the Apaches will have to beat this team in a half-court setting)
Harvard-Westlake over Calabasas (a Valley Affair)

IV-AA
Price over Morningside (by a large margin)
Bishop Amat over Lawndale
Inglewood over Atascadero
El Segundo over Orange Lutheran (Upset Special)

IV-A
Oaks Christian over Alemany
Woodcrest Christian over Paraclete
Pacific Hills over Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks
Crespi over LaSalle

V-A
Renaissance Academy over Holy Martyrs
St. Anthony over Sierra Canyon (The fun will end Friday vs. Renaissance)
Brethren Christian over Linfield Christian
Besant Hill over Bell-Jeff

Here are some of the Tuesday night CIF Southern Section quarterfinal boys hoops playoffs on tap: All games are set for 7 o'clock tipoffs unless otherwise noted.

IAA
Upper Bracket
Los Alamitos at Mater Dei
Upland at Rancho Verde
Lower Bracket
Corona Centennial at Etiwanda
Poly at Los Osos

IIAA
Lower Bracket
Compton at Edison

IIA
Upper Bracket
Eisenhower at Mayfair

IIIA
Upper Bracket
Golden Valley at Serra
Gahr at Corona Del Mar
Lower Bracket
Compton Centennial at La Canada
Harvard-Westlake at Calabasas

VA
Upper Bracket
Sierra Canyon at St. Anthony

The Monarchs looked every bit the best team in the state tonight, blitzing the Panthers behind incredible scoring balance: Tyler Lamb 25 points, Keala King 22, Gary Franklin 20 and Max Hooper 15. They hit 16 3-pointers.

Seniors Darius Williams and Jesse Jones had 16 points apiece for Jordan, which finishes 18-11.

Jordan led by five points late in the first period but the Mater Dei duo of Tyler Lamb (16 points) and Keala King (13 points/best player on the floor) is going to be very tough -- and probably -- impossible to overcome.

Max Hooper (three) and Gary Franklin (two) have combined for five 3-pointers for the Monarchs.

Jesse Jones has nine points for the Panthers, who were hurt by poor shot selections, turnovers and bad defensive transition during Mater Dei's 29-point second quarter.

It's about 15 minutes away from the start of the Mater Dei vs. Jordan CIF Southern Section IAA second-round playoff game in JTown.

I'm obviously here and I'll be filing posts as often as possible and I will also endeavor to post any other scores/updates I get from other games.

Stay tuned!

Sorry for the delay . . . had some chores to get out of the way this morning.

On to boys basketball hoops predictions, starting with . . .

CIF SS IAA
Upper Bracket
Mater Dei over Jordan (I'm expected a spirited effort out of the Panthers but the Monarchs have too much talent and poise to be too rattled by Coach Ron Massey's team or a hostile crowd)
Los Alamitos over Pacifica-Oxnard (the Griffins will have to visit the House that Gary Built for a quarterfinal match with Mater Dei Tuesday night)
Montebello over Upland (Montebello continues a nice little Cinderella tale of sorts)
Lakewood over Rancho Verde (if the Lancers can keep Kyle Fuller from going house on them again, they'll be playing Tuesday night).

Lower Bracket
Corona Centennial over Lynwood (Oh, let's make it Centennial 97, Lynwood 90)
Etiwanda over Trabuco Hills (Etiwanda executes too well on offense and its defense will lock up the Mustangs)
Los Osos over Thousand Oaks (the play of point guard Kendall Williams will be the difference)
Poly over Knight (if the Jackrabbits aren't looking ahead, they should be fine no matter how pumped the crowd in Palmdale is tonight)

All in all, it was a good morning of coin flips for area boys' high school basketball teams at the CIF Southern Section office in Los Alamitos.

Of course, the Poly High Jackrabbits would disagree.

The Jackrabbits, the No. 2 seed in the IAA division, were the only area team to lose a coin flip this morning to determine who will host second-round games Friday night.

The Jackrabbits will have to travel to Palmdale to face No. 15 seed and Golden League champion Knight.

In the only other coin flip in the division involving an area team, No. 8 Los Alamitos prevailed and will play host to No. 9 Pacifica of Oxnard.

Jordan (vs. No. 1 Mater Dei), Lynwood (vs. No. 3 Corona Centennial) and Lakewood (vs. No. 4 Rancho Verde) got automatic home games Friday night based on their road victories Wednesday night. Their Friday night opponents were at home Wednesday.

In the IIAA, Moore League runner-up and No. 7 Compton won its flip and will play host to No. 10 Valencia of Placentia.

In the IIA, Suburban League champion No. 8 Mayfair will travel to Nogales in La Puente because the Monsoons were at home Wednesday night while Nogales was springing atn upset of host and No. 9 San Bernardino.

No. 14 Norwalk, which tied for second place in the Suburban League, won its flip and will be at home to No. 3 Mark Keppel of Alhambra.

In the very tough IIIA division, No. 4 Gahr won a flip and will get to play host to No. 14 Oak Park.

No. 3 Centennial travels to No. 12 Charter Oak since the latter was on the road Wednesday while the Apaches were at home.

In the IVA, No. 14 Valley Christian got an automatic home game against No. 3 Pacific Hills since the Crusaders traveled Wednesday night while Pacific Hills was at home.

No. 5 St. Anthony will travel to Bermuda Dunes to play No. 14 Desert Christian in a VA second-round game.

Unless noted otherwise, the games are scheduled to tip off at 7 o'clock Friday night.

The Tigers withstood a couple of runs by the 49ers and then put the hammer down on them down the stretch to cruise by 22 points in front of a mostly numb Walter Pyramid crowd.

Can things get any worse for this Long Beach State team than they looked at times tonight?

Things are getting out of hand for the 49ers.

Consecutive turnovers have contributed to layups -- and a 66-50 advantage for Pacific -- with 5:10 remaining.

The crowd seems numb.

The 49ers cut their deficit to 44-42 but the Tigers are pulling away again.

Sam Willard just buried a 3-pointer while being fouled by Andrew Fleming of Long Beach and, following a timeout, he will be shooting a free throw with 11:30 remaining in attempt to put UOP up, 50-40.

The issue is simple: The Tigers get pretty good shot attempts on nearly every possession and the 49ers don't.

The UOP Tigers exploited Long Beach's defense for the final eight or nine minutes to take a 33-26 lead at intermission against the 49ers tonight in the Walter Pyramid.

They will have to play a lot better in the final 20 minutes to pull this one out.

Here we go . . . in conjunction with the earlier post of predictions on each boys' CIF SS IAA game tonight, here are selected other predictions across the spectrum of the Southern Section playoff openers tonight:

IIAA
Compton over West Valley (the Tarbabes are much too talented to not advance to at least the quarterfinals of this division)

IIA
Mayfair over Newport Harbor (Tim Douglas will carry this club to the quarterfinal round next Tuesday night)
Norwalk over Rowland (the Lancers' solid season will be extended at least until Friday night)

IIIAA
Bishop Montgomery over Artesia (the Knights execute too well in the half court)
Cerritos over Ramona (the Suburban League was pretty strong, minus a tremendous team, this season)
La Mirada over Granite Hills (this would be a mild upset)

IIIA
Serra over Servite (this can be as lopsided as Coach Dwan Hurt wants it to be)
Gahr over Antelope Valley (the Gladiators will overwhelm this team in transition)
Centennial over Irvine (the Apaches and Serra will play in a semifinal on Feb. 26)
Calabasas over St. John Bosco (but the Braves will make a deep run in this division a year from now)

IVAA
Price over South Pasadena (by a large margin; Price cruises in this division)

IVA
Valley Christian over Desert (an upset in name only)
Whittier Christian over Whitney (one-and-done for the squad with the marvelous GPA)

Game by game for Wednesday's opening round!

UPPER BRACKET
Mater Dei over Corona (90-something to 30-something sound about right)
Jordan over Vista Murrieta (the Panthers have a Friday night date with the Monarchs in North Long Beach)
Pacifica-Oxnard over Arcadia (Los Al is on tap for this winner)
Los Alamitos over San Clemente (the Griffins are Sweet 16-bound)
Montebello over Corona Santiago (Montebello has a very good 6-10 junior center in Antonio Worthy)
Upland over Silverado (Upland is very quick)
Redlands over Lakewood (the Lancers could spring the upset)
Rancho Verde over Downey (Vanderbilt-bound Kyle Fuller is one of the division's half-dozen best players)

LOWER BRACKET
Corona Centennial over Cabrillo (the Jaguars will make it interesting for a while)
Lynwood over Ventura (upset-special in first round)
Oxnard over Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo to Oxnard; that's a hefty bus ride)
Etiwanda over Palmdale (Etiwanda the sleeper in this division)
Thousand Oaks over Bell Gardens (nothing insightful to add to this one)
Los Osos over Paramount (Los Osos has major college talent in Kendall Williams and Khalil Kelly)
ML King over Knight (The Sweeney Coaching team gets Wolves to a game with Poly)
Poly over Great Oak (LaBradford Franklin is very good; not good enough, though, to engineer a massive upset in this one).

Well, that certainly takes some of the sting out of losing Josh Shirley, Jordan Zumwalt and Dietrich Riley to UCLA . . .

The nation's best offensive lineman, Seantrel Henderson (Minnesota), just announced on CBS College Sports that he is signing with USC.

He said Ohio State finished second.

Some pundits are saying that Lane Kiffin's class could rate as high as No. 3 nationally, after unanimous 1-2 Florida and Texas.

The Bruins just won another head-to-head battle with USC . . . St. Francis BIW selection (No. 18 in the balloting) Dietrich Riley just announced for the Bruins on ESPNU.

So all 20 Best in the West first-team selections have signed or announced for schools.

The final count in the Top 20: USC (6), UCLA (4), Oklahoma (3), Washington (2), Florida (2), Oregon (1), BYU (1) and Cal (1).

Factor in the Bruins five honorable mention signees and it means nine of Top 30-ranked BIW players are Westwood-bound.

USC's six first-team recruits and two honorable mentions give the Trojans eight of the Top 30.

UCLA went head to head with the likes of USC, Miami and Washington and came out on top for linebacker Josh Shirley (Fontana Kaiser), fifth in the standings for the 10-player honorable mention list of the Best in the West.

Assuming cornerbacker Anthony Jefferson (L.A. Cathedral), as expected, signs with the Bruins today, that will give Coach Rick Neuheisel five of the 10 honorable mention choices -- including four of the top five: Jordan Zumwalt, Anthony Barr, Cassius Marsh and Shirley.

This is shaping up as one of the best-ever classes for the UCLA program.

Now that's what is called a ``recruiting coup'' . . .

Owamagbe Odighizuwa (Portland Douglas), fifth in the Best in the West voting and one of the three or four best defensive end prospects in the country, just announced that he is signing with UCLA.

That gives the Bruins three of the top 11 finishers (with running backs Malcolm Jones of Oaks Christian and Jordon James of Corona) in the BIW balloting.

Ricky Heimuli, a defensive tackle from Salt Lake City Brighton, and No. 14 in the BIW balloting, announced for Oregon within the hour.

That's a bit surprising: Most thought he would stay close to home or head to Westwood.

Next up for the Bruins: The 11:30 a.m. press conference from Portland's Douglas High, where defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa (No. 5 in BIW voting) will choose from among UCLA, Oregon State and Nebraska.

The biggest news this a.m. from a "Best in the West perspective"

*Narbonne safety Sean Parker (No. 20 in the balloting for the final spot on the first team) signed with the University of Washington instead of USC or Michigan.

Might this at least partially signal that another first-team BIW safety, Dietrich Riley (St. Francis), is Troy-bound?

*Edison linebacker Jordan Zumwalt, who "committed" to Stanford late in the summer, signed with UCLA.

Consider it a bit of "tit for tat". Quarterback Brett Nottingham (Danville Monte Vista) -- a long-time UCLA "commit" -- is expected to sign with Stanford.

Check my blog all day Wednesday for comments/reactions to the various prep football signings across the country, especially relative to the Press-Telegram's 34th Best in the West team!

A couple of items:

*It will be announced this evening that Coach Dan Monson's Long Beach State men's basketball team will travel to Moscow, Idaho, to play the University of Idaho in a Feb. 20 BracketBuster game.

Monson is a U of Idaho graduate.

*Sophomore forward Eugene Phelps was selected the Big West Conference's Player of the Week for his performances in the team's wins over Cal State Northridge and UC Davis.

The 49ers are the first Big West (or Pacific Coast Athletic Association, as it was formerly known) program with five different players selected Player of the Week in one season.

The other starters -- Larry Anderson, T.J. Robinson, Stephan Gilling and Casper Ware -- got the honor earlier this season.