March 2008 Archives

With the true opening day coming in less than eight hours, I figured someone needed to make some predictions for the upcoming season. Here is my attempt to catch lightning in a bottle and some commentary to go along with it.

When the tournament brackets were released on CBS two weeks ago, CBS analyst Clark Kellogg made what I thought was the stupidest possible prediction, as he prognosticated that all four No. 1 seeds would advance to the Final Four. With only one more day left before the Final Four is set, Kellogg may be right.

Well, if there's an upset to be had out there, I won't pick it (thanks Davidson). If there's an upset that won't happen, I'll claim it as so (thanks Michigan State). Keep that in mind on my picks the rest of the way, as Memphis continues to make me look bad with every passing second.

I must say Xavier has become my albatross in this tournament, as the Musketeers continue to punish me for my insolence. For two weeks now, I keep talk about how Xavier is ripe for a fall. For two weeks now, the Muskies have given me a middle finger.

This might be the most wide-open of regions going into the Sweet 16, which makes sense because it was the most wide-open region coming in. Unlike other regions, which had the Western Kentuckys and Washington States of the world advance, you can name any of the four teams left and see them in the Final Four. With Memphis, Texas, Stanford and Michigan State, you have teams that have been there before or have an excess of talent.

Except for top-seeded Kansas, who blitzed through its first two opponents, the Midwest Regional was Bizarro World. Kramer had a briefcase full of crackers for his 9-to-5 job, Elaine met Bizarro Jerry, George and Kramer, George dated models and Jerry was disorganized.

Upland quarterback Josh Nunes, who has already received eight scholarship offers, is rated the No. 45 player in the country according to Rivals.

Cajon quarterback Taylor Martinez, who helped lead the Cowboys to a 6-5 record and a victory over Pasadena Muir in the first round of the CIF-SS Central Division playoffs, transferred to Corona Centennial over the winter.

I might not have been right about everything in the West region (far from it actually) but one thing I nailed was that there would be whining about the officiating in a UCLA game. That happened in the Bruins' second-round game against Texas A&M, as a controversial no-call in the final seconds helped UCLA escape with a 51-49 victory Saturday.

Well, I must say my picks last week were a mixed bag. My upset specials were all horrid and stunk to high heaven and I was completely wrong to say that Villanova was a fraud, but I must say I was right about telling people to stay away from Vandy and Pitt and bet high on West Virginia. Anyone who rolled the dice on Michigan State, like I advocated in the South Region breakdown, is playing with house money at this point.

Well, with the field down to 16, I'll be breaking down each game individually from now on. Let's do this, starting with the East Region.

The final of our four regions is extremely wide-open, as any one of the top five seeds have a realistic shot of making it to the Final Four in San Antonio. Memphis, Texas, Stanford, Pittsburgh and even Michigan State could make a run, depending on how things go down.

Here's the region most of you are looking forward to, as UCLA headlines this region. No. 2 Duke and No. 4 UConn also bring the West star power.

We'll stay on the right side of the bracket (according the one we are running in the Sun) and head to the Midwest. This region might be the most entertaining of the four, with great teams (Kansas, Georgetown, Wisconsin) combining with great individual players (Kansas State F Michael Beasley, Vanderbilt G/F Shan Foster, Davidson G Stephen Curry) for what should be entertaining theatre. Oh yeah, there's some guy named Mayo playing for USC worth watching.

After yesterday's rambling introduction, we'll start the breakdowns with the East Regional, headlined by overall No. 1 seed North Carolina.

The unveiling of the NCAA Tournaments is like the sports version of Christmas in my opinion. I wait anxiously for weeks to see what Santa (a.k.a. the Tournament committee) would bring. Sometimes it sucks, like socks or an 18-14 Arizona team being in the tournament, and sometimes its outstanding (the absolutely loaded for bear East Region).

The 2008 All-Sunkist League girls soccer team, hot off the e-mail server from Kaiser coach Dave Showalter. Here's the first team...

In talking to Colton head coach Harold Strauss, who was coaching at a football clinic in Oregon this weekend, he indicated that five Yellowjackets were invited to represent San Bernardino County in the Annual Riverside-San Bernardino County all-star football game on May 10. The game is available only to graduating seniors.

Here are the All-Baseline league teams for the winter sports.

Today was my first taste of a brand-new thing - Southern California Regional soccer. I'm not the only one, as this year marked the first year of the inaugural SoCal regional soccer tournament. I initially thought the tournament, coming a week after CIF and not followed by a state tournament of any kind, was pointless, but my mind changed a bit after seeing it in action.

Lost in the hoopla of the Southern California regional semifinals Thursday - which saw a whopping four county girls teams play - was a development at the CIF-Southern Section offices in Long Beach, as the section's basketball playoff format will be revised.

With the CIF-State pairings coming out Sunday and the first round of the Division I playoffs coming 24 hours later, it doesn't leave much time to scout your opponent. But due to a lucky break, Chino Hills was able to scout tonight's opponent - No. 1 seed and Los Angeles city champion Woodland Hills Taft.

Arrowhead Christian and Granite Hills may have fallen in their CIF finals yesterday, but they will get new life in the CIF Southern California Regional championships starting Tuesday.

There's no rest for the weary basketball players in the area, as the thrill of CIF championship play has to now be replicated in the state playoffs, which start today for some teams. Complete brackets can be found at cifstate.org. Here are the games involving Sun/Bulletin teams. All games at 7 p.m.

The Rebels used tight defense and just enough offense to win their second straight CIF title, taking out Los Osos 51-40. There seemed to be a lid on the Los Osos basket in the fourth, as the Grizzlies only scored four points in the final 6:16 of the game. Star center Cierra Warren battled foul trouble throughout, fouling out with 3:18 left.

Los Osos has scored 6 of the first 9 points of the fourth to move within 43-36. Michelle Dobbs just hit a pair of free throws before a Grizzly timeout.

A 16-3 run to end the third period has the Rebels up 40-30 going into the fourth. Los Osos started the period out well, scoring the first five points to take a 27-24 lead, but the Rebels awoke with consecutive 3-pointers by Chloe Wells and Lola Wells. Tamicka Mackall ended the third with a trey as well for Miller.

Shineque Phillips' layup with roughly 10 seconds left in the first half gives Miller a 24-22 lead at halftime. Los Osos' offense settled down and committed far fewer turnovers in the second period, while the Miller 3-point shooting has been non-existent, as the Rebels only have one trey.

Both Cierra Warren (Los Osos) and Brianna Hall (Miller) are in foul trouble with 3 each. Lola Wells leads Miller with 10 points, while Michelle Dobbs has five for the Grizzlies.

Los Osos scored the last four points of the first quarter to pull within 14-8. However, the Grizzlies have been forced into nine turnovers already.

Rebels up 13-4 with 2:05 left in the first quarter. Cierra Warren received two fouls in the first 1:08 and is on the bench.

Cajon, despite using their starting five the entire 32 minutes, wins the first girls basketball CIF title in school history with a 51-47 victory over Ayala.

There was something that didn't seem quite right about the beginning of the Ayala-Cajon Division II-A championship game (tied 5-5 with 4:51 left in the first by the way). I couldn't quite place it until right after the opening tip - Ayala's cheerleaders were nowhere to be found.

As if playing basketball in the Luxor Resort and Casino couldn't get any weirder, the D3-AA title game between Summit and Marlborough was delayed nearly 10 minutes due to a faulty net.

In the rich get richer category, Colony High School won its second team CIF championship of the 2007-08 school year about an hour ago, defeating Mt. Baldy League and crosstown rival Chaffey, 57-53.