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2019-20 WCAL Hoops Wrap Up/2020-21 Outlook

jordan24

jordan24

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Happy New Year to all! Just wanted to start a thread on who is going to win the coveted WCAL title for 2020.
Mitty is the reigning WCAL champion, who got upset over SHC last year in the CCS Open Quarterfinal. They return all of their key scorers, but lose WCAL POY Devan Sapp. The Monarchs add 6-6 Nigel Burris to fill the void.
Bellarmine returns several starters and players from its terrific undefeated JV team and is 10-0 in non-league.
Riordan returns the best guard combo in the Bay Area along with several players that saw action last year and add tall and athletic newcomers to the roster.
All three teams' matchups last year were very competitive. Mitty and Riordan - split separated by an avg of 2 points. Bellarmine and Mitty split. Riordan took 2 of 3 vs Bellarmine in games they won by double digits, but the win in OT by Bellarmine occurred in the CCS Open Semis.
The rest of the league fall below the top 3 with Serra once again looking competitive, SF, SHC and SI reloading with young players. VC has height and some frosh scorers and could even add another 6-10 big if he becomes eligible.
The 2019 non-league SOS saw Riordan and Mitty playing the the most challenging lineup of games with a nod to Riordan as they faced NorCal Open hopefuls in Campo, Dublin, Weston Ranch and Capital Christian. Riordan opened up a with an impressive win vs SoCal power JSerra who just upset Sheldon at Torrey Pines.
Mitty takes the consolation at Torrey Pines in the top National division, and Bellarmine takes the lower division title at Torrey Pines beating SJND for a second time.
Ok, let's start with my initial picks for this season. Who you got?!?
2019-2020 WCAL Picks
  1. Archbishop Riordan
    • Tough non-league, returning all WCAL guard combo, 5 players 6-7 and taller including a 7-1 soph makes the Crusaders my pick. Roster is versatile and can go small and big, with athleticism at every position. Battle tested in facing high scoring, athletic, disciplined and tall lineups. Newcomers started to gel as the non-league progressed and team is steadily improving. Need to keep this up to take the title away from the Monarchs. NorCal Open contender.
  2. Archbishop Mitty
    • Fast, disciplined and all can shoot the 3! Live and die by the 3? Not intimidated by anyone. How do the newcomers in Burris and returning 6-8 big man from injury factor in this season as they will need to combat the bigs from Bellarmine and Riordan. Depth could be key. 9-1 in non-league. NorCal Open contender
  3. Bellarmine
    • Deep, confident and well-coached squad. Bells have very good height and skill at the point guard position. 10-0 in non-league, but schedule was not as challenging as the Monarchs and Crusaders. NorCal Open contender
  4. Serra
    • Always in the hunt, but are rebuilding this season. Best wishes to Coach Rapp on a speedy and complete recovery. Serra returns some height, but needs to replace its top 3 scorers from last season. Won the Bambauer Classic vs Marin Catholic. Always play tough in the Jungle.
  5. St. Francis
    • Young team replacing several scorers. Returns a solid big man. Played a an OK non-league. Wins are tough at their bandbox gym.
  6. Sacred Heart Cathedral
    • Defending CCS Open Champs lose their 2 leading scorers and 6-9 big man to transfer. Gain a scoring guard from across town from Riordan and have 2 very good returning guards including an athletic soph. Can the Luck of the Irish do it again?
  7. St. Ignatius
    • Another squad that lost its 2 top scorers and replaces them with several underclassmen including a terrific freshman point guard who has got to have the best name in Norcal - King Jhassani Wilhite.
  8. Valley Christian
    • Solid team on paper that has 2 freshman phemoms! If the 6-10 transfer is eligible, the Warriors could make a statement.
 
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Who do you got?

Week One WCAL Matchups:
  • Friday, Jan 3rd: 7:30p
    • SHC - SI (Bruce Mahoney Game #2 @ The Cow Palace) Winner: SHC
  • Saturday, Jan 4th: 6:30pm
    • Serra @ Riordan Crusader Forum Winner: Riordan
    • Bellarmine @ Valley Christian Winner: Bellarmine
    • Mitty @ St. Francis Winner: Mitty
 
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Sure has. Several times over the years it has been. There is a reason its considered the toughest league in Norcal. The Last 25 years and probably longer.

ayalar09 said:
Has the league ever been this strong before?
Click to expand...
 
jordan24 said:
Happy New Year to all! Just wanted to start a thread on who is going to win the coveted WCAL title for 2020.
Mitty is the reigning WCAL champion, who got upset over SHC last year in the CCS Open Quarterfinal. They return all of their key scorers, but lose WCAL POY Devan Sapp. The Monarchs add 6-6 Nigel Burris to fill the void.
Bellarmine returns several starters and players from its terrific undefeated JV team and is 10-0 in non-league.
Riordan returns the best guard combo in the Bay Area along with several players that saw action last year and add tall and athletic newcomers to the roster.
All three teams' matchups last year were very competitive. Mitty and Riordan - split separated by an avg of 2 points. Bellarmine and Mitty split. Riordan took 2 of 3 vs Bellarmine in games they won by double digits, but the win in OT by Bellarmine occurred in the CCS Open Semis.
The rest of the league fall below the top 3 with Serra once again looking competitive, SF, SHC and SI reloading with young players. VC has height and some frosh scorers and could even add another 6-10 big if he becomes eligible.
The 2019 non-league SOS saw Riordan and Mitty playing the the most challenging lineup of games with a nod to Riordan as they faced NorCal Open hopefuls in Campo, Dublin, Weston Ranch and Capital Christian. Riordan opened up a with an impressive win vs SoCal power JSerra who just upset Sheldon at Torrey Pines.
Mitty takes the consolation at Torrey Pines in the top National division, and Bellarmine takes the lower division title at Torrey Pines beating SJND for a second time.
Ok, let's start with my initial picks for this season. Who you got?!?
2019-2020 WCAL Picks
  1. Archbishop Riordan
    • Tough non-league, returning all WCAL guard combo, 5 players 6-7 and taller including a 7-1 soph makes the Crusaders my pick. Roster is versatile and can go small and big, with athleticism at every position. Battle tested in facing high scoring, athletic, disciplined and tall lineups. Newcomers started to gel as the non-league progressed and team is steadily improving. Need to keep this up to take the title away from the Monarchs. NorCal Open contender.
  2. Archbishop Mitty
    • Fast, disciplined and all can shoot the 3! Live and die by the 3? Not intimidated by anyone. How do the newcomers in Burris and returning 6-8 big man from injury factor in this season as they will need to combat the bigs from Bellarmine and Riordan. Depth could be key. 9-1 in non-league. NorCal Open contender
  3. Bellarmine
    • Deep, confident and well-coached squad. Bells have very good height and skill at the point guard position. 10-0 in non-league, but schedule was not as challenging as the Monarchs and Crusaders. NorCal Open contender
  4. Serra
    • Always in the hunt, but are rebuilding this season. Best wishes to Coach Rapp on a speedy and complete recovery. Serra returns some height, but needs to replace its top 3 scorers from last season. Won the Bambauer Classic vs Marin Catholic. Always play tough in the Jungle.
  5. St. Francis
    • Young team replacing several scorers. Returns a solid big man. Played a an OK non-league. Wins are tough at their bandbox gym.
  6. Sacred Heart Cathedral
    • Defending CCS Open Champs lose their 2 leading scorers and 6-9 big man to transfer. Gain a scoring guard from across town from Riordan and have 2 very good returning guards including an athletic soph. Can the Luck of the Irish do it again?
  7. St. Ignatius
    • Another squad that lost its 2 top scorers and replaces them with several underclassmen including a terrific freshman point guard who has got to have the best name in Norcal - King Jhassani Wilhite.
  8. Valley Christian
    • Solid team on paper that has 2 freshman phemoms! If the 6-10 transfer is eligible, the Warriors could make a statement.
Click to expand...

excellent preview. Well done. I like the crusaders as well but wouldn’t be surprised to see a split with Mitty or maybe bellarmine. This league is war night in and out.
 
larry legend33 said:
excellent preview. Well done. I like the crusaders as well but wouldn’t be surprised to see a split with Mitty or maybe bellarmine. In fact I would say the top 3 teams could win every league in NorCal with exception of Delta (Sheldon). This league is war night in and out.
Click to expand...
 
jordan24 said:
Happy New Year to all! Just wanted to start a thread on who is going to win the coveted WCAL title for 2020.
Mitty is the reigning WCAL champion, who got upset over SHC last year in the CCS Open Quarterfinal. They return all of their key scorers, but lose WCAL POY Devan Sapp. The Monarchs add 6-6 Nigel Burris to fill the void.
Bellarmine returns several starters and players from its terrific undefeated JV team and is 10-0 in non-league.
Riordan returns the best guard combo in the Bay Area along with several players that saw action last year and add tall and athletic newcomers to the roster.
All three teams' matchups last year were very competitive. Mitty and Riordan - split separated by an avg of 2 points. Bellarmine and Mitty split. Riordan took 2 of 3 vs Bellarmine in games they won by double digits, but the win in OT by Bellarmine occurred in the CCS Open Semis.
The rest of the league fall below the top 3 with Serra once again looking competitive, SF, SHC and SI reloading with young players. VC has height and some frosh scorers and could even add another 6-10 big if he becomes eligible.
The 2019 non-league SOS saw Riordan and Mitty playing the the most challenging lineup of games with a nod to Riordan as they faced NorCal Open hopefuls in Campo, Dublin, Weston Ranch and Capital Christian. Riordan opened up a with an impressive win vs SoCal power JSerra who just upset Sheldon at Torrey Pines.
Mitty takes the consolation at Torrey Pines in the top National division, and Bellarmine takes the lower division title at Torrey Pines beating SJND for a second time.
Ok, let's start with my initial picks for this season. Who you got?!?
2019-2020 WCAL Picks
  1. Archbishop Riordan
    • Tough non-league, returning all WCAL guard combo, 5 players 6-7 and taller including a 7-1 soph makes the Crusaders my pick. Roster is versatile and can go small and big, with athleticism at every position. Battle tested in facing high scoring, athletic, disciplined and tall lineups. Newcomers started to gel as the non-league progressed and team is steadily improving. Need to keep this up to take the title away from the Monarchs. NorCal Open contender.
  2. Archbishop Mitty
    • Fast, disciplined and all can shoot the 3! Live and die by the 3? Not intimidated by anyone. How do the newcomers in Burris and returning 6-8 big man from injury factor in this season as they will need to combat the bigs from Bellarmine and Riordan. Depth could be key. 9-1 in non-league. NorCal Open contender
  3. Bellarmine
    • Deep, confident and well-coached squad. Bells have very good height and skill at the point guard position. 10-0 in non-league, but schedule was not as challenging as the Monarchs and Crusaders. NorCal Open contender
  4. Serra
    • Always in the hunt, but are rebuilding this season. Best wishes to Coach Rapp on a speedy and complete recovery. Serra returns some height, but needs to replace its top 3 scorers from last season. Won the Bambauer Classic vs Marin Catholic. Always play tough in the Jungle.
  5. St. Francis
    • Young team replacing several scorers. Returns a solid big man. Played a an OK non-league. Wins are tough at their bandbox gym.
  6. Sacred Heart Cathedral
    • Defending CCS Open Champs lose their 2 leading scorers and 6-9 big man to transfer. Gain a scoring guard from across town from Riordan and have 2 very good returning guards including an athletic soph. Can the Luck of the Irish do it again?
  7. St. Ignatius
    • Another squad that lost its 2 top scorers and replaces them with several underclassmen including a terrific freshman point guard who has got to have the best name in Norcal - King Jhassani Wilhite.
  8. Valley Christian
    • Solid team on paper that has 2 freshman phemoms! If the 6-10 transfer is eligible, the Warriors could make a statement.
Click to expand...

Very good preview. No big complaints for me. I think Riordan and Mitty are equal with Bellarmine in tier 2 by themsleves. Key will be who can avoid upsets by teams 4-8.
 
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Streak One said:
Very good preview. No big complaints for me. I think Riordan and Mitty are equal with Bellarmine in tier 2 by themsleves. Key will be who can avoid upsets by teams 4-8.
Click to expand...
Top 3 you can consider a toss up based on the results from last season. Mitty and Bellarmine have more returning players that played significant minutes...Riordan has a huge upside if they continue to gel as a team. Defense wins the day!
Riordan and Mitty share a common opponent in Campolindo. Mitty survived a last second game-winner glancing off the rim by the Cougars at the NorCal Tip-off 60-58. Riordan won going away 76-62 in the 3rd place game @ Gridley.
 
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Game 2 tomorrow night. Who you got?
  • Tuesday, Jan 7th, All games @ 7:30pm
    • Riordan @ SHC Winner - Riordan
    • Valley Christian @ Mitty Winner - Mitty
    • St. Francis @ Bellarmine Winner - Bellarmine
    • SI @ Serra (Jungle Game!) Winner - Serra
 
Before anyone makes an crazy statement about Bryce being held out the first quarter. He is dealing with an injury that happened vs Serra in the first quarter, he played the rest of that game and he just isn't right now. Smh...
 
Renard Monroe said:
Before anyone makes an crazy statement about Bryce being held out the first quarter. He is dealing with an injury that happened vs Serra in the first quarter, he played the rest of that game and he just isn't right now. Smh...
Click to expand...
Coach, hope Bryce gets well soon.
Crusaders with a good bounce back win @ SHC 73-52. It took a bit for the Crusaders to get going, but played good D and took advantage of their height over the upstart Irish. Riordan got some nice contributions from its sophs - Mor Seck, Sean Quanico and Mark Barer. Seck grabbing rebounds playing a good game down low. Quanico and Barer playing great D and hitting 3's. Lots of contributions from everyone who played as I think Coach Curtin played the entire roster. Nice to see Riiny, Chan and Robert play solidly with Wilson and Hubbard playing solid D and moving the ball.
Next up - the Peninsula/City rivalry games wind up in the Sunset where the Crusaders face St. Ignatius. Should be a packed house on 37th Ave Friday night.
 
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jordan24 said:
Coach, hope Bryce gets well soon.
Crusaders with a good bounce back win @ SHC 73-52. It took a bit for the Crusaders to get going, but played good D and took advantage of their height over the upstart Irish. Riordan got some nice contributions from its sophs - Mor Seck, Sean Quanico and Mark Barer. Seck grabbing rebounds playing a good game down low. Quanico and Barer playing great D and hitting 3's. Lots of contributions from everyone who played as I think Coach Curtin played the entire roster. Nice to see Riiny, Chan and Robert play solidly with Wilson and Hubbard playing solid D and moving the ball.
Next up - the Peninsula/City rivalry games wind up in the Sunset where the Crusaders face St. Ignatius. Should be a packed house on 37th Ave Friday night.
Click to expand...
Bryce will be out for a while. This will allow guys to develop and other guys step up in his absence. Great win on Ellis street for the team.
 
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Serra nearly blows a 12-point fourth quarter lead at home but somehow hangs on to nudge SI in front of raucus SRO gathering 57-54. Whew. The WCAL is a non-stop grind. Nothing new with that statement from your favorite Capt. Obvious 2.0.
 
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Couple of observations from Ellis St aside from the score. Riordan coaching leaned on game plan to keep getting the ball inside. First half SH was able to deny entry passes. Riordan made adjustments in 2nd half by either lobbing ball higher or moving the ball around perimeter more and SH couldnt replicate 1st half defense. Bend, bend, bend and finally broke. How many technicals will the Crusaders amass this season from unsportsmanlike conduct?

Ray John Spears offensively is a special player. His body control while in the air going to the basket is incredible. This is control you would see normally as a player progresses into their senior year but he already can do this at 10th grade. He has all levels of offensive game for a guard. He can drive and score, the floater, the mid range, the 3 pt shot, very good free throw shooter. If Crawford, McCoy and McPherson can shoot 40% from 3 to punish opponents who will be double teaming Spears, it is a recipe for an SH win.
 
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iamgearyblvd said:
Couple of observations from Ellis St aside from the score. Riordan coaching leaned on game plan to keep getting the ball inside. First half SH was able to deny entry passes. Riordan made adjustments in 2nd half by either lobbing ball higher or moving the ball around perimeter more and SH couldnt replicate 1st half defense. Bend, bend, bend and finally broke. How many technicals will the Crusaders amass this season from unsportsmanlike conduct?

Ray John Spears offensively is a special player. His body control while in the air going to the basket is incredible. This is control you would see normally as a player progresses into their senior year but he already can do this at 10th grade. He has all levels of offensive game for a guard. He can drive and score, the floater, the mid range, the 3 pt shot, very good free throw shooter. If Crawford, McCoy and McPherson can shoot 40% from 3 to punish opponents who will be double teaming Spears, it is a recipe for an SH win.
Click to expand...
I didn't agree with the Riiny technical foul for hanging on the rim. RJ Spears also got a technichal for unsportsmanlike conduct - all expected in a Rivalry game. Looked like a good crowd last night at SHC and their live stream was good as well.
 
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so at this point they need to dunk and keep it moving. any sort of extra even the slightest will cost them
 
ankleassassin said:
so at this point they need to dunk and keep it moving. any sort of extra even the slightest will cost them
Click to expand...

it’s such a bad rule. I feel like often times it’s the shorter referees making the call, because they are jealous that they were never able to dunk.

it’s a lot safer for a player to hang on the rim after a dunk than it is to just dunk it and let go.
 
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ayalar09 said:
it’s such a bad rule. I feel like often times it’s the shorter referees making the call, because they are jealous that they were never able to dunk.

it’s a lot safer for a player to hang on the rim after a dunk than it is to just dunk it and let go.
Click to expand...

These statements are .................. my goodness.................... i will not even......................o_O
 
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It is a call that sometimes I feel is made just for the referee to interject himself into the
game.If the player is chinning up on the rim
I get the call but alot of times you see the player hanging on just to get his balance back before letting go of the rim and its called it stops game flow when it is not necessary at times.
 
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bones40 said:
It is a call that sometimes I feel is made just for the referee to interject himself into the
game.If the player is chinning up on the rim
I get the call but alot of times you see the player hanging on just to get his balance back before letting go of the rim and its called it stops game flow when it is not necessary at times.
Click to expand...
The Technical that Seck got against Serra was warranted. He shook the rim 3 times before lettIng go of the rim. Last night was a situation in which the official actually didn't even see what happened. Riiny slam dunked the ball and on his way down the ball came directly back at him which bounced against him giving the appearance he slammed the ball against the floor in which he didn't. If the game was close it would have be unfortunate but in last nights case, the game was in hand. Technical in that case was unwarranted.
 
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iamgearyblvd said:
These statements are .................. my goodness.................... i will not even......................o_O
Click to expand...
I mean he kinda got a point... short people do be out there always trying to prove themselves.... but i am 6'5 so most are shorter than me anyway
 
bones40 said:
It is a call that sometimes I feel is made just for the referee to interject himself into the
game.If the player is chinning up on the rim
I get the call but alot of times you see the player hanging on just to get his balance back before letting go of the rim and its called it stops game flow when it is not necessary at times.
Click to expand...

Sek's T he got vs Serra was legit. The guy was hanging/rattling/doing whatever shimmy on the rim. Riiny's I will say no T. He dunked it so hard the ball bounced off the floor with height which is what I suspect the ref T'd him on.
 
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I saw the slam the way (as Monroe). My question. Was there a delay of game prior in the game, which warrants a "hard bonced" ball away as second delay? In in itself, it was unintended and more instinctive.
 
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