With NCAA viewing tournaments in full swing, anyone got any bold early predictions about which schools to watch out for next season? Transfer applications for parochials were long done in April so curious if anyone has any insight on some possible moves or some up and comers to fill out gaps left by graduating seniors.
It'll be interesting to see if the teams that made it deep in Open and D1 are more negatively impacted with graduation and who's been able to fill a pipeline with transfers.
In the Open Division, you got Piedmont, Mitty, Salesian losing anywhere from 4-6 seniors a piece. You really can't bet against Mitty with Cheli, Woliczko, Weisman returning and Belle Bramer coming online after a year long sitout. I just don't see any teams being able to match that firepower that Coach Phillips and you certainly can't rule out young talent that might be currently playing with the Cagers program.
What remains to be seen is which one of the Division 1 teams might be able to rise up and give some of this year's Open candidates a run for their money. Oakland Tech will return hungrier than ever after their State title win but without Erin Sellers, Jada Williams, Mari Somvichian, Nia Hunter - all whom are playing in college. 3x state champions, the Bulldogs and Coach Leroy Hurt certainly want to keep the momentum going. I like Jhai Johnson and I love it even more that she's got 3 more years with the squad.
I'd expect the Wolves of San Ramon Valley to do fairly well as most of their squad is returning and they had some convincing wins against SHC, SI, Moreau Catholic, and of course Pinewood (which didn't even make the CIF Open where they have been a mainstay in years past).
It'll be interesting to see if the teams that made it deep in Open and D1 are more negatively impacted with graduation and who's been able to fill a pipeline with transfers.
In the Open Division, you got Piedmont, Mitty, Salesian losing anywhere from 4-6 seniors a piece. You really can't bet against Mitty with Cheli, Woliczko, Weisman returning and Belle Bramer coming online after a year long sitout. I just don't see any teams being able to match that firepower that Coach Phillips and you certainly can't rule out young talent that might be currently playing with the Cagers program.
What remains to be seen is which one of the Division 1 teams might be able to rise up and give some of this year's Open candidates a run for their money. Oakland Tech will return hungrier than ever after their State title win but without Erin Sellers, Jada Williams, Mari Somvichian, Nia Hunter - all whom are playing in college. 3x state champions, the Bulldogs and Coach Leroy Hurt certainly want to keep the momentum going. I like Jhai Johnson and I love it even more that she's got 3 more years with the squad.
I'd expect the Wolves of San Ramon Valley to do fairly well as most of their squad is returning and they had some convincing wins against SHC, SI, Moreau Catholic, and of course Pinewood (which didn't even make the CIF Open where they have been a mainstay in years past).
