I was at all 4 games and I will give my quick takes for all 4.
4pm game:
CAMPO 76 SMB 65
Nothing like a D3 playoff seeding's game your 1st game of the year...lol
1st off...Berkeley/Albany is 40 mins from Santa Rosa and it took SMB 2 hrs. to get to CN with traffic.
Thus they were late, didn't get a proper warm up and the game started 35 mins late. I say that because the lack of a normal warm up CLEARLY showed early for SMB as they couldn't hit anything. Literally couldnt hit water shooting from a boat. They were out of sync and CAMPO took advantage. Van Dyke and Thoms teamed up for a whole slew of easy fast break points (Thoms had 28). Villa didn't play for SMB and Gill was in early foul trouble and played sporadically until the 4th.
CAMPO was up 20+ midway thru the 4th before SMB made a spirited charge led by Gill to cut it to 8 with 30 secs left before ultimately losing by 11.
I thought CAMPO looked VERY good. Their guards were solid, Van Dyke was a big presence and you can tell the girls have played together for yrs.
5:30PM GAME
PV 67 SAC 54
Good D2 matchup!!!
Sasha Brown did not suit up for SAC. I don't know why she didn't suit up, Ive heard a couple of different explanations, but since I cant confirm, I wont speculate why. Needless to say she is out for the entire tourney.
Sac started 1 frosh and 4 sophs. I can see why people think Sac potentially is/will be good. They are athletic as hell, definitely talented, just a little wild and obviously a little more maturity will help.
Assuming they keep everybody together for the next 2 yrs I can see them taking big steps forward. Next year a top 10 team in norcal...and 2yrs from now top 5. They will be capable of beating some good teams this year and capable of throwing some stinkers out there also. A return when/if by Sasha Brown would definitely be a huge plus.
Pleasant Valley REALLY impressed me. Before the tourney started I would have personally seeded them #7 in the tourney if I seeded all 8 teams. So obviously this was a shocker to me, and I am eating some crow today because of it. "Peanut" Tuilele is tough in the Middle. Solid guards handled the Sac pressure pretty well. They shot the 3 well also.
I think tonight's 8pm game vs SMS is a VERY interesting matchup!!!!
7PM GAME
CN 63 OAKLAND 29
I though Oakland played well to begin. I thought CN was sloppy throughout.
Oakland only started 1 senior and a couple of underclassmen (Dunbar and McCoy) have potential...
I think Oakland has some things to be excited about for the future.
CN starters where underwhelming. Subs played most of the 2nd and 4th period.
8:30 pm Game
SMS 69 MA 53
Good D1 matchup!!!
1st SMS.....(the good) Neenah Young has really improved since I last saw her a couple of yrs ago in Reno.
She's long, athletic with a nice outside touch and definitely will play a BIG role in how far SMS goes this year. Junior guard Ariel Johnson was steady and solid. I can see why there is so much hype on frosh Amaya Oliver...shes long, athletic, and just looks the part of a high level D1 basketball player. I would be remiss to leave out the big horse in the middle (Aquira). What can I say about her that hasnt already been said??? lol...She grabs rebounds, gets stickbacks and made some impressive strong, get to the basket moves from outside the key for big time baskets. Obviosuly as she goes...so will SMS.... ..And finally on a REAL good note... I talked to Coach G before the game and he said its looking like Naje Murray will be back SOONER rather than later.
On the bad side.....SMS is not real deep. ANOTHER loss of a starter (like Naje) would be crippling....which brings me to my final negative.....De Costa with about a minute left in the game tweeked her knee. And is questionable for tonights game. If Acosta doesn't play, I would probably lean toward PV getting SMS tonight. Stay tuned....
Menlo-Atherton represented the CCS well....I thought the Kailahi sisters were solid. Mele banging 3's and Stella handling the SMS pressure. The girl that REALLY impressed me was #41 Greer Hoyem. Tough C who finished strong around the basket, grabbed rebounds and came to play.
SMS was up 16 at half. MA came out of the gate hard in the 3rd and actually cut the lead to 3 and had 2 open looks for game tieing 3's that missed. SMS timeout got them settled down before they grinded out a 16 point win. MA played tough but SMS was just too much in the end.
TODAYS GAMES:
4PM OAKLAND VS SMB
5:30 SAC VS MA
7:00 CN VS CAMPO
8:30 SMS VS PV
I noticed some grumbling about the bracket setups. All 4 games were double digit score differences, so I think they got it right. Makes for some good 2nd round games!!
If anybody comes out to the games just look for the best looking guy in the place.. That will be me...be sure to come by and say hi to the GURU
******** JUST got an update from my spies at the CN gym.....
DeCosta is going thru walkthrough with SMS, knee NOT wrapped....BUT looking stiff and not moving particularly well......apparently game time decision now....
1:10pm ******* another update....DeCosta is now OUT for precautionary reasons. Coach G is holding her out.
YEESH