Thought I would share my thoughts of the WCAL this year and looking forward to next season. Disclaimer: (working on contracts right now, so had to add this. Lol!) . All from my point of view and what I have personally seen and/or saw on stream. I welcome everyone's input as well!
7. Valley Christian (1-13 WCAL; 10-14 Overall) - The Warriors remain a mystery to me, especially over the past few seasons under the success of DeLuca @ Berkeley and the talented players he has had. VC appeared to be a program that was up and coming and simply had to see the model that has been implemented with their juggernaut football program. Unfortunately, it has not panned out as of today. I thought Tovar would have a break out senior season, willing his team to win, but was disappointed in his inconsistent play over the course of a game/entire season. He is certainly a talent and wish him the best. The Warriors lose their top players - 6-9 Tovar, 6-5 Loving-Black and 6-2 dynamo Lang. Not much, that stands out to me, that returns from their Varsity roster, but they do have their starting pg and some tall underclassmen return. Their JVs were sub /.500 in league and both Frosh teams finished in the cellar.
6. Sacred Heart Cathedral (3-11 WCAL; 10-14 Overall) The feel good story of the year. The Irish hopes for this season were greatly diminished by the departure of its 2 top returning players in the Summer, played a good non-league, but finished with only 3 wins in league play. Things quietly turned around in the 2nd half of league play as the Irish did not get victories, but every game was well played and competitive. Based on this, they were awarded a spot in the CCS Open (I agreed with the selection) and made their Cinderella run in upsetting Mitty and Bellarmine to take the CCS Open Title! Their NorCal run was equally impressive with their upset in OT on the road vs Bullard-Fresno. Their run came to a sudden halt as it lost on the road to a very good Branson Bulls squad.
The Irish lose their top 2 scorers in McCormack and Reid. They also graduate key players in Flowers and Johns. On the upside, 6-8 Oscar Cheng had a breakout season and returns for his senior campaign along with newcomer McCoy who had a nice second half to his season. Frosh, Jackson, blossomed during post season play and looks very promising. Not too familiar with the underclassmen, so Irish fans, please chime in...SHC's JVs finished 0-WCAL, but their A's finished in second place and B's recorded 6 wins in league. Future appears brighter than what was initially thought and I must give credit to Coach McKay who many on this board threw him under the bus, ready to replace him. Look forward to what is in store for SHC next season!
5. St. Francis (5-9 WCAL; 13-11 Overall) The injury bug really hampered the Lancer's season, as they played few games as a complete team. Still, St. Francis battled and came up a win vs SI and a nice upset against Riordan to kick off the second half of league play. Riordan broke the season's tie with a victory in the first round of the CCS Open. SF finished its season going up to Sacramento and playing a very good game and narrowly losing to Grant. The Lancers lose 9 players to graduation this year, that includes their leading scorers and defenders (Yuan, Wilmer, Williams, Landphere, Fontana, Pedrazo...) They do return talented multi-sport star, 6-5 Daly. The Lancer JVs and Frosh A's had 5 league wins. The Lancer B's finished in 2nd place in league.
4. St. Ignatius (8-6 WCAL; 12-12 Overall) SI's brutal non-league schedule and its early season performance really put them in a corner, but they impressively fought back to gain eligibility for the post season. They made an early exit in CCS Open against rival Bellarmine and also a one and one in done in NorCal D1 against St. Joes-Alameda. SI's Robinson and Begovich had very good senior campaigns and led the team in scoring. With their graduation, this closes the window on the successful classes of players that SI enjoyed over the past 4 seasons. The Wildcats bring back players that saw significant minutes in pg Kahn-Adle, g Taylor-Smith and a JV team that had 9 wins in league. These role players will need to step up as some of its JVs as well to have a good campaign in 2019-20.
3T. Serra (7-7 WCAL; 20-10 Overall) The perennial power Padres finished its season on a high note after a very strong run in the post season being the lone WCAL survivor, losing to Campo last night in the DII NorCal Title game. The magic of the Jungle provided huge wins against Riordan and an instant classic in their annual Jungle game, coming back from 20 down vs SI. Serra lost its last 4 games (2 in league; 2 in CCS Open) before its remarkable NorCal run. The Padres lose its top 2 scores in Rees and McDonald in addition to 4 other seniors (Simon, Bartlewski, Barton and Fitz) that made significant contributions. Serra brings back its starting pg, Abeyta, and bigs 6-5 Alcantara and 6-9 Shuman. The Padre JVs finished with a .500 record and both Frosh teams uncharacteristically underwhelmed in WCAL play. No need to worry, as the Padres have excellent coaching and development of its players led by Chuck Rapp.
3T. Bellarmine (9-5 WCAL; 18-6 Overall) - The Bells finished a nice campaign following 2 straight WCAL titles and CCS Open Title runs winning 1 title...Bellarmine was in hunt for the WCAL title leading up to the last week of play when it was defeated by Riordan and last second home upset against Serra. The Bells avoided the season sweep with a huge win against the Crusaders in the CCS Open Semis only to lose to the Cinderella Irish in the CCS Open Title Game. Bellarmine then traveled to Hayward and lost a tough game to Moreau Catholic in OT. The Bells lose sr wing, Kiran Kruse, who was its team and scoring leader. So what do the Bells bring back next year? To start, venerable coach Patrick Schneider. Also, the Bells bring back a slew of undersclassmen in starting pg, Denker, bigs Cole, Elam and Kiachian, along with guards Lewis and Ruth. More impressive, is that the Bells reload with the incoming players off its 21-0 JV team. The future looks bright for the Bells and will be one of the contenders for the WCAL title again!
2. Archbishop Riordan (10-4 WCAL; 17-7 Overall) - A very successful season for the Crusaders deemed by many and panned by some...Strictly looking at the numbers, 10 wins in league: challenging non-league schedule - defeating Branson, University, St. Joes, and Stuart Hall and only down 2 to Salesian in the closing minutes of the Gridley tourney; competing for the title in the last weekend of play; top 20 NorCal for entire season, no wcal sweeps from an opponent - splitting with the top teams - Mitty/Serra; 2 of 3 vs Bellarmine - lots of good stories from a storied program getting back to competitive relevance. Perhaps expectations were set too high, so when the Crusaders came up short - some thought this season was a disappointment...
So what does next season hold for Riordan? The squad loses 7 seniors, including 3 starters in Justice Turner, DeSean Johnson and Chimae Ugbaja. Subs Zach Quanico and Donte Henderson will also be missed. Returning are 2 starters and 4 players that saw time this season. Je'Lani Clark and Bryce Monroe (WCAL 1st Teamers) are the two starters that will be returning with soph guards Hubbard III and McPherson providing depth. Wilson and Riiny return at the forward positions. 6-8 Chan is expected to see time next season after sitting out with a knee injury this season. All three bigs need to really work on their game and dedicate themselves on improving on their low post game, defense and rebounding as the Crusaders were often outrebounded this year.
In a nutshell, the coaches and team need to learn from this season and set a plan moving forward into this off season. Riordan's JVs were .500 in league play-hampered by the loss of 6-2 Chris Whiley. The JVs did start 2 frosh (Quanico and Wallis). Whiley and Sean Quanico look to be locks in replacing Henderson and brother, Zach. I understand there are other promising players in the pipeline, but we shall see... The key is the entire team's buy-in to wire-to-wire defense and offensive execution. Great examples into total buy-in, execution and all-out hustle are the SHC, Campo and Logan teams of this post season. You could say the overall talent is, for the most part, pretty close, but what stood out in each team's post season runs is the total teamwork and execution they all demonstrated as these teams steadily improved as the season went on. Lots of work for the coaches and team to do this off season, but the future remains bright for this team.
1. Archbishop Mitty (11-3 WCAL; 17-7 Overall) - The 2018-19 WCAL Champs had a very good season cut short by its upset in the first round of the CCS Open to eventual champ SHC and then placement in the tough NorCal Open losing to Modesto Christian on the road. The good news - the Monarchs return virtually its ENTIRE starting lineup with the exception of senior Joseph Vaughn. Six players that played extensive minutes with the addition of 6-8 soph, Bhandal (out with injury) return. Mitty's JVs were .500 in league and have some quality players they will be bring up to varsity. Based on the returning roster, they remain the team to beat until proven on the court otherwise.
Nice to see Osin McCormick get a scholarship to Lake Forest College in Chicago, Illinois. It is a D3 school, but not a bad fit for someone who excelled this year after getting cut his sophomore year at SHC...The college noticed his nice rebounding skills over bigger players etc and hard nose playing helping the IRISH win in the playoffs ...Congrats!
