WCAL in Review - Looking Forward to 2019-20 Season
- Thread starter jordan24
- Start date
It's been that way for years now. For a while, Valley Christian only had a Frosh "A" team. Now they have both "A" and "B" teams. The girls still have only one Frosh team.
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So Placer has been a pretty solid D3 team out of the Sac Joaquin section over the last few years with some decent playoff runs. They are on the same side of the bracket this weekend in Woodland with Albany, but are off to a 1-4 start. Looks like they were pretty senior heavy last year so this possible matchup doesn't appear it may be as good as I thought it could be!
Happy New Year! Well, non-league is winding down and I wanted to revisit everyone's take on the upcoming 2019 WCAL season that starts Tuesday and NorCal basketball landscape in general. Below is my updated picks. Also, my initial WCAL favorites back in November are below. Look forward to everyone's take!
Updated 2019 WCAL Picks:
1. Riordan-very good nonleague schedule, improving and getting healthy week to week, Coach Curtin goes up to 11 deep. Could there more in its pipeline?
2. Mitty-toughest SOS unti their loss to Dougherty Valley on Sat. The Monarchs do bring back 5 Varsity players and move up players from a very good JV squad.
3. St. Ignatius-well coached, tough non-league, lots of height, lacking the firepower from the past few seasons. Sense of urgency as the 'Cats will need to be .500 in league to qualify for postseason.
4. Bellarmine-great record, weak non-league, well-coached and some key returnees and a strong JV team to fill in some of its spots.
5. Serra-Rapp coached, Rees back, 6-9 transfer and McDonald return. not much of a challenging non-league schedule including a loss to an average Miramonte team yesterday.
6. SHC - loss to Branson made me change the Irish to a darkhorse, but out of the cellar. Looking forward to the 1/10 game @ The Crusader Forum
7. St. Francis-weak non-league. only WCAL team to lose to a CCS team (Santa Cruz). waiting for some players to return...
8. Valley Christian-cupcake non-league; losing big to SJND @ home. If Tovar is motivated the entire game, he could make a difference. Guard play must improve.
My initial picks in November
1. Mitty
2. Riordan
3. SI
4. Serra
5. St. Francis
6. Bellarmine
7. SHC
8. Valley Christian
Updated 2019 WCAL Picks:
1. Riordan-very good nonleague schedule, improving and getting healthy week to week, Coach Curtin goes up to 11 deep. Could there more in its pipeline?
2. Mitty-toughest SOS unti their loss to Dougherty Valley on Sat. The Monarchs do bring back 5 Varsity players and move up players from a very good JV squad.
3. St. Ignatius-well coached, tough non-league, lots of height, lacking the firepower from the past few seasons. Sense of urgency as the 'Cats will need to be .500 in league to qualify for postseason.
4. Bellarmine-great record, weak non-league, well-coached and some key returnees and a strong JV team to fill in some of its spots.
5. Serra-Rapp coached, Rees back, 6-9 transfer and McDonald return. not much of a challenging non-league schedule including a loss to an average Miramonte team yesterday.
6. SHC - loss to Branson made me change the Irish to a darkhorse, but out of the cellar. Looking forward to the 1/10 game @ The Crusader Forum
7. St. Francis-weak non-league. only WCAL team to lose to a CCS team (Santa Cruz). waiting for some players to return...
8. Valley Christian-cupcake non-league; losing big to SJND @ home. If Tovar is motivated the entire game, he could make a difference. Guard play must improve.
My initial picks in November
1. Mitty
2. Riordan
3. SI
4. Serra
5. St. Francis
6. Bellarmine
7. SHC
8. Valley Christian
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I think Riordan is still a year away (hopefully Im wrong). Id go:
1. Mitty
2. Riordan
3. Serra
4. St. Francis
5-7 Bells/SI/SH whichever order you prefer
8. Valley (competitive though, especially on the hilltop)
l like Jordan's take,but I think 3,4,5,6 is a toss up. I see OneDNA's point, but then I remembered that Riordan and Mitty split last year, and Riordan has improved more this season. That's why they play the games...
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This happened last year with Mitty scheduling brutal non-league play and made it in (7-7) on the very last league game with a with vs SH. In the end Mitty made it to CCS Finals and NorCal Finals. I think SI will mirror Mitty last year and go pretty far after building some mettle in non-league. The SH girls do this every year. Their overall record doesnt indicate anything.
Also I do believe freshman Ray John Jackson is on varsity now per the reputable game reporting of SF Examiner's Ethan Kassel. I believe he is wearing #20.
Not sold on SI yet. Though, I would not surprised if they mirror Mitty's success last year. The Cat's lost a lot of firepower in 3-year varsity guards of Beckman, Redmond and Trammel. Trammel scored and created a lot of easy baskets for his teammates. Yet, they were still upset by Palo Alto in the CCS Open.
Looking forward to seeing the Irish Frosh, Jackson, this season. He played in that Branson loss.
Looking forward to seeing the Irish Frosh, Jackson, this season. He played in that Branson loss.
I feel for the Cats. Sounds crazy but .500 in league is going to be tough. They will need to show a significant uptick in urgency in their games to get there.
On a positive note, the Frosh A Cats are looking strong. Rolling so far after winning the Riordan tourney. A couple of really good players with a nice supporting cast, and a solid coach on that squad. B team lost in the finals of their bracket, so looking good there as well.
On a positive note, the Frosh A Cats are looking strong. Rolling so far after winning the Riordan tourney. A couple of really good players with a nice supporting cast, and a solid coach on that squad. B team lost in the finals of their bracket, so looking good there as well.
Smh frosh a and b team analysis really?
WCAL Opening Night Games (all games at 7:30pm):
- SHC @ Mitty - great barometer for the Irish. Also, see how Mitty's tough SOS plays out for them in WCAL play . Winner: Mitty
- St. Francis @ Riordan - Crusaders need to make a statement if it is to make a run at the title. SF had a few of its players out in their upset loss against Santa Cruz...Winner: Riordan
- SI @ Bellarmine - SI had the tough non-league and now has to go .500 to qualify for the postseason. Does this prepare them for league? Bells had a so-so SOS with only one loss. Most interesting game tonight IMO. Winner: SI in a mild upset
- VC @ Serra - 6-9 Tovar vs Serra's 6-9 Shuman in his debut tonight? The "Jungle" advantage and Coach Rapp D prevail. Winner: Serra
SI needs to get off to a good early season start. Backs to the wall towards the end could be too much. This is a very winnable road game for them. Lets see how much Bellarmine dropped off this year.
Defending and league record holder for 3s Roy Yuan on display at the Forum. I'd advise the purple and gold to stick Clark on Yuan all night or he will burn you.
Riordan 37 SF 11. Halftime. Tough D, speed and depth overwhelming the Lancers.
Good win for the Bells. Had SI as a slight favorite going into that one
Serra rolls Valley. Up 40 in the middle of the fourth and went to the running clock. Wanted to see Tovar and have no idea why there is any hype for this guy. He had two points in the first half and benched for the entire second half. Serra had five or six dunks in the game including two tomahawks by a bench guy late in the game
Stats from Mitty-SHC. Monarchs made at least 11 3s tonight.
Riordan-St. Francis Stats courtesy of ARHS_Stats:
SF: Matthew Larson 11 pts; Anthony Landphere 10 pts; Evan Williams 8 rebs & 2 pts
AR: Bryce Monroe 23 pts, 2 asts, & 1 stl; Je'Lani Clark 19 pts, 3 rebs, 4 asts, & 4 stls; Chime Ugbaja 5 pts & 3 rebs; Justice Turner 4 pts & 5 rebs; Dominic Wilson 4 pts & 5 rebs
SF: Matthew Larson 11 pts; Anthony Landphere 10 pts; Evan Williams 8 rebs & 2 pts
AR: Bryce Monroe 23 pts, 2 asts, & 1 stl; Je'Lani Clark 19 pts, 3 rebs, 4 asts, & 4 stls; Chime Ugbaja 5 pts & 3 rebs; Justice Turner 4 pts & 5 rebs; Dominic Wilson 4 pts & 5 rebs
What's the deal with Tovar @VC? Physical tools check alot of boxes. Motor? Focus? I don't see him often but am always suprised with lack of production.
Also as an WCAL outsider, I'm very disappointed in SI. Seems like a team that peaks in June then the wheels fall off when it matters.
Also as an WCAL outsider, I'm very disappointed in SI. Seems like a team that peaks in June then the wheels fall off when it matters.
Can anyone comment how Tovar matched up with Serra transfer 6-9 Muti Shuman tonight? They have to be the biggest players in the league.
Shuman outscored Tovar 4-2. Obvious that Shuman will need to get his legs under him and get a feel for the WCAL but he is huge. Someone is going to get concussed by one of his screens. I think Serra will bring him along slowly as they prefer to pickup full court the entire game and that is not the big guy’s strength. He does offer a completely different look for the Padres
Great to see that Bryce Monroe has his explosiveness and bounce almost all the way back. He played tough man D, simply split defenders, attacked the rim and was able to create his shot at will. Overall team chemistry, especially on D as it held the Lancers to 23 points going into the 4th quarter, is really starting to gel.
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