#1 seed Colfax beats #4 seed Rivebank, 64-47; Colfax advances to the finals and will repeat as Section champs again in D4 on Friday at UC Davis.

#3 seed Escalon beats #7 seed West Campus, 49-47; Escalon advances to the finals against Colfax .

Will Sam Kretsch pitch for Serra this year?

Originally posted Feb 2019 and updated 2023
This is the 11th year of the open and there have been 28 teams make it to the open. 2 Newcomers Branson and Clovis North.
Modesto Christian 9 appearances Mitty and Sheldon have made 7 appearances. . Sheldon string of 6 in a row ended . SHELDON and ODowd are the only 3x winners with 2020 declared a co championship. Sheldon is only 5x finalist., 4th in a row and was looking to be the only 3peat winner in Covid 2020. MC joined Sheldon with 5x finalist in 2023

(Winners listed first except covid 2020)
2024
2023 St Joseph SM vs Modesto Christian
2022 Modesto Christian Vs Campolindo
2021 COVID
2020 Sheldon vs Bishop Odowd
2019 Sheldon vs Modesto Christian
2018 Sheldon vs Odowd
2017 Woodcreek vs Sheldon
2016 DLS vs Modesto Christian
2015 Odowd vs Modesto Christian
2014 Odowd vs Capital Christian
2013 Mitty vs Sheldon

Appearances

Modesto Christian 24 23 22 19 18 16 15 14 13
Sheldon. 22 20 19 18 17 16 13
Mitty 23 22 20 19 17 14 13
Salesian 24 19 18 17 16 13
Odowd 20 18 15 14 13
DLS 24 23 22 19 17 16
Folsom 18 16 15
Capital 18 17 14
Bells 20 18 17
Riordan 24 22
Newark 14 13
Moreau 16 15
El Cerrito 15 14
Serra 15 13
St Francis 16 15
Monta Vista 15
Sac 16
Woodcreek 17
Weston Ranch 19
San Joaquin M 18
St Joes 17
Dublin 20
Campolindo 22
Clovis West 22
Dougherty Valley 23
St Joeseph SM. 23
Clovis North 24
Branson 24

RECORDS
MC 9 app 14-8 1 title
Sheldon 7 app 11-4 2 + co ship
Mitty 7 app 5-6 1 title
DLS. 6 app. 6-5. 1 title
Salesian. 6 app. 1-5. 0 title
Odowd. 5 app. 8-2 2 + co ship

D1, D2, D3 are in action tonight.

Here's the link:

Two huge games this week

CRUSH IN THE VALLEY 2 (FEB 23-25TH)

The 2024 CRUSH IN THE VALLEY basketball event will be February 23-25th, 2024 @ Napa Valley College. This is a Grind Session Event, full of basketball entertainment. This year is headlined by Prolific Prep (top 5 Ranked team in Nation).

As always, this event will be a packed house. Please see the info below.

Courtside Seats/VIP: Those looking to get COURTSIDE SEATING, must contact ProlificPrepInfo@gmail.com. There are 50 Court side seats available for each day at $50 per seat (Includes Admission). Also, 4 VIP seats (Next to Coach Bernardi) will be only available for each day ($100 each)

Bulk Tickets Discount: If you are looking to buy Bulk discounted Tickets (8 or more for $10 each), you can email ProlificPrepInfo@gmail.com
Tickets Online or at Door: All other tickets will need to be purchased at the door ($20 admission)

Ball Boy: If you want to be a Ball Boy for the event, the cost is $60 but includes admission for 1 parent and Ball Ball, please contact ProlificPrepInfo@gmail.com
Those looking to be a BUSINESS GAME SPONSOR: $400 includes 4 courtside seats and admission and Game announcements and picture with the team please contact ProlificPrepInfo@gmail.com

I am confused on how the Norcal tournament is seeded. Does CIF have 1 committee that ranks the teams 1-8 Open 9-24 Divsion 1, 25-40 Division 2, 41-56 Division 3, 57-72 Division 4, 73-88 Division 5 and 89-104 Division 6? In watching how teams have been seeded in some sections over the years and also how teams have been seeded at the Norcal level, I can never figure out the matrix. I see that the NCS is going back to school enrollment in football next year with the ability to move up or down depending on Maxpreps ratings. I am not a big fan of Maxpreps rankings at all. I would think it would be pretty easy to get 5 people on a committee that can be unbiased and fair for everyone by just doing research. I do not think ANYONE puts the adequate time into making any of this make sense. And for everyone that thinks competitive equity makes sense, you need to move back into a world that EVERY single person is not obligated to get a TROPHY!!!!

2024 Nor Cal Spring Showcase

The 12th annual Nor Cal Spring Showcase will be held Saturday May 11, 2024 at Chabot College in Hayward. It is open to teams from high school and AAU programs in all high school grades (including seniors).

The event is designed to provide all players an opportunity to demonstrate their talents/skills in highly competitive games for the college coaches, scouts, and media expected to attend. A report on the event will be done by the Hoop Review scouting service that will be sent to college coaches and various internet sites. All games will be live streamed by Baller TV.

This event will also serve as a warmup for the NCAA live period the following weekend (May 17-19).

Cost is $260.00 per team. Multiple (3 or more) team discounts are available. Every team will play two games. For more information email: gerryfreitas@hotmail.com.

Tonight, I am at Ygnacio Valley, where they host Marin Catholic.

Good news for Marin Catholic, their team is quite young, even including three frosh on the roster. The bad news is…. They are 12-16.

Honestly, I probably picked a better game to feed my addictio… err, desire to see live HS hoops. But I saw “YV” and jumped on the ticket.

YV is 23-7 and my choice to win D4 NCS, and more than likely make some noise in NorCal, depending on what division they get tossed into.

Last night, Cheeto witnessed one of the most exciting high school games he’s ever seen. Monterey Trail (#2 seed) hosted Lincoln of Stockton (#7 seed).

The game was tied 72-72 end of regulation. Still tied 80-80 end of first OT. Lincoln prevails in double OT, 93-88.

The last time Lincoln has advanced this far in the section playoffs was 1980.

I’ll never forget that day. I was in 1st grade. I was in my room wearing my red “I (heart) Trojans” t-shirt (the Lincoln mascot, not the condom), pensively memorizing the lyrics to “All out of love” by Air Supply.

Papa Cheeto walked in and said, “Young Cheetito, Lincoln just won two section playoff games. You should write that down in your journal or something because it may not happen again for a while.”

I gasped, “Wow! Good lookin out, Papa Cheeto. Are we referring to Lincoln of Stockton or Lincoln of Lincoln?”

“Stockton”, he bellowed.

Here are some of the night’s highlights …

• Ralph, Lincoln’s most exciting fan and best dancer. His enthusiasm for the Trojans helped the players when they were tired and needed him to come through the most.

• Samantha, Lincoln’s unofficial videographer who puts all of Lincoln’s games on Facebook live. Her announcing skills and clever wordplay are reminiscent of Kings announcer Mark Jones.

• For this game they inexplicably brought in two celebrity referees. Seemed like a strange time to have two referees with no prior refereeing experience. But guest referees Kurt Angle (former wrestler) and Clay Fontenot (Denzel Washington’s stunt double) ended up officiating this big event. Admittedly not the most top-notch celebrities to bring in for such an important high school playoff game. But hey, this is the SJS. Not some rich people section like the NCS.

• Quentin Thompson, AKA Q-Tip, Lincoln’s 6-foot-6 silky smooth wing. 29 points, 13 rebounds. It looked like MT was going to blow the game open as they took a 47-36 third quarter lead. But Thompson almost single-handedly kept Lincoln in the game with his 16 third-quarter points. Thompson is bringing his talents to Atherton to play at Menlo College next year.

• Zeke Davis, AKA Z-Roc, Lincoln’s 6-foot-5 sharpshooter. When he gets into a groove on the court it’s like he’s on a stage spittin lyrics like his pops E-Roc. 28 points including 12-16 from three free throw line.

• Anthony Moore, AKA AntMan, Lincoln’s unflappable 6-foot-6 Jack-of-all-trades guard. 18 points and 15 rebounds. Huge block at the buzzer of regulation.

• Donez Lindsey, AKA The Gibson Stopper, Lincoln’s floor leader and the best on-ball defender in Northern California. His second-half defense on MT’s Brandon Gibson, Jr was a turning point in the game.

• Brandon Gibson, AKA Brandon Gibson Jr, MT’s crazy athletic in-your-face scorer. What a force this young man is on the court. One of the most electric and exciting players in NorCal. When he fouled out everyone in the gym knew that MT was going to have a tough time winning that game.

• After fouling out, Gibson looked at the ref with intense eyes, as if to say, “Do you know who I am? You guys had better switch that foul call to someone else or else we’re gonna have words after the game.” The referees did not give in to Gibson’s glare. No word on how it turned out for the celebrity referees after the game.

• Cheeto’s bold prediction …. Lincoln over MC for the section championship on Wednesday.

Should be a fun matchup. Inderkum with the early 2-0 lead

Big one here…. Campo heads down to Dublin…

I’ve talked a-plenty about the Cougs on here…. they bring in a 21-7 record.

Dublin is a young squad starting one soph and a pair of juniors. They are 22-8 and seem to be on a roll right now…. Unfortunately, I have none of their stats. But I remember being impressed by #2 Jalen Stokes, a junior swingman at 6’5”.

6’7 sophomore F/C Cameron Anderson is a load down low.

#1 Cal High over #8 Dublin 48-38
#4 Alameda over #5 Liberty 53-49
#2 Heritage over #7 Logan 55-43
#3 Salesian over # 6 Monte Vista 70-52

Tuesday
#1 Cal Hi vs # 4 Alameda
# 2 Heritage vs #3 Salesian

A couple big upsets in 1st round SJS Wednesday:

SHOCKING UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Division 1 - #12 seed Davis upset #5 seed Lincoln-Stockton, 48-46 at Lincoln. Lincoln may not advance to the NorCals. Davis will play at McClatchy on Friday. McClatchy won 63-36 over Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove)

Division 1 - #10 seed Kennedy upset #7 seed Franklin-Elk Grove, 53-44.

Upset in Division 2 - #10 seed St. Francis-Sacramento upset #7 seed Patterson 50-36 at Patterson. Patterson was a "gaudy" 26-2 going into this game, but had such a weak strength of schedule, they finally played a worthy opponent and lost by 14 at home.

Division 2 - #9 seed Rocklin beat #8 seed Woodcreek, 68-64 at Woodcreek in a fairly evenly matched game.
Division 3 - #11 seed Wood upset #6 seed Pioneer, 55-45
Division 4 - #11 seed Sonora upset #6 seed Liberty Ranch, 53-51

Final: 61-50, Atwater. Down by 10 at the half, CB fights back to lead 44-43 after three quarters. Atwater shows a lot of resilience in the fourth to close it out.

This should be a good one

It will be quite a road to get to a title in these brackets. The finalists will end up playing 4 games in eight days

Division I

#1 Modesto Christian beat #16 Cosumnes Oaks 83-56
#8 Franklin beat #9 Folsom 71-65
#5 Weston Ranch beat #12 Oak Ridge 92-59
#4 Inderkum beat #13 Mountain House 95-46
#3 Rocklin beat #14 Lodi 94-66
#6 Sheldon beat #11 Grant 75-72
#7 Lincoln beat #10 Laguna Creek 54-47
#2 Monterey Trail beat #15 Pitman 66-57

Division II

#1 Jesuit beat #16 Cordova 94-63
#8 Burbank beat #9 Rio Americano 57-49
#5 St. Mary's beat #12 Atwater 67-49
#4 Del Oro beat #13 Patterson 81-66
#3 Vanden beat #14 Golden Valley 53-46
#6 Woodcreek beat #11 Vacaville 73-55
#7 Whitney beat #10 Rodriguez 59-58
#2 Capital Christian beat #15 Granite Bay 70-61

Division III

#1 Sacramento beat #16 Mira Loma 87-57
#9 Nevada Union beat #8 Roseville 59-58
#5 Twelve Bridges beat #12 Lincoln 51-37
#4 Central Catholic beat #13 Wood 44-38
#3 Placer beat #14 Sierra 71-59
#6 Christian Brothers beat #11 Ponderosa 67-55
#7 Manteca beat #10 Antelope 61-54
#2 West Park beat #15 Beyer 71-34

NOW…I’ve been saying this since late September…SI and SHC are a combined 0-6 this season between football and basketball against The Crusaders…I’m not saying to CHANGE tradition but maybe just shake it up a bit, ya know?!

Like, can the Crusaders just have a weekend with the Bruce-Mahoney trophy? Just display it on campus and take it out to dinner?

Just a thought.

I'm at the CLET @ Piedmont game tonight and will be posting updates at the quarter.

Not sure if it's on NFHS or not..either way I will keep everyone updated.


I'd love for someone at the BOD @ Acalanes game to do the same!

Thanks