CCS Open predications
- Thread starter M&M Boys3
- Start date
St. Francis over Santa Cruz by 15.
Serra over Palma by 9.
Mitty over MA by 2.
HMB over Bellarmine by 7.
St. Francis over Mitty by 11.
Serra over HMB by 3.
St. Francis over Serra by 17.
St. Francis gets the 4-seed in Norcal Open...
Serra over Palma by 9.
Mitty over MA by 2.
HMB over Bellarmine by 7.
St. Francis over Mitty by 11.
Serra over HMB by 3.
St. Francis over Serra by 17.
St. Francis gets the 4-seed in Norcal Open...
Those are pretty good... I hear that Palma has a starter out with ACL injury, anyone know who it is? if it wasn't for that i could see them beating Serra by 9. I don't think Serra has anyone to stay with Jamaree Bouyea that kid is pretty smooth.
1st Rd
1) St Francis vs 8) Santa Cruz
SF is too big and too good. SF wins in a blowout breaking game open in 2nd Half.
4) M-A vs 5) Mitty
M-A's backcourt vs Mitty's frontcourt. This one will go down to the wire, but M-A pulls off the upset on a game winner carrying the momentum from their HMB upset.
3) Bellarmine vs 6) HMB
Bell-HMB III - HMB wounded after M-A beatdown, but escapes in a low scoring affair.
2) Serra vs 7) Palma
Palma seems to be quietly ignored in this bracket, but they have a good team. Palma surprises Serra by matching physicality in 1st half, but Killingsworth and Testa make the plays in the 4th Q to get Serra through.
2nd Rd
1) St Francis vs 4) M-A
Game is closer than the experts think, and SF tightens up as M-A steals momentum early in second half. M-A doesn't have the size to bang with SF for 4 quarters, and physicality wears down the M-A guards and pressure, sending SF to the finals after break away 4th Q.
2) Serra vs 6) HMB
Rematch of last years first round game ends in similar fashion as Serra blows out HMB. If HMB couldn't handle the M-A pressure in their PAL title game, Serra will be a similar result.
Finals
1) St Francis vs 2) Serra
Seeds hold as SF-Serra III heads to SCU. St. Francis 2-0 this season against Serra making it 3-0 behind buzzer beating game winner in low scoring slugfest. Both head to NorCal Open.
Ok. Let's go with:
Sorry had to edit, screwed the bracket up. So:
Browns, Fathers, Bells, Bears in Final 4
Browns vs Fathers in the Final
Brown is the new black, wins the Open.
http://www.mercurynews.com/high-sch...sketball-playoffs-will-public-school-boys-end
Sorry had to edit, screwed the bracket up. So:
Browns, Fathers, Bells, Bears in Final 4
Browns vs Fathers in the Final
Brown is the new black, wins the Open.
http://www.mercurynews.com/high-sch...sketball-playoffs-will-public-school-boys-end
Last edited:
Haven't seen Bouyea play but Serra has Jeremiah Testa who at 6'2" has the size and quickness to match up with WCAL PGs. . They also have Lee Jones so I don't think matching up with Bouyea will be something Coach Rapp will struggle with. The question that I would have is whether Palma has the size and athleticism to match up with Killingsworth and Wilson.
All questions answered by Serra vs. Palma. Simply no contest whatsoever. Serra's defense, size, depth and unrelenting toughness were simply too much for the Salinas unit. It turned into a mismatch in the second half. Palma's star was stifled by all of the above. He couldn't function with any sort of freedom vs. that smothering Serra defense.
So for all those who asked, '...do the WCAL have playoffs?' The answer, yes, unofficially. Typically its the Final 4 of the Open every year. Why don't the CCS suck it up like every other section and just out all the schools where they belong according to enrollment? It would at least scatter the WCAL there giving the Publics, 4 chances, at least possibly speaking to win that coveted CCS title they aspire to when they created this. I mean that's the only reason why the Open was created right? So the WCAL can knock off each other and the poor Public Schools can get their CCS banner to hang. Only thing is theres no transparency throughout the State. I get that they feel shaded on cause the WCAL schools seem to get the "best athletes", but whats the point of putting your "best" as or "deepest public school in Open history" as proclaimed by Westsnore coach
Herbie if their gonna get bounced in the unofficial WCAL tournament? Call it what they are, the sacraficial lambs, so that the other Publics who won't ever play in the Open can get a chance at glory. I know my post won't be popular with everyone, but creating this so "everyone gets a participation trophy" is pretty much what theyre doing. IT IS WHAT IT IS
Herbie if their gonna get bounced in the unofficial WCAL tournament? Call it what they are, the sacraficial lambs, so that the other Publics who won't ever play in the Open can get a chance at glory. I know my post won't be popular with everyone, but creating this so "everyone gets a participation trophy" is pretty much what theyre doing. IT IS WHAT IT IS
You may have phrased some of your post rather ungraciously, but the gist is undeniably correct. The CIF can't, or won't, create two separate state basketball (and football) playoff systems so it did the next best thing: The Open Division. Yes, it is designed to quarantine the strong private/parochials, isolating the best of that lot in a sort of leper colony all its own. That's life in the CA fast lane.
Injured Palma starter is the younger Maker brother a soph. Bouyea a junior will be back next season.Palma needed to increase the strength of schedule to prepare for the WCAL. They played HMB (went 1-1) and St Francis (Lancers dominated in first game of the season) early in the season, but MBAL Gab seemed really down this season. Loss of younger Maker may have hurt some on defense, but Serra was too difficult of a matchup. Fortunately for Palma they move on to Norcals.
1DNA, Brilliant idea of the CCS to cash in on the WCAL playoffs. Lol! Pretty much agree on your points raised, but at least M-A, Santa Cruz, and Palma move on to NorCals. Should be a true indicator if these teams can compete at a State playoff level.
D3 is intact with no teams in Open so despite not being terribly strong, the CCS Champ will be a real champion. Burlingame vs Riordan (up 12 HT vs Gunderson) and SHC vs. Prospect Wed night at Aragon in San Mateo.
Curious Turtle Love what your take is on D3 since you have had some good insight on their teams. I feel that outside of Open Division, this is the only other CCS division where the champion will have to actually have earned their crown through a decently tough crowd.
My take from 2 of last night's DIII Quarterfinals as I was able to take in VC-Prospect and Riordan-Gunderson...
VC-Prospect - Close game throughout with Prospect's size enabling 2nd chance put backs was the deciding factor against the Warriors. Lead changed hands multiple times in the 4th quarter.
Gunderson-Riordan - Grizzlies size looked very impressive as they took the court during warmups, but that was as far as it got, save for Gunderson's jr. 6-7 Futch. Crusaders bad luck of injury continued as starting pg Jake Rassam turned an ankle early in the game and never returned. The good news was that soph pg James Chun was back from his injury. Crusader D was the key factor in this game that gave them a 12 pt halftime lead. Gunderson came out of the second half trying to play an uptempo, running game and proved costly as Riordan's speed, length and depth sealed the game. Good to see balanced scoring throughout the lineup with exclamation marks by Jason Smith and Daniel Norman flushes! Norman's dunk brought down the house.
Read in previous pubs of CCS projections that Prospect and Gunderson received strong consideration for Open and certainly 1-2 seeds in D3. Frankly, I do not see it - especially with Riordan and VC finishing as the bottom 2 in WCAL this season. Will be interesting semis as the Crusaders face #1 Burlingame and SHC faces #3 Prospect. Btw - good to see SHC's Ramzi Carter in the stands for both the VC-Prospect and Riordan-Gunderson games as he was sizing up potential opponents he will be matching up against....
VC-Prospect - Close game throughout with Prospect's size enabling 2nd chance put backs was the deciding factor against the Warriors. Lead changed hands multiple times in the 4th quarter.
Gunderson-Riordan - Grizzlies size looked very impressive as they took the court during warmups, but that was as far as it got, save for Gunderson's jr. 6-7 Futch. Crusaders bad luck of injury continued as starting pg Jake Rassam turned an ankle early in the game and never returned. The good news was that soph pg James Chun was back from his injury. Crusader D was the key factor in this game that gave them a 12 pt halftime lead. Gunderson came out of the second half trying to play an uptempo, running game and proved costly as Riordan's speed, length and depth sealed the game. Good to see balanced scoring throughout the lineup with exclamation marks by Jason Smith and Daniel Norman flushes! Norman's dunk brought down the house.
Read in previous pubs of CCS projections that Prospect and Gunderson received strong consideration for Open and certainly 1-2 seeds in D3. Frankly, I do not see it - especially with Riordan and VC finishing as the bottom 2 in WCAL this season. Will be interesting semis as the Crusaders face #1 Burlingame and SHC faces #3 Prospect. Btw - good to see SHC's Ramzi Carter in the stands for both the VC-Prospect and Riordan-Gunderson games as he was sizing up potential opponents he will be matching up against....
Last edited:
The ONLY Open consideration for Prospect and Gunderson was from people on this board. THEY WERE NOT PUT UP FOR CONSIDERATION BY CCS.
Wasnt this suppose to be a down year for the WCAL in terms of talent and overall strength this season? That said and if accurate what does that say for the rest of the CCS? Shouldn't there be an asterisk put on any CCS banner in D1 since no team there faced the "best" of the section. No WCAL school and by process of the Open the "deepest Public school ever in the Open" per Coach Herb, didn't participate either. Guess whatever coach voted for this got their wish when creating the Open and enabled the scrutiny of mediocrity that will follow with watered down asterisk filled CCS banners. At least they get a chance, just like little Johnny who got his participation trophy, to say they were CCS Champs*** btw-any predictions for the Lost 4? Santa Cruz vs M-A and Palma vs HMB? Those should be instant classics. Wonder what would happen if say teams decided to ay their second 5 for experience and rest their starters to make sure theyre ready for that Norcal run to a State Title.
btw-any predictions for the Lost 4? Santa Cruz vs M-A and Palma vs HMB? Those should be instant classics. Wonder what would happen if say teams decided to ay their second 5 for experience and rest their starters to make sure theyre ready for that Norcal run to a State Title.Thanks. Appreciate it. All four winning teams played well at times and all played poorly at times. Both Burlingame and SHC are enigmatic. Both have good upsides, but they've also had some really low performances.
SHC was down three at the half to Hillsdale. C'mon. A championship team simply can't do that. But, all year long SHC has been off their game. There are times when Alfred Hollins takes over, but there are stretches when the worst offensive player I've seen in the WCAL in many moons decides that he needs to have the ball in his hands.
I'd double Hollins all over the court and force Ramzi Carter to beat me with the ball. He's a TREMENDOUS defensive player (one of the best high school defenders I've seen) and superb rebounder, but his offensives skills are such that I would force him to do something with the ball.
SHC also goes through LONG lackadaisical stretches and they can get away with that against a weak team. They can't do it against a good one.
More later on other teams...
Not so fast buddy. There were a couple of those years that Riordan was in the WCAL playoff aka The Open and had that division not be created for poor D1-2-3 public schools who never got a chance to win it
they would have been in D4 and after watching how HMB has handled teams more athletic then then the last few it may be a stretch to say they too would have a CCS banner in D4. Then again that was the point of the Open right, so the also rans can hang up their own banner sans an asterisk after winning a CCS title *