EBAL Predictions 2/13

[NorCalScout]

Dublin 75 Dougherty Valley 57. Would not surprise me to see a blowout but I think Dougherty's D will slow things down and keep Dublin out of the 80's which will help keep thing closer then they really are. Dublin's D had been much better as of late, so I think that will continue here tonight. Jackson is playing as well as anyone in this league and when he plays well, it's going to be a long night for the opposing team.

DLS 62 Cal 49. Grizz have the talent and players to keep it close but they never seem to follow thru. Pratt & Gregorios are playing like the all-leaguers they are and if they get any help at all, then things could get ugly here.

Amador 57 Foothill 52. Amador finally played like I thought they could against DLS. Tough loss & might spill over to tonight but if you can't get up for your rival, then go home. To much Williams & Kramer tonight but Smith & Cristwell will do their best to keep things close enough to pull off the upset.

Monte Vista 56 San Ramon 51. Mustangs are the best defensive team in this league and San Ramon plays very hard and are well coached but it might be a little much for the Wolves to pull off the upset here. Balanced scoring & a lot of substituting seem to be the recipe for the Mustangs and if they control to boards, they are tough to beat.

Granada 68 Livermore 54. First game was way to close to the Matadors and they will solid tonight at both ends in front of one of the best home crowds in the league. With Kath back to take some of the load off Murdoch & Anderson, this shouldn't be as close as the first meeting. Petersdorf has done a fine job with this team and they aren't the easy out they have been each and every year. Langowski has had a very nice year and if they had one other main scorer each and every night, they would have pulled off a few league wins.

 

[observer22]

Good calls all the way around on the rivalry games. I could see Foothill possibly winning a close battle, as their postseason is at stake. I also see DLS putting up more than 62 on Cal. No battle of Livermore tonight?

 

[NorCalScout]

Good calls all the way around on the rivalry games. I could see Foothill possibly winning a close battle, as their postseason is at stake. I also see DLS putting up more than 62 on Cal. No battle of Livermore tonight?

Thanks for the heads up, I added the Livermore showdown.

 

[observer22]

Dublin 64 - DV 62
Granada 71 - Livermore 65
DLS 79 - Cal 40
MV 63 - SRV 39
AV 45 - Foothill 35

 

[ncs_hewson]

Sayonara to Foothill's playoff hopes, They get after it defensively, but really not much offensive firepower

 

[larry legend33]

DV must be pretty legit playing a very good Dublin team that close and a win against DLS. BTW, I took heat for DLS earlier this year but somehow they always seem to be right there at the end of the season even with a bunch of role players. I wouldn't want to play them.

 

[Straight8]

@larry legend33 I am with you, it's a Program and a System [DLS]. Even when they have Division 1 college players those individuals are never bigger than the team. They get better as the season goes along and they peak in the end. I'm liking DLS also.

 

[DonniePeckerwood]

If you guys told me that Dublin, followed by DLS were the favorites to win NCS D1....... I would not call you crazy. Dublin's talent and versatility makes them STRONG. They can score the basketball many different ways. Would take them over CVC and Berkeley all day long.

 

[NorCalScout]

I was at the Dublin vs. Dougherty game last night. What a wild and crazy finish. I thought the game winning tip-in by Nielsen at the buzzer was good, was it close? Absolutely and could have gone either way, I don't have access to the game film and we might find out differently down the road but what my eyes told me was, it was good. What I don't understand is why did the refs or ref add time to the clock? Sheets for Dougherty made a 3 pointer with 5 seconds to play and then refs added 3 seconds to the clock, that was more of a controversy then the tip-in. Great game all the way around, Dougherty is gritty and plays hard, very well coached most of the time and then held a much better team down and almost came up with a huge upset. Dublin didn't play very well at all but I give Dougherty most of the credit for that, Jackson and Nielsen were good but Beasley was off all night long and probably had his worse game of the his short high school career but a great job is defending him and helping on him by the Wildcats. Thursday at Dublin should be interesting but I want to see Amador at DLS.

 

[Genethia]

I was at the Dublin vs. Dougherty game last night. What a wild and crazy finish. I thought the game winning tip-in by Nielsen at the buzzer was good, was it close? Absolutely and could have gone either way, I don't have access to the game film and we might find out differently down the road but what my eyes told me was, it was good. What I don't understand is why did the refs or ref add time to the clock? Sheets for Dougherty made a 3 pointer with 5 seconds to play and then refs added 3 seconds to the clock, that was more of a controversy then the tip-in. Great game all the way around, Dougherty is gritty and plays hard, very well coached most of the time and then held a much better team down and almost came up with a huge upset. Dublin didn't play very well at all but I give Dougherty most of the credit for that, Jackson and Nielsen were good but Beasley was off all night long and probably had his worse game of the his short high school career but a great job is defending him and helping on him by the Wildcats. Thursday at Dublin should be interesting but I want to see Amador at DLS.

I'm not sure if the tip was good, and believe DV is protesting. Hard to understand why Dublin left the big man in the game when DV needed a 3. You would think they would put in their best perimeter defenders and DV took advantage with a switch on the big.

Beasley went out early in the first half with a deep gash to his eye; played with one eye in the second half.

This year Dublin is playing a platoon. Heavy rotations and no consistency. Players are in and out with way too much frequency; they have no rhythm in the game or with each other. They are underachieving, and could easily get knocked out early. Will be interesting to see what MV does tomorrow.

 

[1storm]

Cal finished with 2 wins in league losing final game by 39! Team stopped playing for this coach, 4 straight losing seasons, JV and freshman programs did poorly as well

 

[bones40]

@Genethia dublin is 23-3 and just went 13-0 in league and they are underachieving?
if that is underachieving then the state of high school basketball is in really
bad shape.where dublin is not strong at is on the defensive end especially with
There guards who are fast and athlectic but are not consistent in staying
In front of there men.Teams drive it to the basket way to easy there needs to be more
pride taken on the DEFENSIVE END BY ALL THERE GAURDS. Having said that they
are a fun team to watch when they are clicking offensively they are awful hard
To stop and will be a tough out come playoff time.

 

[RobbyRyan]

Although Dublin has some ugly wins this season they continue to find ways to win. They should have a nice post season especially if they tighten up on defense.

 

[observer22]

Cal finished with 2 wins in league losing final game by 39! Team stopped playing for this coach, 4 straight losing seasons, JV and freshman programs did poorly as well

Yeah, the Grizz have not shown improvement over the course of the season. If anything they have gotten worse compared to the other teams, as the 2nd half of the season has not been kind to them.

 

[observer22]

I'm not sure if the tip was good, and believe DV is protesting.

I'm not sure how such a protest would work. If in the ref's opinion the tip was made prior to the buzzer, how could they protest a judgment call? This isn't the NBA where they would review the video in slow motion to make the call in Secaucus. Even if there is video that shows the buzzer went off just before he tipped it, it can't be overturned. BTW, I wasn't there, so I don't have an opinion on whether it should have counted or not. I just know that the refs counted it.

 

[Straight8]

http://www.prep2prep.com/story.aspx?ArticleID=22419

 

[DonniePeckerwood]

Conventional wisdom would tell you that monte vista doesn't have the firepower to keep up with Dublin and that Amador valley doesn't have the discipline to edge de la salle.

Not so fast my friends! I'm going to right here, right now, tell you otherwise! Double upset special tonight, with Monte Vista and Amador Valley advancing to the EBAL finals this Saturday night! You heard it here first! Who's going to which games? Keep us posted!

 

[RobbyRyan]

@DonniePeckerwood I am taking Dublin and DLS; they are more battle tested. Both teams have had some close games and DLS has a couple of losses, but that is because the opponents get up for those games and play harder against them. That experience should help tonight and throughout the post-season.

 

[togos]

I will take Dublin over Monte Vista. Too much firepower. Too many explosive players .

Dela should cruise to a victory after getting a 3 overtime with Amador.

 

[Straight8]

Here is where I question the EBAL post League tournament;


Help me if I make a mistake, there are 2 divisions in EBAL. Dublin has the best record in one and DeLaSalle has the best record in the other division. Right before NCS starts they are going to play a 2 games EBAL tourney, possibly Dublin vs DLS after DeLaSalle and Dublin have already played a regular season game. Here is my issue, DeLaSalle has been doing this for years it is a tradition with them. Dublin recently move to the EBAL and also to the D1 division. A Great team like Dublin only has so many of these blood battles in storage. For example, last year's Great Dublin team with Smalls lost the regular season battle again DLS but they won the EBAL Playoff Championship vs DLS. If Saturday's game is DLS vs Dublin, Dublin is going to feel this tough game entering NCS next week. After the opening 2 rounds Dublin is looking at facing a top 4 D1 team in the semifinals. This might end up being a very tough game for Dublin before they make it to a D1 Championship game against another top 4 D1 team. This is 3 Super battles in 2 weeks something last year's Dublin team was not able to do when they lost to DLS in the NCS Championship game. I think later they were surprised by a gamed Palo Alto team in NorCal D1 that ended their season. I'm sure folks were amazed how close the game vs DV was, anything can happen.

Now let say Dublin wins out they now enter the possibility of a loaded open division a bit wounded. Or if they go D1 Norcal the semifinal and a final game are even more battles before a State Final game.

In conclusion, most of the top leagues are not playing these post league tourneys before sectional play. It just adds one more tough game on the schedule that is not necessary. The real prize is winning NCS and State not a post league tournament.

Has Dublin ever won a NCS Division?

 

[damim]

I think post season league tournaments are a complete waste of time. They sound good initially, but why would you want to play the same team 3 or 4 times in a season? And like you stated above, the last thing these teams need is another battle or 2(both physically and emotionally) leading into a tough sectional tournament. A few days of rest at the end of a season can go a long way towards preparing your team for the post season. Just my 2 cents from a bit of experience...

 

[togos]

dublin won the regular season at Dela last year and then won the championship of the league playoffs.
DELA beat Dublin IN NCS finals

 

[observer22]

The way the new EBAL is set up, the teams from the opposite divions only play each other once during the regular season, so a potential DLS-Dublin rematch would only be their 2nd meeting.

 

[Streak One]

I tend to agree on league tournaments. They bring some excitement to what can be predictable league play, but it just adds wear to teams and everyone is trying to conserve and peak over the next month instead of taking another hit early.

 

[NorCalScout]

I tend to agree on league tournaments. They bring some excitement to what can be predictable league play, but it just adds wear to teams and everyone is trying to conserve and peak over the next month instead of taking another hit early.

I am with you Streak, I love the excitement, added pressure and game planning that's involved. I understand both sides but give me more high school hoops and I'll always be happy. I will be at De La Salle tonight.

 

[DonniePeckerwood]

I am with you Streak, I love the excitement, added pressure and game planning that's involved. I understand both sides but give me more high school hoops and I'll always be happy. I will be at De La Salle tonight.

I think those dreaded "white coats" that you mentioned in your EBAL awards are going to scare me away from attending this one tonight. I think I'll check out MV at Dublin game instead. Love the awesome scoreboards down there!

 

[Straight8]

Let see how far off I am;

Dublin 71
Monte Vista 63

DLS v AV n/a

 

[concrete17]

AV 57-DLS 55

 

[observer22]

Dublin won by about 12 vs MV

 

[Hoopster18]

Dublin won by about 12 vs MV

Dublin 61 - MV 54

 

[observer22]

My bad. The scoreboard said 12 with the subs in and about 5 seconds left, but the scorekeeper hadn’t tallied the last MV 3 yet, and MV got a dunk right at the buzzer to pull within 7. I didn’t look at the board once it ended as I had a foot out the door.

MV got out to a lead to start the game, but the Gaels cut it to 1 to end the 1st quarter and took over after that. Good effort by the Stangs.