First Look at Mitty

[TheHillZ]

Mitty hosted St. Josephs from Santa Maria, and its star Avary Cain (a 6'2 UCLA commit). Cain was excellent before leaving late with what I hope was a cramp. But despite her brilliance, St. Josephs had no chance against Mitty's size and speed. The final was Mitty 95 St. Josephs 63.

McKenna Woliczko was unstoppable for the Monarchs tallying 35 (unofficially), almost all of which came on layups and free throws. Morgan Cheli added 22 and several spectacular assists. Belle Bramer and Elana Weisman were also in double figures.

 

[Norcal_Fan]

I'm old school and believe that

SMS with Gemelos or
Piedmont with the Paris twins
O-Tech with Lawson and Hampton
SCP
BOD first open team

were some of the best teams to come out of CA. They'd have a VERY tough time with this Mitty team. Big, strong, and relentless. The duo of Cheli and Woliczko are two of the best in recent memory.

 

[TightWadHill]

Mitty hosted St. Josephs from Santa Maria, and its star Avary Cain (a 6'2 UCLA commit). Cain was excellent before leaving late with what I hope was a cramp. But despite her brilliance, St. Josephs had no chance against Mitty's size and speed. The final was Mitty 95 St. Josephs 63.

McKenna Woliczko was unstoppable for the Monarchs tallying 35 (unofficially), almost all of which came on layups and free throws. Morgan Cheli added 22 and several spectacular assists. Belle Bramer and Elana Weisman were also in double figures.

Thank you for the score and the highlites. I looked everywhere and did a search but to no avail until you!

 

[AtomicDawg1911]

I'm old school and believe that

SMS with Gemelos or
Piedmont with the Paris twins
O-Tech with Lawson and Hampton
SCP
BOD first open team

were some of the best teams to come out of CA. They'd have a VERY tough time with this Mitty team. Big, strong, and relentless. The duo of Cheli and Woliczko are two of the best in recent memory.

I highly doubt that. The era back then was mentally stronger and higher IQ.

 

[AtomicDawg1911]

I highly doubt that. The era back then was mentally stronger and higher IQ.

What guards from Mitty could hang with any of those groups ? I won’t even discuss the bigs because the OG bigs lost defense was high level.

 

[kiddman32]

Mitty's home games, both boys and girls, are on a Hudl link at their own websites.

Looks like Riordan has also switched over to that "service". Makes NFHS look like ESPN.

 

[ClayK]

What guards from Mitty could hang with any of those groups ? I won’t even discuss the bigs because the OG bigs lost defense was high level.

The belief that the old days were always better than now is persistent -- generally the "old days" are defined as when the speaker was 21 or so -- but it's not necessarily true. I saw all those teams, and coached against some of them, and my belief is this Mitty team is deeper, tougher, stronger and more cohesive than any of them (perhaps the biggest difference is "deeper"). I think the AAU experience today is so much more competitive and challenging than in the past that girls are forced to elevate their games because they compete against the best from all over the country.

And of course the USA Basketball experience is an added bonus for the stars.

Comparing the styles of play is difficult, because post defense used to matter a lot. Now three-point shooting matters more, and who knows if those teams had more than a couple players who could shoot threes. And no one had a 6-2 player like Morgan Cheli.

 

[ankleassassin]

The belief that the old days were always better than now is persistent -- generally the "old days" are defined as when the speaker was 21 or so -- but it's not necessarily true. I saw all those teams, and coached against some of them, and my belief is this Mitty team is deeper, tougher, stronger and more cohesive than any of them (perhaps the biggest difference is "deeper"). I think the AAU experience today is so much more competitive and challenging than in the past that girls are forced to elevate their games because they compete against the best from all over the country.

And of course the USA Basketball experience is an added bonus for the stars.

Comparing the styles of play is difficult, because post defense used to matter a lot. Now three-point shooting matters more, and who knows if those teams had more than a couple players who could shoot threes. And no one had a 6-2 player like Morgan Cheli.

same argument is had about the showtime lakers, 90s bulls vs the warriors in the 2010s

 

[letsski]

What guards from Mitty could hang with any of those groups ? I won’t even discuss the bigs because the OG bigs lost defense was high level.

Think PG Morgan Chelli - USA basketball and UConn commit could hang.

 

[Marcskit]

same argument is had about the showtime lakers, 90s bulls vs the warriors in the 2010s

One word.
Jordan
Here's wishing you great hoops

 

[GBBall4L]

The belief that the old days were always better than now is persistent -- generally the "old days" are defined as when the speaker was 21 or so -- but it's not necessarily true. I saw all those teams, and coached against some of them, and my belief is this Mitty team is deeper, tougher, stronger and more cohesive than any of them (perhaps the biggest difference is "deeper"). I think the AAU experience today is so much more competitive and challenging than in the past that girls are forced to elevate their games because they compete against the best from all over the country.

And of course the USA Basketball experience is an added bonus for the stars.

Comparing the styles of play is difficult, because post defense used to matter a lot. Now three-point shooting matters more, and who knows if those teams had more than a couple players who could shoot threes. And no one had a 6-2 player like Morgan Cheli.

Wasn't Haley Jones a 6'2 USA Basketball as well? And a Stanford Commit that won the National Championship in college?

 

[ClayK]

I'd say Haley is about 6-0. And she really can't shoot.

 

[GBBall4L]

I'd say Haley is about 6-0. And she really can't shoot.

I know people that have seen both those girls in person and they are the same height. Maybe a quarter inch off at best. Wasn't Haley Jones the outright #1 HS recruit in the nation? Why such a mission to downplay Haley @ClayK? What's really going on here?

 

[AtomicDawg1911]

Answer this question what guard from Mitty can hang with the following to name a few:

Brittany Boyd
Elisha Davis
Alexis Gray-Lawson
Asha Thomas

Aisia Robertson​

The Moore’s

 

[colhenrylives]

Once again, we forget about, arguably, the best girls' team(s) ever in NorCal: The Sacred Heart Prep units that went 113-1 (with an 80-game winning streak) 30 years ago. They were among the finest teams in the U.S. at that time, per USA Today. But a lot of memories don't go back to that era. Blessed with eight players who played for Division I colleges, those Gators were a sight to behold. Outstanding halfcourt man-to-man. Great rebounding. Choreographed halfcourt offense. Gifted kids. Relentless coaching. Talent all over the floor. You had to see them to appreciate them. It's too bad they came onto the NorCal prep scene prior to the overwhelming influence of social media.

 

[ClayK]

I saw that team, numerous times. I think this Mitty team is deeper, definitely, and better. Mike Ciardello only played five (no matter what the score) and Jenny Circle would have struggled with McKenna Wolitczko. And they had no one like Morgan Cheli.

But reasonable people can disagree.

 

[letsski]

Answer this question what guard from Mitty can hang with the following to name a few:

Brittany Boyd
Elisha Davis
Alexis Gray-Lawson
Asha Thomas

Aisia Robertson​

The Moore’s

Here's a different question - which one of the guards you listed could guard Morgan Chelli? At 6'1" with a great outside shot, speed, post up ability, she would be a match up nightmare for those smaller guards. And if you're going back to referencing great guards, Danielle Robinson is a cut above all of those guards, as her ongoing WNBA career would attest to.

 

[hoopisthegame]

I'm old school and believe that

SMS with Gemelos or
Piedmont with the Paris twins
O-Tech with Lawson and Hampton
SCP
BOD first open team

were some of the best teams to come out of CA. They'd have a VERY tough time with this Mitty team. Big, strong, and relentless. The duo of Cheli and Woliczko are two of the best in recent memory.

Sacred Heart Cathedral’s three-peat squad from the 2000’s would have been an issue, nevermind the lack of size.

 

[ClayK]

Answer this question what guard from Mitty can hang with the following to name a few:

Brittany Boyd:
Elisha Davis
Alexis Gray-Lawson
Asha Thomas

Aisia Robertson​

The Moore’s

Cheli is too tall and skilled for any of them to contain her. Sure, they're good players and she would have had to work to guard them, but none (and aside from Elisha Davis, who I do not recall) had the size to deal with her.

And Cheli's extensive club and international experience, plus being coached by Sue Phillips and Kelly Sopak, gives her yet another edge.

If I recall correctly, none of those players made a USA Basketball team, and none went to a top tier college program. All were excellent players, no doubt, but Cheli is 6-2 and is a three-point threat who can handle the ball.

 

[ClayK]

Answer this question what guard from Mitty can hang with the following to name a few:

Brittany Boyd:
Elisha Davis
Alexis Gray-Lawson
Asha Thomas

Aisia Robertson​

The Moore’s

Cheli is too tall and skilled for any of them to contain her. Sure, they're good players and she would have had to work to guard them, but none (and aside from Elisha Davis, who I do not recall) had the size to deal with her.

And Cheli's extensive club and international experience, plus being coached by Sue Phillips and Kelly Sopak, gives her yet another edge.

If I recall correctly, none of those players made a USA Basketball team, and none went to a top tier college program. All were excellent players, no doubt, but Cheli is 6-2 and is a three-point threat who can handle the ball.

 

[ClayK]

Answer this question what guard from Mitty can hang with the following to name a few:

Brittany Boyd:
Elisha Davis
Alexis Gray-Lawson
Asha Thomas

Aisia Robertson​

The Moore’s

Cheli is too tall and skilled for any of them to contain her. Sure, they're good players and she would have had to work to guard them, but none (and aside from Elisha Davis, who I do not recall) had the size to deal with her.

And Cheli's extensive club and international experience, plus being coached by Sue Phillips and Kelly Sopak, gives her yet another edge.

If I recall correctly, none of those players made a USA Basketball team, and none went to a top tier college program. All were excellent players, no doubt, but Cheli is 6-2 and is a three-point threat who can handle the ball.

 

[Norcal_Fan]

What guards from Mitty could hang with any of those groups ? I won’t even discuss the bigs because the OG bigs lost defense was high level.

Cheli is too tall and skilled for any of them to contain her. Sure, they're good players and she would have had to work to guard them, but none (and aside from Elisha Davis, who I do not recall) had the size to deal with her.

And Cheli's extensive club and international experience, plus being coached by Sue Phillips and Kelly Sopak, gives her yet another edge.

If I recall correctly, none of those players made a USA Basketball team, and none went to a top tier college program. All were excellent players, no doubt, but Cheli is 6-2 and is a three-point threat who can handle the ball.

I find it funny how you express that being coached by Kelly gives another advantage. How? Are you talking about his connections or his coaching? From a coaching perspective, he does a good job, but I would not put him anywhere near the top of the coaching greats in the Bay Area. You look at the things LeRoy has done at Tech with changing the ENTIRE way they do things has been transformational. From being a primarily zone team going to man to man, changing up his offense...he's doing a great job.

If you look at a lot of the players Kelly's had, they don't get a lot better. They're just as good as they were and the development is marginal.

Cal Stars isn't high school basketball, and his ability to recruit and bring the best players together is amazing. The talent he can get with his Nike connections has always amazed me. I think this is year 4 being at C-Let and all they have to show is a second round exit. Granted, Mitty has been crazy good and Pinewood always is in the mix with lesser players.

 

[ClayK]

Have it your way. I think Kelly's record and the careers his players have had pretty much speak for themselves. But there are always those looking for a reason to tear people down ...

 

[GBBall4L]

Well one thing for sure is the Cheli girl is a heck of a player. I love to watch her play. Plays great defense, can knock down the open shot and will post the smaller guard up. I wouldn't say she is a overly great ball handler but she is a strong ball handler. When ever you play hard good things can happen. NorCal has been long over due for an Open Division title. Hopefully Mitty can bring one home. Other than Mitty I cant see NorCal bringing home the open title.

 

[GBBall4L]

I find it funny how you express that being coached by Kelly gives another advantage. How? Are you talking about his connections or his coaching? From a coaching perspective, he does a good job, but I would not put him anywhere near the top of the coaching greats in the Bay Area. You look at the things LeRoy has done at Tech with changing the ENTIRE way they do things has been transformational. From being a primarily zone team going to man to man, changing up his offense...he's doing a great job.

If you look at a lot of the players Kelly's had, they don't get a lot better. They're just as good as they were and the development is marginal.

Cal Stars isn't high school basketball, and his ability to recruit and bring the best players together is amazing. The talent he can get with his Nike connections has always amazed me. I think this is year 4 being at C-Let and all they have to show is a second round exit. Granted, Mitty has been crazy good and Pinewood always is in the mix with lesser players.

I thought Coach Sopak did a great job at Miramonte. C-Let just hasn't had the players they've had in the past but Kelly has put some formidable C-Let teams together I would say. I expect C-Let to make a run in the coming years.

 

[Norcal_Fan]

Have it your way. I think Kelly's record and the careers his players have had pretty much speak for themselves. But there are always those looking for a reason to tear people down ...

Clay, Im not tearing him down. I said he's a good coach so please don't twist my words. I just said I don't think he's in the upper echelon of coaches, that's all, and I gave my reasons why. AGAIN, I think he does a good job.

 

[ClayK]

That's a reasonable opinion, though I disagree. No worries ...

 

[WOW Freddy]

I'm old school and believe that

SMS with Gemelos or
Piedmont with the Paris twins
O-Tech with Lawson and Hampton
SCP
BOD first open team

were some of the best teams to come out of CA. They'd have a VERY tough time with this Mitty team. Big, strong, and relentless. The duo of Cheli and Woliczko are two of the best in recent memory.

94 Sacred Prep Team that went 38-0 and defeated Lynwood in the D1 state final would beat this current Mitty team and the other mentioned teams. 2 Parade All Americans plus an honorable mention All American. All five starters played D1 college basketball. Jenny Circle, perhaps the best post player to ever play in the Bay Area. Renee Robinson perhaps the best point guard to play in the Bay. Both players were All Americans. That team could physically wear you down.

 

[WOW Freddy]

I saw that team, numerous times. I think this Mitty team is deeper, definitely, and better. Mike Ciardello only played five (no matter what the score) and Jenny Circle would have struggled with McKenna Wolitczko. And they had no one like Morgan Cheli.

But reasonable people can disagree.

 

[WOW Freddy]

Give me Renee Robinson any day of the week over any of these current guards. By the way, who says you have to play more than five. That SHP team played half court man to man defense, they didn’t press, run up and down the court and throw the ball away.

 

[colhenrylives]

Hmmmmm. Sound shot selection. Limited turnovers. Shot clock massage. Solid team defense. Five-player rebounding. No leaking out. Possession-by-possession discipline at both ends. What strange concepts. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick. Was Dr. Naismith still alive back then? Totally foreign. Strange days.

 

[ClayK]

I don't have a dog in the fight. Just my opinion.

Renee was a great player, no doubt.

 

[WOW Freddy]

Hmmmmm. Sound shot selection. Limited turnovers. Shot clock massage. Solid team defense. Five-player rebounding. No leaking out. Possession-by-possession discipline at both ends. What strange concepts. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick. Was Dr. Naismith still alive back then? Totally foreign. Strange days.

Wolicko against Circle! Circle couldn’t hang with her! Well guess what Kerrie Walsh couldn’t hang with Circle. Jenny would have had no problem posting up Wolicko. Wolicko would have had major problems with Circle’s strength and skill in the post. Another little tid bit, that Sacred Heart Team would have shut down those threes. Very few open looks would have come for those threes. Remember the main focus on that team was playing tough physical defense. It was very tough to match up with that team. Like the Colonel said, the best ever. By the way, we didn’t even talk about Alexis Felts, Kobie Kennon or Shawna Francescini.

 

[letsski]

94 Sacred Prep Team that went 38-0 and defeated Lynwood in the D1 state final would beat this current Mitty team and the other mentioned teams. 2 Parade All Americans plus an honorable mention All American. All five starters played D1 college basketball. Jenny Circle, perhaps the best post player to ever play in the Bay Area. Renee Robinson perhaps the best point guard to play in the Bay. Both players were All Americans. That team could physically wear you down.

I think either of the Paris twins, Jayne Appel or Devanei Hampton might have an issue with Jenny being the "best" post to ever play in the Bay Area. Also seem to recall a point guard from Miramonte that wasn't too bad - McDonalds game MVP , US National team, career triple double leader.

 

[ClayK]

I doubt many here saw both teams. WOW and I both did, and we respectfully (or not so respectfully) disagree.

The game's a lot different now than it was 30 years ago, and I'll leave it at that.

 

[kiddman32]

Slightly off-topic, since I'm not talking about a team that could beat today's Mitty or anything like that,

But the mention of all these top names from Bay Area teams in the past got me to thinking about Berkeley's Angel Hardy from somewhere around 1980. Anyone remember her? She was like the Magic Johnson of female hoops back in the day, and one of the first truly great female hoopers I saw in-person. She led Berkeley to a 32-0 record her senior season, and then starred at UCLA.

 

[colhenrylives]

A personal gripe. Turnovers. God help us all. Turnovers. Way, way, way too many of them in CCS girls' hoops. Year after year it's the same old song. Let's all pressure, run, kick the can, the ball and each other in a 32-minute frenzy of pointless sweat, fouls and mistakes. It's unwatchable. Too many CCS gals' units average nearly a turnover a minute. And that's being kind. A typical contest averages about 45-55 turnovers between both teams. It has gotten to the point where this is a sort of disjointed exercise that is simply expected and accepted. Officiating these debacles is not just difficult, it's nearly impossible. So, as a game progresses and the miscues pile up, the refs begin to allow more hacking, grabbing, traveling, double-dribbling and other assorted basketball boners. Anything to end the madness faster. Shoot me.

 

[ankleassassin]

I said that before..
The people who didn't get a chance to see Renee Robinson play for 4 years missed out. She was unreal. Shit today she still look like she can give you 12 and 10

 

[AtomicDawg1911]

Here's a different question - which one of the guards you listed could guard Morgan Chelli? At 6'1" with a great outside shot, speed, post up ability, she would be a match up nightmare for those smaller guards. And if you're going back to referencing great guards, Danielle Robinson is a cut above all of those guards, as her ongoing WNBA career would attest to.

Everyone listed. And I only named a few there’s plenty more. And we’re talking HS not college nor pros.

 

[AtomicDawg1911]

Cheli is too tall and skilled for any of them to contain her. Sure, they're good players and she would have had to work to guard them, but none (and aside from Elisha Davis, who I do not recall) had the size to deal with her.

And Cheli's extensive club and international experience, plus being coached by Sue Phillips and Kelly Sopak, gives her yet another edge.

If I recall correctly, none of those players made a USA Basketball team, and none went to a top tier college program. All were excellent players, no doubt, but Cheli is 6-2 and is a three-point threat who can handle the ball.

If you don’t recall Elisha Davis you should go do your research. And I’ve coached against Morgan. Great player but my smaller guards handled her pretty tough.

And that’s great she’s coached by them. I think those players I listed had great coaches and more than a few STATE titles on the biggest stage.