ADVERTISEMENT

Nice Preview of Vontoure Tourney

kiddman32

kiddman32

Hall of Famer
Nov 25, 2012
16,402
3,471
113
 
Agreed. There seems to be more depth this year. Serra-St. Joseph is a good first round matchup.
 
I saw Serra play yesterday for the first time this year. They started a sophomore and 4 juniors. I think they will get better as the year goes on but they are going to struggle this year with a lack of experience. They did not look good last night against Lincoln who just lost to si by 50. It looks like Rapp is out until league according to people in the stands.
 
why is Rapp out?

Edit: I searched around here and was reminded that it was something health-related.

Anyway, I'd say DLS is the favorite, but not the super-heavy favorites that they've been the last few years.
 
Last edited:
kiddman32 said:
why is Rapp out?

Edit: I searched around here and was reminded that it was something health-related.

Anyway, I'd say DLS is the favorite, but not the super-heavy favorites that they've been the last few years.
Click to expand...

I remember reading that Coach Rapp was going to have hip surgery during the off-season so possibly he's still recovering from that and doesn't want to be hopping around too much on the sidelines as he's pretty actively coaching from the sidelines :).
 
Here are my comments for today's action:

Game 1: James Logan's season highlights so far are blowout wins over Oakland Tech (Tech's only loss) and San Leandro. They also beat Sacred Heart Cathedral at their place in OT. CVC's season highlights are close losses to Deer Valley, Pittsburg, and College Park. Hard to see anything but a Logan win, but I have an idea CVC will show some fight. Logan by 13.

Game 2: A young Serra club without Rapp patrolling the sidelines won their only game by 20 over a scrappy but small and not-so-talented Lincoln team. St Joe's beat the same team by 40, but lost to a hot-shooting Modesto Christian by 12 the next night. If 7-footer Wilson, coming off injury, is playing and anything like near 100% healthwise, his size alone will give St. Joe's issues. The Pilots had quite a bit of trouble with the 6'8" guy on MC (in addition to their torrid 3-bombs). This is the game of the day for me, especially since I've been a Pilots fan since even before Jason Kidd was "the man" there (I *always* rooted for them vs. O'Dowd back in the CAL days). The fact the Pilots are in this tournament was a major factor in my decision to stay home for all three days of this tournament rather than go to Gridley. Anywayyy... I'll go with St. Joe's in a close one, maybe not-quite-so-close if Wilson isn't up to par yet.

Game 3: Fairfield won what appears to have been a not-so-strong Rio Americano tournament, then lost to Freedom by 13. DLS, who graduated a lot of firepower last year, still has managed to be 3-0 thus far with solid wins over Berkeley and Alameda, both of which appear to be at least pretty decent. Fairfield always shows a lot of fight and will make DLS work for it, but I'd say the Spartans win by 10 or more.

Game 4: Regis Jesuit of Aurora, CO has become a state power since coach Ken Shaw took over the reins a few years ago, winning titles in 2009 and 2010 and making deep playoff runs every year since. Of course, it's hard to have any idea what the level of competition is over there in the Rockies, and Regis also lost seven to graduation. In any case, they have a pair of juniors that seem to be getting some recruiting interest (no idea how much, tho). I saw St. Pat's play at the Newark showcase, and they played Monte Vista tough before falling 68-58. Their other game was a blowout win over Novato. I'll take Regis (not Philbin) by 8.
 
Game 1: CVC did show some grit, battling to a 1-point defecit at the half... Then they came out with their hair on fire in the 3rd q, scoring the first 10... But then Logan came back even harder and blew by to win 62-44.

Game 2: Serra and St. Joe's was a defensive battle to be sure. 19-16 Serra at the half, but then St. Joe's got some outside shooting going and took it 50-38. Wilson is noticeably more fit, but doesn't dominate much... And Serra's entry passes left something to be desired.

Game 3: DLS crushed Fairfield by something like 30.

Game 4: Regis and St. Pat's both came out firing! For the first quarter or so, it was looking like "first team to 90 wins!". It didn't stay that way, though... I believe it was tied at 45 at the end of 3, but Regis' 3-shooters went stone-cold and the bigger and more athletic St. Pat's dominated the 4th q to win by about 15.
 
Kidman. I couldn't make it over there due to work and was not going to sit in 2 hours of traffic from the city but I did see it on line. Two questions for you. It looked like st joes was in a zone the entire game and Wilson had 3 guys around him every time he touched the ball. Did you see that as wel? Post entrees were awful and a lot of standing around by the other 4 Serra players. 2). I wasn't that impressed with smith? Did he have an off game? I don't think he dominated as well but maybe he didn't have too because the other players are pretty solid
 
serdaprs said:
Kidman. I couldn't make it over there due to work and was not going to sit in 2 hours of traffic from the city but I did see it on line. Two questions for you. It looked like st joes was in a zone the entire game and Wilson had 3 guys around him every time he touched the ball. Did you see that as wel? Post entrees were awful and a lot of standing around by the other 4 Serra players. 2). I wasn't that impressed with smith? Did he have an off game? I don't think he dominated as well but maybe he didn't have too because the other players are pretty solid
Click to expand...
Where was it online?
Thanks!
 
Online thru FloHoops. I set within earshot of the announcer... He was quite good.
 
Every year DLS seems to be 28-3 or something like that. 4-0 now and doesn't look like things are going to change anytime soon.
 
serdaprs said:
Kidman. I couldn't make it over there due to work and was not going to sit in 2 hours of traffic from the city but I did see it on line. Two questions for you. It looked like st joes was in a zone the entire game and Wilson had 3 guys around him every time he touched the ball. Did you see that as wel? Post entrees were awful and a lot of standing around by the other 4 Serra players. 2). I wasn't that impressed with smith? Did he have an off game? I don't think he dominated as well but maybe he didn't have too because the other players are pretty solid
Click to expand...

Yes, I did see the zones and zone traps the Pilots ran, and agree that Serra didn't do well with post-entry passes.

Re: Smith.. I have seen him have better games for sure, but Serra played him well defensively. Overall, defense dominated the game both ways, at least until St. Joe's put together some plays in the 2nd half, many of them after Wilson fouled out.

I think Serra will get a lot better as their young players figure things out, especially when Rapp reappears on the sideline. But mostly, I think they are a "wait til next year" team.

For the semi's I'll pick St. Joe's to beat St. Pat's in a tough battle, and DLS comfortably over Logan.
 
Last night...

Game 1 went to Regis 58-44 over Serra. Wilson played much better, but Regis had better guard play, starters getting 38 points between them.

Game 2 went to CVC over Fairfield in a close one, I think 49-48 (no score yet on Maxpreps)

Game 3 was an epic... St. Joe's played practically perfect ball for the first 14 minutes, building a 20-point lead before St. Pat's started to dig back into it... St. Joe's by 13 at half. It seems the turning point was when started to crank up the full-court pressure (The old adage, "pressing teams don't like to get pressed" came true here). The pilots actually won the 3rd quarter by 1, even though it still felt like the tide was turning... Which it was. St. Pat's roared back to force an OT period, I believe 61-61. In the end, though, it was the Pilots making the plays at the end to prevail 71-67.

Game 4 was also a good one, as Logan played DLS much tougher than expected. The low-scoring game was nip-and-tuck for three quarters, but then DLS got red-hot from the 3-point line, sinking (I think) 6 in a row as they pulled away to win by about 15.

For tonight's final, I will be doing something I've *NEVER* done before... I'll walk into DLS's home gym to root for the other team. :) GO PILOTS!

That being said, I don't think they have enough firepower to get the job done... BUT DLS will have earned it... Maybe a 10-point game.

I think St. Joe's will win state d5 again...

As far as that goes, I think St. Pat's will make a heck of a lot of d4 noise, and DLS will be right there in the hunt for d1 (unless they get thrown to the Open wolves, but even then they'll be tough!)

This tourney has been GREAT!
 
St. Joe's beat De la by 6. Good physical game. Don't be surprised if St. Joe's is in the Norcal Open. They will meet all the criteria.
 
Yeah, I was also informed at the game today that St. Joe's is D4 (as is St. Pat's), So I guess I have to rescind my D5 prediction, then :)

Anyway, that was one hell of a game... 46-40, close, tense the whole 32 minutes. Jade Smith tourney MVP!

D4 is going to be a real war...

At first I assumed the new league they'd been thrust into was pretty weak and wouldn't do much to prepare the Pilots for the playoffs, but now that the teams have played a few ganes and I've looked at their records, maybe it's not bad at all, esp. since St. Pat's looks to be in the same league.

In any case... YEAHHHH PILOTS!! :)
 
Also... Whilw watching the St. Pat's game, I was told that they had guys still playing football. No idea who, how many, or how good.

Also, as I was on the way out of the gym, a guy stopped me and said he recognized me from the pic at left... and told me he had a son who had transferred from O'Dowd and would be eligible in January.

So, these two D4 powers apparently will add more power soon...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

2wcats

Serra's Walsh has a Big Idea

Replies
17
Views
2K
Football
parkdale
P
R

Merc News WCAL Preview

Replies
15
Views
1K
Football
ArmchairGOAT
ArmchairGOAT
Streak One

Thursday Football Results

Replies
1
Views
379
Football
colhenrylives
C
Streak One

Thursday Night Rundown

Replies
0
Views
874
Football
Streak One
Streak One
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back