Open Division: Mitty vs. Clovis West
- Thread starter Streak One
- Start date
Clovis West is on an 8-0 run to take an 11-9 lead with 117 left Q1. Three different players have hit 3s for CW
I'm in full agreement. These are two well coached team who have scouted each other very well. Talented players going at it too
Mitty hasn't scored in more than 4 minutes and has 5 TOs this quarter
CW leads 41-37 with 115 left
CW leads 41-37 with 115 left
Clovis West leads Mitty 41-37 with 58 secs left. Mitty ball. Mitty is 1-for-10 with 5 turnovers this quarter
Clovis West wins 44-40. Mitty didn't make a field goal for the final 5:42.
Bates had two huge threes in Q4 for CW
Bates had two huge threes in Q4 for CW
Hilarious Mitty, SMS, Miramonte, MD....
No championships...all supposed great coaches all choke...
No championships...all supposed great coaches all choke...
Greg Popivich, doesn't win a championship every year and neither does Coach K. Are they supposed to not be good coaches because they didn't win a championship this year? Jazz, you'e the biggest hater I've ever seen on this board and you woudln't know a good program or coach if it came up and bit you in the booty.
Grats to Mitty, for a great season!
Wow! Happened to catch 2nd 1/2 & one of the All-Time biggest gags I've seen of a team in the lead with minutes to play in the 4th. Did Mitty deserve to lose and did CW deserve to win - yes & yes, no discussion. Mitty was the bigger team physically with a huge advantage that couldn't make a shot to save their lives in the 4th & missed lay-ups as well. Not trying to be mean, but that was some ugly basketball in the 4th. That little gal from CW who hit the 2 - 3's in 4th was easily the POG [IMO, not even close]. Am just shocked how many "bricks" Mitty threw up, one after another. I kept hearing about D-1 players & kept thinking "D-1's & not a Mitty player who can make any kind of shot when it counts?". The turn-overs didn't help as well. Next year...
You knew it was a game with two evenly matched teams that either team was capable of winning. Now for all those who crowned champions before they cross the goal lines we can now crown them. Two first class programs that I had a pleasure of watching up close and personal. I really like them both because they play the game the right way. Too bad only one could end up winning their last game of the season. California had perhaps the best 2 teams in the nation, no doubt two of the best. I will put together my final ranking in a few days and it should be fun.
Congratulations to all the teams that made it to state championships. And a special congrats to each champion. An extra special congratulations to Clovis West for winning perhaps the two most difficult championships in the nation, the TOC in Arizona, and the California Open.
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Every game is back and forth as the game is played at opposite ends of the court. The score was in the 40's so there not may so called runs but rather lots of turnovers and missed shots. The game lacked any offensive fireworks but defensively the game was a high level contest. The game was decided by to home run balls thrown by CW to beat the Mitty press.
Mitty has a grand total of two wins in the history of the open. Next year they can go back to their d2 and win state and all will be right in the world or Mitty lane again.
Well this game sure wasn't pretty, but definitely worth the watch. Obviously a defensive battle and super competitive game. Big mistake by Mitty to not recognize that they were just sending the girl closest to the ball deep every time on the press. Agree with Jayme, that was the difference. Bad bad mistake, maybe coaching or maybe just mistake by defensive player. Rule #1, you don't get beat deep. Losing to CW is not a total surprise or failure, but the way they lost was definitely a disappointment. They looked lost and confused offensively, no one had confidence and wanted to step up, and there were several bad decisions made. I wasn't impressed with any coaching adjustments made by Coach Sue. In fact, a few substitutions she made in 4th quarter were wrong and could have cost them the game.
I watched the small Mitty guard who was guarding the inbounds pass yell over to her teammate to watch the deep pass as she knew they were going to throw it that direction. The defender nodded and said OK, but still played in front of her, and the inbounds defender then watched in horror as the ball went sailing over the head of her teammate for a CW layup.
So it's not like they hadn't recognized what was about to happen, but the execution clearly wasn't there. Never get beat deep.
So it's not like they hadn't recognized what was about to happen, but the execution clearly wasn't there. Never get beat deep.
As long as Coach Phillips is at AM, cant ever see them not in Open Division every year. She reloads with 3-4 D1 recruits every year.
True no doubt, as they have a lot of talent, though like everyone else their human. That's what made it hard to understand those putting them up as one of the best teams ever before achieving the level of success that warranted it. As I said when certain folks were putting a little too much on how great Mitty was they had yet to win the TOC or an Open state championship. And they did not strike fear in their opponents like the SMS team who had done all three things, and truly separated themselves from most others. Remember paper champions are just champions on paper until they actually pass major test.Some times we just have to wait until a team crosses the goal line before crowning them champions or as being one of the best ever. Or the best in the country, just because they look good on paper and have no loses. How easy is it to have no loses when you don't get truly tested?
Now CW on the other hand, they never really had the total intimidations factor that SMS had, but they still had you knowing you had to play one of your best games to even be within 10 points. CW did go out and win the TOC and the California Open. So can we now give CW a bit more respect? And let their team be mentioned as one of the best teams in recent history. Even though I still wouldn't quite put them up there with the SMS team because CW is not quite as deep in talent or athleticism. But I will say Clovis West and Mitty had pretty awesome seasons and were both a joy to watch. And they both did it with class. Congratulations to them both.
Congratulations to Clovis West on winning two of the toughest tournaments in the nation. ( And coming 1 point in overtime short of winning perhaps the 3rd toughest tournament in the nation against the #1 team in the nation)
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One last note.
Congratulations to CW on a phenomenal season and ultimate culmination of a state title. Coach Campbell and his team epitomized great work ethic and class on and off the court.
As for the Mitty girls team,
Just not to be lost in the shuffle of all the end of the season banter. A big congratulations to Sue Phillips and her team on an outstanding season. This team had great accomplishments all season long and was well deserved being recognized on a national stage. Realizing they fell short of their final challenge, we still should commend these girls for a great run of success and playing and incredible entertaining style of basketball.
Congratulations to CW on a phenomenal season and ultimate culmination of a state title. Coach Campbell and his team epitomized great work ethic and class on and off the court.
As for the Mitty girls team,
Just not to be lost in the shuffle of all the end of the season banter. A big congratulations to Sue Phillips and her team on an outstanding season. This team had great accomplishments all season long and was well deserved being recognized on a national stage. Realizing they fell short of their final challenge, we still should commend these girls for a great run of success and playing and incredible entertaining style of basketball.
Negative thought re: Open Division - it was often stated, written or thought this was the best Mitty team of all time. Due to the loss they will never get that distinction, and in fact the state championship team of three years ago will be viewed as the superior team. In reality the state championship team was not a top 10 Nor Cal team and was at best 17-20 in the state. Thoughts?
I thought they were a very good team. And the adjustments coach Phillips made between last year and this year, I thought were brilliant. Not many coaches get it down to the fine details.
That said, I thought there was a bit too much pre mature hype going into the season and surrounding the team. I don't think coach Philips let it become too much of a distraction, but how could it not have been a bit distracting to 14-18 year olds?
I personally don't get into the comparison thing as much as many others, because I see it as more hype than substance. Because things that happen in a different space and time have completely different circumstances involved. That makes it hard to compare. I don't think you judge a team, coach, or player on just a one game performance. Mitty had an outstanding year ! I for one enjoyed watching them play.
I think they got it right..... They were aiming to be the best team they could be, and not so much worried about being the best of all time.
Congratulations to Mitty on a awesome season.
This team shouldn't be measured by the last 5 minutes of the Championship game but rather full body of work on a great and challenging schedule.
Two wins over Bishop O'Dowd by 20 points
Win over Clovis West in Iolani championship
Win over St Francis of Georgia(two MDAA Dodson and Kushkituah)
Win over Mission Hill by 20 points
Win over SMS by 17 points
Three wins over SHC by 20+ points
Undefeated WCAL second year in a row.
4 D1 Seniors
Not a bad body of work.
Two wins over Bishop O'Dowd by 20 points
Win over Clovis West in Iolani championship
Win over St Francis of Georgia(two MDAA Dodson and Kushkituah)
Win over Mission Hill by 20 points
Win over SMS by 17 points
Three wins over SHC by 20+ points
Undefeated WCAL second year in a row.
4 D1 Seniors
Not a bad body of work.
My point exactly. But because someone had this great idea of an Open Division this team will not get it's just do. Regardless of what we type on this message board it will matter 5-10-20 years from now. Eastside Prep could have their best team in history next year but if they go open and lose in the first round it won't matter.
Pinewood, three years of open equals a first round OT loss at Miramonte, Nor Cal Championship loss to Miramonte and a home semi-final loss to Cardinal Newman. Not a bad resume. I could also add six beatdowns of Eastside Prep. But Eastside has back to back state titles and a runner up finish three years ago. As determined by the CIF who is the most dominant team in d5 over the past three year?
I don't like the open division as it is punitive to some and gives others a false sense of accomplishment.
The real issue to me is the focus on championships rather than the whole body of work -- and it's not just in high school.
The Warriors set a regular season record last year but the season was considered a disappointment because Kyrie Irving made his three-pointer and Steph Curry missed his. New England was unbeaten going into the Super Bowl a few years ago but lost on a fluke catch and so the season wasn't thought to be a success. In the NCAA, first come the conference tournaments, which can erase a 16-0 league record with one bad night from the free-throw line, followed by a six-game single-elimination bracket that will crown a good team, but not necessarily the best team.
If we can somehow move past judging teams by single games -- which I find unlikely -- and championships -- the lamest argument in the world is that a player can't be a true star unless he or she has won a title -- we'll continue to miss the forest for the trees.
The Warriors set a regular season record last year but the season was considered a disappointment because Kyrie Irving made his three-pointer and Steph Curry missed his. New England was unbeaten going into the Super Bowl a few years ago but lost on a fluke catch and so the season wasn't thought to be a success. In the NCAA, first come the conference tournaments, which can erase a 16-0 league record with one bad night from the free-throw line, followed by a six-game single-elimination bracket that will crown a good team, but not necessarily the best team.
If we can somehow move past judging teams by single games -- which I find unlikely -- and championships -- the lamest argument in the world is that a player can't be a true star unless he or she has won a title -- we'll continue to miss the forest for the trees.
I would have to agree with sjbasket.. that body of work is pretty damn good. And some of the games I saw we even more impressive in person than the score showed.
as for jaymels point, yes, someone that didnt see either of those teams would automatically look at the state banner from 2 years ago and assume that team must have been better. But anyone who saw both of those teams play knows there was no comparison. In that way their own past success is its own burden. But in the real world a NorCal Open Title is just as (or more) impressive as any of those D2 titles.
And the converse of that, if the season ended 8 minutes earlier than it did, they would have been in the discussion with the undefeated '99 team (yes I think they would skip right over the D-rob teams) because of the open division. I could delve deeper into the reasons I think this, as I watched most teams since about 98, but that is just for fun. In the end does it matter? No. I had fun watching, and I think (overhyped or not) the hype, if nothing, grew the game and got people to pay attention.
as for jaymels point, yes, someone that didnt see either of those teams would automatically look at the state banner from 2 years ago and assume that team must have been better. But anyone who saw both of those teams play knows there was no comparison. In that way their own past success is its own burden. But in the real world a NorCal Open Title is just as (or more) impressive as any of those D2 titles.
And the converse of that, if the season ended 8 minutes earlier than it did, they would have been in the discussion with the undefeated '99 team (yes I think they would skip right over the D-rob teams) because of the open division. I could delve deeper into the reasons I think this, as I watched most teams since about 98, but that is just for fun. In the end does it matter? No. I had fun watching, and I think (overhyped or not) the hype, if nothing, grew the game and got people to pay attention.
