Pinewood 42, St. Mary's 19 at halftime
- Thread starter cptmycpa
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I just watched the game on NFHS website and a few things I noticed. St. Mary's is obviously not the same team they've been for years. what stood out is that (I've said this many times) they have NO concept of help defense. They also tried to trap in the half court with Pinwood just shredding it a majority of the time. It's hard to win against a team that gets lay up after layup. If SMS didn't get something in transition, it seemed as though they had a hard time scoring. Pinewood has a solid defense, good help principals and even had a few charges. Lastly, it seems (i've only seen them play 3 times this year) is that if their press isn't effective, they have a hard time beating teams.
It's great that they made the open every year it's been in existence, but I think it's gonna be a while before they're as good as they have been in the past-and it's not from a lack of athletes.
Actually I do have some thoughts on the game . Number one Amaya Oliver was the X - factor and for whatever reason she didn't show up. But , also go on maxpreps and look at pinewoods three point shooting percentage and it's not good . So if u stop Jump and number 11, you have a chance . I think that is what any one would try to do. But , pinewoods other players stepped up big time . That being said , SMS could have tanked to get into D-1 and would have probably won a state championship like some teams did, but there is too much pride in that program and I guess being the only team in the state to be in the open every year has to be the consolation, which might be the most impressive stat of all . As far as next year , not sure but I have a feeling they will be really good . I do also think winning 12 or 13 consecutive section championships is ok. Give pinewood credit , they shot the ball really well . We will see what these great coaches do when their seniors graduate . Another thought , winning a division championship is nice, but like I've always said there is only one state champion, that's the open . Good luck to all the open teams . It's a tough road.
I would hope most every school would have too much pride to lose a section championship on purpose so they can get into an easier less competitive bracket for NorCal. Not really any honor in not purposely tanking. And I don’t think any team except Mitty would be in a position to “probably win a state championship” by being in the D1 bracket. There are still quite a lot of good teams in that bracket, especially with on 6 teams in the Open.
Agreed. 1 real state champ. The other divisions should be called something other than than state champion. Maybe Competitive Equity bracket champion? NIT? Not to say those teams face an easy task in winning those brackets, but when there are a lot of better teams in brackets above you, it’s not the same as being the best in the state.
I may disagree a little. First off 12 or 13 consecutive section championships is very good, however that would not have been achieved in either the NCS or CCS. Most coaches do not go off of maxpreps to scout, they actually get film and/or attend their opponents games. Whether 11 showed up or not does not take away from the entire team being out of position defensively and lacking the proper necessary fundamental help principles when playing a team of the caliber of Pinewood. Pinewood has absolutely dominated St. Mary's the last few years with arguably substantially lesser talent. I cannot disagree with you in regard to the Open being the only true championship but I do not think that St. Mary's would have won a Division 1 state championship this year after watching last nights game. They lack the essential defensive discipline to beat the "best of the rest".......
Every team that wins a state championship this year will hang their banner with pride, Open all the way to D6. And I guarantee that each school considers their title to be a "true" championship.
Curious as to who you believe tanked to get into D-1? Was it public knowledge that only 6 NorCal teams would make the Open? I've heard/seen the topic discussed on this board multiple times but I think it's counterintuitive to even begin that thought process as a coach.
When you talk about a D1 title, NorCal is one thing, SoCal is quite another. D1 in SoCal is outstanding. That's because they have so many more teams altogether. So a NorCal D1 champ vs. a SoCal D1 champ for a CA title should be imbalanced by definition. Arguing that SMS would capture a D1 state title this year is highly optimistic at best, misguided at worst.
I’m sure they will consider their titles as true state championships. Most players, parents, schools, fellow students, etc. have no idea how these championships are structured, and couldn’t care less. They just see championship. They’ve beaten other competitively equitable teams and played some tough games to get there. They should still be proud of winning those lower brackets.
Letsski -
In 2014 my daughter's team was fortunate enough to play for the Division 4 State Championship(this was before competitive equity) after losing in the section semi-finals by 37 points to St. Mary's of Berkeley. St. Mary's Berkeley was not the Open Division champion in 2014(they lost 4 times that year to another Division 4 team, Salesian). Salesian lost in the State Open finals to Long Beach Poly. There is a Norcal banner at the school, Sierra Canyon has the 2014 Division 4 State banner. The naysayers would say Sierra Canyon's championship is not "true". I can see their argument in this particular case.
Tanking to get into D1!?!?!? No way!? Hmmmmm, somebody on here may have forseen that weeks ago! I think the name rhymes with Lonnie Checkergood. Let me find the thread and bring it back!
So from the scores, the best team in D-1 right now is O'Dowd, as they've won by 37 and 22. They won the NCS D-2 title so tanking doesn't apply ...
The other semifinalists have won their games by an average of fewer than 10 points a game, and if you take out McClatchy's romp over San Ramon Valley, it's even less than that. The point is that the supposed tankers haven't really shown themselves to be so much superior to their competition that it made sense to lose. After all, if you're going to get beat in NorCals, you might as well lose in the Open ...
The other semifinalists have won their games by an average of fewer than 10 points a game, and if you take out McClatchy's romp over San Ramon Valley, it's even less than that. The point is that the supposed tankers haven't really shown themselves to be so much superior to their competition that it made sense to lose. After all, if you're going to get beat in NorCals, you might as well lose in the Open ...
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