2 yrs ago Pinewood pulled off a STUNNER vs probably one of St. Mary's girls finest teams of their storied program, if remember correctly that team won the prestigious Nike TOC in Arizona, with a shot at winning that mythical National title that season, does this yrs St. Mary's team blow the top off this Pinewood team in a huge rout, or does Pinewood's 3 pt shooting keep this game close??
Revenge game for St. Mary's girls vs Pinewood?
- Thread starter mistisoman
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I believe the bigger goal is for SMS to avenge two big losses in the last two years to Mitty. Last seasons twenty point loss in NorCal semifinals and this seasons loss at the TOC.
It’s apparent that SMS will in no way overlook PW in their upcoming game, but rather be very focused to meet the challenge. These next week and a half should be some very entertaining basketball to watch.
I believe the bigger goal is for SMS to avenge two big losses in the last two years to Mitty. Last seasons twenty point loss in NorCal semifinals and this seasons loss at the TOC.
It’s apparent that SMS will in no way overlook PW in their upcoming game, but rather be very focused to meet the challenge. These next week and a half should be some very entertaining basketball to watch.
SMS this year will be State Championships and Maybe National Champions. Pinewood will have a hard time shooting 3's with a lot Pressure on the shooters and with Mitty injury will hurt them on the boards which the needed in the NIKE TOC TO beat SMS.
Question for Clay, can you clarify why SMS has to play at Delta JC instead of their own gym? Last year in the second round pinewood played their second round game in their gym, which is half the size of SMS gym. Does CIF just pick and choose . I mean what is the rule. Obviously, they won't sell out the girls game pinewood vs SMS so why wouldn't they just play it at SMS so they can have the home court advantage that they earned.
Also, SMS could win a national championship from USA Today if they win out and Christ the King loses since they are ranked 3rd in the nation. Just saying.
There’s a good chance the SMS boys will also be playing on Tuesday night. The 2nd seeded Rams play #10 Moreau tonight, and if they win it would likely be a double header at Delta JC.
All three of the seniors were on that team. They were all sophs. Still that said I also do not think it has much of a revenge factor involved because the Pinewood players are different and this years team is not that much of a threat. Now Mitty is a different story.
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That 1 player was Decosta, but that loss was 1 of the more "stunning loses" in coach Gonzalves's career I'm sure??
That's what I thought, especially if they beat Mitty in the NorCal final then beat the Socal representative??
Sloan, Arielle, both young sisters Jada and aquira were all on that team that year vs pinewood
I have to comment on this because I have some strong feelings on the subject.
PDad is 100% correct...SMS deserves their home game at SMS and not at DELTA....its a bigger court which will NOT help the SMS press...this is a HUGE break for PW. Why even seed if you are going to do this? I think SMS got a raw deal here.Who over at the CIF decides this crap?
The only thing worse would be if an (visiting) opposing coach gave a phone call to the CIF(and tried to pull strings or curry favor) to get a Norcal game moved from the higher seeds home court to a neutral sight. But I doubt anyone would be that much of a sneaky chickensh**.
Somebody posted this on the boys side. If true then the girls game is at 6:30.
Semifinal matchups for Tuesday
#5 Grant at #1 Alameda 7pm
#3 Campolindo at #2 St Mary’s at Delta College Stockton 8pm
Semifinal matchups for Tuesday
#5 Grant at #1 Alameda 7pm
#3 Campolindo at #2 St Mary’s at Delta College Stockton 8pm
The girls' game would be at 6 ....
This is simple: CIF makes a significant portion of its income from championship ticket sales. SMS has a small gym that would sell out for a girl/boy doubleheader, so Delta will generate a lot more revenue.
If you say CIF shouldn't worry about revenue, then there wouldn't be state championships.
This is simple: CIF makes a significant portion of its income from championship ticket sales. SMS has a small gym that would sell out for a girl/boy doubleheader, so Delta will generate a lot more revenue.
If you say CIF shouldn't worry about revenue, then there wouldn't be state championships.
Wait you didn't answer my question. I know it's about money. Why was pinewood able to play their second round game last year at their gym. St. Mary's gym is twice the size of pinewood. No way they would sellout SMS gym for this GIRLS game. Pinewood would be at least 15 point underdog at SMS gym. Delta is just a neutral court, which means SMS is getting screwed by CIF. They clearly earned that second seed if you look at the comparative schedules.
These are regional ballgames. The last thing you want to do is to try to limit attendance. The whole idea is to accommodate as many fans as possible if you have an attractive product. This kind of change is made every year. It's a no-brainer.
Consistency, pinewood played their second round game at pinewood last year. Where is the consistency. You keep avoiding that question.
I'm in disagreement to CIF screwing over girls SMS, this game moved to Delta to accommodate sellout crowd & PARKING as well, I'm a huge bball fan with 2 kids that are boys and take them to watch SMS girls play hoops, especially vs high quality opponents and have pretty often had issues with seating & parking!!! This is a home game, it's in STOCKTON!!
Delta is not a home court advantage . Size of the court. But, the question here is this. If pinewood was able to play their second round game in their gym last year , why wouldn't they have to play this years second round game at SMS gym. Their is plenty of room n the gym and in the parking lot. How is pinewood getting away with is. CIF is the answer . Pete Saco is the CIF director. Hmmmm
Actually, Pinewood, in the past, has played prior to the Palo Alto boys at the much larger Paly facility in order to handle a bigger crowd.
SMS administration was notified by Saco that the girls had to play at delta Jc last week before boys played . They said it was an over site by CIF to allow pinewood to play at pinewood last year. Lol . Saco hates SMS particularly Tom. This smells really bad on CIF . Be consistent!!!!
I thought Saco had retired. It's one thing to use your position or office to carry out a long standing vendetta against a coach, but when it impacts an innocent player that's another matter. His machinations unjustly cost Lexi Campbell her entire soph season. And if money were such and issue why did he invite people in his neighborhood to be his guests for a Sections Champ playoff game when it was still held at Arco? Talk about a self indulgent misuse of power.
Is there ever a turnover in the CIF or does the Royal inbreeding continue for ever. They are sort of a state version of the NCAA. Who are they accountable too?
Is there ever a turnover in the CIF or does the Royal inbreeding continue for ever. They are sort of a state version of the NCAA. Who are they accountable too?
Even though they seldom play well there, SMS should still be good enough to be able to beat Pinewood in the Delta. For some unknown reason they have not ever played well there. It is not just that the court is larger either. They play better at UOP and Arco. Perhaps it's the sight lines. The only gym they play worse in is the Lincoln gym, but then everyone except Lincoln plays bad there. It has both bad sight lines and lighting. But lets make no bones about it. This is purely Saco trying to find any way to make things more difficult for SM and their coach.
Still I do not understand your problem with seating. None of the games this season have even been close to being sold out. Even with Edison a home town team playing. And as for parking- There is always much more parking at SM than can ever be utilized. Perhaps not right close to the gym in the front. But their is also parking right buy the gym on the side , to speak nothing of the parking in front of the school. All of which are as close to the gym, or closer than the parking at Delta.
Back to the issue of how many players were on the team that lost to Pinewood. Both Arial Johnson and Neenah Young were sophs along with DeCosta on that team. Even though I can not specifically remember that game detail, both of them played in the Open Championship game against MD the previous year as freshmen, so there is no reason to assume they didn't play against Pinewood either.
So would a doubleheader at SMS have sold out? Would there have been room for visiting fans?
When we played at Vanden last year, in a boy/girl doubleheader, they had to stop the boys game and kick some people out, I think, after the fire marshal showed up.
It didn't affect us, but it certainly affected the boys' game.
When we played at Vanden last year, in a boy/girl doubleheader, they had to stop the boys game and kick some people out, I think, after the fire marshal showed up.
It didn't affect us, but it certainly affected the boys' game.
St. Ma
I can see Saco make it difficult, but I think it's not only Saco, it's probably other section commissioners maybe wanting to ma
Folks the question here was, would this be a sort of REVENGE GAME for SMS GIRLS team that loss a few yrs ago, this post ended up about LOCATION, PETE SACO & how folks think SMS girls are getting SCREWED?? Let's try not getting off subject matter here on this post??
SMS does play anyone anytime. Check their schedule, that doesn't make it right that they can't play in their own gym and get the home court advantage they earned. Btw pinewood played their second round game in their gym last year. Anyone would want that advantage. SMS played in the best tournament on the west coast and best tournament on the east coast. No one is saying they are that good, but you never no.
2nd round NorCal playoff games for St. Mary's of recent years has always been at Delta College, all due to seating capacity. The Lady Rams do not play well at Delta. Even games that they have won in the past at Delta have been relatively close one. What's funny about this whole seating capacity is that when Delta host the playoff games, they recently only open up one side of the bleachers. But, I do recall both sides being opened up in the past. Curious if only one side will be open on Tuesday. I doubt it because they need to anticipate an even larger crowd because it will be a double-header.
I believe St. Mary's has it in their future plans to replace the current Morelli gym with a larger gym, along with renovating their cafeteria. When that happens, this will no longer be an issue. There is also a chance that St. Mary's will be playing at Delta and/or UOP for future regular season home games, when construction starts, should they use the same site.
In regards to a revenge game, I do not perceive this as a revenge game. I am confident Coach Tom Gonsalves is looking at this game and coaching to focus on this game as simply a "must win" game to move onto the NorCal finals. Lose, the journey ends. Will their defense change? Not really. But, I can say that the defense they played vs Cardinal Newman early on was much more intense than I have seen in prior games. Their practices have intensified. The Rams will be ready for Pinewood, even though the game will be played at Delta. One game at a time. No looking past Pinewood, no revenge, just win.
I believe St. Mary's has it in their future plans to replace the current Morelli gym with a larger gym, along with renovating their cafeteria. When that happens, this will no longer be an issue. There is also a chance that St. Mary's will be playing at Delta and/or UOP for future regular season home games, when construction starts, should they use the same site.
In regards to a revenge game, I do not perceive this as a revenge game. I am confident Coach Tom Gonsalves is looking at this game and coaching to focus on this game as simply a "must win" game to move onto the NorCal finals. Lose, the journey ends. Will their defense change? Not really. But, I can say that the defense they played vs Cardinal Newman early on was much more intense than I have seen in prior games. Their practices have intensified. The Rams will be ready for Pinewood, even though the game will be played at Delta. One game at a time. No looking past Pinewood, no revenge, just win.
I think the idea of "revenge" as motivation is overrated when it comes to years past. Maybe it inspires a little more energy in practice, and maybe it gives a boost for a couple minutes at the start of the game, but that early surge in energy could just as easily result in forced shots, missed shots or turnovers as in better play.
Playing the same team in-season is different, but it's not really about revenge. If Team A wins by 20, Team A's players are going to be less intense than Team B in practice, very likely. The coach can say whatever she wants, but the players are thinking "We beat them last time, we'll beat them again."
Meanwhile, Team B's players will listen to the coach more than usual because they know they have to improve to win, and they are more likely to make adjustments.
This is even more true the more wins Team A has. In Georgia this year, nationally ranked Holy Innocents beat Wesleyan three times -- and then lost to Wesleyan in the state title game by 17 or so.
Playing the same team in-season is different, but it's not really about revenge. If Team A wins by 20, Team A's players are going to be less intense than Team B in practice, very likely. The coach can say whatever she wants, but the players are thinking "We beat them last time, we'll beat them again."
Meanwhile, Team B's players will listen to the coach more than usual because they know they have to improve to win, and they are more likely to make adjustments.
This is even more true the more wins Team A has. In Georgia this year, nationally ranked Holy Innocents beat Wesleyan three times -- and then lost to Wesleyan in the state title game by 17 or so.
The adjustments Coach Gonsalves made against Folsom showed me that this St Marys team can win in multiple fashions. Of course, their press is crazy good. They have so much speed, size and length to really cause lots of problems. When they played at UOP though, the size of the court really let Folsom spread them out and in that first quarter, they were able to take their time, let St Marys overcommit, and then take advantage of it with some layups and wide open 3s. When they took off the press, and went just straight up man to man, what an impressive display of help defense that I hadn't seen from St Marys in the past. Think they went on 17-1 run, shut them down completely. Most times I have seen them move their press from full court, to 1/2 or 3/4 to shorten the court. But with their ability now to switch up and play either zone press or man to man really gives them the flexibility to confuse the offenses of Pinewood and Mitty. Think could be beneficial with playing on the bigger courts at Delta and Santa Clara.
I agree, revenge game is going a little overboard and wont necessarily give them any additional motivation. But being aware that this opponent beat you in the playoffs will definitely increase the focus level. These seniors will want to go out in a bang, they will be ready. That is motivation enough, the seniors want to finish their career with a State Championship. In my opinion, Pinewood is overmatched and wont be able to keep up with St Marys intensity and pace. I think everyone wants to see that Mitty rematch from the Nike TOC championship game.
I agree ... Pinewood certainly can win, but the more likely winner is SMS. (At this point in the season, every team left is a confident, good team, and quite capable of taking advantage of a situation and winning a game most people thought it would lose.)
I was just told Delta Jc will only have one side of bleachers out for boys and girls games tomorrow. I guess CIF is not expecting a very big crowd.
