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San Leandro beats Carondelet

Streak One

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Nov 11, 2003
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I have seen 63-52 and 66-52 as final scores, but either way, a big result in the North Coast Section on Friday night.
 
When you lose five senior starters and an assistant coach who played a big role, it takes time to adjust.
 
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Honestly I wasn’t surprised. No disrespect to C-let but they did lose a lot from last year. They will be back in a few years but it’s just not realistic to rank them as high as a bunch of other teams who have the talent currently. They’ll lose to Cal and San Ramon valley this year as well.
 
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Honestly I wasn’t surprised. No disrespect to C-let but they did lose a lot from last year. They will be back in a few years but it’s just not realistic to rank them as high as a bunch of other teams who have the talent currently. They’ll lose to Cal and San Ramon valley this year as well.

Not sure why exactly "they will be back". At least in the sense that they will contend again for Open or D1 titles. Once a program loses its recruiting luster, I think it takes some extraordinary coaches and players to retrieve it.

Right now the local talent pool is not particularly deep. If there are any blue chip players around, I'm not sure why they wouldn't just head to Bishop O'Dowd or Miramonte. And, at least in the Tri-Valley, the second tier players seem very content heading to San Ramon Valley, California, and even Monte Vista.
 
Is Carondelet still independent this year, or are they back in the EBAL? Could be a very long year if they’ve got a premier schedule with a less than average (by their standards) team.
 
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I confident in my statement that they will be back for several reasons. It’s a school with a long history of being competitive at the highest levels. So much so that it’s one of 200 Nike Elite programs throughout the country. They hire some of the best coaches, they are financially supportive of their program. I’ve coached middle schoolers in the east bay over the last seven years and the many have made carondelet their first choice over San Ramon, Monte Vista, and Cal. It’s our valley’s closest thing to Mitty. Who knows where the future high schoolers of our area will end up. But I am willing to bet a fair share of them attend Carondelet.
 
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Except if they stay down too long the younger players will not remember their past reputation. I can remember when SHC dominated girls basketball in the Bay Area every year along with having a national reputation. They are still good and compete, but nothing like what the were.
 
Except if they stay down too long the younger players will not remember their past reputation. I can remember when SHC dominated girls basketball in the Bay Area every year along with having a national reputation. They are still good and compete, but nothing like what the were.

Two things happened with SHC. 1) Harrigan left (for whatever reasons) and 2) the well ran dry at Mission Rec when Oscar passed away. A lot of mission rec kids went to SHC over SI and at the time, it was one of the premier teams in Norcal. Not that LaRyan hasn't done a great job cause he has. Would you say that C-Let has been more of a mitty caliber team than Salesian or BOD here in the east bay?
 
I have tons of respect for all those schools. I’m my opinion BOD and Salesian are equal caliber to C-Let. They all have had long periods of success. They are all private schools. None of the three has matched the success of Mitty under Sue Phillips or Berkeley High under Gene Nakamura. I believe C-Let has a bit of a advantage because they are only D1 private in the area. Where as BOD and Salesian are closer to other competitive schools like St.Joes Pilots, and some Oakland schools, which may land some of the girls who could have potentially landed there. I know kids from as far away as Dublin and Brentwood that attend C-Let.
 
As the old saying goes, it's easier to get to the top than to stay there, and the amount of work, talent and luck required to stay at an elite level is off the charts.

Private schools do have a significant advantage as long as their administrations are committed to supporting a state-level program, which most of the time means occasional bending of admission standards. (I'm not saying anything illegal is going on, but maybe a girl who might not have gotten in without basketball gets admitted over a candidate who's superior academically.)

But private schools are not free, and if public schools in the area are good, there's less motivation to pay that tuition. If the public schools are shaky, then that tilts the scale toward the private schools in the area.

Regardless, though, recruiting cannot stop, and middle school players must be identified and reached out to. When coaches change, sometimes that part of the equation slips, for whatever reason, and then a dropoff is pretty much inevitable.

And let's not forget that Berkeley, back in the day, brought in players from all over. One year when they were really good (several decades ago), only one starter lived in Berkeley.
 
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but maybe a girl who might not have gotten in without basketball gets admitted over a candidate who's superior academically
Are you suggesting that the correct admissions process is to rank all candidates solely on academic merit, and then to accept only the top candidates based on that single criteria? I know for a fact that colleges do not use such a process for admissions, and I wouldn't expect any private high schools to either.
 
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Good point, but the "academic" was shorthand for "the usual policies for determining admission."

So if the administration is willing to weight basketball skill more heavily than, say, the admissions' essay, that's the support an elite program will need (sooner or later). And if the administration gives out merit scholarships or cuts tuition for basketball players, that's an even more direct kind of support.

The difficulty is, though, that when the head of school changes, or the admissions' head, then there could be a sudden shift to academic emphasis, or arts emphasis, or whatever. In some ways, public schools are more consistent in that regard.
 
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Are you suggesting that the correct admissions process is to rank all candidates solely on academic merit, and then to accept only the top candidates based on that single criteria? I know for a fact that colleges do not use such a process for admissions, and I wouldn't expect any private high schools to either.

If you're a 6'4 All American stud, then I'm sure at certain schools you'll get a nod over a 4.0 student. It really depends on the school. SMB was told a few years ago (second hand info) that they would no longer be catering to basketball. Look where they are at vs. when Nate was the coach there. Look at the boys program? Case and point of what clay's trying to say....I think
 
So much so that it’s one of 200 Nike Elite programs throughout the country
I actually heard that they are under armor now. No idea if they are sponsored by UA or not, but I believe those are the shoes they wear. I wonder who's decision that was, I feel like its hard to turn down Nike if they come to you with Elite status..
 
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If you're a 6'4 All American stud, then I'm sure at certain schools you'll get a nod over a 4.0 student. It really depends on the school. SMB was told a few years ago (second hand info) that they would no longer be catering to basketball. Look where they are at vs. when Nate was the coach there. Look at the boys program? Case and point of what clay's trying to say....I think


St. Mary's of Berkeley is a perfect example. And in my experience at Bentley, there were times when athletes might get a break, and they were times when they would not. It shifts with the emphasis of the administration. Athletics is free marketing, so if a private school needs to boost enrollment, it makes business sense to support athletics. But if the school is full and applicants are being turned away, the only reason to support athletics is because the head of school thinks it's more important than other extracurricular activities.
 
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