In the spirit of the thread about Sacramento area teams, thought I'd start a similar discussion about San Jose teams. My knowledge is limited to late 90's-present, so please feel free to fill me in on older teams as well.
1. Mitty (2011-13): Basically the Aaron Gordon years. Supporting cast wasn't all the way there but what AG did in his career was historic and he has to be considered the best high school basketball player in San Jose's history. Back to back D2 state titles in '11 and '12. They played a national schedule in '13 so took a few losses (27-6 overall record) but went through Norcal's first ever Open Division and fell to Mater Dei in the final.
2. Mitty (2007-08): The Drew Gordon years... but in actuality this team was loaded with 5 D1 seniors in '08. Gordon, Collin Chiverton (St. Mary's; CCSF; Eastern Washington), Angelo Colario (USF), John Adams (Lehigh) and Enoch Andoh (Bucknell). Fell short in the D2 state game to Mater Dei twice but pretty much owned Norcal for 2 straight years.
3. Andrew Hill (2001): Jayson Obazuaye (CCS all time leading scorer, 4 year starter at Colorado) led a really good public school team. Obazuaye's junior year but the team didn't go as far his senior year and lost a couple key seniors. Taj Stone at point, Jamal Kimble at Center, junior Derek Alcantara on one wing, 6'5 sophomore Reggie Smith was a budding star in his own right... this team had a crazy talented, exciting starting 5. They put on a show every game. Won CCS and fell to a LOADED Chuck Hayes-led Modesto Christian in Norcal D1 semi-finals.
4. Oak Grove (2007): Finished 28-2 after falling to Mcclymonds by 1 point in overtime for the Norcal D1 final. Only other loss was to a good Piedmont Hills team by 1 point also. Kelly Kaigler and Tyree McCrary (neither played D1, but both "should" have) led a deep, talented group that a San Jose public school may never see the likes of again. Went a little farther and probably had a better record than the Hill team above, but I saw both and Hill beats these guys 9 out of 10 games.
5. Oak Grove (2002): Won the Mt. Hamilton division in the best year I can recall, league was loaded with good teams and D1 players. Also won CCS D1 for the first time in school history. Led by 6'6 seniors Anthony Williams (Grambling State) and Aquil Hall-Bey. Also had CCS sophomore of the year John Williams (San Jose State), plus a deep overall roster of great athletes. Fell to Sharper-Freeman team from St. Mary's-Berkeley in Norcals.
Decided to keep it only "San Jose" teams for my list, but if you expand to "South Bay," add in some of the late 90's early 2000's St. Francis teams that were LOADED and factors in CCS, Norcal and State just about every year. Also, would have to include Palo Alto's Jeremy Lin-led state champ team from 2006. Or to go a little further South, you could include a team like the Santa Cruz state championship team from 2005. Looking back at the Sacramento list, they definitely included Sac-adjacent cities, so all of these guys should be in the discussion too.
1. Mitty (2011-13): Basically the Aaron Gordon years. Supporting cast wasn't all the way there but what AG did in his career was historic and he has to be considered the best high school basketball player in San Jose's history. Back to back D2 state titles in '11 and '12. They played a national schedule in '13 so took a few losses (27-6 overall record) but went through Norcal's first ever Open Division and fell to Mater Dei in the final.
2. Mitty (2007-08): The Drew Gordon years... but in actuality this team was loaded with 5 D1 seniors in '08. Gordon, Collin Chiverton (St. Mary's; CCSF; Eastern Washington), Angelo Colario (USF), John Adams (Lehigh) and Enoch Andoh (Bucknell). Fell short in the D2 state game to Mater Dei twice but pretty much owned Norcal for 2 straight years.
3. Andrew Hill (2001): Jayson Obazuaye (CCS all time leading scorer, 4 year starter at Colorado) led a really good public school team. Obazuaye's junior year but the team didn't go as far his senior year and lost a couple key seniors. Taj Stone at point, Jamal Kimble at Center, junior Derek Alcantara on one wing, 6'5 sophomore Reggie Smith was a budding star in his own right... this team had a crazy talented, exciting starting 5. They put on a show every game. Won CCS and fell to a LOADED Chuck Hayes-led Modesto Christian in Norcal D1 semi-finals.
4. Oak Grove (2007): Finished 28-2 after falling to Mcclymonds by 1 point in overtime for the Norcal D1 final. Only other loss was to a good Piedmont Hills team by 1 point also. Kelly Kaigler and Tyree McCrary (neither played D1, but both "should" have) led a deep, talented group that a San Jose public school may never see the likes of again. Went a little farther and probably had a better record than the Hill team above, but I saw both and Hill beats these guys 9 out of 10 games.
5. Oak Grove (2002): Won the Mt. Hamilton division in the best year I can recall, league was loaded with good teams and D1 players. Also won CCS D1 for the first time in school history. Led by 6'6 seniors Anthony Williams (Grambling State) and Aquil Hall-Bey. Also had CCS sophomore of the year John Williams (San Jose State), plus a deep overall roster of great athletes. Fell to Sharper-Freeman team from St. Mary's-Berkeley in Norcals.
Decided to keep it only "San Jose" teams for my list, but if you expand to "South Bay," add in some of the late 90's early 2000's St. Francis teams that were LOADED and factors in CCS, Norcal and State just about every year. Also, would have to include Palo Alto's Jeremy Lin-led state champ team from 2006. Or to go a little further South, you could include a team like the Santa Cruz state championship team from 2005. Looking back at the Sacramento list, they definitely included Sac-adjacent cities, so all of these guys should be in the discussion too.
