GILBERT, Ariz.—Veteran journalists Tony Bleill and Fred Kroner are on hand at the Nike Tournament of Champions once again for Blue Star Media. Each day they’ll each offer up their take on the action as well as provide in depth coverage for all of the championship games this Thursday. Here’s Tony and Fred’s look at Monday and the 2016 TOC.
TONY BLEILL
SPARTAN FUTURE
The future of the San Jose State women’s basketball program is on display this week at the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Four of the Spartans’ six signees in November are playing in the prestigious four-day event in the Phoenix area: Danae Marquez and Megan Anderson of Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.), Cydni Lewis of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Heleyna Hill of Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.).
“We actually went on our official visits (together),” Anderson said.
San Jose State coach Jamie Craighead has an intriguing future. Martinez is a pesky guard and Hill is a playmaker for one of the country’s top-ranked teams. Clovis West, also a top-10 team, boasts the 6-foot-1 Anderson, who can shoot the three or play a gritty role around the basket. And Mater Dei’s Lewis (6-1) is strong inside presence who can rebound and finish.
“With the turnover in our roster in the last year and the seniors we will be losing after this season, we needed to get players who weren’t going to be afraid of the level of competition and were ready to go from day one,” Craighead said when the players signed their letters of intent last month. “We also looked for in-state prospects who can help us build on our relationships and boost our attendance at games, but most of all we wanted players who can play in our system and thrive.
“We got to bring a lot of these ladies in together for official visits and our players, who played against them, were really excited about what they did on the court. It’s really nice to have your seniors tell you that the players you are bringing in are going to be really good and that our program will continue to get better.”
Anderson scored 17 points as Clovis West walloped St. John’s College (Washington, D.C.) 75-58 in the first round of the heavyweight-laden Joe Smith bracket. Lewis scored a game-high 20 points as Mater Dei beat Louisville (Ky.) Mercy 58-39 in the John Anderson bracket.
The chemistry between the point guard Marquez and Anderson was plainly evident. Though they don’t play together during the club season, they’ve been scholastic teammates since the fourth grade.
When it came time to choose a college, they took a visit to San Jose State together, with Marquez making the first commitment.
“I just loved the coaching staff and they way that they play,” Anderson said.
Hill’s Mitty team edged Clovis West by a point in overtime in a Hawaii tournament this season, but there won’t be a rematch in the TOC. While Clovis West advanced, Mitty was upended in its first-round game by Grandview (Aurora, Colo.).
Who is Rock Creek Christian Academy?
That’s the question many folks are asking. If you’ve never heard of the Frederick (Md.) school, there’s a good reason: It didn’t exist until this year.
Rock Creek is playing in the Joe Smith division with established powers like Long Beach (Calif.) Poly and St. Mary’s (Stockton, Calif.), but its pedigree is decidedly less robust. How did this come about? Coach Boogie Washington, who last year guided Forestville Military Academy to a 25-2 record (the losses were against top-10 powers St. Mary’s and Riverdale Baptist), took over at Rock Creek when Forestville closed its door after last season.
“We needed to find a school,” Washington said. “The whole thing was trying to find a place where I could keep my girls together. We wanted a private school so we could be independent and show up here.
“Rock Creek was named Clinton Christian until October. It’s a school of 300 kids from kindergarten all the way up. And the high school is the basketball players.”
Oh, yes, then there’s this: The basketball team has seven players.
“I’m just proud of them because they’re not complaining,” Washington said.
Three of the players – Washington’s daughter Taleah (2018), Carrie Gross (2018) and Anissa Rivera (2019) – played for Boogie Washington at Forestville. A couple others are a part of Washington’s Havoc City Elite Basketball program.
“I just wanted to build something to keep them out of the political things, keep them going on a steady pace in their development,” Washington said. “And to give them the opportunity to play the best. I wanted to put our brand on the map nationally. We’re here and we wanted to be around.”
The Eagles had a rough TOC debut, losing to Long Beach Poly 77-59.
“If we’ve got to take our lumps, we’ll take them. We’ve got seven players and it won’t stop me from going across the country. We want to compete,” Washington said. “At the end of the day, most of these kids are coming back. You have to prepare them for the next level.”
The next goal: Find more players.
“The school is being supportive and helping me with tuition because it’s like $8,700 a year. So most of them are on full scholarship,” he said. “I just have to find people who want to be a part of our vision, be a part of what we’re doing.”
Unfamiliar role but similar results for Mater Dei
Mater Dei isn’t accustomed to not playing in the Joe Smith bracket at the TOC, but that has no relevance to the health of one of the west coast’s signature programs.
Coach Kevin Kiernan’s program has been a national top-25 staple for years, won five state championships, has produced a bevy of elite-level college players (Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, et al) and in 2014 won the Joe Smith bracket at the TOC. The Monarchs are playing in the Anderson bracket this time around, and it will require a top-notch performance to push them out.
“We always go where Nike tells us to go,” Kiernan said. “I don’t think we’re a (Smith) division team this year. We’re kind of rebuilding. I was honest with them when I said, ‘We’re in a transition year. We’re a little down.’
“We’re loyal (to) Nike. I’m a good soldier. And I think we’re in the right spot.”
If the Monarchs are down, a lot of other teams would like to be “down” with them. There is talent. Guard Jayda Adams has signed with Duke, joining the aforementioned Lewis as college-bound seniors. Post Emma Torbert (2018) is working her way into shape “on the fly,” Kiernan said, after missing several months with a broken tibia.
“We’ve been struggling,” said Kiernan, whose team opened with 58-39 victory Monday against Mercy Academy of Louisville. “We’re trying to find ourselves. Today was a good step; I thought we played pretty well today.”
And they did it without a major offensive contribution from Adams. She was scoreless in the first half – Mater Dei led by 17 anyway – and finished with two points.
“They went box and one on her, so we tried to tell her to find the other people,” Kiernan said. “Do other things, which she did. She was rebounding, playing defense, passing. She’s our best player. If they’re going to take her out of the game, that’s going to open it up for other people.”
That includes erstwhile starter Sarah Ruhon, a junior shooting guard who scored 12 points off the bench.
“She’s the kind of kid who works really hard and puts pressure on herself and she wasn’t playing free and easy,” Kiernan said. “So we decided let’s bring her off the bench and see if it makes it easier for her. And she found her shot today.”
FRED KRONER
IT STARTED EARLY
The completion of the first girls’ basketball game in the Joe Smith Division of the 20th-annual Nike Tournament of Champions resulted in the day’s first upset.
It doesn’t get much bigger than this.
Unranked Grandview, from Aurora, Colo., upended the nation’s second-ranked team (according to USA Today), Archbishop Mitty, from San Jose, Cal., 54-53.
Grandview returned to the tournament this year and coach Josh Ulitzky scored a victory even before the games began.
“I lobbied (tournament directors) to get us in this (top) bracket,” Ulitzky said. “I knew what we had and I was anxious to see what we could do on a national level.
“We wanted to be pushed.”
Ask, and you shall receive.
“They gave us what we asked for, and more,” Ulitzky said.
Though his program had advanced to championship games in other brackets in its two previous appearances, Ulitzky wasn’t sure everyone thought the team was ready for the elite competition.
“We’re in Colorado, in a flyover state,” he said. “It’s not a destination, unless you want to go skiing.”
There were 15 lead changes in a game where neither team ever held more than a five-point advantage.
Grandview, now 5-0 for the season, achieved the victory in a way Ulitzky would not recommend.
His Wolves missed the front end of three one-and-ones in the last 19 seconds, but grabbed offensive rebounds after the first two.
“We preach, ‘Get on the boards,’ and they did an amazing job,” Ulitzky said.
The offensive boardwork was not an anomaly. Six of the team’s 15 first-half field goals were on putbacks. They came from four different players.
The game’s final lead change also occurred on a rebound basket. Junior Leilah Vigil’s conversion lifted the Wolves into a 50-49 edge with less than 3 minutes remaining.
Mitty, which returns all of its starters from last year and features four Division I signees, had a potential game-winner from Karisma Ortiz fall off target at the buzzer.
“Our girls defended as well as they could,” Ultzky said. “Jaiden (Galloway) was off the charts with her ball pressure.”
UCLA commit Michaela Onyenwere led Grandview with 16 points. Vigil scored six of her 15 in the final quarter. Sophomore Alisha Davis, a 6-foot-1 forward, also reached double figures with 10 points.
Mitty (4-1) had four players score between 10 and 12 points, led by senior Tahlia Garza. She had 12 points, but only two free throws after halftime.
Grandview is positioning itself for attention in the USA Today poll. It had already received some notoriety and was ranked 21st by MaxPreps.
FIRST-QUARTER SURGE SPARS SETON CATHOLIC
In a matchup featuring teams possessing seven athletes who have committed to Division I programs, Seton Catholic, from Chandler, Ariz., (which has three of the players) topped St. Francis, from Alpharetta, Ga., 48-43.
Seton (12-0) used a 14-0 spurt to snap a 4-4 deadlock and take a lead it never lost. St. Francis (7-2) cut a deficit which was 20 points at the 6:21 mark of the second stanza (26-6) to a single basket (42-40) with 3:34 remaining.
The unbeaten start is not a surprise to Seton coach Karen Self.
“Those five have three seasons starting together and grew up playing together,” Self said. “They’re little sisters to kids I’ve coached.”
Junior Sarah Barcello scored a game-high 17 points for Seton’s Sentinels.
She is a 5-11 guard/forward who is receiving some college interest, though Self said, “more should be looking at her.”
Barcello hit three three-pointers. Another junior, Kendall Krick, nailed back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter.
Seton is ranked 24th nationally by USA Today, but it’s not anything Self dwells on.
“There’s a million great teams out there and if you don’t show up to play, it doesn’t mean anything,” she said.
Stanford recruit Maya Dodson led St. Francis with 13 points. Tennessee signee Kasiyahna Kushkituah scored 12 points.
THE GAME THAT DIDN’T COUNT
It was officially listed as an exhibition.
Two schools which otherwise faced byes played each other to avoid sitting idle on the tournament’s first day.
Centennial’s Bulldogs, from Las Vegas, came to play.
The fifth-ranked squad in USA Today’s national poll, put up 32 first-quarter points and dealt Riverdale Baptist, from Upper Marlboro, Md., a 73-37 loss.
Both teams remain the championship side of the Joe Smith Division bracket.
Coach Karen Weitz expected nothing less from her Centennial team.
“If we put on the uniforms, we’re going to play,” she said.
Her team, with three Division I signees, scored the game’s first 20 points. Centennial (6-1) is in a bracket loaded with quality teams.
Six of USA Today’s top 14 teams are in the field.
