Hoops Heaven

Does it get any better than watching tournament hoops in Vegas. Got up Friday morning and my Sports Jockey (wife) and I toured some of the casinos in search of glamour, fortune and fame. We saw glamour and glitz, had a brush with fame (Comedian George Wallace) and eluded fortune. As my better half was not feeling well we thought laying pool side in a sun drenched 80 degree day sipping drinks for 4 hours would be a good cure. It was for me but not for my wife who was still feeling under the weather, so what is a sports junkie suppose to do in Vegas when all the tournament games are on and your wife is in bed, go to the sports book of course. So I headed to my favorite book, the Mirage and took in 4 games of interest at the same time. Saw Western Michigan lose to Akron, watched my Cuse boys lose to UConn in OT, saw the Spartans shock and destroy Purdue and won my bet on the Duke - Florida State game. After two days of betting, I was doing exceptionally well with 6 out of 7 wins with my only loss with ND who was giving a point to Louisville. Thank God I did not see this game (was at the Frank Calliendo show) because I heard ND was up 20 at half and coasted and lost. What a great day though. But as quickly as Vegas givith, it taketh away quicker. I proceeded to crap the bed and go 1 for 5 in games on Saturday. Still not a better place to be than Sin City at Tournament time, it truly is Hoops Heaven.

Staying with College basketball before I get to the Michigan High School games.
I know I said Oakland would win a first round game but that was before I saw who they got seeded against. The Grizzlies drew Texas...are you kidding me. With this new play in game concept featuring 11/12 seeds playing for a right to that spot - killed OU who deserved a 12 or maybe an 11 seed. Does this make any sense to anyone? Two teams fighting for a 11 or 12 seed? Just put them in for God's sake and have the play in games be all 16 seeds. What am I missing here, other than the right to screw other teams from their rightful seeds, like Oakland. Anyway, even though Texas has been a top 10 team all year and number 1 seed about a month ago, they fall to a 4 seed to meet Kampe's boys. I really don't think a Florida, Wisconsin or Kentucky are more deserving of a higher seed. Enough of that rant.

East bracket (Ohio St, NC, SYR, Kentucky, West Vir, Villanova as a 9 seed and Washington as a 7 seed is the toughest bracket.
Southwest bracket with (Kansas, ND, Purdue, Louisville, Vandy, Georgetown is a close second.
I feel the SE bracket is the easiest road in.

My upset specials or teams that could make some noise:
#7 Washington in the East bracket could go a ways.
#6 St. John's in the SE bracket could go a ways.
#5 Vandy or #8 UNLV could pull some upsets in the SW bracket
#8 Michigan, #13 Oakland or #10 Penn State could pull some upsets in the West bracket.

My final Four picks
Ohio State - East
Connecticut - West
Notre Dame - Southwest
St. Johns/Pittsburgh winner in Southeast - had to hedge this one.

I see Ohio State and Notre Dame in the finals with Notre Dame upsetting them and winning by 5.

Now on to High School Hoops.

Went to see a double header at Cass Tech tonight. I saw two good games that were closer than the final score indicated. The first game pitted Detroit Cody against Catholic league champ, UD Jesuit. Cody won by a final of 65-57 while hitting key free throws down the stretch. This is the first time I saw either team this year and I was impressed with Cody. They are big and have size to match anyone. They go 6'7" Jelani Carpenter who is big, strong, long arms, shot blocker that defends the middle exceptionally well and nice shooting touch from the free throw line. Converted quite a bit of free throws tonight. Follow that up with super athletic 6'4" Javonte Barnes. This kid is a jumper, he is athletic, quick, a slasher that goes hard but under control to the basket. A very active player that could be there best player. Then they throw 6'6" bruiser lefty Jerrell McKinney into the mix. This kid is solid structure with a big, strong upper body that takes up space and creates problems in the middle. Add in 6'5" Wes Harrison and 6'3 guard Zedric Sadler who is a tough matchup for smaller guards and you add the fact that this team doesn't care who is doing the scoring (look for best team shot) and now I know how they went undefeated in the PSL this year. I think they are a more overall talented and more athletic team than Detroit Southeastern (who they lost to by 2 pts in the PSL Championship) with the one weakness being the guard play. They may have trouble handling the Southeastern press but I think they could beat the Jungaleers.
For UD they have two very talented JR players in guard Cameron Fowler who has decent quickness, is fast with the dribble, real nice distributor of the ball and a very good bounce passer that can find the man down on the low post and get him the ball on the right side.
Chris Jenkins (6'7") JR has division one talent for sure. This kid is long, can shoot the outside jumper, attacks the basket well and controls his body extremely well. Oh yeah.....he can elevate....high and in a hurry. He will make a lot of noise next year in the Catholic league.

In the other contest, Detroit Southeastern defeated a game Livonia Stevenson team by a final score of 52-45. I sat next to another High School fan from Grosse Pointe, who was knowledgeable of the game and a Michigan State Alum that came to see his future Spartan, Brandon Kearney play (as did I) but what we both witnessed was the Percy Gibson show soon to be headed to Dayton. By my count Gibson finished with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks and dominated the 6'9 Jaylen Reynolds of Livonia on the low post. Gibson is a beast and this team is most dangerous when they use him as a first option. He is strong, has quick feet and looks to score when he touches it down on the block and has the strength to score when fouled. He was 5-7 from the foul line and three of those where conversion attempts on three point baskets. Brandon Kearney once again failed to dominate or over impress. This kid has skills but I still have yet to see them come out consistently. This is the 4th game of his I have seen this year and the most impressive part of his game is his ability to pass off the penetration drive. He did have several passes that were spot on that his team mates could not handle but I would like to see the mentality that shows he can score over an 6'0 guard that is defending him. He finished with 9 points. For Livonia, Jaylen Reynolds was impressive on the boards and defending his basket. He had 11 rebounds and 4 blocks but only finished with 7 pts. He definitely has skills for the next level, where ever that will be, but needs to work a bit more on fighting for position on the offensive side of the ball. The scoring star was Jonathan Campbell who lit it up from behind the arc. He finished with 21 points, 15 from three point land and several acrobatic reversal layups. This kid is deceivingly quick and fun to watch. Too bad it was his last high school game as I would love to see this kid play again. The win for the Jungaleers sets up another showdown with Cody on Wednesday at Cass Tech at 6 PM. This game could go either way. Whichever team wins has talent so it will do well on the next round and would set up a good quarterfinal game with Romulus.

CLASS A Updates:
Ann Arbor (#2) gets shocked by Detroit Catholic Central, 67-54.
Pontiac gets upset by Rochester Adams
Warren DeLaSalle (#4) gets beat by East Detroit 50-47 in OT
Muskegon in a mild upset beats Petoskey 59-54
Ypsilanti gets beat by Taylor Kennedy 59-52
Saginaw wins the big showdown with Bay City Western, 56-47

Good Regional Final Games:
Lansing Eastern - Kalamazoo Central - shame - both teams good enough to be in Semi's.
Detroit Cody - Detroit Southeastern

Possible Quarterfinal showdowns:
Romulus vs Cody/Southeastern winner
Muskegon vs. Lansing Eastern/Kalamazoo Central winner

New Final Four Predictions:
Southfield
Kalamazoo Central but want to see Lansing Eastern
Saginaw
Romulus but would be Ok with seeing Detroit Southeastern as well


CLASS B
Flint Powers blows away a good Saginaw Swan Valley team by a score of 80-53
Detroit Douglass upset by a very good Detroit Community team, 60-54 in OT
Lansing Sexton is playing well and crushed a strong Williamston team 66-42
Standish-Sterling gets upset by Cadillac 51-35

Best Regional Finals:
Lansing Sexton vs Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
East Grand Rapids vs. Grand Rapids Christian

Best Quarterfinal Possible Matchups (3/22)
Detroit Country Day vs. Flint Powers Catholic - what a shame. These two and Lansing Sexton are the three best teams. Bummer that they can't meet in Lansing.
Detroit Community vs. Lansing Sexton (provided they get by an inspired AA Gabriel)

Final Four
Detroit Country Day
Lansing Sexton
Grand Rapids Christian
Muskegon Heights


CLASS C
Unfortunately the Hope on the Hardwood for the Fennville Blackhawks came to an end tonight as they lost to Schoolcraft, 86-62. Hats off to this team for finishing the way they did and dealing with the tragic loss of team mate Wes Leonard. Thanks for showing us all a lesson in life on how to pull together and play on. Well done Fennville.
Saginaw Buena Vista blown away by Harbor Beach, 94-51 - Who is this Harbor Beach team

Best Regional Games:
#1 Detroit Consortium vs. #2 Melvindale ABT Wednesday at Bishop Foley - I won't miss this one. Once again, another shame as this should be the Championship game for Class C in my opinion.
Flint Beecher vs. Hanover-Horton

Best Possible Quarterfinals:
Detroit Consortium/Melvindale winner vs. Harbor Beach - have to include them by virtue of drubbing of #5 Saginaw Buena Vista
Flint Beecher vs. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian

Final Four
Detroit Consortium
Schoolcraft
Flint Beecher
McBain


CLASS D
Cedarville destroys ranked Pellston 87-50
Bellaire gets upset by Leland 45-42
Fulton wins over Big Rapids Crossroads in a battle of top ranked teams.
Muskegon Catholic outlasts Lansing Christian
Carsonville-Port Sanilac gets dumped by Genesee Christian 58-54

Cedarville-Posen regional final is best game

Final Four Predictions:
Wyoming Tri-Unity
Fulton
Oakland Christian
Eben Junction or upset by winner of Cedarville/Posen game (tough that all three of these top ranked teams are in the same quarterfinal bracket.

Got to sign off - for tonight that is it from your Basketball SNOB.