paul smith: san diego d-1 great eight preview

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops High School News

Paul Smith: San Diego Section Playoffs:
D-I "Great Eight" Tonight--(Feb. 27, 1999)

Paul Smith, who was an assistant at Helix High last season, but who has now opted for the surreal world of law school, continues to follow the San Diego CIF game for all of us at SoCalHoops, and he regularly posts his reports to the message board. We've been remiss in not adding his posts to our Daily Articles, but it sort of seemed redundant, that is until we realized that we "clean" the board every couple of days deleting old messages, and in the process, deleting all of Paul's great San Diego reports. Well, there's not much we can do to get the old ones back, but we can start saving his new reports about the playoffs in San Diego Section. Here's his report on tonight's "Great Eight" matchups in Division I.

Eight Division I teams battle tonight for a trip to the final four in some excellent matchups. Who needs the NBA when you've got this kind of action just down the street, for a few bucks a person. Here are tonight's games...

#8 San Diego at #1 Southwest

Southwest goes tonight for something very few high school teams ever do, win thirty games in a season. It won't be easy. San Diego has been impressive at times this season, but never more so than Wednesday night when they blew highly touted La Costa Canyon right out of the building. At the same time, Southwest was struggling to get by 16th seeded Valhalla in overtime, although during the overtime period they outscored Valhalla 18-0, which has to be some kind of CIF record.

#12 El Camino at #4 RBV

The talk among people "in the know" around Division I basketball is that RBV is far and away playing the best basketball in the county and appears to be the team to beat should anyone have aspirations of hoisting the CIF trophy at Cox Arena. Abrams, Fellars, and the rest of the gang appear to be putting things together at the right time of the year, blowing out Mt. Miguel in the first round. Still, El Camino is a much better team than their #12 seeding indicates, beating a tough El Capitan team on their home floor on Wednesday night. El Camino has had somewhat of an up and down season but is capable of playing with just about anyone on any given night.

#6 Vista at #3 Bonita Vista

What high school fan in their right mind would want to miss this game? I'm sure Bonita Vista's tiny gym will be packed to the rafters as the Metro Conference co-champions host the Palomar League's co-champions. Bonita Vista easily handled Poway on Wednesday night in a game many expected to be closer than it was. Vista, on the other hand, escaped a minor upset bid by a tough Fallbrook squad. Look for this game to go right down to the wire.

#7 Torrey Pines at #2 Helix

For the second straight year Helix is the #2 seed in Division I, an accomplishment in and of itself. Still, Helix will have a very tough road ahead if they intend to repeat last year's championship game appearance. Helix is led by county Player of the Year candidate William Waggoner. They beat West Hills on Wednesday night. Torrey Pines, the Avocado League champion, has had an outstanding year in a year when they weren't picked to do much. They are a tough squad that plays hard and plays together and are very well coached. The Helix gym will be rocking as these two league champions battle for a trip to the semifinals.