arc schedules

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SoCalHoops Spring League News

ARC Spring League Playoffs: Standings,
Schedules and Notes--(June 5, 1999)

Today marks the beginning of the ARC Spring League Playoffs in the Varsity I and Varsity II divisions. There are some pretty good teams playing in the two varsity-level leagues, and some good players, so it might be worth your while to check out the playoffs today and tomorrow. No really big men, but you'll see some great guard play in this league. Today's single elimination games are all at LA Poly High School (located in Sun Valley, just off Roscoe Blvd and Laurel Canyon) while tomorrow's semifinal and final games are all at Notre Dame High School located on the corner of Woodman Avenue and Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks. Notre Dame is located just across the street from Sherman Oaks Fashion Square. Use the Woodman exit off the Ventura Freeway and head north one block and you'll see the school just north of Riverside on your right.

The Varsity Division of ARC is divided into two separate "leagues," and it appears that the teams in both leagues will not face each other at all. No matter, you'll still see some great teams, including in the Varsity II Division a team called the "Hype Squad" which is mostly guys from Crenshaw and Dominguez, including Tommy Johnson (6'-4" Jr. SG), E.J. Harris (6'-2" Jr. PG), Steve Moore (6'-4" Jr. SG), and several other top players; the "Griffins" which is mostly Buckley with guys like Colin Ward-Henninger (6'-3" So. SG/SF), David Gale (5'-11" Fr. PG), Adam Pastor (6'-0" Jr. SG), and Simon Leonov (6'-3" So. F); "Pasadena" which is really Marshall Fundamental, with Deverion Mackey (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) and Jason Sandford (6'-3" Jr. SG); the "Saracens" which is mostly Harvard-Westlake with guys like Russell Lakey (5'-11" Jr. PG), Eric Geffner (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) and several of the younger guys like Craig Weinstein (5'-10" Fr. G), Robbie Wizenberg (6'-0" Fr. G/F) and Teddy Boxberger (6'-3" Fr. SF);

The Varsity I division features the possibility of a really nice matchup in the final, as Total Impact, which took the Southern California Regional title in the AAU regional qualifier, beating the Northridge Knights (which isn't in this league, but which features many of the North Hollywood team players who are in the league) could get a rematch with those same NH guys like Eric Roller, Nathan Stern and others before both teams head to Orlando, Florida in August for the AAU Nationals. You'll also see the Skywalkers with Kevin Johnson (5'-7" Jr. Quartz Hill), Jamal Flanagan (6'-2" Fr. F) Antelope Valley Christian, Matthew Nurse (5'-10" Jr. PG) Antelope Valley Christian, John Loftin (6'-2" Jr. G/F) Antelope Valley Christian, Peter Beaudin (6'-6" Jr. F/C) Antelope Valley Christian, Oliver Haworth (6'-1" Jr. G) Highland, and Michael Kennedy (6'-6" Jr. F) Antelope Valley Christian; Encino I, which is essentially Crespi's varsity, although what that looks like now is really anyone's guess with the transfers of Gregg Guenther and Mike Luderer, but we'd still expect to see guys like Allan Ellis (5'-10" Fr. PG), Gregg Robinson (5'-11" Jr. SG), Matt Beirnat (6'-5" Jr. F)
Patrick Cassella (5'-10" Jr. PG), Mike Grimes (6'-5" Jr. C), Aaron Tunney (6'-0" Jr. F) and Andrew Moore (6'-0" So. SG).

Here are the schedules for the two leagues

VARSITY I Standings

NH 6 1
Skywalkers 6 1
Bay City 5 2
Monsters 5 2
Sherman Oaks I 5 2
Encino I 4 3
Total Impact 3 4
AG 3 4
CV 3 4
. Canyon 2 5
. SCV #1 1 6
. Wiseman I 0 7

Saturday Varsity I--
Single Elimination Playoffs

Sherman Oaks v. Wisemen (G1) 9:00 a.m. Poly
Encino I vs. SCV I (G2) 10:00 a.m. at Poly
Total Impact v. Canyon (G3) 11:00 a.m. at Poly
Agoura v. CV (G4) 12:00 p.m. at Poly
Monsters of the Midway v. Winner G1 (G5) 1:00 at Poly
Bay City v. Winner G2 (G6) 2:00 pm.at Poly
Skywalkers v. Winner G3 (G7) 3:00 at Poly
North Hollywood v. Winner G4 (G8) 4:00 p.m. at Poly

Varsity II Sunday Schedule--
Semifinals and Championship

Semifinal: Winner G5 vs. Winner G8 (G9) 3:00 p.m. at Notre Dame
Semifinal: Winner G6 vs. Winner G7 (G10) 4:00 p.m. at Notre Dame

Winner G9 vs. Winner G10 (Championship) 6:00 p.m. at Notre Dame

BOYS VARSITY II

Hype Squad 6 0
Pasadena 5 2
Saracens 5 2
LC 4 3
Griffins 3 4
Wisemen II 3 4
Scorps 3 4
The Bank 2 5
Sherman Oaks II 1 6
. Encino II 1 6

In the Varsity II League, the top two teams, Hype Squad and Pasadena both get a bye on Saturday. Here's the rest of the schedule

Saturday Varsity II Schedule:
Single Elimination Playoffs

Saracens v. Encino II (G1) 5:00 p.m. at Poly
LC v. Sherman Oaks II (G2) 6:00 p.m. at Poly
Griffins v. The Bank (G3) 7:00 p.m. at Poly
Wisemen II v. Scorps (G4) 8:00 p.m. at Poly

Sunday Varsity II Schedule--
Single Elimination, Semis and Finals

Pasadena v. Winner G3 (G5) 11:00 a.m. at Notre Dame
Hype Squade v. Winner G4 (G6) 12:00 p.m. at Notre Dame
Semifinal: Winner G1 vs. Winner G5 (G7) 1:00 p.m. at Notre Dame
Semifinal: Winner G2 vs. Winner G6 (G8) 2:00 p.m. at Notre Dame
Winner G7 vs. Winner G8 (Championship) 5:00 p.m. at Notre Dame

ARC does feature some good competition, but we've thought for years that the scheduling has always been a little bit odd during the "season" with teams scattered all over town, playing at odd hours, so the result is that many of the same teams in the same "league" never really get to see each other at all unless they are directly playing each other. In a once-a-week schedule, there's no real sense of "league", and it's not uncommon to walk into an ARC gym expecting to see a varsity team game only to be watching the preceding girls' 4th grade team game which is running late. But as they used to say on Seinfeld, "Not that there's anything wrong with that. . . ". At least during the ARC playoffs all the teams are at one location and the games run back-to-back, and if we have any suggestion for Rich Goldberg & Co., it would be to run the entire league season that way, just as leagues like Rockfish and Slam N Jam do.

See you there.