say no classic schedule

If you thought we disappeared for a couple of days, (at least since Friday), well we did. Actually, as Tracy Pierson can attest, we just thought we'd fly up to Oakland and back with his wife. . . just kidding Tracy :-). While we spent the weekend watching some very ugly hoops action at the CAVS tournament on Saturday (more about that later) we spent Sunday at the BWBA workouts (below) and then yesterday had to tend to some business in the Bay Area and really did end up on the same plane as Tracy's wife yesterday, at least that's what he told us when we saw him waiting at the gate upon our arrival in Burbank. At least we hope he wasn't waiting for us. In any event, this past weekend was sort of a lull, but at least we managed to get a few things accomplished before most of the high school tournaments get going in earnest this coming weekend with the start of the LA Watts Summer Games.

One of the things we did on Sunday was drive down to Orange County, specifically to Anaheim High School to check out Bob Gottlieb's Branch West Basketball Academy, (here's the shameless plug--you can reach Bob Gottlieb at (714) 997-0380, or write to him at 380 S. Liberty Way, Orange CA 92869, or even better, visit his little bit of cyberspace at the link above). We've been hearing a lot about the workouts and the Branch West Academy, and we were pleasantly surprised to see not only the younger players working out in the early session (from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.)--it was a pretty tough workout we might add--, but we were also pleased to stick around to watch several of the college players in attendance at the later session of the workout (from about 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.), and these guys were getting ready to compete in the Say No College Classic which gets underway this coming weekend. They were joined by several high schoolers, but it was mostly grads and college players in the later session.

The Say No College Classic will feature many of the local college players from most of the western college conferences (Pac-10, WAC, WCC, Big Sky, etc), and many former local high school stars who either will play next year or who have been playing in other conferences throughout the country (Big 10, ACC, etc). All of the games will be at West LA City College, which is located in the Culver City area (see the map and directions below).

It's hard to know exactly which team your favorite players will be on, but we know from talking to Bob Gottlieb that his BWBA team will feature his son Doug Gottlieb, a former Tustin High star who is the starting point guard for Oklahoma State (Doug wasn't at the workout on Sunday because he's currently playing in Greece, but he'll be back this week in time for the games). BWBA will also feature USC's David Bluthenthal, Kansas' Eric Chenowith, Pepperdine's David Lalazarian, Sac State's Bo Segeberg, ASU freshman to be Kyle Dodd, Providence's Erron Maxey (who looked spectacular in the Sunday workout), and several others.

We don't have all of the rosters for the teams yet, but we do have a schedule. Here's what we currently know about the Say No Classic which is divided into two "leagues": The American League and the National League (coaches are in parenthesis, sorry for any misspellings):

American League	National League
West Coast (Mark Sprague)	Bakersfield (CSUB)
Riverside Stars (Ramazar)	BWBA (Gottlieb)
Hank's Team	Hoops R Us (Wallis James)
Inland Empire (Kool Aid Perry)	Future Stars (Harry Wilson)
Inland-Top Flight (Will Gray)	Trauma (Travis Jones)
Camp Exposure (Whitney Daniels)	Say No (Ralph Jackson)
Hollywood Nuggets (John Bailey)	Hank's Little Hoopers (Robert Evans)
Top Prospects (Thaddeus)	Touch Glove (Andre McCarty)
Hank's Big Time Hoopers (Carl Williams)	Cal State LA
Entertainment Tonight (Ron Cahorn)	Panthers (Charles Lovely)

Friday June 18, 1999
6:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m.	West Coast v. Riverside Stars Hank's Team v. Hank's Big Time
Saturday, June 19, 1999
11:00 a.m. 12:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m.	Inland-Top Flight v. Hollywood Nuggets Camp Exposure v. Entertainment Tonight Bakersfield v. BWBA Hoops R Us v. Cal State LA Future Stars v. Touch Glove Trauma v. Hank's Little Hoopers Say No v. Panthers
Sunday, June 20, 1999
11:00 a.m. 12:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m.	Riverside Stars v. Entertainment Tonight Inland Empire v. Hank's Big Time Inland Top Flight v. Top Prospects Camp Exposure v. Hollywood Nuggets West Coast v. Hank's Team BWBA v. Panthers (may be switched to Say No v. Touch Glove)? Future Stars v. Cal State LA

While all of the games are scheduled for West LA City College, there's been some confusion about the location of the two Friday games, and we've heard that they will actually be at the old venue, LA Trade Tech College, but we haven't been able to verify that yet. If anyone out there knows, let the rest of us know for sure about the two Friday night games.

We do know that most of the UCLA and USC players will be playing for many of these teams, and if you've never been to the Say No Classic before, well, you'll want to check it out. The league runs every weekend from now until August 8th (with the exception of the 4th of July weekend, July 2 and 3) so you'll have ample opportunity to check it out in case you happen to miss this weekend's games. We'll keep posting the schedules (and the full team rosters as soon as we get them) so you'll know when your favorite players will be balling it up.

We got the above two maps from several posters at the UCLA Message Forum (actually the one on the left was posted by an SC Fan, which is probably why it's got a red line with an arrow coming from the direction of USC, taking the scenic route down Rodeo Road).

To get to WLACC from just about anywhere, take the 405 (either from the North or South) and exit on Jefferson Blvd. exit and go east until you get to Overland Avenue, and then turn right. Proceed two blocks to Freshman Drive and go left. Freshman Drive leads right into the camps.

Map To WLACC	Map of Campus