long beach pool D preview

We finally got the rosters for the teams to go along with the schedules Dinos Trigonis sent us the other day, so now we can at least evaluate, on paper, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various teams in each pool. Some teams look really, really strong on paper, while others look pretty weak. Of course there's no substitute for actually seeing the games, and we're sure that notwithstanding how good some teams look on paper, a lot of people will be surprised that some seemingly lowly looking rosters will be one or more high-powered and well-regarded team.

We're going to list the rosters pool-by-pool, which will be a little more helpful and give you a way to actually plan out what teams you'll watch tomorrow, since the games on Friday (today) and Saturday will all be pool play games. Here's what we now know about the teams and the schedule for Pool "D" (note: We'll include the roster numbers where they are available):

ARC Team Dynamo

Coach: Ruben Sanchez

5. Ruben Sanchez (5'-11" Jr. PG) Notre Dame
10. Tyler Newton (6'-7" Sr. F) Burroughs (Burbank)
11. Kenny Johnson (5'-10" Sr. PG) Los Angeles HS
21. T.J. Stephens (6'-2" Jr. SG) Cleveland
22. Matt Wallman (6'-6" Jr. F) Camarillo
23. Matt Biernat (6'-6" Sr. F) Crespi
33. Casey Markovic (6'-6" Jr. SF/SG) Bell-Jeff
34. Levill Palmer (6'-5" Sr. F) Cleveland HS
J.P. Elliot (6'-8" Jr. F) Loyola HS

Belmont Shore I

Coach: Dinos Trigonis

1. A.J. Diggs (5'-9" Sr. PG) Long Beach Jordan
2. Wesley Stokes (5'-10" Sr. PG) Long Beach Poly
3. Evan Burns (6'-6" So. PF) Fairfax
4. Travon Bryant (6'-8" Sr. PF) Long Beach Jordan
6. Shaun Michel (6'-3" Jr. PG) Simi Valley
9/91 Bret Michel (6'-6" Sr. SG/SF) Simi Valley
10. Scottie Stern (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF) Fairfax
11/27 Derrick Craven (6'-2" Jr. SG/PG) Bishop Montg.
12/41 Errick Craven (6'-2" Jr. PG/SG) Bishop Montg.
90 Aerick Sanders (6'-8" Sr. PF/C) Serra

IEBP Originals

Coach: Lonnie Carlyle

Jason Burrell (6'-2" Sr. G) Ontario
Lamar Ruffin (6'-7" Sr. F) Chapparal
Alonzo Williams (6'-1" Sr. G) Rancho Cucamonga
Marvin Lee (6'-3" So. G/F) Riverside Poly
Brian Ponder (6'-4" Sr. G) Garey
David Joiner (6'-7" Sr. F) Rialto
Derrick Andrew (6'-2" Sr. G) Rancho Cucamonga
Will Kimble (6'-9" Sr. SF) Pacific
DeMarcus Williams (6'-8" Sr. PF) Upland
Jordan Walker (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) Fontana
Chris Smith (5'-9" Sr. PG) Pacific

Inland

Coaches: Elvert Perry and J.V. Bell

Jason Braxton (6'-2" Jr. G) Canyon Springs
Lawrence Carrier (6'-7" So. SF/PF) Salisbury Prep
Fabian Bean (6'-5" So. F) Salisbury Prep
Richard Cobbs (6'-4" Fr. SG/SF) Canyon Springs
Brandon Jones (6'-8" Jr. F) Canyon Springs
Leon Rosborough (6'-2" So. SG) Canyon Springs
Jemar Davis (5'-11" So. PG) Pacific
Chris Stallworth (6'-4" Jr. G) San Gorgonio
Dennis Dowdy (6'-6" Jr. F) San Gorgonio
Kevin Houston (5'-9" Fr. PG) San Gorgonio
Paul Roby (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) Cajon

Teams--Friday, September 10	Time	Location
Belmont Shore I v. ARC Team Dynamo	9:00 p.m.	LBCC Main
IEBP Originals v. Inland	9:00 p.m.	Long Beach Millikan

Teams--Saturday, September 11	Time	Location
IEBP Originals v. ARC-Team Dynamo	10:15 a.m.	Long Beach Jordan
Belmont Shore I v. Inland	12:45 p.m.	LBCC Main Gym
Inland v. ARC Team Dynamo	5:45 p.m.	LB Jordan
Belmont Shore I v. IEBP Originals	8:15 p.m.	LBCC Main Gym

This one could be the most evenly matched of any of the pools, and frankly, notwithstanding the wealth of talent on the Belmont Shore team, especially with the addition of the three Pump N Run guys (the Cravens and Aerick Sanders, who had to play somewhere this weekend, and since the Pumps don't enter a team in Dinos' tournament, they were available). The biggest surprise about Dinos' No. 1 team is the absence of Ellis Myles, who is playing with Etop's team Compton Magic (which is actually his new high school team, Compton Centennial) and Ryan Mollins is also nowhere to be seen. This will also be the first opportunity to see Bret Michel, who was sidelined all summer with a broken foot (and probably a broken heart too, since he had to miss ABCD Camp with the injury). Brother Shaun played for Dinos (albeit sparingly) in Vegas, but they are two very solid guys and we're looking forward to seeing them here.

Inland and IEBP in the same bracket? Gee, let's travel to Long Beach to play games we could see in San Bernardino/Riverside. . . . Go figure. And evidently we were wrong about Elvert Perry not bringing the prep school guys, because he's got both Lawrence Carrier and classmate Fabien Bean. We'd expect to see the solid shooting Richard Cobbs, but the addition of Carrier is just icing on the cake.