long beach pool F 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 (yesterday) and Saturday will all be pool play games. Here's what we now know about the teams and the schedule for Pool "F" (note: We'll include the roster numbers where they are available):

ABA-USA Hoops

Coach: Dan Lynch

Ryan Stacey (6'-7" Sr. PF) Santa Margarita
Kevin Stacey (6'-3" So. SG) Santa Margarita
Ryan Zincherinsky (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF) University
Mike Dale (6'-4" Sr. F) University
Hiro Christopher (6'-1" Jr. G) University
Jason Garey (5'-9" Jr. G) University
Danny Quijano (6'-3" So. G) Santa Margarita
Corey Smith (6'-11" Sr. F/C) Thousand Oaks
Brian Thompson (5'-8" Jr. G) Woodbridge

ARC Burbank

Coach: Tom Moore

3. Michael Jenkins (5'-9" Jr. G) St. Francis
4. Andrew Moore (6'-1" Jr. G) Crespi
5. Eric Geffner (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF) Harvard-Westlake
11. Frank Reed (5'-9" Jr. G) Burbank HS
21. Shane Berry (5'-9" Jr. PG) Chatsworth
24. Mike Luderer (6'-1" Jr. G) Notre Dame
32. Keith Jarbo (6'-3" Jr. G) Burbank Burroughs
33. Damien Jordan (6'-2" Sr. G) Burbank
34. Ronald Ruffin (6'-6" Sr. SF/SG) Chatsworth
42. Brandon Duplessie (6'-6" Sr. F) Crespi
44. Cody Pearson (6'-4" Jr. SG) Notre Dame

North Riverside

Coach: Alvin Hunter

11. Ryan Rikansrued (6'-4" Sr. G) Corona
22. Jamar Mims (5'-11" Sr. PG) Valley View
24. Isaiah Bryant (6'-7" Jr. F) J.W. North
25. Sidney Hampton (6'-4" Sr. SG) Valley View
32. Raji Burnett (5'-9 Sr. PG) J.W. North
33. Jason Zimmer (6'-10" Jr. F) Perris
34. Billy Jones (5'-10" Sr. PG/SG) J.W. North
40 Justin Garcia (7'-1" Sr. C) Jurupa Valley
41. Francois Wise (6'-3" Sr. G) J.W. North
43. Jontae Vinson (6'-5" Sr. F) Perris
54. Lionel Dixon (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF) J.W. NOrth
55. JS Nash (6'-2" Jr. G) Rancho Verde

Top Prospects

Coach: Thad McGrew

Chad Bell (6'-11" Jr. C) Westchester
Isaiah Fox (6'-9" Jr. PF/C) Crossroads
E.J. Harris (6'-2" Sr. PG) Crenshaw
Jason Morrissette (6'-4" Sr. SF/SG) Fairfax
Tommy Johnson (6'-4" Sr. SG) Crenshaw
Jason McKinney (5'-9 So. PG) Westchester
Brandon Heath (6'-2" So. PG/SG) Westchester
Keith Everage (6'-5" So. SF) Westchester
Teddy Fletcher (5'-10" Jr. PG) Inglewood
Chris Davis (6'-7" Sr. F) Crenshaw
Marcus Williams (6'-0" Fr. G) Crenshaw

Teams--Friday, September 10	Time	Location
Top Prospects v. ABA-USA Hoops	5:15 p.m.	Long Beach Millikan
ARC-Burbank v. North Riverside	7:45 p.m.	LBCC Aux Gym

Teams--Saturday, September 11	Time	Location
Top Prospects v. North Riverside	12:45 p.m.	Long Beach Jordan
ARC Burbank v. ABA-USA Hoops	2:00 p.m.	Long Beach Millikan
Top Prospects v. ARC Burbank	7:00 p.m.	LBCC Aux Gym
ABA-USA Hoops v. North Riverside	8:15 p.m.	LBCC Aux Gym

Looking at all the talent in this pool, we have to give the nod to Top Prospects, but North Riverside could make it too, and one of the best and most competitive games of the day on Saturday should be the matchup of the two big guys, Justin Garcia against Chad Bell: Neither is particularly skilled, yet, but then again, it's hard to teach height. We still remember the spring EBO Fresno Hoop Summit game between North Riverside and Pump N Run II, where Justin Garcia dunked flatfooted. He didn't need to jump, not that he's that big a leaper anyway, but really he didn't need to leave the floor. In the scoring department, Top Prospects has it over most of the other teams, and it's hard to combine the speed and precision passing of E.J. Harris, Brandon Heath, speedster Jason "Taz" McKinney and Teddy Fletcher. While Felipe Williams was listed as being officially on this roster, we heard from Ace Daniels before the tournament that he'll be playing only with Camp Exposure. . . we're not taking bets on that, since lots of kids play on more than one team in events like this, especially some of the younger guys.

ARC Burbank is evidently not being coached by Ron Quarterman, but they also have some good scoring, athletic players, including as one poster on the message board said, Eric Geffner, the hardest working guy since James Brown, which is just a hilarious comparison, but it's true, he really is the hardest working guy we've seen in a while. ARC has good guard play with Andrew Moore, Shane Berry, a little speedster we haven't seen since the War on the Floor tournament in late June, and Ronald Ruffin, who is also listed on the ICAN roster. Cody Pearson is as athletic and talented as anyone in this tournament, and it will be interesting to see how he's matured since earlier in the summer and now that he'll be one of the "veterans" on his Notre Dame team. Cody is a tremendously talented scorer, but he tends to get distracted by the little things, something he'll need to conquer in order to be truly successful as a D-I player. ABA-USA looks to be mostly guys from Santa Margarita, including the two Rockfish brothers, Ryan and Kevin Stacy, and we're looking forward to seeing Corey Smith whom we've missed seeing for the last three years. Darn.

Call us nuts, call us crazy, but we're picking Top Prospects as the No. 1 seed in this bracket. Again, we'll find out for sure tomorrow.