ebo529

SoCalHoops Prep Tourney Report

EBO, Reebok/Gibbons & High Five Recaps--(May 29, 1998)

With our presence having been required at the YBOA tourney this past weekend, and given that Mike Miller over at WestCoastHoops didn't get to attend either the High Five or the EBO tourney, the news from those others was sparse (for example, see Frank Burlison's recap below). And what's been even tougher to come by is the news about what really happened at the Reebok/Bob Gibbons TOC in North Carolina with the other SoCal team, Belmont Shore.

A few days ago, we reported some of the highlights only, i.e., what we could find without talking to Dinos Trigonis about how the team fared. We noted Casey Jacobsen's impressive performance, and that of Brian Wethers, but we'd be the first to admit, there was really very little substance to the reporting. But today we saw a message from one of Belmont's fans who apparently attended the tourney over at WestCoastHoops' fan forum, and we can't resist reprinting it here because the author makes more than a few great points, and provides some great reporting as well. This was posted by "golo201" today and here's what he had to say about the Belmont Shore team performance:

Having seen a lot of posting by internet gurus and fan chatrooms, I find it surprising that very few are commenting on Belmont Shore's remarkable Final Four finish at perhaps the nation's toughest non-July period event. While it is very true and has been printed at multiple web locations that Casey Jacobsen played like the Top 20 player and McDonald's All-American candidate that he is, other Belmont Shore players have been virtually ignored like Fairfax's Joe Shipp (just coming off a broken leg that sidelined him all of this past season and who averaged 15-20 ppg at Gibbons), Westchester's Chris Osborne (who played outstanding post defense, especially on Top 10 player Donnell Harvey) and Eric Knight (who was thrown into the starting PG position after Belmont Shore's two top lead guards Julius Barnes (academic testing) and Tito Maddox (family problems) could not make the trip - handling tremendous ball pressure and getting Belmont Shore into its half-court offense) and fith starter Chris Clark (Glendora) who scrapped defensively and scored several key baskets at critical moments of the team's games). Off the bench, 6'8" soph Travon Bryant intoduced himself to the national media and scouting corps. with a superb performance and Leroy Dawson (Los Angeles HS) hit several key threes and played outstanding defense. 6'10" junior Johnny Hardwick and 6'6" freshman Dillon Hayes (Tustin) also played well.

Belmont Shore did not just make it to the Final Four with this group (while the Rockfish struggled with a 1-2 pool play record) - it breezed there! Pool play resulted in a 13 point win over #1 pool seed and recent Indiana Spiece tourney finalist Team Wisconsin, a 20 point victory over the always tough Memphis Sounds, and a 9 point win over the top adidas team in Texas, the Houston Superstars led by Texas' #1 junior George Williams.

Winning its pool, meant a quarterfinal date with a tough Charlotte Royals team - the #1 Nike team in North Carolina that included 6'8" 260 lbs./Elton Brand-type junior Jason Parker and THREE 1998 graduating seniors. After trailing in this early Sunday morning game by 15 points in the 2nd half, Belmont Shore stormed back to overwhelm the Royals and advance to the semi-finals with a 6 point win, despite questionable hometown officiating and slopping scorebook keeping. The Shore finally was stopped in the semi-finals by a very strong and hot shooting squad, the Atlanta Celtics - the eventual tournament champions who beat all of its three playoff opponents by double digits.

It takes a lot more than Casey Jacobsen to reach the Final Four of such a great tournament. I would hope that websites truly interested in Southern California and west coast hoops would realize that basketball is a 5 man game plus a decent bench and that someone else besides Jacobsen must have played well in order for a team to reach the Final Four of such a presitigious tourney.

We agree. Thanks for the information and the report.

Now compare that to Frank Burlison's column from Tuesday, May 26, which contains a lot of the stuff that you've already read before, but since NOTHING HAPPENED yesterday, we thought we'd at least make it look like something is happening, so here's what Frank had to say in the Orange County Register:

There was a multitude of traveling team tournaments over Memorial Day Weekend.

The best of those was the Reebok/Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, held at Duke, North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina, with the championship game in the 17-and-under division Sunday in Chapel Hill. Two squads from Southern California, Belmont Shore Basketball Club and L.A. Rockfish, competed. Belmont Shore won its first four games before losing in the semifinals to the eventual champion Atlanta Celtics, 78-58. The Long Beach-based team was led by one of the tournament's best players, 6-6 Casey Jacobsen of Glendora, who averaged 28 points per game and will go into the summer considered one of the nation's Top 25 seniors-to-be. Brian Wethers (6-4, Murrieta Valley) represented the Rockfish (a loser in two of its three games) on the all-tournament team. The tournament's Most Outstanding Player was Joe Forte (6-4, D.C. Stars), who'll be a senior in the fall at DeMatha in Hyattsville, Md.

The best prospects at the adidas/Elite Basketball Organization Hoop Summit II in Fresno were: juniors Brett Nelson (6-3, St. Alban's, W.V.) and Carlos Boozer (6-8, Juneau, Alaska, Douglas), and sophomore DeShawn Stevenson (6-4, Fresno Washington Union). Boozer is considered a near-lock to sign with UCLA in November.

What Frank's article didn't say was that the tournament was won by Oakland Slam'N'Jam, featuring Andrew Gooden, Justin Davis, Jason McGlaston, and Jovan Harris, by a score of 75-56 over Central Cal Sports Express. IEBP I had upset EBO I in the quarterfinals, but then CCSE beat IEBP I in the very next round.

Tyson Chandler (6-11, freshman) and Keith Kincade (6-5, junior), both of Compton Dominguez, led the Southern California All-Stars to a 78-72 victory over Seattle in the championship game of the High Five America Tournament at United States International University in San Diego on Monday. Among the other outstanding players in the event were Jason Kapono (6-8, Lakewood Artesia) and Marcus Moore (6-3, junior, Redondo Union).

There now you've read it again. Rockfish is off to Florida soon and we'll have details soon about what Belmont Shore is doing for the rest of the summer. Stay tuned.