must

SoCalHoops Tournament Update

adidas Double Pump Best Of Summer
"Must See" Games Today--(July 24, 1998)

Today marks the first round of the Single Elimination Games in the Tournament, now that Pool Play is finished. We've already put out the schedule. For those who don't know the "best" time to show up if you are pressed, or (gasp) actually have to work, we'd put it at no later than 11:20 a.m., when the first v. second place games will begin.

Actually this is probably the best day to split time between the Slam-N-Jam NIT and the Double Pump Best of Summer, at least until 11:20 a.m. and then at about 8:00 p.m. when the bigger games at the Slam-N-Jam will get going.

Here's our short list for Double Pump, if you absolutely can't stay for the entire day:

Actually, even though 11:20 is about the "best" time to start, if you can get to Cal State Dominguez Hills a little earlier, you might want to see the first game at 10:10 between Rockfish (without Shantay Legans or Rafael Berumen--Shantay is off for 5-Star Camp, and Rafael is nursing his achilles). But the Fish do have Russell Lakey (6'-0" Jr. PG), Eric Siess (6'-3" Sr. G) from Redlands, Scottie Stern (6'-4" Jr. G) from Fairfax and Nick Vanderlaan (6'-10" Sr. C). These guys will face off against Team Detroit, a team we haven't seen yet.

After 10:10 there are a bunch of really good games, but if you absolutely, positively can't make it early, then don't sweat it. Just be sure to show up by 1:40 p.m. for the Arizona Heat ( Josh Wallace (6'-10" Sr. F/C), Nate Bloom (7'-0" Sr. C), Rick Lueneburg (6'-10" Sr. C), and a bunch of quick guards like Scott Watson (5'-11" Jr. PG), and a couple of very tough forwards (Jason Blair (6'-7" Sr. F) and Adrian Aguayo (6'-6" Sr. F). Oh yeah, there's also Tanner Shell (6'-6" Sr. F) as well. The way Arizona has been playing, they could just hammer P&R I, which has been pretty badly out of sync since Vegas, and playing without most of its regular guys like Mike Dunleavy, Bo Segeberg, Eric Rohwer, Skyler Wilson and others. . Pump & Run I will still have Gilbert Arenas, Armand Thomas and Aaron Abrams, the three regulars, playing with James Wright, Johnny Hardwick and a couple of others.

The bigger teams with "Byes" in the first round, start at 1:40 p.m. also, with Madison Broncos facing either LA Rockfish or Detroit, and DC Assault will face either Brewster Heights or Minn. Select Maroon, both good teams. At 2:50, the Panthers (Doug Wrenn, Fab Fisher) will play either Inland or FOH III, while the Jazz will meet either Minn. Select Gold or FOH II.

Beyond that, the next "must see" game is at 4:00 with Texax Bluechip meeting Salpoint, or Texas 17's v. EBO, followed by the Rinos v. KC ACT.

Then at 5, the real winners bracket gets going, and it's not done until about 9:00 pm tonight. The later games will be fun (Verbum v. Woodbridge, Spartans v. IEBP Ballers & Players) but they're not absolute must see games. Fun, yes, but if you need to be somewhere, don't feel too guilty about missing them.