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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Harvard-Westlake v. Chaminade: Some
Perspective On This Friday Night's Game--(January 13, 1998)

In an interesting little tidbit in today's Daily News, and just to put Harvard-Westlake's game against Chaminade this Friday night in a bit of perspective, the Daily News featured a very large "Closing Quote" from Harvard-Westlake coach Greg Hilliard. But before we get to the quote, first a little history.

Earlier this season, Chaminade's coach Jeff Young had been (rightly or wrongly, we don't pretend to know) quoted as saying that he fully expected his team was capable of beating Simi Valley this year in the Simi Tournament (they weren't, and lost), and that Simi this year was a better team than Harvard-Westlake was with the Collins twins. So the gist of the statement was interepreted by those who read it as coach Young saying that his current team was far better than H-W's teams with the Collins twins, and that they expected they could beat a team which was even better than the Collins teams. We certainly don't mean to get this whole thing going again here, and bring this up only to give a little history. And we're paraphrasing the actual quote, but you get the gist of what the papers printed.

The comments from Young, printed in the LA Times and Daily News, drew an incredible amount of ire from fans and former players, in fact so much so, that over on the West Coast Hoops fan board, the moderators were required to take down a whole string of "flames", i.e., messages which were considered in poor taste, most of which concerned Chaminade, their fans, and their coach. We also talked directly to Jeff about the particular statements, and he insists that the reporters took his comments entirely out of context (have you ever been "quoted" by a reporter? It is amazing what some people will write as a "quote"; it's rarely what you think you said), and he tells us he has only admiration and respect for Harvard-Westlake, it's teams and coaches. Sure he thinks his Chaminade team this year is good. They are.

Whether the statements were made or not, today's quote from Hilliard (whether in direct response to Young's earlier quoted remarks, or standing alone) do put the Friday night game between Harvard-Westlake and Chaminade in some perspective. The postscript to today's quote from Hilliard reads "Regarding Friday night's game against Mission League favorite Chaminade". Hilliard is quoted as saying:

"They're not getting back at the Jason and Jarron Collins Harvard-Westlake team. They're getting back at a team of sophomores and newcomers."

Hilliard is, of course, correct, but don't expect this to take any of the edge off the game Friday night, or to make Chaminade any less ready to whip the Wolverines if they can. Chaminade has been beaten repeatedly by H-W over the last three years, and if the Eagles can find an opening to take one back, they'll do it. It's going to be a great game, and we hope that Victor Munoz is well enough to play. Don't miss it. The game will be over at Chaminade in West Hills. We're not certain about the starting time, but we'd guess it'll get underway no later than 7:00 pm. Be there.