valley pac 8 preview revision

SoCal High School & Prep Report

City Section: Valley Pac-8
Preview Correction(s)--(January 14, 1998)

Well, just to prove that we can be wrong, or at least to show that we make mistakes along with everyone else, it's necessary that we make a couple of corrections to yesterday's Valley Pac-8 preview. Seems that we left off two or three players, and in at least one case it was a significant oversight on our part.

In our haste to report all of the stats on the Van Nuys team (and there weren't many), we wrote that the one bright spot for Van Nuys was a player named "Jesse Keane." We were reminded this morning that the one truly bright spot for Van Nuys in this otherwise struggling season, in which Van Nuys is now only 1-11, is not Keane (although he may be a bright spot too) but Abe Morabbi (6'-2' Jr. SG/SF), who is actually averaging 18 points per game, and is ranked 15th in scoring in the region. That's a whole lot better than many other schools can say about their top scorers this year, and we certainly did not intend any slight to Abe, and we apologize for the oversight.

Second, yesterday's previews were based upon offensive stats principally (with the exception of steals, and of course rebounds, which combines both offensive and defensive boards). In our review of Grant, we overlooked mentioning a couple of players whom we believe are worthy of not, and who do their job game in and game out, but because they aren't scoring as high as, say, Gilbert Arenas (but then who, besides Ruben Douglas is?), just don't get the props they might otherwise deserve. Two bright spots for Grant this year, particularly on defense have been Daniel Tarr and Justin Buttikofer, both of whom work hard, play well, and make solid contributions to a fine team.

I'm sure that there are a ton of other players at some of the other schools we've written about who will write us and say "hey, I'm playing hard, and I'm the guy who makes it possible for [fill in the blank] to score all those points and be the star, so how about mentioning me!". If you feel like you're one of those players, then by all means, let us know who you are, and we'll take a look and if possible, let the rest of those who follow our columns know about you. As they say, the first part of getting noticed, is getting noticed. So "help us help you" to get noticed. Really.

Oh, and one other thing about the "previews" we (and others) have been featuring from time to time: You'll notice that in the two we ran yesterday, we showed the league standings. You'll also notice that those standings for every team showed a league record of "0-0". So despite what we may have said or didn't say, the only thing that's really going to affect the ultimate record, is how you, the players actually play the game out on the floor. While folks who write about hoops, from college to pro, to prep, or your coaches, or parents or friends, may think they have some "special knowledge", or some unique insight, they usually don't. Even the unknown player, who's received zero attention in the early season, could just be, and usually is, the guy who steps up out of nowhere to become the star. The great thing about this game is that no one ever knows how the game is gonna turn out until it's over, and the game before means nothing, and the game yet to be played also means nothing.

So to all of those players who read the previews (or parents of players) who thought you should have been mentioned, forget it; just go out and play, and we'll be sure to notice you. And to all you guys who are currently the stat kings, a little word of caution: Don't let it go to your head.

And that's what we think.