Mater Dei’s boys basketball team just got bigger, and better.
The CIF-Southern Section on Thursday declared 6-foot-11 junior Bol Bol eligible to play at Mater Dei. He is eligible under the “valid change of residence” rules and met all other eligibility conditions.
Bol, the son of former NBA player Manute Bol, transferred from Bishop Miege in Shawnee, Kan., and enrolled at Mater Dei earlier this month. He is eligible to make his Mater Dei debut Frdiay night when the Monarchs, 20-1 and at their usual No. 1 position in the Orange County top 10, play at Orange Lutheran in a Trinity League game.
“He (Bol) is eligible to play immediately based on the submission by Mater Dei High School that he meets all of the requirements for a Valid Residential Change under the provisions of CIF State Bylaw 206,” said CIF-SS spokesman Thom Simmons by email Thursday.
Those bylaw provisions also state that “a student may not be eligible to participate at the varsity level if there is evidence the move was athletically motivated or the student enrolled in that school in whole or in part for athletic reasons.”
The CIF-SS Blue Book, the section’s constitution and by-laws, states in the By-Law 206 section: “Question: What is meant by an athletically motivated move or transfer?” One of the answers is: “A move to a school that is believed ‘objectively or subjectively’ to be more competitive or athletically visible.”
Is Mater Dei more athletically visible than Bishop Miege?
Bol already was nationally recognized before he enrolled at Mater Dei; he entered the fall as one of the nation’s top recruits for his class. He didn’t need to transfer to Mater Dei to achieve that status. And videos of Bol’s highlights were all over the internet when he was at Bishop Miege.
He already had received scholarship offers, too, including one from Kansas.
Manute Bol was one of the all-time great humanitarians to play in the NBA. If Bol Bol is anything like his father, he will be a great asset to Mater Dei and to O.C. basketball as a person, and not just as the entertaining player who he has shown he will be for the Monarchs.
Will Bol’s addition make Mater Dei better than Chino Hills, which beat Mater Dei by 11 points on Dec. 20, or Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, or Bishop Montgomery of Torrance, the three teams ranked higher than Mater Dei in the state and in CIF-SS Division 1AA?
Maybe. Mater Dei already is talented and deep. Junior forward Justice Sueing is a scoring machine, junior Spencer Freedman is a quick, tough and cerebral point guard, and Monarchs coach Gary McKnight has a dependable stack of reserves.
With Bol, Mater Dei just might be the team to beat when the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs start Feb. 17.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• National Letter of Intent Signing Day is Feb. 1 for football. That is the first day of the signing period for football players, as well as for athletes in soccer and boys water polo. The period goes through April 1.
• Every year in every sport there are O.C. athletes who are better than their college recruiting profile suggests. In football this year, my list is topped by Santa Margarita receiver/tight end Grant Calcaterra, Buena Park two-way lineman Ryan Nelson and Mission Viejo running back/linebacker Colin Schooler. They are going to fine schools with high-quality football programs – Calcaterra to Oklahoma, Nelson to Virginia and Schooler to Arizona – but more big-time programs should have pushed hard for those three.
• The best of the unsigned group of O.C. players might be San Clemente’s all-purpose standout Brandon Reaves. His size (listed at 5-foot-9 and 169 pounds), of course, is not helping, but he has the courage of a tiger and the moves of a cheetah. Whatever college team gives him the chance will be delighted.
• High school athletes in all sports should not discount the community college option. Southern California community colleges have great academics and athletic competition. Every year, local community college athletes sign with major four-year schools.
• Celebration of life services for Dave Cowen are Friday at 4 p.m. at Calvary Church of Santa Ana in Santa Ana. Cowen mentored many athletes and coaches as a coach and athletic director at Woodbridge and later as an administrator at Magnolia. Every field, gym or room was brighter when Cowen was there.
• Tickets are available at materdei.org for the Nike Extravaganza on Feb. 3 and 4 at Mater Dei. Eight Nike Extravaganza teams are in the California boys basketball top 20: No. 1 Sierra Canyon, No. 2 Chino Hills, No. 4 Mater Dei, No. 7 Foothills Christian of El Cajon, No. 8 Fairfax of Los Angeles, No. 11 St. Augustine of San Diego, No. 14 Centennial of Corona and No. 18 Santa Margarita.
• As usual, the Saturday schedule for the Nike Extravaganza is divided into a morning session and an evening session, with separate admission required for each. The morning session starts with Dos Pueblos of Goleta vs. JSerra at 8:30 a.m. (rise and shine, Lions!) followed by St. John Bosco vs. Capistrano Valley at 10 a.m. and a good all-O.C. matchup, Los Alamitos vs. Villa Park, at 11:30 a.m. Admission for the morning session is $12.
• The highlight of the Nike Extravaganza six-game Feb. 4 evening session is the Chino Hills/Ball Brothers vs. Oak Hill Academy of Virginia game at 8:45 p.m. Chino Hills is No. 5 and Oak Hill is No. 9 in USA Today’s national rankings. Evening session tickets are $12 for general admission and $22 for reserved seating.
• The Feb. 4 evening session includes Fairfax vs. Santa Margarita at 2:45 p.m. and Mater Dei vs. St. Augustine of San Diego at 7:15 p.m. All four teams are in the state top 20.
• The Feb. 3 schedule for the Nike Extravaganza includes Oak Hill Academy vs. Foothills Christian 7:30 p.m. and Mater Dei vs. Village Christian of Sun Valley at 9 p.m. Like Mater Dei, Village Christian is on the CIF-Southern Section’s “watch list” of Open Division candidates. Admission for the session is $12.
• The Trinity League vs. Sunset League Baseball Challenge starts Saturday, weather permitting – and the way it’s going there might be a lot of “weather permitting” going on in some outdoor sports for a few weeks. On Saturday, it’s Santa Margarita at Los Alamitos and Servite at Fountain Valley, at 10 a.m. The event continues with St. John Bosco at Huntington Beach, Jan. 27 at 2:45 p.m.; Orange Lutheran at Edison, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m.; Mater Dei at Newport Harbor, Feb. 4 at 1 p.m.; and Marina at JSerra, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m.
• The Trinity-Sunset series and the upcoming Newport Elks Tournament are part of the “First Pitch” baseball dinner Saturday at the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge. Arizona coach Jay Johnson, Nevada coach T.J. Bruce and Cypress College coach Scott Pickler are the guest speakers. Email sunsettrinitychallege@yahoo.com for information.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
