FROM THE OCVARSITY BLOG |
Roundball Extravaganza a good preview
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Steve Fryer takes a look at preseason basketball, his football rankings and much more.
Basketball season is two months away, but we will get a preview of some of Southern California's top players in just a couple of weeks.
The 12th OCO/PlyoCity Roundball Extravaganza is Oct. 18 at Mission Viejo. There will be four boys games and four girls games. Within each gender there will be a freshman, sophomore, junior and elite game, starting with the freshman girls game at 9 a.m. and ending with the boys elite game at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets will be $10 for adults and $8 for students and children.
So, who is going to play? Historically, all of Orange County's top girls players participate and many of the top boys players, too. Last year's county player of the year Jerime Anderson of Canyon, now at UCLA, played in the Roundball, and so did 2007 county player of the year runner-up Klay Thompson of Santa Margarita, now at Washington.
Game organizer Mike Rangel said Mater Dei's star starters Andy Brown, Gary Franklin and Wear twins David and Travis won't play in this one. They don't need the exposure, with the Wears already committed to North Carolina and every college coach who has a chance at them knows all about Brown and Franklin.
But a lot of players, boys and girls alike, are still gunning for college scholarship opportunities, and for opportunities to work on their game against the great competition they will get in the Roundball Extravanganza.
The event is run by the Orange Coast Optimist group and PlyoCity Youth Development. PlyoCity's Rangel created the event and for the past few years has been involved in the Orange County All-Star Game in April.
Rangel is well known also for training many of the county's top athletes of various levels, most notably volleyball legends Karch Kiraly and Misty May-Treanor.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• How I voted in the county football top 10 this week (records in parentheses): 1. Servite (3-1); 2. Mission Viejo (4-0); 3. Mater Dei (3-1); 4. Los Alamitos (3-0); 5. Edison (3-1); 6. Orange Lutheran (3-1); 7. Tesoro (4-0); 8. Esperanza (3-1); 9. San Clemente (3-0); 10. Newport Harbor (2-1). Servite has beaten two teams that were in the state top 25 at the time the Friars played them, Clovis West of Fresno and Edison; and lost by one point to another state top 25 team, Crespi of Encino. Mission Viejo beat La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad when LCC was in the top 25, and I have no quarrel with anyone who maintains that Mission is the No. 1 team in the county.
• Some interesting statistics: The cumulative records of teams that some our top-10 teams have beaten: Tesoro has defeated teams that are a combined 4-11; San Clemente has beaten teams that are a combined 2-8; Los Alamitos has beaten teams that are a combined 4-8. Laguna Hills, which is No. 12 in Fryer's top 25, has beaten teams are a combined 2-9, with 0-3 Woodbridge on the Hawks' schedule this week.
• County teams in the football state top 25: No. 8 Mission Viejo; No. 9 Mater Dei; No. 10 Los Alamitos; No. 17 Servite; and No. 22 Orange Lutheran. Long Beach Poly is No. 1 this week, having moved up from No. 2 after last week's No. 1, De La Salle of Concord, lost to Don Bosco Prep of New Jersey.
• Sure, the preseason favorite for county football offensive player of the year clearly was Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley, and Barkley's statistics are great: 69 for 130, for 1,186 yards and 12 touchdowns with nine interceptions. Pushing forward as another top candidate is Mission Viejo quarterback Allan Bridgford, who is 63 for 97, for 1,138 yards and 17 touchdowns with two interceptions.
• Quote of the month, from El Toro water polo goaltender Tommy O'Connell: "We're not worried about these little weekend tournaments right now." He then went on to say that the true priority is winning the big ones in November, in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. That's a funny quote, and sure is accurate, but tournaments such as last week's South Coast Tournament, which El Toro won, and this week's Villa Park Tournament are good for confidence and momentum.
• County girls volleyball rankings should be written in pencil. Orange Lutheran has won two significant tournaments in consecutive weeks, first the Dave Mohs two weeks ago and the La Jolla Classic last week, to supplant Los Alamitos at No. 1. With several excellent nonleague matches, such as Tuesday's Newport Harbor-Laguna Beach, now and league play coming up soon, those rankings are going to see plenty of change all season.
• The "FryDay Night" live-blogging extravaganza will be headquartered at La Habra for the Los Alamitos-La Habra football game Friday night. That's at great place to see a football game, not only because all seating is close to the field but also because of the community atmosphere. On Friday night, you could airlift that stadium and drop if in some small town in Iowa and it would fit in perfectly.
• Closing with an important observation: The best football game stadium food still is at Fred Kelly Stadium, on the El Modena campus. Sausages, burgers, grilled potatoes and more. Arrive hungry, go home happy.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
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