10 Foolproof Reasons Why You Should Go on Saturday

First, the precedent for this was my discovery that Ocean View is trailing Foothill by over 100 fans on Facebook. How is that possible? I don’t even know where Foothill is! There are over 20 High Schools by the name of Foothill, all of them somewhere in California. Anyways, here are my 10 reasons as to why you should go out to the game (starting with 10, working up to the best reason I can offer you)

10. It’s the Honda Center

Home to the Anaheim Ducks, and the 2010 CIF-SS Championships

Ocean View has played in two prestigious venues in the past two years, Legendary Pauley Pavilion, and the dump that is Arco Arena. Honda Center has played host to more than just Stanley Cup Finals (Pretty exciting alone huh?) it has seen players such as Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison, Acie Law, Matt Barnes, Baron Davis, Kevin Love, just to name a few. This venue is a huge stage for any sport, so the pressure is definitely on the Hawks in this awesome arena.

9. Its Basketball

For amateur sports, this is basically it for the year, UCLA is pathetic, and USC exiled their basketball team. Mater Dei is before this game, so how can you possibly pass up the last CIF Matchup of the year?

8. “Fandemonium” or whatever Mater Dei Varsity, er- OC Varsity calls it

Ocean View and Foothill have two of the best student sections in Orange County. I can guarantee you that Ocean View has some tricks and pranks up their sleeve, and I’ll bet you that Foothill does as well.

7. It’s a 1 vs. 2 Seed Matchup

It is, quite simply, the best game that you can find. In Division 3, it is rare to find two teams in the top 10 in the county, but when two teams are in the top three and they just happen to play each other- not in some exhibition at Occidental College, but in the CIF Championship game in the best venue in all of Orange County.

6. Steve Fryer says so

I don’t have a problem with Steve, especially when he picks us all the time, but mostly blindly and because of two players, not six or seven. Anyways, here’s what he said;

It makes sense, and dollars and cents, to have the Foothill-Ocean View boys basketball game in the marquee position as the 8:15 p.m. game Saturday at the Honda Center for the CIF-Southern Section championships. That much-anticipated game might provide the highest ticket sales of any of the six games there Saturday,

Predictions for the boys and girls championship games involving county teams… boys 3AA, Ocean View over Foothill

The top 5, and more, after the jump (hit read more)

Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger (Palm Springs Edition)

Ocean View’s fans get crazy in the semifinal matchup

Tip of the hat: Ryan Okwudibonye

This week’s tip goes to Ryan Okwudibonye who finished with 15 points and 18 rebounds (a double double). His performance allowed for a huge shift in the game’s focus as Ryan put in a whole bunch of second and third chance buckets, of course, using his size to his advantage. Should Ryan continue to play like this, we should be the favorites in every remaining game we play this postseason.

Wag of the Finger: OV 3rd Quarters

OV has let two games slip away from a double digit lead now, first against La Habra and then yesterday against Palm Springs. Is it something in the coaching? Is it poor attitude? Well if they don’t fix it, Foothill, for one, won’t just cut the lead, they’ll take the lead. Can Ocean View play for a full 4 quarters? If they can’t, forget about state championship, they won’t even win the CIF Championship.  That is how good Foothill is.

CIF Round 4 (Final Four): OV vs. Palm Springs

There are so many question marks in and around this game that it is hard to list them all on a page. To start things off, here are the “important” questions:

• Will Billy Keller return to the court?
• Are there going to be major concerns about Ocean View’s depth going forward?
• If Ocean View has a down night offensively, can the defense pick up the slack?

There are about 1,000 more concerns, but one thing is certain: Ocean View is in the Final Four- They are one of the best basketball teams in Southern California, and there isn’t any speculation behind that any more. Tomorrow, Ocean View will look to press on to the finals for the second consecutive year, but the Palm Springs Indians (21-6) stand in the middle of the Championship Road.

Here’s the rundown:

OV (26-3) vs. Palm Springs (21-6)

Scoring:

OV: 75.7 PPG, Palm Springs 65.3 PPG

Rebounding:

OV: 36.3 RPG, Palm Springs 35.4

Assists

OV: 19.0 APG, Palm Springs 16.3 APG

Steals

OV: 11.2 SPG, Palm Springs 11.7 SPG

Blocks

OV: 3.1, Palm Springs 5.5

Analysis:

Is everyone strapped in? This is going to be one heck of a matchup; Palm Springs was picked to be the spoiler team in the bracket and I can see why:  They are an incredibly physical team with some hard nosed defense. Don’t believe me? They haven’t lost since January (14 games)!

Guards:

OV looks to suit up their original starting lineup with Billy expected to play on Friday, and with Steven Yoon in the wings, OV looks to be pretty much set here. The only question mark is their offensive production, in other words, can the guards pitch in to the Johnson and Brown show? If not, can they tie down their man on defense? If the answers are no and no, OV will be in a load of trouble early. I’m not worried about Avery or Anthony, they should be all set for the game and Avery’s remarkable performance in Tuesday’s game tells me that everything is just about set.

On the other side, Palm Springs wields guards #15 Marcus Hall, #0 Thaddeus Gray, and #3 Quinten Taylor (Listed in order of importance). Marcus Hall is averaging 14.4 PPG, and is big enough to get a physical presence in the post. He also averages 3.9 steals per game, higher than any Ocean View player. Hall is a superb shooter, both from inside and outside, and is really just a great weapon on defense. Thaddeus Gray is the next guy down, he averages 9.6 PPG and is their “gunner”, if you want to call him that. He is shooting 28% from 3 Point range, and has taken more 3 point shots than 2 point shots. He reminds me of Nikola Dragovic, he can be deadly some nights (20 points vs. Coachella Valley) and pathetic on others (1 Point against Palm Desert), with bigger guards, he really isn’t important in my opinion, but then again, I could see him going off if our starters cramp up. Quinten Taylor is the next player down in the back court: Quinten averages 7.3 PPG and is one of those more physical guards. He is dead on inside of the three point line, making him tough to play against because he shoots 46% from inside and 33% from the outside. He also averages 1.5 SPG and 5 RPG.

Forwards:

This is where I am concerned, Ocean View will face 6’5”, 190 Elijah Betts in the paint tomorrow night. Betts averages just under a double-double at 12.8 PPG and 8.7 RPG, and is a dynamic shot blocker. Ever the casual shooter, Betts averages 60%, and has yet to attempt a 3 pointer. Seems to me like this guy has some sort of an arsenal in the post, which concerns me deeply. On the other hand, the last player to have stats like this in the paint played for LaVerne. Remember Jarrett? He was just shut down by our defense, so I’m not sure what to expect. Ryan will have his hands full, but Anthony, Avery, or Chris Martinez should get their fair share of time on him.

Predictions

Now it’s time for me to get level headed and stop predicted blowouts because this team is capable of actually beating Ocean View (Oh my, is that really possible). There are three things that Ocean View will have to do to prevent the upset:

1. Find open shots without being over-aggressive
2. Own the boards, which will be a huge task to perform
3. Contain Betts, then Hall, then Taylor, then Gray, in that order.

Not to hard, but I am really, really nervous about our chances about advancing past this tough opponent. Expect a physical game. OV will have to really dig deep to get past the Indians without a scratch, but are still the better team and I will stand buy it as OV will ice a close game in the final minutes

OV 76

Palm Springs 69

CIF Round 3 (Elite 8): OV vs. La Habra

After last week’s road trip, OV is carrying plenty of momentum into this elite 8 matchup, it will be tough to knock them off this week. However, La Habra is a worthy (finally) opponent of Ocean View. The Highlanders are 17-12, and the Seahawks are an outstanding 25-3.

Surprising for an Elite 8 team, La Habra averages 56.5 PPG, while Ocean View has the upper hand easily with 76 PPG. On the boards, Ocean View also has the advantage with 36.3 RPG to La Habra’s 28.7 RPG. As for spreading the ball around, Ocean View averages 19.3 assists per game, while La Habra has 13.7 per game. The closest categories are on defense; Ocean View averages 11.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game, while La Habra is in a close trail with 10.6 steals per game, and 3.0 blocks per game.

Just taking a look at the stat rundown, Ocean View has every advantage possible, but La Habra is above the national average  in every category as well. All that means is that we are finally into the “tough teams,” in other words, the competition will be through 4 quarters from here on out.

Let’s break it down position by position:

Guards:

Ocean View is lead by superstars Anthony Brown and Avery Johnson, Brown leading the team with 17.2 PPG, and Johnson is leading the team with 4.9 APG, and 2.5 SPG. Billy Keller is still an integral part of the starting unit; if he isn’t 100 percent, it will be hard for Ocean View to separate from the Highlanders early in the game. Aaron Delgado is one of the most underrated parts of the offense, especially because of his team-mates, something tells me he’ll have a good game and that will be an important part of Ocean View’s offensive, and defensive arsenal. First off the bench is Steven Yoon, a huge part of the depth for Ocean View, and I have a felling that he’ll have a good game as well.

La Habra has a trio of important guards on their team: #3 Trent McShane, #23 Burresch Joshua, and #25 Ben Hall. The most important is Burresch Joshua- he averages 13.2 PPG and 2.2 Steals per game. He’s 6’0″, and is the most dynamic scorer for La Habra. Next is Ben Hall, Hall averages 8.4 PPG, but has practically no range for a guard, but being 6’0″ gives him a small excuse. Trent McShane averages 6.4 PPG, and is a pretty good rebounder with good size at 6’2″.

Forwards:

Ocean View has quite a few different combinations at forwards- the starters have the most traditional lineup though. Anthony Brown might be 6’5″, but he is really a guard. The only true post player is Ryan Okwudibonye, who has really impressed me in the past two rounds. Expect a good competition in the paint between Ryan and La Habra’s big man.

La Habra’s big man Marcus Wimberly is listed as a forward, but is extremely physical at 6’6″. He averages 5.4 RPG, but is a legitimate post threat on defense only, with a relatively small low post offensive arsenal. Much like Keauyon Fields from Apple Valley, the athletic type player should be a real challenge for Ocean View.

Predictions

Quite honestly, if Ocean View isn’t in the game mentally, they can easily fall to the Highlanders, but if they buckle down and separate early, they should be able to outrun the Highlanders in the fourth quarter. Notice how I didn’t say the second half, but the fourth quarter- this will be a competitive game, but Ocean View is just the better team.

Ocean View 71

La Habra 54

The game is at 7:00 pm, and don’t forget to wear white! We are going for a packed house!

CIF Round 2 (Sweet 16): OV @ Apple Valley

Well the first round jitters were in full force yesterday, so the Seahawks will look to inch closer to their 9 game “crusade” through Division 3. I spoke with Coach Tim Walsh about the Coin Flip to decide where this game would be played:

I messed up, it wasn’t a coin either, it was a computer with a button

While I really like going on these far road trips, which Ocean View is 2-0 on long road trips in the past two years during the post season, what happened to top seed advantage? First, Ocean View topped Paso Robles in 2008, then San Louis Obispo in 2009. Now, traveling up to Apple Valley almost seems like a routine for fans like me. In 2010, their opponent will be considerably less threatening than their last two though.

Louis Lopez - Max Preps

The Apple Valley Sun Devils (15-13) also inched their way into the playoffs, but still posted a 9-4 record in league. They are ranked 521st in the State. Ocean View (24-3) has not lost a game for a month and a half, and has yet to lose a home or away game. The Seahawks are currently ranked 17th in state.

Apple Valley is led by star senior 6’3″ forward (I’ll call him a forward because that is how he is listed) Keauyon Fields who is averaging 17.6 PPG. Fields is backed up by Daryon Mosley, a 5’10” Senior guard who averages 16 PPG. After that, the next best player averages 7.6 PPG, then it goes down to 4 PPG.

The first thing that jumps out at you for Apple Valley is their free throw shooting. At 60%, this game can easily slip away from the Devils if they are given the opportunity in lazy play from Ocean View.

If that’s not enough, their tallest impact player is three inches shorter than Avery, who is a 3. Ryan Okwudibonye will be a towering menace over their guys, most likely being able to rack up some high rebounding numbers en-route to a potential double-double. The better he performs, the better the chance Ocean View will have at advancing.

Predictions:

Ocean View will have to fail miserably on the offensive end to make this game close. Apple Valley might just set out that 2-3 Zone that has been effective in the past against the Hawks, but ultimately, it will be a matter of Ocean View’s length and athleticism that will propel Ocean View into the Elite 8.

Ocean View: 79

Apple Valley: 42