2009 Nike Tournament of Champions Kicks Off Friday—No “Gimme” Games Here
Photo Credit: Original Artwork Courtesy istockphoto.com©
By Clay Kallam
Correspondent
Every year, it’s the same. Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix is full of tall girls stepping into vans, and athletic-looking types wearing polo shirts with college logos picking up rental cars.
It’s the Nike Tournament of Champions, and as sure as Christmas carols get overplayed, the best high school teams in the country come to Chandler, Arizona, to decide things on the court.
This year, there are the usual highly ranked suspects scheduled to play in the Joe Smith Division, plus a few newcomers who are out to establish a reputation. The rookies, though, usually find it much harder than they expect to rack up wins – they’re used to the usual high school or summer tournaments where the first game is almost always a gimme, and if things do go wrong, and the loser’s bracket beckons, it will be smooth sailing to a few more wins.
But not in this tournament. There are four games in five days (starting Friday, ending Tuesday, with Sunday off), and all four in the Joe Smith Division will be flat-out wars. There are no easy games, no breathers, no blowouts that are guaranteed to get even the last player in the rotation on the floor for eight minutes. There are college-level players everywhere, and college coaches (the ones with the polos and rental cars) everywhere as well.
Most of those coaches will gather at Hamilton High School, where 16 of the nation’s top girls’ teams are scheduled to face off in the Joe Smith Division. Among the teams currently ranked in the nation’s Top 25 who will be playing there: St. Mary’s of Stockton, California; Mater Dei; Bolingbrook, Illinois; Long Beach Poly; Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh; St. Michael Academy, New York; Memphis (Tennessee) Central; and ThunderRidge of Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
But some of the coaches will always be found at the other five sites (and those who have never seen Arizona’s school facilities will be seriously impressed with the quality of the gymnasiums). Why? Because every one of the six brackets has top talent.
For example, 13 of the 16 teams in the Gray Division won 20 or more games last year, and eight of those 13 return four or five starters. (In the Gray Division, college coaches will be eyeing Bonnie Samuelson, a 6-3 junior from Edison High School in California, among others.) In the Blue Division, tournament director Steve Kozaki was only able to scrape together nine 20-win teams, while the James Anderson Division highlights Pinewood of California, which won 31 games in 2008-09.
Oh, and the eight-team Mike Desper Division has two defending state champions, plus the Nevada runner-up, Bishop Gorman, which features the electric Aaryn Ellenberg, who will attend Oklahoma.
On Tuesday, the final day, all the championship games from each bracket are played, one after the other, and the parade of talent is simply dazzling. Equally dazzling, though, is the level of sophistication at which most of these teams play. At the Nike TOC, as in each state’s postseason, it’s not enough to just have talent – there has to be team basketball as well, something that’s often lacking in the summer showcases, where it’s more about individual ability than it is about an all-for-one-and-one-for-all philosophy.
And speaking of state postseasons, that’s why most of these teams are in Arizona. Only one school will walk away from the Joe Smith Division unbeaten, and with a serious shot at a national title – but the rest, even the team that went 0-4, will go back home with four gut-check games to learn from, ready to take on whatever challenges the rest of the season has to offer. Each team, and each player, will be better for the experience, and the plan is to use that improvement as a springboard for the games that really matter, in league and in postseason.
Of course, there’s one other aspect to the Nike TOC: The fun. The players all stay in the same hotel, and many of them gather for the Joe Smith winner’s bracket semifinals on Monday at Hamilton (at 3:30 and 6:30 if you’re wondering). They’ll ooh and aah along with the rest of the fans at the high caliber of basketball on display, but they’ll also have time to get in their Christmas shopping at the many malls, and enjoy the Arizona weather (generally in the 70s with clear skies). The college coaches will chatter and text, as they always do, in a kind of mini-convention, and the high school coaches will shepherd their kids around the area, scout for upcoming games and psyche themselves up for four days of tough competition.
And, of course, the games themselves are fun to watch, fun to play, and sometimes just plain exhilarating. Especially with the national title at stake, there’s no reason for the players to hold anything back – and they don’t. They may limp a little when they get back to the airport on Wednesday, but, hey, they’re young. And most will never play in a tournament like this ever again.
Originally published Thu, December 17, 2009
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Up and Down the ACC: Duke v. Maryland the Best-Played Game of the ACC Season
By Rob Clough
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In what was the best-played game of the ACC season, No. 5 Duke defeated Maryland, then ranked No. 8/7, 80-72, in Durham on Sunday to go to 7-0 in league play.
These two Top Ten teams were evenly matched in nearly every department. Duke shot 50 percent from the field and boasted five players in double figures, led by Haley Peters who put up 21 points on a dead-eyed 10-of-12 from the field. Maryland connected on 45.5 percent of its field-goal attempts and three Terps notched double-digits, led by Alyssa Thomas with a game-high 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting that included two (of three) three-pointers.
Speaking of three-pointers, neither team relied on them too heavily. Duke netted three treys on nine attempts (33.3 percent). Maryland knocked down four from beyond the arc, out of 15 attempts (26.7 percent.)
Neither team missed a single free-throw, but then again, since both squads managed to play defense without fouling, not much of the game was played at the foul line, where the two teams went a combined 15-of-15. Both teams also did a good job of handling the rock, combining for just 19 turnovers.
Both squads also relied heavily on their starters, with each garnering 12 points from its bench.
The decisive difference? Rebounding. The Blue Devils dominated the boards to the tune of 41-30. That included a five-rebound advantage (16-11) on the offensive glass, which Duke translated into 16 second-chance points, to Maryland’s 11.
If this game was a referendum for ACC Player of the Year, the results were inconclusive. Maryland’s Alyssa Thomas posted 26 points and 10 rebounds for the losing side; both were career high and game highs. But Duke’s Chelsea Gray registered an equally impressive stat line of 17 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. Gray also deserves a great deal of the credit for Duke’s ultimate victory, having scored seven of the Blue Devils’ last nine points, including a big three and a post-up that caught Maryland off-guard.
There’s little question that Elizabeth Williams has already sewn up the ACC’s Rookie of the Year award, given that she just won the league’s Rookie of the Week honors for the sixth time this season. Indeed, though just a freshman, Williams has got to be part of the conversation for first-team All-ACC and may well win the hardware as national Rookie of the Year.
Though Duke, with the win, holds sole possession of first place in the conference standings, the Terps, who otherwise took care of business last week by bullying Wake Forest, 86-58, are certainly still in a position to win the regular-season ACC race—especially since they’ll get another crack at the Devils in College Park on February 19.
Let’s take a look at last week’s action elsewhere in the ACC, the current standings, our Full Court Surprise Player of the Week, and the best of the games to watch in the coming week.
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By Rob Clough
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Two big stories headlined the Atlantic Coast Conference news last week. The first was No. 13/16 Miami’s bounce back from a shaky start to hand No. 5 Maryland its first loss of the 2011-12 season, 75-63.
It sure didn’t look like an upset in the making during one of the worst first-half performances of the Hurricanes’ season, however. The ‘Canes fared well enough for the first eight minutes, quickly running up a 12-point (22-10) lead, but then proceeded to squander it, missing an unprecedented 21 straight shots as the Terps held them scoreless from the field for the next 10 minutes, while Maryland ran off on a 15-1 run.
By the time Sylvia Bullock finally netted Miami’s next bucket, the score stood tied at 25 and only a minute and change remained in the first half.
Fortunately for the 1,500 home fans in attendance, it was also the lowest scoring opening half of the season for the Terps, and Miami headed into the break trailing by just two points, 25-27, having shot a miserable 26.3 percent (10-38) from the field for the period.
Maryland wasted no timing in stretching its lead to seven when the second half got underway. But that’s when Miami guard Riquna Williams went berserk, uncorking a fusillade of three-point bombs for which Maryland had no defense. By game’s end, Williams had scored 34 points, including a career-high-tying eight three-pointers.
Meanwhile, the Hurricane defense held the Terps to 21 points beneath its nation’s-best scoring average of 84.4 points per game.
Miami star Shenisee Johnson did see her 87-game streak of double-figure scoring come to an end, finishing with just six points on an icy two-for-15 from the field (13.3 percent). But Johnson didn’t seem to mind, as she watched her team extend its home-floor win streak to 34 straight games, while knocking off its first Top-Five opponent ever.
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Up and Down the ACC: Home Courts Prove Inhospitable for Many as Conference Play Gets Under Way
By Rob Clough
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As conference play got underway last week for the most of the ACC last week, home proved not not to be an especially welcoming place for league teams playing their home openers: Clemson, North Carolina State and Florida State all lost at home, and North Carolina barely pulled out a win. Even Duke struggled to put away Virginia in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The biggest news from opening night was the Tar Heels’ stunning, 65063, comeback victory over Miami. Despite 31 turnovers and the loss of starting guard She’la White to an ankle injury, the Heels rallied in the final minute to pull ahead of a Miami team that had gone ice cold. Hurricane stars Riquna Williams and Shenise Johnson combined to shoot 10-32 from the floor, but the ‘Canes got nothing from their bench. Conversely, UNC got significant contributions from the likes of Shannon Smith, Candice Wood and Danielle Butts, who combined for 17 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Combined with the welcome news of the return of Laura Broomfield, who missed the last five games with a foot injury, and 6-6 center Waltiea Rolle, suiting up for the first time since the birth of her daughter in early November, this win was a major confidence-booster for North Carolina, which demolished cupcakes Savannah State and North Carolina Central earlier in the week, but until the Miami victory, had no real quality wins under its belt.
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