Swami picks week 10

[play247]

Redmond +1 over Skyline
Inglemoor +1 over Woodinville
Holy Names +2 over Lakeside
Oak Harbor +2 over Monroe
Issaquah +2 over Newport
Lakeside +3 over Seattle Prep
Newport +3 over Garfield
Eastlake +3 over Redmond
Jackson +3 over Kamiak
Marysville +3 over Oak Harbor
Issaquah +3 over Skyline
Edmonds Woodway +4 over Lynnwood
Mercer Is +4 over Liberty

[sjducky]

AR +4 over Federal Way (Tues. playoff)
Bellarmine +18 over Gig Harbor
KW +30 over Graham-Kapowsin

Gotta rep the South Sounders. :) Time for playoffs; hope to see many of you over the next few weeks!

[sjducky]

News flash: I was wrong.

(Ha, just kidding. It happens.)

Federal Way by 3 over Auburn Riverside, 66-63, tonight.

39-24 AR at half, but FW came out firing and AR a bit lackluster in the second half, with FW running a 19-4 third quarter, taking the lead with less than two minutes to go in the third. After a 48-45 FW lead, AR never tied it back up.

Wetmore had 15 to lead AR; Barrington scored 20 for FW.

Interesting developments in the South Sound early this week, with many more to come by the time Sunday rolls around.

[atthebuzzer]

I've been running around the North and South region over the last couple weeks catching games now that we are getting close to state and one game has left such a distaste in my mouth I am still taking alka seltzer at night to get to sleep. The Fed Way/Riverside game was unbelievable. I am still trying to find the words to describe such a disaster the Riverside Athletic Director has done to that program. How in the world could you possibly think an unskilled coach could jump into that program and do justice to those players. I don't know about you all but I have been around alot of middle school ball and you can't even compare the coach skills required to high school ball. Many middle schools don't even have cuts to their teams and you are managing 20 to 30 kids rotating into a game. Watching the AR/FW game was so painful. Even though AR had a 16 point lead at half time the first quarter was so slow with no direction from the coach. When was the last time you heard of AR scoring less than 4 points in a quarter (in this case the third which is usually where they torture teams. And then at the beginning of the 4th trying to catch up, the coach has two starters on the bench. Then Wetmore is taken off the floor at two miutes left while they were making their run and put back in with 1 minute left. Fed Way ladies played with passion and realized their blessing when Jenkins, Cooper and Wetmore were out of the game. Congratulations to some very skilled ladies who know how to jump on an opportunity. What has happened to the AR program is a travesty to some of the states most outstanding players. I still can't find the words....my head still hurts!

[Narrowsminded]

maybe if the previous coach had not been such a "piece of work" Riverside would not have had to hire a character guy to replace him.

As for the subs, Cooper should have been thrown out in the third for yanking Burgess to the floor, so any coach with half a brain would have sat her. I agree the Wetmore sub makes no sense, but to pile it on the coach (who does very little compared to Frank) also makes no sense. I get that some people have a vested interest in comparing the coaching staffs, but bottom line had the previous coach had any respect for the rules he wouldn't have half of those players.

[InStyle]

Well the old coach at least knew a little bit about coaching. I don't think you can blame the previous coach that girls moved into the area. That was a choice of their parents. They could have stayed with their mediocre teams and probably would have been just fine. As for cooper pulling down Burgess that should have been ejection time. She meant to hurt somebody.

I just have to say that state will be very exciting with these match ups.

go Kentwood

[whoopstud]

I predict that Riverside will bounce back from some of the losses this year. They will be hungry come playoffs. Should be fun.

[sjducky]

Wrong again!

Bellarmine by 39 over Gig Harbor. No, I didn't write down the final score. It was 40-10 at halftime and I'm too lazy to go to the TNT site and look it up right now. (edit: 66-27, final. I felt guilty; I looked it up.)

I saw BP twice earlier this season ... in a wasn't-going-to-be-close league game and vs. Kentwood. I knew they had the talent but, at the time, folks were at different stages of coming back from injuries. Now? BP is good. They seem to all be on the same page and working toward the same goal very efficiently and running on almost all cylinders (can I describe a team like a car? In honor of Sunday's Daytona 500 (don't call me that day -- I'm cheering for my fav. drivers) I'll try...). I don't think BP is completely perfect yet, but they're getting there ... Friday's likely showdown with Federal Way'll be good (since FW is playing well, too), and a BP-KW district title game will, I think, be a good bit closer than the MLK day matchup was.

And BP's young, so everything it learns this year? Coming back in full force next year (but this one isn't over, so I'll stop there).

One note on the 4A WCD bracket: It stinks for this year's good teams, sans Kentwood. One team that would/should be fighting to save its life in loser-out games will pick up a state berth Friday (my money is on the winner of tomorrow's Gig-Mt.T game); while Bellarmine or Federal Way will be left to survive two loser-out games for a state berth and, quite possibly, get an LC draw for the first round of state (just ask Puyallup). However, Friday the 20th's best bet for games: Mount Tahoma. Two WCD quarterfinals: prob. AR vs. GK at 6 and FW vs. BP at 8.

[sjducky]

Also, congrats to Kennedy (Seamount Lg.) and White River (SPSL 3A) for both wrapping up perfect 16-0 league records with wins Thursday (Ken) and Friday (WR).

That sets up next Saturday's best game: Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. at Auburn Mountainview ... 20-0 Kennedy vs. 19-1 White River.

[statewide]

Also, congrats to Kennedy (Seamount Lg.) and White River (SPSL 3A) for both wrapping up perfect 16-0 league records with wins Thursday (Ken) and Friday (WR).

That sets up next Saturday's best game: Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. at Auburn Mountainview ... 20-0 Kennedy vs. 19-1 White River.



Have you seen Kennedy play this year?

[atthebuzzer]

Your kidding right? Cooper threw Burgess down? Obviously you have never stood next to Burgess. I can't think of anybody in their league that could throw her down. Especially a player that is still trying to recover their strength from mono. Any player can fall if they don't have their feet under them, but lets not make up something that isn't there. Players fall all the time during jump ball tie ups. I guess you would consider Jackson and Goings in the state tournament the same situation...or Goings and Igwatu also. Cooper has always played with great character even when she played on YEA and was blowing out teams.

[RCougs]

Also, congrats to Kennedy (Seamount Lg.) and White River (SPSL 3A) for both wrapping up perfect 16-0 league records with wins Thursday (Ken) and Friday (WR).

That sets up next Saturday's best game: Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. at Auburn Mountainview ... 20-0 Kennedy vs. 19-1 White River.

Do you have the SPSP/Seamount Tourney times and matchups? Haven't seen ANYTHING yet anywhere on that sub-regional; dates, times, place or teams - You mention A-MTV - are they there for both days?

[sjducky]

Statewide: I've seen Kennedy once. Why do you ask?

RCougs: Chris Carr at AMV kindly sent me a schedule (after I kindly begged him for one, since I, too, couldn't find one anywhere) ... I filled in the teams, but Renton/Foster have a tiebreaker Tuesday for the Seamount No. 5. All girls games are at Auburn Mountainview. All the boys games are at one of the Seamount schools.

Friday, February 20th
Game #1 Lindbergh vs Auburn Mountainview NOW 7:30pm (For seeds 7/8 to WCD)
Game #2 Hazen vs Enumclaw NOW 5:30pm (No. 5/6)

Saturday, February 21st
Game #3 Foster/Renton winner vs Peninsula 3:30pm (No. 9/loser out)
Game #4 Mount Rainier vs Bonney Lake 5:30pm (No. 3/4)
Game #5 Kennedy vs White River 7:30pm (No. 1/2)

[sjducky]

Your kidding right? Cooper threw Burgess down? Obviously you have never stood next to Burgess. I can't think of anybody in their league that could throw her down. Especially a player that is still trying to recover their strength from mono. Any player can fall if they don't have their feet under them, but lets not make up something that isn't there. Players fall all the time during jump ball tie ups. I guess you would consider Jackson and Goings in the state tournament the same situation...or Goings and Igwatu also. Cooper has always played with great character even when she played on YEA and was blowing out teams.

ATB -- I don't want to start fights, especially about something critical of a kid's play, but those at the game saw Burgess go down after Cooper grabbed her arm (*not* the ball) on a rebound. Cooper seemingly threw/swung Burgess to the ground. The folks near me and I were not the only people who were surprised there was no call; talking to people from both sides (AR and FW) after the game, that came up. The no-call by the refs may very well have been the correct call, but from a grandstand perspective, it didn't look pretty.

Sounds like the AR girls rebounded from Tuesday's loss with a 72-29 win today, so good for them to move on and refocus, as we all should.

[sjducky]

I concede for this week. I should have swapped the Bellarmine and Kentwood spreads ... :D

Kentwood by 18 over Graham-Kapowsin, 68-50.

GK is much better than I expected (no offense to the SPSL South, but there typically isn't much there). The Eagles' zone got to KW, which hasn't played against a strong zone-focused team this season, in the first half and it was just a three-point Kentwood lead at halftime. (GK led three or four times in the first two quarters, even.) But the second half woke the sleeping giant and KW ran off a 22-12 third quarter, keyed by some big plays by one Kylie Huerta.

Kylee Parker had 16 and Ali Campbell 14 for GK. For KW, Lindsey Moore (injured eye and all) had 15, Jessie Genger and Liz Mills each scored 14 and Huerta added 13. See this week's Fab 50 story for a larger note on Moore's eye ... or ask her for a look at it. I think she's a bit proud of her battle wound. :) She said her sight is back to normal, it just looks pretty bad.

[sjducky]

And a little help...

4A West Central District brackets.

First round (all games Wednesday night, prob. 7 or 730 games)
Games listed from top to bottom of bracket (so winners of first two play in a quarterfinal, etc.)

Shelton at Graham-Kapowsin
South Kitsap at Auburn Riverside

Jefferson at Federal Way
Kentlake at Bellarmine

Emerald Ridge at Mount Tahoma
Olympia at Rogers

Puyallup at Gig Harbor
Bethel at Kentwood

[Narrowsminded]

No one questioned her character, just her judgment in the heat of battle. You must have been out of town for the game because she did grab her arm and throw her down. Frustration can happen to 16 year olds and the coach did the right thing by sitting her down to regain her composure. That was all I was saying.

[dtrain34]

Here's the subdistrict for the Olympic League/Western Cascade Conference portion of the WCD 3A:

Monday, February 23:
Yelm at Port Angeles (for OWL seeds 1 or 2 to district, both advance)
Timberline at North Kitsap (for 3 or 4, loser out)
Olympic at Capital (for 3 or 4, loser out)

[sjducky]

Good, I finally know what the OWL abbreviation on the bracket means. :D Thanks, dtrain.