Prep BB: Holiday Classic revisited

Jaylen Wiltz of Centennial

puts up a shot against

Fairfax's Ethan Anderson

in National Division

title game.

(Photo Ed Piper)

 
By Ed Piper

I caught up with my Canadian "neighbor" (see previous post) at the Under Armour Holiday Classic--I debate whether to include the name of the sponsor--on its fourth and final day, Wed., Dec. 30.

His name is Terry, and his friend is coach of the Olympian High girls basketball team, which won its division in the girls tournament at Del Norte this week.

Watching another several hours of basketball, including two full games and the tail end of another, I have a more positive view of the purpose and potential of prep schools that field basketball teams of elite athletes.

I left pretty negative about the whole "showcase" element of the Holiday Classic two days prior, when private schools sported teams full of fantastic athletes but who played like individuals--so as to impress scouts and coaches at the tournament, held at Torrey Pines High from last Saturday through yesterday.

As a public school teacher who just retired, I really hold fast to the idea that schools are educational institutions first, who theoretically should be sporting athletic teams to broaden their young students' high school experience.

But people are going to do what they do, which is basketball people taking the idea to the nth power, with expert coaches combining with star athletes culled from the nation's--and world's--crop of young people who want to see how well they can do in their chosen sport.

In the high school bracketed tournament at Torrey Pines, Fairfax broke out to an enormous lead against Corona Centennial and held on to win the National Division title. These are outstanding athletes. At least they're attending high schools of a structure we could recognize.

The games sandwiched around the Fairfax-Centennial contest--we locals had hoped Foothills Christian or St. Augustine could have reached the final, but Foothills, after defeating the Saints Tuesday, fell in the semifinals--were so-called "showcase" matchups between teams that don't play in a traditional CIF-type interscholastic structure.

These are incredible athletes, and obviously seasoned beyond the "high school" players in the bracketed divisions, once you watch their savvy in passing, shooting, even leaping ability. The rosters of the Jefferson, Oldsmar, and other squads are stacked from top to bottom with talent. Your standard excellent high school team doesn't list this many top athletes on its roster.

My ambivalence at the tournament was the fact I can enjoy stellar amateur and pre-college basketball right here in San Diego, a short drive from my home. But the money in the game means sponsorships, equipment supplied to teams, these squads from prep schools being flown out here just to be exposed to scouts and coaches in a competitive atmosphere. Where do the interests of the kids playing the game end and the desires of the corporate interests begin? There is potential for abuse.

Back to my Canadian colleague, who I chatted basketball with both Monday and Wednesday during games, he said as people filed out after the Fairfax-Centennial game with the Oldsmar-Northfield Mount Hermon game about to start, "Fair weather. That's what the weather is in San Diego. And the way the fans are. That's why they can't keep a pro basketball team." He was referring to the fact That years ago, the San Diego Rockets and the Clippers both left town for greener NBA pastures.

I disagree with him. I told him. I think a large majority of the fans came to the Holiday Classic to watch the National Division teams, because the interest is in high school teams that represent a school and play in a league. You can rate them. You can locate them on a map.

The prep school teams seem so unrooted. These schools can offer prospective players free tuition, and in the case of Northfield Mount Hermon, a boarding school in New Hampshire, free room and board. The kids there live on campus. Who wouldn't want to play there, coached by a highly-qualified coach (coaches, actually), flying to far-away tournaments? Boy, if I had had the talent back in the day, I would have been interested.

With the predominance of the "showcase" games between prep school teams in the evening program, the high school tournament games get pushed to the side rail. Torrey Pines, the host school whose coach, John Olive, runs the tournament, played at 9 a.m. in the morning. St. Augustine, after losing in the second round to Foothills Christian, was relegated to an early game, too. That's too bad.