Prep BB: Holiday Classic

Saints-Foothills game action before

a packed house at Torrey Pines.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

It was a slice of heaven: seated next to me, a dad and his son who played basketball at Bonita Vista last year and now attends UCLA. I found out later the dad coaches a girls basketball team, and had a game earlier in the day in the big girls holiday basketball tournament at Del Norte.

Behind me and to the side, a gentleman there to watch the Thomas Jefferson team from his native Brooklyn, where he played back in the day for Brooklyn Tech, a different high school. His significant other seated on the side opposite me.

On the dad's left side, a basketball teammate from childhood days, having flown down for the Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines High from Benicia in the Bay Area. Come to think of it, the Brooklyner lives in the Bay Area now, too. But this gentleman, closer to my age, hails from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Knows a ton of basketball.

For an added flavor, the guy directly behind me was a local and knew something about the St. Augustine team, calling out "Boy Wonder" when Saints guard Eric Monroe touched the ball.

We were among the humongous crowd that packed Torrey Pines' gym to see the two top teams in San Diego County face off--Foothills Christian and St. Augustine. Completely unexpectedly, the game resulted in a blowout, with the Knights sand-blasting the Saints by 22 points. But it was still an enjoyable night for basketball.

Sometimes you go solo to an event, whether an athletic contest or otherwise, and the evening ends up serving up interaction and uplift. Other times, you go home having not talked to anyone, and the evening was dull.

This one was the former, with three or four cultures represented, multiple generations, and an easy camaraderie that quickly developed. The "showcase" game prior to the Foothills-Saints contest, featuring prep school teams with older players far more athletic and skilled than the high-schoolers, helped create an ambience that encouraged everyone's admiration or criticism and exchange of basketball knowledge.

Oldsmar Christian from Florida outshined Balboa of San Diego, which included Jaylen Hands, a talented 6'1" junior guard who the former Bonita Vista player knows personally. Hands displayed quickness, moves, and ball-handling skills that came through even as his team was outplayed decisively by Oldsmar. The rout started out 14-1 and continued from there.

I didn't know previously that there were schools like these "prep schools": They don't play within a CIF-like high school sports structure, they populate their rosters with 19-, even 20-year-olds, and they give their athletes a chance to develop their skills. Under Armour, the sponsor of the Holiday Classic, flew in several of these teams. Under Armour gear was visible among several of the teams in the tournament, not just the prep school teams. A lot of money is flowing through amateur basketball.

You would question if some of these prep school teams aren't just basketball factories, positioning kids who for some reason aren't in regular academic institutions doing their studies. Do these schools have any academic requirements their team members have to meet to stay eligible?

In the independent studies program I ran in the Juvenile Court and Community Schools for four years, I had students who only attended a time or two per week and did much of their schoolwork at home. But I didn't have any athletes playing for school teams, and our school didn't have athletic teams they could have played for. Do the preppers even have to show up for class, or do they just ball all the time?

L.J. Figueroa was my favorite on Oldsmar, a 6'5" junior (I don't know if that means his age, his credits, or what), who played a strong game for the Eagles. I like his initials, too, since I cover LJHS sports.

Some of these guys could do things few regular high school players 18 or under could do. L.J.'s teammates, Troy Baxter, Dontay Bassett (I called him "Dante Bichette" after the former Angel/Rockie power hitter), and Eric Hester are headed on basketball scholarships to the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, and the University of Florida, respectively.

The premium in the prep school "showcase" games (the one after the Foothills-Saints game was between Jefferson and St. Frances of Baltimore) was on individual prowess, since the purpose of Under Armour's flying the teams out here is to give the players exposure to college scouts. The Canadian gentleman and I agreed there was little team cohesion in the prep school games other than on Oldsmar's side.

When one player threw up a wild layup attempt that bounced off the backboard, our Brooklyn neighbor called out "window washing". I had never heard that term before. It seemed apropos.

In my five-hour outing, including driving through pounding rain up the I-5 at 4:15 in the afternoon to get to hoop heaven, I don't think I've ever learned more basketball in one sitting than I did next to my Ottawan tutor, who stayed for the later prep game after Saints-Foothills, after others cleared out. A night of x's-and-o's any coach would have been proud of.