LJ b BB: A look ahead

By Ed Piper

Along with La Jolla's first-round game in the CIF Division 2 playoffs at home Wed., Feb. 24, there is lots of excitement about what lies ahead in the boys basketball program.

Next year the Vikings return point guard Reed Farley, and fellow guards Nick Hammel and Quinn Rawdin, as well as forwards Daniel McColl and Charlie Gal. Farley, Hammel, and McColl will be seniors next year. Rawdin and Gal will be juniors.

All things being equal, without someone transferring in from out of the area unexpectedly, you would think these would be your five starters for December 2016.

An intriguing possibility--the way Farley started as a freshman, and Gal and Rawdin ascended to the varsity as sophomores--is that 6'5" (or taller) Nathaniel Gates from the stellar freshman team would make varsity and play significant minutes.

He is certainly tall enough, probably taking the place as the tallest Viking. He showed in the freshman championship game against St. Augustine last week that he is aggressive, unafraid to mix it up, and he has the athleticism, jumping ability, and ability to run the floor that can equip him to be an immediate success.

In his favor is the fact McColl and Gal, in their own right, reintroduced a physicality in the front court that has not been seen since the days of Peter Sefton back in 2006-08, when at 6'5" Sefton wasn't extremely tall but took up a lot of room and used his body inside to gain position and defend.

Sefton ended up being named the Western League Player of the Year as La Jolla won the CIF Divison III title, the first of two in a row and three years in a row playing in the championship game.

Gates would ride in McColl and Gal's "draft", so to speak, if Coach Paul Baranowski were to include him on the varsity roster next year. I'm not privy to any inside details. I am just one voice, but a person who follows the basketball program regularly. There is a lot of time between the end of this season, whenever it comes with the playoffs, and next season--with spring, summer, and fall leagues providing a lot of minutes on the court for eager beavers.

Gal, especially, took advantage of that period last year to develop into what he has become later in the Vikings' 2015-16 season, a regular contributor. He was an unknown to people outside the program when the summer league at Montgomery High started. He looked like he was headed for the junior varsity, the logical landing place for a sophomore like him.

Instead, off the way he played with confidence and mixed it up inside--as McColl was doing-- Baranowski elevated him to his select 10-man squad, along with Rawdin, who has provided some outside shooting.

You would think Gabe Solis, the playmaker for the freshman team, would be in charge of the offense on the junior varsity next season. It would seem pointless to sit him behind Farley when he could be playing full-time on the JV's.

There are, obviously, key people on the junior varsity who will fill out the varsity roster next year. But I have not watched them play, and I wouldn't be able to comment on them.