CIF-SS Large Enrollment Division
Preview:
Desert Valley League 2001-02--(Nov. 23, 2001)
| DESERT VALLEY LEAGUE Cathedral City Coachella Valley Desert Hot Springs Indio La Quinta/La Quinta Palm Desert Palm Springs |
The Desert Valley League has been dominated for the past 5 seasons by Cathedral City, and the big question is whether anyone else has enough talent to take the Lions on this season. Thomas Shewmake, a 6'-10" senior from Cathedral City who will play Division I basketball in college at CSUN is their big man, and the question is whether anyone else will be able to stop him down low. Other teams in the league, notably La Quinta and Palm Desert have excellent guard play (e.g., Josh Zazulia), and all of them are gunning for Cathedral City this year. We don't have a lot of complete roster information for teams that didn't do well last year (e.g., Coachella Valley, Desert Springs or Indio), but what we do have is pretty reliable. What follows is what we know about the teams thus far this season, which in the case of La Quinta, Palm Desert and Cat City is pretty good info, and in the case of Palm Springs is just so-so. As for the rest, we're looking at old rosters and predicting who will be returning and which younger players will be stepping up. The schedules are accurate as far as we know, We encourage coaches to send us their official rosters (via e-mail) and any other information about their teams so we can update these previews.
| Desert Valley League Rosters | Desert Valley League Schedules | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cathedral City--12-0, 22-5 (1st) "Lions" Last season, Cathedral City made it to the II-AA playoffs, with a very good first round win against Victor Valley (Desert Sky at large) and then the Lions had to travel all the way to Santa Barbara for their second round game, a very long way to go to lose, and it was a very tough loss for the seniors on that team, who had hopes of a Section title. Maybe this year....you never know. As for this season, our friend Rob Hanmer, the head coach at Cathedral City, sent us a current roster:
That's a pretty good core of returning players, one which will shoot for a sixth straight DVL championship and which will look to replace the scoring from the guys who left (e.g., Paul Heredia, Gerald DeVance). Thomas Shewmake just signed a letter of intent to play at CSUN next year and he's definitely the biggest "big" man in the desert region. We've also been hearing very good things about Everett "Bear" Simerson, who is supposed to be really good. Along with the roster (above) Coach Hanmer also gave us his assessment of the team for 01-02, and the league race, as well as some insight into the players on this year's team: "The 2001-2002 Cathedral City High School Boysı Basketball Team will be the tallest and hopefully most successful in school history. Senior co-captains, Thomas Shewmake (6'-10" Sr. F) and Brandon Gray (6'-5" Sr. G) lead the way. Both young men are four year varsity players and have been All Desert Valley League selections the past two years. Thomas was spectacular last season averaging 16 points and 12 rebounds earning all county recognition and is the most recruited athlete in C.C.H.S. basketball program history. Thomas will set school records in wins, league wins, rebounds, blocked shots, and could reach 1000 points and 1000 rebounds for his career. Brandon was a big time player at the end of last season scoring 20 points in a first round C.I.F. win last season, and the team is looking forward to solid performances from "Big Daddy" once football is over. Other returning letter winners from last seasonıs fifth consecutive 20 win season include grid-hoop senior stars Nathan Lewis and junior Jared Otteson. Also returning to the varsity team is junior sharp shooter Brandon Brown. All five returning D.V.L. champions are expected to have a major impact on the success of our team. This group of players has had an incredible amount of success including last yearıs undefeated run through the D.V.L. and looks forward to adding to their legacy. "Seniors new to the team include Matt Buchheit and Isreal Wilder. These seniors are expected to provide leadership, enthusiasm, and give the Lions spark plugs off an incredibly deep bench. Under classmen new to the team include juniors Daryll Aguinaldo, Jason Bluedorn, P.J. Bradley, Chris Green, and Baron Holmes. In addition, our team includes one of the best sophomore classes in school history with Nick Lee, Austin Oglesby, Steven Shewmake and Bear Simerson. Each youngster will compete for serious playing time and should continue the tradition of success. "The summer of 2001 saw this year's winter Varsity team work extremely hard playing 45 games and competing very well on several occasions. The keys for success this winter for our team will be to listen, learn, improve, and play hard together as a team for all 32 minutes of each and every game. Scoring points has been our programs strongest attribute the past five years, but this team must play tough defense, and if they do, success will be the result. We look forward to another exciting season, and hope to hang our sixth straight league championship banner in the Lions' Den!"
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Cathedral City Coach: Rob Hanmer N-29/D-1 @ JW North TournD 3-8 Cathedral City Tourn 14 *La QUinta/LQ 19-29 @ West Valley Tourn 21 *Coachella Valley J 08 @ *Desert Hot Springs 11 @ *Indio 14 @ *Palm Desert 16 *Palm Springs 18 @ *La Quinta/LQ 25 @ *Coachella Valley 29 *Desert Hot Springs F 01 *Indio 05 *Palm Desert 07 @ *Palm Springs |
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| La
Qunita/ La Quinta--10-2, 21-5 (2nd) "Blackhawks" La Quinta made it to the II-AA playoffs last year The Blackhawks have their own very complete basketball website, with schedules, player profiles and complete information about the La Quinta "Gamer" Tournament. Based on the information posted by the school, here's the roster for 2001-02: Mohammad Ahmad 5'11" Sr. G The Blackhawks don't appear to have anyone on the roster with the size and bulk who can stop Shewmake, but they will have some good guard play and perimeter shooting. The Blackhawk website also has a short season preview of the team and some predictions for the season, so if you want to know the coaches' view, check it out.
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La Quinta/La Quinta Coach: Bill Ciancio N 27-30 @ San
Gorgonio Tourn |
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| Palm
Springs--7-5, 13-12 (3rd) "Indians" Palm Springs graduated 7 seniors from a team that made it to the I-A playoffs, but lost to No. 3 seed Villa Park in the first round. We don't have a current roster, but here's who we expect to be returning based on last year's playoff roster: Lucas Berry 5'-6" Sr. G Randy Small's teams haven't yet won a league title, and we don't think that's likely to happen this year either, but they will compete and build toward next year, looking to knock off Cathedral City and La Quinta, and hoping to come out on top of Palm Desert, which is on the rist this year.
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Palm Springs Coach: Randy Small N-26/D-1 @ Beaumont TournD 04 @ Chaparral 07 @ San Gorgonio 11 @ Yucaipa 14 West Valley 18 @ Palm Desert 19-29 @ West Valley Tourn 21 *La Quinta/LQ J 08 *Coachella Valley 11 *Desert Hot Springs 14 @ *Indio 16 @ *Cathedral City 22 *Palm Desert 25 @ *La Quinta/LQ 29 @ *Coachella Valley F 01 @ *Desert Hot Springs 05 *Indio 07 *Cathedral City |
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| Palm Desert-- 6-6, 16-9 (4th)
"Aztecs" Palm Desert made it to the II-A playoffs as the No. 4 team out of the DVL, and were unlucky enough to lose to Bishop Amat in the first round. This year, the Aztecs are looking to make a run at a league title, and a deeper run in the playoffs. The school has it's own basketball website, with complete rosters, scores, photos, notes and schedules, and based on what's there, this is the roster for 2001-02: Blake Ryan 5'-10" Sr. G We had expected to see Dionte Harris 6'-2" Jr. G and Myles Nielson 6'-1" Sr. F returning, but evidently they are not on the team, at least according to the team's website. The Aztecs have a solid front line and good guard play, and whether they can challenge Cathedral City this year will be the big question, which won't really be answered until February.
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Palm Desert Coach: Don Brady N 26 @ *Desert Hot Springs |
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| Coachella Valley--5-7, 9-14 (5th) We've looked and looked for roster information but can't find anything. The school was in Division I-AA last year, but without 11 wins, failed to qualify for the playoffs. |
Coachella Valley Coach: Rob Diaz N 26-29 @ Beaumont
Tourn |
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| Desert Hot
Springs--1-11, 5-13 (6th) Desert Hot springs last season only had sophs and juniors, and competed in IV-AA (they did not make the playoffs though). We do not have current roster information but the schedule is complete: |
Desert Hot Springs Coach: Steve Lake N 20 Desert Christian |
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| Indio--1-11,
4-20 (6th tie) With only 4 overall wins, Indio didn't make the I-AA playoffs, and as a result, we have no roster information. We don't expect them to make a serious run at the league title; post-season competion may or may not be a realistic goal depending on who returns. |
Indio Coach: Henry Viveros N 20 Yucca Valley |
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