nike extravaganza 2000

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Nike
Extravaganza
V
Feb. 5, 2000
The Pyramid

What: Nike Extravaganza V
When: Saturday, February 5, 2000
Where: Long Beach State--The Pyramid
Time: Two Sessions
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. --Morning/Afternoon Session
4:30 p.m. -- 10:30 p.m. (approx end time)--Evening Session
Who: 16 of the top teams in the country including: No. 1 Oak Hill v. No. 2 Dominguez
No. 8 Mater Dei v. Concord De La Salle
and 6 other top matchups throughout the day

Forget the UCLA v. Cal game. Forget USC v. Stanford. Long Beach State v. Fullerton? No way, even if the Beach is on a potential 15-game winning streak if they beat the hapless Titans. CSUN? Fuggedaboutit. Pepperdine? Nice try. LMU? Are you kidding?

Whatever you're doing, or even thinking about doing, drop it, and head over to the Pyramid at Long Beach State. Today is the Nike Extravaganza V (as in the 5th annual such event). We won't go into great detail about the matchups, but this will be the last of the season "showcase" events for the boys before the start of CIF playoffs. The headliner event, which starts at 9:00 p.m. features the No. 1 team in the USA, Oak Hill Academy, versus Compton Dominguez, the No. 2 team in the country (according to the USA Today rankings of Dave Krieder & Co.).

And don't forget about the top California Division I contest: Mater Dei (Jamal Sampson where are you?. . . .actually he's got hepatitis from what we hear, but may be back for this one) versus Concord De La Salle featuring Joe See (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG), Chris Schlatter (6'-7" Sr. F), AJ Kuhle, Conor Famulener (6'-6' Jr. SG/SF), and DLS football standout Matt Guitierrez (6'-5" So. F), and Charles Brown. This is going to be a great game as well.

We hate to give this advance publicity, but the final two games of the evening, Mater Dei v. De La Salle, and Oak Hill v. Dominguez, will be televised on Sunday on Fox Sports West 2, but that won't keep the crowds away from this one. . . remember last year? Standing room only. Turning people away at the doors. So if you're planning on attending, get there early.

The Morning Session is, for the most part, an all-Serra League session, as three of the four members of the league take on others top teams from Southern Section, followed by Mayfair (Josh Childress scored an amazing 40 points last night by himself against Cerritos) versus the Fab 3 freshman at Fontana. . . oh yeah, the Steelers have a couple of pretty good seniors and juniors too. . . The first game of the evening features one of the top teams in the LA City Section, Fairfax (shhh, don't tell the City Section that this is a "showcase" game. . . maybe Fairfax can take the MTA bus there to save transportation costs and avoid pissing off the rest of the City Section which wasn't invited. . . .--to those who don't know what we're talking about, this has to do with the City Seciton's "new" philosophy and rules on "showcase" events, in which the section demonstrated the true beauty of public schools in Los Angeles. . .excellence for some? Forget it, let's all hurry up and wait for the slow-learners. . . if Verdugo Hills can't get into a showcase event (not to pick on them, but just as an example), why should the top teams in the City either?). . . Oh well, ranting and raving aside, Fairfax is playing Durango from Vegas, and while we saw them at the Reebok Holiday Prep Classic, we have absolutely no recollection at all about any of their guys (including their top returning players, Martrel Johnson and Jamaal Brimmer) without once again consulting our Reebok Holiday Prep Classic program. . . And the Fairfax game will be followed by Long Beach Poly taking on Los Alamitos in what should be a pretty good game also. Finally, the "big two" games of the evening, about which we've already said lots of the obligatory good stuff. Blah, blah, blah. But they'll be pretty hot games, so you can't miss them.

The Morning Session
10:00 a.m.		Servite vs Ocean View
11:30 a.m.		St. John Bosco vs Villa Park
1:00 p.m.		Santa Margarita vs Glendora
2:30 p.m.		Mayfair vs Fontana
The Evening Session:
4:30 p.m.		Durango (Las Vegas) vs Fairfax
6:00 p.m.		Long Beach Poly vs Los Alamitos
7:30 p.m.		Mater Dei vs Concord De La salle
9:00 p.m.		Oak Hill Academy vs Dominguez

If you don't know how to get to the Pyramid, and thought we'd have some great maps for you, forget it. We don't have the time today. Just head down (or up) the 405 Fwy, and exit at Bellflower. Take Bellflower west until you hit the campus. . . You can't miss the big blue Pyramid. . . .just pretend you're in Vegas and check into your seat, and whatever you do, don't give it up for anyone. . .