carson finale

	What:	Slam N Jam Carson "Summer Finale"
	Where:	Victoria Park Carson, CA
	When:	June 26-29, 2001
	Who:	12 Top Local HS Teams

Maybe it's our imagination, but is the late-June early-summer high school team tournament calendar getting more and more crowded? Are some of the old standby tournaments getting smaller and smaller in terms of the number of teams participating? That's what we thought too. . . But they keep on keeping on, and with a guy like Issy Washington, he's such an institution in Los Angeles basketball circles that his tournaments just seem to go on and on. . . even if they are a bit smaller than in his heyday. For years Issy been running leagues (the original Slam N Jam League in Los Angeles) and tournaments (including such events as the Slam N Jam National Invitational Tournament which will again be running this year in mid-July, but during an NCAA "dead period), and he's even teamed up with his old cross-town nemesis Rich Goldberg's ARC to run the "Slam N Jam-ARC Summer Grand Finale" which will take place this year in Las Vegas right after the conclusion of the adidas Big Time (and at the same time as the adidas-Double Pump "Best of Summer"). If you're curious about a little local lore, forget "Sole Influence". . . instead see if you can find a copy of "Raw Recruits" which will give you a bit of the flavor of what things were like in the late 70's here in SoCal basketball. . . which will just remind you that the more things change, the more they stay the same. . . but we digress.

One of Issy's old standby tournaments is the Carson "Summer Finale" which will again be played this year from June 26-29. We're not exactly sure why Issy calls it a "Finale" since it's held really at the beginning of the summer season, but our's is not to question why. . .

This years' event will only feature 12 teams, but they will be some pretty good teams, mostly local to the Compton - Carson - Lynwood -region but one or two others have snuck in. Here are the pools for the Carson Summer Finale:

The tournament will run with pool play for the first two and a half days, with playoffs beginning late Thursday and concluding with the Championship rounds on Friday. Here's the schedule of games:

10:15 a.m.	Morningside v. LA Jordan
11:30 a.m.	Serra v. Fountain Valley
12:45 p.m.	Narbonne v. Long Beach Poly
2:00 p.m.	Carson v. Manual Arts
3:15 p.m.	Lynwood v. JW North
4:30 p.m.	Compton Centennial v. Redondo Union
5:45 p.m.	Fountain Valley v. JW North
7:00 p.m.	Lynwood v. Serra
8:15 p.m.	Manual Arts v. Narbonne

11:30 a.m.	Redondo v. Morningside
12:45 p.m.	LA Jordan v. Compton Centennial
2:00 p.m.	Long Beach Poly v. Carson
3:15 p.m.	Fountain Valley v. Lynwood
4:30 p.m.	JW North v. Serra

12:45 p.m.	Compton Centennial v. Morningside
2:00 p.m.	LA Jordan v. Redondo Union
3:15 p.m.	Narbonne v. Carson
4:30 p.m.	Manual Arts v. Long Beach Poly
5:45 p.m.	4th Pool 1 v. 3rd Pool 3
7:00 p.m.	2nd Pool 1 v. 2nd Pool 3
8:15 p.m.	1st Pool 1 v. 2nd Pool 2

12:45 p.m.	1st Pool 2 v. Winner 8:15 p.m. Thursday night
2:00 p.m.	1st Pool 1 v. Winner 7:00 p.m. Thursday night
3:15 p.m.	3rd Pool 1 v. 4th Pool 2
4:30 p.m.	3rd Pool 2 v. 4th Pool 3
5:45 p.m.	Loser 12:45 p.m. v. Loser 2:00 p.m. (3rd Place Game)
7:00 p.m.	Winner 12:45 p.m. v. Winner 2:00 p.m. (Championship)

Smaller than in prior years, the Carson Summer Finale will still feature some excellent talent including a lot of the best local players, like Marcedes Lewis, Jamel Gay, Carlos Rivers, and Isaiah Freeman from Long Beach Poly; Adam Zahn and Keith Ellison from Redondo Union, one or both of the Ibekwe brothers, and a ton of other top guys. We'll be getting an early look at Manual Arts in Palm Springs this coming weekend so we'll know more about whether that program is going to be resuscitated after collapsing just one year following their City Section title. . . but that's another story.

There will be some stiff competition for this tournament since the Fullcourt Press Summer Tip-off tornament and the War on the Floor and Best in the West Lynwood tournament will also run at the roughly same times. . .choices, choices. . .

Pool 1	Pool 2	Pool 3
Lynwood JW North Gardena Serra Fountain Valley	Long Beach Poly Narbonne Carson Manual Arts	Redondo Union Compton Centennial Morningside LA Jordan