california hoop challenge

We received a call from Kelly Williams, one of the two organizers of the "California Hoop Challenge", a one-day basketball extravaganza, featuring some of the top boys and girls' teams in the region, including some excellent matchups of SoCal teams against the best from Central Cal and NorCal. Who will be playing? Here's the lineup of games which Kelly told us about:

9:00 a.m.	Price v. Verbum Dei	Boys
10:30 a.m.	Fresno Washington Union v. Bishop Montgomery	Boys
12:00 p.m.	Brea Olinda v. Lynwood	Girls
1:30 p.m.	Artesia v. Narbonne	Girls
3:30 p.m.	Modesto Christian v. Eisenhower	Boys
5:00 p.m.	San Joaquin Memorial v. Dominguez	Boys
6:30 p.m.	Redondo Union v. Inglewood	Boys
8:00 p.m.	Crenshaw v. De La Salle	Boys

The first game will feature the defending State D-V champs, featuring junior transfer Derrick Williams going up against the Verbum Dei Eagles, now a D-IV-A team, led by Utah-signee Richard Chaney, and it will be a great battle of small schools with some of the best players in their respective divisions, as well as a way to settle which of these cross-town rivals is the best "small-enrollment" team this year.

The second game of the day will feature two traditional cross-state rivals, Washington Union from Easton/Fresno, and Torrance Bishop Montgomery. Even though Fresno Washington Union won't be duplicating the kind of excitment they brought with them when they had DeShawn Stevenson (NBA Utah Jazz), Chris Jeffries (Arkansas, Fresno State) back a mere three seasons ago, Coach Von Webb's team this year has some interesting players who will be worth taking a look at, including a pair of transfers, including 6’3” senior Joavance Coleman who transferred in from Fresno Hoover, and 6’6” junior Kinon Gooch from Ontario, Canada, as well as returning players like 6’1” senior Marvin Carraway. Bishop Montgomery is also a new-look team without the Cravens (USC), Peace (UCI) and Kenny D'Oyen, but you'll be seeing talented junior Fred Washington and Marquis Washington instead, and they've both been prolific scorers so far this season.

We really can't tell you anything about the next two girls' games, but from what we've heard, these will be some excellent matchups. We'll leave it up to those who frequent our Women's Message Forum, and those who know girls' hoops to fill us all in.

The Modesto Christian v. Eisenhower would have been considered a possible preview of the Division I State Championship game, had it not been for the eligibility problems of Modesto Christian's two talented seniors. Unfortunately for Modesto Christian, Cal-signee Richard Midgely's and Marc Pratt's basketball careers at Modesto Christian High School are over, because the players' motion for a preliminary injunction against the California Interscholastic Federation was denied by Stanislaus Superior Court Judge David G. Vander Wall. While they could take the issue up with the court of appeals, the chances of a different ruling appear slim. Eisenhower, on the other hand, is still considered a dark-horse favorite for the Southern Section D-IAA Section title, and with players like Sean Marshall 6'-5" Jr. F, Johnny Dukes 6'-7" Sr. C, Anthony Jones 6'9" Sr. F, and top scoring wing man Cory McJimson 6’6” Sr. G/F, we've got to go with the boys from Ike in this one. . . .still it will be fun to watch.

The 5:00 p.m. game will feature Central Section's Fresno San Joaquin Memorial, which this year picked up two talented transfers, Antonio Lawrence 6'-5" Sr. F, and freshman Dwain Williams 5'-10" Fr. PG, both of whom can be explosive and exciting players. They'll matchup against defending State D-II and CIF-SS D-II-A champs Dominguez, who are really a totally different team this year without Tyson Chandler and the rest, but they still have plenty of talent to make this a very interesting game. Dominguez has one of the top combo-guards in the west in Keion Kindred 6'-4" Sr. PG/SG, and this should also be a great game.

The 6:30 p.m. game is a league contest between traditional rivals Redondo Union, featuring seniors Adam Zahn 6'-7" Sr. F, Paul Meynen 6'-10" Sr. F, Keith Ellison 6'-1" Sr. PG, and talented junior Wendell White 6'-5" Jr. F/G, and they'll take on the Sentinels who have one of the best big forwards in DeAngelo Colllins 6'-9" Sr. F, who was the co-MVP of the ABCD All-Star game this year and who is rumored to be a potential NBA lottery pick, as well as the very talented junior RayRay Reed 6'-2" Jr. G, and a ton of other athletic players.

The final game of the evening will feature LA City Section power Crenshaw going against CIF North Coast section's Concord DeLaSalle. Willie West's Crenshaw Cougars feature top seniors Terrence Jones 6'-5" Sr. F, and Onye Ibekwe 6'-5" Sr. F, as welll as talented junior point guard Marcus Williams 6'-2" Jr. PG. The Cougars have suffered through an early season personal loss with the untimely death of one of their players, but they've rebounded well, and also picked up a few surprises along the way, including two transfers who should help Crenshaw make a serious run to challenge Westchester and Fairfax for City Section supremacy, as West's squad has gotten Deric Clark a 6'-1" Sr. PG from Leuzinger and Chad Thorton, a 6'-5" Sr. F who transferred from St. Bernards. Frank Alloco's Spartans from Concord feature some young talent but are always well-coached, and this year you'll get to see seniors RT Knauff 6'-3" Sr. G and Matt Guttierrez 6'-4" Sr. F, as well as Rekalin Sims 6'-8" Sr. F, Joe Robinson 6'-4" Sr. G, and Taylor Pena 6'-4" Sr. G taking a run at another division I title in the NorCal region.

This will be a great way to spend a Saturday, so be sure to reserve the day in your calendar. See you there.