westchester tournament

	What:	Westchester HS 2002 Tip Off Classic
	When:	Dec. 2-7, 2002
	Where:	Westchester HS & Venice HS
		(Championships at Westchester)
	Who:	12 Top SoCal Area HS Teams

Once again, thanks to Jack Pollon who sent us the bracket and schedule for this year's Westchester 2002 Tip-Off Classic, which looks like it could be one of the most interesting, both on the court and off this year.

Aside from the well-publicized troubles that have beset two of Westchester's most promising players, Ray Reese who transferred from Carson, and Gabe Pruitt, who transferred from Compton Centennial, both of whom are now inelgible for the year, this tournament will still be absolutely loaded with talent. Westchester, the defending State D-I Champs, still have some very good players, including their two leaders, UCLA-signee Trevor Ariza (6'-8" Sr. F) and Scott Cutley (6'-5" Sr. PF). You'll also see some of the region's top players from Santa Monica, LA Cleveland (which is one of the top two teams in the San Fernando Valley among City Section schools this year, the other being Taft), West Hills Chaminade, Pasadena, LA Locke, Hawthorne, San Diego Horizon, LA Venice, Canyon, Eisenhower, and, perhaps most interestingly given the recent events, Compton Centennial, which is rumored to have two of the best freshmen around this year, in addition to returning top junior Aaron Afflalo. We'll have more on these teams shortly, but for now we thought you'd want to know when the tournament is going to get underway.

The first three days of competition in the tournament are pool play. Here are the pools:

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
1. Venice	1. Hawthorne	1. Cleveland	1. Chaminade
2. Canyon	2. Santa Monica	2. Compton Centennial	2. Westchester
3. Horizon	3. Locke	3. Eisenhower	3. Pasadena

Monday, Dec. 2
3:00 p.m.    Game 1   Locke vs. Hawthorne
4:30 p.m.    Game 2    Eisenhower vs. Cleveland
6:00 p.m.    Game 3    Pasadena vs. Chaminade
7:30 p.m.    Game 4    Horizon vs. Venice

Tuesday, Dec. 3
3:00 p.m.    Game 5    Hawthorne vs. Santa Monica
4:30 p.m.    Game 6    Venice vs. Canyon
6:00 p.m.    Game 7    Cleveland vs. Compton Centennial
7:30 p.m.    Game 8    Chaminade vs. Westchester

Wednesday, Dec. 4
3:00 p.m.    Game 9    Compton Centennial vs. Eisenhower
4:30 p.m.    Game 10 Santa Monica vs. Locke
6:00 p.m.    Game 11 Canyon vs. Horizon
7:30 p.m.    Game 12 Westchester vs. Pasadena

At the conclusion of pool play, teams finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd will be placed into separate single-elimination brackets. Third place games will be played Friday at 3:00 and 4:30 p.m. at Venice HS. Second place teams will play on Friday at 3:00 and 4:30 p.m. at Westchester, followed by the two semifinals in the first place bracket at 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Westchester.

The Championship game in the first place bracket will be at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday at Westchester and will be preceded earlier in the day with a series of other games. The 3rd place bracket consolation game will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the 3rd place bracket championship game at 11:30 a.m.. The second place bracket consolation will be played Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and the championship in the second place bracket will tip off at 3:00 p.m.

Again, the two first place bracket games on Saturday will be at 4:30 p.m. (consolation game) while the championship will tip off at 6:00 p.m. All of Saturday's games will take place at Westchester HS.