The remarkable basketball skills that the young men and women displayed, the earnest efforts to win that the teams put forth, and the intensity of emotions that followed in both victory and defeat that the fans and families demonstrated during the various Conference Tournaments was but a preview of what is about to take place this week.
The selections have been made, and the seeding is done, and starting Tuesday, March 17, 2015, the 2015 Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament and the National Invitation Tournament begin. March Madness has arrived.
There were some surprising picks by the NCAA Selection Committee, and some that were bound to spark outrage and disappointment, but, over-all, this promises to be a great tournament, with the goal of all 68 teams to get to the Final Four and emerge as National Champions.
California has two teams engaging in the NCAA Tournament to determine who will win the title: San Diego State, which almost made it to the Final Four, last year, but lost to Arizona in the West Regional, and UCLA, which crept in to The Big Dance this year amid a storm of puzzlement and controversy.
The Aztecs of San Diego State University, were granted an 8 seed and will meet 9th seed St. John’s in the South Region on March 20th..
Sacramentans should watch the Aztecs closely, with pride, because four of the team members hail from this area. Freshman Malik Pope from Laguna Creek High, U’u Parker from Jesuit High, Dakarai Allen and Erryl Williams, both from Sheldon High, are all parts of the Aztec success, and promise to be featured in the SDSU basketball future, as all but Pope are sophomores.
Malik Pope, who led the Aztecs in scoring for the second time in the loss to Wyoming in the Mountain West Conference Championship game, is only a freshman, but figures to be important in any success enjoyed by SDSU during the NCAA Tournament. In the Mountain West Championship game, Pope, scored 13 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and blocked 1 shot. A deadly sharp-shooter, Pope makes three point field goals with regularity, having had four games in which he scored multiple three-pointers this season.
Sophomores D’Erryl Williams and Dakarai Allen both played four varsity seasons at Sheldon High, where they guided the Huskies to four Delta River League section titles. While playing at Sheldon, Allen was player of the year and Delta River League MVP twice, while Williams was earning recognition as a truly competent guard with great potential. While neither Allen nor Williams saw much action in the Mountain West Championship game, they are likely to be called upon to help the Aztecs during the NCAA Tournament. Both are very skilled players, who chose to play for SDSU over many highly rated schools.
Sophomore Parker U’u played at Jesuit High, and now is an Aztec. Parker sat this year out as a red-shirt, after transferring to SDSU from Hartford College, and has been helpful to Coach Steve Fisher in scouting and squad practices, waiting for his chance to play next year.
Sadly, none of the schools in Northern California qualified for “The Big Dance”. The Tigers of The University of The Pacific, The Hornets of Sacramento State, and the Aggies of UC Davis all failed. to win their conference Tournaments, which would have given them berths in the 2015 NCAA Tournament field. Neither did Stanford, California, Santa Clara, or St. Mary’s make the field.
However, some of those teams are still to dance in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which was once the place to be in national post-season play. Stanford and UC Davis will clash in the First Round of the NIT on Tuesday, March 17th, while St. Mary’s will meet Vanderbilt on Wednesday, March 18th.
UC DAVIS will suit up three players from this area: Darius Graham a sophomore from Sacramento High, J.T. Adenrele, a junior out of Roseville’s Oakmont High, and senior Josh Ritchart of Forest Lake Christian High, in Auburn. The second-seeded Stanford Cardinal will play the Aggies seeded seventh in the NIT Tournament Field on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. The Aggies will meet The Cardinal with pre-season All American Corey Hawkins, the Big West Player of the Year.
UCLA’s making the NCAA Tournament is sometimes without being questioned, but not this time. Despite having lost to the Arizona Wildcats in the PAC-12 Championship game, the Bruins were awarded an 11th seed in the NCAA South Region, where they will face the Southern Methodist Mustangs. The Bruins, having won the National Championship eleven times, including seven in a row, under the “Wizard of Westwood”, John Wooden, did not have the kind of season that Bruin fans expected of them. They were beaten, in PAC-12 Conference play by Arizona State, Oregon State, California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Oregon, the latter three all making the NCAA Tournament. Other teams beating the Bruins, who were chosen were Gonzaga, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
All-in-all, March Madness has arrived, and those who love college basketball have a lot of good games to look forward to, and to watch. With both the NCAA and NIT Tournaments fields filled with very talented teams and players, the brackets are loaded. However, those who fill out brackets must prepare to have them “busted”.
In the NCAA Tournament, the real question is whether or not the top seeded Kentucky Wildcats can, or will be, defeated. The Wildcats have not lost this season, and are poised to make history, by becoming National Champions, without having lost a game.
Having nearly done it in 2014, Kentucky’s team features a load of McDonald’s All Americans, led by Willie Cauley-Stein, twins Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, and Alex Poythress, who all came back after losing the Championship game to UCONN last year. Californians to watch for on the Wildcat roster are sophomores E.J. Floreal of Palo Alto and Marcus Lee of Antioch.
Although the Wildcats have had some tight games, they have rolled into this year’s Tournament with an unblemished record, and seem destined to win it all in Indianapolis, on April 6th. The wise will hedge their bets, though. This is Tournament Time, and every team brings their “A-Game” when they meet Kentucky.
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By Luke Conley
OBSERVER Correspondent