I know everyone has been waiting for this so here they are. This week we are a little low on people picking games, but we have picks from everyone’s favorite, Dennis Miller (Tri-Valley Herald). He has correctly picked 12 in a row! I don’t think anyone will dare call him dumb again after seeing his picks!

 Anyway, we also have picks from Jimmy Durkin (CCT/Oakland Tribune), Michael Bower (Daily Review), Dave Schoen (Oakland Tribune), Kyle Bonagura (The Argus) and Steve Herendeen (Oakland Tribune).

                                               NCS 3-A Regional Recognition 

                    No. 1 San Ramon Valley vs. No. 3 Pinole Valley            

Bower                                           SRV   

Durkin                                         SRV

Miller                                           SRV

Schoen                                        SRV

Bonagura                                  SRV

Herendeen                               Pinole

                               NCS 2-A Regional Recognition 

                          No. 1 Las Lomas vs. No. 7 Campolindo            

Bower                                        Las Lomas   

Durkin                                      Las Lomas

Miller                                        Campolindo

Schoen                                     Las Lomas

Bonagura                                Las Lomas

Herendeen                             Las Lomas

                             NCS Class-A Championship Game 

            No. 1 St.Patrick/St.Vincent vs. No. 2 Ferndale            

Bower                                       SPSV  

Durkin                                     SPSV

Schoen                                    SPSV

Bonagura                               SPSV

Herendeen                            SPSV

                            NCS Class-B Championship Game 

                No. 1 St. Vincent vs. No. 2 St. Elizabeth            

Bower                                         St. Vincent   

Durkin                                       St. Elizabeth

Schoen                                      St. Elizabeth

Bonagura                                St. Elizabeth

Herendeen                             St. Elizabeth

I can’t wait to cover the Moreau Catholic-Bishop O’Dowd girls basketball games this season. Both squads have the potential to play with the top teams in the state. The Mariners proved that with a 55-50 win over Division IV state runner up from a year ago, St. Patrick-St. Vincent. The Mariners held St. Pat star Alex Cowling to just seven points.

Bishop O’Dowd, playing in the La Jolla tournament, beat Mater Dei 49-41 on Wednesday. Mater Dei was 28-2 last season and returns the bulk of that roster this season. The Dragons then beat the defending state champions of Arizona, Mountain View, 45-38.

Moreau has won the Hayward Area Athletic League title four years in a row now, but the race to this year’s league crown should be the most exciting. Both of these squads have a strong chance at reaching the NorCal tourney and I know O’Dowd wants to beat Moreau very badly. Should be two great games between the two this season, definitely worth watching for prep basketball fans.

If you saw the box score from Wednesday night’s St. Elizabeth-Liberty Baptist game from the Redwood Christian Tournament, you might’ve thought you needed to get your eyes checked. Nope, the score was right.  The Mustangs, playing without two starters — including their starting point guard — led 64-5 at halftime before taking the foot slightly off the gas pedal in the season-opening 106-11 win.

Chioke Walker led the way with 22 points and 15 rebounds and Jevon Flowers added 16 points and 11 rebounds and Ed Thomas had 8 points and 13 rebounds. Four other players also scored in double digits for St. Liz — whose football team plays St. Vincent in the North Coast Section Class B title Saturday at 7 p.m. and features starting point guard Dave Douglas at running back and fellow starter Charles Johnson at wide receiver.

For those that think the Mustangs ran up the score, take some solace in the fact that the scoring went down each quarter, from 36 points in the first, 28 in the second, 26 in the third to 16 in the fourth.

St. Liz — which lost in the NCS semifinals last year — is looking to end Branson’s four-year reign as NCS champions and earn its first title since 1996. But it has a little more on its mind.

“It’s state title or bust this year,” coach Torrence Spencer said.

We’ll see, but with the football team’s success and this kind of start for the basketball team, this could be the year of the Mustangs.

I will pass the live blogging duty over to our sister site, the Contra Costa Times, for this week. Ben Enos and Chace Bryson will be bringing you live updates from the North Coast Section 2-A and 3-A East Bay Regional title games. 

The 2-A game pits top seed Las Lomas against No. 7 seed Campolindo at 7 p.m. Friday at Las Lomas High. The 3-A game will be between top seed San Ramon Valley and No. 3 Pinole Valley on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Dublin High.

Here is the link to the Contra Costa Times blog and live updates: http://www.ibabuzz.com/eastbayprepsports/

Here’s the links to the video shot by Sean Connelly at the Silver Bowl … http://www.ibabuzz.com/multimedia/mack-wins-third-straight-silver-bowl/

and the audio slideshow done by Jane Tyska at St. Elizabeth’s NCS Class B semifinal win over South Fork … http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/iba/2007/1124sle/

Great job done by both!

Basketball season is upon us! The strange thing about this part of the season is how much weight it carries come seeding time. It can be very deceiving to find out which teams are better than others at this time of the season not only because it is early, but also because football or volleyball players aren’t in basketball mode yet and some are still playing their respective sport. A worse team can actually sneak a win in over an eventually better team and use it for its advantage come seeding time. The key is scheduling those good squads now, especially the ones with a ton of athletes playing other sports.

Anyway, we are talking about girls hoops here. This weekend should be a great one. Irvington High is hosting its annual tournament and includes the following teams: San Ramon Valley, Fremont-Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Foothill, Aragon, Irvington, Merced and Milpitas. The tournament begins with a 3:30 p.m. matchup between San Ramon Valley and Aragon on Thursday. The tournament ends on Saturday.

Outside of tournament action, another good game this week is Washington at Arroyo. The two will clash on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Arroyo. The Dons are a very talented squad and the Huskies, led by Morgan Woodrow, are always in the hunt for an NCS title. Should be an interesting early-season game.

Any other big games out there that people want to mention? Go for it! Remember, you can find all the tournaments going on this weekend at www.norcalprepscores.com

I have to say that I am very excited to be going to a boys basketball game tonight.

Newark Memorial at San Leandro at 7.

These two always hook up for some great games and tonight should be no different. I don’t think Pirates’ star junior Jared Cunningham will be playing tonight (ankle) but Chris Jones of Newark should be on the court. It will certainly be a great game to watch. My first taste of hoops action this year!

And there will be plenty of hoops action all week. Make sure you go out and check out some games. Washington is holding its annual tournament this week. The following teams will be in that tourney: Granada, Monte Vista, James Logan, Washington-Fremont, St. Joseph Notre Dame, Arroyo, Castro Valley and Mt. Eden.

James Logan plays Monte Vista at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday to kickoff a quadruple header. The tournament runs through Saturday. For a complete list of tournaments this week, just visit www.norcalprepscores.com

Let’s get the hoop chatter going. Early predictions and sleepers? I am boring and will take De La Salle to win the North Coast Section Division I title.

This is the second year that the CIF will use three bowl games to determine California football champions and with two weeks remaining in the NorCal Sectional playoffs here is how things are looking:

CalPreps.com does a ranking of each team, so I’ll just go off that for now and play off of “what-ifs”

D-I
1. De La Salle, NCS, 12-0
2. Oak Grove, CCS, 11-1
3. Napa, SJS, 11-1
4. Elk Grove, SJS, 12-0
5. Gilroy, CCS, 10-2
6. California, NCS, 11-1
7. San Ramon Valley, NCS, 10-1-1

Obviously DLS is the favorite to return to Carson, when its season ended in defeat to Canyon last year. If it beats Cal, there will be nothing to discuss. However, if Cal High can pull off the shocker and get by DLS it will have a good shot at repping NorCal.

-Oak Grove has a good resume with wins over Bellarmine, Gilroy, Mitty and last year’s D-II representative, Palo Alto. However, its loss (St. Francis), was by 16 points and to a non-playoff team that won 40% of its games (4-4-2).
-Napa still has to get by Elk Grove and the winner of Lincoln and St. Mary’s (both of Stockton) and has beaten just two good teams so far (Vacaville and Pleasant Grove). Its loss was by double-digits to Granite Bay (which is ranked No. 8 on this list).
-Elk Grove is the only undefeated team besides DLS and would need to beat Napa and one of the Stockton schools. Like Napa, it beat Vacaville, but other than that nothing too impressive (Franklin, Vintage…). If they finish the year 14-0 it would be hard to keep EG out.
-Gilroy probably doesn’t have a chance because it has two losses, although it will have a chance to get payback against OG in the CCS open title game.
-Cal comes in No. 6. If it beats DLS, the Grizzlies will be 12-1 with a win against one of the nations top teams. Add wins over previously unbeaten Logan, then Monte Vista, Pittsburg, Foothill and San Leandro, the Grizzlies would have wins against the other six teams that make up the NCS 4-A top seven. Cal’s loss? A missed p.a.t. against SRV, which could very well wind up the NCS 3-A champ. Hard to penalize a team for a 1-point loss to a great team.
-SRV will cruise by Pinole then will have a tough game with Cardinal Newman. It would be tough to vault Cal over SRV based on the head-to-head, but if Cal beats DLS that would more than make up for that loss in my opinion. Plus SRV lost to MV and a Washington team that will (record-wise) go down as a team with a losing record.

Fun to discuss, but let’s be honest. DLS will probably win and none of this will likely matter.

Keep checking back for D-II and D-III analysis.

-Kyle Bonagura

The season is winding down and I just want to hear what everyone’s thoughts are on who should be the All-East Bay Offensive Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year.  Us prep writers get to officially vote on this since it is our award, but I want to hear your thoughts and nominations for the two awards.  Post the name and give me some reasons.

Cal and DLS have played twice in history, first in 1978 a 20-6 Cal win, then again in 1979 and Cal came out on top again, this time, 3-0.

The Spartans have been shutout just twice then and the Grizzlies and Bellevue (Wash.) are the only teams in the world with winning records against DLS (maybe Clovis West also).

Ladoucer grew up on Broadmoor Drive in San Ramon, the same street that is home to Cal.

Also, Lad’s daughter went to Cal High.

Class dismissed.