Some more news on the girls basketball front today. Northgate has hired Dan Middleton over from Alhambra and the school replaced him with Acalanes coach Mike Wilson. Here what will be in tomorrow’s paper:
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Some rough news this morning from the AAU summer basketball circuit. Gabby Green, an incoming sophomore at St. Mary’s, broke her ankle at the Nike Summer Showcase in Chicago, according to ESPN Hoop Gurlz. Green, who ESPN rates as one of the top guards in the country in the 2014 class, is playing for Cal Storm Taurasi out of Southern California this summer. This was one of the first games of the tournament and Green’s first game with her new team.

Green helped St. Mary’s reach the CIF Division IV state final in March and was invited to try out for the under-16 Team USA in May, but just barely missed the cut. I’m not sure how severe the break is — if she’ll just be out for the summer or longer — but hopefully I’ll get a chance to talk with her in the next few days. Here’s a link to the Hoop Gurlz story on Green’s injury.

UPDATE: Gabby seems in good spirits despite the premature ending to her summer season. She said she’s definitely out for the summer and will be in a boot for eight weeks with a fracture, but expects to be back in time for the start of her sophomore season at Saint Mary’s.

After four years at Campolindo High, girls basketball coach Clay Kallam is returning to Bentley.
Kallam had previously coached at the Lafayette private school for five years before taking the Campolindo job in 2007.
He said the reasons for the move were strictly financial.
“It was pretty much an offer I couldn’t refuse and I enjoyed my time there. I like Division V,” Kallam said, adding that he’ll have other administrative duties with the school.
“I’m not motivated so much by coaching at a higher level. One thing I like about coaching is teaching and seeing the girls improve.”
Kallam was 77-39 at Campolindo, including a 25-7 record this past season as the Cougars advanced to the North Coast Section Division III title game and the Northern California regional semifinals.

I got a little basketball news that is a couple of days old, but definitely worth sharing. St. Mary’s freshman Gabby Green and Bishop O’Dowd sophomore K.C. Waters are among 35 players from across the country invited to try out for the USA Basketball Under-16 National Team.

The trials will take place May 26-30 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A committee will then select 12 athletes to compete at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Merida, Mexico from June 3-11.

Green, a 6-foot point guard, and Waters, a 6-1 post, both helped their respective high school teams earn North Coast Section titles and reach California Interscholastic Federation state title games.

Seven of the 35 invitees are from California. For a complete list, check out the USA Basketball website.

Even before the Notre Dame women’s basketball team made its surprising run to the NCAA tournament championship game, Carondelet High standout Hannah Huffman knew she wanted to play for the Fighting Irish.
On Monday night, as Notre Dame was preparing to play Texas A&M for the national title, the standout junior guard gave her oral commitment to Fighting Irish coach Muffet McGraw.
“I’ve always been a fan,” Huffman said of the school. “My dad went there and as a kid I was always watching the football team and paying close attention to their athletic programs. After I got the (scholarship) offer I always kind of knew in my gut that’s where I wanted to go. Academically, socially and athletically it fit me best.”
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Here are the All-East Bay girls basketball teams, as selected by the Bay Area News Group. We have expanded capsules on the second and third team selections that didn’t appear in the paper, as well as an honorable mention list of other players we strongly considered, but didn’t have room for on one of the three teams.
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Berkeley High’s girls basketball team finished the season highly ranked in several national polls after falling to No. 1 Mater Dei-Santa Ana 59-47 in Saturday’s Division I state title game. The Yellowjackets are No. 6 in the MaxPreps.com Freeman computer rankings and No. 8 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25. Berkeley is No. 34 in the ESPN Rise Powerade Fab 50 poll. Berkeley’s ranking in the XCellent 25 and Fab 50 rankings are the exact same as they were last week before the state title game, so they weren’t punished or rewarded for playing Mater Dei closely. The Monarchs earned the mythical national title for the second straight year with the win over Berkeley.

Carondelet is No. 19 in the Freeman rankings, but didn’t crack either human poll.

Look for our All-East Bay girls basketball selections this Saturday in the paper and here on the blog. The boys team will run on Sunday.

The high school basketball season is officially over, but if you’re going through withdrawls already, head over to Las Positas College in Livermore this Friday, April 1, at 6 p.m. for the Hoops4Girls All-Star game. There are some pretty impressive names set to compete on both teams. Dougherty Valley’s Doug Vanderhorst will coach the White team and Carondelet’s Margaret Gartner is in charge of the Red team. Here are the rosters:
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I figured I’d piggyback on Jimmy’s post about the East Bay’s top boys teams earning national rankings and give an update on the girls. The Berkeley High girls first jumped into the ESPN Rise Fab 50 poll a few weeks ago and have been climbing steadily since then. This week they are No. 43.

What I’ve thought was interesting, and a bit strange, all year is how the ESPN Rise Fab 50 poll and the Cal-Hi Sports top 20 poll (also owned by ESPN Rise) don’t seem to match up at all, except at the very top. For example, Berkeley is ranked No. 2 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports behind just Mater Dei-Santa Ana, which is also the national No. 1 team in the national Fab 50 poll. But there are three other California teams – No. 5 Brea Olinda, No. 8 St. Mary’s-Stockton and No. 13 Long Beach Poly – ranked way ahead of Berkeley in the national poll, but behind the Yellowjackets in the state poll. As Jimmy pointed out, the rankings do match up on the boys side.

Here are the state rankings for East Bay teams: No. 2 Berkeley, No. 7 Carondelet, No. 8 St. Mary’s-Berkeley, No. 15 Dougherty Valley.

So my question is, if Berkeley or Carondelet beats Mater Dei for the Division I state title next weekend (or if MD loses in the SoCal regional final this weekend), how far can Berkeley or Carondelet rise in the national poll and how far would Mater Dei drop. Side note: Mater Dei’s standout junior point guard, Jordan Adams, injured her shoulder last week and may be out for the remainder of the season, according to the OC Register.

A judge in Alameda County Superior Court ruled Friday that Berkeley High senior Khristina Hunter is immediately eligible to play for the Yellowjackets’ girls basketball team.
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