Moore League Boys’ Basketball Preview
Check out the coverage from 2008-09
With a league that’s wide open and talented like Moore League boys’ basketball in 2009-10, it’s hard not to look forward and predict what some of these teams could do on the playoff stage. But first thing’s first. They have to play each other. Or should we say, survive…
Even though the Moore League is routinely passed over when some local media minds hand out praise for prep basketball, we at LBPostSports.com know what’s what, and we will have all of the coverage this season with standings, interviews and videos. If you haven’t already, make sure you listen to our weekly episodes of SportsNight: All Basketball Show. Also, sign up for the daily E-Alert on the top right hand corner of the page to receive our updates via email.
League play starts tonight all around the city of Long Beach at 6:30pm and truthfully anything can happen. The league can be very physical, so obviously health will come into play, but the most important key to victory in the Moore League this year could be depth. We saw some teams finish very strong last season, and some others limped home. Who will be most prepared?
There are some favorites, some underdogs, some a few possible Cinderellas. Who is who? The answer starts tonight at 6:30pm…
Poly ( Next Game vs. Lakewood, Jan 8th)
The Jackrabbits have to be considered the odds-on favorite to win the Moore League, at least if you believe the pollsters. Poly is a MaxPreps national no. 23, and ranked third in the state—the LA Times, which can overlook Long Beach schools at times, has them at number four in the Southland. Other than Compton being in the Times’ Top 25 at the start of the season (they’ve since dropped out thanks to a disappointing 4-9 start to the season.
Poly, on the other hand, has largely lived up to the billing—the Rabbits currently sit at 11-3, with the three losses coming to Compton Centennial in the Ocean View Tournament of Champions, Federal Way from Washington, and Marcus in the finals of a tournament in Texas. Meanwhile, they’ve beaten Fairfax, Serra, Harvard-Westlake, Leuzinger, Portland Jefferson, and Austin Westlake (the no. 11 team in the nation). So Poly fans have had plenty to like about the nonleague schedule, as the Rabbits have put themselves in prime position to compete not just for the league title, but well beyond that.
Unfortunately, an injury could throw a wrench into the plans—we were hoping to have the prognosis sorted out, but we won’t know for a day or so how severe the injury to Shelton Boykin’s wrist is. He went up for a dunk in the championship game of the tournament in Texas, and was upended by a Marcus player taking a charge, falling on his wrist and fracturing it. He had minor surgery in Texas and a recent X-Ray showed no more fracture, but until he sees a specialist, it’s not clear whether he’ll be back in two weeks, or out for the rest of the season.
With him, Poly is close to unstoppable in the league schedule—and again, likely beyond as well. They’re so tall—center Ryan Anderson is 6’8″ and comfortable in his body, Boykin is 6’5″, and freshman Roshcon Prince is 6’6″—that it’s just hard to match up with them, especially with speedy sharp-shooter Alexis Moore at guard. You essentially have to pick your poison when Poly’s on offense, and try to work the perimeter when they’re defending you, because they’re just too long and rangy to dump it in.
Without Boykin, they’re still very good—two big men and quality guards (Robert Nixon Jr. and Alex Carmon both return as well) aren’t exactly a walk in the park either, especially since Moore, Nixon Jr., and Carmon are all over six-foot as well.
Jordan (@ Millikan)
It was a disappointing finish to the 2008-09 campaign for the Jordan Panthers as they fell to Rancho Verde and star guard Kyle Fuller in the second round. In the end, it was the Panther propensity to foul that proved to be their downfall. That “lack of composure,” as coach Ron Massey put it, is hopefully a thing of the past. Most of this year’s starters saw some quality playing time and have seen first hand that silly fouls can ruin a talented group’s opportunity to do something special.
The Panthers are 7-5 so far this season, and could be the one Moore League team that might just be able to outrun everyone else this season. When they get into their killer full-court press and can move freely in transition, Massey’s squad is one of the scariest and will put a game away by scoring in bunches.
Like any good team that loves to go up-and-down the floor, Jordan relies heavily on guards Isiah Hicks, Raynard Tyler and Jesse Jones. The speedy threesome work well together around the perimeter, but just like the last year’s team, they are much more effective when it’s less half court and more open run. Hicks leads the team and is averaging 13 points-per-game. Tyler and Jones each average more than 10 a game.
The difference between a title-contending Jordan team and a playoff hoping Jordan team could come down to the play in the paint, and that really means one guy: Darius Williams. The 6’6” senior can take over a game defensively, as he did in a few games of the Ocean View Tournament in December. His outlet passing ability is a hidden weapon for the Panthers offense, where he is averaging 13 ppg.
The sky is the limit for this Panther squad, and they might be the only things holding themselves back. Hopefully for them, it’s not just another case of history repeating.
Cabrillo (@ Lakewood)
The Jaguars are easily the surprise of the nonleague schedule, going from a 4-21 (0-12 in league) season last year to a 9-2 start this season, technically sitting with the best nonleague record in the city. They weren’t playing the best teams in the nation, but they weren’t scrubs either, as the Jags swept and won the La Quinta tournament to start the season, and have picked up wins over Marina, Torrance, Locke, and Verbum Dei. Of course, they know if they go 0-12 in league, and are the only local team to miss the playoffs (as they were last year), none of that will matter.
But Cabrillo doesn’t seem primed for a letdown—they’re vastly improved this year with much the same roster, and boast a true headturner in Tony Bell, a 6’4″ senior forward with great athletic ability. Helping on the height front is Jovan Pearson, who plays the true center position at 6’6″. Other key players are co-captains (along with Bell), guards Christian Verdugo and Dametre Mondragon.
The Jaguars are 4-32 over the last three season in the Moore League—if Bell can become a leader for his team, Pearson can handle some of the league’s bigger bodies, and the Jags can continue to develop under second year coach Jim Nielsen, it’s likely that they’ll more than equal that this year alone. After that? The future is looking bright for Cabrillo.
Compton (@ Wilson)
Ask anyone, and they will tell you to not be fooled by the Compton Tarbabe record so far this season. Sure, they are 4-9 with some pretty ugly losses to lesser talent, but there are three names you need to know: Cliff Sims, Allan Guei and Anthony January.
The reason more people were talking Compton basketball in November was because of these three young men. The Tarbabes were able to stay with most anyone last year while running out a wildly young starting squad, and after making it into the Division II playoffs, they looked to continue to grow.
Returning All-Moore League First Team members Sims and Guei are the senior and junior captains, averaging 17 and 15 points-per-game respectively. January is still only a sophomore, but is averaging 14 ppg while he grows into and gets used to his 6’5” frame. The bad news for the Tababes is that the next highest scorer is putting up less than five points a night. Obviously, it just can’t be these three guys carrying the load. Not in this league, not this year.
The games like tonight @ Wilson will be of utmost importance. Compton routinely checked out of games last season and dropped a few road contests that could have put them in the D-I playoff hunt. If the Tarbabes want to battle with the top of the standings box, they will have to stop messing around with the bottom half.
Wilson (vs. Compton)
The Bruins have the league’s largest pair of empty shoes to fill, as Moore League Player of the Year Mike Wilder is off at UC Irvine. And, while it might have been understandable to think he brought Wilson’s offense with him (especially since big man Joel Bitonio is playing football at UNLV), the Bruins are off to a great start, at 9-4, with a tournament championship from the Cypress/Western tourney, where they kicked off what they hope will be a successful 09-10 campaign.
Jared Grimes and Andre Crenshaw have done the bulk of the scoring (averaging 22 points a game togther), but what’s most impressive about Wilson is their frontcourt, as Crenshaw is part of a trio of redwoods that should help them see over the competition. Crenshaw, a 6’3″ forward, is backed up by Stephan Shepard, who’s 6’7″, and Soloman Williams, who’s also 6’7″. So while there’s no way to replicate the pure scoring ability of Wilder, Wilson’s offense could end up being more diverse this year, with better scoring options inside as well as out.
Their athleticism will be tested right out of the gate as they host Compton tonight in their Moore League opener, facing a speedy team that could expose a weakness in the Bruins. After that they at Millikan, at home against Poly, at Cabrillo, and home against Jordan—with the way the league is shaping up this year, it doesn’t look like there’s a single gimme in the standings box.
Lakewood (vs. Cabrillo)
The Lancers were a play-in game away from the playoffs last season after a much improved second round of games in league. Like everyone wants to do when they finish strong, Lakewood started strong in 2009-10 with poised play from Jared Garber. The 2008-09 First Team All-Moore League guard/forward stands at a slender 6’3” but he can run the baseline and crash the boards with the best of them. Garber is averaging almost 18 ppg already and is 80% from the free throw line.
Lakewood (8-5) is at their best when Garber is getting to the line and Johathan Snagg is out there hustling and working hard, and that’s been the case recently. Snagg is averaging 13 ppg but it hasn’t all been as a starter. In the Ocean View Tournament he came off the bench as the sixth man and led the team in scoring twice. His scrappy play leads by example, and with a few football players (Justin Utupo, Alex Cartwright) now on the roster and getting more comfortable on the hardwood, that hard-nosed mentality could be the ticket to post-season play.
Millikan (vs. Jordan)
The Rams may only be 7-5, but it means a whole heck of a lot more when you realize they replaced their top two scorers and senior leaders from last season in Kierre Beverly and Reggie Givens. It was a magical run for Millikan in 2008-09 and it ended abruptly in the playoffs against Los Alamitos, but as is with all the other team’s on this list, it’s about tonight and what they have, not what they lost.
And what they have is an electric natural scorer in Malcolm Whittington. The new team captain is averaging 24 points this season. The question will be, can guys like Andrew Scott and Jeremiah Blandin step up and put in double figures to give the Rams a chance to outscore some teams this year? Or could we also see the return of that stifling Millikan defense that surprised some teams? If we see both, who knows what could happen? We could see another edition of last year’s game @ Poly.
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