<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
So, since the mighty Mustangs of Monte Vista don’t use MaxPreps, the statistical analysis of Poly’s opponent tonight won’t be as sophisticated as we’d like—but we’ve got more than enough to let you know what you should be looking for after tipoff, as well as what Poly needs to do to ensure a win, and their record fourth-straight state title.<\/p>\n
\n
First, the player whose name you need to know is #24, Niveen Rasheed. <\/span>She’ll be easy to spot, because she’ll be the Mustang holding the ball much of the time they’re on offense. <\/span>“She’s their catalyst,” says Poly coach Carl Buggs, whose mission for tonight’s game is to keep the six-foot tall Rasheed from running wild on his team the way Colony’s Layshia Clarendon did. <\/span>“We have to do our best at neutralizing her as much as possible, not just shooting but passing as well. <\/span>She’ll dish in a heartbeat—she’d be happy with 15 assists.” <\/span>She’s also incredibly intelligent and good at reacting (she’s attending Princeton this fall), and her athleticism allows Mustangs coach Ron Hirschman to move her around a lot.<\/p>\n Around her is a team of very skilled role players that have bolstered the Mustangs’ mostly smooth ride through the NorCal state bracket—they’re average win has come by more than twenty points. <\/span>Those players have known each other for a long time, with five (including Rasheed) who played travel ball together with East Bay Exposure since middle school. <\/span>Buggs also points out that while Rasheed is the tallest player on their roster at just six feet tall, all five of their starters are between 5’10” and 6′, a very even, tall squad that could create some matchup problems for Poly’s shorter, quicker guards.<\/p>\n The key for the Jackrabbits (and if it seems like you’ve read this six times these playoffs, you’re right) is to exploit their size in the paint, with Monique Oliver, Ta’Nitra Byrd, Thaddesia Southall, and Sheila Boykin all standing taller than the tallest Mustang. <\/span>They’ll also need to do a much (as in much, much, much) better job of taking care of the ball than they did against Colony last week (38 total turnovers including 20+ in the first half). <\/span>That will be a tough task, because Monte Vista’s ranginess could make those passing lanes look pin-sized.<\/p>\n Poly will also need to break the press smoothly, since Monte Vista will press full-court in their diamond formation, probably for a good chunk of the game. <\/span>Poly’s other advantage, besides their height, might be their own pressure, which may be more intense than a lot of Monte Vista’s prior opponents. <\/span>“We’ll see how they respond,” says Buggs.<\/p>\n Make sure you see, too—the game will be on Fox Sports tonight at 6pm, and come back after the game for pictures and the full game story Saturday night. <\/span>If Poly can contain Rasheed and protect the ball while making the Mustangs pay in the middle, we could have some history on our hands!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s what you should be looking for after tipoff from the Mustangs, as well as Poly’s keys to victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4375"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4375"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}