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With Mitch Lightfoot reportedly back in action for GC it's back on in D2 for the Metro teams vs. SoAZ.

Sunrise Mountain - hello? Thomas is killing it.

Latest Power Rankings - updated this morning

Always fun to see these high level prospects come out of AZ. Can't wait to see his recruiting unfold.

Hope he picks dem Cats!

Bagley in no rush so early in the process

Been an interesting week or two with AV's rankings and Obert releasing his midseason Top 25 at azcentral. The social media posts and conversations that rankings create is off the charts. It creates so much activity for media outlets that they would be dumb not to do them, even though most of the feedback is typically negative. The reaction from parents, coaches and players has been crazy.

Rankings don't really matter in the big picture. Sure, it is great to see your name and be recognized but it really doesn't matter. Parents and coaches need to be constantly reminding their kids/players of what is important. Rankings are always different as to what they are ranking - college prospects vs current production, etc. Every individual person ranking has a personal preference and places importance on different skill sets or types of players. Rankings will never please everyone. If a player or their team keeps improving, success will follow and accolades will come.

The outrage over this latest azcentral rankings is crazy. First off, Richard Obert ranks differently then AV. He is not a basketball talent expert nor does he claim to be that I know of. He just gave his rankings based on his opinions and those of his colleagues. Typically he goes by a few others opinions, puts a high emphasis on maxpreps stats and ranks kids he has seen in person higher. He has a fraction of what AV uses to rank guys but Obert is out at games constantly during the season. He was at the Gilbert/Mesa game a few days before the rankings came out. Basha/Perry last night. Holiday tournaments, he was there in the gyms I attended. Take the rankings for what they are, one person's opinion. That's it.

The biggest concern is the reaction by players/coaches. Calling players who are listed in these rankings "trash" and disrespecting people really isn't helping anyone. Immature players doing it is one thing but parents/coaches are leading the way. No wonder the kids are doing it. It is sad. If my son or one of my players were calling another player trash and disrespecting family or an adult over player rankings, he wouldn't see the court for a while.

Perspecitve people. Who cares? They are rankings. Players.....get in the gym and work on your game instead of spending hours on social media commenting on old guys who don't know the game. Coaches.....get control of your players. If you want the media to rank your players and they are good enought, get the media information on your guys. Invite them to games, practices, send them game film. Quit complaining and do something about it. Parents.....support your kids and cheer them on. Remind them of what is really important and keep the game fun.

I ran into 1 of the ast coaches at Desert Mountain HS and asked how 2016 6'6" PF Jonathan Stevens is doing.

He told me that his parents took him off the team for his grades. I said I thought he had good grades? He's like he does..They are around 3.5 GPA…wow…

His parents are big time though and obviously demand the same..I think one is a DR and other is a lawyer…something like that…

I respect the family, but is this too much? Just throwing it out there… interesting discussion...

Anyone have the Jan 19th schedule of games?

In Tucson and PHX area...

Who is your mid-season POY and COY - and why?

Most Improved?
Best Defender?
Best off the bench?

Please list injured players, injury, and expected time-frame of return.

Devin Kirby, Basha - two broken knees, surgery, out for season.
Markus Howard, Perry - concussion, out for another week or so?

Looks like the AIA did a little better job of bracketing State this year than in previous seasons for D1/2.

D1 (8 pm) and D2 (6 pm) play back-to-back title games at Gila River Arena (SUNS) on Monday night, March 2 - still would like to see it on Saturday - with semis there for D2 and at GCU for D1 on Saturday, Feb. 28. After sectionals (and super sectionals) the first two rounds of State are at the top seed, third round is TBD, then on to the Arenas for D1 and D2. No back-to-back days for D1/2.

D3 gets the final three rounds at the Suns Arena, but they have to play three days in a row, Feb. 26, 27, 28. The winner of the top semi-bracket gets done Friday night around 9:30 pm and then plays the title game Saturday at noon - totally sucks.

D4 is totally hosed with the last three rounds played at Tim's in Prescott - Feb. 26, 27, and 28th. The winner of the top semi-bracket gets done around 9 pm Friday night then plays for the title Saturday at 1 pm. Seriously...

The CAA plays all their championship games at the Suns Arena.

State Playoff Brackets

https://arizonavarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1723637 (Recap)
https://arizonavarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1723745 (Analysis)

On the home page.

Sunnyside at Sahuaro
Chandler at Buena
Arcadia at Shadow Mountain
Tempe at Seton Catholic
Basha at Perry
Moon Valley at 'tock
Cholla at Casa Grande
Gilbert at Central

Plenty of doozies tonight.

Friday, Jan. 9 Game Schedule

Hello All,

Here is an update from SCC:

Men's Basketball Takes Down Eastern Arizona College In Overtime

The Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes won last night against conference opponent The Eastern Arizona College Gila Monsters in overtime 94-93.
SCC came out firing on all cylinders for their conference match-up last night as they were paired up against EAC. After going up 52-36 in the first half things seemed as if they would continue to go well for the Artichokes. Conner Helvig (SO/Gilbert, AZ). Carter finished the night with 14 points and 12 assists, while Helvig was the leading scorer for the Artichokes with 22 points. This game puts the Artichokes to (4-4) in the ACCAC and tied for second place in the Division 2 playoff hunt. The men will have a short rest and will be back at it again this Saturday when they will face Arizona Western College. SCC will host AWC and tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 PM.
BOX SCORE
Photography Courtesy of Dennis Webb
http://www.azdewphoto.com/

Come out to our next home game on January 10th at 4PM against Arizona Western. Also, many of our games are available on live stream for video and audio for anyone interested. http://portal.stretchinternet.com/scc/

Thank you,

Mark Bunker

Renfro played but was limited due to injury Lane had 14 pts 7 rebounds. Salpointe has some great players but they just couldn't score inside on Renfro and Lane was able to take the workload to get the win. Big home game tonight vs Sunnyside will be our biggest test yet riding a 17 game winning streak.




SAHUARO 51, SALPOINTE CATHOLIC 43

Sahuaro 13 16 9 13 - 51

Salpointe 7 13 15 8 - 43

SAH - Allen 2 2-4 6, Hall 3 0-0 6, Manzo 5 0-0 11, Renfro 1 1-5 4, Cardenal 3 4-4 10, Lane 6 1-1 14. Team 20 8-14 51.

SAL - Bigbey 2 0-0 4, Cruz 1 0-0 2, Miller 2 3-3 7, Krasinski 2 0-0 4, Parkhurst 3 1-2 8, Rascon 6 0-2 12, Juan 3 0-0 6. Team 19 4-7 43.

We all wish for a speedy recovery.

Medical expense donation fund

This post was edited on 1/8 9:42 AM by ArizonaVarsity

2015 Prospect Rankings

Renfro went down in the first quarter rolled his ankle. Lane tried to get his team going but had to take over in 2nd half he had 23 pts and 8 rebounds. James carried Empire he got into foul trouble and was limited because of it foul trouble. Renfro is questionable for tonights game at Salpointe.



BOYS BASKETBALL

SAHUARO 55, EMPIRE 51

Sahuaro 17 10 12 16 - 55

Empire 10 17 13 11 - 51

SAH - Kreinbrink 1 0-0 3, Allen 0 1-2 1, Hall 1 0-0 2, Manzo 3 0-1 6, Yancy 0 2-2 2, Renfro 2 1-2 5, Greene 0 0-2 0, Cardenas 3 2-3 9, Lane 8 6-8 23, Detwiller 4 0-0 4. Team 22 12-20 55.

EMP - G. Plouck 5 0-0 12, Vera 2 0-0 5, Spooner 2 0-0 4, James 13 2-4 28, Beleau 1 0-0 2. Team 33 2-4 51.

Did Skyline knock off Basha last night?

Down in SoAZ there are some key matchups - Salpointe was the underdog, but injuries could change that.

Nogales at Cienega could be the game of the day.

Game Schedule: Thursday, Jan. 8

Great opening road win, D-2, Section 6 win for The Casa Grande Cougars, Cougars 60 Mt. View Marana 58.

Rising Sophomore CGUHS Football Varsity Player, Jesus Garcia, makes the first free throw of an one and with four seconds remaining in regulation. Sophomore Rising Football Player, A.I.A, D-3 Honorable Mention Defensive Back (CGUHS) Courtney Johnson grabbed a game high 12 rebounds to secure the win.

CGUHS Cougars Hi Scorers:

Junior Jose Olivaerez, 18 pts; Junior Jamil Davis; 12 pts, 10 rebounds; Junior Jacob Persoon, 12 pts, 5 rebounds; CJ Andrews, 10 solid 4th qtr pts, including two 3 pt shots to take tie the score at 58-58, two mitues left in the game.

Solid rebounding from Junior Anthony Brooks, 6 rebounds; solid backcourt play and leadership from Junior Point Guard Ty "Boogie" McKnight, 3 pts, tough man to man defense, no turnovers.

Great Coaching jobs by Freshman Coach Christian Valenzuela, Varsity Assistant Nate "Hubie Brown" Keeton and Junior Varsity Coach Noah Synder.

Gresyn Rogers: (DNP, Family & Head Boys Varsity Coach Kevin Pollins Decision); Gresyn will return to the Cougar Starting Line Up on 1/9/2015.

Next D-2, Section 6 Game: Home Game vs D-2, Section 6, No# 1 Cholla High School, @ The "U'", Casa Grande, AZ @ 7:00 PM.

Following twitter..WF hit a 3 to get the game into OT possibly at buzzer…then Seton took care of biz in OT...

DoubleD is heading to DV to watch my upset special pick of RM over the Thunder - which I called out on Twitter this morning.

Gilbert @ Mesa should be an east valley doozie.

Tuesday 01.06 Game Schedule

Unfortunately SBT will not be playing for Sunnyslope HS anymore...All I have to say is an immature player and an immature prideful Coach...im still in shock...I would like to thank AV Greg G Funk and staff for nothing but positive writings on Sammy...AV the nickname SBT will follow him forever...thanks...SBT is still playing hoop..he plays with Planet Athletes where he is averaging 18-20pts...tough Prep Schools and Juco Teams...great experience for him...amazingly D1 schools are still interested in him couple thought this will help him even more...he will be playing AAU again this spring...this is tough for our family but its the Lords path for Sammy...like to also thank Gino and Kenny...u guys didn't give up on Sammy...we love you guys...IMG preps looks good for Sammy now...Listen as Coach and dad I know kids will be kids part of life...we are here to teach kids about life because we all been thru it...thats why u are a head coaches...we are in some cases we are also moms and dads as well a coach but YOU JUST DON'T GIVE UP ON THEM...no matter what...thanks again and god bless. PS...I like to wish Devin "KD" Kirby a speedy recovery...he is on of my favorite HS players...god bless him and his family...they are in my prayers

https://arizonavarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1722878 (Recap)
https://arizonavarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1722970 (Analysis)