Torrey Pines Holiday Classic Notes (Post 1)

[aztecryan]

Spent the entire day yesterday for the 12th year in a row at one of the premier tournaments around. The quality of talent in the National Division bracket is down this year, but still some very good games. Here's what I remember...

First game I saw was JSerra vs Mountain Pointe (AZ). Sloppy game without a ton of high level college type players, save for D.J. Rodman. Yes, the son of the "Worm." D.J. is 6'5" with a better offensive profile than his dad. He has a decent stroke from 3, but most of his points came from drives to the bucket and getting fouled. He struggled without a lot of help around him in what was a pretty sluggish game overall for both teams. I should add I also liked the game of junior point guard Justin Williams. He's a late bloomer, but has really nice quickness and is a fearless driver to the basket. Mountain Pointe has a Santa Clara commit and some nice players, but nobody I saw that struck me as an impact type.

Harvard-Westlake and Desert Pines (NV) were next. No Johnny Juzang again for the California bunch, but it didn't matter. They were up by 30+ for a stretch as Desert Pines imploded. Harvard-Westlake has a solid big in junior Mason Hooks, 6'9 and 240-ish. He really shined in the absence of Juzang with his ability down low to rebound and impact the game on both ends. Very good free throw shooter as well. Decent range out to about 15-17 feet. Desert Pines closed the gap in garbage time to only lose by 8, but this one was a mismatch from the jump.

Foothills Christian and defending state finalist Sheldon were next. Very high level game for stretches. I really like the game of Yassine Gharram, junior guard for Foothills. Really confident shooter, handles the ball well and has a really nice change of pace dribble drive/midrange pull-up game that Sheldon struggled to contain. He's one to keep an eye on. On the Huskies side, Marcus Bagley, younger brother of current NBA player Marvin, had 31 points and was the best player on the court in terms of high-major college potential. He's one of the better juniors around and has a handful of offers, even after not playing as a sophomore. Likely destined for a blue blood type program.

[aztecryan]

Continuing on, the next game isn't even worth mentioning between two squads who, unfortunately, did not belong in this bracket. Genesis Prep (ID) and Capital Christian. Turnovers, bad shooting and just a war of ineptitude. Nobody in this game caught my eye, although Capital Christian is very young.

Now, we get to the good stretch. Next on the calendar was O'Dea, out of the Seattle area and San Joaquin Memorial. O'Dea is always solid, well-coached and they have an absolute stud in top 5 sophomore Paolo Banchero. 6'9" with a great post-up game, good over both shoulders and a developing outside shot. He will be very highly recruited and comes from a remarkably athletic family. O'Dea has solid role players and they can really shoot when in rhythm. Memorial has the #1 ranked junior in the country in Jalen Green. Another blue blood type, but an incredible athlete with multiple highlight dunks, while also showing a nice outside shot and an ability to get to the basket seemingly at will. Watching those two go at it was worth the price of admission in a really back and forth type game, won by O'Dea.

Torrey Pines and Mission Bay were next and this game was played inside of an 8 point window the entire day. Neither team could build a lead thanks to great defense and poor officiating. Torrey trapped at halfcourt to get the ball out of Boogie's hands, but the Mission Bay guards stepped up and made shots. Mission Bay won on a (who else?) Boogie leaner off the glass with 4 seconds left. Torrey has some solid players in the Pope twins and Brandon Angel, but I don't think they are of the caliber required at the next level (high-major wise).

Last game of the day was Shadow Mountain, #2 ranked team in Arizona, coached by former Wildcat Mike Bibby against St. Augustine. Shadow Mountain is really impressive to watch, extremely quick and lethal in transition. They have multiple D1 commits, so we will focus mainly on the other side in Chibuzo Agbo for the Saints. Agbo has added strength and versatility since last year. He can step out and make outside shots and is a great offensive rebounder in traffic. The one area I think he will have to tighten up is his handling and drive game. He just isn't quite there yet with that aspect of his game, but I think it would be a mistake to not offer him. He will be a highly recruited kid when all is said and done. I'll be back at Torrey tomorrow for the championship games, so I'll hopefully get another look at some of these guys. Both Dutcher and Velasquez were in attendance, so rest assured, they are out on the trail.

[gigglyforshrigley]

Dec 28, 2018 9:39:52 GMT -8 aztecryan said:

Continuing on, the next game isn't even worth mentioning between two squads who, unfortunately, did not belong in this bracket. Genesis Prep (ID) and Capital Christian. Turnovers, bad shooting and just a war of ineptitude. Nobody in this game caught my eye, although Capital Christian is very young.

Now, we get to the good stretch. Next on the calendar was O'Dea, out of the Seattle area and San Joaquin Memorial. O'Dea is always solid, well-coached and they have an absolute stud in top 5 sophomore Paolo Banchero. 6'9" with a great post-up game, good over both shoulders and a developing outside shot. He will be very highly recruited and comes from a remarkably athletic family. O'Dea has solid role players and they can really shoot when in rhythm. Memorial has the #1 ranked junior in the country in Jalen Green. Another blue blood type, but an incredible athlete with multiple highlight dunks, while also showing a nice outside shot and an ability to get to the basket seemingly at will. Watching those two go at it was worth the price of admission in a really back and forth type game, won by O'Dea.

Torrey Pines and Mission Bay were next and this game was played inside of an 8 point window the entire day. Neither team could build a lead thanks to great defense and poor officiating. Torrey trapped at halfcourt to get the ball out of Boogie's hands, but the Mission Bay guards stepped up and made shots. Mission Bay won on a (who else?) Boogie leaner off the glass with 4 seconds left. Torrey has some solid players in the Pope twins and Brandon Angel, but I don't think they are of the caliber required at the next level (high-major wise).

Last game of the day was Shadow Mountain, #2 ranked team in Arizona, coached by former Wildcat Mike Bibby against St. Augustine. Shadow Mountain is really impressive to watch, extremely quick and lethal in transition. They have multiple D1 commits, so we will focus mainly on the other side in Chibuzo Agbo for the Saints. Agbo has added strength and versatility since last year. He can step out and make outside shots and is a great offensive rebounder in traffic. The one area I think he will have to tighten up is his handling and drive game. He just isn't quite there yet with that aspect of his game, but I think it would be a mistake to not offer him. He will be a highly recruited kid when all is said and done. I'll be back at Torrey tomorrow for the championship games, so I'll hopefully get another look at some of these guys. Both Dutcher and Velasquez were in attendance, so rest assured, they are out on the trail.

Thanks for the breakdowns, very interesting. What times do the games start today in the afternoon/evening? The website has been down so I'm not sure how to get the schedule

[hoobs]

Thanks for the reports, Ryan!

[aztec619]

Ryan always taking care of us on this tourney. Thank you for doing this for us!

[standiego]

appreciate the information . Would be interesting to find out where the other Aztec Coaches were - other divisions or tournaments ? Believe we have offer to Jalen Green as do many P5 schools . Seems lately that we are most likely to sign the "under the radar " guys .

Thought the coach from Long Beach was supposed to be high level recruiter ? Is Lo Wade allowed to be out there recruiting ?

What other coaches from other schools were there . Believe this is now an Under Armor T ?

[aztecryan]

Dec 28, 2018 11:37:21 GMT -8 gigglyforshrigley said:

Dec 28, 2018 9:39:52 GMT -8 aztecryan said:

Continuing on, the next game isn't even worth mentioning between two squads who, unfortunately, did not belong in this bracket. Genesis Prep (ID) and Capital Christian. Turnovers, bad shooting and just a war of ineptitude. Nobody in this game caught my eye, although Capital Christian is very young.

Now, we get to the good stretch. Next on the calendar was O'Dea, out of the Seattle area and San Joaquin Memorial. O'Dea is always solid, well-coached and they have an absolute stud in top 5 sophomore Paolo Banchero. 6'9" with a great post-up game, good over both shoulders and a developing outside shot. He will be very highly recruited and comes from a remarkably athletic family. O'Dea has solid role players and they can really shoot when in rhythm. Memorial has the #1 ranked junior in the country in Jalen Green. Another blue blood type, but an incredible athlete with multiple highlight dunks, while also showing a nice outside shot and an ability to get to the basket seemingly at will. Watching those two go at it was worth the price of admission in a really back and forth type game, won by O'Dea.

Torrey Pines and Mission Bay were next and this game was played inside of an 8 point window the entire day. Neither team could build a lead thanks to great defense and poor officiating. Torrey trapped at halfcourt to get the ball out of Boogie's hands, but the Mission Bay guards stepped up and made shots. Mission Bay won on a (who else?) Boogie leaner off the glass with 4 seconds left. Torrey has some solid players in the Pope twins and Brandon Angel, but I don't think they are of the caliber required at the next level (high-major wise).

Last game of the day was Shadow Mountain, #2 ranked team in Arizona, coached by former Wildcat Mike Bibby against St. Augustine. Shadow Mountain is really impressive to watch, extremely quick and lethal in transition. They have multiple D1 commits, so we will focus mainly on the other side in Chibuzo Agbo for the Saints. Agbo has added strength and versatility since last year. He can step out and make outside shots and is a great offensive rebounder in traffic. The one area I think he will have to tighten up is his handling and drive game. He just isn't quite there yet with that aspect of his game, but I think it would be a mistake to not offer him. He will be a highly recruited kid when all is said and done. I'll be back at Torrey tomorrow for the championship games, so I'll hopefully get another look at some of these guys. Both Dutcher and Velasquez were in attendance, so rest assured, they are out on the trail.

Thanks for the breakdowns, very interesting. What times do the games start today in the afternoon/evening? The website has been down so I'm not sure how to get the schedule

Games run every hour and a half or so all day. www.theholidayclassic.org has all the brackets and schedules updated.

[aztecryan]

Shadow Mountain vs Foothills Christian is going to be a battle of guard play tonight. That semi starts at 8:35. The previous semi should be around 7:05 or so.

[gigglyforshrigley]

Dec 28, 2018 14:05:39 GMT -8 aztecryan said:

Dec 28, 2018 11:37:21 GMT -8 gigglyforshrigley said:

Thanks for the breakdowns, very interesting. What times do the games start today in the afternoon/evening? The website has been down so I'm not sure how to get the schedule

Games run every hour and a half or so all day. www.theholidayclassic.org has all the brackets and schedules updated.

That's the site I was trying to go to, but whenever I click the "National" bracket (or any other bracket) it says page cannot be found. Thanks for the info though, I'm going to swing by after work with a friend

[aztecryan]

Hm. No issue on my end, but I'll post everything here for convenience.

N179:30GENESIS PREP (57) VS JSERRA (70)

N1811:05LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY (74) VS DESERT PINES (83)

N1912:40CAPITAL CHRISTIAN (55) VS MOUNTAIN POINTE (67)

N202:15ORANGE LUTHERAN VS HARVARD WESTLAKE

N223:50ST. AUGUSTINE VS SHELDON

N215:25TORREY PINES VS SAN JOAQUIN MEMORIAL

N237:00MISSION BAY VS O'DEA - National Semifinal

N248:35

SHADOW MOUNTAIN VS FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN - National Semifinal

Saturday December 29 Day # 4

The first team listed is the designated home team and they will wear light jerseys.

Game #

TimeGame

N269:00DESERT PINES VS JSERRA

N2910:35LOSER N22 VS LOSER N21

N2712:10LOSER N20 VS CAPITAL CHRISTIAN

N301:45

WINNER N22 VS WINNER N21 - National 5th Place Game

N283:20

WINNER N20 VS MOUNTAIN POINTE - National Consolation

A324:55

WINNER A24 VS WINNER A23 - American Championship

N316:30

LOSER N24 VS LOSER N23 - National 3rd Place Game

N328:05

WINNER N24 VS WINNER N23 - National Championship

[jdaztec]

Thanks Ryan

[survalli]

Mission Bay with a big win tonight, will play for the title against Shadow Mountain. Boogie scored 42 or 43 points.

[aztecryan]

Paolo Banchero for O'Dea fell and hit his head before halftime, which totally changed the game. I doubt he plays today, which is unfortunate. Mission Bay will have its hands full. Shadow Mountain and Foothills were in a 2 point contest last night until a technical foul was called, then the 5th foul on D.J. Carter-Hollinger was whistled with 3 minutes to go in the third quarter. It was 42-38, then 47-41. Before you could blink, it was 57-46. Two more threes by ASU commit Jaelen House (son of Eddie) and it was 63-46 and it was academic from there.

[standiego]

were the Aztec coaches still there

[Gundo]

Its been a while since we signed a home-town Hero out of HS with Trey & Shrigs.

I am all in if there are local kids who stay home; Hands, Norris, Cherry, The Mobley's etc.. look to the PAC to play.

[standiego]

as the better local kids reach a higher level they decide to go else where . So better get coaches who can recruit and coach D