SoCal High School & Prep Report
SoCal High School & Prep
Report
Get Ready For the Pooh Richardson Stealth Tourney Reports--(December 16,1997)
We've been waiting for Jason Day, our trusty reporter and self-described "basketballaholic" to send us these reports. From what we can tell, he was one of the few (30 or so people) who actually saw this one, which received no publicity or advance notice. The only way some of you might have even noticed it was in our LAUSD City Section Basketball Schedules. There it was. . . only we didn't know it. Just a listing for "Washington v. Verbum Dei" at Southwest L.A. College. Turns out we only had one of the games, and it was at a different location entirely.
Anyway, Jason will be sending us the full story, which will appear here exclusively. Here's his intro. The full reports will follow.
THE POOH RICHARDSON STEALTH TOURNEY
WESTCHESTER, VERB, MORNINGSIDE, ST. JOHN BOSCO, WASHINGTON AND CRENSHAW
By Jason Day
Talk about playing with a basketball nut’s emotions. This past Saturday, (the 13th) I headed out to Southwest College to catch the Verbum Dei vs. Washington game scheduled for 4:00 pm. Halfway there I get a call in the car from a friend who wants to know if I’m coming to the game. Assuming he was "there" I said, "Yeah, I’m on my way now." He told me to hurry up since I had already missed most of the 1st quarter. Since it was only 3:45, or so, I yelled something about getting the start time screwed up and asked my partner to take some notes, and I’d be right there cause I was heading South on Western.
"Western? Where the hell are you going?", he asked.
"To Southwest.", I answered.
"It’s at West L.A.", he replied.
"WHAT?" So I flip the U-turn and (mumbling all the way) headed back to the Westside.
When I get to West L.A.’s gym I’m wondering why it looks like a ghost town outside. There were no signs of anything happening there. I fully expected the front doors to be locked when I reached for one and it opened. I walk into the gym and sure enough Verbum Dei is on the court against Washington. There are maybe 30 people in the stands.
I find my buddy who tells me we’re in for a treat because it turns out that this is a tournament and Crenshaw is playing next.
Ok. It wasn’t in the plan, but I am not gonna miss a chance to see the "Shaw" play. Well, at about half time, Crenshaw arrives. Crenshaw girls that is. They’re playing Muir's girls. Next.
Now I have absolutely nothing against watching girl’s prep basketball. The state girl’s final last year (won by the lady Cougars by the way) was one of the best basketball games of the year. Period. But, I had been set up to watch CRENSHAW as a "bonus" game. Enough. I’ve set my schedule to see one high school game then go watch my son’s 13 and under team play. Now they’ve gotten my hopes up, caused me to start juggling the schedule in my mind, have me asking my kid’s permission to miss some of his game, and I still don’t know who really is playing.
I track down someone who is apparently "coordinating" this confusion. He tells me that the Crenshaw boy’s are playing later against St. John Bosco. As we’re talking, Tony Bland walks past us, and he’s carrying his gym bag. Just came from practice? In the neighborhood and just dropped in?. No. Between the Crenshaw girl’s game and the Crenshaw boy’s game, Westchester will play Morningside.
My friend, the coordinator explains. This "tournament", (it is probably better described as an exhibition since no overall winner is declared) is the second of two put on by Pooh Richardson, the former UCLA star and current Clipper. Last weekend he flew Westchester and Crenshaw out to Philly to take on two local high school teams, Overton and his alma mater Ben Franklin. He wanted to give a couple of the stronger L.A. teams the chance to experience some "East Coast ball" as well as some travel. This weeks event, also named the Pooh Richardson Classic, was an opportunity for some local teams to mix it up early in the season.
When I asked about the lack of publicity, the coordinator explained that Pooh was more interested in just giving the teams a chance to play each other. Makes sense I guess, unless, you’re a basketballaholic who would love to know that some of the best talent around is going to be playing in your backyard.
Anyway, between getting there late and running back and forth to the rugrat’s game, I did get to see a good portion of the event. Verbum Dei played Washington; Crenshaw girls played Muir; Westchester played Morningside; and Crenshaw boys played St. John Bosco. My reports, with scores, highlights, and impressions will follow.
Jason Day
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