There has been so much attention the past couple of weeks on the success of the San Diego State men's and women's basketball teams that what Lincoln High accomplished last Friday is kind of being ignored -- and that's wrong.
The Hornets, by some measurements, made themselves the most accomplished high school basketball team EVER in San Diego County. That's pretty big, something that needs to be celebrated.
What Lincoln did, in a nutshell, was defeat Saint Francis of Mountain View 74-59 to win the Division II state championship. That's about all we've seen about it in various media reports. They won and isn't that nice.
Here's the context that I find to be important. Lincoln became the first local team to win a Division II state title. No San Diego team has won a Division I (large schools) title. The old USDHS won in 1998 in Division III. Horizon won Division IV titles in 2002-03, and Lincoln won D-IV in its smaller pre-remodeling configuration in 1994. For boys basketball, that's it for local state championships.
That makes Lincoln the first San Diego County school to win a state title in one of the largest divisions. And they did it by winning 24 straight games. That's something in my book.
The local girls haven't done much better over the years, with the only titles among the bigger schools being won by Terri Mann's Point Loma High teams back in the 1980s.
There have probably been local teams with a better collection of players, but only a couple. Senior Victor Dean is headed to Fresno State to play basketball and football. Junior Norman Powell has made himself into a major recruit, being pursued by SDSU and reportedly keeping his eyes on USC. Senior Nate Maxey is reportedly headed for a prep school to straighten out his academics, adversely impacted by attending three different schools in three years, but is also on Aztecs coach Steve Fisher's radar.
It might not be the best collection of local basketball players ever, but it is arguably the most accomplished.
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SDSU did everything expected of it in basketball this year, no more and no less. And, darn, how frustratingly close it came to being more.
It appeared that the men would have a strong year despite replacing five important players, including four starters. They improved on last season's NIT run by making the NCAA Tournament and were one ungrabbed rebound away from possibly defeating Tennessee, which went to the Midwest Regional final. I really think the men would have defeated Ohio and gone to the Sweet 16 if they'd won, and they'd have battled Ohio State well if that had happened. As stated in my previous post, what shortcomings the Aztecs have will be filled in time for next season.
Coming into the season, I wrote that the women could be the most nationally competitive Aztecs since the men's volleyball team won a national championship. The regular season was tough because of injuries and apparent locker room squabbles but they got things together in time for the Mountain West Tournament and the NCAAs, in which they defeated Texas on their home floor and highly regarded West Virginia. The Sweet 16 was about what was expected from this group of players, and they came through. Like the men, it could have been even better, yet superb guard Jene Morris was hobbled against Duke in Saturday's season-ending loss.
Both teams met expectations and were bounced from the Big Dance by better teams, which is how it should be. There are certainly arguments about whether the SDSU men should have been forced to travel so far and have to face a team as good as Tennessee in the first round, but what's done is done.
Next year? Onward and upward for the men. The women lose Morris and guard Quenese Davis, so expectations for them might have to be adjusted accordingly.
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Padres manager Bud Black announced Sunday a starting rotation of Jon Garland-Chris Young-Kevin Correia. I like this because it shows that he's not yet sold on Young's comeback from injuries, nor seems overly enthusiastic about Correia, the team's best starter last year but coming off a very erratic history. Young and Correia might be just fine. I'm just glad to interpret Black's wait-and-see approach.
I've been worried that the fourth and fifth spots were being reserved for the pitchers who were out of options rather than the most deserving. I'm uncertain about probable fourth starter Clayton Richard. I think he was rather unimpressive after coming to San Diego in the Jake Peavy trade, which now looks like highway robbery on the part of the White Sox, and has been out-pitched this spring by Mat Latos, Tim Stauffer and Wade LeBlanc. Add Sean Gallagher and Black has to find a way to squeeze five good pitchers into two spots in the rotation.
I'll post something of a season preview by the end of the week. I will say that my initial impression of the National League West is not very good -- which could lead to an interesting summer even in Petco Park.
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