State basketball tournaments: Story lines to shape this weekend’s Golden 1 Center games
Look what’s back in all of its splendor and splash: The CIF state basketball championships at Golden 1 Center.
The 40th championship games for girls and boys will play out Friday and Saturday at the NBA venue, home of the Kings, after two off seasons for all the maddening, frustrating and helpless-feeling reasons. Remarkably, it’s been three years since the CIF crowned teams in its signature event on its grandest stage. The 2020 event was canceled 24 hours before the title bouts were to start play out due to the concern of something that became known as COVID-19, or, simply, a pandemic. CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti had to pull the plug some 12 hours after the New Orleans Pelicans declined to play the Kings at Golden 1 as fears of the virus spread. All schools were shuttered.
Now, it’s all systems go as normalcy starts to settle back in.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to play at Golden 1,” said Elk Grove coach Dustin Monday, who leads his red-hot Thundering Herd into Saturday’s Division II clash against Foothill of Santa Ana. Said Elk Grove star guard Ameere Britton, “It’s everyone’s dream to get to Golden 1.”
Here are some storylines to ponder this weekend:
Playing like girls: In the girls’ Open Division, Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth is 29-2, battle tested and skilled and seeks to move to 5-0 in state title games. The leader is versatile 6-foot-2 junior guard Juju Watkings, whom MaxPreps national columnist Mitch Stephens calls, “The best player in the country. She’s the bomb!” Mitty of San Jose is in its 13th state final under famed coach Sue Phillips, and are 30-1 this season with a TALL team: Seven at 6-foot or taller with another star young player in 6-2 sophomore Morgan Cheli.
When heavies collide: The boys’ Open Division features Modesto Christian, which recently won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship at Golden 1 and relishes the tall order of taking down the top team in the state in Centennial of Corona, winners of 29 consecutive games and is 32-1 overall. The roster includes 6-3 guard Jared McCain, who grew up locally before moving South before high school. Centennial is beating teams by an average of 77-44, and this rates as one of the state’s finest public school teams in years.
Herd is the Word: Elk Grove’s most famous basketball alum is Bill Cartwright, the Cal-Hi Sports Player of the Year in 1975 who later won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Cartwright was so intriguing as a prep that it led to CIF officials to fast track the concept of a state tournament, which finally happened in 1981. This year’s Elk Grove team is gritty and cohesive and is superbly coached by Herd alum Dustin Monday. The relentless leader is guard Ameere Britton, who will match wits with Foothill of Santa Ana guard Cruz Billings. Foothill is 31-3 and Elk Grove 27-6.
Road Warriors: The Clovis North boys of the Fresno region is the lowest-seeded team to reach these finals, guys or girls, as a 13 seed, landing in the Friday night D-I boys final. That required a lot of road trips to topple higher seeds, so never mind the 22-11 record and appreciate the resolve. The opponent is Damien of La Verne (31-4), led by Mike LeDuc, in his 42nd season as coach.
Tech Support: The Oakland Tech girls are a talented and physical lot, hailing from a program that won a CIF title in 2019 and was ready to repeat in 2020 before the pandemic crashed the party. The opponent in this D-III tilt is La Salle of Pasadena (31-2), which is on a 23-game winning streak.
PV Power: Pleasant Valley of Chico has it rolling in athletics, including this D-III boys final against Venice. PV at 31-3 rates as one of the finest teams to come out of the Northern Section and it has four players who can crush you, each scoring in double figures.
CIF State Basketball Championships
(all games are on the NFHS Network live stream):
Friday
10 a.m.: Division V Girls – Shalhevet (23-6) vs. San Domenico (23-11)
Noon: D-V Boys – Chaffey (24-2) vs. Stuart Hall (21-12)
2 p.m.: D-III Girls – La Salle (31-2) vs. Oakland Tech (20-11)
4 p.m.: D-III Boys – Venice (21-9) vs. Pleasant Valley (31-3)
6 p.m.: D-I Girls – Windward (23-1) vs. Salesian (20-5)
8 p.m.: D-I Boys – Damien (31-4) vs. Clovis North (22-11)
Saturday
10 a.m.: D-IV Girls – Imperial (28-6) vs. Branson (23-9)
Noon: D-IV Boys – Scripps Ranch (25-11)vs. Justin-Siena (21-11)
2 p.m.: D-II Girls – Sage Hill (26-10) vs. Memorial (27-6)
4 p.m.: D-II Boys – Foothill (31-3) vs. Elk Grove (27-6)
6 p.m.: Open Girls – Sierra Canyon (29-2) vs. Mitty (30-1)
8 p.m. Open Boys – Centennial (32-1) vs. Modesto Christian (30-5)