Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Paso Rollin'

You guys like the Bearcats.

Paso Robles took the plurality in the past two polls we've done on boys basketball.

The Bearcats' turnaround from the bottom of the PAC 7 last season to the second-place team this year ran away with your votes for most surprising run.

And Paso Robles was also the pick — though only by a single vote — to go the furthest in the playoffs.

Well, with the playoffs kicking off on this week, the time has come to find out if your predictions are right.

Mission Prep, the other team to rank highly in the playoff success poll, might have the most favorable road to a section title of any boys team, if only because the Royals compete in the CIF-Central Section Division V playoffs, the smallest division in a section made up primarily of teams from the Central San Joaquin Valley.

Here are the top three teams to watch in the playoffs (In no particular order):

• Mission Prep — The Royals boys and girls could be partying together again at the Central Section championships in Fresno. The bracket has yet to be released, but Mission Prep probably could have competed in the top half of the PAC 7. A focused Royals team should make it at least a couple of rounds deep in the playoffs.

• Paso Robles — The Bearcats have a decent draw in the CIF-Southern Section Division II-A bracket. They host a wildcard team in the first round before a potential second-round matchup with Ocean View, the
No. 3 seed in the bracket. If Paso Robles can upset Ocean View, it wouldn't meet up with another top-five seed until the semifinals.

• North County Christian — Funny someone mentioned Maranatha in the last blog, because that's exactly who the Crusaders would play in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division V-AA bracket. North County Christian was one of five teams to get a first-round bye and would match up with the No. 2 seed if they both get past that first game. Maybe the Crusaders can get the Maranatha scouting report from Morro Bay.

You ask me, those are your three best boys bets. If I had to pick one to advance the furthest, I'd lean toward Mission Prep.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

if people think that paso is better than mission prep and that david cone is a DI player...this is what I got for you:
58-41. -score of the mission prep paso game this year. (Mission won)

2. -points david cone was held to.

get real. Mission Prep would be right with Righetti and would definitely be (if not #1) the #2 best team in the Pac 7

Anonymous said...

That's ridiculous. Since MP isnt in a league they have the luck of playing Paso not in the heart of the league season (like Paso had to). That game was sandwiched in between two huge league games for Paso. Righetti and Atown. Both of which Paso won. Also Cone has been battling a knee problem the last few weeks, and he was limited in the game because the non importance of the game to Paso. Yeah that's right, it didn't matter...they had league to worry about. 9 in a row

Anonymous said...

as impressive as mission's wins over st. joe and paso are, mission also lost to st. joe in a rematch and templeton in a rematch.

they're jekyll and hyde. who knows with them?

Anonymous said...

so if the paso vs. mission game wasn't so important, why did larson keep his team in the locker room for 30 minutes after the game YELLING and screaming at them? We could hear it.
Good knee, bad knee, no knee, Cone did nothing. If you are on the court and you are the biggest player out there, you need to do something.
Mission has beaten them 4 years in a row.
Good teams treat every game like a big game, great teams win the big games!!

Anonymous said...

if he has a knee injury that may keep him from playing D1. There is no such thing as a non important game, all games matter, because in the end it affects ur record

Anonymous said...

the point of the matter is david cone is not d1 and paso was not the best team in the county.

Anonymous said...

Most coaches yell at their team. Is is really that rare? All im sayin is that MP wasn't on the forefront of Paso's mind, thats it.

Anonymous said...

I think it was on the forefront of Larson's mind. He could not beat mission with no matter who he had on his team, and he was extremely frustrated in this game...he actually got T'd up. So I'm thinking it was a pretty important game for him and I'm sure he told his players it is a big game for them to make a statement as well.

Anonymous said...

when you lose by close to 20 to a school 1/10th your size you probably should be a little embarrassed. When it happens 4 years in a row look out. That's probably why it took them so long to leave the locker room. You think the coach would have them a little more fired up to play a game like this. Or maybe the bearcats knew they weren't going to win so they just mailed it in???
It's playoff time... hopefully everyone wins so we can keep talkin!!
-Pud

Anonymous said...

is it just me or does it seem like basketball season went by really fast?

maybe its cus we had 1 blog every 2 weeks while during football it was 2-3 a week.

Anonymous said...

Everyone can hate on Paso, but truth be told they are a pretty good team...and I'm a Greyhound fan!

Anonymous said...

I have heard that the players didnt even care about mission prep the game wasnt important at all just as they are never important they Beat Paso when they had derrick jasper Paso doesnt care about playing mission prep i would like for once Paso to go out and give their full effort and pound them to the ground

Anonymous said...

of course they say that now that they lost. trust me they cared when they played mission jaspers senior year

Anonymous said...

how can you possibly think that a team would not go out on the court and give their full effort... so basically your saying paso only tries sometimes... how can that be a good team.. that only goes out and tries in "important games". It is one thing about not caring about playing a terrible team, but to a team that consistently beats you, there is no reason that Paso should not "try"

Anonymous said...

I know for a fact that Derrick Jasper plays every game like its his last. I love that in a player, and that mentality is why he's able to be successful at the next level.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone ever say that Paso never tried? NO! They just said MP wasnt first in their minds. This blog is ridiculous. I am pretty sure these are all MP guys talking who have an inflated ego anyway. Go win CIF then if you guys are so good!

Anonymous said...

morro bay won by 13