Dylan aiming for Division I

Since I got the low down from Paso Robles center David Cone on his college commitment, I also got in touch with Morro Bay guard Dylan Royer about his college opportunities — mostly to keep you faithful blog readers informed.

So here it is: Royer has not made any commitments. "I would love to play at the D1 level, and there are still a couple of possibilities," he said in an e-mail.

Royer said he has interest from Cal Poly and UC Davis at the NCAA Division I level and UC San Diego at Division II. NAIA schools Concordia and Westmont are also in the picture.

As a freshman in 2004-05, Royer was ranked as the 25th best prospect in Southern California by HoopScoopOnline.com. Since then, he's eclipsed 2,000 points at Morro Bay and has broken at least eight individual school records.

Royer led the Pirates to a 20-8 record and to the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs. He scored 22.5 points, grabbed nearly 7 rebounds and averaged just under 2 steals per game while shooting 38 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line.

It would be a great storyline to follow the guy if he ends up at Poly. Heck, it would be very intriguing if he landed at Davis and came back to haunt the Mustangs in the end. But wherever he chooses, it's sure to be a great accomplishment.

Cone's college of choice

It's time to end some speculation and settle at least one argument that's raged on The Tribune' High School Sports Blog for a couple weeks.

David Cone is playing college basketball. But it won't be at a junior college OR an NCAA school — though he said he had options a few of both.

I caught up with the Paso Robles senior big man online Wednesday, and he confirmed that he has given a verbal commitment to play basketball in La Mirada next year at NAIA Division I school Biola University.

"I was getting recruited by a slew of schools," Cone said in an online message. "All the way from Washington St, all the Ivy league schools, Colgate in New York, Seattle University who is going from D2 to D1 next season, to JC's."

In the end, he said he's choosing Biola for his comfort with 27-year coach Dave Holmquist — who reminds Cone of Paso Robles 30-year coach Scott Larson — and his chance at playing substantial minutes early in his career.

Cone led the Bearcats to a 19-10 overall record (9-3 PAC 7) as Paso Robles improved vastly on a 2-21 record last season.

By notching team highs in both points per game (14.8) and rebounds per game (11), Cone led the Bearcats to a second-place league finish and helped get the team to the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division II-A playoffs.

"After talking with other schools, and those close to me I decided that Biola would be the best for me because they focus on the 'big man'," Cone said, "the Coaching is great, and I could go in and play substantial minutes including a good opportunity to start next season.

"Call me crazy for passing up D1 chances, but I really am happy with my decision, and I think it will be a great fit."

Some of you are sure to think he's crazy. Giving up a shot to play bigtime basketball for the inelegant NAIA circuit?

Especially still in the wake of Derrick Jasper-to-Kentycky era, this choice may seem small-fryish.

But Logan Budd told me way back when that he'd rather play football at FCS school Cal Poly than at FBS school San Jose State. Some people like the smaller pond, and it's no knock on you if you do.

College choices aren't always about sports. They're as much about happiness and comfort as anything else. And Cone seems pretty happy about Biola.

See the best with your own two eyes

Three SLO County wrestlers will be competing in the CIF State wrestling meet this weekend.

We've already featured Morro Bay heaveyweight Jerome Long in this week's edition of "Athlete of the Week." The other two — 160-pounder Jordan Rubio of Arroyo Grande and 189-pounder Jack Robinett of Atascadero — will be featured in an edition of the paper later this week.

But if you've ever wondered what any one of these three guys looks like on the wrestling mat, good thing you read this blog, and good thing the guys at FloWrestling.org covered Morro Bay's CIT tournament earlier this year.

GO HERE to see videos of all three local wrestlers, including separate interviews with Long, Morro Bay coach Mike Aanearud and Pirates athletic director/football coach John Andree.

Long won his division at the CIT, and cited Atascadero's Brett Hiatt as his toughest opponent that weekend. Robinett fell in the finals with a chance to tie late in the match and Rubio took a loss to the eventual champion in the semifinals.

Must-see TV: Long's final match and his post-match interview.

The Leak: PAC 7 girls soccer accolades

Word from Monday night's PAC 7 girls soccer meetings is that San Luis Obispo High hogged most of the honors.

A resounding "Doi!" going off in your head? Yeah, well, with a 27-1-2 final record, undefeated league and regular-season marks, the Tigers cemented their reputation as the best girls soccer team around. They were bound to come away with some serious spoils.

Here are a few of the honors according to a source inside the meeting.

League Most Valuable Player — Afton Thulin, San Luis Obispo

Co-Offensive Players of the Year — Jamie Council, Atascadero and Karlee Owens, Arroyo Grande

Defensive Player of the Year — Jessica Mortola, San Luis Obispo

Partial list of San Luis Obispo honorees
First Team All-PAC 7 — Jessica Mortola, Devon Carlstrom and Gracie Babcock

Second Team All-PAC 7 — Kiele Argente, Alessa Moscoso and Shannon Fontes

I'll try to get full lists out for soccer and all the rest of the sports as soon as they can be collected. Until then, continue with the Cone-Royer rantings. Or how about another question, this one might even be tougher: Who's the girls County Player of the Year?

Rooting for arch rivals? I don't think so

The San Luis Obispo High girls soccer team came out of its post-game huddle Wednesday after a 1-0 win over Diamond Ranch in the second round of the Division III playoffs, and the first thing the Tigers hear is an update on the Arroyo Grande game.

The Eagles won 2-0.

"Urghhhh," was the collective harrumph that came from the disappointed SLO group.

Back at The Tribune office, editor Ashley Conklin took the phone call from the Eagles, who were equally bummed to hear how the rival Tigers won their playoff game.

I didn't get it at first. One of the first things I thought when I found out both teams won was "We'll have to plan some super coverage if they end up playing each other in the playoffs." (It'll happen if both teams win their next two games. They'd meet in the final round.)

But I'm thinking about it like a journalist. And as a reporter who covers both teams, I'd imagine it would be a grand spectacle to have two SLO County teams facing off for a championship.

Heck, fans will even root around sometimes. In the past couple weeks, I've seen Tiger Bill here and there. Except, one time, he was Eagle Bill. The other time, he was Royal Bill. He said he only switches caps during the playoffs.

I'm thinking of renaming him Ubiquitous Bill.

But players don't think that way, especially not in rivalries as bitter as the San Luis Obispo-Arroyo Grande one has become.

The Tigers and Eagles want to see the other one lose right away — maybe even get blown out for their troubles and humiliated on the way out.

It's not bad sportsmanship. It's passion. It's emotion. And it's so right on.

No, I'm not saying go out and burn your team's name into your rivals' grass field. But if you're a player, you're out there pushing and clawing — let's face it, that's what you do in most sports — there's no way you're going to ever bring yourself to root for a league rival.

A SLO player? Pull for AG? To borrow the rough spanish equivalent to when pigs fly, "Yeah, on goalkeeper's day."

CIF-SS boys teams are done. Now comes the hard part

By the look of the votes in the most recent poll and comments, it might boil down to a two-man race for the County Player of the Year between Morro Bay's Dylan Royer and Paso Robles' David Cone.

There are certainly others out there in the discussion, but for the sake of this blog, let's pretend there aren't for one day.

As of Tuesday night, both the Pirates and Bearcats were bounced from the playoffs in the second round of their respective CIF-Southern Section divisions. So there goes one way of comparing the two guys.

Both teams had 20 wins. Both made the second round. Neither won a league title. Team success — often a tiebreaker in many MVP-type discussions — is a push.

So, it has to come down to one-on-one comparisons.

I've seen both play within the past five days, and honestly, there could hardly be two more different players.

Royer, a four-year varsity starter who's amassed more than 2,000 points in his career, is a dangerous shooter without a conscience. He's got an uncanny knack for grabbing steals and is a very good rebounder, especially at his position. But his willingness to shoot from anywhere 20-feet-and-in at any time is what defines him. He only needs an inch of space and is just as adept driving to the basket as he is pulling up for a 15-footer or shooting a 3-pointer.

Cone, the last remaining Paso Robles Bearcat to have played with Derrick Jasper, is a prototype high school big man. He's got a couple go-to moves that are money in the post. Though a knee injury has limited his jumping and mobility, he makes up for it by playing smart. At least partly because of his size (he's listed at 6 feet, 9 inches), Cone is the most dominant defensive player in the county. But he also blocks shots with control, giving his team a great chance at recovering the ball.

A stone-cold shooter. A textbook big man.

Who's better? Who's more vaulable? Who deserves it more?

I hate ties. And I've never been fond of anything that begins with "Co-" (Sorry, Colorado). Somebody's going to win. But the Tribune does have a tough decision on its hands. Keep on voting.

Friday's points to ponder from Paso Robles

Here are a few notes from the first round of the Southern Section boys basketball playoffs. I was in Paso Robles. Anybody who was at any other games, please give some color.

• David Cone has been a big topic of the posters these past couple weeks. Will he go D-1 in college? Won't he? Can he play against tough opponents? I'll say this about Friday's performance: Even though he was the biggest player on the court, he was challenged by some long, athletic big men.

Cone's response? 19 points, eight rebounds and at least five blocks. He was breaking the press. He's untrappable at the high school level. He'll definitely be playing college somewhere next year. At a J.C., a small four-year school. Heck, I've seen players with his frame go to D-I colleges, sit until their senior year and become impact players in the end. Some improved quickness and an outside jumper might earn him some more opportunities at higher levels.

• Though Paso Robles won its first-round game with a great fourth quarter, by the end of the third, Valley View had charged back, and the Bearcats looked ripe for the upset. Since North County Christian had already been bounced from the playoffs, I couldn't help but think, "Wow, I'm a moron. Two of the three teams I picked to go deep in the playoffs were goners. I knew I should have just stuck with the safe pick — the Mission Prep girls."

• To the Paso Robles Booster Club: Maybe look into investing in a new CD player for the gym. As reported in The Tribune's game story in the paper, the Bearcats' warmup music sounded like it was "chopped and screwed" by Yan Can Cook. It might've just been some scratchy CDs, but the disc reader didn't look very, uhm, modern.

On a side note, it's a sad commentary on the state of rap music today when three different songs can all scratch and skip in succession and a gym full of people just continues to bob its collective head as if it's just hearing a new remix or something. Thanks a lot, Derrty South.

• And finally — though my audio taped interview with Paso Robles coach Scott Larson somehow got erased from my digital recorder on the way out to the car — I can still hear the man's shouts ringing in my ears. Scott has to be one of the loudest in-game coaches I've ever heard.

During the craziest parts of Friday's game, I could look over at Valley View coach Jim Long and just see his mouth moving and hear nothing coming out. Then I'd gaze over at Larson, plug my ears and his shouts of, "He's PUSHIN' him!" still cut through to the heart of my eardrums.

It's a talent. I wish I could unleash that kind of yell at my cat when he's scratching the couch.

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.

A slew of topics

Amidst all the football signings this week, I got word from Templeton that standout softball player and former County Player of the Year pitcher Kat Hicks will be off to play for Ivy League school Dartmouth next year.

There wasn't really a convenient place in the print edition to lump it in with the footall signings, but it was a big choice for a talented athlete all the same.

On another note, someone mentioned the upcoming track season. It's coming on faster than you think, and it should be a good one. Among others, expect plenty of highlights to come from junior all-everything Mission Prep distance runner Jordan Hasay and San Luis Obispo senior sprinter Tonie Williams.

On the boys side, Paso Robles' Nathan Nelson was the best all-around sprinter in the county last season. If he's shown just a little improvement, watch out. The Bearcats also have a slew of talented distance runners. In the throws, watch for Nipomo's Korben Boaz, Templeton's Justin Cutler and, as usual, the troupe from Arroyo Grande.

As for the David Cone debate you guys are having, I'll weigh in: I've only seen him play a couple times, but each time I've come away more impressed. I watched him control the key defenively and hold his own on the boards against an Oakland team with plenty of size earlier this year.

I like Cone's knowledge of the game. For a big guy he's surprisingly deft at taking off and dribbling, and the Bearcats have success with using him to break the press. He probably needs some work finishing in traffic, but he'll play college basketball somewhere.

He's definitely in the running for Tribune County Player of the Year. As are Royer, Hattar, Demalleville and maybe a few others. Playoffs are still to come, and how teams do should carry some weight in the discussion, but what are your takes now on POY frontrunners?

Scape Crusaders? Nah, don't blame them

I got an e-mail today from a reader who took exception to a comment by North County Christian basketball player Kirk Sheplay in the latest Athlete of the Week story.

Sheplay said it was one of the Crusaders' team goals to score 100 points in a game this season, and after scoring in the 80s and 90s no fewer than six previous times, they did it in a 103-18 win over Shandon last week.

To at least one reader, this perceived idea of beating a team and "rubbing their noses in it" was a knock on NCC's sportsmanship, or a lack thereof.

Blowout wins. It's a topic always ripe for discussion, and the timeliness of the Crusaders' recent dominance brings it to the forefront.

Here's my basic opinion: It's usually parents who feel the sting of an embarrassing score. The coaches don't come away grumbling about having the score run up on them. And the only thing about blowout losses that humiliates players is not playing — or, even worse, being subbed in the game with less than 1 minute left.

The score in blowouts is just some theoretical thing up on the scoreboard. A win's a win. A loss is a loss. When the difference is more than 20, it might as well be 100.

If the kids and coaches from the losing team aren't worrying about it, then neither should anyone else.

But in the case of NCC, I have to admit that even I allowed the thought of running up the score to creep into my mind while interviewing Kirk. Yet, when I thought about it a little more, I realized that it's just an unfortunate situation for both teams.

The Crusaders, a strong and experienced team, had to play the Outlaws, a young squad rebuilding with a new coach. It's on the schedule. They're in the same league. There's nothing either school can do at this point.

But does NCC have to play with ruthless aggression, go as hard as it possibly can within the rules and squash an overmatched opponent?

Yes, and here's why.

The Crusaders have a good team with high expectations, not only for this year but for next, since so many starters on the team are juniors. They want to go as far as they can in the playoffs. And to do that, they have to be prepared and experienced in playing their hardest — playing their pressing and trapping style — for an entire game.

Unfortunately for them, their league schedule is littered with games against teams that can't be competitive with them, at least not this year.

If they let up, play lazily and perform below their potential to keep scores closer and, therefore, less humiliating for the opposing teams, they only hurt their own chances against other good teams, the kind they'll see in the playoffs.

If there weren't so many gimmes for NCC in the Coast Valley League, you could make an argument for going easy on a Shandon here or there, but you can't blame the NCC coaches for feeling the need to keep their team as sharp as possible when they are winning league games by an average of 50 points.

They've only had a couple close games all year, and you have to simulate intensity somehow.

That's not to say "anything goes." No team should get away with things like calling a timeout with a few seconds left in a blowout to set up an alley-oop dunk. And You don't leave your starters in the whole game.

There are unwritten rules just like in every sport, and as long as teams abide by them, it's OK. By all reports we've received at The Tribune, it seems NCC is doing just that.

If the 100 point thing is still bothersome, read this: I was a spectator in a high school girls game when I was a teenager where the opposing team beat my school 128-25 or something like that. I only remember it because there was a big push by that team to beat my school by 100 points. And my school was trying its hardest not to let the other do it.

Just think, if you were a kid and you had 90-some points, wouldn’t you want to get over the hump and just go for the milestone? It’s human nature, and I don’t think worse of Kirk Sheplay for being honest about it.

And if the Crusaders ever find themselves on the other side of a blowout, they won't have much right to make any hoopla either.

A quick Head's up

OK, gotta get some football news in here.

Hancock College standout and former San Luis Obispo High cornerback Ryan Head has signed on to play at Idaho State next year, one of Head's former coaches reported today.

Head, a former Tribune All-County first-teamer at DB who had a team-high four interceptions and 34 tackles for Hancock this past season, is committing to his second NCAA-FCS, Big-Sky-Conference school since his senior year at SLO High.

After receiving interest from Navy, San Diego, Humboldt State, UC Davis, Eastern Washington, Cal Lutheran and Menlo College during his two-time all-county career with the Tigers, Head originally signed with Sacramento State coming out of high school.

He instead ended up at Hancock, and this was all before my time so I don't really have all the juicy details. In fact, I've never seen Head play. Don't even know what he looks like.

Who knows what goes on down there in Santa Maria? Uh... barbecue. Wine? I heard the real-life Zorro was from around there, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, anybody out there wants to sound off about Head, please do. I'd love to read some anecdotes. His former coach called him the best cornerback he'd ever seen. That's gotta get someone going.

(To the Logan Budd people: Attack!)

The "why" in team

Remember the big Morro Bay-Templeton boys basketball game that had us in a furor a couple weeks ago?

Well, now it's ruined.

Since the storm that knocked some leaky shingles off the Templeton gym, both teams have lost a couple league games and though their game might be a good one, it won't mean near as much as if the two were still undefeated in the Los Padres League.

And that's too bad.

No, I'm not rooting for the Pirates or the Eagles over any other team in San Luis Obispo County. Nor am I playing favorites with Royer and Hattar.

But the fact is basketball is a lot more fun for everyone when the most dynamic scorers are also on the best teams.

Or is it?

Not if you ask the Arroyo Grande girls team, which doesn't have one player averaging more than eight points per game but is dominantly running away with the PAC 7.

And here's where I have an internal conflict. My basketball instincts say I want to see the biggest individual stars on the best teams. That's what Derrick Jasper and co. had at Paso Robles a couple years ago, and were there two people in the county who weren't at that last big playoff game?

We love that stuff.

But here's a tough question: Do we love a more successful team without a major stud scorer more than a less successful one with a standout star? Why not?

Your thoughts?

Atascadero coach update

Those concerned about Greyhounds girls basketball coach Paul Hill and his leave of absence may notice that Wednesday's story in The Tribune mentioned Hill was waiting for test results that would hopefully give him the green light to rejoin the team.

After talking with Hill today, it appeared the tests were positive in the sense that they didn't reveal the scariest of conclusions, but they were still somewhat inconclusive. That means Hill will be off the bench indefinitely while he continues to seek more care.

I'll keep you updated as much as I can. And good luck to Paul.

The storm strikes again

It's Friday night, around 8 p.m., and while I'm posting this blog, The Tribune's offices have been silenced by a power outage.

Mission Prep's gymnasium suffered a similar fate. Games from the Royals' eight-game Division V basketball showcase that didn't start before 6 p.m. have been postponed until Saturday.

As stated in an earlier blog, the Morro Bay-Templeton boys and girls games were also stopped by the storm when Templeton's gym came up with a leak and school administrators feared the near gale-force winds were too much of a travel hazard.

Interestingly, Coast Union's gym leaked during the storm before last, and games were moved midstream to the nearby middle school. But this is the first time this year basketball games have been postponed to a later date by rain.

The San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles game was going off as planned last I checked, and since the power seems OK in the South County, I'm guessing Arroyo Grande and Nipomo were able to stick to their original schedules.

Here's the hitch: Even though there were games played, since the power is out at The Tribune, we will not be able to bring you the usual full edition. I've been informed that if you do receive an issue of Saturday's paper, it won't have a sports section.

What we will do for you is work hard on Saturday to catch up with everything that happened Friday and Saturday and bring it to you in Sunday's paper.

Keep checking back here for updates now and in the future. Luckily, my cell phone has internet.

RAINED OUT

Hopefully, this gets out in time to reach some people.

Yes, word from Morro Bay is that the Morro Bay-Templeton boys basketball game has been postponed to a later date because of today's storm.

Pirates coach Dave Yamate phoned in with the update. According to him, Templeton made the decision earlier today beause of a problem with its gym. The girls game will also be postponed because of travel concerns.

This means we won't see a face off of two top Los Padres League teams. And we won't see a Michael Hattar-Dylan Royer matchup tonight. The game might be resceduled for Saturday, but nothing is certain at this point.

Stay tuned for any updates. SLO-Paso, here I come.

Rounding up the holidays

Yes, it's been a while since you've seen some blog action from me. It's been a while since The Tribune has been able to give some in-person coverage to SLO County high school sports.

But that doesn't mean we haven't been paying attention. Here are a few random thoughts on what's taken place since the Mission Prep Christmas Classic got underway, since PAC 7 play started and since many of us stuffed ourselves full of holiday fixins.

• Though his Compton team didn't exactly tear up the Mission Prep Christmas Classic, USC-bound Demar DeRozan looked good to me. On the first night of the tournament, I watched the guy decked in full warmups and an mp3 player effortlessly drain 3-pointers that would have put the NBA line to shame. Anybody else have any thoughts on the bigtime players that came to town this year?

• Sticking with boys basketball, Michael Hattar dropped 50 at the Atascadero Tournament. A few of you have weighed in on his talent already, but here's my quick take on Hattar: Though "Best Player Ever" honors still reside with Derrick Jasper, Hattar really is a high school superstar.

Someone made mention of the Eagles' star and his high shooting percentage (at 53 percent last check). Yeah, he makes his share of layouts in Templeton's flex offense, but Hattar shoots 50 percent from beyond the arc, too. And it seems like his favorite shot is a step-back jumper that, for me, conjures a scene from the movie Coming to America where Eddie Murphy yells, "YES! YES! In the face!"

• Some have also began contrasting Hattar to Morro Bay standout Dylan Royer. Well, those interested won't have to wait long for it to be decided on the court. The Pirates travel to Templeton on Friday.

• Honestly, we're still deciding at The Tribune whether to cover that Morro Bay-Templeton game or head over to San Luis Obispo, where the Tigers host Paso Robles in a PAC 7 showdown that could have playoff implications by the end of the season. Though both teams may be fighting for second place behind defending champ Righetti, anything could happen at this point, and San Luis Obispo already has a win over Arroyo Grande in league play.

• Speaking of San Luis Obispo, it could be a magical year on the pitch for the Tigers. Both the boys and girls teams are having banner years. Heck, the girls are still officially undefeated at 16-0-2, though they failed to advance in a holiday tournament after being on the wrong side of a 1-1 shootout.

I'm not really much of a soccer expert, but I know this much: You can't win if you don't score, and both San Luis Obispo teams seem expert at shutting down opposing offenses. That should allow them to be in a game with just about anyone.

I'm on the books to see the SLO High girls in person for the first time this season Wednesday night. Check out Thursday's Tribune for the game report.

Bulletin board material

It's become clear to me the past few months how powerful the typed word can be around here.

It seems like every other week there's a prep sports team feeling overlooked or undervalued in the public sphere.

"Such and such team was not featured in The Tribune this week! How dare that Scroggin?!"

I've come to terms with the sentiment. It's a fact of life that every team in every sport cannot be mentioned in every story.

I'm usually allowed between 525 and 630 words to tell an engaging story you want to read — even if a friend or relative of yours is not playing — and include all the pertinent facts. Considering I've already typed more than 115 words so far on this blog post, it's not very much space.

So maybe you won't read about yourself or your favorite team in the sports pages tomorrow. With a dozen schools teaming up on one sports reporter, you probably won't.

Smart coaches have used the perceived slight as motivation. And that's all right with me. I'll still keep making coverage decisions based on the same criteria.

But know that if your team isn't getting constant coverage, there's still a positive to come out of it.

Your school's coach may be giving the uber-effective us-against-the-world speech right now as you read this.

And since The Tribune's coverage already produces so much bulletin board material, here's some more: Countywide power rankings for some of the winter team sports.

Boys Basketball
1. Morro Bay
2. San Luis Obispo
3. Mission Prep
4. Paso Robles
5. Templeton
Also considered: Arroyo Grande

Girls Basketball
1. Arroyo Grande
2. Morro Bay
3. Mission Prep
4. Atascadero
5. Paso Robles

Boys Soccer
1. San Luis Obispo
2. Paso Robles
3. Arroyo Grande
4. Nipomo
5. Atascadero

Girls Soccer
1. Arroyo Grande
2. San Luis Obispo
3. Atascadero
4. Nipomo
5. Mission Prep

Wrestling
1. Atascadero
2. Morro Bay
3. Paso Robles
4. Nipomo
5. Arroyo Grande

Hey, if your team wasn't mentioned or isn't as high as you think it should be. Feel free to print this page out, highlight whatever parts and send it to the coach. Some free motivation care of this blog. Happy Holidays!

** Regarding the omission of girls water polo: I don't know enough about anything at this point except Arroyo Grande might be the best around. I guess you can think of that statement as a bonus track of motivation.

Derrick Jasper update

Nope, I haven't spoken with the former Paso Robles High basketball phenom in a while, but a reporter at the Lexington Herald-Leader recently did a story on a recent surgery that's kept him off the court for Kentucky.

You can read it here.

Preseason reports had Jasper working on his outside shot and primed for a breakout season this year. It seemed as though coming back from microfracture surgery in the offseason was more like an afterthought.

But Jasper hasn't played in any of the Wildcats' first five games and appears to have a way to go before returning to the court.

Jasper, perhaps the highest touted basketball player ever to come out of San Luis Obispo County, has had a rough start to his college career. What are your takes on the local hero?

(And don't say you think Jasper is good, but not as good as the All-Los Padres League football team. We're planning on running the all-league teams for every league and sport along with the All-County girls volleyball stuff later next week.)

Hoop it here?

One of the recent posters on the previous blog, which is up over 125 comments now, is talking about looking ahead to next football season. But "anonymous 8:42" (Hey! I thought you guys and girls were going to stick with names?!) is not alone.

You all seem interested in next season already. But here's my question: Is anyone sticking around to talk basketball?

The Tribune's high school basketball preview stories were published in Thursday's paper, and I'm spending all day Thursday at Morro Bay's Harding Invitational Tournament.

I know the previews did not go very in-depth into all of the local teams, but that's more of a staffing challenge than lazy reporting by yours truly. Feel free to send me an e-mail if you have any specific questions or concerns on that front.

I'm also planning a more thorough league preview once the teams get ready to enter their respective conference play and I have seen all of them in person. It'll be similar to the midseason review we ran last year.

Anywho, I'm gauging the basketball interest. Capt. of Templeton Injured, it seems like you've got much to cheer about with Michael Hattar. And Logan Budd disciples in Morro Bay can shift their hopes over to Dylan Royer. PAC 7 teams look like they'll have a tough time with Righetti, but there's plenty of intrigue there, too.

Will Paso Robles make a comeback under Scott Larson? Can Arroyo Grande carry over last season's playoff success with composed-beyond-his-years sophomore center Tanner Hinek? What direction does San Luis Obispo go in the post-Conner Reese era? And how will Atascadero and Nipomo rebound after losing a couple of great scorers?

Mission Prep still has plenty left in the cupboard in its second year without Tom Mott. The Christmas Classic looks to be top notch. And I have a feeling there might be plenty of parity in girls basketball.

So what do you say? Can we talk some hoop?

Picking the All-County team

I can't say for sure what it was this year, but picking my second Tribune All-County Football Team was tough — much harder than last year.

Before I go into which spots seemed the most difficult, let me break down how these things get worked out.

First, I'll look make a gut-feeling team based on who played the best in games that I covered or otherwise saw in person. I tried to see every team at least once.

Second, I'll check out statistical leaders in rushing, passing and receiving yards, quarterback rating, tackles, sacks and interceptions. Then I'll make a strictly statistical team.

Third, I put out calls to every county coach (I wish I had the time to reach out to Santa Maria teams like Righetti and St. Joseph, but that's a luxury I couldn't afford). I listen to each coach's nominations of his own players — and especially to their evaluations of opponents — to form an all-coach team.

Then I'll meld the "stats team" with the "coach team" and use the "gut team" as a kind of tiebreaker if I'm having trouble.

Hope that makes sense.

Well, it was especially difficult to rank the three quarterbacks after Morro Bay's Logan Budd. All three candidates — Mason Sperakos of Nipomo, Davey Schultz of San Luis Obispo and Dylan Morrow of Mission Prep — were penciled in as a first-teamer on at least one rough draft.

Deciding which would end up as the second team guy and the other as an honorable mention was one of the tougher decisions I had to make this year.

In the end, I went with Sperakos No. 1 for having a good yardage total, a good efficiency rating and for leading Nipomo to its first playoff berth in program history. Morrow was second because of a stellar touchdown total and value to his team, which was eliminated from the playoffs when he went out with injury. Schultz, though a front-runner for first-team recognition, made honorable mention. He had a great yardage total, but his efficiency and interception total hurt.

I also shuffled around the first- and second-team receivers and running backs a bit. I even added an official fullback slot to help ease the decisions. But linebacker was particularly troubling this year, too.

With his statistics and athleticism, SLO's Zack Thorne was a lock. After that, it was tough to slot the rest of the candidates in the best order.

In any event, a lot of time and energy went into researching and selecting this year's team. I don't expect everybody to be happy.

But here's the best part: If you aren't happy, you can be heard on this blog. Let me know who I missed or what you would have done differently.

On a side note, I really appreciate everybody's comments. This blog was given an intra-company award this month mostly because of the high volume of Web traffic and the interaction from readers.

You readers, posters and poll-voters have made this The Tribune's most watched blog, and I'd love to see the interest continue into basketball season.