High School Sports Feature: McDonalds All-Americans

With the McDonald's All-American basketball game upon us today (5:30 pm ET for girls, 8:00 pm ET for boys) from the "U" (University of Miami for those unaware of what the "U" is, they have also asked not to be confused with the "O") I thought it would be a good time to highlight some local talent playing in this game.

Playing for the East team will be Guard Peyton Siva out of Franklin High School. Siva who is fresh off of leading the Quakers to the 3A state championship, and being named MVP of the tournament, will be heading to Louisville to play for Rick Pitino and the Cardinals. Scout.com has Siva ranked as the #7 rated point guard in his class. His strengths are listed as perimeter shot, speed/quickness and that he is a true point guard. Improvements are listed as decision making and mid-range game.

For the West side the state of Washington is represented by two players who up until this past season had been playing together on AAU teams or with Bellarmine Prep High School since 7th grade, in Abdul Gaddy and Avery Bradley. Last year Bradley transferred to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada. Bradley will be heading to Texas as the #3 rated shooting guard according to scout.com and his attack mode and mid-range game are his strengths. His passing and 3-point range could use improvement.

Abdul Gaddy who attended Bellarmine Prep will be staying home to play for Lorenzo Romar and the Washington Huskies. He is listed as the #2 rated point guard with scout.com and his ability to create, instincts for his position and the fact that he is an impact player are serious strengths. He still could work on his strength to handle the college game and is not considered a big-time scorer. I think with Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter returning for the Dawgs he will have time to build strength and won't be counted on right away to be a major scoring threat.

Also of note, with John Calipari leaving Memphis to coach at Kentucky a number of his recruits with the Tigers have re-opened their recruitment. One of the players in Calipari's class, DeMarcus Cousins, who is from Mobile, Alabama had the University of Washington in his top 5....and with him now being back on the market.....I'm just saying. It would be great to add a 6-10, 245 pound Center to the recruiting class.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

Well the Washington Huskies basketball season is over after a 76-74 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday in Portland at the Rose Garden. UW came back from a 14 point deficit and almost won the game but ultimately came up short. A huge sequence took place with about a minute left in the game when the Huskies had the ball and had two shots blocked by JaJuan Johnson of Purdue. First Johnson blocked Isaiah Thomas then Quincy Pondexter.

The Huskies were led by Thomas (24 points), Pondexter (20 points and 10 rebounds) and of course Jon Brockman (20 points and 18 rebounds. 60th double-double of his career). Those 3 combined to score all but 10 of the Huskies points for the game. In my opinion the biggest key to the game was the virtual no shows of every other Husky besides Thomas, Pondexter and Brockman, with the exception of Venoy Overton who played great defense but didn't adjust to how closely the officials were calling the game.

Now that the season is over for the Dawgs most people think of what could of have been. I like to look into the future and think of how good this team will be next year. Granted the Huskies will be losing two major pieces to the team in Brockman and Justin Dentmon but they also gained a lot of experience and it was amazing to see how much better Quincy Pondexter played this year. UW will return 3 of the 5 starters as well as the top 4 guys off of the bench.

The recruiting class for 2009 is also going to be key as the Huskies have the #13 ranked class according to ESPN. They will bring in the #2 rated point guard, 6-3 Abdul Gaddy along with versatile power forward Clarence Trent, guard C.J. Wilcox and Junior College power forward Charles Garcia, Jr.

I'm disappointed the season ended for the Huskies but I am also amped for the possibility of what the Dawgs can do next year.

High School Sports Feature: Todd Beamer's 1st trip to State

On Thursday Federal Way High School boys basketball was featured on Just South of North. And today we're going to shine the spotlight on another Federal Way school. Only this time it's one of the newer schools in the state, and one without a storied background.

Todd Beamer High School.

Todd Beamer High School, named after Todd Morgon Beamer (a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11, 2001 attacks) opened it's doors in the fall of 2003.

And last night the stars seemed to align as the Beamer boys basketball team beat the highly talented and dominate Bellarmine Prep High School 78-68.

The Beamer Titans beat the Lions in a must win game of the West Central District 4A Tournament. Going into the game both teams knew that the winner would go to state and the loser's season would be over.

Bellarmine's Abdul Gaddy, a senior, is easily one of the best players in the state. He has been invited to the McDonald's All-American game and also the Nike Hoops Summit in Portland, Ore. He also has commited to play for the University of Washington next season.

But on Friday night Gaddy and his Lions met Napa Mefi. Mefi, a 5 foot 9 inch sophomore guard, came to play. He lit up the scoreboard with 28 points, including draining five 3-pointers.

At one point during the first half the Titans trailed by as much as nine points. But during the start of the fourth quarter Beamer went on a 12-0 run and put the game almost out of reach, 64-49.

Bellermine tried to rally back, but had dug themselves in too deep of a hole. In the end they watched as Todd Beamer celebrated their first trip to the 4A state tournament. They will be the Districts Number 5 seed into state.

Kevin Davis also added 25 points for the Titans.