Thanksgiving Weekend Update: Showcase Showdown in Town

Thanksgiving update:

The SportStars Guy Emanuele Tip-Off Showcase announces updated schedule.

James Logan girls volleyball is on a streak (which is awesome). The girls are playing in the NorCal finals – There’s an Open Division and D1 (James Logan is ranked #20 in the state and very likely will be playing for the D1 Championships), but it also puts pressure on our gym availability.

Coach Busch has this solution:

The Pavilion will be varsity teams, and the Alrod will be JVs first and then varsity. I will personally contact every coach. (P.S> I still need your rosters if you haven’t turned them in.) Please arrive one hour earlier then your game and check in at the front door. Here’s the revised schedule.

Pavilion:

9:30  Irvington vs Mt. Eden

11:00  Monte Vista vs Antioch

12:30  Oakland Tech vs Pittsburg

2:00  El Cerrito vs Freedom

Alrod Gym:

JV:  10:00 Washington vs St. Mary’s

11:30  Monte Vista vs El Cerrito

2:30  James Logan vs. Heritage

VARSITY:  4:00  San Leandro vs Clayton Valley Charter

5:30  Washington vs Deer Valley

7:00  James Logan vs Heritage

SportStars is our Title Media Partner and Washington Hospital is once again the sponsor of the Team Spirit Award and Sportsmanship Awards. Raise the roof and score big money for your basketball program!

Thank you and good luck.

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It’s all happening. November has arrived and the sneakers are squeaking as teams get ready for the opening of another basketball season toward the end of this month.

And per usual, fans — especially those in the Bay Area — won’t have to wait long to see some big time matchups. Saturday, Nov. 25, will be the first big day of the season as two boys showcases will take place just 6.5 miles apart from one another.

Newark Memorial High will once again play host to the NorCal Tip-Off Classic. This season’s seven-game slate will feature six teams who finished in the SportStars 2016-17 NorCal Top 20 final rankings. The headlining game will be Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (No. 16 in last season’s final ranks) taking on a Fairfax-L.A. team which returns a ton of Division I talent after finishing No. 14 in CalHiSports.com’s final state rankings. O’Dowd returns one of the best backcourts in all of NorCal, and perhaps the state, in Pac 12-bound duo Elijah Hardy (Washington) and Naseem Gaskin (Utah).

Other NorCal Tip-Off matchups include St. Ignatius-S.F. (No. 17 final NorCal rank) against Las Lomas-Walnut Creek, Dublin (No. 7) against Berkeley, Moreau Catholic-Hayward (No. 10) against San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno, St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda (No. 3) against Folsom and Capital Christian-Sacramento (No. 10) against Rancho Christian-Temecula.

Just a short 10-minute drive away, James Logan-Union City is hosting the second annual Guy Emanuele East Bay Tip-Off Showcase. In addition to being the host, the Colts will be beginning defense of their 2016-17 CIF Division I NorCal title. Despite their senior core being gone, Logan will likely be looking to the leadership of upcoming juniors Malcolm Steadman (4.4 points, 3 rebounds per game a year ago) and Gabriel Hawkins (5 points, 3.4 rebounds).

The Colts will play the headlining game against Heritage-Brentwood (No. 18 Norcal) in a rematch of last season’s CIF Div. I Northern Regional semifinal that Logan won 58-51. The Patriots should be led this season by forward Jonathan Ned.

Oakland Tech (No. 20) is also part of the Guy Emanuele lineup, as the Bulldogs matchup with Pittsburg. Other notable matchups in the event include El Cerrito against Freedom-Oakley, Monte Vista-Danville against Antioch and San Leandro against Clayton Valley-Concord.

As the calendar turns to December, the East Bay’s premier girls event — the West Coast Jamboree — turns 18 years old this season. While the bracket matchups for the Dec. 28-30 event haven’t been set yet, teams confirmed for the Platinum bracket include Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (No. 1 in our final 16-17 NorCal ranks), Carondelet-Concord (No. 3), Salesian-Richmond (No. 8), West Campus-Sacramento (No. 16), Sacramento (No. 17) and Folsom (No. 20). The Diamond Division bracket will include Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (No. 2), St. Mary’s-Berkeley (No. 6), McClatchy-Sacramento (No. 9), Vanden-Fairfield (No. 10) and Miramonte-Orinda (No. 11).

— Chace Bryson