The site’s creator and editor passed away in February. This site will shutdown on Oct. 1st.

Here is the full obituary (link):

The Preuss family lost Art Preuss, our Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Friend and Confidant. But to many people, he will be remembered simply as “Coach.”

While he was an advertising and marketing executive in Grand Rapids, MI and Scottsdale, AZ, Art will be best remembered as an amazing father of seven children, teacher and life-long basketball coach. He taught at St. Agnes Elementary and Central Arizona College before focusing on coaching girls’ varsity basketball. He coached hundreds of young athletes at Forest Hills Northern High School in Michigan, Pinnacle High School and Notre Dame Prep High School. He taught the skills of basketball but also how to be a good person, which was always his true goal of coaching.

“Coach” will be sorely missed, but he will continue to lead us from above as we follow the example of love, service and integrity he left behind.

Arthur Francis Preuss (75) passed away suddenly on Friday, February 4th in Scottsdale, AZ. Art was born in St. Louis, MO and moved to Phoenix, AZ at the age of 10. Art attended Brophy College Preparatory, Phoenix College and Arizona State University. After college, Art spent 20 years in Rockford, MI and the last 23 years in Scottsdale, AZ. He is survived by his wife (Valerie), brother (Clete), step-mother (Carol), seven children (David, Dan, Dominic, Devney, Danielle, Doc and Dustin), nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A memorial mass will be held on February 25, 2022 at 10:30 am at the Franciscan Renewal Center. The Casa is located at 5802 E. Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale, AZ, with a reception to follow.

Flowers may be sent to Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home or donations to: The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Arizona.

Might as well get that out there, right up front.

While lopsided scores are not unusual in high school basketball, this one jumped off the page, just because it was Shadow Mountain, a team that not long ago ruled 4A basketball.

St. Mary’s High School won that contest last Thursday night, 105-35, and further dampened the spirits of a program trying to find its way back to the stardom it enjoyed for the better part of a decade.

It’s been just three years since Shadow Mountain won its fourth consecutive 4A state championship and the fifth in six years.

Mike Bibby was the head coach for the four straight titles, Jerry Conner for the fifth.  But the east Phoenix school has had four head coaches over the past 10 years and, despite the continual disruptions, not one of those seasons ended in a losing record.  In fact, none of those teams won fewer than 23 games a season.

Bibby’s work in building a hoops dynasty was cut short after the 20018-19 season when he became the subject of a sexual abuse allegation made by a Shadow Mountain teacher.  He resigned and a six-week investigation by the Phoenix police failed to find probable cause to bring charges, so the case was closed.

Curtis Millage took the reins for the 2019-20 season and it appeared there wasn’t going to be much fall-off in the wake of Bibby’s departure.  The team finished with a respectable 15-9 record.  However, the next year the program fell through the floor, winning just a single game on the shortened 14-game schedule.  The talent that propelled Bibby’s teams was no longer in the line-up.

Right now the Matadors are 3-9 on the season and are dealing with a 10-game losing streak.  They haven’t won a game since Dec. 29, and the slide has accelerated toward the end of the schedule. They’ve lost the last six games by an average of 38 points a game.

With just three games remaining on the 2021-22 schedule, a losing season is assured.  That hasn’t happened since the 2010-11 season when the Matadors went 1-20.

And even then, their worst loss was an 81-39 thumping by Sunnyslope High School.  The 70-point loss last week to St. Mary’s is believed to be the largest margin in a loss in program history.

Now, a decade later, this is a proud program with a winning tradition that is faced with a challenging climb back to respectability.

When Larry Turner-Gooden announced on social media that he was decommitting from the Class of 2022 in late September, it meant there were just four players remaining in that recruiting class, the fewest of any team in the Pac-12.  It was a very early look into the future, but not a promising sight.

Turner-Gooden, a four-star athlete from California, was the jewel of the recruiting class at that time.  Ranked as the No. 5 athlete nationally, he had 33 other offers and decided he would take another look at those schools, making him just one more casualty of the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations that is hanging over the Sun Devil program and giving potential recruits pause in their consideration of the Pac-12 program.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Turner-Golden decided to de-commit since the two coaches most responsible for his recruitment, Chris Hawkins and Prentice Gill, were two of the three assistants to Coach Herm Edwards that were put on administrative leave in response to the NCAA allegations.

Last month, during the early signing period, the Sun Devils signed six players on the first day, adding five freshmen and one junior college transfer.  But none of those are expected to provide the kind of impact that Turner-Gooden was expected to make.

So, Edwards, who just finished his fourth season in Tempe, has turned his attention to the NCAA transfer portal to begin supplementing the incoming talent from the high schools, using experienced players to stock the roster for next season.  It appears this will become the norm going forward for the ASU program.

Last week he added a couple of offensive linemen to run the total now to eight players acquired through the portal, the majority on the offensive side of the ball.

That group includes:

Des Holmes…a 300-pound offensive lineman who played over 32 games as a backup guard and tackle at Penn State.  Has one season of eligibility remaining.

Emmit Bohle…another 300-pounder who was a two-year starter on the offensive line at Northern State University, a D-II program in South Dakota.  Has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Chris Martinez…one more biggie to add to the offensive line, this 300-pounder started all 13 games last season for San Diego State, which finished the regular season 11-1.  Has one more season of eligibility and is expected to step into a starting role for his final college season.

Nesta Jade Silvera…will give some heft to the defensive line, the 306-pound transfer from Miami should be an impact player at defensive tackle.

Paul Tyson…transferring in from Alabama where he played in just 13 games during his 3-year stay  with the Tide.  The 6’5″ great grandson of Bear Bryant joins Bennett Meredith, also from Alabama, as one of two incoming quarterbacks.  Meredith has graduated from Hoover High School in Birmingham and already enrolled at ASU.

Xazavian Valladay…the most likely to make an immediate impact on the Sun Devil offense, the running back from Wyoming is considered one of the best in the nation.  His explosive style helped him gain 3,281 yards in the 37 regular-season games during his time with the Cowboys and earn a spot on three Mountain West All-Conference teams.

Messiah Swinson…a back-up tight end at Missouri, the 6’8″, 232-pounder spent three seasons with the Tigers, which means ASU will have more experience at that position.

Rodney Groce, Jr…will also provide some needed depth at linebacker.  Groce has four years of eligibility to give the Sun Devils since he played in just four games last season for Mississippi State.

ASU will likely pick up a few more recruits when National Signing Day gets here on Feb. 2, but Edwards has made it clear that he is going to lean heavily on using the transfer portal to beef up his 2022 roster.

He says he plans to add another dozen or so players from the portal, so fans can expect next season’s team to look much different than it does right now.

And that could be seen as a good thing.  Last year’s team opened to high expectations, even predictions about getting to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1997.  The Devils started off by winning four of its first five games, but then sputtered down the stretch, finishing 8-5 and ending the season with a 13-20 bowl loss to Wisconsin.

Hopefully, this infusion of seasoned talent coming through the portal will give the Devils another shot at the kind of season they were expected to have last year.

(Photo: ASU Athletics)

It had been three weeks since the Sun Devils played a game, thanks to the cancellation of their previous six games, dating back to Dec. 31 when the meeting with UCLA was postponed due to COVID protocols within the Bruins’ program.

That scheduled game with the Bruins would have opened the slate of Pac-12 games.  Instead, the Devils found themselves going up against Colorado without a single conference game under their belts.  They were the only team in the conference that hadn’t started that part of their schedule.

The Buffs had hoped there would be enough rust on the Devils’ game to be able to break their two-game losing streak.  The weeks of inactivity showed, but ASU was able to overcome the disadvantage, take Colorado into overtime, and eventually pull out a 57-52 victory to run its overall record to 9-5.

The win was the first this season against a ranked opponent.

It was a low-scoring game that relied on defense to save the day.  The Devils took 52 shots and made just 19 (36 percent), including a 6-for-20 performance (30 percent) from behind the arc.  And their success at the free throw line wasn’t any better, just barely making more than they missed, 13-for-24.

Part of that lack of offensive success could be attributed to the loss of the team’s leading scorer, Jade Loville, who wasn’t available for the game.  The senior transfer from Boise State is averaging 15.5 points a game.

And the mistakes that showed their long stretch of inactivity were plentiful.  They committed 21 teams fouls and added 29 turnovers to the sloppiness.  Taya Hanson, the game’s high scorer with 17 points, fouled out with 12 seconds left in the game, and the rest of the personal fouls were spread around among eight of her teammates.

The Devils set the tone early against the Buffs, taking a 6-0 lead to start the game and holding that lead for almost the entire game.  Colorado took the lead away briefly as the first half ended with a 23-22 Colorado lead.  But ASU took the lead back after halftime and outscored the Buffs by three points in the third quarter.

Aggressive full-court, trapping defensive pressure by Colorado in the final minute of regulation enabled the Buffs to create the turnovers they needed to tie the game at 46-46 on a basket with 11 seconds left and force overtime.

That erratic, sloppy play extended into the overtime period.  There were a combined 17 points scored in those five minutes, and every point was made at the free throw line amid a continuous cascade of fouls.

The margin of victory wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.  Colorado hit a three-point shot at the buzzer to cut the lead to five points.

This was the second overtime game this season for ASU.  The Devils lost the first one, 59-66, to Minnesota back on Nov. 12.  That loss was the first of four losses during a five-game stretch.  Now, the Sun Devils are riding a four-game winning streak.

They will try to extend the streak tomorrow afternoon when they host Utah.  The Utes, also with nine wins and sitting in 11th place in the Pac-12, are coming off a 76-64 loss to the Arizona Wildcats.

(Photo: ASU Athletics)

Since 2011, the wrestling powerhouse from Tucson has either won the tournament or finished in the top three.  This year’s championship is the program’s 31st tourney title and the 16th since 1996.

The Flowing Wells Invite has become a tune-up for Sunnyside’s annual bid for another state title.  They have 34 of those sitting in the trophy case right now, after winning a third straight D-II team title last year.  Liberty won the 2021 D-I state title.

This year’s state tournament will be one to watch since both teams are competing in D-I.

But back to the tournament…

The Blue Devils won the Flowing Wells in 2018 and again in 2019 before being dethroned in 2020 when Liberty High School won its first-ever Flowing Wells title.

This year’s two-day tournament drew close to 100 schools from Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico and included girls’ team competition.  Girls were included in the tournament for the first time in 2019, but have been competing as individuals.  This year, the Liberty girls won the first team title, beating Montwood High School from Texas, 134.5 to 100.  Sunnyside took third place with 97.5 points.

Sunnyside ran away with the boys’ title, posting a team total of 420 points, well ahead of runner-up Liberty (254.5) and third-place Sahuarita High School, a D-III program that scored 185.5 points.

The Blue Devils used seven individual titles to pile up their points: Sergio Vega (113 lbs), James Armstrong (120), Cristian Rivera (132), Jaime Rivera (150), Michael Avelar (165), Nicholas Pina (175), and Rene Fragoso (190).  Armstrong and Fragoso are repeat champions.

Sahuarita’s Gabriel Gallardo, who won the 144 title, was named the tourney’s Outstanding Wrestler.

On the girls’ side, Liberty had two individual champions, Bella Bocanegra at 100 and Lily Hunt at 138.

Things were beginning to return to some semblance of normalcy following the outbreak two years ago of the COVID-19 virus that quickly turned into a pandemic that forced major changes in the way sports in this state could be conducted.

Now, it’s deja vu time.

Earlier this week, the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) confirmed that more than 800 games and matches had been cancelled in just a three-day period.  And, once again, the culprit is the coronavirus, this time a new variant called Omicron.

The rapid spread of the virus variant has caught the schools by surprise.  And it has become so widespread that coaches and administrators are hoping the sports programs can get through the winter schedule without hitting the pause button.

That was the concern of one high school coach interviewed by Richard Obert at The Arizona Republic last week.  Adrian Orona, the boys basketball coach at Canyon View High School in Waddell offered his opinion:  “If we don’t get this under control quickly, a shutdown of the season is imminent.”

We’re a long way from the spring of 2020 when the original COVID virus broke out and the spring sports season was cut short.  The AIA’s Sport Medical Advisory Committee issued a 10-page guide that summer, setting out rules that would have to be followed when, and if, the fall season got underway.

Players were limited to home workouts and organized training was done with Zoom sessions.  When on-site practices were able to begin, the players couldn’t use the locker rooms.  They had to drive themselves to practice, get checked for temperatures once there, keep six-foot distancing, bring their own ball, and have their equipment disinfected before and after training sessions.  Hugs, high-fives, or even fist bumps were no longer allowed.

We’ve come a long way since then in learning to cope with this pandemic.  The draconian lock-down measures of the past are just a disturbing memory.

Players aren’t likely to see those kinds of extreme health measures again.  But the problems brought on by the spread of the Omicron variant are extremely disruptive nonetheless.

Just keeping enough officials healthy to oversee the games/matches has been a challenge.  Every effort is being made to avoid cancelling games, but so many are being rescheduled that the playoffs could be affected.  There are just several weeks remaining in the regular season, with so many make-up games looking for a spot on that dwindling schedule.

Many schools have resorted to a return to the players wearing masks during practices and other activities.  Even the wrestling team at Tempe’s Corona del Sol High School is working out wearing masks.

The mask mandate had been lifted by the AIA in time for the start of this school year.  Now, just five months in, it’s rearing its ugly head once again.

These are desperate measures for desperate times.  Many teams are woefully short of players, either through players sitting out due to COVID protocols or, in some cases, parents pulling their children from sports participation as an added precaution.  For small schools, with a limited number of participants to begin with, that can have a disastrous effect on the ability to compete.

Only time will tell whether we make it to the playoffs.  Right now coaches are doing their best to field competitive teams with varsity programs often pulling up JV players to fill in.

To keep things in perspective, we have to remember it’s not as bad as it was two years ago.

But when you’re back to wearing a mask, it’s hard to keep that in mind.

It looked like the state of Arizona might soon be able to boast a Heisman winner.

Rattler entered the 2021 season rated as the top returning quarterback in college football by Pro Football Focus and the top returning QB in the Big 12 by Bleacher Report.

But last season did not go as planned for the graduate of Pinnacle High School in north Phoenix.  Rattler lost his starting job to freshman Caleb Williams during the sixth game on the schedule.  Williams replaced Rattler in the second quarter, when the Sooners were trailing Texas, 35-17, and led the team to its largest comeback victory in the history of the storied rivalry, posting a 55-48 victory.

That was the last game Rattler would start for the Sooners, unable to regain his job from the newcomer.

Rattler made a big splash in 2020 when he became the first freshman in almost 30 years to start a game for the Sooners.  He threw for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns, led the Sooners to the Big 12 Championship, and was selected as an All-Conference and AP first-team quarterback.

But that level of play fell off somewhat as the next season got underway.

His relegation to the bench for most of the 2021 season was enough to prompt him to find a landing spot at a program that would give him a chance to earn a shot at that Heisman.  That decision was brought to a head when Lincoln Riley, who had recruited him to Oklahoma, announced he would be leaving Oklahoma to take over the USC program.

Rattler entered the NCAA transfer portal in the final days of November and it took him just two weeks to find a new home with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

That takes him from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC, where he will get the kind of  national media exposure he will need to get back into the Heisman conversation.,

At one point in the speculation about his future, Arizona State was among those reportedly on his short list.  Both ASU and University of Arizona made scholarship offers when he was still a freshman at Pinnacle.

Now he’s stepping into a program that went 6-6 during the regular schedule, but topped the season off with a 38-21 win over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

There’s also a twist of irony that has capped this saga.  Williams finished out the remaining seven games as the Sooners’ starter — but then entered the transfer portal himself last week, leaving the Sooners without a returning starter.

And to give this story one final twist… two days ago, Chubba Purdy announced he has been offered a scholarship by the Sooners.  That means another Arizona product may be stepping into the void left by Rattler.  When Purdy graduated from Gilbert’s Perry High School in 2020 he was rated as the No. 7 dual-threat QB in the country and No. 6 overall prospect in Arizona.  He signed with Florida State, but decided that’s not where he wants to be, so he, too, had entered the transfer portal after last season.

So Rattler’s departure at Oklahoma may have opened the door for a fellow Arizonan who also has big aspirations.

Coaches use the annual break from classes to give their teams some extra court time in preparation for the remainder of the schedule when the new year begins.  For hoops fans, it provides some welcome sports action and helps to sort out the contenders from the pretenders at this point in the season.

The Perry High School boys team offered both.  The Pumas showed they are legitimate contenders in 6A, the state’s top conference, by winning the annual Visit Mesa Basketball Challenge, a four-day tournament held at Mountain View High School.

And they gave those fans who showed up two days before Christmas all the drama and excitement they were hoping for — and more.  The Pumas met Broken Arrow HS in the championship game and took the Oklahoma team to overtime before winning on a buzzer-beater shot that sealed the 64-63 victory.

Perry, which went 4-0 in the tourney, was trailing by a point when it got the ball with 18 seconds to go in the overtime and left it to Cody Williams to finish things off.  Williams took his defender into the lane and launched a short runner just in time to beat the final buzzer.

A couple of tournaments held after Christmas gave the Gilbert High School boys and the Flowing Well HS girls a chance to make their case for a state title run.

The girls took the stage first in the Dec. 29 Holiday Shootout at Flowing Wells, where the championship game lacked some of the drama of the McClintock tourney, but there was still plenty of scoring to satisfy fans as Flowing Wells shot its way to a 66-57 victory over Mesa’s Westwood High.

Westwood kept the game interesting down to the final quarter, digging itself out of a 26-15 hole early in the game and coming back to within five points when Nyese Jones hit a pressure shot with 1:17 left to play to make it 59-54.  But the Caballeros went on a 7-3 run to close out the win.

Jones finished with 17 points and teammate Angelina Montoya chipped in  another 17 in the losing effort.  Flowing Wells was led by Navine Mallon who scored a game-high 25 points, followed by Leamsi Acuna‘s 15 points.

Flowing Wells, 16-1 and ranked fifth in the MaxPreps computer rankings, finished last season as runner-up in 5A and has to be considered a favorite to win it all this year.

The boys followed up the Holiday Shootout by playing in the Dec. 30 McClintock Shootout at McClintock HS in Tempe.  Host McClintock settled for fifth place while Gilbert HS and Hamilton HS played for the tourney title.

Hamilton found itself playing catch-up almost the entire game, enjoying a very short-lived lead of 38-37 in the final frame, as the contest devolved into a free-throw contest in the final minute.  Down 41-39 with less than a minute to play, the Huskies were forced to foul to try to get the lead back.

But Nikko Pentelute spoiled that plan by sinking all six of his free throws during the final 45 seconds to secure the 48-42 Gilbert victory.  He also contributed a game-high 21 points, fueled by dropping in five three-pointers.  That effort earned him the tourney’s Most Valuable Player award.

Hamilton’s scoring was led by Quincy Adams, who finished the title game with 16 points.  Daimon Denning followed closely behind with 15 points.

With their tournament victories, Gilbert is now 15-2 on the season and Hamilton has a 14-3 overall mark.

Both are expected to be in the hunt for the 6A state title as regular-season play resumes.

That helps explain why this bowl game was sorely lacking in the excitement fans were expecting.  And also helps ASU fans better understand their team’s struggle to stay competitive in what turned out to be a 20-13 loss to Wisconsin.

The Badgers could have made the margin of victory even wider but settled for running out the clock in the final couple of minutes, when they were inside ASU’s 10-yard line,  rather than put more points on the board.

Wisconsin (9-4) was in complete control during the scoreless fourth quarter, maintaining ball possession for the final 10 minutes of the game by relying on run plays and steadily picking up one first down after another.

While both teams were missing key players, it was the Sun Devils who were most impacted.  They went into the game without their top two running backs, Rachaad White, who opted to sit out the game in preparation for entering the upcoming NFL draft, and DeaMonte Trayanum, who entered the transfer portal following the final game of the regular season.

Also missing were wide receiver Johnny Wilson, who has also transferred, and other key components of ASU’s defense that were instrumental in compiling an 8-4 record in the regular season:  linebacker Darien Butler and starting corners Chase Lucas and Jack Jones (all three opted out).  Add to that list a couple of key offensive linemen, Dohnovan West and Henry Hattis, both on the injured list.

Without the firepower that has sparked the offense so far this season, it was an uphill struggle against the No. 1 rushing defense in the country.  The Sun Devils didn’t add a touchdown to the stat sheet until the second half, settling for a couple of field goals in the first two quarters.

ASU’s junior quarterback Jayden Daniels was intercepted on the first possession of the game and Wisconsin quickly capitalized on the misstep, needing just a minute and a half to score their first points and take a 7-0 lead.

Three minutes later ASU answered with a 38-yard field goal by Cristian Zendejas.  It then took the Badgers less than three minutes to answer with another TD, and Wisconsin led 14-3 as the first quarter closed and never gave up the lead the rest of the way.

The Badgers ran just six plays to score two touchdowns.  It was not a good omen.

Just a minute into the second quarter ASU used an interception at midfield by Timarcus Davis, the first of his college career, to set up another scoring attempt.  But the Devils fell short again and settled for their second field goal.  Davis led the ASU defense with nine tackles.

Wisconsin used a couple of field goals to stretch the lead to 20-6 going into halftime.

ASU was able to post its lone TD at the 9:25 mark of the third quarter when Ricky Persall pulled in a 38-yard pass play to take the Devils to the 10-yard line where Daniyel Ngata finished the drive by punching the ball in from three yards out for the 20-13 score that held the rest of the way.

Wisconsin relied on its outstanding freshman running back, Braelon Allen, to methodically  gobble up yardage and keep the Badger offense on the field during the final quarter, using 18 plays to cover 90 yards.  Allen (photo above) had more rushing yards in the first half, 101, than the entire ASU offense and finished with 159 yards on the ground.  It was the eighth game this season that the 17-year-old has hit the 100-yard mark.

ASU’s running game was practically non-existent, with Daniels leading the team with 40 net yards and Ngata finishing with 23.  Without White and Trayanum alongside him in the backfield, Daniels was given the rushing load, making 19 running attempts.  However, the Wisconsin defense spent a lot of time in ASU’s backfield, harassing Daniels and giving him little room to roam.  He was sacked five times.

This was the first time in the last 17 games that the ASU team has been unable to rush for 100 yards.

This was a game that ASU coach Herm Edwards agreed to play, knowing he would be woefully shorthanded.  But that doesn’t mean there’s going to be an asterisk next to the final result.

As it turned out, this was just a daunting challenge the 2021 team had to deal with.  A hill too high to climb.

Now on to a new year.

When I returned to the desert some 20 years ago, I was curious to see how girls hoops here stacked up against the Midwest programs, so I took in  a few games.

It was obvious that Arizona was still trying to catch up in the girls game.

Now, a couple of decades later, the struggle continues.  The annual Nike Tournament of Champions continues to illustrate the disparity that exists between Arizona and other parts of the country.

Last weekend the Nike TOC rolled into the Valley, spread over five high school gyms in Tempe and Phoenix.   The  field included 96 participating teams, including a majority of the top 25 ranked teams in the nation, representing 22 states and Canada.  The TOC is the premier event of the season that offers a format for determining a de facto national champion in high school girls basketball.

Thirty-six Arizona schools entered teams this year, spread over six divisions.  None brought home a division championship.

This state’s best showing came from Valley Vista High School.  The Monsoon, a 6A team from Surprise in the West Valley, was put in the Joe Smith Division, which included 16 teams from nine states and Canada, all considered the best of the entries.

Valley Vista, the only Arizona team selected for that bracket, has won four state titles in the last five years and is generally considered to be the best the state has to offer this season.  The Monsoon beat teams from Maryland and Florida before losing to Etiwanda HS from California, which went on to win the tournament.  The match-up for third place found the Monsoon dropping a well-contested game, 61-51, to Bishop McNamara HS from Maryland to settle in at fourth place.

There were other top-10 finishes by Arizona schools.  Seton Catholic and Sunrise Mountain HS both came away with runner-up finishes, Seton in the Dan Wiley Division and Sunrise in the Derril Kipp bracket.

Seton lost to Bishop O’Dowd by 10 in the title game (44-34), but Sunrise Mountain came within one point from a championship, losing to California’s Caruthers HS, 53-52.   The Wiley had six AZ teams entered, the Kipp had seven locals.

In the Marcia Pinder Division, which had the most AZ teams with eight, Westwood HS beat Huntington Beach HS (CA), 61-39, for third place.  And Corona del Sol HS put up the most lopsided score of the tourney by beating fellow Arizona school and Tempe neighbor, Marcos de Niza, 51-16.

Desert Vista HS took home the other third-place finish, playing in the Mike Desper Division, squeezing out a 40-36 win over Konawaena HS from Hawaii.  Hamilton High finished eighth in that bracket.

There was also a separate bracket for those basketball “academies” that do not have membership in the Arizona Interscholastic Association and therefore don’t compete against in-state high schools.  Four Arizona teams were entered in the Clare Droesch Division, with AZ Elite Prep finishing with a championship and PHH Prep coming in third.

Local participation in the tournament, begun in 1997 and played each year just before Christmas, has been increasing in recent years.  In 2017 there were only 12 Arizona teams that entered, but that improved to 22 the following year and 29 in 2019.

This year’s total of 36 local entries may be the result of pent-up interest since the 2020 event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

However, the increased number of local entries didn’t prove to be much of an advantage again this year.  But the Nike tourney is welcomed each season because it continues to provide a measuring stick to help determine how the Arizona schools match up to the national competition.

Unfortunately, this year’s event shows that schools here in the desert are still playing catch-up.

Per AIA rules, Dampier had to sit out the first half of the 2021 season after transferring from Pinnacle High School.  When he got back on the field, he led Saguaro to perhaps its biggest football win in school history.

The junior quarterback hit Jaedon Mathews with a 40-yard touchdown pass with four minutes on the game clock to clinch a 20-15 victory over Chandler High (11-2) in yesterday’s Open Division championship game at Sun Devil Stadium.

That scoring play was the only one Saguaro (12-1) could muster in the second half, but it was all that was needed as senior defensive back Junius Mars intercepted Blaine Hipa on Chandler’s next possession to put the lid on the victory.

It could be argued that this win was the program’s biggest, despite the fact that Saguaro has had a lot of big wins.  Each victory that enabled the Scottsdale power to string together six consecutive state championships was big.  But this one elevated the program to a new level.

When Saguaro was winning six titles in a row, it was accomplishing that in the lower divisions.  The Sabercats won the last two, in 2017 and 2018, playing in the 4A Conference.  Before that they bounced around between Division III and Division II.

But this one came against a 6A power.  Before yesterday, Chandler hadn’t been beaten by an Arizona school since August of the 2018 season.  The Wolves won three straight titles in the 6A Conference before the Arizona Interscholastic Association created the Open Division, which pits the top schools from the top three conferences in head-to-head competition.  This year’s field included five 6A teams, one 5A (Saguaro), and two from 4A.

And to win this title, the Sabercats had to beat top-seeded Hamilton High in the semifinals and second-seeded Chandler in the final, both 6A programs.

When the Open Division was begun in 2019, Chandler was the first school invited to join the eight-team field.  The Wolves didn’t skip a beat in the new playoff division, winning the first two Open titles to make it five straight state championships.

Saguaro, which has won 12 state titles in the last 26 years, has long been considered a football dynasty, but has been anxious to prove it can play with any team in the state.  The Cats gave up a shot at a 5A title to accept an invitation to play in the inaugural Open Division game in 2019.

They lost to Hamilton in the Open title game that year, and then had to drop out of the 2020 Open competition when they had an outbreak of COVID-19 just as the playoffs were beginning.

This year’s ‘upset’ of No. 2-seeded Chandler by No. 5 Saguaro probably shouldn’t be that surprising.  Saguaro has been one of the most dominant programs in the state over the last decade.  From 2013 to 2018, when the Sabercats were putting together their run of six straight titles, they also had the longest winning streak in the state at the time, 28 consecutive wins.

During those six years, which included a couple of undefeated seasons, their combined record was 78-6.  And they had to beat five different teams in the title games to earn the six gold balls.

Yesterday, they had the talent they needed to compete at the highest level, with Dampier becoming the key element to all three playoff wins.  He finished the title game with 12-of-17 passing for 158 yards and two touchdowns.  And then added another 129 yards rushing on 22 carries.

During the three playoff wins, Dampier racked up 451 yards on the ground.

But give credit, too, to the Saguaro defense.  They protected a 14-12 halftime lead by holding the Wolves to a single field goal in the second half.

This year, it took one football dynasty to take down another.  And, by doing so, Saguaro remains the lone big-school program in the state to string together six straight titles.

Look for Saguaro to be included in the 6A conference, the state’s highest, next season, despite a smaller-than-most enrollment.

There’s no longer any question that the Sabercats belong there.

Tommy Lloyd prefers slacks and a pullover, but as long as he’s winning, who cares?

The Pac-12 program is anxious to put the past behind it, particularly the stench of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations that has hung over the program for several years now.   It was Miller’s link to the accompanying FBI corruption probe into college basketball that resulted in his departure from the program last April.

During his 12 years running the Pac-12 program, Miller kept the Wildcats in the national spotlight, picking up from where hall of famer Lute Olson left off.  His recruiting classes were consistently ranked among the nation’s top 10 and that kept the Wildcats near the top  of the national rankings on a regular basis.

But Lloyd is beginning to convince Wildcat Nation that there is life beyond Miller.

Lloyd has never been a college head coach, so there was understandably some doubts about his ability to lead a Power Five program like Arizona, which is also rich in tradition.  However, 20 years as an assistant who helped build the Gonzaga program into a national power is obviously paying dividends.

Arizona is putting up big numbers, literally dominating in most of its games as it climbed the national rankings to No. 11 and started the season undefeated at 8-0.

Yes, it’s still early and the non-conference part of the schedule isn’t over.  But consider that these Wildcats took down the Michigan Wolverines when they were the No. 4-ranked team in the country.  Not just squeezing past the Big 10 power during the Roman Main Event Tournament in Las Vegas, but beating them by double digits, 80-62,

The Wolverines got off easy.  Arizona has been averaging a winning margin of almost 30 points a game (29.6, to be exact).  The only team that has taken them down to the wire was Wichita State, also during the Las Vegas tourney.  That game went into overtime before the Cats claimed a 82-78 victory.

Arizona is averaging almost 60 points a game (59.5, to be exact), are shooting almost 50 percent from the field (.496, to be exact), and they have four players who are averaging in double digits:  Bennedict Mathurin (17 ppg), Azuolas Tubelis (15.8), Christian Koloko (14.4), and Kerr Kriisa (11).

Lloyd has used the same starting five for all seven games, but has not hesitated to go to his bench — often.  Every player on the roster has seen playing time so far; all but one has appeared in seven of the eight contests.

And the Cats have out-rebounded their opponents by nearly 12 boards a game.

This unit has the shooting, the rebounding, and the depth to hold its own in the rugged Pac-12 Conference.

Oh yeah…they also play solid defense.  Arizona holds its opponents to an average 59 points a game.  The Cats are ranked No. 2 in the nation in field goal percentage defense, third in defensive rebounding, fourth in assist/turnover ratio, and fifth in blocked shots per game.

This team is built for the long haul.

Arizona’s athletic director, Dave Heeke, went out on a limb in hiring Lloyd.  The last time the basketball program brought in someone who has never been a head coach was in 1972 when it hired Fred Snowden.

Snowden enjoyed moderate success that included an Elite Eight appearance during his 10 years on the bench before resigning after three straight losing seasons.

There’s no telling whether Heeke’s gamble will pay off over time.  It’s way too early to tell.

But right now he’s got to be breathing a little easier.

(Photo: Arizona Athletics)

The Wolves beat Liberty High School in one of the two Open Division semifinals to set up what was generally expected to be a meeting with Hamilton High School in Saturday’s title game.

Hamilton, however, failed to make it to the party.

Saguaro High School stunned the nationally-ranked and top-seeded Huskies, coming from behind to post a 31-24 semifinal victory that was directed by a junior quarterback making just his second start of the season.

So, the rematch of Chandler’s cross-town rivals who played for last year’s Open title isn’t going to happen.

Scottsdale Saguaro’s Devon Dampier made sure of that.

The junior transfer from Pinnacle High School had to sit out the first half of the season to satisfy AIA eligibility rules and has been sharing the quarterback duties with senior Ridge Docekal once he became eligible to get on the field.  The 42-21 win against Cactus HS in the quarterfinals marked his first start as the designated QB, but beating Hamilton HS in last week’s Open Division semifinals has to be his signature win.

After throwing an interception on the Sabercats’ first offensive play, Dampier wasted no time in making amends.  He scored on an 18-yard run on the Cats’ next possession and followed that up with another rushing TD, this time from the seven-yard line.

And then he opened the second half by contributing his third rushing TD just minutes into the third quarter.  That broke a 21-21 tie, and Hamilton was unable to catch up before the clock ran out on the 31-24 Saguaro victory that put them in the Open finals for the second time in three years.

The first time was in 2019 when Chandler beat them to collect its second straight Open title.  And last year, Saguaro was on its way to a title game quest again, but a positive COVID-19 test within the program forced the team to bow out of the 2020 tourney just before the Sabercats were scheduled to meet Salpointe Catholic in the quarterfinals.

On Saturday the No. 5 seeded Sabercats will get another shot at Chandler, again with the gold ball on the line.

Despite the fact that Chandler is ranked as the No. 11 team in the nation by MaxPreps, this will be a meeting between two pretty evenly-matched teams.  Chandler has looked vulnerable this season, winning some close games and losing to Hamilton in the regular-season finale to break a 45-game win streak.

The second-seeded Wolves barely got past Liberty last week in the semis, turning the ball over six times and needing an overtime period to squeeze out a 27-21 victory and keep their title hopes alive.

Chandler has already set a new Arizona big-school record with five straight state titles, three in the 6A conference and the last two in the Open Division, which began three years ago and includes the top eight teams from across the state’s top three conferences.

But it appears the time might be right for an upset.  Saguaro has the momentum from a huge win over the team favored to reach the Open Division title game since the first week of the season.  And the Wolves have been reminded once again of their mortality.

Should be a great game, with a huge crowd expected at Arizona State‘s Sun Devil Stadium.  If you want a good seat, get there well ahead of the 5 p.m. kickoff.

But the Wolves won’t get caught looking past their semifinal game with Liberty High School today at 4 p.m. at Chandler.  They know the Peoria school will be ready for the game and highly motivated to win.

If Hamilton (11-0) beats Saguaro HS (10-1) in its contest following the early game and Chandler (10-1) dispatches of the Lions (9-2), it will open the way for an epic match-up of the top two teams in the state and another chapter in a cross-town rivalry that has grown to enormous proportions over the past decade.

Chandler’s only loss this season was to Hamilton, which broke the Wolves’ 45-game winning streak that began in the 2018 season.

It will also be a repeat of last year’s championship game that Chandler won to make it five straight state titles.

While both games today should be barn-burners that come down to close finishes, Liberty may be the one team with the biggest chip on its shoulder – and thus the motivation to take its game to another level for this one.

Last season, then No. 5-seeded Liberty came within a hair’s breadth of pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the season when it took Chandler into overtime in their semifinal match-up before losing 35-34 on a failed two-point conversion attempt.

Now, as luck would have it, that 2020 semifinal game is going to be re-run.  And the Lions, seeded No. 6 this time, have a chance to accomplish what they narrowly failed to do last year.

The two teams have met once already this season, when Chandler pulled off a 41-21 victory.  But Liberty went into halftime with a 21-21 tie and the Wolves had to go to their passing game since the Lions had managed to slow their go-to offensive weapon, the run.

Defense is the strong suit for both teams, but Liberty will be more dependent on that part of its game this afternoon.  The Lions piled up nine sacks in their quarterfinal win over undefeated Basha HS and held the Bears’ high-octane offense scoreless in the second half — the only time this year that an opponent was been able to do that.

Chandler scored 48 points against Queen Creek HS in its quarterfinal game, using a 34-7 run in the second half to overwhelm the No. 7-seeded Bulldogs in a runaway 48-28 victory.

Liberty’s defense should be able to hold the Chandler offense to manageable numbers, but the Lions, who scored 38 points against Basha, are going to have to find a way to score often against an equally-talented Wolves defense.

McDonald, who led the team in scoring the last three seasons, averaging 21.9 points a game over those three years for a new program record, has graduated and is playing now for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA.  Her always-dependable offensive output enabled the Wildcats to post three consecutive 20-win seasons.

Without the sharpshooting guard on the floor, scoring this season is being done on a committee basis.

In the season’s opener against Cal State Northridge, 15 players participated in the 87-44 win.  Twelve of those scored points.

And they’re still spreading the scoring around.  In the Cats’ last game, an 80-44 romp over Rutgers, 11 players got on the scoreboard, with three of them scoring in double digits.

One amazing statistic from that game, the final one in the Virgin Islands Paradise Jam tournament, also confirms this team’s depth.  The bench contributed 50 points to the victory, more than the entire Scarlet Knights team scored.

Cate Reese led the Cats with 16 points, but Gisela Sanchez came off the bench to add 15 points and fellow reserve Aaronette Vonleh chipped in 12 points.

Reese, who was named the Island Division’s MVP, was second on the scoring list last season, averaging 11 points per game.

The Wildcats lost just two players from a 2020-21 team that lost the national title to Stanford on a desperation shot with 6.1 seconds on the clock.  So most on this year’s squad are seasoned competitors.

That’s true also on the defensive end of the floor as well, where the Cats forced Rutgers into 30 turnovers that resulted in 31 points for Arizona.  They’re creating an average of 20 turnovers a game so far this season.

That combination of shared shooting and solid defense has the Wildcats ranked No. 7 in the nation.  At 7-0 they own the second-longest winning streak among the AP Top 25, behind only No. 1 South Carolina, which is 8-0.

Arizona hasn’t begun Pac-12 play yet, so the challenges of the preseason aren’t a true indicator of where the Cats will be once conference play gets started.  But their seven wins included Vanderbilt and Louisville, which made it to the Elite Eight at last year’s Big Dance.

The Wildcats are averaging 74.6 points a game.  And doing it without McDonald.

That has to be encouraging for a Wildcat Nation that wasn’t sure of what to expect this season.  It looks like the gals could be brewing another deep postseason run.

(Photo: Arizona Athletics)

Both teams went through the first nine games of the 2021 season undefeated and speculation continued to mount with each game as to whether Hamilton would be the team to finally end the 45-game winning streak of nationally-ranked Chandler High School, a string of victories that began back in August of 2018.

The 21-14 Hamilton victory seemed especially appropriate since the rivalry that has built through the years has become one of the biggest in the state.  Chandler spent 15 years trying to notch its first win against its cross-town rival, located just four miles down Arizona Avenue, a program that had grown into a state and national power.

However, once the Wolves got over that first-win psychological hump during the 2013 season, they rolled on like a runaway freight train.  Chandler has won the last nine games against the Huskies, including a victory in last year’s Open Division championship game.

The frustration level for Hamilton has understandably been off the charts.  The Huskies have lost just two games over the last two seasons — both of those to Chandler.

So, if anyone was going to take down the mighty Wolves, it only seemed right that it be Hamilton.  And it was.

The Huskies knew it would be one of their toughest challenges of the year, and it followed the script.  Chandler scored first, early in the first quarter, and the Huskies had to play catch-up the rest of the way.

Chandler quarterback Blaine Hipa started the scoring with a 56-yard touchdown pass to Kyion Graves and Hamilton answered with its own score, a five -yard TD pass from QB Nicco Marchiol to wide receiver Christian Anaya.

Hamilton finally broke through in the fourth quarter to get the first lead of the game.  The seven-yard touchdown pass from Marchiol to Tre Spivey in the fourth quarter ended up being the winning score.

If the Huskies are going to get beaten during this run to the title, it will have to be by a team that can figure out how to deal with Hamilton’s aggressive, pass-rushing defense that collected 10 sacks against the Wolves.

The Open Division provides head-to-head competition for the top teams in the top three conferences.  Hamilton, still undefeated at 10-0, opens tonight against American Leadership Queen Creek, which has built an impressive 9-1 record so far.  But ALQC competes in 4A, so the Huskies will likely be favored by at least three touchdowns.

Chandler has drawn Queen Creek HS (8-2) in the opening round, a team that managed to play with the Wolves for three quarters in a meeting during the regular season, but went on to lose, 26-7.  The Wolves will be favored in this one, too, but the margin of victory could be as slim as 10 points.

When the dust settles a couple of weeks from now, expect the Chandler cross-town rivals, both nationally-ranked, to be facing off once again for the Open championship.

Any prediction for that game would have to involve flipping a coin.

The Hamilton High School volleyball coach entered this year’s team into national tournaments and even hosted one of the biggest, the Geico Volleyball Invitational, to test her players against the best teams she could find.

That early preparation paid off over the weekend when the Huskies won their second straight 6A state championship by upsetting the No. 1 seed, Sandra Day O’Connor High School, in the state tournament held at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

The title match went four sets before Hamilton, seeded No. 2, pulled out the win: 26-24, 25-22, 25-27, 25-20.  The lead in that third set seesawed back and forth before the O’Connor Eagles (28-5) squeezed out the victory, and then a relentless Hamilton defense closed the door in the final set.

This time the Huskies were able to get out front, 2-0, and hold on to the lead.  In the first game of the season, the two teams squared off and Hamilton took a 2-0 lead, but the Eagles surged back and won the match in five sets.

The early competition against out-of-state teams taught the Huskies how to close out matches, which they did when it mattered the most.  The result was just the second state championship in the sport for the Chandler school.

Hamilton viewed the early loss to O’Connor as an ‘oops’ since they lost just one other time to an in-state team the rest of the way, a stunning 0-3 loss to Perry High School in late October.

The Huskies finished the season 34-5, with three of those losses to out-of-state teams that included Marymount HS from California, which is the No. 1 team in the country (MaxPreps) and the team that beat the Huskies for the Geico tournament title last month.

Coach Vanis credits outside hitters Jordan Middleton and Micah Gryniewicz as keys to the back-to-back title drives.  The pair have been playing together since eighth grade and finally that partnership paid big dividends as the Hamilton offense ran through the towering seniors all season long.

Middleton closes out her prep career with a team-high 516 kills and 48.7 kill percentage.  Gryniewicz was close behind with 381 kills and 42.3 percent.

But the big question now centers on what Vanis is going to be able to do going forward as Middleton heads off to begin her college career at USC and Gryniewicz moves on to play at Alabama.

Right now, a three-peat doesn’t look promising.

The two East Valley schools combined to wrap up all four of the top team finishes in the boys’ and girls’ state tournaments.  Desert Vista claimed the boys’ team title, while Highland took runner-up.  Highland won the girls’ championship and Desert Vista was runner-up.

On the boys’ side, Desert Vista made its return to the top of the mountain after falling short the last couple of years.  The Thunder won five straight cross country state championships before Highland broke the string in 2019 and Brophy Prep took top honors in 2020, the Broncos’ first title win in 17 years..

After finishing runner-up behind the Broncos last year, Desert Vista regained the top spot last weekend behind the strong performance of Noah Judon.  The senior finished the course at Cave Creek Golf Course with a time of 16:09.4, good enough to earn the individual title and lead the Thunder to a winning team score of 62 points.  Highland was runner-up with a team score of 95.

Gabe Parham was the other Desert Vista runner to place in the top 10, completing the race in 16:20.9 for fourth place.  Both Judon and Parham will graduate this year, creating a talent drain for Desert Vista’s attempt at beginning another string of titles.

Wyatt Williams (16:42.8) led all Highland runners in 11th place, just a shade ahead of Andrew Gibby in at 16:43.0 for 12th.  Williams, too, will be graduating in the spring.

In the girls’ competition, Highland was finally able to rise above the frustration of coming in second the last two years.  The Hawks took second and third places in the individual competition and placed all five runners in the top 12 to accumulate a winning team score of 38 points.   Emma Baugh finished second (19:05.2) and Kayla Case crossed the line just off her shoulder in a time of 19:06.7 for third place.

Desert Vista scored 45 for second place as the Thunder placed four runners in the top six.

It was Lauren Ping who finished first in the individual competition while leading the way in Desert Vista’s runner-up finish,  just as she has the previous two years.  The junior was the individual winner with a time of 17:39.4 to make it three straight titles.

Teammates Katie Sigerud, Emily Littlefield, and Bailee Christofis were bunched together at the finish, with just 13 seconds separating fourth-place Sigerud with sixth-place Christofis.

Last year, it was Sigerud who finished second behind teammate Ping, giving the Thunder a 1-2 punch that led Desert Vista to a 41-point team total for the 2020 win.

Peoria’s Liberty became just the fourth school to keep Xavier Prep from winning a Division I state championship over the course of the last 40 years.  Xavier, an all-girls Catholic school in central Phoenix, was the reigning champion and has dominated the sport for the last four decades, winning 36 titles during that span.

After finishing fifth in its quest for a state title last season, the Liberty Lions took an early lead in the two-day 2021 tournament and held off runner-up Xavier, which finished the opening round just three strokes off the pace set by the Lions, and the rest of the field to card a team score of 593 for the win.

Hamilton HS finished in third place and Pinnacle HS, which was the last team to beat Xavier by winning the 2019 title, came in fourth.  Hamilton has a seat at the table of those who have beaten Xavier, bringing home the 2010 crown.  The other team to have denied Xavier one of its three dozen wins is Horizon HS, which won back-to-back titles in 1996 and 1997.

Pinnacle has been the primary threat to Xavier in recent years, coming in runner-up in 2018 and again last year.  The Pioneers were 20 strokes off the winning pace this time around.

But this year’s D-I honors go to Liberty, led by Mattie Frick who toured the Omni Tucson National Golf Course in 138 strokes.  She was the tournament’s No. 2 scorer, right behind Hamilton’s Jennifer Seo who finished with an 8-under score of 134.

In Division II… it was Ironwood Ridge HS who looked more like Xavier as that Oro Valley school has begun its own string of title wins.  The Nighthawks became the first southern Arizona school to win three consecutive girls golf titles when they covered the Omni National course with a winning team score of 573.

That was 15 strokes ahead of runner-up Salpointe Catholic‘s 588, which finished the first day’s round just a single stroke behind the Nighthawks.  Cactus Shadows HS came in third, just two strokes behind the Lancers.

Cactus Shadows was the school beginning to build its own string of titles before Ironwood Ridge stepped to the top of podium.  The north Scottsdale school had also won three straight before the Nighthawks began their run in 2019.

But looking ahead, Cactus Shadows may be ready to take back its place at the top of the mountain next year.  The Falcons lost eight seniors from their 2020 team that was state runner-up, but still managed a third-place finish this year with a young squad that will be older and wiser in 2022.

They will, however, lose this year’s top scorer to graduation when senior Raina Ports, who led the Falcons’ squad at state with an individual score of 142, leaves to try her hand at the college game.

This year’s individual title went to Mackenzie McRee, a senior from Salpointe who carded a 138 to earn her second state title.

Brophy Prep dominated the pool, winning 23 consecutive state titles before relinquishing the crown last year.

Chaparral High School won the boys’ D-I state title last year and Desert Vista HS squeezed past both Chaparral and Brophy to win this year’s gold ball.

The pandemic is what derailed Brophy’s attempt to keep the incredible string alive.  Just days before the 2020 state meet was to begin, the all-boys Catholic school in central Phoenix announced that a COVID-19 outbreak had forced a decision to drop out of participation in the playoffs.

That opened the door for a new state champion, and Chaparral walked through that door to win its first state title since 2017 when the Firebirds were competing in Division II.  Chaparral scored 302 points, well short of the 484 points Brophy piled up the year before, but good enough to bring home the championship.

This time, the Scottsdale school came agonizing close to posting back-to-back titles.  But the Desert Vista 400 freestyle relay team won the final event of the meet to add just enough points to edge past Chaparral by a couple of points.

Desert Vista finished with 313 points, while Chaparral’s 311 points provided a runner-up finish.  Brophy took third with 296 points.

That was the same order of finish in that decisive 400 free relay, with the winning DV team consisting of Jack Luken, Ryne Davenport, Caleb Stanley, and Tres Mungia.  Luken also won titles in the 200 freestyle, where he posted  a 1:38.62 time, and the 500 freestyle (4:28.23).

In the girls D-I competition…

The Chaparral girls’ team managed to bring home that back-to-back win that the boys were after, making it four state titles in a row.  And their win came much easier.

Chaparral won the meet with a total score of 357.5, well ahead of second-place Red Mountain HS, which finished with 240 points.  Third place went to Desert Vista (212), which gave the south Phoenix school two top-three finishes for the day.

This year’s title win shows the depth of talent on the Firebird squad, being able to win the meet without scoring points from a single individual title.  Sophia Jahn‘s win in the 50 free helped propel Red Mountain into second place.