Douglas standout center Keith Olson has opened the floodgates for the rest of Carson Valley when it comes to getting noticed on the national level.
Before Olson, a 6-foot, 10-inch senior headed to Northern Arizona University next year, talk of Division I college recruiters coming down to look at Tiger athletes was few and very far between.
Things have changed considerably in the four years Olson has graced the Tigers' starting lineup.
Last Tuesday, Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras made a special trip up to Northern Nevada to check in on Olson and watch Douglas' game against Reno.
While Olson turned in a strong effort on the boards while still hampered by a foot injury, Adras also got a good look at junior Jeff Nady (6-7) and sophomore James McLaughlin (6-3).
When Olson signed with Northern Arizona before the basketball season, he became the first Douglas boys' basketball player to sign on with a Division I school since the mid-80s.
Nady and McLaughlin stand to become the next signees in line, if things go well in the offseason and through the next two years.
There's a strong argument that Olson is the one who brought all this recruiting attention on Carson Valley, but it can't go without saying that the recruiting game itself started to change during Olson's four years here.
Instead of coaches having to take time away from their schools to get a good look at a player many states away as in the past, they can now rely on a wide variety of tools from internet scouting services to offseason all-star teams and individualized skill camps.
The inception of the Carson Valley Basketball Association this past year with AAU basketball teams for all grades down into the fifth-grade level has opened the way for athletes in the area to be indoctrinated into the Douglas system early on and to see tougher competition around the Western United States growing up.
It might not be so much that Douglas is getting bigger on the recruiting map. Instead, it could be argued that the country is just getting smaller. Instead of the coaches having to go out looking for the player, the players can now be literally brought to the coaches' desks from thousands of miles away.
Whatever it is, whether it be the exceptional pool of talent making its way through the Carson Valley sports world now or just a national system finding its way into the rural reaches of small-town America, it stands to benefit the young athletes of Douglas County.
It should be an interesting next couple of years .
After a Damonte Ranch boys' basketball player was called for a backcourt violation in Saturday night's regular season finale against Douglas he threw the ball off the floor and began to aggressively pursue the referee while shouting at him.
The player was assessed a technical foul and his coach sent him to the locker room. Appropriately, the coach didn't put the player back into the game until only two minutes remained.
Even so, it would appear that the NBA has arrived at the high school basketball level.
The brackets for the Northern 4A Regional Basketball playoffs, as much as could be expected, favor both the Douglas boys' and girls' basketball teams.
The boys get Reed on the road in the first round Wednesday night, and should they be able to get through that game, they'll most-likely get a Reno team (The Huskies face the 5-7 McQueen Lancers in the first round) that the Tigers have all but beaten twice this season.
Any coach will tell you, beating a team three times in a year is a very tough task.
On the other side of the bracket, top-ranked Galena is lined up against two very pesky, and very quick Sierra League teams with 3-point bomber North Valleys in the first round.
No. 3 Hug must get past Manogue, a team Douglas beat twice already this season, to get to Galena, but two games in a row against two very fast teams will, if nothing else, wear the Grizzlies down.
On the girls' side, Douglas is on the opposite side of the bracket from top-ranked Reed, which works to the Tigers' favor.
The Tigers take on Manogue tonight with standout post player Taylor Sylvester hoping to disrupt Douglas' one-two punch of Jessica Waggoner and Dana Pardee.
Reno is the top seed on Douglas' side of the bracket, but the Huskies must contend with a very talented Elko squad in the first round.
Douglas has shown against both of those squads that it can compete, it just has to put a complete game together to get past them.
First things first, however. The Tigers have a stiff test against the Miners tonight. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at Bishop Manogue High School.
Nicole Didero, jr., girls' basketball and Jared Trowbridge, sr., boys' basketball. Didero has been one to do the dirty work all season long, and did so to near perfection against Wooster and Damonte Ranch over the weekend.
Trowbridge was pressed into duty with starting point guard Mike Gransbery hampered by a foot injury. He directed the Tiger offense to wins over Wooster and Damonte Ranch.
Others considered this week were David Laird (basketball), Joe Nady (basketball), Bridget Maestretti (basketball), Ryan Pruitt (wrestling), Garrett Hekhuis (wrestling) and Sean Molina (wrestling).
