With a flurry of four home games in five days, the Douglas boys' basketball team had a chance to show some of its potential last week.
The next couple of weeks, though, will be a process of the Tigers refining that potential on the road. We won't see the boys in orange and black back around these parts until Jan. 6, about 20 days from now.
I usually withhold my judgement on a team until I've seen them play at least five or six times, so I feel comfortable offering up a couple observations heading into the dead period before I get to see them again.
First of all, the basic rotation of the 6 or 7 guys that Douglas will use most often began to emerge last week at the Carson Valley Classic. That group built an early lead against a talented Faith Lutheran squad and hung with a speedy Merced club that gave top-ranked Manogue fits in a 2OT shootout the next night. That's pretty impressive, especially considering that the team's only returning starter, James McLaughlin, has yet to see the floor while he continues to recover from a broken leg.
Everyone else, to this point, has been more or less learning on the fly. As with any learning curve, there have been some noticable bumps and trouble spots, but when they have been on as a group, they've looked pretty darn good.
Coach Corey Thacker has been holding true to his promise that we'd be seeing a whole lot of different looks here early on in the season, but Saturday against Faith Lutheran was really the first prolonged look we got at what the team might look like as league play sets in.
Simply put, there is a whole lot of potential on the Douglas roster. They still have to get through a tough tournament in Vegas and survive a trip to Elko, but after that, we'll start getting a look at what this team is actually going to be.
Let's take the absolutely worst case scenario - For some reason, McLaughlin never makes it onto the floor. That will make things tougher, but with what I've seen so far, I see this year's squad as a potential No. 2 or No. 3 seed out of the Sierra League without McLaughlin.
When they run the half-court sets with some patience and when slashers Tim Rudnick, Austin Neddenriep and CJ Marcotte can get inside the key, they look very, very good. If that is working, that opens up the outside.
The other side of that is you'll be looking at a very experienced squad coming in next year. At the minimum, you'd have two starters and probably four or five guys in the basic rotation coming back. Whatever happens this year would be pretty solid experience.
Now, let's say they get McLaughlin back sometime early in league play. That, in my mind, puts Douglas in the league title picture.
Don't get me wrong, Manogue is very, very good and the obvious favorite to win the league right now. However, in six games they have looked very, very good against three Northern 3A schools. Every game against a 4A school or similarly-sized out of state school has been somewhat closer. The other thing I have noticed about the Miners is that if someone can step up on the perimeter defense against them, they're really going to struggle.
If Douglas comes in to those Manogue matchups playing solid team defense, things suddenly get a lot closer. And make no mistake about it, McLaughlin is a game-changer. Douglas is already pretty solid with its outside shooting with Marcotte, Rudnick and Chris Downs lead a group of eight players that have cashed in from downtown this year. Adding McLaughlin (37 3-pointers last season) to that mix will make the Tigers nothing short of lethal form outside.
McLaughlin also could exponential ramp up the transition game. He has the speed and the hops to make big plays on the run. He also causes opposing defenses fits in the half-court set because of his size and his ability to drive the baseline.
So either way, I don't really see this as a rebuilding year for the Tigers. Without McLaughlin, they are a playoff team that could pull off an upset in the first round. With him, they are in the picture for the regional title. Don't forget, they came up only three points short against third-ranked Hug to open the season. Reno hasn't looked up to its state-championship form, and as I mentioned above, Manogue has its areas where it can be attacked.
Time will tell.
This week will actually be the first time I get to see the Tiger girls in action. So far, it sounds like a very similar story as the boys - lots of potential combined with even more inexperience.
I'll weigh in with some first-blush observations in next week's column, but it appears from what I've heard that Ally Freitas is doing a pretty good job of filling in at point guard where four-year starter Bridget Maestretti left off last year.
Jessica Waggoner is a proven commodity in the middle, and probably in the mix for regional player of the year accolades. I like Dany Heidt and Taryn Williams on the wings and have heard Maci Pfaffenberger has a knack for making the big shots at the right times.
Outside of that, I don't know much. I'm anxious to see the crop of first-year varsity players because I've heard a lot of good things.
It'll all be put to test in a pretty big way Thursday at 7 p.m. as the Tigers host sixth-ranked Galena.
Some early success from one of the Douglas junior varsity wrestlers has allowed the Tiger varsity team to beef up its heavyweight lineup for dual meets.
Patrick Miller got the call up from junior varsity for the Damonte Ranch dual last week after taking first place and scoring 106 points in the Hug Takedown Tournament.
While he wrestled in the heavyweight division against Damonte, he'll slide back into his natural 215 spot for the remainder of the league duals.
That pushes junior Zach Falanga, already 2-0 with a pin in the 215 class, to the 189 pounders and senior Steve Anderson is expected to drop to the 171s.
That'll give the Tigers more depth and flexibility in their upperweights with Kyle Matthews and Tyler Cook having already wrestled at 171 this season. Cook will be the team's primary option at 160.
There are some tough tests left on the Tigers' league schedule " Namely Carson, Fallon and a much-improved South Tahoe squad " but picking up the first two wins against Galena and Damonte Ranch has put Douglas in control of its own destiny when it comes to the league title picture.
- There were almost more total fouls (20) than points scored (22) in the third quarter of the Douglas-McQueen boys' basketball game Tuesday night. McQueen reached the double-bonus penalty just 4 minutes and 10 seconds into the second half. Can't say I've seen that before.
- The Lancers had just nine players suited up for the game, one fouled out four minutes into the third and a second fouled out in the fourth.
- Douglas' win over top-ranked Damonte Ranch Wednesday was pretty big. The Tigers took a 44-33 win despite Damonte holding the 6-5 edge in contested matches. Douglas did benefit from two forfeit wins, but still, a team has to field a full roster to be competitive. If you show up without a quarterback or a point guard, that doesn't give you any excuse for losing. The same can be said for not showing up with a 160-pounder, and so on.
- Damonte's spectators were among the most knowledgable wrestling fans I've come across in five seasons, but they weren't too familiar with Eddie Kollar. I heard a number of parents asking who Kollar was after his match-changing pin Wednesday. Coach Lamont McCann called him a diamond in the rough. After two pins in as many league matches, he is certainly living up to that billing.
- The Douglas-Merced boys' basketball game was the second matchup between the two schools in seven days. Defensively, Douglas did exactly what it did the first time around, allowing 67 points to the Bears. The difference the second time was the Tiger offense put up 53 points, as compared to their 68 in the buzzer-beating win last week.
- Against Merced, Douglas had 22 of its 29 first-half points scored by its guards. Fifteen of those came on five first-half 3-pointers.
- One more Merced-Douglas note: Here's another thing I can't say I've ever seen before " each team got to the free-throw line within the first 28 seconds of the game.
- I have a new pet peeve. Players not suited up for games sitting on the bench texting on their cell phones while their teammates are out on the court/field playing their hearts out. I've seen it twice now this year (not with any of the Douglas winter sports teams, so don't go guessing!) and I really hope it doesn't become a trend.
- This had nothing to do with the actual outcome of the game, but in the third quarter against Dayton, Douglas' Garrett Getty swatted a shot off the court that bounced into a trash can on the sidelines. The referee pulled the ball out with approximately the same look on his face that I get when I'm changing my daughter's diaper, and took it to the bench to towel the ball off.
- McQueen boys' basketball 59, Douglas 58. McQueen was pretty much off the map last year, but with new coach John Franklin coming in this year, I knew they'd be much improved. Douglas probably should have won this game, and probably would in a rematch, but the Lancers showed a lot of heart and grit to get the job done with just seven players at their disposal toward the end.
- Hug boys' basketball 57, South Tahoe 53. Not quite sure how to read this one. It could mean any number of things. South Tahoe is way better than it has been in the past three years, Hug is not as good as its No. 3 ranking shows, South Tahoe had a once-in-a-lifetime night or Hug had an awful night. Time will tell, but the Sierra League should be on notice.
- Galena wrestling beats Fallon. Fallon has now lost three consecutive league matches dating back to last year's regular season finale after going 42 straight High Desert League matches without a loss. The Greenwave is rebuilding, obviously, but it didn't help things to have to start their league season off with matches against Damonte Ranch and Galena. The two losses have put Fallon in a pretty tight spot in terms of league title contention. They'd need multiple losses from Douglas and Carson and need to overcome tiebreakers over Damonte and Galena.
- Fallon boys' basketball takes Faith Lutheran to 2OT. Make no mistake about it, Faith Lutheran is pretty good. The Crusaders stuck with 4A power Bishop Gorman earlier this year, and pushed Manogue as close as any team from this state has been able to so far this year. So what does that say about Fallon? I guess we'll find out Tuesday night when Douglas opens league play against the Greenwave in Churchill County.
- Not-so-much. Spanish Springs boys' basketball. The Cougars are off to a 7-0 start, although they'll be sincerely tested Tuesday night against Reno. There is a whole lot of talent out there at Spanish Springs in all sports. They came down to Douglas several years ago to talk with some of the Tiger coaches about how they develop multi-sport athletes. Set about 20 minutes out of Reno, the Cougars are able to draw from a similar feeder-system, in terms of exclusivity, as Douglas does. Expect to see the Cougars continue to succeed in all sports in the coming years, but I see this as being a potential breakout year in boys' basketball.
If I had a vote for overall player of the year in the Northern 4A Regional basketball honors ballots (and I don't), this is what it would look like, based mostly on their respective performances over the last week:
Boys' Basketball
1. Austin Morgan, Reno; 2. Keith Feutsch, Manogue; 3. Zach Sanford, Reno; 4. Bobby Hunter, Manogue; 5. James McLaughlin, Douglas
Girls' Basketball
1. Ashley Armstrong, Manogue; 2. Stephanie Rovetti, Reno; 3. Danielle Peacon, Reed; 4. Erica MacKenzie, Reed; 5. Jessica Waggoner, Douglas
The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competition, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the state/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.
Winter Sports
1. Jessica Waggoner, basketball
2. James McLaughlin, basketball
3. Hillary Sapp, skiing
4. Crystal Rutledge, skiing
5. Nico Barker, wrestling
6. CJ Marcotte, basketball
7. Parker Robertson, basketball
8. Dillon Spates, wrestling
9. Dany Heidt, basketball
10. Eddie Kollar, wrestling
If there were more names on the list: Wes Peterson, wrestling; Taryn Williams, basketball; Justin Freeman, wrestling; Tyler Cook, wrestling; Michael Sepulveda, wrestling; Ally Freitas, basketball; Tim Rudnick, basketball; Zach Falanga, wrestling.
2008-09 School Year
1. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball
2. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball
3. Nico Barker, football/wrestling
4. Taryn Williams, volleyball/basketball
5. Parker Robertson, football/basketball
6. Dany Heidt, soccer/basketball
7. James McLaughlin, football/basketball
8. Luis Pina-Duarte, football/basketball
9. Ally Freitas, soccer/basketball
10. Niki Hamzik, tennis/basketball
- I'm really, really creeped out by the XBox 3 commercials where they show the people with half of a head and you can see miniature versions of themselves hanging out inside of their little half skulls. Anyone else?
- I've started trying to strategically arrange fresh food stains into hearts or butterflies on my daughter's shirts before they set. I'm told the normal adult will actually try using Shout instead of trying to cover up the fact that I can't maneuver a spoon to save my life. I also, apparently, can't draw hearts or butterflies that well either.
- I keep holding out hope that Uncle Rico, who apparently also was Ben's dad back in the 70s, will make a return appearance to the show this season. That was the highlight of the entire series for me so far. It was also apparently Uncle Rico's only highlight since showing off his football video to Kip and Napoleon.
Irrational Fear: Giant Inflatable Snowmen
Guilty Pleasure: Lawn Candy Canes
