Warmup Tournament

December 2008

It's now finally the start of the State Basketball Tournament. First I want to summarize. After our game with Damien High School, we also played practice matches with some Division I and Division II basketball teams. All matches were won by us and sometimes by a large margin.

I only sometimes play with 2 or 3 quarters. There has not been a game where I played in the 4th quarter because we already have a 15-20 point lead at the end of the 2nd or 3rd quarter.

From the 9 practice matches in total, I averaged 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 3-pointers made per game. I shot 73% from the field and 64% from the 3-point line.

A lot of scouts were attracted by my performance so at every practice match in our gym, even at our opponent's gym, there will be a large crowd watching. Most of them are bringing camcorders to record our games and some of them already approached me to try and entice me in joining their basketball teams.

I'm only still in my freshman year, and yet there are already college scouts observing me. Although they haven't made a move yet, it is understandable since a lot could happen until I graduate so they're just trying to feel the waters if it's worth getting in.

I also met with Barry and Fran who watched my 4th practice game. Barry told me that I was already listed as one of the participants for the summer training camp which will be after the National Championships.

Fran interviewed me with a few questions while also recording the whole interview. He said it will become worth a lot of money once I get to make it big in the future. I really enjoyed talking with them about basketball and stuff.

Barry even offered me help if I needed some advice to have a smooth journey in my basketball career. He said I could ask him anything and he'll try if he can be able to help. I was excited because these are the connections I needed.

Although it's true that doing great performance in my games will help me a lot in easily making it big if I truly want to succeed as a professional basketball player. Getting the right connections in the Association can help me contact the people I needed to be drafted/traded to the team I wanted.

I said I wanted to play with the Golden State Warriors but to do that, they have to draft me, or trade me to their team. Another reason I also wanted to play with the Warriors is that I was born and raised here in San Francisco, so I want to help my city be known to the world.

The State Tournament will be played in a playoff bracket type of matchup. There will be 5 total rounds and for our first-round opponents, we will play against Northgate High School.

We already faced them in a practice match and we knew that they will be an easy team to beat. Although I say that, I still don't want me and my teammates to underestimate them. In fact, I don't want to underestimate any opponent, we will stay focused the whole game and make the necessary plays while trying to make the least mistakes.

Our first-round game will be played on our home court so we will expect a lot of people to watch our game. And as usual, a lot of scouts and journalists will surely watch it too since this is a Division I league.

GAMEDAY 2:00 PM

Everything is now ready and all players are gathered inside the court. For our opponents, this is their lineup.

Northgate High School

Point Guard - Ryan Beasley 5'11

Shooting Guard - Yubin Keng 6'0

Small Forward - Chris Fallgren 6'3

Power Forward - Aadi Malali 6'3

Center - Landon Edmond 6'7

Clearly, they are the shorter team so we already have an advantage in that aspect.

Our lineup is still the same and even if they are a weaker team than us, we will still treat them with respect and play to win.

The tip-off is starting and no worries there, Jerrold easily won. Isaac caught the rebound and immediately made a long pass towards the basket.

As the crowd followed to where the ball was heading, they now realize that I was already ahead of everyone else because as soon as the ball was tossed, I did not hesitate to dash towards our basket showing how confident I was that Jerrold will win the tip-off easily.

As soon as I saw the ball not falling, I jumped and caught it in midair to throw it down the basket.

2-0

The game just barely started and the crowd is already hyped up by our instant alley-oop play.

We quickly got back to a defensive formation and tried to make a stop to our opponent's offense.

Their point guard, Ryan, escaped his defender by coming off a screen made by their center and attempted a 3-pointer but it missed. Ikenna easily got the rebound since their tallest player is not even close to the basket for a rebound.

This already shows a sign of a fastbreak and once again, I speed through full court and Ikenna threw a very long pass.

Our opponents this time reacted quickly and caught up to me but I did not stop and was about to jump for a layup when I felt an arm grab me by the shoulders so I got outbalanced a little bit. Yet I still did not lose focus on the basket and made an awkward shot which fortunately went in.

And one!

4-0

The referee judged it a continuation shot foul, so I will have one free throw adding to my 2 points.

I head to the free-throw line and I easily made it.

5-0

Still early in the game, and I already made 5 points.

The game would continue like this until the end of the first half.

44-27

Coach Alford decided not to let me play in the second half to let the others get some experience and I agreed. This game has no meaning to me anymore when I saw the defeated looks of my opponents. It's already obvious their morale is at the bottom and even if they get it back up, I will crush it again.

I made 23 points in the minutes that I played, with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. I also shot 4 3-pointers and made 2 steals.

To be honest, I never really expected much in the State Tournaments, all my expectations are in the Nationals, so I will just treat this as a warmup for the real tournament.