Bellarmine, Dublin set for attractive NorCal opener
For years, it seems, the California Interscholastic Federation has consistently sent elite Bay Area boys basketball teams to Sacramento or Modesto — and vice versa — for NorCal Open Division matchups.
That wasn’t an option Sunday. Once the field was set at five teams — including four from the Bay Area — the usual combinations were not possible.
So Bellarmine’s third appearance in the Open will take the San Jose powerhouse over the Sunol Grade and into Dublin for a Wednesday showdown in the CIF’s top division.
In the Bells’ previous two trips to the Open, 2017 and 2018, they lost in Sacramento to Sheldon and at Modesto Christian.
Bellarmine and Dublin are coming off tough three-point defeats in section finals. The Bells lost to Mitty, and Dublin fell to O’Dowd.
Two weeks ago, Bellarmine coach Patrick Schneider scouted Campolindo’s NCS victory over San Leandro and came away impressed.
In the next round, Campo lost at Dublin.
“I thought Campo was phenomenal and Dublin sliced them up,” Schneider said. “That says an awful lot about how good they are.”
Dublin has shown that it can play multiple styles, including the grindout defensive challenge that Bellarmine will no doubt present for a trip to the Open semis.
“Luckily, with our preseason schedule, there were opportunities to play against different styles,” Dublin coach Tom Costello said. “We’ve had different defenses thrown at us. We obviously know that Bellarmine is so wellcoached and extremely physical. They defend at a high level.”
Saturday night, O’Dowd will travel from Oakland to San Jose for a dream semifinal matchup against Mitty.
O’Dowd has won 17 in a row since opening the season 5-7 and has not lost to a Northern California opponent all season.
Mitty shared the West Catholic Athletic League championship with
Bellarmine and Riordan and then beat Menlo School, Menlo-Atherton and Bellarmine to claim its fourth Central Coast Section Open Division championship.
“It’s a nice thing to be able to host a game, especially when you’ve got a challenge with Bishop O’Dowd,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. “I’ve haven’t gone through all their film yet, but I have been following their win streak. I know they have a lot of weapons and they can beat you in multiple ways.”
MITTY GIRLS CLAIM NO. 1 OVERALL SEED, AGAIN >> For the fourth year in a row, the CIF selection committee made what amounted to a no-doubtabout-it call, choosing the Mitty girls as the top seed in the Open Division.
But as the Monarchs know well, there are no certainties at this time of year, no guarantees that the top seed will take them to the mountaintop. For all that Mitty has accomplished under its legendary coach, Sue Phillips, all the championships and all the players who have gone on to college basketball, the program has one piece of hardware still missing.
The Open Division state championship.
Mitty is making its sixth appearance in the Open since the best-ofthe-best division was added in 2013. The Monarchs have gotten out of the NorCal regional just once, in 2017, when they beat Cardinal Newman for the regional title before losing to Clovis West in the state final.
They could meet both just to reach the state championship game this time around.
Mitty will play host to St. Mary’s of Stockton or Cardinal Newman in the semifinals Saturday. If the Monarchs win, they could face Clovis West, which was placed in the North this year, for the NorCal title next week. NO EASY PATH FOR SALESIAN GIRLS >> Had the CIF taken six teams instead of five for the girls Open, Salesian would have made the cut. But the team that upset Mitty in last year’s Open semifinals behind 6-foot-5 center Angel Jackson, now a freshman at USC, was left out of the top bracket.
The Pride instead is the No. 1 seed in Division I, which includes No. 2 Bishop O’Dowd, No. 3 Clovis North, No. 4 Miramonte, No. 5 Pinewood and No. 6 Heritage, just to name a few.
“It doesn’t ever seem like we get the easy route to anything, but that’s OK, I guess you gotta work for it,” Salesian coach Stephen Pezzola said. “But I don’t envy the selection committee. I can’t really complain no matter what they do because I think that with competitive equity.”
He added: “But having said that, I think that they made a good choice.” WHY ONLY FIVE TEAMS IN THE OPEN? >> This is the eighth year that the CIF has had a regional Open Division. There has not been a complete eightteam bracket in half of them for the boys, including this year’s field. The girls haven’t had a complete bracket for the past two years.
Why so few?
William Chavarin, the CIF director who oversees basketball, said, “We were looking at different teams to fill from one to eight and it started to get to the point where we asked ourselves, ‘Are we just filling these just to fill up eight?’ ”