Bishop O’Dowd gets home-court upgrade
Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland basketball coach Lou Richie tried to find the words to describe the Dragons’ new $40 million, stateof-the art basketball facility but kept coming up short.
“Honestly, words can’t really describe the center,” he said. “You just have to come out and see it.”
The Bishop John S. Cummins Center, featuring the Steve Phelps Memorial Court in Knauss Gymnasium, is a mouthful and a long time coming.
Richie, a 1989 Bishop O’Dowd graduate in his 11th season as head coach, said there was talk of replacing the old Frank Laporte Gym when he was in high school. The definition of a “bandbox,” the old gym — still on campus — seats barely 700, is filled with quirk, character and history.
The new place holds 1,300, features five video screens, a glistening NBA-size court and all the bells and whistles.
And it also hosts a new boys tournament that tips off the Bay Area’s 2022-23 high school basketball season, Nov. 25-26.
The two-day Bishop O’DowdOakland Thanksgiving Showcase features eight games and 12 teams, including Bay Area powers Oakland Tech (No. 11 in The Chronicle’s preseason rankings), No. 15 Moreau CatholicHayward and No. 20 SalesianRichmond. Tickets can be purchased online at bishopodowd.org.
Other big draws include defending NorCal Open champion Modesto Christian and Nevada national powers Bishop Gorman-Las Vegas and Coronado-Henderson, which feature four of the top senior recruits from their state, including No. 1 Sebastian Mack, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard.
NorCal Tip-Off Classic: The 15th annual boys basketball one-day, eight-game event is Nov. 26 at Dublin and features eight ranked teams, including The Chronicle’s top four.
The games are: No. 3 Granada-Livermore vs. Vanden-Fairfield (9:30 a.m.), No. 9 Dougherty Valley-San Ramon vs. Oakland Tech (11 a.m.); No. 7 CampolindoMoraga vs. Grant-Sacramento (12:30 p.m.); No. 4 Oakland vs. Monterey Trail-Elk Grove (2 p.m.); No. 1 Riordan vs. Weston Ranch-Stockton (3:30 p.m.) No. 8 Dublin vs. Inderkum-Sacramento (5:15 p.m.); No. 2 Mitty vs. Clovis North-Fresno (7 p.m.); Modesto Christian vs. Notre DameSherman Oaks (8:30 p.m.).
Ten players from those teams have committed to Division I programs, including Dublin’s Courtney Anderson (Colorado), Dougherty Valley’s Ryan Beasley (USF), Mitty’s Derek Sangster (Princeton), Oakland’s Money Williams (Montana) and Granada’s Andrew McKeever (St. Mary’s).
Riordan starts No. 1: Despite losing four starters, the Crusaders start at the top of The Chronicle’s rankings, based on returning Metro Player of the Year KingJhsanni Wilhite, a 6-1 shooting guard who averaged 23.3 points per game last season while leading the Crusaders to a first Central Coast Section Open Division title.
Coach Joey Curtin loves the development of reserves Jasir Rencher, a 6-5 wing, and 6-6 Christian Wise. Nathan Tshamala and Alex Kuminga (6-7) are among three junior transfers who are impact players. Kuminga is the younger brother of Warriors’ reserve Jonathan and Tshamala is their cousin.
Granada, unranked at the end of last season, opens at No. 3 with the development of McKeever, a 7-footer, all-league 6-5 forward Jonathan Mitchell and the transfer from Salesian of Alex Harris (6-7).
Led by 6-6 senior wing Joey Kennedy, a two-time San Francisco Player of the Year, No. 10 University has shown very well with offseason wins over Riordan, De La Salle and Salesian. Cole Boake (6-3), Luke Bradley (6-5), Will Perkins (6-4) and Gus Fried (6-4) lead a deep and balanced squad.
Mitty No. 1 in girls: Coach Sue Phillips has another juggernaut led by 6-2 junior Morgan Cheli (14.8 points, 6.9 rebounds), who reportedly has 40 Division I offers. There’s lots more with 6-1 Maya Hernandez (Loyola Marymount commit), along with Layla Woods, Elle Hanson and April Chan. Freshman 6-1 post McKenna Woliczko already has Division I offers and transfers Elana Weisman (Burlingame) and Belle Bramer (Los Gatos) are two more reasons Mitty is No. 23 in the SBLive national rankings.
Second-ranked CarondeletConcord returns first-team AllMetro wing Jamie Kent (Pacific commit). Kelly Sopak’s squad also features D1 prospects Allie Cummins (Northern Arizona) and Keshia Vitalicio, a junior, and high-level freshmen Sophia Ross and Layla Dixon.
Bishop O’Dowd coach Malik McCord is giddy about his six ninth-graders, including 5-9 Devin Cosgriff, who reportedly has 10 college offers. Add in 5-7 point guard Lizzy Quinteros, 6-3 sophomore post Madison Gordon and juniors Nyah Greenwood and Savannah Jones, and the Dragons should be a force all season.