SportsPrep Live

Unknown Speaker 0:00
You're listening to local programming produced in KU NV studios.

Unknown Speaker 0:07
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live autographed live where we unbox the mic and talk excellence in athletics. Welcome back to sports prep live. I'm your host Graydon Prescott. Last week, and the state championships took place for Nevada high school basketball, and Bishop Gorman's. both men's and women's teams took home the state championship, women's for the first time in eight years Centennials had won the last eight and men's back on the mountain top for the first time since 2021. I believe. So we got a pep talk episode here K B's with me today. It's gonna be a great show. We're gonna cover the state championship what we think was the difference between this year and last year is also our predictions for Gorman and Nevada high school basketball going forwards. Okay, be ready to go. I'm ready to roll. All right. So we'll start on the girls side. Yes. Gorman's girls came into the state tournament as the second seed. Only one conference team had beaten them so far through the season, and that was centennial. And they played Democracy Prep in the first round, right? Or no, they played Desert Pines in the first year. Okay. And then they beat Desert Pines pretty pretty easily. Played democracy around Correct. Yep. That was a tougher game, but they still ended up winning by 2266 44. And then in the championship. Obviously, they played Centennial nemesis. Yep. Only team that had beaten them. And they came out on top after a tough game. They were down almost the whole way. But a little bit of a rivalry there too. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So the girls came through. Got got the job done. We were there. What were your what were your takeaways?

Unknown Speaker 2:09
Wow. You know, I really thought that democracy because they have a really strong team. I thought democracy would give them more of a challenge in that second round game. I did end up thinking that bishop was going to pull it out. So there wasn't as much drama in that game. As I was hoping there would be like you said it was a bit of a blowout. First half, it was a decent half but Bishop was able to wrest control of the game behind the efforts of Lizzie spades who was just a Hooper, we're going to talk a little bit more about that. And you know, the rest of her squad that was that was just ready to roll. So again, not a lot of drama there. Hope for a little bit more kind of that game. The ensuing game or the ensuing round when they played centennial? That was a nail biter. I didn't know which way that one was going to go. Centennial also has some ballers. This Brooks girl is just absolutely tough. She probably drop 2530 points. Yeah, just an unbelievable game. And and, you know, outdone only by, you know, Lizzie spades from Bishop Gorman, who is just an incredible athlete. Just Hooper Barnatan it's been fun to watch her play all year had the opportunity to catch a couple of games. But that one what's in to do I know there's a rivalry there. Even even between the two head coaches who are both elite level high school coaches. You just didn't know I think from what I saw, Bishop didn't really wrest control of that game until maybe the last six to eight minutes and then you felt like they had their their biggest opportunity to win it but even then, it wasn't guaranteed. I don't think it was sure it really until maybe the last three minutes

Unknown Speaker 4:11
now because if you remember that game, Garmin was down for going into the fourth quarter Correct? Right. So then it was a neck and neck fourth quarter. Fourth Centennial got the lead to eighth kind of thought it was over and then Garmin went on a run. And Addy car Addison car hit back to back three Yes, big shots. One was to they were down six, one, cut it to three and then she tied the game. And then Lizzie hit a pull up mid range jumper on the right side of the basket to take the lead 55 to 53 and then they hit free throws at the end of the game. So the final score was 5753. But lazy had that go ahead jump shot with like a minute and six. Until maybe the last minute where it wasn't even a shirt until probably the last Last 20 fives under the last video. And even then it was only a four point game. So it's still, you know, a lot can happen in 25 seconds, especially since Centennial still had timeouts. So it was a fantastic game to watch Lizzie spade. And she's only a sophomore. Lizzie is class of 2020. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 5:19
yeah.

Unknown Speaker 5:20
She's still got a lot of room to grow. And she's phenomenal. She,

Unknown Speaker 5:23
I think seen someone like, you know, and we talked a little bit about it last week, Caitlin Clark. To see another athlete who, you know, she doesn't shoot as many threes but her command of the court, her vision, her handles her shooting. She's an incredible shooter. I didn't think she shot nearly enough in that game. And she probably had 30 Plus. I

Unknown Speaker 5:48
think she had 25. Okay, nine rebounds. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 5:51
And I didn't think she shot enough. And that just goes to show you not only how unselfish she is, but her pacing because even though she has you know, 2530 points, you don't feel like she had a lot you don't you feel like oh, she could have done more. I don't feel like she shot the ball too much. So she had her fingerprints all over that game. And there is no way they would have wanted without her. So shout out to her big time athlete. Really looking forward to her next couple of years. It's going to be a lot of fun. I know she has a ton of college offers. Oh yeah. So everyone is seeing what we're seeing from Lizzie spades. And like you say Eddie hits really big three. She played tremendous defense. I forget number five, her Sydney chestnut. Sydney, was really hoping, you know, lockdown defense, hit one or two really critical threes. I mean, every shot during that game for either team wasn't important shot. Yeah. either. You didn't want to go down too much. Or you were fighting to you know, maintain the lead or to stay even. So it was a really well fought battle. And one of the highlights of this basketball season just in terms of being a basketball fan. Yeah, absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 7:11
Lizzy, in her semifinal game, I don't know if you know that she had a triple double Democracy Prep. And then I told you that 25 And nine rebounds against centennial. The argument was brought up by a basketball, social media in Vegas called ball dogs. It's pretty prevalent. They, you know, sponsor a lot of different tournaments, a lot of AAU tournaments. They were great sponsors for the Tarkanian classic, and they said, Alia Speight. Lizzie is the best basketball player in Nevada, regardless of gender, gender, or class. They said she is the flat out best player, do you agree with that?

Unknown Speaker 7:53
It is difficult to disagree. Because of the, you know, all of this is relative, right? So there is, from what I've seen, there is greater separation between Lizzy and whoever the number two is, than there is between on the boys side, whoever the number one player is. And then number two is there's so much parity on the male side of the ball. There's great guards. There's great twos, there's great threes, fours and fives. Nevada, and Vegas in particular is kind of guard heavy, especially on the male side. So that the basketball that I've seen and we'll talk a little bit more about that. It was really the guards that kind of shine through, you know, for those teams that we're going to be discussing up doing up to and including the team that won the championship was also Bishop Gorman on the boys side, in addition to the bishop, woman girls winning varsity championship state championship. So yes, I cannot disagree with with that, that claim where that notion that she is, regardless of gender. The best basketball player in Nevada, she's tough. Yes, absolutely. Tons tough.

Unknown Speaker 9:15
And I think the biggest point in that argument is of course, relative to the competition. Right? Right. She there's nobody on the girls side who is even coming close to what she's doing, at least in the state of Nevada. On the boys side, you got a bunch of guys who are tough. And I'm not saying that any of the boys guys don't stand out because they're a bunch of shorts. It's more that there are a bunch of standout guys on the boys side where, you know, you could say, oh, this person is the best player, this person and you can make an argument for 567 different people. on the girls side. It's It's Lizzie. And everybody's watching, right? Yeah, she's the one and there are a lot of good players. But it's it's a different level with Lizzie. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 9:58
And I think for anyone And who has seen her play? It's obvious that hits you. Yeah, it hits you pretty quickly. Yeah, it's obvious she is she's special. She is special on

Unknown Speaker 10:08
the boys side. Bishop Gorman also came away with the championship they played Foothill in the first round took care of business pretty easy. Then their last two games were nail biters down drag through nail biters will start with a semi final they played the number two seed Liberty Haven minute Gorman was the three seed. They play the number two seated Liberty who had beaten them earlier in the season. Right? Right, a really, really great game. They came back to Thomas and Mack Center. Gorman Khanna had the lead most of the way. But it never got to be more than like a six point whenever confident. Yeah. And at any given time, Liberty tied the game or took the lead themselves. It was a back and forth back and forth game. Tyus Tyus Thomas, he's the younger brother of DJ Thomas, who's a point guard here at UNLV. Tyus was sensational. He had a great game. And on Gorman side writer Elif solidaires. Number 24. Sir, Mr. Basketball Yeah, he was. He was hoping he was it was efficient the way he was hoping.

Unknown Speaker 11:26
I've been a big fan of his for quite some time. You know, what Bishop was able to do? And we'll talk a little bit more about this in a few minutes here, but you know, he was on that hyper talented team from last year. And I don't think he was a starter on that team. But he was he played a lot of minutes. Yeah. And he was in the game at critical times. That team that included Chase, Jackson Richardson that included John Mobley that included included Chris newly a couple of others who either transferred out Quinton? Yes. So that was a really talented team that they had last year and he still found minutes. So that is really a testament to you know, his value as a basketball player. And the product that he brings to the floor, he's he's he's got a high basketball IQ. He's a pitbull. He plays excellent defense. He's one of my favorite basketball players on the boys side in the entire state. So yeah, hats off to him. If I were to assign and I don't know if they do this, if I were to assign a tournament MVP, he would win it hands down.

Unknown Speaker 12:46
Yeah, so you know, he had a fantastic game against celebrity played well in the championship game. Coronado, who was a team that was supposed to win the championship coming now there were four teams that you could say, Okay, any of these four times, right? Yeah, um, Arbor view. Coronado played each other in the semifinals. Our preview ended up being the four seed but the thing about that was all four teams were nine and two in conference play. So it was almost luck of the draw as to who got the tops Right, right. So Arbor view ended up being four but their game with Coronado went to overtime, and then liberty and Gorman had their battle and was a two point game with one minute left and Garmin ended up winning by five free throws. And then championship game Gorman place Coronado Coronado, if you don't know has a man. Young man by the name of T. Bartley I believe it is. He might be seven one.

Unknown Speaker 13:45
He's talked to a guy. Yes. Yes. I don't think soft touch around the bass. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 13:50
yeah. He's fantastic. He averaged 23 points and 15 rebounds this season. And then they also have Josiah Cunningham tough. Yes. Johnny Collins tough. Lance Stephenson. Tough. This team was stacked. They played national competition all year and help them held their best. Yeah, they did. Well, nationally, they played against the boozer twins and all them. They didn't win but it wasn't a blowout. Right. So this was a this was a very good basketball team and Gorman it didn't look like they matched up to well correct with Coronado they didn't they didn't have anyone. And no Westbrook is a fine basketball player but he's not. He's just not that big. He might be six seven, he's just not as big. Right? They didn't have now Gorman has great feisty Pitbull defenders. Yes, they do. But they didn't have an offensive standout like Josiah maybe or, or Johnny can get you 30 On any given day. Correct. How do you think Gorman was able to take what they had and defeat a team that on paper should have beaten them by 20 and

Unknown Speaker 14:57
I do agree with that assessment that on paper deeper. It seemed like this was Coronado to lose. Yeah. And we talked a little bit about this offline even coming into the show we, you know, I saw you at the game. And I think everyone kind of had that same response outside of those who were fans of Bishop Gorman. But just your average spectator, I think would have thought, hey, yes, Bishop is good. They belong here in this gym in this state tournament. However, yeah, call them out or not don't just seem like they were a couple of steps above. And that's not a knock on the bishop warmer program, outstanding program well coached. But it's just the elite level talent that Coronado has on the floor. It is both surprising to me. And I mean, pleasantly so. And really interesting that bishop Boardman was able to wrestle this championship away from a team like Coronado, because as I as I alluded to a moment ago, bishop had a more unarguably more talented team last year. Yeah. You know, with the some of the people that we mentioned, you know, the Jackson brothers, or the Richardson brothers Jackson, and Jason Junie, and Chris, newly, and Quinton. And plus all the people that are there now save the freshmen. Yeah, right. So that was a really talented team. And I think this team came out with a better record this year, they did and obviously achieved a goal that the team last year could not, which was winning the state championship. And here is my take on that. I think there were a lot of personalities on last year's team that may have been interested in some of their individual goals concerned about where they rank on the ESPN 100 concerned about whether or not they were the top one or two players in the state of their position. Concerned about other other rankings that are out there, Max preps and all of that. And I think with this year's team, like you said, there wasn't any standout player who, you know, ESPN had ranked top 25, or anything like that. It didn't seem to be anyone that was concerned about that. And so I think the coaches got a lot more buy in, and when you get that kind of buy in, you get chemistry, right. And if bishop Gorman had nothing, the thing that did seem prevalent, but that was glaringly obvious on that floor during that game between those two team is that bishop Gorman had chemistry. The scoring came from everywhere. And it seemed as if no one cared where the scoring came from. Yeah. Nick Jefferson, you know, this guy is is five foot nothing. 511 You know, six feet on a good day. But he's a pitbull, and he is a leader. Yeah, I saw him talk to everyone on that floor in different moments. You know, if they needed to be picked up if they need a little encouragement, if they needed if they were out of position. He's just a really good floor general. And I've always thought that about him but man did it really shine through on during the championship game. And then the the freshmen you know, not only the the minutes that, you know, guy that you've played with Ty Johnson, but then Ilan and Cam Cooper, who's whose dad is an assistant coach on the men's basketball team here at UNLV. Those guys gave great minutes. And it did you know, cam was outmatched in terms of size up against t but he played ferocious defense. He's a good shooter, a good shot selection, great put backs. And again, it just came from everywhere. You know, Jeff Washington know as you mentioned, Blake Sullivan gave them good minutes. You know, he's not a prolific scorer, but he's a pit bull on defense. Yeah. And Caleb and Caleb Williams, you know, excellent on defense. He's like Dennis Rodman out there.

Unknown Speaker 19:07
Yeah, get you get your six points.

Unknown Speaker 19:10
Yeah, you know, you get six to eight points from him. And that's probably going to be a W you're probably gaming the w column. So I just felt like the chemistry was so much better on Bishop Gorman. And with Coronado conversely, it seems as if you knew where the points were going to come from, that it wasn't as spread out. It wasn't as equitable. That it I'm not gonna say it was the the Josiah and Johnny show. But I would imagine that 60% of those their points came from those two guys in T, who had almost failed out to know everybody they guarded him on the bishop Gorman team. I felt just didn't have the ball in his hands enough and he's got a soft touch. He has such a big guy he does.

Unknown Speaker 19:55
On the Coronado side that team is has Spin considered pretty top heavy. This year they got they got four guys who are real tough. They got Lance, who can give you 20 On any given day, Josiah and Johnny we've talked about and then T who was averaging 22 and 15. So, in that game, you expected those four guys to be spread out pretty evenly in scoring. Yes. I did not think that T would get as it's not that he didn't get touches, but he didn't get as many touches as I would have expected, right, because jet jet had four fouls. Noah was in foul trouble. Cam wasn't foul trouble. Elon had three. Gorman had a lot of guys and fouls. I think Nick had four. Gorman had a lot of guys that were in danger of falling out. All because T probably shot 1516 free throws, right. But I mean, he probably could have shot 30 and still felt like, you know, you got to feed him more, because he was so much bigger than everybody and I

Unknown Speaker 21:02
think their coach, I remember one of the coaches yelling at Lance, who took up three, probably under three minutes left. And he screamed at him about shooting threes. And I think the point was that we are going to get our highest percentage production in the pain. And when you see T It's obvious, it's not just a big guy. He's not just a big kid. He is big, with good hands a soft touch a great feel for the game. He should have probably been the center of that offense, no pun intended. And then the points that you get from year one and year two, or hybrid shoes, or however we consider Johnny and Josiah as guards. That's just icing on the cake. But I felt the thing that bishop did so well is they were able to color where the the offense in Coronado was coming from. They knew where it was coming from. It was visible. You could see around the corner. And the inverse was true with Bishop you didn't know where the offense was coming from. Jet was giving you some no it was giving you some rider gave you a lot. Nick was giving you some Elan gave us off cam gave you something you know, you just didn't know where the offense was coming from. Yeah. And everyone was pleased and cheering on everyone else. High fives and things of that nature great plays. You just didn't see that on the Coronado side. So that chemistry that again, this team that I think has lesser talent than they had last year. Chemistry matters in sports, and particularly in a sport like basketball and it showed a

Unknown Speaker 22:44
moment glaring a moment that really stood out to me. And I'm sure you've noticed, as of the basketball, basketball person you are, I think it was it was probably a two on one pass break and Cam Cooper had the ball. And he went on a fast break and jet was coming down with him. But I guess jet flared out instead of cutting to the basket. Cam got fouled. And cam said something to jet

Unknown Speaker 23:08
excited in a not good way he was frustrated.

Unknown Speaker 23:12
Yeah. Something along the lines of cut to the basket. Right. And Nick comes up to camp, Nick Jeffersons, he walks up to Cam, he tells him like, alright, you know, calm down, we got a bigger goal here. Like just relax seeing these free throws, right? And then he and then he pulls jet to the side outside half walks out to half court walks to half court to talk to jet. And he tells jet what he saw. Just you know, you know, let it go. And you know, we're good. Right, Ryan? For me. That was it might not have been the biggest moment of the game, but it stood out was seminal. I know it was critical, because then that's when you really like this team is really playing for each other. They're together. Yes. Like they don't care who's doing what they want to win. Everybody wants to win, wants to win. Ken wants to win. And that's where that passion I think came from. It wasn't from a point of Hallman, you did this wrong. It's like we want to make the right play to win the game. Right? And Nick was able to explain that to Cam like, hey, we don't need to get on our teammates in order to you know, show that we want to win this game. And then he also explained to jet Hey, jet, you know, this what you need to do in this situation? For me, that moment of leadership was as big as

Unknown Speaker 24:26
that. I noticed that too. Yeah, that was a big moment. You know, shout out to Nick Jefferson, just a Hooper, but really proved this year that he is a leader. I think he's a junior. So they're going to have that leadership another year. And you know, they're going to lose Ryder who was also a good floor leader floor general. But Nick really stepped up talking to everybody there was not a person on that floor that he didn't have some communication with, about what he was seeing what he wanted to see. You know what they were seeing on He really did display a lot of, of leadership on the floor. And I think that had a heck of a lot to do with the fact that they came out on top of this game. And it's the right kind of leadership, you know, not being condescending, not barking at guys in an unproductive way. But just again, letting him know what letting them know what he's seeing, let him know, here's where you are, here's where you need to be. That sort of feedback is really critical. And players receive that well. They know where you're coming from, as opposed to just kind of you know, barking at them. You can and and, you know, there's there's really no goal behind it other than to then to vent your frustration. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 25:37
As for next year, on the girls side. Do you think Gorman can go back to I the way I see it, as long as Gorman has Lizzie, they have a chance Correct? Centennial is gonna be there. Democracy Prep is going to be there. But, you know, Gorman, and a lot of their players are yami Sydney, Sydney, he's a senior. My Ruiz is a senior, so they're gonna lose those two. But Adhikar is a freshman. He got some freshmen on that's meaningful minutes. Yeah. And he's a freshman Anna, freshman. Lizzy sophomore. They got a lot of young pieces. I think. Neil Webster is a sophomore, maybe a junior. So they got a lot of pieces that are returning, I don't see that team losing too much. And if they do and what they do lose, I think they can develop their younger girls to grow into the pieces like a Sidney Chester. They got the formula. And then Coach K coming back, right. Obviously a big thing. I mean, she was gone for a couple years. She comes back they would state I mean, it was something that I did not expect. But I mean, it was a sight to behold and then on the boys side, that one's going to be a little bit more tricky. Right? To go back.

Unknown Speaker 26:54
Obviously you got near losing some talent. Yeah, they got Nick coming back. Who was their leader? But you still have talent? Yeah, they're losing a lot of terramin. Who played meaningful right throughout the year

Unknown Speaker 27:06
writers gonna be gone. Yes. Noah's gonna be gone. Yes. Caleb Williams is gonna He's gone. Blake Sullivan, Blake. Pillole. On defense. He's

Unknown Speaker 27:15
gone. Those four. Yeah. Huge in every game. Yeah. In meaningful minutes in every game and

Unknown Speaker 27:23
not just on the offensive side of the most. Yeah, I mean, Ryder is gonna get you what he gives you on offense. He's gonna get you 1615 Points off defender as well. Then Blake is gonna get you a couple of steals. Right? He's not he's not a huge offensive threat but he doesn't he's not turning the ball over occasion version of off night. Right. Locked down and he's not offensively. He's gonna make the right play. Yeah. And then Caleb, man, Caleb. Yeah. I mean, I've never seen this Rodman never seen anything, but he's fun to watch. Yeah, he is fun to watch spectacular and the no other big man. Yeah. They're losing a lot of talent. I think that next year is going to be much more difficult than it was this year for them. Yeah. Especially since the teams that they faced are barely losing anyone right. Tyus coming back junior year, that mean Liberty's big. Tyler coming back to you and your year, Johnny junior year only person I can notable from another school that I can think of going is Josiah and then Farrell from our review. That's about it, because he's coming back. Johnny's coming back, Lance is coming back. So, you know, that's gonna be

Unknown Speaker 28:36
you know, I know, we're winding up here, but it's going to be interesting. They do have some people that are going to be able to come into their own a little bit more next year. I know, Ilan started this year, but I think he's going to be much improved, you know, not that he was he was bad this year. But I just mean, you know, more confident, more minutes. bigger part of the offense cam, you know, I expect him to be starting next year. Again, playing meaningful minutes throughout the year, excellent on defense got off to a little rocky start because they played him in a position that, you know, he that wasn't ideal for him, but he's really grown in that four and five spot. So it's gonna be really fun to watch what they can do with the unit that that they will have, you know, after they lose the pieces that they're losing because of graduation.

Unknown Speaker 29:19
Yeah. And we're both looking forward to see that next year. All right, everybody, thank you for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. Great and Prescott KB. And as always, everybody have a great day and we will see you next time. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm grading Prescott and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep lab. Thanks for

Unknown Speaker 29:49
the content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai