This Name Game Is Just a Small Part of Playoff Basketball Fun

It’s OK, slackers. Just because you spent the last couple of months thinking about life, love and world peace doesn’t mean you can’t clue into the most important happening on this planet right now. That’s right--the Southern Section basketball playoffs.

Intrigued? Of course you are. Now let’s help you get caught up.

In no particular order, a few of the playoffs’ more interesting aspects:

--Mater Dei.

You could memorize Marmet Williams trivia (he has a cat named Kisser, he wears goggles like James Worthy). You could figure out which public school each Mater Dei player would attend (if he went to a public school). You could debate whether this Monarch team could beat one of several community college teams in the area.

Or, you could just sit around and snooze as Mater Dei sleepwalks its way to another Southern Section title.

Fortunately, the State championships exist to keep us all awake.

--Shannon Jakosky.

Nobody likes a season-ending defeat, but Jakosky, the Newport Harbor girls’ coach, had a tougher time than most while watching her team lose to Brea-Olinda, 63-50, in the III-AA semifinals last year. That’s because Jakosky was forced to watch the game from the bleachers.

Hours before the game, Jakosky was told she had been suspended by the Southern Section for watching game film with her players on a Sunday. Jakosky said she didn’t know Sunday get-togethers were prohibited.

This year, the Sailors are 18-6 and Division III-AA’s fourth-seeded team. They might be the best girls’ basketball team in school history. And Jakosky, now in her fourth year, intends to see the season all the way through.

From the coach’s box, of course.

--Stais Boseman.

If there’s one player to keep your eye on through these playoffs, it’s this senior from Inglewood Morningside. Boseman is like the Blue Angels on a fly-by--a mesmerizing mix of power, speed and grace.

Last year, Boseman scored 27 points to help beat Estancia in the III-AA final. But his 27 seemed more like 50. In a blink, he’s here, he’s there, shooting, rebounding and shooting again. He’s perpetual motion personified.

Keep your eye on him--if you’re able.

--Brea-Olinda girls.

(See Mater Dei, above).

--Jim Faulkner.

Two years ago, as a sophomore, the Estancia guard-forward helped his team win a State championship. Last year, he helped the Eagles to the section and regional championship games.

This year was to be his year--or so went popular opinion.

But as the only returning starter from last year’s squad, Faulkner has had to deal with some tumultuous changes. A new coach (Tim Parsel replaced Tim O’Brien), a different role (he often handles the ball as well as the scoring) and a whole new set of Eagles around him.

“He would never say so,” Parsel says, “but I think it took him awhile to adjust.”

Apparently, he’s well-adjusted now. Faulkner scored a season-high 34 points against Laguna Beach last week to help the Eagles to a Pacific Coast League co-championship. His performance may not make people forget Estancia’s Matt Fuerbringer--last year’s dunkmaster extraordinaire--but it’s still a good sign.

Faulkner refuses to be forgotten.

--Campbell Hall.

The tiny school from North Hollywood is seeking a temporary restraining order to allow its boys’ basketball team entrance into the playoffs. The case--involving an ineligible athlete, a residency violation and eight forfeited victories--could force section officials to redraw the entire Division V-AA playoff bracket if the restraining order is granted.

What else can you say but . . .

Yuck.

--The other Mater Dei.

That’s right. There is another Mater Dei, and we don’t mean the Monarch Bs, Cs, or XYZs. It’s the Mater Dei girls’ basketball team--16-7 and playing a Division I-A first-round game tonight against Chino.

Around campus, these Monarch girls are easy to spot. They’re the ones walking around with huge shadows over their heads. Playing at the same school as the Mater Dei boys will do that to you, you know.

Not that it bothers the girls. Coach Brenda Yecke says her team doesn’t receive as much fan support as the boys, but that’s the way it goes for girls’ teams in general.

“We’ve had some good crowds the last couple of games,” says Yecke, in her sixth year. “But what’s really neat is a lot of the boys’ basketball players are coming to our games now.”

And finding out what it’s like to be in the shadows.