TERRY MOSHER
ALEX SMITH GRABS REBOUND IN CROWED ACTION
I’m going to pretend to be a college recruiter, with the emphasis on pretend since I have no experience doing such a thing. However, I’ve been watching basketball since I was about eight when my second-oldest brother Ronnie was playing high school basketball, so I do have some experience.
Besides, I have nothing else to do right at this moment, which is rare in itself. I am watching juvenile ducks float on Phinney Bay and ma and pa raccoons shuffle around in our backyard, so I am doing something.
However, last night (March 17) at Bremer Student Center Gym at Olympic College I covered the West Sound Senior High School All-Star Basketball Games put on by Rick Walker’s Sports Beyond for the 13th time and going to pretend that I’m a college recruiter on the basketball trail for prospects for our first-year college program, which in this pretend world will be St. Bonaventure, which is the school I grew up with in Western New York.
Years ago I came up with the name Sun Super Six, which were our annual choices at the Bremerton Sun (now Kitsap Sun) for the top six local high school basketball players. So this time it will be the Fantasy Five, since this is after all a pretend group of stars.
Since my pretend head coach will be a combination of real coaches – Melvin Milkovich and Eddie Donovan, who later became coach of the New York Knicks. Milkovich and Donovan were coaching at St. Bona when I was the most avid fan of the then Brown Indians (later changed to Bonnies to ensure political correctness). Anyway, they have given me the full authority to put together the starting five on the Fantasy Five.
These picks will come from last night’s boy’s game at OC. I have been given the chance to take the first five guys from the game because, well, because I’m the writer of this story.
My first choice is Alex Smith, the 6-foot-7 kid from Central Kitsap who was very impressive last night. He has jumper knees, but says they do not bother him when he plays basketball, and boy does he play basketball.
After picking Smith, it gets tougher. But we need at point guard at St. Bona, so I’m taking Olympic’s Makaleb McInnis, who might have had the best play of the game last night when on a break he tossed up the ball against the glass and got out of the way as six-foot-10 Calvin Dennis of North Kitsap, the trailer on the break, soared through the air and with two hands slammed the ball through the hoop.
I’m tempted to take the three Bainbridge players who played in the game with my next three choices. You can tell that the Bainbridge Spartans play against some of the best players in the state in the Metro League because Blake Swanson, Oskar Dieterich and Ben Beatie were stunningly good.
But I have to be careful here because if I’m wrong chances are good I could be fired by my pretend coach. There are plenty of good players to choose from, but I got to take Sequim’s six-foot-four Alex Barry, who can do it all and is a true scorer. I have to go with Olympic’s Damarius Johnson, a six-foot-five guy who seems to have a lot of fun playing the game and can be extremely dangerous in open court and above the rim where he soars often.
Now I’m down to one more choice and it’s difficult to choose between Swanson, Beatie, Dieterich, Dennis and Bremerton’s Dallas Chapman, who may have been one of the most underrated players along with South Kitsap sharp-shooter Travis Delgado.
I’ve got to go with the six-foot-eight Beatie, who can play the game inside-out.
So there you have it, my Fantasy Five. You can take my picks and about six dollars and buy a cup of java at Starbucks with it.
Thanks for reading.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.
