Guard Brenden Glapion realizes ‘dream’ at Cal

<On the afternoon of Jan. 16, between video study and practice, Cuonzo Martinsummoned walk-on guard Brenden Glapion to the front of Haas Pavilion’sHeng Family Theater.

After asking Glapion a handful of questions to build suspense, Cal’s head coach told his team, “He’s done some great things, and we’re here to present him with a scholarship.” Players rose from their seats, wrapped Glapion in a collective embrace and called for a speech.

But the senior who had spent more than half a decade trying to land a full-ride scholarship wasn’t prepared for this sudden attention. “This is…oh, man,” Glapion said as he cupped his hands and raised them to his face, trying to find the right words. “I’m in shock.”

Sunday evening, before tipping off against USC in their final home game, the Bears will honor three senior players. Though one is far more recognizable to fans than the other two, this Cal team values Glapion, walk-on Nick Kerr and all-Pac-12 point guard Tyrone Wallace just the same.

“With our walk-ons, it’s not just a thing where you just consider them as walk-ons and some people have them for grade point averages and all that,” Martin said. Glapion “has been in the trenches every single day, every step of the way. He’s a part of our program, part of our success.”

At George Washington High School, Glapion hardly thought about playing for his local Pac-12 team. He would have been giddy to receive a scholarship from a Division I program, anywhere.

As a senior in 2011, Glapion was named AAA Player of the Year after leading the Eagles with 23 points per game. But interest from college coaches was tepid, at best, for a no-frills guard with little AAU experience. His only scholarship offers were partial rides from Division II programs Academy of Art University and Dominican University.

So he walked on at Seattle University, the only Division I school that wanted him. Glapion concedes that he wasn’t ready emotionally at that point for the rigors of mid-major basketball. After taking a redshirt year, he transferred to Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.

A bulging disc in his back derailed much of his freshman season. Fully healthy in 2013-14, he cracked the starting lineup for a Hawks team that reached the Northern California regional semifinals.

But modest numbers — 9.4 points and 1.6 assists per game — prevented him from gaining much traction with Division I coaches. Glapion was frustrated. Three years and two schools removed from George Washington, his circumstances hadn’t changed: Division II and Division III programs were still his best available options.

“By that time, basketball was only one factor,” Glapion said. “I was more looking at going to the best school.”

He enrolled in Cal’s political science program in fall 2014, at peace with the end of his playing career. Then his former trainer, Prolific Prep founder Jeremy Russotti, contacted Martin on Glapion’s behalf. A week or so later, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Glapion started working out with the team he had followed as a kid.

His playing time is limited to lopsided outings. In a possible 60 games the past two seasons, he has totaled 19 points and 34 minutes in 17 appearances. Glapion doesn’t complain.

“Our walk-ons come lift, they come to practice and they work hard,” Wallace said. “Glap is always trying to help us and make us better players. To see him get put on scholarship, I know we were all very excited for him.”

On that Jan. 16 afternoon, after taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Glapion delivered his speech.

“This is truly a dream come true,” said Glapion, who plans to take a year off after graduating in May to apply to law schools. “I really love each and every one of ya’ll. This has been the best year and a half, two years of my life.”

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron

catching up with basketball season

Did not make it to this game but http://www.mercurynews.com/high-school-sports/ci_22735530/boys-norcal-division-i-bellarmine-cruises-past-lincoln

Source: bangphotos.smugmug.com via Taisho on Pinterest

Also been watching this team on the web and the question is better to ride the pine on a championship team or start on a team with no chance to win

Source: goredlands.com via Taisho on Pinterest

Last year of watching the Eagles for a while

jeremy Lin

First Asian Knick passes on advice to Lin

First Asian Knick passes on advice to Lin
By Jared Zwerling

While former Knick Wat Misaka was glancing through the NBA box scores Tuesday morning, he noticed that Jeremy Lin's name was not included with the Warriors in their 99-91 win over the Bulls. What he didn't realize was Golden State waived Lin earlier in the month and New York claimed him this morning.

Sixty-four years since the Knicks made Misaka not only their franchise's first draft pick, but the first Asian-American in the NBA (then called the Basketball Association of America), Lin is now coming to New York.


Kevin P. Coughlin/Icon SMIWat Misaka was not only the Knicks' first draft pick, but the first Asian-American in the NBA.
"I wish him luck," Misaka said Tuesday from his home in Salt Lake City, Utah. "I don't know exactly what kind of player he is, except for what I've read about him. I sure hope that he can stick. New York could be a great place for him, although Oakland would've been great too with all of the Chinese people that are in California. I think it was one of the reasons why they drafted him. He should have a big following [in New York] if he gets a chance to play."

Ironically, the Knicks play the Warriors on Wednesday night on the road, and Lin should get some immediate playing time. Since Baron Davis and Iman Shumpert are out with prolonged injuries, and Mike Bibby is still recovering from his lower back spasms, the Knicks were in the market for a short-term point guard. In a surprise move, the Knicks went with a young, untested player whose career average is 2.6 points in 29 games. Lin provides some skills and insurance at the one, but Misaka had a hunch the Knicks also signed him because of his ethnic background, a strong tie-in with New York City's large Asian population.

"It makes a difference," he said. "That's certainly one of the reasons why people draft players. It's not strictly about their talents, but their ability to draw fans."

Misaka said he hasn't met Lin yet, but he once tried to get in contact with him. When Lin was signed by the Warriors in 2010, after going undrafted and playing well in the Las Vegas summer league, Misaka wrote him a congratulatory letter to wish him good luck.

"He didn't know me, but I thought that he might have heard about me and maybe would get a little encouragement from words from me," Misaka said. "I'm wishing that he gets some playing time and gets some fans out there excited about a local boy kind of making good."

Misaka never heard back from Lin, but he would like to add one more word of encouragement: "Ganbare."

"It's Japanese for 'hang in there,'" Misaka said of Lin, whose contract is non-guaranteed, so the Knicks can waive him at any time prior to Feb. 10. "I'd like to just tell him, 'Hang in there, something good might happen.'"

For someone who just turned 88, and still works every day as an electrical engineer, that's saying something.

2011 AAA/CIF Championship Wash vs Bal @ AT&T

Baseball: Washington completes undefeated season, triple crown with win over Balboa
click on title to go to original story on sanfranpreps.com
Friday, May 13, 2011 | 53 Comments

Washington players and coaches celebrate after the final out of their win over Balboa in the AAA championship on Thursday at AT&T Park. (Photo by Doug Ko)

By Jeremy Balan

Call it the Triple Crown, call it the Trifecta, call it whatever you want — there wasn’t a need for a name, because it hadn’t been done before.

With a 4-1 win against Balboa High School in the Academic Athletic Association baseball championship on Thursday at AT&T Park, Washington High School became the first school in history to win a AAA championship in football, boys basketball and baseball in the same school year.

Washington junior starting pitcher Dane Vande Guchte sends a pitch toward the plate against Balboa on Thursday at AT&T Park. (Photo by Doug Ko)

The Eagles also wrapped up an undefeated league season and will advance to play Oakland Tech in the Transbay Championship Series, which begins Wednesday at San Francisco State University.

“The first word that comes to mind is that it’s just crazy,” said Washington head coach Rob Fung. “It’s history, it’s never been done, and this is something that no one will every take away from this group.”

Balboa took an early 1-0 lead on three singles in the top of the third inning, but it didn’t take long for the Eagles to respond.

Washington’s junior starting pitcher, Dane Vande Guchte, tied the game in the bottom of the third on a deep fly ball to the warning track in left field. Due to a base-running error, only one of two runners scored and Vande Guchte was limited to a single, but on the next at-bat the Eagles scored the eventual game-winning run.

Vande Guchte broke to second base on a delayed steal, and freshman Jordan Wilson, who was on third, broke home on the throw to second to score the go-ahead run.

“It was different being behind [early], but we knew we had our chances and knew it was going to come,” Vande Guchte said. “We weren’t scared or anything like that, we just played our game.”

The Eagles tacked on two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Vande Guchte shut down the Buccaneers on the mound.

After allowing the lone run in the third, Vande Guchte didn’t allow a hit in the next three innings, and sophomore Chris Hau shut Balboa down in order in the seventh to collect the save.

“He’s a big player. A little guy, but a big player,” Fung said of Vande Guchte. “He gave us everything he could and he couldn’t even go that seventh inning, he left it out there.”

The lack of Balboa offense spoiled a solid start from junior Alex Arnold, who struck out three in 5 1/3 innings and kept the Bucs in the game before running into trouble in the sixth.

Balboa only got one runner in scoring position after the third, but the future seems bright, as the Bucs are only losing one senior to graduation, and have played their best baseball in the postseason, including an upset of Lowell in the semifinals.

“We started maturing and peaked at the right time,” said Balboa head coach Tom Pontino. “We’re certainly going to be back. We’re going to try our best.”

Scoring Summary

Third Inning
B – Michael Li singles, Eduardo Herrera scoreshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
W – Dane Vande Guchte singles, Avery Velasco scores
W – Jordan Wilson steals home

Sixth Inning
W – Alex Kozakiewicz reaches on a fielder’s choice, Javon Philips scores
W – Chris Hau walks, Kozakiewicz scores

Washington completes Triple Crown of San Francisco
At AT&T Park, Dane Vande Guchte and Chris Hau pitch Eagles to baseball title following championships in football and basketball.
hey've been playing organized baseball, basketball and football in San Francisco since 1924, but never had a school won Section titles in all three during the same year.

That is until Washington (San Francisco) completed the triple crown on Thursday at AT&T Park, home of the defending World Series champions San Francisco Giants.

"Winning it there made it extra special," said Washington coach Rob Fung following a 4-1 win over Balboa (San Francisco).

Dane Vande Guchte and Chris Hau combined on a four-hitter as the Eagles (19-6-1) won their 16th straight Academic Athletic Association game overall.

Photo by Brad Kupper
Dane Vande Guchte was the winning
pitcher and had key RBI single.
Vande Guchte (7-1) pitched the first six innings before giving way to Hau and the Eagles manufactured four runs on an RBI single from Vande Guchte, a double steal, fielder's choice by Alex Kozakiewicz and bases-loaded walk to Hau.

It was the fifth title in 17 seasons under coach Rob Fung who has reached the Section final 16 times. Washington's football and basketball also won section crowns during the 2010-11 school year.

Balboa (12-14), which had a 1-0 lead, lost previous games to Washington 12-2 and 10-2. The game was played after the Giants' 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

"I can't say I saw this coming before the season," Fung said. "We lost all our pitching from last season. We caught the ball well all season but our pitching really emerged, especial (Hau). He turned into a real mainstay."

The Eagles managed just five hits themselves off of tough-luck 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior loser Alex Arnold.

"(Arnold) pitched a very good game," Fung said. "He was tough."

Balboa took the lead in the third on an RBI single by Michael Li, the only player in the game with two hits. That scored Eduardo Herrera, who had also singled.

Washington came back with two runs in the bottom half on Vande Guchte's RBI single that went over the head of the right fielder and a double steal with Jordan Wilson crossing home safe.

That put Washington up for good.

The Eagles added two more insurance runs in the sixth on Kozakiewicz and a bases loaded walk to Hau.

"Those runs were huge," Fung said.

File photo by David Stephenson
Washington manager Rob Fung won his
fifth SFS title in 17 seasons.
Hau worked a 1-2-3 seventh and the Eagles stormed the mound.

"It was a pretty good dog pile," Fung said. "It was a very emotional scene."

Washington now gets ready for the Transbay Series, which starts Wednesday at San Francisco State. The Eagles will play the Oakland Section champions in a best-of-three series.

Washington hopes to repeat 2006 when it also went undefeated in league and captured the Transbay Series.

As far as winning the Trifecta in all three major sports, Fung said the entire Washington community was thrilled.

"There were lots of alumni out and that's all they kept talking about," Fung said. "I'm glad we were able to make everyone happy."

Everyone but Balboa, that is.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
By: Mitch Stephens | MaxPreps.com

Thomas on Cal Hi Sports

Did not show diving catch which they showed twice and he still did not make top 5

April 20, 2011

Kevin McCarthy
NorCalPreps.com Analyst

Talk about it in the Message Boards
The package. For basketball recruiters, that means a prospect sporting prodigious talent alongside top of the chart physical skills. Rarely, if ever, do academics enter the definition, let alone the will and effort to get and perform better. That's why the number of flameouts exist in both national prep rankings and early NBA draft selections -- heart, determination and attitude are too often overlooked in lieu of eye-opening raw material.

Washington High's Brenden Glapion has never drawn the attention of the power elite in college hoops but, through his exemplified values, he has sculpted the odds in his favor for enjoying a successful collegiate tenure as well as a fruitful life afterwards in the real world.

The 6-foot-3 Glapion plays in the Academic Athletic Association in San Francisco. He and his team went 25-10, 14-2 this past season and his performance garnered him Player of the Year honors, earned in part by his 23 points per game scoring average. But his game doesn't rest on volume shooting attempts. In a game that decided the league crown against Mission High on December 4, Glapion went 14-17 at the foul line in a 75-72 victory. Two days before, he made 14-15 free throw attempts in a win over Lowell.

The outcome of that title match turned out to be his best basketball moment. "We won the city championship but it was a great game because we really played together well and clicked as a team," Glapion explained. Duly note the sentiment ultimately feeding his satisfaction. The Eagles had lost 77-66 two weeks earlier to Mission.

He notes his best basketball skill as "probably scoring but I like to dribble and then pull up." For Glapion, it's a matter of always working to add to his skills set, such as the element above in an era when it's long distance shooting and/or taking it to the rack, with a void for displaying any in-between game. This is another setting apart difference for the young man.

Glapion also offered the following as part of his skills set: "having a high basketball IQ, making the right plays at the right time and staying poised and composed."

He sees dramatic growth in his basketball evolution. "As a freshman to a senior, I've grown in every aspect -- physically, shooting, defending, being more focused and playing every game like it is your last one." The latter will bring a smile to even the most discerning of coaches.

The backcourter also sees himself as playing different roles, depending on the time of the year. "With Washington, I carry more of a scoring and leadership role but in club team ball I'm usually one of the main scorers but don't have to get 20 a night for us to win."

Two summers ago, it was the Bay Area Warriors and the San Francisco Rebels from sixth to eighth grade for Glapion in spring and summer hoops. He played for Coach Todd Petersen and the Silicon Valley Vipers last year.

Here's Petersen on Glapion: "Brenden was a combo guard for us, primarily a two and our backup at the point plus probably our leading scorer. He has a scorer's mentality, an effective mid-range game and finishes well for his size. He'll get by his opponent and the next thing you know the ball is in the basket. Brenden is as coachable as they come and he does what it takes to get better. I also worked individually with him last year and he's gotten bigger and stronger and his ballhandling has gotten better. I see him as a late bloomer, a smooth, understated player."

Jolinko Lassiter coaches the Washington High squad. He's a 2002 alumnus and worked with the Eagles' girls team for three seasons before switching over to the boys in 2008. Having enjoyed Glapion at his disposal of late, Lassiter describes his senior as "a high IQ player, not flashy but someone who has worked hard on his game. Brenden is a great student with a high grade point average and he is a great teammate on and off the court."

Glapion says his grade point average is 4.1.

As for what the future portends, Glapion again distances himself from others with what he is considering as majors in college: "Political science and history are my favorites," he explained, adding that he is thinking about a future as a lawyer.

But first comes choosing a school and he has four colleges currently under consideration and is certainly open to others joining in: Occidental (Los Angeles), UC Santa Cruz, Dominican University (San Rafael) and Academy of Art University (San Francisco).

"I will decide in a week and a half to two weeks after sitting down with my family and talking about the pros and cons," Glapion explained.

So some lucky school and coach will be receiving a student-athlete who possesses what constitutes the bonafide package for succeeding short and long term on and off the court.