Bulldog Nation News » Basketball

With March Comes Madness

lshimmon — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:36:02 +0000

Every year avid basketball fans look forward to the month of march, simply for one thing, The NCAA division 1 basketball tournament. The top seeds this year were Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan State, and Syracuse, as those were the best teams during the regular season. The tournament consisted of 68 teams, in which all but four of them were from division one.
In the first round, all four number one seeds easily handled their opponents. However, the number two seeds struggled. ACC powerhouse, Duke, lost focus against Lehigh, (a team known for making the tournament every year despite their very weak conference they play in) and lost 75-70. Missouri was ranked number two going into the tournament, and had a very strong regular season, finishing 2nd behind Kansas whom eventually made it to the tournament final. However, they were upended by Norfolk state, which had never once played in a tournament game. These upsets were very surprising to most people, including senior Sean McWhinnie. “To be honest, I thought Duke was going to win the entire tournament. When they were beat in the first round my jaw literally dropped, I couldn’t believe it. Duke played so well during the season I just didn’t think they were going to be beat,” Said McWhinnie. Nobody thought so, according to “Yahoo! Sports”, 99.9% of America had duke winning the first round. Most people had them advancing to at least the final four.
In the second round, both Lehigh’s and Norfolk States dreams of being the next tournament Cinderella were shattered, as they both were beat handily by higher seeds. The only significant upset was #11 North Carolina State beating #3 Georgetown. Usually in this prestigious tournament, there is at least one team that makes it deep into the tournament despite a low seed. This year however, there were none, and that made for a rather “boring” tournament. “Yeah this year just wasn’t as much fun to watch, you know there wasn’t a true Cinderella team, and there weren’t many exciting finishes. Pretty much every game I watched was just one team trying to catch up from a 10 or so point deficit, and they never actually made a run so it was just kinda boring.” said tenth grade chemistry teacher Mr. Morrison, an avid NCAA basketball fan.
The next round was the round of 16, aka the sweet 16. This was the first round in which a number one seed was defeated. Michigan State lost to number four seeded Louisville. The highest seed to advance out of the round of 16 was number seven Florida who then lost to Louisville in the next round, the elite 8. The elite 8 featured the losses of two out of the remaining three top seeds. North Carolina lost to Kansas, and Syracuse fell to Ohio State. Kentucky the last remaining top seed easily beat number 3 seed Baylor by a score of 82-70.
The final four which was held in the superdome in New Orleans, featured one exciting game between number two seeds Ohio State and Kansas. Ohio State was leading the entire game and had a 13 point lead with five minutes left before Kansas came storming back. Kansas guard Thomas Robinson lead the charge with 27 points, and Ohio state missed a shot at the buzzer to lose 64-62. The Championship game was Kentucky against Kansas. However this highly anticipated matchup was quite a boring game. Kentucky overpowered Kansas the entire game, leading by as much as 18 points. Kansas made a little bit of a push late, but never got close enough losing 67-59.
Le Jardin freshman Alec Macleod, thought this tournament was less then splendid. “This tournament just didn’t have enough excitement I think. Ive been watching it for as long as I can remember and for the first time I don’t remember any last second shots or anything like that. Only thing that was cool was I picked Kentucky to win the whole thing and they did,” said Macleod.
It was Kentucky’s 8th NCAA tournament title, and their coach John Calipari’s first ever championship win. The team is getting a very highly touted recruiting class again next year, so will look forward to defending their win.

Ta-Lin-ted

lshimmon — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:13:06 +0000

The NBA’s New York Knicks may have found themselves a future hall of famer in point guard Jeremy Lin. Lin came off the bench against the Utah Jazz and outplayed star point guard Darron Williams, leading the Knicks to the first victory of seven consecutive wins.
Lin was undrafted to the NBA after playing his college basketball as a walk on at Harvard University. He was signed to the Golden State Warriors in 2010, becoming the first descendent of the Chinese or Taiwanese to play in the NBA. However, he played very seldom his rookie season. He was sent to the NBA developmental league twice before getting a short term contract with the Knicks because of injury problems on the team. Star teammate Carmelo Anthony suggested to the Knicks coach to play Lin more often, and that’s when the “Linsanity” began. Lin led the Knicks to seven straight victories and into the running of earning a spot for the playoffs.
“It was actually a little overwhelming”, Lin said when asked about of all the hype in the media of his Immediate NBA success. Lin has already drained one game winning shot, and has beaten some of the best teams including Kobe Bryant, and the LA Lakers. Before the game, Kobe stated that he had “Never heard of the guy.” Kobe was then outscored, and out-assisted by Lin. Sean McWhinnie, LJA’s star basketball player thinks Lin’s story is amazing. “When I first watched Lin was his first game as a starter, he was amazing. I could tell he was going to blow up, and I’m glad he did. Hopefully one day I’ll be in his position,” McWhinnie said.
After his extreme sudden dominance, Lin was selected to participate in the NBA all star weekend, playing in the “Rising Stars Challenge”. Reporters from many different websites are saying he deserves to play in the “all star game”, but he started playing too late in the season for that. Senior Frankie Montalvo thinks that Lin will definitely go down in history. “I aint kidding, Jeremy Lin is for real and I think the Knicks will win a title very soon,” Montalvo stated. The Knicks have 31 games left in this season, and currently hold the 7th playoff spot, out of 8. They need to win more than half of their games remaining, and will need their new super star Jeremy Lin to continue to play the way he has been playing for them to have a chance.

Le Jardin Boys Basketball Underway

lsussman — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:29:26 +0000

The Le Jardin Academy Varsity boys basketball winter season is underway and the Bulldogs are ready to play. Coach Olaso, Coach Sean, and Coach Tony are working diligently to make it to states this year. Senior Sean McWhinnie, team captain, is doing his best to get his team together and is positive that they will have a successful year.

So far the Bulldogs have played six league games and are having an up and down season. They have won three and lost three. The Bulldogs have been on a small break and are working hard to get some more wins. “Sorry to disappoint the fans. We are prepared to win the rest of our games,” said senior Frankie Montalvo.

On Friday, Jan 6 the Bulldogs had a nail biting game against Punahou that had the crowd on their feet. The game went back and forth all 32 minutes before the Bulldogs went on a streak in the last minutes of the fourth quarter. Freshman Alec Macleod hit the biggest layup of his entire life sending the game into overtime. The Bulldogs then outmatched Punahou winning the game 55-52. McWhinnie had 21 points coming up huge for the bulldogs. “I thought that we shouldn’t have gone into overtime but I am glad that we won,” said McWhinnie.

The bulldogs have six games remaining in their season, five of which are at home. Our home support has been lacking with a small crowd of LJA students watching games. Luke Shimmon has been a dedicated fan and attends every home game. He wants to encourage more support for the team. “Everyone come out to the games and support the team,” said Shimmon. Let’s show some school spirit and support our bulldogs!

LJA Lady Bulldog Basketball Tips Off

lshimmon — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:08:53 +0000

The Le Jardin girls basketball team has tipped off the 2011-2012 season. The team is lead by a new coach Keau Miller, and with no returning seniors, the captains are two seasoned juniors, Taylor Valentine and Stephanie Ramos. Even with the inexperience, Coach Miller was confident when going into the season.

“I think the team, although young, has a great chemistry, and we are definitely going to work better and better as the season progresses.” Miller said. Team Chemistry in basketball is a huge factor, and with a group of girls as close as this team, it shouldn’t take long for them to find it.

The Lady Bulldogs opened the season with a win at home against University High. This was a huge confidence booster for the young team. Going back to last year, they had lost 16 straight games, so being 1-0 was a great way to start the year.

“I knew going into this game we had to put on a good performance, and we did that and much more. I was really proud of the whole team.” said guard Stephanie Ramos.

After the big win, the Lady bulldogs had an up and down stretch in which they lost four out of five, and then won 3 straight, before losing to Kamehameha. Last night they were the victors over the Iolani Red Raiders, winning 48-34. The team has four more games left in the regular season, before beginning postseason play.

“Winning at least two of these games would leave us with a winning record, which would give us a better seed in the playoffs so that would be huge for us. Also finishing with a winning record after last year’s team would really show how hard we have worked this year,” said sophomore point guard Olivia McCabe.

Le Jardin’s last game of the year is at home against Maryknoll on Jan. 27, at 6 pm. They would greatly appreciate all student/parent fan support.

Lock OUT Lights OUT

lsussman — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:56:08 +0000

In the summer of 2011 there was a lockout for both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL). On July 21^st the NFL’s lockout ended but the NBA’s still continues. “So what do I, a mere fan, have to offer to the NBA labor dispute? I have a plan for how to avoid these situations in the future, but owners need to tough it out and deal with these consequences as a painful reminder that they can’t be stupid with their money in the future. Forgive them of these contracts now and they’ll never learn,” said David Stern Commissions on the NBA. `The NBA lockout is expected to last a while longer, but the league has prepared the game schedule just in case the lockout comes to an early end. Players and owners want to be ready in case the lockout is resolved and get as many games played as they can.

The lockout was partially caused by teams from small markets that do not have the ability to load their benches with more than one “Franchise Players”. They are frustrated with the other teams like the Miami Heat who can afford to pay for several big name players. League rules require that there be salary caps to try to balance out the inequalities of geography or fan base population of NBA cities. Top market teams in the NBA have lots of fans and as a result lots of money and can afford the best talent.

The richer teams feel that they should be able to pay for whatever talent they can afford and that by winning they will gather more fans and the ability to make even more money. The players, of course, want more money, a chance to win a championship and safety from injury. The fact that the big money towns are bigger and more popular cities to live in is another reason players tend to settle there. Not to mention that they have more fans there to impress. Teams such as the Miami Heat that have LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, who are paid tens of millions of dollars each share the bench with other players. These other players are making just as much money as the top players from the smaller marketed teams. No one wants anyone to be able to “buy a championship” but the richer teams always seem to be able to come close.

Many fans are against the NBA lockout and want 2011-2012 season to start. “I’m speechless because I feel that this is LeBron’s year to win a ring and get the MVP baby!” said senior Frankie Montalvo, a longtime LeBron James fan. Fans of the Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA) are excited to watch more women’s basketball. “I enjoy watching women’s basketball and now that the NBA is on lockout I can watch it more!” said senior Sean Mcwhinnie.

Some players in the NBA such as Delonte West have turned to working off the court. West is working at Home Depot because his checks from the Boston Celtics are not coming in. Other players have chosen to go and play in the European League. This means there is a possibility of not returning to the NBA next year even if the strike ends. If a player signs a contract to play in Europe they may not be available to play in the NBA and American fans will miss a chance to see them. This includes season ticket holders.

Unfortunately, the NBA season is expected continue again in the 2012-2013 season. Hopefully David Stern and the NBA can figure out a way to balance the demands of both the franchises owners and players of the National Basketball Association. The ball is in his court.

March Madness

lshimmon — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:24:55 +0000

This year’s 2011 NCAA division 1 basketball tournament was again predictable, yet very unpredicted. It is known that usually every year there is a team selected to the tournament that is not supposed to go far, but gets to the elite 8 or even sometimes the final 4.
This year the tournament was expanded to 68 teams from the original 65. There were 2 extra “play-in” games, where its 2 teams that play each other even before the first round. One of the games was 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth vs. 11 seeded USC, a game that many picked USC to win. VCU won easily by a score of 59-46. That was the start of one of the most historical runs ever in an NCAA tournament.
In the second round of 64 teams, there were various upsets as (13) Morehead State advanced by beating (4) Louisville, they then lost to Richmond in the second round. All the #1 seeds, Ohio State, Duke, Kansas, and Pittsburgh, won with ease. Butler, who was the 8 seed, barely escaped Old Dominion by tipping in a last second game winner.
In the 3rd round with 32 teams left, the first #1 seed went down when Butler, who eventually made it all the way to the finals for the second year in a row, beat Pittsburg 71-70, sinking 2 free throws with .03 seconds left to win it. VCU continued their run putting on a rout of #3 seed Purdue 94-76. The other 3 number 1 seeds were at it again with duke just escaping a late game run by (8) Michigan. The other two number ones won handily.
The sweet 16 had 4 double digit ranked teams, the most since 2002. Of those, only VCU won beating (10) Florida State. However in the sweet sixteen, 2 of the 3 remaining top seeded teams suffered defeats. Ohio State lost to (4) Kentucky, who later advanced to the final 4, losing to the eventual tournament champion Connecticut. (1) Duke lost to Arizona by a score of 93-77. With only 1 remaining top seed in Kansas, the tournament was up for grabs.
The Elite 8 featured one of the most unexpected upsets of all time, when Virginia Commonwealth played number 1 seed Kansas and beat them 71-61. The next lowest seeded team was (8) Butler, and they defeated (2) Florida in overtime 74-71. (3) Connecticut beat (5) Arizona, and (4) Kentucky beat (2) North Carolina.
With the Final 4 set in stone, only Butler, Kentucky, Virginia Commonwealth, and Connecticut remained. (8)Butler played (11) Virginia Common wealth a matchup that 1 person out of the 3.5 million Yahoo! Sports Tournament “pick’um” had projected. Butler beat VCU by a score of 70-62 to reach its second consecutive Championship. The other side of the bracket had (3) Connecticut matched up against (4) Kentucky. A game that many predicted Connecticut would easily win surprised many. Connecticut did win but only by a hair beating the Wildcats 56-55 off of 2 free throws by star player Kemba Walker with under a second to go.
The finals consisted of Butler and Connecticut. Many were pulling for the Butler Bulldogs only because they had got so close the year before, missing a shot that rimmed out at the very end. Unfortunately for Butler, they shot a mere 18.8% from the field and only scored 41 points. Such is not up to par, as Connecticut shot 34.4%, still terrible, but significantly better than butlers worst percentage. Connecticut celebrated their 3rd championship ever and first since 2004.

Lady Bulldog Basketball

adviser — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:10:33 +0000

The Varsity girls’ basketball team at Le Jardin is often overlooked by the student population but make no mistake, these Lady Bulldogs are a force to be reckoned with. Under the coaching of Gary Tanouye, David Lindsay, and Will Barron these ladies were out for blood.

Through the season these bulldog athletes put their best foot forward and played with intensity and heart that was unrivaled on the court. These girls were intense to the point where Senior player Kelsey Tanouye was injured in a November game while going head to head with a rival Kamehameha; several other teammates sustained injuries throughout the season. Overall the girls got off to a slow start, at previous games there was sad turnout, in fact, during regular season games there were on average more people supporting the visiting teams in our own Charles B. Wang gymnasium.

As for the team itself, this year’s team had a diverse mix of students ranging from all grades and skill levels. With one senior, three junior, seven sophomores, and two freshmen, the team comprised mostly of first time players but still played with great chemistry and became fast friends through the season. When Kelsey Tanouye was asked about this year’s team she said “In past years there have been a majority upper classmen but recently there has been a lot of freshman and sophomores that have come out for the team. Two years ago we were not able to play because we did not have enough people to fill out a team, but this year we definitely have a full team”.

Ending their season 0-13, was perhaps not the best ending however this does not reflect the overall skill of the team. Over the three month season, the Lady Bulldogs improved leaps and strides, and though they may not have been able to compete on the level of more experienced players from larger schools, next season we will be looking forward to domination from this team of younger players.

Shootin 3′s- Kelsey Tanouye

adviser — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:13:54 +0000

Many kids may know Kelsey Tanouye as the “beast” on the basketball court. She started playing basketball in the third grade for the Kailua Basketball Association (KBA). Not only has Kelsey been a part of the KBA but also the National Junior Basketball Team (NJB) on the windward side. One year out of her whole basketball career she tried water polo for the first time. Kelsey immediately had natural skill and was not afraid to hurl that ball into the goal.

Kelsey’s dad has been a major mentor in her basketball career. Not only has he been there for support and encouragement, but he was also her basketball coach since the third grade. He has seen Kelsey develop into the star player she is on the court and even in the pool.

The summer of her sixth grade she met Mr. Olaso, currently the boys basketball coach. Kelsey was messing around on the old court down by the pool just shooting some three pointers. Mr. Olaso walked up and asked, “Who are you?” In a very curious tone, wondering how this sixth grader was such a natural on the court. Kelsey thought that was a funny way to meet Mr. O. Ever since then, Coach O has also been a major part of her middle school and high school career.

Her favorite moment in her basketball career was her senior night! Kelsey said, “We didn’t win but we all knew that we played a really good game and that the experience was great.” Kelsey said that senior night was a great experience and being the only senior on the basketball team made it a special moment for her. Kelsey’s most memorable but not so favorite moment in basketball was when her knee completely gave out at the Kamehameha game. Kelsey said, “I felt like it wasn’t even happening.”

Being a member of the girls basketball team all through middle school and all through her four years of high school shows what great commitment she has to this school and team. Maybe we might see her shooting up some three’s in college!

Bulldog Basketball Tips Off

lshimmon — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:22:14 +0000

Le Jardin’s Varsity basketball season returned with the bulldogs hitting the floor on November 26th with their preseason opener against Kalaheo, in which they were defeated by a large margin of 69-43 by the Division 2 School. Le Jardin is division 3. They played Kahuku and Waipahu which are both in divisions higher than the bulldogs and lost to both, however they took Waipahu to overtime missing on the last shot.
Le Jardin lost 3 of its starters from last year, Taylor Gray, John Witty, and Tevin Togami, so Kelvin Akamine and Sean Mcwhinnie are looking to lead the team this year. Juniors Sam Spengler and Frankie Montalvo will be running the point most of the time with Sophomore Julian Perkins down low playing center.
The team hosted their season opener on December 11th against Maryknoll, with a 59-54 victory. The two co-captains on the team, Sean Mcwhinnie and Kelvin Akamine lead the team with 18 for Mcwhinnie and 15 points for Akamine. “I think the preseason games against tougher opponents really helped us out, we came out and played great and I hope we can keep it up,” Said Sean Mcwhinnie of the team’s performance. Unfortunately when the bulldogs hosted Lanakila Baptist on December 14th they couldn’t get the job done. Down 10 with 4 minutes left they cut it to 3 with 30 seconds left, but again missed their final shot.
The team however is as confident as ever. “Well I believe in our team this year and we have each other’s back and we have a good shot winning it this year if we stick together which i know we will.” Kelvin Akamine had this to say when asked about the season.
The Tournament is the Le Jardin Invitational; The bulldogs played 4 games, 3 on opening day which was December 16th and 1 game on December 17th. They droped their first 2 games, losing to McMath from Richmond, British Columbia, by only 3 points, and Island Pacific Academy by 10 points. The third game the bulldogs beat Christian Academy by 11. On December 17th, The bulldogs played Punahou and lost by 20. Le Jardin finished 3rd in the tournament, and are hoping to host the same tournament again next year.

Remember the 2010 Bulldogs

adviser — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:14:54 +0000

The Le Jardin Academy boy’s basketball team has reached the end of the season and made the playoffs with an 8-7 record. This is the first year the team has had a home court, which many refer to as “The Dawg Pound”. The bulldogs have had many memorable moments to add to their overall impressive season.

It all started on December 1^st when the season first got under way. The team went to Kauai to participate in the Kapa’a tournament and when they got back to Oahu they were ready for ILH division play. They started the season off with the Navigators of Island Pacific Academy and won with a final score of 54-50.

After 5 games, the bulldogs were first in the division with a record of 4-1 and accomplished a win against Iolani. After that however, the bulldogs lost three consecutive games all by a combined 12 total points. After the three game losing streak, the team was eager to win, and Maryknoll provided them with that win. The bulldogs kept their momentum rolling bringing the undefeated Punahou Buff n’ Blue to overtime, yet lost in the final moments of the game.

“It was a good effort by the boys. They worked hard and gave it their all” said Headmaster Adrian Allen.

At the end of the season, the Le Jardin community celebrated the seniors by attending senior night which was held after the last game of the season against Lutheran. The bulldogs won the game and afterwards the seniors were celebrated by receiving countless leis and hugs from family and friends.

“It was very memorable night; the crowd made the night for us!” said senior John Whitty who was one of four seniors honored for their basketball careers at Le Jardin. The others celebrated at senior night were seniors Tevin Togami, Kalani Soeda, and Taylor Gray.

After the unforgettable senior night, the bulldogs kept rolling throughout the season and into the ILH Division II playoffs. Their first round match up was against Le Jardin’s rival Christian Academy. The gym was packed for the first round of the playoffs and the game came down to the final minutes. The game certainly didn’t fail to please all of the cheering basketball enthusiasts. Le Jardin came away with the win beating the Patriots 67-58, only after coming back from a 10 point deficit by outscoring Christian Academy by 20 points in the fourth quarter. Christian Academy was knocked out of the single elimination tournament.

For the second round, the Bulldogs faced off against the AOP Dolphins; whom they lost to by four points in the regular season. The game was close at the end of the first quarter, but then the bulldogs fell behind by 26 at half time. After the terrible first half, the bulldog closed a 30 point lead in the second half and was as close as 14 at the beginning of the 4^th quarter, but AOP proved to be too much for the bulldogs and they lost, ending their season and the senior’s basketball careers at Le Jardin Academy.

Even though it was a tough loss especially for the seniors; the season generated many happy memories that will live with the bulldogs forever.