It is never too early to begin evaluating your upcoming basketball team.
A total of 14 summer basketball teams took to the court on Friday and Saturday at California State University, Stanislaus’ Ed and Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena at the CSU Stanislaus team camp.
Four local schools competed in the two-day event with Turlock, Turlock Christian, Delhi and Denair High all present for both days as each squad played a total of six games in the two-day span.
With schools coming from the Sacramento area and the Bay Area, a majority of the teams were of local schools ranging from Division I-V.
“It is kind of like practice. I don’t really compare us or see everything yet because everyone here is missing players, not very many teams that are full so you can’t really see that,” Delhi head coach Eugene Drummond said. “We do evaluate on how well we are passing the ball and where we are taking shots and being in good position, things like that.”
The difference of this tournament to others was that each game was played with two 20 minute halves that included a running clock except for the final two minutes of the games (if the games is less than a 10 point difference). Each team was given two 30-seconds and a one minute timeout.
Although the camp is mainly for local teams to get some practice before the year officially begins, other squad’s take it is an opportunity to show the progress on the court with no holding back.
“We play everybody and it is to get some practice in but then you get some squads like this travel team who wants to beat out teams by 40, 50, so some teams are coming out here to take it to you,” said Turlock Christian head coach Eddie Sai.
No scores or stats were recorded, as some teams looked at this is an opportunity to get more minutes from the younger or less experienced players who need some development.
“This is great work for the guys who need work and overall you don’t look at the score, you just look to see if the guys are getting the minutes and hopefully they will be able to help during the season which is when it counts,” said Sai.
Turlock Christian has also been competing in multiple summer leagues and unfortunately would come down with two critical injuries after Jordan Riise and Brady Turner—the team’s big guys—both went down with leg injuries.
Both Riise and Turner should be ready to go for the season but the timetable or significant impact of their injuries are unknown up to this point, but coach Sai said he would evaluate them and probably be easier on playing during the summer.
