Sunday, November 30, 2014

Article 397: Diaz headed for Dominican

November 27, 2014

In the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League (SCCAL) for the past four seasons, the Soquel program has been a mainstay as they have had 43 league wins during that time. A big reason for the basketball success for the Lady Knights has been due to their star guard, Natalie Diaz. As a junior last season, she helped Soquel go 19-10 while averaging 12 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Diaz will be going into her fourth year of varsity high school basketball as she has been playing competitively for over eleven years. Her 5-foot-11 and 155 pound size has garnered her much attention that she decided last month to commit to Dominican University in San Rafael. Second-year Soquel head coach Kananiomalama Thomas says about Diaz's decision, "The coaching staff is great. They are focused on their student athletes as students first and then athletes. It is a smaller school in a beautiful area. Natalie picked her school not purely on the basketball program but on the academics and campus itself. She knows she can't play basketball forever and wanted to make sure she got a great education first. Playing basketball on a full scholarship is just the result and a perk of the thousands of hours of practice she has dedicated herself to, to achieve a dream of hers."

Diaz characterizes herself as being a slasher as she is comfortable cutting in the paint to get her offensive looks. She also has the physical size to post up, but is also adept at shooting from beyond the arc. Her long arms and plus jumping abilities makes her turn around jumper effective while she is also able to affect opposing offenses with her blocking ability.

Coach Thomas continues, "Natalie is an incredible athlete. There are not many players that can match up to her speed and strength. Like Elena Delle Donne, she is quicker and more agile than most posts that attempt to guard her. If you try to play her on the perimeter, she can slice to the basket and finish over smaller guards. She is an incredible rebounder with a relentless pursuit of the basketball. She will not stop until the ball goes through the hoop. Recently, she has expanded her game to become more consistent from the 3 point line which is just going to make her more deadly this season and in college."

As stated by Coach Thomas, Diaz was looking for a balance in academics and athletics in college. Diaz has 3.62 GPA as her best subject is either Biology or Spanish while she is exploring to major in Physical Therapy, Communications, or Marine Biology. Before making the verbal commitment to Domincan, Diaz also had offers from Cal Poly Pomona (Danelle Bishop), Cal State San Marcos (Crystal Harris), and Sonoma State (Coach Rigby) while Cal State LA (Cassandra Renno), Cal State Eastbay (Kelsie Kruger), Portland University (Brianna Chambers), Northern Colorado (Anna Bateman), and Sacramento State (Coach Baxter) were still communicating.

Coach Thomas opines about Diaz's potential contribution at the college level. "Natalie will excel at the next level. Her versatility as an athlete will allow her to step into almost any position that Dominican Coach LaKose will challenge her with. The PacWest is an excellent and competitive conference. I played for Hawaii Pacific University several years ago and know that those Hawaii schools will keep her on her toes. Though what will make her such a valuable asset to Dominican is her work ethic and coach-ability. She still refuses to leave practice until she's made 10 free throws in a row. Dominican has scored themselves a competitor, who loves playing basketball and who will work and fill whatever role her team needs her to fill to be successful."

During her high school summers, Diaz has competed with the Palo Alto Midnight program. She works heavily on her ball handling as she is a tall guard who plays primarily the post during the school season. Diaz is looking to improve her off hand usage and ball handling during the upcoming season while helping her team win league and CCS. She also competes in track and field in the 4x100, 4x400, high jump, 200 meter, and 400 meter events but will be basketball only at college.

Coach Thomas sums up her 2015 hardcourt leader, "It's hard to put into words what makes a student athlete special. Natalie is starting her senior season 314 points shy of 1000 Soquel points, at which point, she'll join other great Soquel ladies who went on to have successful college careers. She always has a smile on her face, even during a 6AM practice. She is super humble about her abilities, almost to a fault. She has the most unique collection of crazy socks. She is a student of the game, who consistently strives to never stop learning how to improve herself and her team. Her passion for the game and her team is exemplified in her constant hustle, servant leadership, and relentless pursuit of excellence. What will give her the ability to thrive on the court and off is her mistake response. Everyone makes mistakes, it is a part of life and especially basketball. What makes special athletes truly stand a part from the rest is not their talent but their ability to respond and animate after a mistake. She plays to make her mistakes irrelevant. She chooses to give life and energy to the situation and her team. Like other great team leaders, her teammates play better when she is with them."

Soquel is a sleepy coastal town in Santa Cruz County. But watch for Diaz to put her Lady Knights back in the basketball limelight in Soquel, Calif.


Article 396: Classic tips off season

November 7, 2014

Thanksgiving weekend is when the high school basketball seson starts to count in Northern California as the 8th Annual Nor Cal Tip Off Classic features seven games starting at 11:00am on Saturday, November 29th at Newark Memorial High. The previous seven events have included competitive high school programs and have featured over 50 eventual Division I prospects.

The event will culminate with a battle between California power Bishop O'Dowd and Nevada stalwart Bishop Gorman. Three of the nation's top ten players from the 2015 class in this game will include Ivan Rabb of Bishop O'Dowd, Chase Jeter (Duke commit) and Stephen Zimmerman of Bishop Gorman. Five Northern California 2014 state finalist teams are participating in the event: Bishop O'Dowd (Open Division), Folsom (Division II), Drake (Division III), Moreau Catholic (Division IV), and St. Joseph's-Notre Dame (Division V).

Game 1: 11:00 am - College Park (Pleasant Hill) vs. St. Mary's (Stockton)
College Park won the Diablo Valley League as the Falcons went 18-7. 6-foot-6 senior forward Kevin Crosno will be the focal point for the team. The Rams won this same game last year 65-56 as Gabe Vincent (UC Santa Barbara) spearheaded a 27-2 season. Replacing Vincent's productivity will fall on seniors Lance Coleman and Jacob Aruta.

Game 2: 12:30 pm - San Ramon Valley (Danville) vs. Cordova (Rancho Cordova)
The Wolves went 24-6 last season and will have the size advantage with two seniors in 6-foot-7 Kyle Spackman and 6-foot-10 Gregg Polosky. San Ramon Valley tied with De La Salle to finish behind Monte Vista in the East Bay League. Senior guard Jordan Roberson will lead Cordova as the Lancers look to repeat in the Capital Athletic League.

Game 3: 2:15 pm - Moreau Catholic (Hayward) vs. Drake (San Anselmo)
Both Moreau Catholic and Drake reached the state finals but their Southern California opponent also dominated both in their final game. Pirate forward Jesse Hunt (Eastern Washington commit) will do battle with Moreau Catholic's forward Oscar Frayer (Cal commit). But the tone of the game may be determined by the guard play of senior Malik Huff of Drake against sophomore guard Damari Milstead.

Game 4: 3:45 pm - Berkeley vs. St. Joseph's-Notre Dame (Alameda)
Game 4 will be big public school against small private school but the advantage may go to the Pilots. The Pilots won 30 games last year in route to the state title while Berkeley made an early playoff exit despite 22 wins. Sophomore Jade' Smith of St. Joseph's-Notre Dame will be a prospect to watch as the season progresses.

Game 5: 5:30 pm - Modesto Christian vs. Bullard (Fresno)
The 5:30pm game is a battle between Central California opponents separated by 90 minutes on Highway CA-99. Both Modesto Christian and Bullard went undefeated in their respective leagues and are the league favorites going into this new season. The Knights will be a guard-oriented team headlined by senior Austin Armstead while the Crusaders will be led by senior leaders Anthony Townes (Pacific commit) and Jeff Wu (Sacramento State commit).

Game 6: 7:00 pm - Newark Memorial (Newark) vs. Folsom
Host Newark Memorial always plays tough on their home court but the Cougars graduated nine seniors from last year's 25-win team. Conversely, Folsom only lost one senior from last year's team that won 32 games in route to a state final loss. The Bulldogs' season will be led by junior guard Jordan Ford, junior guard Tre Finch (Sacramento High transfer), and senior forward Colin Russell (Portland commit).

Game 7: 8:30 pm - Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) vs. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)
Last season, Bishop O'Dowd defeated Bishop Gorman 68-54 in the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas before Christmas as Rabb easily outplayed the Bishop Gorman frontcourt. Jeter and Zimmerman have shown great improvement during the summer as they look to avenge last year's lost. Coming off the bench for Bishop Gorman is 6-foot-10 Zach Collins who easily would be a starter at any other high school program. The Dragons also feature point guard Paris Austin as they look to maintain their Northern California dominance in the upcoming season.


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