TITANS MENS HOOPSTERS RETURN TO GLORY ON SHOULDERS OF LOCAL HERO

It was only a matter of time.

Former Birmingham Detroit Country Day's "Big Play" Ray McCallum, in only his second year running his squad's offense, has led the University of Detroit-Mercy Titans back to the promise land aka THE BIG DANCE aka the NCAA Tournament by knocking out Horizon League champion Valparaiso in their own barn on Tuesday night in a nationally televised 70-50 beatdown.

GOING H.A.M on a primetime stage, McCallum filled up the stat sheet for 21 points, six boards, four dimes and four steals. He put in seven straight points while igniting an 11-0 run midway through the second half that propelled the Titans from a halftime deficit into a lead they never let go of.

Coming out of DCD a McDonald's All-American, McCallum, who spurned a number of perennial Top 25 powers to join his dad and UofD head coach Ray McCallum, Sr. down at Calihan Hall on 6 Mile and Livernois, was expected to take Detroit back to the heights the Titans once soared at under Rashad Phillips (Ferndale), another former OC hoop stud.

No surprise to anyone who watched this cage phenom lead DCD to a state title back in 2010, that's exactly what's he's done. The NCAA Tourney bid is the first for the program since Phillips took them there back-to-back seasons in 1998 and 1999.

The Titans are 22-13 and after some early-season growing pains – they lost both of their regular-season matchups with Valpo –, appear a genuine threat to be a sleeper in the BIG DANCE solely because of BIG PLAY RAY's playmaking ability and knack for coming through in the clutch.

 

Under-the-radar local boys prep hoopsters to watch out for in the state tournament….they could wind up being THE X-Factor for their respective teams

Tai Abola (WL Central SR F) – Big, brawny and athletic….can rack up a double-double w/ease

Grant Henderson (Birmingham Groves Sr G) – one of the true feelgood stories of the season, bouncing back from a broken leg which wiped out his junior campaign to lead the Falcons in scoring this yr…..in a wideopen district, who better to be a hero that this SIZZLING SLEEPER!!

Andrew Gikas & Kyle Riley (BH Lahser JR F) – A pair of Sir-Grind-A-Lots that clear the way for their squad's very talented and headline-hogging underclassmen…I.E. Maten, Gracey, Cartwright

Timmy Shayoka (Troy Athens FR G) – This FROSH PHENOM has been steadily improving all season long…he's been breaking teams off the last month and he's going to be doing the same in front of the home crowd this week

Sterling Sharp (North Farmington F JR) – Might be a better baseball player than hoop hound, but this kid can flat drill'em from downtown….SUCH a sweet stroke!!!!

Matt Linehan (OL St. Mary's JR G) – Deadeye shooter with a grit to his game that doesn't always accompany expert marksmen

Arben Camaj (Rochester JR C) – Holds down the Falcons post with authority!!!

Troy backcourt (Joe Leonard, Zak, Noor and Larry Sylvester) – Just so MONEY!!!...enough said!!!

Vezzie Carthane (Pontiac Soph G) – This sophomore floor general has been quiet in the scoring column by design, don't be surprised if he drops a couple 15-10 spots in the tourney

Jack Dillon (Novi Detroit CC JR F) – Very skilled role player that loves to get down and dirty in the lane…..he can run the floor and finish on the break…..in other words another ROCKNATION top class cager!!!

Brett Houghton (Birmingham Seaholm Jr G) – The floor leader of the scrappy Maples this year……does a little bit of everything…can shoot, handle and create

Ferndale SUPER SOPHS (Jermaine King, Aaron Rice, Robert Diez) – King is an ABSOLUTE SUPERSTAR in the making, Rice is a quick-learning combo guard and Diez is one of the best pure shooters in the county right now

Vinnie Puma (Waterford Lakes Soph G) – The Lakers' pace-setter who can hurt opposing teams in a variety of different ways

Burney's Boys Basketball District Forecast

Class A

At Swartz Creek

Teams: Swartz Creek, Clarkston, Holly, Fenton, Grand Blanc, Ortonville Brandon

Pick: C-Town is on a mission…..Breslin or bust!!!! Clarkston raises 19^th consecutive district title

At Novi Detroit CC

Teams: CC, Novi, Northville, Canton, Salem, Plymouth, South Lyon

Pick: Wouldn't dream of picking against my ROCKNATION boys right now! CC routs its way to the regionals for the second straight year and third time in the past four seasons

At Southfield

Teams: Berkley, Southfield, Southfield-Lathrup, Oak Park, Detroit Henry Ford, Royal Oak

Pick: Monday's district quarterfinal between Lathrup and Henry Ford is for the hardware, and it will be a doozy – Jon-Jon Williams cans a game-winning triple at the buzzer to win it for Lathrup, Chargers grab the crown four days later

At OL St. Mary's

Teams: OLSM, West Bloomfield, North Farmington, WL Western, Farmington, FH Harrison

Pick: TEAM LITTLE NOGO aka North Farmington keeps up that age old Raiders adage and 'JUST WINS, BABY!!!!.......it will be a war though and my mans D-FIZZLE aka Dorrell Foster will have to go H.A.M for three straight nights….which he will!!

At Lakeland

Teams: Lakeland, WL Central, WL Northern, Milford, Hartland, Howell

Pick: 3-sport SUPER STUDS Zac Leimbach and K.J. Schultz get some additional medals for their already overflowing trophy mantles……Vikings win defensive battle, top Milford in district final on another Chuck Taylor game-winner

At Birmingham Seaholm

Teams: Seaholm, BH Lahser, BH Andover, Birmingham Brother Rice, Birmingham Groves

Pick: The recently-crowned OAA Gold champion Lahser Knights, a team with loads of young talent, will start their 3-year DYNASTY with a nip-and-tuck run through the districts, winding up cutting down the nets for the second Friday night in a row …..Knights sophomore Yante Maten is an INSANE talent in the post....this kid is a future Keith Benson and will show why this week…..college recruiters that aren't already aware take note ASAP!!

At Troy Athens

Teams: Athens, Pontiac, Troy, Waterford Kettering, Waterford Mott

Pick: Troy has THE CHOSEN ONE aka James Young, the rest of this crop doesn't.....its that simple!!, Colts win first district in three years, unseating the 'Yacktown Purple People Eaters……Larry Sylvester buries another game-winning trifecta against the Phoenix in the semis on Wednesday

At RH Adams

Teams: Adams, Rochester, Oxford, Stoney Creek, Lake Orion

Pick: District will be decided on Monday in a district-opening throwdown between crosstown rivals Adams and Rochester…….Heart is leaning toward the home team – what a great story that would be!! – but my better judgment tells me Rochester hasn't lost a game since early DECEMBER and won't be slowing down any time soon…….TEAM PLEASANT snares the program's first district in over two decades!!!

Class B

At Ferndale

Teams: Ferndale, Detroit CMA, Detroit Old Redford, Ferndale Academy, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Livonia Clarenceville

Pick: The road is paved for third-year head coach Tom Staton to take his alma mater aka the host Eagles to take the prize.....They used to call him "Tournament Tom" in his days as a player in the Big 10 with the Maize and Blue and his team will take on that exact same persona this March....Ferndale THRASHES its way to the title!!

At Warren Lincoln    

Teams: Lincoln, Birmingham DCD, BH Cranbrook, MH Lamphere, Clawson, Center Line, Hazel Park

Pick: REALLY? DCD dominates!!!!!!

At Imlay City

Teams: Imlay City, Capac, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Almont, Armada, Macomb Lutheran North,

Pick: The McCormick Era at NDP sees its fourth consecutive district championship secured before the end of the week…..Get SUPER Busy my main man K-MAC!!!!

Class C

At Mt. Clemens

Teams: Mt. Clemens, MH Madison, Detroit Winans, GPW University Liggett, Hamtramck Frontier, Warren Michigan Collegiate

Pick: Damon Bozeman is just TOO GOOD!!! Madison rolls!!!!

At MH Bishop Foley

Teams: Bishop Foley, AH Oakland Christian, Southfield Bradford, RH Lutheran NW, RO Shrine

Pick: Foley won't be denied another in a long line of recent district triumphs….especially since Ventures MEGA BALLER Corey "STRAIGHT MONEY" Green is at SWAGGER LEVEL THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND and COUNTING!!

Class D

At Birmingham Roeper

Teams: Roeper, Southfield Christian, Detroit CC, Novi Franklin Road Christian

Pick: Southfield Christian won't be tested until the quarters…..Eagles bring home first district title in 30 years!!!

At Clarkston Everest Academy

Teams: Everest, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, New Haven Merritt, MC Cardinal Mooney, Auburn Hills Christian

Pick: You can't stop WOLL JUNIOR JUGGERNAUT Garrett Ross, you can only hope to contain him……opposing teams in this district won't be able to do either….TEAM WIGHTMAN collects the much-deserved trophy!!!!

 

 

If I'm a Class A boys basketball squad the absolute last team I want to run into in the state tournament is Novi Detroit Catholic Central.

The Shamrocks are without question playing their best ball of the season and could very well be the hottest cage crew in the entire state right now.

That means TEAM DYER is DANGEROUS with a capital "D". LOOK OUT!!!!

Since opening the season with a rough patch due to most of the team shaking off the residual rust from a deep playoff run in football, CC has rebounded to find its footing in a major way.

Led by a terrific and battle-tested senior class, the Shamrocks have reeled off wins in eight of their last nine games, including pulling back-to-back upsets in the past five days.

Back on Sunday, CC unseated defending Catholic League champion, Warren De La Salle, in the CHSL Finals at Calihan Hall, beating the Pilots 62-51.

Then on Thursday ROCKNATION did it again, upsetting PSL champs Detroit King, 56-48 in the Operation Friendship game, which annually pits the winners of the PSL and Catholic League against each other in a city-suburb bragging rights brawl in the days leading up to the start of the tournament.

CC (14-6) trailed for most of the game on Thursday until all-state forward Kyle Cooper jumpstarted a rally that would vault the Shamrocks past King in the affair's final minutes.

King was on top 45-43 with six minutes left, but Cooper's 3-point play on the ensuing possession pushed CC's into an advantage on the scoreboard it hadn't seen since the first half and didn't give up the rest of the way. Cooper's hoop, foul and free throw sparked a 13-3 run by the veteran-laden Shamrocks to end the game. The senior forward who is headed to play his college ball in the GLIAC at Hillsdale fueled his team in the stat sheet with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The last time CC won the Operation Friendship game was in 1968. On Sunday down at Calihan, TEAM DYER raised the program's first Catholic League championship banner in 15 years.

Besides Cooper, the Shamrocks have a deep and balanced lineup. When you team Cooper up with fellow senior and co-captain Matt Doneth, CC has one of the most intimidating forward tandems in the state. Doneth, a four-year starter, scored eight points and snared nine boards on Thursday against King. The senior backcourt of point guard Richie Katkic and shooting guard Chase Janer is reliable and fundamentally sound. Both can knock down the 3 and create off the dribble. Junior forward Jack Dillon (8 points, 8 rebounds vs. King) has had a breakout season, learning the tricks of the trade from Doneth and Cooper. Dave Racey, another senior SIR-GRIND-A-LOT can play either guard spot and acts as the team's defensive specialist. Sophomore Mitch Katkic (Richie's younger brother), junior Aaron Hess and senior Ryan Skrowonek have all played valuable reserve roles in this recent BLUE CREW hot streak.

These guys know a thing or two about, as my man Charlie Sheen would say, WINNING!!!

Last year, this same group won a district title before falling in dramatic fashion in the final seconds of the SWEET 16 to league rival Orchard Lake St. Mary's. As a freshman in 2009, Doneth started on the Shamrocks ELITE 8 squad.

This past fall on the gridiron it was more of the same. With Cooper under center at quarterback and Doneth (signed with Cornell for football) and Racey as his top two targets down field, CC won a CHSL crown and advanced all the way into the Class A state championship game.

Your boy Burney wouldn't be shocked to see the 2012 CC HOOPSTER BRIGADE playing for another state title at the Breslin Center up in East Lansing come a couple weeks from now either. In fact, I'll go as far as say, TAKE IT 2 THE BANK!!!

MARK THAT DOWN!!!

BLUE CRU ATTACK........GO BLUE!!!

Five For Fighting – Best outings in Wednesday night's girls DISTRICT SEMIFINAL action

1 Hannah Little-Neece Garrison (AH Avondale) – Leading their team on a fourth-quarter comeback and a 46-45 win over upset-minded Troy, Garrison hit both the game-tying and game-winning hoops down the stretch and Little posted a stout double-double of 16 points and 17 rebounds

2 Shannon Wilson (BH Andover) – This BARON MEGA BALLER, busted up Groves for a 26-spot on the scoreboard, to go along with five rebounds and five assists in Andover's narrow 54-52 win over Groves....I smell a district title on the horizon for TEAM RUBIN (first for the program since '77....NICE!!)

3 Colleen Szakacs (MH Bishop Foley) – The Ventures LADY POWERHOUSE IN THE PAINT notched an EXTRA SNAZY double-double of 15 points and 16 rebounds in sparking Foley to a BIG 'W'

4 Michelle Hayes (Southfield-Lathrup) – Showing why the Toledo Rockets were so high on her in the offseason, Hayes went for 20 points and 7 dimes in the Chargers downing of Oak Park....Most underrated PG in the state....YEAH I SAID IT!!

5 Allison Bicknell (Waterford Kettering) – Doing her best OLS SCHOOL Zeke Thomas ('88 NBA Finals, Game 6…….look it up), Bicknell played on an injured foot, but still killed the comp, scoring 11 critical points in limited minutes, to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals while helping the Captains sneak past Pontiac and avoid an upset in the districts for a second year in a row....Bicknell is the ULTIMATE LADY SIR-GRIND-A-LOT

Thoughts from Tuesday night on the OC boys prep hardwood

BH Lahser SUPER SOPH Yante Maten (25 pts, 14 rebs, 6 blocks in win over Groves to clinch at least a share of the OAA Gold crown) is the best big fella in the county…..YEAH, I SAID IT!!!

Holly senior Blake Ordiway has been playing out of his mind lately. Last week in the first start of his career he went for a career-high 12 points in a blowout win over Swartz Creek in hostile waters. Then, on Tuesday, starting his first game in front of the home crowd, he exploded for another career-high of 16 points in leading TEAM HORSE to a 57-44 fleecing of Fowlerville . Move over Larry Sylvester, it looks like the OC has ANOTHER Jeremy Lin on our hands……

Oak Park's Donovan Moore went all DWAYNE WADE on Tuesday, sinking a game-winning trifecta at the horn to send the Knights to a 76-75 win over Berkley in OT

CONGRATS to Rochester head coach John Pleasant and the FALCONS CAGE CREW - with Rochester's 70-49 defeat of Farmington on Tuesday, TEAM PLEASANT captured their second straight league title for the first time since the 1980s…….WOW!!!

Lakeland's Nick Troxell got BUCK WILD in the Eagles 58-51 win over Livonia Churchill, scoring 25 points and bringing down 8 rebounds!!! The Eagles are only 4-15 this year, but Troxell is only a sophomore, so TEAM BRUGGER appears to have a bright future ahead for itself

Great win by TEAM PORRITT aka OL St. Mary's on Tuesday, sneaking past Detroit Cass Tech 54-53. The Eaglets needed some momentum heading into a tough district next week and they got it thanks to a balanced scoring sheet; junior Matt Linehan put up a team-high 15, with Danny Furlong, putting in 14, Ethan Woelke scoring 13 and Chewy Ukandu notching 12.

Pontiac's Dijon Cogdell is the straw that stirs the Phoenix's drink…..I love me some Jarod Jones, Mark Hoover and Jamerea Samples, but this season has shown that if Cogdell isn't on, the Purple People Eaters struggle……no struggles were uncovered on Tuesday, as my man DJ went for 11 points, five dimes and five swipes in 'Yacktown's beatdown of West Bloomfield.

BH Andover head coach Jeff Rubin getting the Barons to 10 wins is downright REMARKABLE!!!!

Mark my words, Southfield, which destroyed FH Harrison 71-30 on Tuesday, will be REALLY REALLY GOOD next year

Troy's ZAK ATTACK aka junior point guard Zak Noor showed why he's a BALLER and a SHOT CALLER by scoring 21 points and dropping 11 dimes in the Colts lopsided victory over AH Avondale.  Noor is a big reason why the Colts train didn't derail this season amid an emotionally-taxing conditions and a major factor in snaring Troy at least a share of a league title for the second consecutive campaign.

SUPERIOR JOB by coach John Hall and his staff over at RH Adams keeping the Highlanders focused and playing their best ball of the season the last week or so, putting together a pair of huge wins - sat over Berkley and Tue over Ferndale - in the wake of SUSPENSIONGATE 2012 to keep them alive in the race for a league title....Watch out Rochester, John Hall or no John Hall, the ultra-motivated Highlanders are going to be hot as a pistol and hungry as heck entering your district clash next week

One of the true class acts on the local prep sports scene, Walled Lake Central boys basketball coach Denny Butcher, eclipsed the 200-win plateau last week, with his squad's comeback victory over Milford in the KLAA Tournament.

Butcher has been coaching in the area since the early 1990s. He got his start on the sidelines as an eager 24-year old at traditional Catholic League powerhouse Orchard Lake St. Mary's and he was quick to make a reputation as a master motivator and tactician with a clipboard and whistle in his hands. His 1994 St. Mary's team, featuring NFL vet David Bowens in the post and all-state guard Diallo Johnson on the wing, lost in the state championship game at the buzzer, a heartbreaking defeat Burney suspects his main man DB will one day – IMO sooner, rather than later – make amends for in a major way.

Taking the reins at Walled Lake Central eight years ago, Butcher has done his usual GRADE-A job making the Vikings a perennial contender and consistently one of most tenacious teams in the area. The two best words to describe Butcher and his teams are-NAILS TOUGH!!!

While a prepster himself in the 1980s at Lakeland, he set a slew of Eagles records on the hardwood, showing the same take-no-prisoners attitude as a player than he does now as a head coach.

Butcher and the Vikings (14-5) have a good shot at taking home the program's first district since 2006 when the state tourney tips off next week.