Bonus Bytes - Part 1

Clarkston's Brandon Pokley is an out right stud. The best shooter this county has seen in quite some time. The only thing is Pokley doesn't have any offers from DI schools for him to go play at the next level. What a shame. This kid's a winner in every sense of the word and deserves a shot at playing for at least a mid-major somewhere in the area. Is it not enough that he's the leading scorer for the state's number one ranked team?  Anyway, on Tuesday when the Wolves were playing Rochester Adams - getting all they could handle by the way - I saw Oakland U head coach Greg Kampe in the stands taking in the action. Considering Kampe is going to lose his resident sharp shooter Eric Kangas next season to graduation, might he have been scouting Pokley to come take his place?  In the journalists mind, it would be good idea. Pokley is a winner - plain and simple. Kampe should grab this diamond in the ruff in his backyard and breath a sigh of relief the rest of the area's programs got caught sleeping.

Iam saying it right now and I might get some slack for it. But,pound-for-pound, Waterford Our Lady of The Lakes' sophomore forward, Lauren Robak, is the best girls bball player in the county. I don't care that she plays in Class D, she can flat out hoop and is a DI player right now as only sophomore. This girl has the heart of a champion too, the true mark of greatness when evaluating athletic talent.20Last Sunday, Robak single-handedly brought home the Catholic League Tournament Championship for WOLL by putting the Lakers on her back and scoring 25 of her 31 points in the second half - including the game winner and 2 free throws to send the game into overtime - in her team's 50-47 win over MC Cardinal Mooney. The performance will go down as one of the greatest in Catholic League Tournament play and should immediately get the scouts salivating. Here's to Lauren, the whole Lakers squad - my boy Steve Robak, her dad, a one of a kind class act on the sidelines, and one of the best coaches in the county - and a long run in the upcoming state playoffs.

I'm worried that the Catholic League A-B boys division may have been so tough in the regular season - its arguably the best conference in the state - that its teams are beginning to wear down and won't be at peak performance when districts start on March 9. These teams were in an all out war every night when facing off against each other. Being so close in talent differential, it would have been hard not to battle it out to the finish, as powerhous squads like De La Salle, CC, OLSM, UofD-Jesuit, put it on the line every game. That said, there has been noticeable slippage in the quality of play late in the season and that worries me. De La Salle got drubbed by Flint Powers last Saturday at Calihan Hall and CC almost blew a 17 point lead against UofD-Jesuit on Wednesday. Well see how things play ou t, but if I had to pick a team that has the where-with-all to withstand the grind and go far in the tourney, it would be CC. The Shamrocks depth and versatility play to their advantage - as opposed to teams like UofD and OLSM, who are top heavy - in shaking off the late season wear and tear and still making some noise in March.    

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