Observations from Roosevelt/Oh Day Aki

On Monday I attended the Roosevelt/Oh Day Aki doubleheader (which was really a boys game plus a Roosevelt JV vs Oh Day Aki Varsity girls exhibition).

Overall, the game was very ugly. In fact, Roosevelt's starters were so bad that coach Stockmo yanked all 5 starters 2 minutes into the 2nd half after a 11-4 ODA run to tie the game at 45. The reserves then proceeded to go on a 14-0 run over the next 4 minutes. Bring back the starters and tack on a couple more buckets for the 18-0 run that put the game away and win 85-71. Xavier Jones and Derek Scully are nice guards for Roosevelt, but their level of athletes may be the worst in the Minneapolis City league. Its a credit to Dennis Stockmo that he gets as much out of his roster year in and year out as he does.

As to Oh Day Aki, they have some athletes and they have a shooter (who also shoots too much). They didn't handle Roosevelt's pressure well and didn't display much discipline on offense. Defensively they were absolutely horrible in both their zone and man defenses. The zone might just as well been made of swiss cheese. In man, Roosevelt cutters and dribblers routinely got easy layups. That explains why in their last 4 losses they've given up 87.5 pts a game.

My evaluation: On talent alone they'll beat up on weak A teams, but don't look for the major upsets of a year ago. The top teams on each side of Section 4A should blow them out. Prediction: They'll be the #5 or #6 seed in the East Subsection (behind St. Agnes, CHOF, NLA and MN Transitions in no particular order) and get bounced in the 1st round (assuming that's not a play-in game). Give them props for playing a very tough schedule and dealing with not having a real home court.