I don't care what league it's in --- 36 straight Mission Trail Athletic League wins is flat out impressive.
Each year the Breakers fend off challenges, step up and raise the bar in meaningful games. Just ask Stevenson, who hasn't figured out how to beat them in six years.
Unlike the last two years, where Pacific Grove has had the leagues best player, this group's success revolves around each other -- although before the year is up, it may yet have another league MVP.
When games get tight, as was the case in battles with Carmel and Stevenson, it was Pacific Grove acting like -- well a defending champion.
John Devine has been writing about high school sports in Monterey County since, well, practically since he was an athlete at King City in the days just after leather helmets. In PrepNation, John has even more in-depth analysis of the latest results and news he's brought to you in The Herald and in his weekly videos.
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2 comments:
John...You and Kevin started to make an interesting point during your discussion with Coach Daniels. We are seeing a number of teams this year without a dominant star who are using team play to win. However I am not sure I'd agree with you that PG is without a dominant star this year. Brian Kiely is certainly one of the best players in the area...and Nicolo Bongioanni complements him very well. Through 13 games these two are averaging 32 out of the team's 50.3 points per game. Contrast that with Palma where their top two scorers are averaging just 18 of the teams 49.9 points per game.
Looking at area stats, there are five teams that play team ball...the top two scorers on Monterey's team are accounting for just 40.2% of the teams points per game. The top two scorers account for only 29.6% of Alvarez's offense. 36.7% at RLS. 47.6% at North Salinas. And 35.7% at Palma.
On the other hand, at "star loaded" teams such as Aptos, their top two scorers account for 53% of the team's points...Sosa and Ramirez account for 67.8% of Alisal's points...and as mentioned, Kiely and Bongioanni account for 64.6% of PG points per game.
Doesn't diminsh from how good PG is and how the rest of the MTAL is still chasing them...and the fact that they are apparently a team with good chemistry...but the nights that Kiely and Bongioanni are in shooting slumps makes their team very vulnerable.
Oops. Math error in last post. List should look like this.
Teams playing "team ball" include the following. The number represents the percent of the team's total points per game scored by their top two players. In other words, at Alvarez, the team is averaging 68.2 points per game and their top two scorers (Juarez and Rodriquez) are averaging 20.2 points per game. Divide 20.2 by 68.2 and that shows the contribution of the top two scorers to the team's total.
Alvarez - 29.6%
Palma - 29.9%
Monterey - 35.9%
RLS - 36.5%
North Salinas - 44.9%
And those teams playing "star ball" include:
Salinas - 51%
Aptos - 53%
Alisal - 55.7%
PG - 64.6%
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