Other than having all the No. 1 seeds square off Thursday for the final four, the Class 5A semifinals are looking as they will have plenty of fan appeal.
Both games match a strong high seed against an upset-minded lower one, with momentum. In the first game, at 7 p.m., it would be hard not to pick Regis Jesuit over Doherty. The Raiders were the No. 1 overall choice, have a star player in Bud Thomas and another excellent talent in guard Joey Ptasinski.
Thomas can, of course, do it all, from driving for baskets to hitting outside jumpers. He also is an excellent rebounder. Ptasinski can change the momentum in games single-handedly. He is bound to like the shooting background of the Coors Events Center over the Denver Coliseum for his specialty, the three-point bucket.
That’s quite a duo, but the Raiders also got 23 points and four three-pointers from point guard Michael Clark in a quarterfinal win against Arapahoe last week. Then there’s Drew Dyer, a 6-foot-6 junior who is a fourth three-point threat.
“We’re certainly not a one-man team, or even a two-man team,” Regis coach Ken Shaw said.
The other favorite, Fairview, has something to prove. The Knights went undefeated last season, until the semifinals when George Washington took them down and saddled them with an unhappy 26-1 record. Fairview likes the idea of playing in Boulder, with all that crowd support and an arena with which they are familiar.
Knights coach Frank Lee has said that few people outside the Fairview locker room gave his team much of a shot at returning to the final four. It’s clear why they didn’t. Gone are top scorer Travis Shepherd, top playmaker Beau Gamble and top rebounder Jonathan Morse. Fairview also lost the senior leadership they provided.
Darragh O’Neill and Michael Melillo are the only notable players from last season who have returned.
O’Neill, certainly a candidate for player of the year honors, was known mostly last year for his tough defense and hustling, physical game. He averaged 10.5 points per game and now has unveiled unknown scoring and free-throw shooting prowess. O’Neill has sent his scoring average sky-high, more than doubling last season’s mark for a 23.7 points-per-game rate.
Still, Doherty might have the best basketball tradition of the four teams, over the last decade, anyway. The Spartans are coached by the crafty Dan McKiernan, who built top programs at Palmer and Rampart, and cracked the 500-victory mark many years ago.
The Spartans also have a significant talent in guard Tyler Velasquez, a 5-11 senior who scored 19 points and four three-pointers in last Thursday’s 69-64 overtime win against No. 1 seed Rampart.
The Spartans withstood a first-half barrage from Alex Koehler and almost wiped out the Rams with a 17-3 third quarter. Doherty entered the tournament as a No. 3 seed and unimpressive 14-9 record. That mark looked even worse when compared to Fort Collins, seeded fifth with a record of 20-3.
But it looks as if the seeding committee was right on, as Rampart trampled the Lambkins 68-43 and Doherty also knocked off No. 2 Lincoln 83-74.
Aurora Central, even with a No. 4 seed, was close to being underrated, except by those who saw the Trojans play in a 17-6 regular season. Central took apart No. 1 Fountain-Fort Carson 69-65 in the Sweet 16 and then bolstered its reputation as upset specialists with a quarterfinal win against a much taller Highlands Ranch team, 65-60.
While the Trojans do have fine players in Joseph Abrams, Shawn Banks and Aubrey Prickett, there’s no doubt that DeSe Lee is the focal point. When asked what he knew about Central, Fairview coach Frank Lee said, “I know they have a monster in there.”
A 6-7 senior, DeSe Lee has such a low profile that his name has been misspelled on rosters for a while now, even ones compiled by his own school. It was printed as Dese, but now has a capital “S.”
Lee has made capital improvements in his game as well, crediting veterans Abrams and Banks with pushing him to work hard for success. Lee also admits to being a raw player just a couple years ago.
He has been an outstanding shotblocker, but now has a refined offensive game.
“I used to be the kid who couldn’t make a spin move,” he said. “I didn’t know to lock up the other player. I really didn’t know how to dunk.”
Now, Lee’s primary weakness is shooting free throws, a complete contrast to Fairview’s Darragh O’Neill and Regis’ Ptasinski. Lee made only 3-of-17 at Fountain-Fort Carson and was 3-of-8 against Highlands Ranch.
In Class 4A, all but one of the seeds held up. The upset came last Friday when No. 2 Lewis-Palmer beat No. 1 Sterling 50-38. Pueblo East had the only close one, but beat Broomfield 68-63 in overtime. Longmont beat Pueblo Central 63-54 and Sierra kept alive its hopes for a title repeat with a 65-45 win over Thomas Jefferson.
