And....DeMatha vs Mater Dei in 1983. NY Times article about the matchup between Wooten and MacKnight with photo!

[BigDrop]

Scroll down for the incredible link.
Tell me another story about IMG or Oak Hill.
 

Congratulations to Chase Young.  
 

And Anthony McFarland was drafted  in the third round by Pittsburgh (#134).

[HurricaneNick]

Pretty damn impressive. Go Stags. 

[NicholasMalibu]

Chase Young and Anthony McFarland were juniors at DM when they took out Miami Central, SJC and American Heritage. The next year, their senior year, they were #3 in the country. McFarland is going to be an absolute steal in this draft. There are a few more players on that team that may get taken in the later rounds like Tino Ellis.(another steal).

If you saw the footage tonight of Chase, he had two DeMatha alum coaches next to him. One was the RB coach Gibson. He’s the best coach on the east coast that nobody knows about. Chase Young, Saquon Barkley, Victor Oladipo, Kevin Durant, Markel Fultz, etc... are regulars at his gym on weekends. The other coach was an absolute stud at LB at DM and then Illinois. He’s a coach at St. Frances right now with the group of DM coaches Poggi brought in, but he’s a great guy and had my vote for the next HC at DM a few years ago. That was well before I knew Josh Wilson retired from the NFL and wanted to coach at his alma mater. He’s going to be a beast when McGregor passes the torch. Moral of my story is Chase Young is in good hands staying local even though I hate Snyder’s handling of Haskins. I attribute that to his catholic high school experience. 
 

I’ve talked shit with posters from Don Bosco Prep NJ, Mater Dei CA, St. Thomas Aquinas FL, St. Xavier OH, Bishop Gorman NV, etc.. whatever...I’m a massive supporter of all of those schools and leagues. I know the NFL is an absolute crap shoot, but I’ll always root for the kids that went to the brand name catholic schools across the country. Call me bandwagon if you want.

[eaglesinsider]

17 minutes ago, CODBEARD said:

Same school as Blake Corum before he transferred to SFA.. St Vincent Pallotti (MAA B)...  Pallotti had a pipeline to kids in the area starting through the GORC program and Grass Roots team.. Rick Peacock (also former USA Football Regional President) kicked it off at Pallotti then Ian Thomas (former DeMatha player)took over...unfortunately they weren't able to keep some players there but Pallotti today is a power in the MIAA B and will likely be moved to A if not this year soon.. @eaglesinsider may know if he has seen the MIAA schedules for this year if they moved. I believe Peacock is a QB coach at DeMatha now and Chase who was a QB/LB at Pallotti followed coach to DeMatha

Top 2021 OL prospect Landon Tengwall from GC started at Pallotti as well. Pallotti is still in the B this year but pretty strong OOC schedule:

Saint Vincent Pallotti
Week 0	28-Aug	at Calvert Hall
Week 1	4-Sep	John Carroll
Week 2	11-Sep	at Saint Paul's
Week 3	18-Sep	Archbishop Spalding
Week 4	25-Sep	at Clarkson Football North (CN)
Week 5	2-Oct	Archbishop Curley
Week 6	9-Oct	at Saint Mary's
Week 7	16-Oct	Friendship Collegiate (DC)
Week 8	23-Oct	at Boys' Latin
Week 9	30-Oct	Concordia Prep

Don't have all the MIAA schedules but no changes to MIAA alignments this year except in the lower levels: AACS and Severn are playing only a partial B Conference schedule and Mount Carmel may or may not have dropped football. I would expect Loyola to slide back into the A Conference soon.

 

[MD87]

21 hours ago, HurricaneNick said:

Pretty damn impressive. Go Stags. 

I first heard of DeMatha as a freshman at MD in '83, when hoops traveled cross country with a young (29 y.o.) upstart coach named McKnight to play legendary Morgan Wootten and Danny Ferry and the Stags.  It was national #1 vs #2, if memory serves, and DM beat MD down the stretch by a couple to win it.  Who'd a thunk it at the time, that arguably the two greatest HS hoops coaches of all time were on the sidelines that game.  Crazy.  What I'd give for a photo of those two during that game.  

[HurricaneNick]

9 minutes ago, MD87 said:

I first heard of DeMatha as a freshman at MD in '83, when hoops traveled cross country with a young (29 y.o.) upstart coach named McKnight to play legendary Morgan Wootten and Danny Ferry and the Stags.  It was national #1 vs #2, if memory serves, and DM beat MD down the stretch by a couple to win it.  Who'd a thunk it at the time, that arguably the two greatest HS hoops coaches of all time were on the sidelines that game.  Crazy.  What I'd give for a photo of those two during that game.  

HS Basketball GOATS no question! 

[BigDrop]

4 hours ago, MD87 said:

I first heard of DeMatha as a freshman at MD in '83, when hoops traveled cross country with a young (29 y.o.) upstart coach named McKnight to play legendary Morgan Wootten and Danny Ferry and the Stags.  It was national #1 vs #2, if memory serves, and DM beat MD down the stretch by a couple to win it.  Who'd a thunk it at the time, that arguably the two greatest HS hoops coaches of all time were on the sidelines that game.  Crazy.  What I'd give for a photo of those two during that game.  

Saw that game on a snowy night at Takoma Academy.  Mater Dei brought their cheerleaders along with perhaps a couple of hundred supporters. DeMatha had Danny Ferry and Carlton Valentine to lead them. Carlton’s son went in the first round of the NBA draft several years ago.

Honestly believe St. Anthony’s Bob Hurley is up with them.

[BigDrop]

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/23/sports/meeting-of-scholastic-giants.html 
Incredibly I found this on the internet.  From 1983. Mater Dei started the season #1 and DeMatha #2.  Final was 66-51 but DeMatha jumped to a 16-2 first quarter lead.

I didn’t remember any of this!  Also thought it was snow rather than freezing rain.

And, the article is from the New York Times!

And,there’s a closeup photo of MacKnight!!! (I tried MD87.)

[MD87]

1 hour ago, BigDrop said:

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/23/sports/meeting-of-scholastic-giants.html 
Incredibly I found this on the internet.  From 1983. Mater Dei started the season #1 and DeMatha #2.  Final was 66-51 but DeMatha jumped to a 16-2 first quarter lead.

I didn’t remember any of this!  Also thought it was snow rather than freezing rain.

And, the article is from the New York Times!

And,there’s a closeup photo of MacKnight!!! (I tried MD87.)

A+, brother!  And yes, not nearly as close I had thought.  Now that I think about it, it was Flint Hill Prep my senior year that was the 2-point loss (and they were national #1...and that was our only loss that year).  

[MD87]

1 hour ago, BigDrop said:

Saw that game on a snowy night at Takoma Academy.  Mater Dei brought their cheerleaders along with perhaps a couple of hundred supporters. DeMatha had Danny Ferry and Carlton Valentine to lead them. Carlton’s son went in the first round of the NBA draft several years ago.

Honestly believe St. Anthony’s Bob Hurley is up with them.

Wooten, McKnight and Hurley.  One can argue in which order, but def the top 3.  And no, not Steve Smith.  DM, MD and SA are real schools with with all the traditional sports.

[Bodysurf]

Those were the days. I have great memories of the early McKnight years. To this day John Williams at Crenshaw is the best player I have EVER seen play against MD and that was McKnights first year. I bet if you ask McKnight he will tell you that his loss to LB Poly in the championship game of the 83-84 season was the the most disappointing loss of his career. He had a stacked and balanced team but he forced the ball too much to Tom Lewis. But it made him a better coach. 

[MD87]

On 4/25/2020 at 11:22 PM, Bodysurf said:

Those were the days. I have great memories of the early McKnight years. To this day John Williams at Crenshaw is the best player I have EVER seen play against MD and that was McKnights first year. I bet if you ask McKnight he will tell you that his loss to LB Poly in the championship game of the 83-84 season was the the most disappointing loss of his career. He had a stacked and balanced team but he forced the ball too much to Tom Lewis. But it made him a better coach. 

Agree with just about everything.  The OT loss to O'Dowd a few years ago had to have been tough, too, but IMO the worst was the '99 state title loss to Oakland Fremont.  Saw it in person, and Fremont's Josh Shavies straight choked Mike Bayer, and the refs did nothing.  Dirtiest team I've ever seen.  I remember John Williams (my freshman yr at MD), but personally the best player I ever saw play the Monarchs was JKidd.  I was one of the 15,000+ at Arco in '92, and I left a JKidd fan for life.  A magician and man among boys.

[CaliNorth]

1 hour ago, MD87 said:

Agree with just about everything.  The OT loss to O'Dowd a few years ago had to have been tough, too, but IMO the worst was the '99 state title loss to Oakland Fremont.  Saw it in person, and Fremont's Josh Shavies straight choked Mike Bayer, and the refs did nothing.  Dirtiest team I've ever seen.  I remember John Williams (my freshman yr at MD), but personally the best player I ever saw play the Monarchs was JKidd.  I was one of the 15,000+ at Arco in '92, and I left a JKidd fan for life.  A magician and man among boys.

What would you consider the greatest MD team

[Sammyswordsman]

18 hours ago, MD87 said:

Agree with just about everything.  The OT loss to O'Dowd a few years ago had to have been tough, too, but IMO the worst was the '99 state title loss to Oakland Fremont.  Saw it in person, and Fremont's Josh Shavies straight choked Mike Bayer, and the refs did nothing.  Dirtiest team I've ever seen.  I remember John Williams (my freshman yr at MD), but personally the best player I ever saw play the Monarchs was JKidd.  I was one of the 15,000+ at Arco in '92, and I left a JKidd fan for life.  A magician and man among boys.

Excuse Thread material

 

[Duckburghsfinest1987]

it's hard to believe it took MD until Stanley Johnson arrived, to be MD's first long-term NBA player, because at the time Stanley Johnson arrived at MD, Gary McKnight was already like in his 30th season as the Head Coach. Reason why me and many others find it a shock, is because there are plenty of other high schools in California, that haven't won a 10th or achieved a fraction of the amount of success MD has done in Basketball under McKnight, yet they have produced players that have made an impact in the NBA, even if not as a star, but a long-term bench player in the NBA. 

Of the 9 MD players who made it to the NBA, only 3 lasted a full season, LeRon Ellis, Reggie Geary, and Stanley Johnson, and Jamal Sampson came close.

The one MD player whose basketball career really crashed or collapsed in college, was Taylor King, many thought his post-High School basketball career was going to turn out better than it actually did.

[MD87]

23 hours ago, CaliNorth said:

What would you consider the greatest MD team

That's a tough question, imo.  The national championship team probably, but 2000/2001 was so deep: Sampson (Cal), Bozeman (UCLA), Schaen (Princeton),  Porter (UC Riverside), Washington (Oregon State), Strawberry (Chaffey College), and Shaun Michel and Travonte Nelson were highly-rated recruits at the time.  No MD team has ever had the kind of depth of a Chester or D-High, though.

[Duckburghsfinest1987]

I remember it was said elsewhere, as to why MD players have rarely succeeded at the next level, don't make major headlines after high school or become stars after high school, is because of the system MD plays, MD plays very well as a team, because of that, it makes a lot of their star players look better than they actually are.

[CaliNorth]

17 hours ago, MD87 said:

That's a tough question, imo.  The national championship team probably, but 2000/2001 was so deep: Sampson (Cal), Bozeman (UCLA), Schaen (Princeton),  Porter (UC Riverside), Washington (Oregon State), Strawberry (Chaffey College), and Shaun Michel and Travonte Nelson were highly-rated recruits at the time.  No MD team has ever had the kind of depth of a Chester or D-High, though.

That team was the same team I would have picked as possibly MD'S best also . Saw them beat Modesto Christian in state final .

[MD87]

3 hours ago, CaliNorth said:

That team was the same team I would have picked as possibly MD'S best also . Saw them beat Modesto Christian in state final .

You were there, too?  The place was PACKED.  I only ever remember it being like that for JKidd in '92.  It was electric and MD kept its cool in spite of the partisan home crowd.  

[MD87]

18 hours ago, Duckburghsfinest1987 said:

I remember it was said elsewhere, as to why MD players have rarely succeeded at the next level, don't make major headlines after high school or become stars after high school, is because of the system MD plays, MD plays very well as a team, because of that, it makes a lot of their star players look better than they actually are.

Exactly.  Yes, McKnight has a lot of help along that bench, but he knows a thing or two about coaching, too.

[MD87]

3 hours ago, CaliNorth said:

That team was the same team I would have picked as possibly MD'S best also . Saw them beat Modesto Christian in state final .

What would you say was the best CA state final game you've seen?  (I attended just about every state final game (all 10) every year from '98-'08, along with MD's state title games in '87, '90 and '92.)  

My answer to that question is no contest: The OTech/Chester game in 2002.  32 minutes of swag and streetball at its finest.  I would pay big money for a copy of that game...which started even before the game.  Chester came out and was warming up on their end of the floor, and Tech enters the arena at the same end and runs right up the middle of Chester's key while they're doing warmups.  That was it.  It was on.  Chester proceeded to put on a dunk performance that was off the chain, and yes, that is when dunking was supposedly not allowed in warmups.  No matter.  Chester didn't care and neither did the officials.  Straight intimidation.  Not sure Tech was intimidated, but Chester never trailed and won by 10.  Most ppl probably don't know Tech's Leon Powe was the country's number two ranked player as a junior, behind some guy named LeBron.  Chester's was the most stacked team I can remember (and sorry, Sierra Canyon that includes you - those Chester teams would've spanked y'all).  D-1 recruits for days:

Trevor freakin Ariza (UCLA), Brandon Bowman (G'Town), Hassan Adams (Arizona and McD AA), Brandon Heath (SDSU), Ashanti Cook (G'Town), Scott Cutley (Fullerton), Bobby Brown (Fullerton), John Clemmons (Fullerton), Gabe Pruitt (USC), and Marcus Johnson (USC).  Probably the deepest team in CA history.

[CaliNorth]

1 hour ago, MD87 said:

What would you say was the best CA state final game you've seen?  (I attended just about every state final game (all 10) every year from '98-'08, along with MD's state title games in '87, '90 and '92.)  

My answer to that question is no contest: The OTech/Chester game in 2002.  32 minutes of swag and streetball at its finest.  I would pay big money for a copy of that game...which started even before the game.  Chester came out and was warming up on their end of the floor, and Tech enters the arena at the same end and runs right up the middle of Chester's key while they're doing warmups.  That was it.  It was on.  Chester proceeded to put on a dunk performance that was off the chain, and yes, that is when dunking was supposedly not allowed in warmups.  No matter.  Chester didn't care and neither did the officials.  Straight intimidation.  Not sure Tech was intimidated, but Chester never trailed and won by 10.  Most ppl probably don't know Tech's Leon Powe was the country's number two ranked player as a junior, behind some guy named LeBron.  Chester's was the most stacked team I can remember (and sorry, Sierra Canyon that includes you - those Chester teams would've spanked y'all).  D-1 recruits for days:

Trevor freakin Ariza (UCLA), Brandon Bowman (G'Town), Hassan Adams (Arizona and McD AA), Brandon Heath (SDSU), Ashanti Cook (G'Town), Scott Cutley (Fullerton), Bobby Brown (Fullerton), John Clemmons (Fullerton), Gabe Pruitt (USC), and Marcus Johnson (USC).  Probably the deepest team in CA history.

It's hard to say which game , but the best team imop was the Dominguez Compton team in 2000 with Chandler as a junior . Dela won the D-1 title over Clovis West and Big Baby that year , and Compton won the D-2 title and was ranked #1 in country overall . Compton had all the pieces . A very tough team to beat . Those Westchester teams were great also . They beat Dela in a State final game also , not to mention beating MD in socal finals  .  

[CaliNorth]

1 hour ago, MD87 said:

You were there, too?  The place was PACKED.  I only ever remember it being like that for JKidd in '92.  It was electric and MD kept its cool in spite of the partisan home crowd.  

Refs definitely  favored MC.  I think MC went to the line 20 times in 1rst half alone. Sampson in foul trouble early .  But MD exerted control early in 2nd half . MD was clearly way better though final score didn't reflect that .

[MD87]

1 hour ago, CaliNorth said:

It's hard to say which game , but the best team imop was the Dominguez Compton team in 2000 with Chandler as a junior . Dela won the D-1 title over Clovis West and Big Baby that year , and Compton won the D-2 title and was ranked #1 in country overall . Compton had all the pieces . A very tough team to beat . Those Westchester teams were great also . They beat Dela in a State final game also , not to mention beating MD in socal finals  .  

Remember that team well.  Sleep walked over Newark by 14 or something.  One of the biggest mismatches ever, although the final score didn't reflect it.  That DLS/CW game was a classic, too.  Nail-biter the whole way.  CW's PG Chris Hernandez was a BALLER.  And then CW had to vacate that SoCal championship, and hasn't been heard from since.  Wonder what ever happened to Vance Wahlberg.  He had those boys (er, men the last couple of years 😉 ) ready to play year in and year out.  Dominated the Central Section. 

Man, those were the days.  The golden age of SoCal hoops really.  D-High, Chester, Fax, MD, Artesia, Poly, CW.  Of course Artesia became irrelevant with Merino's fall from grace (Artesia had some DUDES during those years!), along with CW and Wahlberg.  D-High's been done since the child molester got arrested, and Fax hasn't been the same post-Kitani.  Chester's still decent, but the LACS has dropped significantly.  SO different from the days of the Shaw, which then handed the baton (and its kids) to Chester in '98.  Poly's been irrelevant ever since then, too.  MD, of course, continued to rise to arguably its most dominant era of all with the two wins over Mitty and then the 4-peat with SJ.  But even MD now is in its longest state title drought in the McKnight era.  Those 90s/early 2000s were the days.

Honestly, same with NorCal.  OAL teams were ALWAYS tough, as were DLS and Allocco.  Other than JKidd's dismantling of MD in '92 and Mack's spanking of D-Hi in what, 2008, most of the D-1 title games were very competitive.  Now the OAL is dead, DLS doesn't have its moxy any more, and SC gets enough of the LACS and MD kids that it has no real comp any more.  Sad, but hey, what can you do?

[Duckburghsfinest1987]

3 hours ago, MD87 said:

Exactly.  Yes, McKnight has a lot of help along that bench, but he knows a thing or two about coaching, too.

another thing, MD Basketball under McKnight, has a known reputation for their players transferring a lot in college, transfer at a high-rate, switch after their original school of choice after playing their for 1 year, and many speculate, say, their playing experience at MD factors into that a lot.