A few impressions from Rumble In The Bay

We thought this might run elsewhere but it doesn't look like it now so here goes:

Through blurried eyes, with haunches in quite the unforgiving mood after being pressed into wooden bleachers for too many days and hours, here are a series of impressions taken away from the Eighth Annual Rumble in the Bay tournament.

*** First things first, we offer a hearty thank you to tournament maestro Gerry Freitas for yet another well-run event

*** For whoever made the decision to turn the last few games into full court matches, we will do our best to get you awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant for such superb decision-making. Such an adjustment was right up there with that one small step for mankind thing.

*** We've become paid up members of the Kory (West High, Bakersfield) Thieleke fan club as the 6-foot-4 2010 backcourter made plays all weekend for his Team Superstar squad

*** We offer a salute to Robert Sandoval of the Bay Area Hoosiers who displays the amazing trait of 'seeing' what is going to happen next before it takes place on the court and positioning himself accordingly

*** Nick Johnson of the Drew Gooden Soldiers is certainly the real deal as a scoring point -- maybe he will grow taller but it looks like he ultimately will have to be a point in the pros and, yes, he will be in the NBA

*** John (De La Salle) MacArthur, also of the Soldiers, was impressive in showing the ability going to his left to score as well as facing the hoop and connecting from long range -- but is he really 6-8?

*** 6-foot-7 Josh Ritchart of Team Superstar gets off the floor seemingly quicker than anyone but needs to supplement his diet with Met-Rx bars or the equivalent in order to add the weight and strength he'll need for college play

*** Dom (St. Mary's) Lee of the Hoosiers has no athletic match in the northern California prep ranks, case closed

*** Charles Standifer of Play Hard, Play Smart apparently is headed for a year of prep school back east but his play this weekend begs the question: what more does someone have to do to catch at least a mid-major ride?

*** Soldier Desmond Simmons is going to delight Lorenzo Romar with his versatility after one more season of making Salesian Coach Bill Mellis a very happy man

*** We predict Hoosier Kiwi (Manteca High) Gardner, still with two years of high school left, will really surprise at the next level -- he's a stone cold finisher whose confidence, rightly so, knows no bounds

*** Salesian's Quincy Smith is a 2011 grad-to-be but already displayed plenty of next level potential in the last three days as a Team Superstar member

*** We had a Sean Rooks sighting on Saturday as the Southeast L.A. squad was taking the floor. Actually, we viewed the area somewhere just below the shoulders of the 6-foot-10 12-year National Basketball Association veteran who is apparently assisting with the Whittier-based team

*** 6-foot-7 sophomore-to-be Grant (Central Valley Christian) Verhoeven of Organized Chaos 1 has obviously inherited some hoops and height genes from father Pete, who played at Fresno State followed by six seasons in the NBA

*** With tongue firmly in cheek, a better showing was expected from the Palo Alto Midnight 17U squad what with the lineup loaded with 'ringers' Stacey Augmon and Steve Kerr ... plus, we didn't witness him in action but our understanding is Lakeshow sophomore Conner Kevorkian's jumpshot is killer ... bada bing, bada boom.

For those of you we missed viewing but are deserving of a mention, please do us this favor: continue with your schooling and engineer some advancements in cloning technology -- at least for use on a temporary basis -- because we found ourselves able to be in but one place at one time this weekend. Either that or please develop human split screen vision when multiple courts in one gymnasium are in use.