March 13, 2007

Oak Grove, the other South Bay team

Kevin McCarthy
 

Think of boys basketball in Santa Clara County and the first team that comes to mind is Archbishop Mitty. But the times they are a-changing and an upstart is muscling in for greater recognition. The Oak Grove Eagles are currently 29-1 with their lone loss to Piedmont Hills which...

photo of Kelly Kaigler
Kelly Kaigler

If you look up San Jose’s Oak Grove High School in Wikipedia, here is a portion of what is listed: "...Oak Grove High School has some of the best athletic teams in all of the Bay Area and excels in football, basketball, track, soccer, and many other sports competitions..."

Under notable alumni, here are some recognizable names:

No basketball players are listed but that just may change if a couple of members of Coach Rich Young’s current squad has anything to say about it.

The Eagles are currently 29-1 this season, including December victories against Palo Alto, 49-27 and Gilroy 57-42. The lone Oak Grove loss this season was in early January to Piedmont Hills 62-63 but Young’s team has since followed up with two wins over their league rival.

After beating Sheldon 64-55, Oak Grove most recently topped Skyline 62-50 with Tyree McCrary compiling a triple-double of 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. The victory put the Eagles into the NorCal Division I finals against McClymonds Saturday night in Stockton.

In a sense, Oak Grove is a young team with the bulk of its 7-or-so man rotation being underclassmen. According to Young, "We’re very athletic and very good in the open court. We want to get the tempo up and play a fast pace." He added, "Our style is based on our fullcourt and halfcourt defense, we want to force quicker shots."

Here’s the Eagle player rotation and Young’s comment about each:

Tyree McCrary, 6-7, junior, averages 13.3 ppg., 10.0 rpg., 4.1 bpg.-- "Tyree’s very athletic, long and versatile, he can play in the post but can also step out, he displays great instiincts on the defensive end, getting himself in position to make great plays as a shot blocker and in altering shots."

Kelly Kaigler, 6-3, junior, averages 14.0 ppg., 6.6 rpg., was co-sophomore of the year and a first-team Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division selection last season-- "Kelly’s very versatile, he can put it on the floor and create but also score from outside, he’s a hard worker who likes being in the weight room."

Stacy Long, 5-8, junior-- "He’s extremely quick, a very good defender and the point of pressure defensively, Stacy makes us go offensively as he’s a distributor who can put it on the floor and create."

Albert Lutz-Paap, 6-1, senior-- "Albert’s a good defender and a very good shooter, he made seven 3’s against Santa Teresa (on February 24, totaling 27 points) and when he makes two or three in a row that spreads out the defense."

Marshawn Landrine, 6-2, senior-- "He is athletic, a good defender and has played very well for us down the stretch."

Mark Forrest, 6-7, junior-- "Mark was injured last year but he provides a post presence for us. He is also a football player."

Jabari Carr, 6-2, sophomore-- "He’s our most versatile defender, someone who can guard a one through a five. Jabari is also a football player, a free safety."

But what about Young, who mixes all this talent together? He’s in his 18th year of coaching, his 15th at Oak Grove. The other three years, in the late 1990s, he assisted the venerable Bob Burton (the current Cal State Fullerton head coach) at West Valley College. Young is a local, having grown up in San Jose and is also an alumnus of Oak Grove. He played at West Valley after high school and then transferred to Fresno Pacific, before beginning his coaching career at age 22.

"It was coaching that hooked me into teaching," he said. Besides coaching, Young teaches physical education at Oak Grove.

Young also won a Central Coast section basketball title with his 2002 Oak Grove squad, beating Serra.

There hasn’t been a more physically talented collection of players than Oak Grove’s in Silicon Valley for some time. Nolan Richardson was famous for his "40 minutes of hell" while at Arkansas. Let’s call Young’s style "32 minutes of systematic havoc."

There has been talk of an Archbishop Mitty-Oak Grove--the top two teams in the Santa Clara Valley--game for next season. The problem is the logistics. Unlike Oak Grove, the Mitty team has no football players. Young, rightfully so, would like to schedule the contest for late December so that his team would have both a full complement of players and a period of time for his kids coming over from the gridiron to adjust to the hardcourt. If it happens, a larger venue than either team’s school gymnasium would be needed to hold all the fans who would like to see this matchup take place.