DJ Frandsen Tournament Championship Game

I hate to lose.  And while we played a solid game vs a WCAL caliber team, I still hate to lose.  We jumped out to such a great start going up 14-2 and when they called time out after that run I was so pumped in the way we were playing and that we were going to bring home the championship.  They immediately came back and we fought a close game all the way before falling to them in the end.

I know almost all the guys on the Palo Alto team and truth be told I wore the Palo Alto green uniform as my very first "real" basketball uniform.

In fact I started Palo Alto NJB in 3rd grade and played with Alex Frazier (Big Al) of St. Francis and Mathias Schmutz of Paly (Mai Tai) in 3rd grade all stars and even got a trip to Vegas for the NJB tournament.

Me and Al in 3rd grade

Vegas runner ups with Coach Ben Ball and Mathias Schmutz (first row far right)

Of course I am the super enthusiastic one in the back row next to Al

Then in 4th grade I got to try out for All-Net and played up a year to get a chance to play with some really good players throughout the years and for a great coach in Jim Geers who let this little young kid (many times I was almost 2 years younger than my teammates) run the point.  Coach Geers taught me so much about basketball during my early years of basketball.  On our NJB All-Net team were some great friends and great athletes.  Guys who played with us included:  Jimmy Frazier (Saint Francis), Ian Proux (Menlo-Atherton), BJ Boyd (Palo Alto), David Mapa (Saint Francis), Aaron Zelinger (Palo Alto), Austin Braff (Palo Alto) and Tori Prati (Palo Alto) who was on the Palo Alto team who beat us this night at Bellarmine.  Tori is great basketball and football player and it is always great to see him and he is probably off to John Hopkins to play football next year.  

 NJB Champs

Tori, Me and Jimmy

So we did ultimately lose this game to Palo Alto and Israel Hakeem won the outstanding player award and Alex Wong won the Spirit of DJ for Palo Alto.  An article that re-counts the game may be read here from PrepSportsDok.

A real highlight of the tournament this year was Jack Fordyce #34 of our team.  Jack played another consistently outstanding game as he has been all season.  As a senior, this is his first year playing high school basketball and we NEED him as he is scoring, rebounding, blocking shots and playing great defense.  His attitude, effort and story of tenacity to play Bellarmine Basketball is just the kind of recognition suited for the Spirit of DJ Award which Jack won this year.  Congratulations to Jack Fordyce for winning that very significant award and thank goodness we have him on our team this year!

 Jack Fordyce #34 scoring over #4 Kenny Jones and #33 Aubrey Dawkins

Jack receiving his award from Coach Frandsen (father of DJ)

I really appreciated Coach Schneider's talk at the end of the game which was basically to put this behind us and enjoy Christmas.  Merry Christmas!!  Next game: Monta Vista Danville 12/28 7PM at Bellarmine.

Game 1 of DJ Frandsen vs Burlingame

I recently blogged about how defense wins ball games.  Well our lack of defense especially in the 4th quarter almost cost us this ball game.  We held their really good sophomore point guard Frankie Ferrari to NO points I think for 3 quarters and then let him knock down 20 on us in the 4th quarter.  After watching tape on Burlingame we knew they were a legit well coached team with some very good players.  We took a 20 point lead and let it slip away bringing the game as close as 6 points in the 4th quarter.  Burlingame pressured and trapped really well and shot the 3 like pros.  We did escape with an 83-74 win and move on to play Palo Alto in the finals.  Burlingame's Connor Haupt #33 really shot the lights out.  Back when we were in 8th grade our two Catholic school teams played in the St. Nicholas (Los Altos) tournament and I hosted Connor at my house as part of the tournament.  The guy has really developed into a great shooter.

Speaking of old Catholic School Grammar school teams.  Me and Nick McCue #14 are from St. Simon School.

I have to say, me and my old Saints backcourt partner had a pretty good game together vs Burlingame.  I had 38 and he had 20 points and he and I didn't really miss too many shots either.

I got one blocked shot and Nick had a couple.  It was a good night for some former St. Simon guards.

Box Score:

Bellarmine 83, Burlingame 74 Burlingame          19"‚16"‚ 8"‚31--74 Bellarmine          21"‚24"‚15"‚23--83 Burlingame (5-3) -- Ferrari 6-5-20, Feinberg 2-0-6, Haupt 8-2-24, Tischner 1-0-2, Parette 2-0-6, Loew 4-4-12, Dobson 2-0-4. Totals 25-11-74. Bellarmine College Prep (7-1) -- Gayles 0-3-3, Mendy 1-0-2, McCue 8-0-20, Vermeer 12-8-38, Gion 1-2-4, O'Hara 3-3-9, Goudreau 1-0-2, Fordyce 0-5-5. Totals 26-21-83. Three-point goals -- Haput 6, Ferrari 3, Feinberg 2, Parette 2; Vermeer 6, McCue 4. That win takes us to 7-1 and has us face Palo Alto.  Go Bells!!

DJ Frandsen Tournament

Tonight began the DJ Frandsen Memorial Tournament.  The tournament is one of great significance to our school and our program.  The tournament was founded in 2005 and the schools chosen to play in the tournament have a special relationship with the Frandsen family.  I have been a Bellarmine basketball fan forever (keep in mind when I say forever that I'm 16) and I have watched a lot of great players play in the tournament.  Though some really great players have won the Outstanding Player Award like D1 players Peter Pappageorge (Burlingame) and Niyi Harrison (Bellarmine), I have really always watched and admired the Spirit of DJ Award winners.  They have been some really outstanding guys I have looked up to as Bellarmine players like Coach Matt Zuniga, Ricky Bose and Lavon Gray.  A huge deal in our family was when my brother Kyle won the Spirit of DJ Award and that is still prominently displayed in his room.  It is a real honor.  Coach Frandsen and Mrs Frandsen are always so supportive of our team, me, my brother and our family...this must be such an emotional time for them every year at tournament time.

Coach Frandsen, Kyle with his Spirit of DJ Award and MLB Player Kevin Frandsen

The reason it is such an honor is DJ Frandsen lived a life worth honoring.  When I was preparing for our first game I thought about DJ and what I read about him.  I thought this:

Play this tournament in the spirit of DJ.  

DJ and Kevin Frandsen

• a positive attitude that rubs off on everyone
• do everything to it's fullest
• "Go the distance"
• "Don't give up, Never give up" 

I wish I had had the opportunity to know DJ Frandsen.  We are all very lucky to get to play in his tournament.  I hope people who come to the tournament take the time if they don't know ask who is DJ Frandsen?  If you want to learn a little more read this short article from 2004.

Soquel Game

We knew Soquel was a well coached team of guys who have been playing together a long time and that familiarity and chemistry really made them formidable.  Holding them to 42 points (we can do better especially in the first half) and the strong shooting of senior Nick McCue (four three pointers) was enough to handle the Knights.

One of the highlights of the game was when our football team arrived into the gym during the game after a long trip home from Carson, CA where they played an amazing game.  They stayed in the stands and watched our game.  Those are my guys, I love them and they played their hearts out in the State game.  All of us at Bellarmine are so proud of them being our Northern California Champions.  Especially if you figure that Northern California is bigger than most every other state in the country and California would economically be the seventh largest country in the world if it was a country...I would say they are one ELITE football team.

With the football season over it also means we get deeper on the basketball team.  Senior big man Tony Galli and junior Kenny Olugbode join us and will definitely make us better.  Looking forward to having those guys in basketball uniforms.

Box Score for Game vs Soquel:

Bellarmine College Prep 61, Soquel 42

Soquel          11"‚14"‚ 8"‚ 9--42

Bellarmine          12"‚10"‚20"‚19--61

Soquel (7-2) -- Walters 2-3-8, Valcancel 5-0-11, Cordoza 0-4-4, Vincent 1-0-2, Akroy 1-0-2, Tobin 2-2-6, Sheary 4-1-9. Totals 15-10-42.

Bellarmine College Prep (6-1) -- Gayles 2-0-5, Mendy 1-3-6, McCue 5-0-14, Vermeer 4-2-10, Schatzman 1-0-2, Gion 2-0-5, O'Hara 2-0-4, Goudreau 1-1-3, Fordyce 5-0-10, Straka 0-2-2. Totals 23-8-61.

Three-point goals -- Walters, Valcancel; Gayles, Mendy, McCue 4, Gion.

Cal Hi Sports Bay Area - Independence Tournament

Our family for years have been big fans of the Cal Hi Sports Bay Area tv show.  It is a Sunday night tradition to watch all the coverage of the games.  Robert Bronstein's (who is the host and producer) son Daniel was in my brother Kyle's class at Bellarmine.  While I sat out this football season to stay in basketball shape I got to see Mr. Bronstein a lot on the sideline of the football games as I was taking stats for Coach Janda.   Well Cal Hi made the Fukishima Tournament championship game their monster game of the week.  Check it out:  Monster Game

Wear Your Ankle Braces

I recently forwarded this photo to my teammates to remind them to wear our ankle braces.  My brother who will be in surgery Saturday morning to put screws and a plate in his left ankle broke his ankle playing basketball Tuesday evening.

The X depicts the top of his foot.  Yes this is not the angle your foot should be connected to your ankle.  Wear your ankle braces.

Paige Establishing Herself

While I was playing in the Independence Tournament, my sister Paige who is a varsity player for Castilleja in Palo Alto was having quiet a tournament in Pacifica.  I think she is best at the 1, but has been playing mostly at the 2 due to a good senior point guard.  She got her first chance to run the team and did really well.  Good job P!

Gators Overcome Slow Start to Claim Tourney Finale

December 10, 2011 on 7:14 pm | In Game Recaps, Stats | No Comments

Castilleja rebounded from a slow start to claim a victory over Woodside in the finale of the Terra Nova Invitational Saturday afternoon. The Gators, fresh off of a heartbreaking defeat the day before, carried their struggles into today’s contest as they allowed Woodside to maintain control for much of the game. After a 9-9 tie in the first quarter, the Wildcats held a six-point lead late in the second. Junior Lauren Rantz sank a first-half buzzer-beater to close the margin to four going into the break. Midway through the third quarter, Castilleja leading-scorer Riya Modi received a bloody nose as she was guarding against the pass. With Modi forced to sit, Castilleja called on freshman Paige Vermeer to run the team. Vermeer, making her first career start, took over the contest as she scored eight of her game- and career-high 14 points in the second half. Trailing three entering the final frame, Castilleja reeled off seven straight points to take a four-point lead with five minutes remaining. Woodside answered with a pair of buckets to tie the game at 30, but would not score again in the game’s final four minutes as Castilleja forged their second 7-0 run of the quarter to end the contest. Castilleja took full advantage of Woodside’s sloppy play as the Gators forced 29 Wildcat turnovers outscoring Woodside 17-6 on points off turnovers. Vermeer, in addition to a career-game in the scoring column, recorded a career-high seven steals, while junior Lauren Rantz tallied a career-best nine blocked shots to go along with her team-highs of seven boards and four assists. The nine rejections are the fourth most by a player in school history. Castilleja will return to action on December 27 when they take on Livermore in the Dons Club Holiday Tournament at Del Mar.

Notes: Castilleja was outrebounded 20-40, the largest differential since opponents stats began being charted in the 2005-06 season…The victory is just the tenth in school history when trailing going into the fourth quarter…Castilleja snaps their 14-game losing streak when failing to score more than 15 first-half points…Vermeer’s seven steals are a school record for a player making their first career start.

Most Blocked Shots in a Calendar Week

Player                Week of        Blocks

Ericka von Kaeppler   Jan 11, 2009   29

Lauren Rantz          Dec  4, 2011   22

Ericka von Kaeppler   Nov 25, 2007   19

Natasha von Kaeppler  Dec 26, 2010   18

Natasha von Kaeppler  Nov 29, 2009   17

Most Blocked Shots in a Calendar Week
Player                Week of        Blocks
Ericka von Kaeppler   Jan 11, 2009   29
Lauren Rantz          Dec  4, 2011   22
Ericka von Kaeppler   Nov 25, 2007   19
Natasha von Kaeppler  Dec 26, 2010   18
Natasha von Kaeppler  Nov 29, 2009   17

Most Steals Thru 8 Career Games
Player                Steals
Natasha von Kaeppler  27
Paige Vermeer         21
Stephanie Trailer     20
Eve Zelinger          19

Cupertino Tournament

Last year's Cupertino Tournament does not bring back wonderful memories.  On the Friday night before the tournament  (the day after Thanksgiving last year 2010), I had been medically cleared early from a broken bone to back up Travis McHugh in the CCS Open Division Championship game.  The Bells went down early 21-0 (1st quarter) and Travis suffered a concussion and I was behind center in a televised sold out game in which we were not playing well against the ultimate state champions.

Though in this photo all looks ok....all the photos in the papers the next morning had pictures of me either flat on the SJCC turf or with Palo Alto defenders hanging off me.  We got killed with me at the helm and I think I got hit the hardest I ever had on an option play by my long time Palo Alto NJB All Net teammate Tori Prati.  My football season was over.

Well after icing my bruises and ego from Friday night I showed up Saturday as a basketball player for the Cupertino tournament.  We played Homestead and it went to 3 overtimes and we allowed them to score 91 points...not great defense.  My claim to fame (infamy) in that game was in OT I was assigned during a time out to throw a long pass from our baseline to a streaking Nick McCue.  Coach just told me whatever I do DON'T hit the roof of the gym because it is real low in the Cupertino gym.  He can trust the varsity QB to throw a pass...right?  I hit the roof and Homestead got the ball on our baseline.  We also lost a game to Mills and I think that is the most angry I have seen Coach Schneider and I have have seen him mad once or twice before.

This year I took off football so I wouldn't come out so late to basketball and to be in basketball shape.  It seems to be working out for everybody.  The Bells this year 2011 easily handled Palo Alto High School in the football CCS Open Division Championship and I believe are on their way to the state game and we had a much better start in the Cupertino tournament.

Our first game was vs Los Altos High School.  Their roster includes a couple of kids I played a lot of baseball or some basketball with so it was fun to see them.  We had a nice win though I took a Nolan O'Such shoulder to the head after splitting open my eye just days earlier.

Shot the ball well and the team continues to look good.  Senior Jack Fordyce had a fantastic game really showing a lot of intensity on defense and on the boards.  He also racked up the points with a great soft touch around the hoop.  So glad to have Jack on the team this year.  He makes us so much better.

The LAHS win got us a re-match vs Homestead.  We held them to over 70 LESS points then we did last year and we continue to play well offensively.  It was nice to have KMVT in the house covering the game.  Since Cupertino, Los Altos and Mountain View are all covered by that cable access station I will get the game on my home cable in MV.

Then we played in the championship game vs Mountain View High School.  As a Mountain View kid, I have a lot of friends on that team that I have played baseball and basketball with growing up.  It was a really tough game for the Bells.  We didn't play defense and we shot really badly...we (me especially) did not make shots around the basket and convert our free throws.  Mountain View has too many good clutch players to not make us pay and my good friend "Jay Dub" (James Watanabe) made us pay with a last second shot in OT to win the game.

Very disappointing to not win the tournament, but we need to quickly convert it to motivation to not repeat our mistakes and put the work in.  Nick McCue and I made the all-tournament team but that is not the trophy either of us wanted.  We wanted the team championship tournament trophy.  Next is the Independence tournament.  That is the gym where we need to learn to play well because CCS playoff games are usually at that venue and we need to be able to shoot well in that large gym.

Box Scores from Cupertino Tournament:

Bells take 3rd in Tournament (2-1)

Bells on All Tourney Team:  Nick McCue and Grant Vermeer

Saturday December 3, 2011

Cupertino Shootout Championship

Mountain View 59, Bellarmine College Prep 57

Bellarmine College Prep          15"‚11"‚9"‚13--57

Mountain View                        11"‚18"‚9"‚10--59

Bellarmine College Prep -- Mendy 3-5-11, McCue 5-5-16, Vermeer 4-2-10, Gion 1-1-3, O'Hara 4-3-11, Goudreau 2-0-4, Fordyce 1-0-2. Totals 20-16-57.

Mountain View -- Watanabe 4-2-13, Wang 3-1-9, Yanaga 1-0-3, McAlister 1-2-5, Collins 4-2-14 Kaestner 6-3-15. Totals 19-10-59.

Friday December 2, 2011

Bellarmine 64, Homestead 20

Bellarmine          13"‚16"‚22"‚13--64

Homestead          8"‚ 6"‚ 4"‚ 2--20

Bellarmine College Prep (2-0) -- Mendy 1-1-4, McCue 4-1-10, Vermeer 8-0-18, Gion 1-1-3, O'Hara 3-0-6, Goudreau 4-0-8, Fordyce 5-0-11, Straka 2-0-4. Totals 27-3-64.

Homestead (1-1) -- Hoffman 2-1-5, Hunter 2-0-4, Whitford 1-0-2, Martin 2-1-5, Shayesta 1-0-2, Gataric 0-2-2. Totals 8-4-20.

Three-point goals -- Vermeer 2, Mendy, McCue, Fordyce.

Thursday December 1, 2011

Bellarmine College Prep 65, Los Altos 25

Los Altos                                 5"‚ 8"‚ 3"‚9--25

Bellarmine College Prep          11"‚24"‚22"‚8--65

Los Altos (1-1) -- Becker 0-1-1, McLean 1-1-3, Onipede 6-2-17, Kliman 1-0-2, O'Such 0-2-2. Totals 8-6-25.

Bellarmine College Prep (1-0) -- Mendy 3-4-10, McCue 2-4-8, Vermeer 2-0-6, Schatzman 0-4-4, O'Hara 5-1-11, Goudreau 3-2-8, Fordyce 7-2-16, Straka 1-0-2. Totals 23-17-65.

Three-point goals -- Onipede 3; Vermeer 2.

Independence High School Tournament

Defense wins ball games and high school basketball tournaments.  I am really happy with coming back over that very disappointing loss in the Cupertino tournament to Mountain View in which we played really poor defense and played three relatively strong defensive games to win this tournament.  We gave up only 84 points over three games to go 3-0 in the tournament.  If we continue to average holding teams  to less than 30 points a game, I like our chances to continue to win.

I was pleased to be consistent with my scoring 18, 17 and 12 and glad to be honored with an all-tourney selection.  Congrats to Griffin Goudreau our great shooting big who received the tournament MVP.  A rundown of the box scores taken from the Bellarmine Basketball Facebook page:


Fukushima Tournament
At Independence

Bells win Tournament

Griffin Gourdreau named Tournament MVP, Grant Vermeer and Blair Mendy named to All Tournament Team

Fukushima Invitational At Independence Championship  December 10, 2011

Bellarmine 55, Independence 34

Bellarmine          10"‚13 19"‚13--55
Independence          8"‚12"‚ 6"‚ 8--34

Bellarmine (5-1) -- Mendy 1-2-4, McCue 2-2-8, Vermeer 5-1-12, Schatzman 1-1-3, Gion 2-0-5, O'Hara 2-0-4, Goudreau 4-0-9, Fordyce 5-0-10. Totals 22-6-55.

Independence (3-3) -- Refuerzo 2-3-7. Yao 3-6-12, L. Villanueva 1-0-2, Estifanos 5-3-13. Totals 11-12-34.

Three-point goals --McCue 2, Vermeer, Gion, Goudreau.


Championship semifinal Bellarmine College Prep 55 Oak Grove 27  December 9th

Oak Grove          8"‚ 8"‚7"‚ 4--27
Bellarmine          17"‚13"‚8"‚15--55

Oak Grove (2-1) -- McDonald 3-0-7, Ong 1-0-2, Vieira 0-1-1, Bangers 3-0-6, Awuzie 2-0-4, Hussein 1-2-4, Ossai 1-0-3. Totals 11-3-27.

Bellarmine College Prep (4-1) -- Gayles 5-0-11, Mendy 1-0-2, McCue 3-5-11, Vermeer 6-3-17, Gion 1-0-2, O'Hara 2-0-4, Goudreau 2-0-4, Fordyce 2-0-4. Totals 22-8-55.

Three-point goals -- McDonald, Ossai; Gayles, Vermeer 2.


Bellarmine College Prep 56, Cupertino 23

December 8th

Cupertino          2"‚ 4"‚11"‚6--23
Bellarmine College Prep          12"‚21"‚14"‚9--56

Cupertino (2-2) -- Chu 3-0-6, Liando 3-0-6, Natesan 3-3-11. Totals 9-3-23.

Bellarmine College Prep (2-0) -- Mendy 1-2-4, Vermeer 5-6-18, Gion 2-0-5, O'Hara 1-0-2, Goudreau 4-2-11, Fordyce 5-1-11, Straka 1-0-2. Schatzman 1-0-3.  Totals 20-11-56.

Three-point goals -- Natesan 2; Vermeer 2, Gion, Goudreau, Schatzman

San Ramon Valley Scrimmage

The annual SRV scrimmage is always a good barometer of where we are as they are always a solid well coached team.  I thought our performance was an indicator we were on the right track as we overall executed well on offense and defense.  It also showed what all our players know which is that everyone on this team can shoot the lights out.  Our next stop is the Cupertino Tournament in which we can transition from practice uniforms to our nice new game jerseys.

Alumni Game

Last year I had to watch our very talented group of alumni from the stands as I was still playing football and not in basketball season yet.  This year I was on the court when the alumni and our team went to OT.  We ultimately lost to them.  That really shouldn't happen, but it did.

It was great to see so many players I have looked up to growing up watching Bellarmine basketball:  Ricky Bose, Madu Cole, and Jason Norman.  The highlight though was the start of the game taking the court when the starting 5 for the varsity and the alumni each included a Vermeer.  Played against my brother Kyle '09 who is the former Bell player I really look up the most to and now plays for Stanford's club team and is a practice player for Tara VanDeveer at Stanford.

 Kyle definitely disrupting my shot

Kyle and I on the court together

Kyle - Stanford 2011

Genesis of This Blog

I never really considered writing a blog about being a high school student athlete in the Silicon Valley.  In the course of being interviewed by Kevin McCarthy of the Nor Cal basketball blog , he asked if I would consider writing some sort of journal or diary of my experiences in being a student athlete and working toward the goal of playing the game I love in college.


So I decided to give it a try in the form of a blog.  I wanted to make sure my coach Patrick Schneider was on board and I hope that somebody finds value or entertainment in what I write.  While so much of what is written today is negative and I guess so many young players have difficult experiences with their coaches http://youtu.be/iymXdRQDISg, I am so fortunate that has not been my experience.  


I have had almost without exception great coaches and teammates from elementary school basketball to NJB, to AAU and in high school.  


With that, Boo's Basketball Blog is born and I hope to give anyone who cares to read a little insight into my student athlete basketball experience.