Hoopa Claims Dick Niclai Championship
Hey Jude, Hoopa's Hero now at CR
Hoopa's Schmidt Decides on Future
Hoopa Hoops, a Tradition of Excellence
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Hoopa Claims Dick Niclai Championship
Daniel Squier - The Times-Standard
"Hoooo-pa! Clap-clap, Warri-ors! Clap-clap. Hoooo-pa! Clap, clap, Warri-ors!" That chant reverberated throughout Humboldt State's East Gym Friday night as the classic David vs. Goliath scenario played out in the boys' final of the Dick Niclai Tournament.
The gritty, small-school team, full of forlorn hope, against the biggest, baddest school in the area.
Well, OK, that's overdoing it a bit. Hoopa may be small, and anyone who has been breathing over the last 10 years or so, knows that the Warrior boy's basketball team casts a pretty long shadow itself.
This wasn't tiny Milan High winning the Indiana High School title in the 1950's and having that story re-told in the movie "Hoosiers". This was a known entity, a small-school basketball powerhouse doing what it does best when the postseason begins: Winning.
Still, it was a night to remember for Hoopa fans, as they watched their team out-hustle and out-shoot the Loggers, en route to a 54-47 win.
"We're back." said head coach Inker McCovey as he stood in the lobby of the gym before the game. "These guys have just stepped up at the right time, they are playing their best basketball of the season."
Then the Warriors went out and made a sage of their coach. The Warriors knocked down nine of their first 10 shots in the first quarter, and after the first two minutes, when both teams were searching for their game legs, the first Hoopa 3-pointer was drained. Two possessions later another 3-pointer rattled home and you knew right away there would be no repeat of the 73-56 losing debacle the Warriors suffered in the Logger gym on Jan. 21.
Ben Bussell, a kid who endured the longest of seasons as a member of the Hoopa football team, ran the Warrior offense to perfection, moving the ball from side to side against the Logger zone, keeping the play alive, all the while he scored 10 points. Six of those points came courtesy of 3-pointers, both in the decisive second half.
It may not have been the most classic sense of a David vs. Goliath story, but judging from the reaction of the Hoopa team and its fans following the win, it came close enough. The chanting told us that much.
The girls' game came with enough subplots to write a novel. A Logger team riding a 17-game winning streak, unbeaten in league and playing a team it had already defeated three times this season. Would the youth of McKinleyville overcome the experience of Eureka?
The Panthers came within eight minutes of doing just that, but like all very talented, experienced teams. Eureka found a way to get the job done in the end.
Two points in the final quarter. That's the only stat you need to analyze if you are a Panther fan. McKinleyville had Eureka backed into a corner. They had the Logger guards scrambling and hustling, the zone defense switch-ups kept Eureka off balance.
Then the experience showed. That Logger business-like style of play returned, and before you could say "Ashley Curry just outfought Ashley Crnich for a loose ball and made a terrific pass from her back that led to an easy layup," Eureka was shutting down the Panther offense.
Eureka coach Kristie Christiansen had played her cards properly. She had waited until the fourth quarter to apply some serious pressure to the Panther ballhandlers. "We waited for them to tire out a little," she said. "We wanted them fatigued before we applied the full-court press."
When the pressure came, it came like a Humboldt County rainstorm. It hit hard and fast and it was the young McKinleyville team that ended up winded and wet.
Hey Jude, Hoopa's Hero now at CR
Mike Morrow - The Times-Standard
EUREKA -- As a six-footer, he knows his chance of playing big-time college basketball is a longshot.
Then, again, it's his long shot that may put him there.
Jude Marshall still believes he can do it, too, and so do a lot of other people.
But if not, that'll be fine, too, said Marshall, a shooting guard the College of the Redwoods basketball team who just a year ago was the Most Valuable Player in the Little Four Conference.
A year after graduating from high school, Marshall remains somewhat of hero to many in the Hoopa Valley, a standout on three varsity teams that advanced to the North Coast Section playoffs.
His community is important to him and he sees himself returning to Hoopa after completing his education, getting involved in some sort of youth or athletics-related activity. Perhaps even coaching.
He's a member of the Yurok Tribe, but he also can tell you stories of the Karoks and Hupas as well, saying the peoples of the valley have made a significant contribution to life in Northern California.
The natural way of life in the valley is based on the semi-annual king salmon runs that occur on the Trinity River. This summer, in fact, Marshall worked at a fishery in Orleans, helping measure creeks and pools for the purpose of determining how many steelhead salmon could be accommodated.
"The people, particularly the kids, admire and love him," says Inker McCovey, the basketball coach at Hoopa High. "He's always been a hard-working person, with a wonderful and caring family, and he is an example to all of us."
At 19, perhaps being "an example" is too much to expect from Marshall, a quiet and modest first-year college student. Family and friends, he says, are first, and getting the most out of every situation is important to him.
"I like it (at Redwoods)," said Marshall, "because I'm going to get a good education, it's close to home, I've got family and friends nearby, and I appreciate the interest (coach Trevor Hoppe) showed in me."
Of his own play, Marshall says he's not entirely pleased, "and I wish I could be doing more" for his teammates.
But Marshall, those who know him and have seen him, is doing fine.
"One thing about Jude," said Hoopa assistant coach Mike Hostler, "is that you're always going to get the best from him, whether it's in the classroom, on the basketball floor, out chopping wood with his dad."
His senior year at Hoopa was a made-for, one of those special experiences, culminating with the team's play in the NCS playoffs. The Warriors actually were an NCS playoff team in three of Marshall's four years, and appear well on their way there this year despite the absence of four regulars from last season's team.
His freshman year in college has been a bit different. He's a starter on a team that's won only two of 12 games in the Golden Valley Conference and is averaging about nine points per game. The Corsairs play their final home game Saturday against Butte.
"I love his demeanor, I love how he plays," said Hoppe, the first-year coach who made Marshall one of his prime recruits after replacing longtime coach Bill Treglown at the end of last season.
"Jude has a real feel for the game, he understands good shots, he understands positioning on the court, and he carries himself very confidently, though he's not the least bit cocky.
Hoopa's Schmidt Decides on Future
Mike Morrow - The Times-Standard
Lafayette, we are here. Well, not quite.
For Everest Schmidt, it'll be first things first. Like completing his current season with the Hoopa High boys basketball team. Then his studies at the school. Then graduation.
And then he can make his biggest step yet, to the campus of Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., where he will continue to pursue more of his dreams.
"I just connected with the people there," he says matter-of-factly about his decision, adding that being in a comfortable environment was important to him and would allow him to concentrate on his various activities.
Schmidt, of course, has been Mount Everest for the Warriors, helping them to the North Coast Section playoffs in each of the past two years and generating interest among four-year schools because of both his athletic and academic achievements.
More than 50 schools actually made personal contact with him, not to mention others that sent form letters and all the usual junk mail that's so much a part of collegiate recruiting.
"I talked to a lot of people, believe me," Schmidt said. "I made my official visit (to Lafayette) and knew that's where I wanted to be."
He'll join a Lafayette program on the rise (the Leopards are 16-5 under coach Fran O'Hanlon) and be a part of a history that is one of the most respected in the country.
Schmidt has maintained a 3.9 grade point average for three years now, is recipient of the California Scholastic Federation Life Membership, and was nominated as a National Honor Roll scholar.
As imposing as he is on the basketball court, it's apparent that Schmidt casts a large presence in the classroom, where he enjoys (yes, enjoys) mathematics, computer science and history.
Earlier in the week, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound Schmidt was nominated to play in the 2004 McDonald's High School All-America game. He is the first athlete from the Humboldt-Del Norte League to be nominated for the game, which will be played on March 31 in Oklahoma City.
The next steps, of course, are going to help decide the future of the Hoopa basketball team.
Beaten by St. Bernard's Thursday, the Warriors are 2-2 in the Little Four Conference (and 16-9 overall) with three games left to play.
An end-of-season playoff berth is not the guarantee it's been in the past for Hoopa, but Schmidt believes the team will get there.
"We lost four starters (off last season's team) and we knew there would be some real challenges," said Schmidt. "We have to start peaking, we have to win the rest of our games."
Of Schmidt, Hoopa assistant coach Mike Hostler said "he has a big upside and a future" in basketball.
"He has to learn to take a back drop and make that short jump shot. He'll get bigger and stronger, too," said Hostler, who spends his afternoon battling Schmidt during Hoopa practice sessions.
Ray Hamill, The Times-Standard
HOOPA -- As a warm February day transformed itself into a cool winter evening, a cloud of smoke hovered above the Hoopa Valley.
It was fed by the endless stream billowing out of chimneys dotted across the landscape. To any unassuming travelers passing along, the smoke may even have seemed somewhat appropriate, casting a shadow over what appears to be a depressed area.
There's no mansions to be found here, nor exclusive boutique stores of any kind, and if you blink or sneeze at an inopportune time, you may not even notice this small town, a town either too small or unnoticeable to warrant a roadside sign announcing its presence or population.
What you will see, however, even if you do pause to blink or sneeze, is a wealth of basketball hoops scattered throughout the area, in front of houses and schools, many of them in use throughout the afternoon hours.
To one side of Highway 96, which winds itself through the valley, there are the high school football and baseball fields, both empty and lacking in life, and in sharp contrast to the basketball hoops a little further up.
Those hoops are situated just in front of the school, to the highway side as if positioned by fate, with children there throughout the afternoon hours, posting up or boxing out or draining a 3.
And beyond that a sign outside the gymnasium, announcing the tip-off times of that night's high school boys game, a time and date few people in this area probably need to be reminded of.
"We're not a great big community up here, it's just that everybody loves basketball," head coach of the high school team Inker McCovey explained, " and everybody enjoys it."
Basketball is more than just a game at Hoopa High, it's a long-standing tradition throughout the entire valley, a tradition that has deep roots in the local American Indian population, one that was nourished by former coach Doug Oliviera in the early '90s, and one that has been raised to even loftier heights under the guidance of McCovey over the past seven years.
"It gives this community the feeling that we are really good at something," the coach said, "that we can be among the best teams in California."
When it comes to Division V basketball, a classification featuring schools with an enrollment of 350 or less, the Hoopa Valley Warriors are certainly among the best teams in California, and have been for some time.
In his seven years as head coach, McCovey's teams have been ranked in the top 10 in Division V by CalHiPrep sports in five of those seasons, including a No. 1 ranking in his first year in charge, before, as the coach put it, "we went through that flu, which kills every team."
The Warriors have also won five of the past six Humboldt-Del Norte League Little Four conference titles, twice made it as far as the NorCal championship, where the winner goes on to play for the state championship, and once even qualified for that.
Perhaps more telling is the fact that just about every other team at the high school has struggled considerably in recent years, but basketball continues to flourish in spite of that.
"Basketball is the only program that consistently wins from the time these kids are in the first grade to the time they're seniors, basketball keeps on winning," said assistant coach Mike Hostler, who has coached several different teams at the school over the past five years, including varsity football and baseball. "And you have kids growing up in this community saying 'I want to be a Warrior basketball player when I get older.'"
So what's the secret to Hoopa's success? How does this team remain successful year after year when every other school goes through the inevitable highs and lulls as good athletic classes come and go?
Perhaps something in that cloud of smoke blanketing the valley?
McCovey and Hostler, sitting side by side in the locker room before a big league game with arch rivals St. Bernard's, both smiled at the question as if not wanting to give too much away, then reflected and answered.
"Hard work, dedication," McCovey said. "When my practice starts at the beginning of the year, I tell my kids the only ones who will survive are the strong. When we practice, you won't stand still for a second for two hours. Everything we do is game situation all the time, and I tell my kids you have to work harder in practice than you do in games."
Hostler echoed the sentiment. "We've told them from the beginning that the easiest way to the top is through hard work," he said.
The tradition in the area, both coaches readily agree, has helped feed the winning teams, with the grade school, freshmen and junior varsity teams all preparing players for the varsity level.
"Basketball is probably the most popular and positive pastime in the area," said freshman coach Rob Kinney, who has seen two sons grow up playing the game in the area and for the high school teams. "The players develop at a young age. They start at fourth or fifth grade level and it shows."
The Warriors' success, however, probably even goes a little bit beyond that, and in addition to being well renowned for its success, Hoopa High is also well respected by coaches in the area and beyond for its style of play, a fast up-tempo game that puts up lots of points and delights fans in the bleachers.
And that's a style both McCovey and the Hoopa Valley is well accustomed to for more reasons than just the high school team.
"That's Native American basketball," said McCovey, who learned the style, he says, "playing 60 to 80 a games a year.
"The game is so up-tempo, and you don't pass 20 times before you take a shot." It's also a style, the coach feels, that challenges his players to be creative on the court, and one that's difficult to defend effectively when done right.
"I don't know who said it before, but it's like having five kids on the court being one in the same heartbeat," the coach said. "And you can let your kids have some freedom out there too. If you take away that freedom, you take away any thought of them being an athlete out there."
Or as Hostler describes it, you have to "visualize and believe" out on the court.
"Inker's philosophy about the offense is don't be one-dimensional," he said. "Don't just stand there and wait for the play to come to you. Be innovative, be three-dimensional out there."
The players themselves have responded, and at 18-6 on the season, the Warriors once again find themselves in contention for a league title, and have been ranked as high as No. 6 in the state among Division V schools.
"The lull could be over," one fan said, referring to last season when the Warriors finished second to St. Bernard's in conference play and suffered an uncommon early exit from the North Coast Section playoffs.
McCovey smiled at this description, before adding that "if 16-11 is a lull, it's a lull most teams would love."
And this season, McCovey fully expects to be back in the postseason battling for another NorCal appearance.
"Right now, I've seen the better teams in California, and I believe this team can go as far as these kids want to take themselves," he said. "If they stop believing in themselves, then that's as far as they'll go, but they believe they go back to the big show (the state championship game) in Arco."
Those high expectations haven't gone unnoticed by the players either. "We're not that big, but we make up for it with heart," said senior Jude Marshall. "And since last year, I think we've matured a lot."
"And we've got more determination," added teammate Everest Schmidt, a brother of former Stanford standout Tim Young, who played in the NCAA Division I Final Four.
"I like the attitude we bring to each other," said first-year varsity player Lewis Whipple, who just moved to the area last year, but says he had heard all about the Hoopa High basketball tradition while growing up in Covelo and Ukiah in Mendocino County. "We all support each other on the court, and we hand out together off the court and do things as a team."
That includes the long-time tradition of game-day meals at Laura's Kitchen, a restaurant across from the high school, where the players have their own table set aside.
Laura, herself, has long been one of the program's biggest fans, and the players admit they feed off that fanbase, as passionate as any on the North Coast.
"They're like our sixth man," Marshall said.
"And they travel with us everywhere," Schmidt said. "Even when we're away, we usually have a bigger crowd than the home team."
Both fans and players, naturally, hope there's still plenty more traveling to do before this season is out, with another possible lengthy playoff run on the horizon.
"We're not the most talented team, but have a lot of heart, and we play as hard as we possibly can, and we give 110 percent, and all of the kids playing on this team right now really love basketball," McCovey said. "There's chemistry there."
And Hostler also sees good things for this group before the season is out. "We're still climbing that mountain, going heading toward the peak," he said, "and once we get there, there'll be no stopping us."
PO Box 1348 ~ Hoopa, California 95546 ~ (530) 625.4211
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