TSB Television heads to the high school state quarterfinals

The following is a release from Community Hoops, but TSB Television will once again join forces to provide coverage of the entire high school state tournament bracket. We'll see you at Williams Arena and Target Center!

CommunityHoops.com has stepped up to the free throw line to bring everyone a chance to see the entire 2011 boys and girls state basketball tournament games on the internet! 

In concert with MSHSL, Grandstadium.tv, and KSTC45.com CommunityHoops.com owner Tony Geer has secured permission to record and webcast all 40 state quarterfinal games and 3rd place games that are normally not part of the broadcast schedule. 

These games will be recorded live, and within 24 hours, will then be placed on the prep45.kstc45.com and grandstadium.tv websites where fans can watch them for free for 1 week (normally an on demand game is $9.95). 

There will be several volunteers doing the production work for these games, even some of the folks that are regular contributors here on this message board. Tony has a few production spots still open but they are filling up fast. If you want to help out and play a part in this first ever type of media coverage for the tournaments please send him an e-mail. Talent@grandstadium.tv 

The week ahead: January 24th-31st

TSB Television will be bringing you a week filled with aura and nostalgia starting next Tuesday, when we offer a bonus game with Hill-Murray taking on Richfield in girls basketball with Classic Suburban Conference implications at stake. Then on Friday, January 28th, we visit Como Park for a St. Paul City Conference battle between Highland Park and Como Park in boys basketball. We wrap up the week with a special presentation on Sunday, January 30th at Williams Arena, as we televise the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher women's basketball alumni game for the first time! To coincide with going "back in the day," TSB Television will also roll back with a throwback design!

You can watch full broadcasts of the Hill-Murray/Richfield and Highland Park/Como Park games on GrandStadium.tv as they're posted to the site, and we'll post the Gopher women's basketball alumni game in its entirety here! DVD copies of all three games will also be available.

Stay tuned for further updates from TSB Television as we continue broadcasting the 2010-11 basketball season. And as always, contact us at thesportsbrain@gmail.com to sponsor a production or have your event televised.

2009-10 season recap

I apologize for not keeping up with this blog more often. This season turned out to be my busiest not just on the basketball side, but with other projects that involved sports or other topics.

Finishing up coverage at Target Center last night, this was the first time where I was actually comfortable reporting finals coverage. Last year, I was wondering what my future would hold thanks to The Great Recession and the ugly departure from Keystone Productions. My first go-round in 2008 was tricky as I was overwhelmed by the aura of being at Target Center at a young stage in my reporting career. I sent a tape and got feedback from a producer at KSTC channel 45, who broadcasts the state tournaments annually, and since then, my skills and confidence in my play-by-play duties have exploded. I'm officially at the point where I'm ready to have my ego bruised.

That didn't mean this season went without a hitch. As usual, schedules changed and other curveballs tried to thwart our coverage, but we ended up televising more games than previous seasons (11 high school games, 1 community college game, 1 semi-pro game). I did accomplish my goal of covering more teams this year. Expanding was almost a necessity with the lack of superstars for girls basketball this year. The YouTube ratings reflected the lack of big names. My most-watched game of the season was the first high school game we televised: Rosemount vs. Centennial, neither of them even close to making state this year.

I'm not sure what will happen in the season to come as user-generated content continues to expand and change the game of high school basketball. There's not even a guarantee I'll be able to cover the high school circuit as extensively for 2010-2011. Graduating from the U of M and not having a daily ritual to follow makes the future even more unpredictable.

With that said, it's hard to really set goals for next season because I won't know where my broadcasting career will go next. I have better knowledge of protocol, but I am concerned the pool of teams may not be so large.

In any case, my focus will shift to the Lynx and Howard Pulley leagues for the moment and securing the 2010 All-Star series at Macalester College. Thanks for sticking with us! The ride is always exciting!

Scheduling changes

As you might have guessed, this season has been very busy and not going as scheduled, but the coverage hasn't waned.

I can tell you that the Osseo vs. Centennial game this Friday will not be broadcast; people I spoke with to clear the game apparently didn't remember the conversations I had with them before the season began. An indicator that I need to show a little more diligence in following conversations when I announce a season-long schedule.

However, I will be calling a game this weekend. Community Hoops is lending a hand and giving me the chance to call the M.C.T.C./Anoka-Ramsey women's basketball game this Saturday afternoon. Broderick Bell will take a breather from his coaching job at Humboldt to join me.

Next week's game has also changed from DeLaSalle/Cretin to Mahtomedi/Richfield for boys basketball. Not as much prestige on paper, but basketball fans know that works-on-paper calculations aren't a reliable indicator with two evenly-matched teams.

Depending on the St. Paul City Conference race, I may do something for the Central/Humboldt match at Humboldt; the winner of that game will likely play the next day to take on the Minneapolis champion, in a race that has also yet to be decided.

More updates to come.

Mark your calendars!

We're less than two weeks away from the start of high school basketball coverage with Ty Video Productions. 15 games are scheduled for telecast this season on Metro Cable Network from late November through early March. Look for all our games online and on TV starting in December. Match-ups are listed below with pregame summary.

Saturday, November 28th (girls)
Pat Paterson Thanksgiving Tournament @ Hamline University
Bracket A Championship - Rosemount/St. Paul Central vs. Highland Park/Centennial, 10:45 a.m.
Bracket B Championship - White Bear Lake/Minneapolis North vs. Lakeville North/Osseo, 2:15 p.m.

Last year's AAAA runner-up will be one of the stronger teams to start the season, followed by a deep Lakeville North team led by Wisconsin recruit Cassie Rochel, provided those two win their respective first-round games. South Dakota State recruit Megan Waytashek and junior Kahla Becken are key returning players for Centennial. Central will be in rebuilding mode this year, but they do have head coach Willie Taylor, who carries a 262-51 overall record in his head coaching career with the Minutemen.

Saturday, December 5th (girls)
Breakdown Tip-Off Classic @ Hopkins, Lindbergh Center
DeLaSalle vs. St. Paul Central, 11:45 a.m.
followed by
Bloomington Kennedy vs. Minnehaha Academy, 3:45 p.m.
OR
Lakeville North vs. Minneapolis Roosevelt, 5:30 p.m.

The second game will depend on the results of the Pat Paterson tournament. Faith Johnson Patterson moves to the island along with some of her players that got her a 2nd place finish with Minneapolis North in the class AAA state tournament last season. No doubt they will be a contender, looking to erase years of big-game futility under former head coach Brian Frye.

Saturday, December 12th (boys)
Buffalo vs. St. Cloud Apollo @ St. Cloud State, 7:00 p.m.
Our first boys game of the season. Both teams finished in the top 10 in class AAA last season. This may not be the only these two teams fight in 2009-10.

Thursday, December 17th (boys)
Monticello vs. Elk River @ Elk River, 7:00 p.m.
Another top 10 team in AAA last season (Monticello) against a school that plays well with the Magic.

Friday, January 8th (boys)
St. Paul Johnson vs. St. Paul Central @ Central, 7:00 p.m.
Top two teams in the St. Paul City Conference last season play the first of two games. Johnson usually fields teams in the AAA boys state tournament and Central is no slouch either.

Tuesday, January 12th (boys)
Minneapolis North vs. Minneapolis Washburn @ Washburn, 7:00 p.m.
We head to the west side of the river to cover yet another top 10 team last season in AAA (Washburn) facing a school with a rich history behind its back.

Tuesday, January 19th (girls)
Eden Prairie vs. Chaska @ Chaska, 7:15 p.m.
OR
DeLaSalle vs. Minnehaha Academy @ Minnehaha, 5:45 p.m.

This girls date will also depend on the Pat Paterson tournament and how the teams fair in the early leg of the season. Eden Prairie reached the AAAA semifinals last season before falling to Centennial.

Tuesday, January 26th (girls)
Robbinsdale Armstrong vs. Minneapolis South @ South, 7:00 p.m.
The 2009 AAAA state champions in girls basketball will have to defend against a team upset by Minneapolis Southwest in last year's section playoffs. South is the preseason favorite to win the Minneapolis City Conference, but expect a wide open race for some time. This will be Armstrong's final year in the Classic Lake before that conference is dissolved.

Friday, February 5th (girls)
Lakeville North vs. Chaska @ Chaska, 7:15 p.m.
Two solid Lake Conference programs for girls basketball. The Panthers were ranked 4th in class AAAA in 2009 while the Hawks were #5. The matchup between Rochel and Tisch will be key.

Friday, February 12th (girls)
Osseo vs. Centennial @ Centennial, 7:00 p.m.
We move to the Northwest Suburban Conference for this girls game. Osseo has played stubborn against Centennial before, delivering the biggest upset in 2008 by knocking the Cougars out in the section final and giving them two competitive games last year under new head coach Joey Waters.

Saturday, February 20th (boys)
DeLaSalle vs. Cretin-Derham Hall @ Cretin, 5:00 p.m.
Both teams were unranked last season, but the Raiders import several top football players who also show court skills. DeLaSalle produces high-level talent as well.

Saturday, February 27th (girls)
Twin Cities girls championship @ St. Paul, 1:30 p.m.
I wish I could tell you who will play against each other here, but parity will be much higher to start the season as both conferences lost a lot of talent to graduation. Minneapolis and St. Paul will be weaker, as will most of the state. Whoever plays here will likely be the result of good coaching versus pure talent.

Saturday, March 6th (boys)
Twin Cities boys championship, 1:30 p.m. (site TBD)
The talent on the boys side hasn't dropped, and fans will get a good game with the boys conference winners.

Sponsorship information will be posted tomorrow.

The Sports Brain returns...and so will the hoops.

About six months ago, I wasn't sure if I would continue covering basketball as my old producer and I parted ways and I lacked support to go forward. This was also the reasoning behind my lack of participation on this site. After covering two football games in October and holding a few chats with my new producer at Ty Video Productions, that concern is no more. I'll be returning to televise the 2009-2010 basketball season.

There will be two big changes this season. Given the whirlwind taking place on the girls side for 2009-2010, we'll be expanding to the boys side for the first time this season. We won't be abandoning coverage of girls basketball altogether, we're just leveling the playing field in terms of coverage.

Change #2 is where the games will be broadcast. We'll still broadcast on SPNN for cable viewers in the St. Paul area, but we'll be expanding in that area too. My producer worked a deal to broadcast games on the Metro Cable Network (channel 6), whose range includes the entire Twin Cities metro area. You don't need to be in St. Paul or wait for the online broadcast to watch your favorite teams in action if you live somewhere else in the metro region.

A TV schedule will be posted when it's finalized. Expect us to televise some major events, but it's the single games that will be more challenging to pencil in.

2008-09 TV schedule

I've connected with several coaches and conferred with a few analysts to develop the 2008-09 high school girls basketball TV schedule. My schedule lightens up next semester with one less class, so my afternoons and evenings will be generally free.

All games will be uploaded to YouTube, although the delay between the game date and broadcast date will vary as I will be editing all these games. As I mentioned earlier, I will be following NBC's Sunday Night Football "Flex pick" model, so all games are subject to change. I'll provide updates if they do. Reasons may include current status of the teams playing (there isn't a lot of parity within many conferences in our coverage area), and funding (if we get a sponsored game versus a non-sponsored one. This stuff isn't free to produce). I also included reasons for the games I selected below.

If you or an organization you work for would like to sponsor any of these games, send an e-mail to sportsbrain2005@aol.com and I will connect you with my co-worker, who takes care of sponsorships. I linked a recent game I televised to give you an idea of how I would acknowledge your contributions.

Sponsorship recognition

Saturday, Nov. 29th
Pat Paterson Tournament - Hamline University
The first tournament may produce a potential Central/Centennial match followed by South/Hopkins as they begin their journey for a state title. Central's never won three in a row, by the way. The teams that won their brackets last year were knocked out in the section finals, so an early win may not be a good omen.

Tuesday, Dec. 16th
Cretin-Derham Hall vs. St. Paul Central - Central High School, 7:00 p.m.
This is usually Central's barometer game; what they use here may be a model for the rest of the season.

Friday, Dec. 19th
Hopkins vs. Minneapolis Roosevelt - Roosevelt High School, 7:00 p.m.
I'm on winter break here, which frees my schedule up. This could be Shakila Boler's first game back from an MCL/ACL injury she suffered this summer and the first opportunity to see Roosevelt at full strength.

Wednesday, Dec. 31st
Dick's Sporting Goods Holiday Classic, Championship Game - Lindbergh Center, Hopkins, 6:00 p.m.
Decision may depend on the final two teams, but the bracket features four of last year's class AAAA state tournament participants (Central, Eastview, Osseo, South) and host Hopkins. The most anticipated tournament in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Saturday, Jan. 10th
Jordan vs. Minneapolis South - South High School, 1:00 p.m.
Jordan makes their first of two Minneapolis visits, bringing returning stars Brittany Chambers and Leah Dietel to face you know who.

Tuesday, Jan. 13th
Johnson vs. St. Paul Central - Central High School, 7:00 p.m.
This may be Johnson's best chance to pull off an upset against the St. Paul City Conference favorite. Central is still ranked, but considerably weaker in the proven talent department.

Monday, Feb. 2nd
Jordan vs. Minneapolis Roosevelt - Roosevelt High School, 7:00 p.m.
Chambers and Dietel vs. Boler and Maguirre. Jordan's second visit to Minneapolis. Roosevelt plans to debut their alternate uniforms at this game, but more importantly, it could be a preview of the class AA, section four final. Jordan beat Roosevelt to qualify for last year's state tournament.

Friday, Feb. 6th
(Doubleheader) St. Paul Academy vs. Mounds Park Academy - Lansing Sports Center, Mounds Park Academy, 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Two Tri-Metro rivals in a girls/boys doubleheader. The S.P.A. girls team features the O'Brien sisters and Niambi Mitchell, while the boys rivalry is usually close. If this doesn't work out, the date below would be a makeup.

Saturday, Feb. 14th or Tuesday, Feb. 17th
Minnehaha Academy vs. DeLaSalle, 6:00 p.m. OR Minneapolis Roosevelt vs. Minneapolis South, 7:00 p.m.
Either a snapshot of the Tri-Metro's premiere teams before the state tournament, where DeLaSalle beat Minnehaha Academy in last year's AAA semifinal, or a potential battle between Roosevelt and South for the Minneapolis City Conference title and right to the Twin Cities game

Saturday, Feb. 28th
Twin Cities Championship - Minneapolis site
The last tune-up opportunity before playoffs begin

Flashback: Kiara Buford profile

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here's an article I wrote for my news reporting class last year on Kiara Buford, before she started her senior season at Central. How time flies...

The high school girls basketball season has yet to start, but the University of Minnesota is already banking on a top player who has yet to complete her senior year.

Kiara Buford, 18, has played in the state tournament every year for Central High School in St. Paul and can play at the point guard, shooting guard and post positions. She was a contributing factor for last year’s Central girls basketball team that won the class AAAA state championship while setting an all-time record for most wins in a single season, finishing with a 32-0 record.

While Buford averaged only 12.3 points per game last season, down from 20.8 points per game in her sophomore season, people close to her said her skills outweigh the numbers.

“She can be as good as any player in the country at her position,” said Willie Taylor, head coach of the Central girls basketball team.

“She can dribble down the court and score. She’s also really good at being part of a team,” said Megan Howard, Buford’s teammate since eighth grade.

The University of Minnesota appears to agree with those remarks. Buford signed her letter of intent to play for the women’s basketball team Wednesday and verbally committed to play as a Golden Gopher her junior year.

“It’s close to home and I can play for the people that I grew up playing for,” Buford said.
Buford is also excited that she will don the maroon and gold with former Central teammate Ashley Ellis-Milan, as Buford said both she and Ellis-Milan are good friends.

Buford will be the third Central graduate in the school’s history to play at Minnesota, a list that features Monica Brown and Ellis-Milan.

Taylor is thrilled that Buford will be playing close to her high school.

“I can tell people ‘You know what, look at all the Central players at the U,’” Taylor said.

Her parents and extended relatives are also happy; they come to watch Buford play almost every game.
“She’s always been a leader. Just to see her grow so much in that role and really work hard to push herself is amazing, both on the court and academically,” said Tracy Buford, her mother.

Tracy can speak from more than a parent’s perspective; she played high school basketball at Highland Park Senior High School in St. Paul and continued at Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa.

“Everything that she has been able to accomplish just gives me so much pride to watch her play,” Tracy Buford said.

As Buford continues to cement her status as one of Minnesota’s top high school players, she said that basketball has taught her other things that she can apply to her life outside the sport.

Beyond motivation for school, Buford said that basketball has helped her with communication and her social interaction with people outside the Central basketball team, assets that prove valuable when she is working at Old Country Buffet in Roseville.

Buford has two more reasons to serve as motivation, a 12-year-old brother and a 7-year-old sister. Tracy Buford said both of Buford’s siblings watch everything that she does.

“(Buford) is very mature for her age and she’s very responsible,” Tracy Buford said, “She has done a great job teaching them how hard she’s had to work to get to where she is,”

That hard work paid off on the court throughout last season.

Central’s roster featured four high-caliber players who transferred from other St. Paul schools, adding talent to a team that included Buford and Howard, who were not transfer students. With all that talent, Central consistently won by large margins, including an 18-point victory in the state championship game. Central’s dominance sparked criticism that the team did not win the state title legitimately.

Their undefeated season was also speculated to be the trigger in a rule enacted by the Minnesota State High School League in March, making transfer students ineligible to participate in any league-sanctioned varsity activities for one year.

The media scrutiny helped bring the team together and had little impact on the team’s effort to win a state title.

“You got to play as a team and know what it takes to win,” Buford said about her experience from the tournament.

“The media are going to say stuff, but you can’t really listen to them,” Howard said.

As Buford gears for her senior season and a run for back-to-back state championships, Taylor said that she will have to take a role as a player and coach with a bench that is not as deep as last season.

Buford hopes to continue her winning ways at Central as preparation for her collegiate career.

“My goals are to make it back to the state tournament and take a leadership role, since I’m a senior,” she said.

Leader or not, Buford will have plenty of fans supporting her next year.

“I’ll definitely be cheering her on,” Howard said.

Should Central qualify for the state tournament this season, Buford, along with Howard and Cyonna West, would become the only Central players to play in the state tournament in all four years of high school.

"All Shook Up"

This article was written for an assignment in my magazine writing class. However, since I feel stories shouldn't go to waste, I will post the graded versions of this and a profile of Theairra Taylor to the site. The articles will appear in a different font than my regular posts.

Photo: Boler suited up during her playing days at Bloomington-Kennedy.

Shakila Boler is on the fast track to help her new team do big things this year, but her team will have to wait a while.

Shakila Boler is hoping to make history this season, but it has nothing to do with performance yet.

The Minneapolis Roosevelt guard tore her ACL and MCL this summer, an injury that normally forces players to sit out a year to heal. Boler is going through an intense rehab program to buck that trend.

"Doctors are saying that she will be ready in January to start playing," says coach Tim Williams. "She's way ahead of schedule."

Boler averaged 16.2 points per game last year with former school Bloomington-Kennedy. Although she will miss the first half of this season, Boler will add experience and shooting skills to a strengthening Roosevelt team.

With or without her, Williams says his team is ready to take on the toughest foe in the Minneapolis City Conference.

"We will be a great team and compete for the conference championship with South," he says.

When Boler returns to the court, Williams will look to shake up South's dominance in the conference and bring his team to the class AA state tournament, something he has never done as coach.

"With her, we will have four solid guards that could start on any team all on one team, and that means serious matchup problems for opponents," Williams says.

Additional graphics

Here are more of the redesigned graphics for the upcoming season. One feature I hope to add this year is an in-game box score that better details who is providing the points for both teams, versus the leading scorers, where the top three are listed. If I can get a statistician, I'd like to add additional information on screen.

Graphics preview

The snapshots below are the new graphics I will use for the 2008-09 season. I took the graphics shown on this year's Olympics (Not NBC's red and gold design) and modified a few things. To compare them with last year's graphics package, visit my YouTube page where every game I televised from the 2007-08 season can be found. I'll show the others later, but feel free to comment.