After suffering through the first half of the hold-ball game that Lone Peak had yesterday - I decided to go to the Tacoma Dome and watch the 3A and 4A semifinal state high school basketball playoffs. Yes, they do have a 30-second shot clock.

It's always fun to go to the state basketball playoffs at the Tacoma Dome. They have games going all day - from 9am til 11pm - 3 days straight. This includes games to determine 1st thru 8th place for 3A and 4A. ( a side note - many times 3A basketball teams are just as good and sometimes better than 4A given that many of the 3A schools come from the inner cities of Tacoma and Seattle). Also during these 3 days the girls 3A and 4A championships are playing in the Tacoma Dome. They have 2 basketball courts the length of the Tacoma Daome - one for the men and one for the women with a big floor to ceiling curtain separating the two courts at the endlines between the two basketball standards. Here's the schedule: http://www.wiaa.com/ConDocs/Con1155/13-%203A-4A%20-%20state%20schedule.pdf

After watching several games on Friday - I saw several players that were D1 quality. My favorite though was a Jr. by the name of Tramaine Isabell who plays for Lakeside High School - the same high school that Bill Gates and Paul Allen went to. Tramaine is lightning fast. He has the best handle for the basketball that I think I have seen at the high school level. His crossover is just nasty. He looks to have a nice outside shot. He is 6'1" but very athletic. He can drive around and through anyone. He also has excellent court vision and is a nifty passer. Although he only averages 19 pts again - his influence on the game is bigger than that due to his ability to get other players involved. Here is a lengthy highlight film: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1191379/highlights/41984374

Lakeside is private school in Seattle and very elite. Tuition is $27,000 per year. Great academics as you can imagine. They do give scholarships based on need. The team that they played against was Lincoln from smack dab in the middle of inner-city Tacoma. For those that don't know - Tacoma has a very big black population. When I watched them warming up - the athleticism of Lincoln was clearly superior and I thought Lincoln would beat them. But I was wrong. Lincoln had no answer for Isabell. He was faster and quicker than any of the Lincoln players. Lakeside had a big, slow 7-foot white kid who was more of a presence on defense than offense. Lakeside also had some good complementary players - good shooters and a couple of other quick guards. But everything that Lincoln tried to do to Lakeside was negated by Isabell.

I know the bigger local schools UW, WSU, and Gonzaga are recruiting him. I've got to think that other national schools are recruiting him too. I think we will be hearing about him in the future.

Anyway - as many of you have enjoyed attending the Utah H.S. championships - I thought I would share my experience here in Washington.

By the way - the championship game is being played right now as I write this with Lakeside playing perennial power Rainier Beach. I wish I could see it, but don't have cable. It is on Root Sports Northwest. Tramaine will have his hands full as practically all the Rainier Beach players are just about as fast and athletic as he is.

One last point - after watching the games yesterday I still think Lone Peak would be all of them. LP is a fun team to watch.