Having spent the past two weekends at Southridge and West Linn's tournaments, I'm already going out on a limb with some early observations and prognostications.

*Glen Lee of West Linn easily defeated Southridge's poohbah Michael Meek's in the "Head to Head Bracket Design Competition." Two weeks ago, by Saturday afternoon, folks were looking at the Southridge brackets in dazed confusion. Someone out at Aloha had ripped the bracket off the wall, laid it on the floor and was brushing on lemon juice and hitting it with a hair dryer. Jesuit brought in their on staff resident "Egyptologist" who specializes in sanskrit in hopes their interpretation of playing Molalla JV in the semi-final was incorrect.

Nowhere did the website offer the "Michael Meeks" secret decoder ring. Meanwhile, this weekend at West Linn, the brackets were like a "Dick and Jane' primary book. Still, I accidentally spit a mouth full of lukewarm coffee in some poor souls face on Saturday when he asked me "How's someone supposed to read this thing?" Oh, Lee also was much more skilled at meteorology skills while Meeks whiffed with the old 100 degree gym. Who'd a thunk you want to play at Aloha over Southridge? I did....I did.

*You have to take this 'OSAA Sanctioned Summer Season" with a grain of salt. Teams aren't at full strength due to conflicts is one reason. Another huge factor is some coaches are not going for wins but instead installing new offenses which can make good teams look bad. Also some coaches are playing the deeper half of their bench in hopes it will be dividends down the stretch next season when they need the depth. I've seen top teams in 6A keeping their bench stay put while their starters romp with huge leads. I've seen bad teams continue to get smoked with their starters sat while a coach continues to find someone to come up the depth chart as painful as it may be.

*The Metro will still be the toughest conference in the state next season as Southridge and Jesuit will be the one-two juggernaut in no particular order and Sunset and Beaverton will throttle nonleague opponents but fight for third. One injury can really shake-up the standings though. I like the depth at Southridge over Jesuit.

*It will be interesting to watch the Three Rivers League and if someone can knock Oregon City out of the saddle at last. Clackamas behind Jen Reese has the best shot. I find the 'knee injury' dilemma at OC an interesting factor. Will the 'revolutionary' new surgery that Ward and Knighton went through be a sound decision or come back to haunt the Pio's. With Grigg's now in a similar predictament reportedly, what path will they take? At this point, West Linn looks to have a slight edge for the #3 Seed over Lakeridge and Lake Oswego. Sitton continues to improve and moved away from the "gawky' stage of a few years ago. As for Lakeridge, I really like the way they scrap.

*South Eugene is in my Top Three and while I have some questions on OC, I think anyone can make a solid case for SE, Southridge or Jesuit as the top team. I'm a huge Olivia Robert's fan and Mackenzie Kerins was at half speed last season while coming back from injury. She won't look great until after Christmas as it seems to me these knee rebuilds take at the very least a full year for recovery time and sometimes two depending on the severity, before the girl looks like her old self.  The Southwest Conference is theirs but watch South Medford as a darkhorse. They had some really tough growing pains last year but nobody, not even Southridge, can bring in the beef at post like South Medford. 

*I was hoping to get a look at the 5A IMC teams over the past couple of weeks. It'll be my choice of the toughtest 'top to bottom' conference in 5A. Watched a very young Mountain View team in West Linn. They've got a hill to climb and may not be hot out of the gates in December but they seem to have the skill and talent to be competing later in the season. That said, I like Summit to win the conference given the return of Leuersen and Pierce. Crook County should have the horses to be right there and could grab the top seed if Wilcox has another huge ramp up in her game. Then I'm going to show my prejudice and take Madras. They are the one team I always take that has underperformed but it looks like they now have both the coaching and the talent to do some damage. Pendleton and Hermiston won't be pushovers and neither will Bend be. The Dalles-Wahtonka will struggle to stay out of the cellar has maybe the best point guard in the league in Nadia Telles. When you have the best PG, you have a stock that can easily outperform the analysts expectations.

*I'm always looking for 'neat' little snippets and found mine on Saturday at West Linn. The previous Sunday, David Douglas girls coach Bill Blevins was absent as the girls played becuase he'd rushed his wife to the hospital early Sunday morning. Saw him this past Saturday coaching the girls against McMinnville with a glow. Asked him if they'd had the baby and come to find out their son "Wyatt" had been born at 6am that Saturday morning. He said with the gaggle of Grandma's hovering happily about the new arrival and him being 'odd man out' in the situation, he couldn't wait to get back to being with 'the team.' The 'power of the happy aura' was in full effect and the Scots romped and rolled past McMinnville and Blevins had the traditional 'baby's dirty diaper eating grin."