Sundevils suddenly super

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 10:19 a.m.

A midseason breakdown of first-round matchups if the playoffs started today:

SUNRISE REGION

Basic at Valley Rancho at Silverado Canyon Springs at Green Valley Coronado at Eldorado

REGION

Ridge at Bishop Gorman Western at Centennial Durango at Palo Verde Cheyenne at Bonanza

Teams barely breaking .500 aren't supposed to be at the top of the standings.

But there at 5-1 in the Northeast Division are Eldorado's boys, a team that came into conference play with a 3-7 record and now is three wins from clinching a playoff berth.

"After Christmas, after the Las Vegas tournament, we played as bad as I've ever had a team play," Sundevils coach Phil Olsen said.

Olsen openly acknowledges that his Eldorado squad isn't overloaded with talent, certainly nowhere near powerhouses Valley and Rancho in that Northeast. But, he said, the team has started to play together, using its chemistry as an advantage in this late-season run.

The play of junior guard Davell Jackson and senior forward Alfonzo McNeal has helped. Both have made big strides this year, with Jackson averaging 16 points a game and McNeal right behind at around 13.

Jackson said part of the problem at the start of the season was the difficulty of Eldorado's schedule.

That schedule included an opening-day matchup against Cheyenne, and nonconference games versus Centennial, Green Valley, Durango and Shadow Ridge.

"We played a lot of tough teams," Jackson said. "We learned we can't take any teams lightly; we've got to put up 40 minutes."

A three-year starter for the Sundevils, Jackson said between playing easy in parts of games and not having chemistry with teammates, the slow start against the tough competition was no surprise.

But then league play started, and Eldorado started winning.

Rancho came into its game at Eldorado looking like one of the top two teams in the Northeast, far better than the languishing Sundevils. But Eldorado came away with the 69-64 victory, and a four-team race in the Northeast Region suddenly had a new entrant and front-runner.

"I picked Eldorado to be a tough opponent along with Valley," Rancho coach Melvin Shivers said. "At that time I think everybody thought I was joking. They caught us on a night we weren't really prepared, coming out of the Christmas holiday. We kind of overlooked Eldorado."

Olsen, in his fourth year at Eldorado, said he gave his team new marching orders after the Christmas break.

"I told them, 'We tried to do it your way, and it's not working,' " he said. "I talked about coming together as a team, and they're starting to understand."

One focus for Olsen was ball distribution. He said in the first half of the year, his players would make maybe one pass before shooting the ball.

"Now they're passing the ball five times, getting guys down the court," he said.

With more careful shot selection, field goal percentages go up. And so does overall scoring.

Jackson's field goal percentage, for instance, is up 20 percent.

Olsen still doesn't think his team matches up talent-wise with other league rivals, but thinks the rest of his team's season is simply a toss-up.

"I told them 'You've got to be good in January, and at the end of January, you have to become great,' " he said. "I think any team could beat anybody. What it comes down to is who's playing good that night."