High School Basketball Heats Up
If there is one high school basketball player in the Bay Area worth paying the admission price to see, it’s Archbishop Mitty’s Aaron Gordon. The silky smooth 6-foot-7 sophomore can play virtually any style and is already considered one of the best players in the country. If he can help the top-ranked Monarchs (24-2) get by Palo Alto in Tuesday’s division semifinal, Gordon and company will face the winner of Leigh and St. Francis at 8:30pm Friday at Santa Clara University. Last year, Gordon made several huge plays to help Mitty beat St. Francis 56-50 for a CCS championship.

Sharks Can’t Take Anything for Granted
Inaction around the trade deadline usually means one of two things: a general manager is comfortable, or he didn’t find anything enticing. In San Jose GM Doug Wilson’s case, it would seem to be the former option. No team in the NHL is hotter right now than the Sharks, winners of six straight entering Tuesday’s game. But the club’s six-game homestand at HP Pavilion won’t get any easier with a 7:30pm date Thursday with the Detroit Red Wings, followed by a Saturday matchup against the Dallas Stars. Currently third in the Western Conference, San Jose remains just a couple of poor results from falling into 10th place. As left winger and all-around badass Ryan Clowe said this week: “It feels like we won 10 games in a row and somehow we lost ground.” At one point will it become all right to make the comparison to a certain local team’s recent run to a tortuous title? OK, nevermind.

SJSU Hoops Finishing Strong, Baseball Heating Up
Storming the court has become about as clichd as coaches using mixed sports metaphors. But last week’s televised victory over New Mexico State was pretty special for the San Jose State men’s basketball team. With a 72-70 win in overtime, SJSU (15-12) showcased scorer extraordinaire Adrian Oliver, possibly saved coach George Nessman’s job and came one step closer to securing a winning final record for the first time since 1993. Beating Hawaii in the final home game at 7:30pm Thursday would lock up the positive ledger. But it’s not just the cagers who have been strong of late. SJSU baseball came out of the gates swinging by taking two out of three last week against No. 2ranked UCLA, putting the Spartans at 6-1. SJSU will be in action this weekend when it hosts two-of-three in a series with Santa Clara.

Stanford Can’t Stop
With a Pac 10 title, the No. 2ranked Stanford women’s basketball team could take it easy until tournament time. But the Cardinal didn’t nail down its 11th straight outright conference championship by hitting the snooze button. Motivation is rarely lacking for Stanford when it comes to any form of the Big Game, which will begin at 8pm Thursday when Cal comes to town. The contest isn’t expected to be competitive exactly—the Bears lost the first matchup by 33—but it might serve as another link in a historic chain of victories. Stanford broke a program record for wins in a row at Maples Pavilion Saturday by reaching 60 straight with a 39-point whipping of Oregon.