BOULDER — One paces like a foot-stomping lion short on patience and long on caffeine. The other sits low, one fist and a bunch of bronze shy of becoming the statue of the Thinking Man.
Each is brimming with a wealth of basketball knowledge. Both are intensely passionate about the game, their schools and their players.
East coach Rudy Carey and ThunderRidge coach Joe Ortiz have combined for more than 800 victories, 10 state championships (three at each other’s expense), enough memorable showdowns to fill a movie and enough star players to field a league of all-star teams.
Saturday night at the Coors Events Center was just another chapter in a matchup of arguably the state’s best coaches and top programs in Class 5A boys basketball.
The championship rubber match needed overtime as East pulled out a wild 62-59 victory to earn Carey his eighth state title, second best in boys state history. It was by far the best installment of the city vs. suburbia rivalry and one of the better big-school finals in a very long time.
“It’s a war every time,” Carey said after raising his career record to 598-138. “I told Joe I’m tired of seeing him. He makes you work too hard.”
Colorado prep basketball fans never want these matchups to end.
Carey harnesses the athleticism of his teams and pushes a furious pace of full-court pressure and scoring. Ortiz wants players to fill a role, concentrate on quality shots and a deliberate tempo.
Against each other the Angels are forced to match the Grizzlies’ “basketball IQ,” Carey said. For the Grizzlies, the onus is on them to withstand the pressure, hold on to the ball.
“Rudy’s an icon. He’s a legend,” said Ortiz, who has a 204-43 career record. “I’ve always had so much respect for him.”
And the respect goes both ways.
“He’s probably as good a coach as I’ve ever coached against at the high school level,” said Carey, who has coached more than 30 seasons. “They’re always prepared and they’ll do what they have to do.”
The chess match has its roots in 1987, when Carey, then coaching at Manual, was in his first state championship game as a coach. Opposite him was Littleton legend Ron Vlasin and his young assistant coach and former player Ortiz, who had recently graduated from Colorado State, where he was the student assistant for four years with the basketball team.
Littleton won that game and Vlasin would go on to finish his prep career with 546 victories and a state-best 10 state championships. Carey would lead Manual to three more finals before taking over at East in 1994. At East, he has guided the Angels to six more title games. He is 8-2 in the championship.
Chucky Sproling, Johnnie Reece, J.B. Bickerstaff and Sean Ogirri are just some of the stars who burst onto the prep scene for Carey and went on to play college basketball.
After 10 years as Vlasin’s assistant, Ortiz was handed the keys at new ThunderRidge in Highlands Ranch. Ortiz guided the Grizzlies to the state quarterfinals in their first two seasons before four consecutive appearances in the finals, with titles in 2002 and 2003, the latter game against East.
Matt Bouldin, Ryan Richardson, Jesse Nading and Zach Tiedgen have typified the Grizzlies’ standouts.
Richardson played club ball for Carey but graduated from ThunderRidge before going on to MIT, where he earned a degree in finance and played two years of basketball. The basketball, Richardson said, was a step down after growing up with Carey and Ortiz.
Comparing the two to students, Richardson said Ortiz is the guy studying everything about the subject while Carey is the guy that doesn’t appear to be listening until he wows you with his response.
“These two programs have really separated themselves from the rest of the state,” said Richardson, an assistant coach for the Grizzlies’ freshman team. “I think it’s got nothing to do with the players coming in, and I think it’s got almost everything to do with the guys at the top.”
Heads of the class
A look at the state championship history of the two coaches in Saturday’s Class 5A title game.
Rudy Carey (Manual and East)
598-138 career (8-2 in state finals)
1987: Littleton 65, Manual 60
1988: Manual 69, Littleton 67
1990: Manual 69, Overland 64
1991: Manual 61, Montbello 60
1996: East 85, Chatfield 80 (OT)
1999: East 74, Hinkley 51
2003: ThunderRidge 63, East 50
2004: East 64, ThunderRidge 56
2007: East 60, Aurora Central 41
2008: East 62, ThunderRidge 59 (OT)
Joe Ortiz (ThunderRidge)
204-43 (2-3)
2002: ThunderRidge 55, Wheat Ridge 43
2003: ThunderRidge 63, East 50
2004: East 64, ThunderRidge 56
2005: Heritage 54, ThunderRidge 46
2008: East 62, ThunderRidge 59 (OT)
