Region 2A Tournament

[olerockyrebel]

Oliver Springs at Harriman

 

Rockwood at Wartburg

 

Coalfield at Grace

 

Midway at Sunbright

 

 

Harriman and Sunbright seem to be the 2 hottest teams right now. This should be an excellent tournament! Wartburg definitely looks to have the toughest road having to face Rockwood in the first round, then probably facing Harriman in the semis will be a tough stretch!

[coachjeffers]

Wow!!! So much for a Wartburg vs. Grace Semi- Final. The Region Tournament should be interesting just the same. Coach K gets a third shot at the chess board against Wartburg, Grace hosts a dangerous Coalfield team that can put a lot of points on the board if you don't defend well (especially if you don't rebound hard on the defensive end), Midway visits Sunbright, and Oliver Springs goes to Harriman.

 

My predictions in the first rounds are somewhat boring because I believe the 1s and 2s hold serve, but there will be a couple of close calls. I think Midway will keep it close against Sunbright, but the Tigers pull away late by 8. Harriman over OS by 21. Too much X and on their court. Grace will get Coalfield, but only by 5 and in a nail biter really late at the foul line. And even though I think they will lead through the first 3 quarters, I believe Rockwood will get overpowered by a strong Wartburg team and lose by 4. We'll see. I also thought Oneida would beat Oliver Springs 15 in the district tournament opener. LOL!!!

 

What do Ya'll think?

[olerockyrebel]

Wow!!! So much for a Wartburg vs. Grace Semi- Final. The Region Tournament should be interesting just the same. Coach K gets a third shot at the chess board against Wartburg, Grace hosts a dangerous Coalfield team that can put a lot of points on the board if you don't defend well (especially if you don't rebound hard on the defensive end), Midway visits Sunbright, and Oliver Springs goes to Harriman.

 

My predictions in the first rounds are somewhat boring because I believe the 1s and 2s hold serve, but there will be a couple of close calls. I think Midway will keep it close against Sunbright, but the Tigers pull away late by 8. Harriman over OS by 21. Too much X and on their court. Grace will get Coalfield, but only by 5 and in a nail biter really late at the foul line. And even though I think they will lead through the first 3 quarters, I believe Rockwood will get overpowered by a strong Wartburg team and lose by 4. We'll see. I also thought Oneida would beat Oliver Springs 15 in the district tournament opener. LOL!!!

 

What do Ya'll think?

No doubt, I think Wartburg is still the best team in the region tournament. Do I think they're playing the best right now? No! I think the hottest team going into this region tournament has to be Harriman, and not just because i pull for them either. The fact is they shot at 50 percent or above for the district tournament and played the best defense i've saw. They also held Grace's best shooter and probably the best in the district in Trey Jeffers to where he had maybe 5 points!

 

I think Rockwood is more than capable of beating Wartburg, they've had them on the ropes twice already and they've let it slip away. Coach K is outstanding and I might be wrong but I find it hard to see him getting swept by Wartburg when he's been this close both times! I'll go with Rockwood for the upset!! At least that's what i'm hoping for anyways!

 

Coalfield at Grace should be interesting. Whoever wins that, I won't be surprised! Coalfield does a great job on the boards and can play tough defense (really tight Defense is what led Harriman to blow Grace out!). So I think if Coalfield can put it all together for 32 minutes then they have a legitimate chance of knocking off the Rams on their own court! I think advantage still goes to Grace and their shooters with it being at their place.

 

Midway at Sunbright, I've watched both teams several times this season. I have the upmost respect for Sunbright. A small town school doing big things! I'm not taking anything away from them when I say this BUT, from the times i've saw them they just haven't looked like a WOW team. I watched them beat a Harriman team by 11 in one of Harriman's worst games i've saw them play. No excuses they beat Harriman, but it makes me wonder how they will fare if MIdway, a team similiar to Harriman is on their A game! I could just be wishing this but I get the strong feeling Midway will come to play with this being one loss and done now. My pick is Midway!

 

Despite my picks I think we'll more likely see the semi-final like this:

 

Harriman vs Wartburg

 

Grace vs Midway

[coachjeffers]

Hey olerockyrebel, tell me about the Harriman/Oliver Springs game. The score was a shocker. It probably shouldn't have been after what the Bobcats did to my Indians in the district tournament, but I really thought the way the Blue Devils were playing spelled a blow-out.

 

While the scores may not have gone as predicted, I did get the winners correct. Not too difficult in that round. LOL! What about the semi's. Even though it's on their home floor and Wartburg isn't playing their best ball right now, I still think they have too much for Harriman. It's gonna be close, though. I believe Xavier will make sure of that. A Harriman win won't shock me, but I think it will be Wartburg by 5. The other semi-final is a little harder for me to pick. I'm sure Grace is happy they have avoided Wartburg, but they are going to have their hands full with the Tigers. All season Gunter and Seabolt have anchored Sunbright's charge and they have put together one of the best campaigns a Tiger squad has ever had. But they say they aren't finished and want their first trip to the state. That requires a win against Grace to keep that goal/dream alive. Anytime someone has said Sunbright can't or won't do something, they have proved them wrong. With that said, I won't bet against them, Sunbright by 3.

 

Well, I know olerocky and others disagree, and maybe a few agree, let's hear from you.

[ThrillaNvanilla]

I agree. I think Grace will get a wake up call, tigers will be very physical. Grace can't play rough, every body who beats them just plays too tough. Grace is soft. Wartburg and harriman will be up and down the floor, harriman is playing well which is what ya want, but Wartburg has too much talent, and been here before, alot and often. Experience and talent tough combo together.( would not be suprised is X man has wild game, him and fountain be scoring battle. Fountain has more help though as far as team play goes. Should be exciting. !!

[OLDSCHOOL44]

If wartburg can play like they did saturday look out they had rockwood down 45-20 at one point went on a 40-16 run I hope the district champ. game has showed this team what can happen they call it March madness for a reason

[olerockyrebel]

Coach Jeffers- The Harriman/OS game was pretty good! Harriman got up big and played alot of their bench down the stretch and didn't play well and it allowed OS to catch back up! It wasn't as close as the score shown BUT managing the game has got to be better against Wartburg!!!

 

ThrillaNvanilla- While I think your spot on, I think the experience at this point in the season is about equal.. This is the third time in the past four years these seniors have been in this position have been very successful! The Fountain vs X Man show should be one to watch! IF Harriman plays anything like they played against Grace then Wartburg might be in for it, but if Harriman can't put together their best ball then i believe Wartburg advances again to the region championship! History is on Harriman's side in this game but we shall see how the present plays out tomorrow!!!!!

 

GO HARRIMAN!!!!!!!

[Cookevegas3]

Were you at the game? Oliver Springs led after the first quarter 11 to 5. Were up 13 to 5 before turnovers cost them the lead. Harriman won the 2nd and 3rd quarters to take a 15 point lead after 3. Then the Bobcats came storming back, against the same players Harriman played in the first half-not the bench, and made it a great finish. Harriman has trouble securing victory by being sloppy with ball, taking quick shots, and getting technicals late in games. They were lucky to win that game! Both teams turned it over, i think about 24 times each. OS grabbed more offensive boards, credit Harriman for making 1 more play better than OS. Because that is how close that game was!

 

[coachjeffers]

Wow! Nice synopsis CookeVegas. I spoke to a reporter tonight at the girls semi-finals games at Harriman and his notes indicated almost verbatim what you said. He said OS played more like they did against Oneida in the District Tournament and it almost put them in the semi-finals of the region. Unbelievable! I really expected Harriman to "man-handle" the Bobcats. But, kudos to the Cats.

 

Tomorrow night is shaping up to be a great night of basketball. I think Sunbright and Grace play first at 6:00 followed by Harriman and Wartburg at 7:30. If things work well, we should get finished just in time to get home and watch Tennessee beat Florida on ESPN. As for our little region.... I am going to stick with my earlier picks; Wartburg over Harriman and Sunbright over Grace. I think Sunbright has to play physical, but stay out of major foul trouble. If they can win the rebound war and keep a "hand in the face" of the Grace shooters, then I believe the Tigers will be playing for a Region Championship on Thursday night. As for Wartburg and Harriman, Coach Lane has been there and done that and knows a whole lot better than I as to what should be done to get to the C-ship. Having said that, I don't think you can out-physical or out-think Xavier. I really think the key to beating Harriman is through their role players, i.e. everyone after X. If you stop everyone else you should be able to out score the Devils. At least it worked for Oneida when they played. The Dawgs have too much talent for Harriman to try and stop and come back and have enough left to get it done on the other end. Fountain and Langley are two of the best players in District 4 (probably #1 and #3, Gunter being #2) and it's hard to do much against just those two, but they have good role players that can score and rebound. Obviously, they aren't unbeatable, but they are awfully tough. As much as I would like to see X keep playing in high school, I think tomorrow night will the end of a great Blue Devil career.

 

Good Luck to all the teams and may God be with each player keeping you from injury and helping you play up to your very best ability.

[olerockyrebel]

Were you at the game? Oliver Springs led after the first quarter 11 to 5. Were up 13 to 5 before turnovers cost them the lead. Harriman won the 2nd and 3rd quarters to take a 15 point lead after 3. Then the Bobcats came storming back, against the same players Harriman played in the first half-not the bench, and made it a great finish. Harriman has trouble securing victory by being sloppy with ball, taking quick shots, and getting technicals late in games. They were lucky to win that game! Both teams turned it over, i think about 24 times each. OS grabbed more offensive boards, credit Harriman for making 1 more play better than OS. Because that is how close that game was!

I was out of town and going on what some people told me that were there. I do know Harriman led after the first quarter and most of the second half, that's coming from our AD. Hopefully that will be a bump and they'll regain that fire they had in the district tournament and take it to Wartburg tonight!!!

[olerockyrebel]

Wow! Nice synopsis CookeVegas. I spoke to a reporter tonight at the girls semi-finals games at Harriman and his notes indicated almost verbatim what you said. He said OS played more like they did against Oneida in the District Tournament and it almost put them in the semi-finals of the region. Unbelievable! I really expected Harriman to "man-handle" the Bobcats. But, kudos to the Cats.

 

Tomorrow night is shaping up to be a great night of basketball. I think Sunbright and Grace play first at 6:00 followed by Harriman and Wartburg at 7:30. If things work well, we should get finished just in time to get home and watch Tennessee beat Florida on ESPN. As for our little region.... I am going to stick with my earlier picks; Wartburg over Harriman and Sunbright over Grace. I think Sunbright has to play physical, but stay out of major foul trouble. If they can win the rebound war and keep a "hand in the face" of the Grace shooters, then I believe the Tigers will be playing for a Region Championship on Thursday night. As for Wartburg and Harriman, Coach Lane has been there and done that and knows a whole lot better than I as to what should be done to get to the C-ship. Having said that, I don't think you can out-physical or out-think Xavier. I really think the key to beating Harriman is through their role players, i.e. everyone after X. If you stop everyone else you should be able to out score the Devils. At least it worked for Oneida when they played. The Dawgs have too much talent for Harriman to try and stop and come back and have enough left to get it done on the other end. Fountain and Langley are two of the best players in District 4 (probably #1 and #3, Gunter being #2) and it's hard to do much against just those two, but they have good role players that can score and rebound. Obviously, they aren't unbeatable, but they are awfully tough. As much as I would like to see X keep playing in high school, I think tomorrow night will the end of a great Blue Devil career.

 

Good Luck to all the teams and may God be with each player keeping you from injury and helping you play up to your very best ability.

Should be a great one, the two most consistent teams in the Region will be at it tonight at 7:30! It's a shame one of them has to go home!

[gcapride]

Congrats to the Rams on the win over Sunbright. Keep playing tough!