All the practice time since school started and all the games that have been played since November has led us to the last week of the regular season, the week that will begin a string of decision weeks that hope to culminate in a state final contest.
The boys were tied 11-1 for conference honors with Huntsville until last night when the two teams tipped it off in Huntsville. The winner will have a one game lead with one game to go and so last night's winner will in all likelihood be taking the top seed in the District Tournament.
Both teams left the rest of the conference far behind with the two automatic semi-final sports locked up long ago. The other six teams of the conference will battle it out to winnow the survivors down to two, who then will get to play the two rested teams in semi-final action.
At this moment, it looks it could be that Lincoln will play Berryville with the winner to take on Shiloh in the quarterfinals. The winner of that contest will play the winner of the Pea Ridge/Huntsville game.
On the other side of the bracket, Gentry would play Gravette with the winner than playing Prairie Grove. The winner of these games would then play the loser of the Pea Ridge/Huntsville matchup.
Funny things could happen this Friday to alter this set-up but from where I stand, this looks like the way it will go.
All the semi-finalists will then take on all the semifinalists from the 4A-4 District which makes up the 4A North Regional Tournament which will be held in Pottsville, a town just east of Russellville off Interstate 40.
The top two teams in the 4A-4 appear to be two private schools, Arkansas Baptist and Subiaco.
Arkansas Baptist was moved into the 4A-4 when Booneville left to join the 3A class and Maumelle was moved up to 5A. It's hard to think of a Little Rock school belonging to the North Region but that's the way the AAA planned it.
Arkansas Baptist is said to have two players (brothers) 7-0 taller and taller. While not counted on to handle the ball obviously, the twin towers would present a challenge in the rebound department. Good shooting from the outside would lessen this advantage and the games that the Baptist folks have lost was due to the aforementioned as well as to who they were playing..
Arkansas Baptist has an 18-6 with all their losses to larger schools like Little Rock Christian, Pulaski Academy, Watson Chapel, Maumelle, El Dorado, and Columbia (MO) Hickman, the largest school in Missouri. They have defeated Subiaco twice in close scores.
Curiously, Arkansas Baptist beat Ozark twice, once by 26 and once by only a single point
The four first round winners in the regional will qualify for the state tournament which is set for Ozark High School. There are three 4A regions and this year, the North Region winner is set apart from the two other region winners until the state final.
The Arkansas playoffs are bit different from most, if not all, other states. In Missouri, once you start district play, when you lose your season is over. In Arkansas, second chances can be plentiful.
In Arkansas, if you have already earned a top two seed in district, your are already going to regions even if you go 0-1 in the your district tournament. A team then could win their regional opener but then go on to lose the semi-final game and the 3rd place game as well. But since that team won the first round of the region, they still go to state. If that team then loses the first of state, that team would have suffered their fourth loss in post season play against a single win. This has happened more than once.
On the plus side of things, let's say that the state's two best teams are in the same district or even the same town. Years ago, Green County Tech (in Paragould) and Paragould High School were the two best girls teams in Arkansas. Since I coached against them in junior high, I knew how really good these teams were.
Paragould won the conference, but Tech won the district. In the regions, Paragould came out on top, but in the state finals Tech won it playing against Paragould. The only teams to beat these two squads were each other. In Missouri, Paragould would have gone home early so I can see the value of multiple chances.
Of course, from the AAA's point of view, more games mean more revenue (money).
MaxPreps/CBS boys 4A state poll
1. Monticello
2. Pocahontas +1
3 Huntsville -1
4. West Helena
5. Arkansas Baptist +2
6. Central Arkansas
7. Riverview +1
8. Jonesboro Westside -3
9. Brookland
10. LR Estem
14. Pea Ridge
26 Prairie Grove +1
32. Shiloh +2
35. Gentry -2
40. Gravette
42. Lincoln +1
46. Berryville
MaxPreps/CBS boys north region poll
(4A-1 and 4A-4 Districts)
1. Huntsville
2. Arkansas Baptist
3. Subiaco
4. Pea Ridge
5. Dardanelle
6. Dover
7. Prairie Grove +1
8. Pottsville -1
9. Ozark
10. Shiloh
Gentry dropped out of the top 10.
The top four finishers in the region tournament qualify for the state tournament.
All semi-finalists in the district tournament qualify for the regional.
4a-1 boys district standings
1. Pea Ridge 11-1
1. Huntsville 11-1
3. Prairie Grove 7-5
4. Shiloh 6-6
5. Lincoln 4-8
6. Gentry 3-9
7. Gravette 3-9
7. Berryville 2-10
4a-1 girls district standings
1. Huntsville 11-1
2. Berryville 10-2
2. Prairie Grove 10-2
4. Lincoln 6-6
5. Gentry 5-7
6. Pea Ridge 4-8
7. Shiloh 2-10
8. Gravette 0-12
In the girls tourney, things are much less clear with three really good teams in the mix with fourth through seventh place teams almost interchangeable.
It would appear that Pea Ridge will open with Shiloh with the winner going on to play Lincoln for a spot in the semi-finals as well as a spot in the regions. Both those games are winnable for the Lady 'Hawks, which would extend their season should they win out.
Pea Ridge is in the same position the Gravette girls team was recently and they responded by playing all the way to the state tournament. While difficult, it can be done.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 02/11/2015