The boys Blackhawk basketball team came away from the 4A-1 District Tournament with a No. 2 seed for the 4A North Regional set to be played this week in Pottsville.
The playoffs will not have a team with home field advantage as Pottsville was upset by Ozark in the district quarterfinals. The Apaches were very good at home this year but will only be at the region meet as spectators.
It appears at the time of this writing that the Blackhawks will be playing as the home team against the Dardanelle Sand Lizards. I feel good about our chances; when you're playing 'Hawk/Paper/Lizard, 'Hawk always breaks Lizard.
Dardanelle got a No. 3 seed out of the 4A-4 District and are the No. 19 ranked team in 4A according to the CBS/MaxPreps Poll. The game is set for 8:30 Thursday night in Pottsville with the winner set to play the next night at the same time against the winner of the Arkansas Baptist/Lincoln game. The championship game is set for 7:30 this Saturday with the third place game slated for 1:30.
Huntsville, the No. 2 team in the state poll and top seed of the region, plays old conference member Ozark who was a surprise region finalist. Ozark finished seventh in their conference race but upset Pottsville in the quarterfinals to grab a region spot. Ozark is hosting the state tournament so they will be highly motivated to upset Huntsville and get to play home again. Ozark is ranked 26th in the state, but are on the rise after an abysmal start to their season.
The winner of the North Region has a slight advantage in the brackets as the other two region winners (East and South) are in the other side of the bracket. Monticello, in the South Region, is the biggest school in the state in 4A and is the consensus No. 1 team in the state.
Razorbacks looking good, mostly
Things are looking up for Razorback athletics here lately.
Mike Anderson has finally gotten the basketball Hogs back into national relevance as they have scratched and clawed their way to a 21-5 record and an 18th national ranking. With an RPI rating at 43, it looks like the Razorbacks will finally get to be in the NCAA tournament after a long absence. They played Texas A&M last night and if the Hogs won, second place in the SEC is all but theirs.
They have a final game with Kentucky on their schedule with the Wildcats topping national rankings while going undefeated so far this season. A lot of folks are shocked that Anderson currently owns a three-game winning streak over the Wildcats, something no else has done to the Lexington powerhouse in a very long time.
The women are finally looking like they can win in basketball after a long stretch of subpar play following the exit of Lady Hog coach Gary Blair. The Lady'Backs (as I still like to call them) whipped longtime rival LSU by more than 20 points last Sunday as first year coach Jimmy Dykes looks prepared to get the women back into national prominence. Dykes quit his job as a longtime ESPN personality to take on the Razorback job. Dykes once coached at Shiloh so he is familiar to Blackhawk fans in that regard as well. A fine person as well as coach, he was a surprise hire but the right one.
On the track and field side, both men and women's teams look primed to do well at the NCAA Indoor Championships next month to be hosted by the UA in Fayetteville. For the first time ever, the lady tracksters have received a No. 1 national ranking with the men in the running for that honor as well.
It hardly seems like baseball season with the weather as it is, but Dave Van Horn's diamond Hogs are out to a 4-2 record and are ranked in the top 15 in most polls. They dropped two of three games in Alabama this past weekend, losing to nationally No. 18 Central Florida 9-5 before losing to No. 13 Maryland 13-6.
The biggest question mark for the baseball Hogs this season was thought to be pitching as they have a strong offense in place. It looks like that opinion is the correct one.
MaxPreps/CBS boys 4A state poll
1. Monticello
2. Huntsville +1
3. Pocahontas -1
4. Central Arkansas +2
5. West Helena -1
6. Arkansas Baptist -1
7. Riverview
8. LR ESTEM
9. Brookland +1
10. Jonesboro Westside -1
14. Pea Ridge
30. Shiloh +2
33. Prairie Grove -3
37. Gentry -2
40. Lincoln +2
41. Gravette -1
45. Berryville +1
MaxPreps/CBS boys north region poll
(4A-1 and 4A-4 Districts)
1. Huntsville
2. Arkansas Baptist
3. Subiaco
4. Pea Ridge
5. Dardanelle +1
6. Dover -1
7. Pottsville
8. Ozark UNR
9. Shiloh UNR
10. Prairie Grove -2
The top four finishers in the region tournament qualify for the state tournament.
4A-1 boys final district standings
1. Huntsville 13-1
2. Pea Ridge 12-2
3. Prairie Grove 10-4
4. Shiloh 7-7
5. Lincoln 4-9
5. Gentry 4-9
5. Gravette 4-9
7. Berryville 2-12
4A-1 girls final district standings
1. Huntsville 12-2
1. Prairie Grove 12-2
3. Berryville 11-3
4. Gentry 7-7
5. Lincoln 6-8
6. Pea Ridge 5-9
7. Shiloh 3-11
8. Gravette 0-14
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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 02/25/2015