Greetings HS hoops junkies from across the March-coming-in-like-a-lion Piedmont! The Great One is here to recap the Sectional Finals and give the Ol’ Cubic Zirconia Ball’s (can’t afford crystal) Final Four participants. As usual, there are a couple of major storylines that broke during the last round, one on the court and one off. We will get to those shortly but for now we will break down the prognostication of the previous round. In the 3rd frame, The Sadster posted a 27-4 record, sweeping the board in the 4A and 2A East brackets and in the 3A and 1A West brackets. He went 3-2 on his upset special picks bringing his upset record to 11-9. There were no KOD’s (Kisses of Death) in the 3rd round but there may be one in the regional semi round as Garner is the sexy pick but Sanderson may pull this one off. We now move on to a couple of big story lines that transpired right before and after the games. Off the court, shock waves went through the state as 4A West top seed Lake Norman cancelled it’s season because of an honors student being ineligible due to dropping a college class. The program wasn’t “cheating” as some thought; it was proven to be an administrative oversight. The school and program showed class in taking swift action. Kudos to them. On the court, 2A West 3 seed North Surry had their 18 game winning streak ended by the 6 seed Lincoln Charter. The bell also tolled midnight for 7 of the 8 Cinderella teams with the 2A West 15 seed Bandys as the only true Cinderella left from the original crop. 12 seed Hunter Huss has now risen to fourth round Cinderella status. Watauga has garnered honorable mention in the Cinderella category as the 4A West 7 seed laid claim to the title of Forsyth County Champions in downing both Mt. Tabor and West Forsyth in less than a week. Their reward? A trip to “defending” state champion, and now favorite to come out of the West, North Meck. The Wrecking Machines are still doing their thing but now they are starting to collide with each other. Who will survive? More storylines in the coming round are… Can North Meck continue their Final Four streak? Can Green Level knock New Hanover off of their 4A East perch? Will Reidsville survive a dog fight with Salisbury? Can Ashbrook put a 4th L on Huss in the Battle of the Gashouse, Pt. 4? Will Ben Smith have a Dudley hangover on the road at Crest? Can Landon Vaughn get Bandys closer to the promised land? And Can Bishop McGuiness return to glory? Without further ado, we will now see who will advance to their respective Final Fours and who will be packing away the unis until next season…….TO THE PICKS!!!
4A WEST: NORTH MECK and Upset Special winner CHAMBERS
4A EAST: NEW HANOVER, GARNER (K.O.D.)
3A WEST: ASHBROOK and Upset Special winner SMITH
3A EAST: SWANSBORO, SO. DURHAM
2A WEST: REIDSVILLE and Upset Special winner BANDYS
2A EAST: FARMVILLE, NORTHWOOD
1A WEST: BISHOP MCGUINESS and Upset Special winner QUEENS GRANT
1A EAST: WASHINGTON CO., SO. WAKE
There you have it folks! Now go to the games tonight and watch it all come to fruition while supporting these young men. The Great One will return next week to recap the Regional Semis and give you your state title game participants. Stay tuned!!!!
SAD SAM – HS HOOPS GENIUS