Greetings HS hoops junkies from across the regional awaiting Piedmont! The Sadster is here to recap the Sectional Finals (3rd round) and give you your Regional Final participants. The 8A class is already in their Regional Finals as there are fewer teams than the rest of the classes. The 3rd round brought more stunners as this is turning out to be “one of those years” for upsets. Because of this, two prognostication methods that may still be tried are the CT (coin toss) and the BMTD (blind monkey throwing darts) methods. The Semi-Great One posted a 45-15 mark for the round, bringing his record to 233-67, or around 78%. That is good for most but is unacceptable for The Sadster. He did connect on his first KOD (kiss of death) as Bertie topped Perquimans 48-46. The midnight oil has definitely been burned for the regionals so The Sad One expects a stellar night tonight. The clock struck midnight for most of the Cinderella teams but a few more emerged. The biggest shocker of the day was 7A East 13 seed Garner throttling the 5 seed New Hanover, 73-44, ending their 2 year reign in the East. It also solidified Garner as the top Cinderella in the state so far, but they run into top seed So. Durham next. Several #1 seeds bit the dust as well as Lincoln Charter, Lincolnton and Thomas Jefferson rudely showed East Henderson, East Rutherford and Robbinsville the door respectively. This round’s games are all must sees but especially we have the Battle of Wilmington on tap as #1 8A East seed Hoggard hosts rival #6 seed Laney for a trip to the Final 4. An 8A West battle to watch has #2 West Charlotte travelling to top seed West Forsyth. The Sadster will be switching around a lot to track a few games tonight but if you can get to a game near you, do it! At this point, all teams are good and deserve your support. We will now see who the slippers might still fit and who will remain Wrecking Machines. It’s all about “survive and advance” so let’s get……….TO THE PICKS!!!
8A WEST: W. FORSYTH
EAST: HOGGARD (in OT)
7A WEST: NORTH MECK, MOORESVILLE
EAST: SO. DURHAM, GIBBONS
6A WEST: BEN SMITH, CATHOLIC
EAST: N. NASH, E.E. SMITH
5A WEST: HUNTER HUSS, ROBINSON
EAST: SE ALAMANCE, FIKE
4A WEST: LEXINGTON and Upset Special winner LINCOLN CHARTER
EAST: REIDSVILLE, WASHINGTON
3A WEST: Upset Special winners LINCOLNTON and WALKERTOWN
EAST: FARMVILLE, KINSTON
2A WEST: QUEENS GRANT, S. STOKES
EAST: BERTIE and Upset Special winner FRANKLIN AC
1A WEST: CHATHAM CHRTR, JACKSON DAY
EAST: VANCE CHARTER, SO. WAKE
There you have it folks! The dye has been cast so all you have to do is to watch it all come to fruition with your very own eyes. We will recap this round and give out your state final participants this Friday. Stay tuned!!!!
SAD SAM – HS HOOPS GENIUS