A few observations from Championship Week

[kwhs95fan]

The basketball season is now over. I, for one hate to see it end. Just a few observations from the 12 games this week.

1. The VHSL barely gives the kids a second to celebrate before they are lining them up to receive medals and pictures. These kids have worked their butts off. Let them savor the moment. It literally is like 2 minutes from the final horn until they start calling out names for medals.

2. Go back to putting the championship games on TV instead of the NFHS network. Every game I watched on the network, there was no audio. I understand from others that there wasnt any audio for half the games today either. There was issues with all 4 games on Thursday, yet it doesn't sound like nothing was done to resolve the issue. A real disappointment for anyone that paid for a subscription.

3. The girls team in the Western part of the state play beautiful basketball. I watched Parry McCluer, Central Wise and even Spotswood at 3A play basketball the way it should be played. All three teams are hard nosed, play in your face defense, make their free throws and play fluent offense. The Eastern teams while extremely athletic seem to play more one on one.

4. Surry vs Eastside and Northside vs Phoebus were the two best games of the week. Both games were back and forth affairs. I'll give a slight edge to the Northside game because it came down to 2 clutch free throws with 3 seconds left

5. The 1A and 2A crowds showed why community is everything. Other games had good crowds but today, you could tell the community pride of the schools involved was special

6. 2A Radford can play with any team in the state. I'm not saying they would beat every team, but I didn't see any boys team at any level that I thought was head and shoulders above them, and QMR is one of the best players in the state at any level.

7. I hate that the season is over. Seemed like it just started. Basketball season is where I can take time and just be a fan for about 3 months. Football is my passion and I love coaching high school football, but it is nice to just take in games and be a fan for a few months. Although this season has made me want to get back into coaching basketball again too.

8. Thanks for everyone who read my rankings, reviews etc this year and I appreciate all of the kind words.

 

[BigWinners]

Credit for Wise should go to Robin Dotson, one of the best coaches in the state without debate. The girls aren't always the most talented but they play great defense and always with effort.

Honestly, and not just bc I'm a SWVA homer, I believe the two best girls teams in 2A met in the semis, Ridgeview would have cut down the nets if they had advanced IMO.

 

[uvacavs1]

The basketball season is now over. I, for one hate to see it end. Just a few observations from the 12 games this week.

1. The VHSL barely gives the kids a second to celebrate before they are lining them up to receive medals and pictures. These kids have worked their butts off. Let them savor the moment. It literally is like 2 minutes from the final horn until they start calling out names for medals.

2. Go back to putting the championship games on TV instead of the NFHS network. Every game I watched on the network, there was no audio. I understand from others that there wasnt any audio for half the games today either. There was issues with all 4 games on Thursday, yet it doesn't sound like nothing was done to resolve the issue. A real disappointment for anyone that paid for a subscription.

3. The girls team in the Western part of the state play beautiful basketball. I watched Parry McCluer, Central Wise and even Spotswood at 3A play basketball the way it should be played. All three teams are hard nosed, play in your face defense, make their free throws and play fluent offense. The Eastern teams while extremely athletic seem to play more one on one.

4. Surry vs Eastside and Northside vs Phoebus were the two best games of the week. Both games were back and forth affairs. I'll give a slight edge to the Northside game because it came down to 2 clutch free throws with 3 seconds left

5. The 1A and 2A crowds showed why community is everything. Other games had good crowds but today, you could tell the community pride of the schools involved was special

6. 2A Radford can play with any team in the state. I'm not saying they would beat every team, but I didn't see any boys team at any level that I thought was head and shoulders above them, and QMR is one of the best players in the state at any level.

7. I hate that the season is over. Seemed like it just started. Basketball season is where I can take time and just be a fan for about 3 months. Football is my passion and I love coaching high school football, but it is nice to just take in games and be a fan for a few months. Although this season has made me want to get back into coaching basketball again too.

8. Thanks for everyone who read my rankings, reviews etc this year and I appreciate all of the kind words.

Well said - agree wholeheartedly with all points. Thanks again for your analysis and thoughts all season.

 

[uvacavs1]

a few observations or add ons -


1) Congrats to Surry!

2) The Rappahannock Raiders must feel proud and a little sick at the same time - they were one second away from being in the state championship and having a great chance to win it.

3) Radford is really close to being 1A again and blows through 2A schools- many of which are almost double their size - Radford has just 490 students and is the smallest 2A by far. Well done.

4) Thanks for saying that about 1A Western Girls b-ball. Props to them. Sorry to say, but many of the girls b-ball games in the East are painful to watch. Now 1A East softball and volleyball can be awesome indeed and are very exciting to watch.

5) Yes the old Group A sports are about community - excellent stuff and pride!

 

[longtimerhsfan]

You can add Riverheads to the Rappahannock comment above. Both the Gladiators and the Raiders gave Surry a real dogfight in its own back yard. So who is to say which game was the "real" championship game?

As for the quality of the NFHS network games, I am surprised to read about the problems you guys experienced. I did not attend this year in person, mainly because I think the new scheduling format was a crock. Instead I watched three of the four Saturday games online and I did not have any problems with them and in fact was actually very favorably impressed with the quality.