It seems like just yesterday we were crowning our football champions, but here we are about to finish the regular season in basketball and move on to the playoffs. So to wrap up the Shenandoah District regular season, we will have Stuarts Draft traveling to Riverheads on Thursday; followed by Fort Defiance at Buffalo Gap and Staunton at Wilson, both on Friday night.
After last night's games (I only went one-for-three by the way but at least I got the important one right!) I thought I had a handle on how things stood for the playoff picture but today's sports pages have me confused all over again. My confusion is all about this Region 3-C playoff battle between Wilson and Fort Defiance.
All season long we have been told that they were battling for an automatic spot in those playoffs. It had been my understanding that the points system would determine that representative, since with the VHSL points are everything these days. So when Wilson beat the Fort last night for the second time, I figured "well that settles that issue."
But even though Wilson swept the series from the Indians, it now appears that if they finish tied in the district standings, in terms of won and loss records, they will have a special playoff game for that regional berth. Now I am not a Wilson fan by a long shot, but if they swept the series AND they have a higher point standing, why should a playoff be needed? Hasn't Wilson proven on the court that they are the better team?
A similar situation exists for those two schools and their girls teams, but I may have a handle on the difference there. Again there was a season sweep as the Indians won both games over Wilson. As a result of last night's second win, the Lady Indians hold a one game lead with Buffalo Gap coming to their place Friday. So most likely the Indians will win that one and capture the automatic berth outright.
But apparently the difference here is that Wilson's girls have had a good enough overall season that they will also qualify for the top eight in the Region B playoffs. To put it another way, the Lady Indians would earn the automatic berth and Wilson would get an at large berth. However if the Indians do stumble against the Gap and if Wilson wins at Staunton, they would be tied at 7-3 and have a special playoff game, despite the Fort's sweep of the Lady Hornets.
So to summarize the 3-C situation, the two boys teams are fighting only for an automatic berth and the losing team in that scenario has NOT had a season worthy of an at-large bid. But with the girls, since both have been district title contenders, both are high enough in the regional standings to be allowed to move forward. So in some ways that seems right, but at the same time the Indians beat them twice, so why have a playoff? Why not just put each one in their proper 1-8 slot based on the point scale and move on into the playoffs?
OK enough of that soapbox. Let's move on to this final slate of (boys) games and see who will have a successful Senior Night and who might have it end on a sour note.
Stuarts Draft at Riverheads (Thursday Night): The Gladiators had a satisfying win over the Bison last night whereas the Cougars calmed the Storm and captured the regular season crown. So this game could come down to which team can put last night behind them and have the stamina and energy to play again after just one night's rest. On the surface, the clear advantage there would go to the visiting Cougars because of their 16-man squad and their frequent rotations. Even if the Gladiators do have Robinson back, which I am personally not expecting to be the case, they would still be outnumbered 16-10. Having said all of that, you can only put five on the floor at a time and the Gladiators have beaten the Cougars at least three times in Greenville since the Draft adopted its Grinnell offense, and for that matter they have beaten them with teams that did not have the talent this one does. So yes, Riverheads most definitely CAN win this game and if so, it would be a huge momentum swing heading into the playoffs. In fact if all the right pieces of all the right puzzles fell into place for the Big Red, they could finish in a four-way tie for third place in the standings. Am I coming right out and saying that Riverheads will win? Probably not because objectively you have to give the advantage to the Draft, but Senior Night can have a big effect on things and the Gladiators do have five seniors..........Just Saying.............
Fort Defiance at Buffalo Gap (Friday Night): As described above, the Indians apparently do have something at stake as opposed to being out of the playoffs after last night's loss to Wilson. Therefore it would be a mistake for me or anyone else to assume they will just lay down and let the Gap have this one. The Bison appear to have more weapons and they will have the home crowd/Senior Night thing going on, so you have to go with the Gap to come out on top, but if you like your basketball seasons to have the most possible drama, then an Indian win will give us just that.
Staunton at Wilson (Friday Night): Prior to reading the sports pages today, I would have assumed that this one would have no real meaning. After all the Storm was in second place all alone, they were headed to the 2-B playoffs and as mentioned above, it appeared that Wilson was playoff-bound as well. But we now know (I guess anyway?) that a Wilson loss and a Fort win at Gap would indeed lead to a playoff game next week. So suddenly this one becomes meaningful after all. Wilson, just like RHS and BG, will salute its seniors, so of course they will put up a fight. But you cannot overlook the fact that Staunton walloped them by 30-some points the first time around, so I just don't see that big a reversal. The Storm will take this one while the Wilson fans are nervously watching for tweets from Buffalo Gap.
To summarize, if these three games go as I suspect they might, SD will finish at 9-1, Staunton at 6-4, Buffalo Gap at 5-5, Wilson at 4-6, and Riverheads and Fort tied at 3-7. But I for one like the sound of that Riverheads/Fort/Staunton winning combination, since it would take my Big Red out of the basement and all the way up to a third place tie in just 48 hours time!
Regardless the playoffs will be very interesting to say the least as we will have five different teams competing in three different classifications. So...Batter up!!! Oops I got ahead of myself there for a moment!!!
After last night's games (I only went one-for-three by the way but at least I got the important one right!) I thought I had a handle on how things stood for the playoff picture but today's sports pages have me confused all over again. My confusion is all about this Region 3-C playoff battle between Wilson and Fort Defiance.
All season long we have been told that they were battling for an automatic spot in those playoffs. It had been my understanding that the points system would determine that representative, since with the VHSL points are everything these days. So when Wilson beat the Fort last night for the second time, I figured "well that settles that issue."
But even though Wilson swept the series from the Indians, it now appears that if they finish tied in the district standings, in terms of won and loss records, they will have a special playoff game for that regional berth. Now I am not a Wilson fan by a long shot, but if they swept the series AND they have a higher point standing, why should a playoff be needed? Hasn't Wilson proven on the court that they are the better team?
A similar situation exists for those two schools and their girls teams, but I may have a handle on the difference there. Again there was a season sweep as the Indians won both games over Wilson. As a result of last night's second win, the Lady Indians hold a one game lead with Buffalo Gap coming to their place Friday. So most likely the Indians will win that one and capture the automatic berth outright.
But apparently the difference here is that Wilson's girls have had a good enough overall season that they will also qualify for the top eight in the Region B playoffs. To put it another way, the Lady Indians would earn the automatic berth and Wilson would get an at large berth. However if the Indians do stumble against the Gap and if Wilson wins at Staunton, they would be tied at 7-3 and have a special playoff game, despite the Fort's sweep of the Lady Hornets.
So to summarize the 3-C situation, the two boys teams are fighting only for an automatic berth and the losing team in that scenario has NOT had a season worthy of an at-large bid. But with the girls, since both have been district title contenders, both are high enough in the regional standings to be allowed to move forward. So in some ways that seems right, but at the same time the Indians beat them twice, so why have a playoff? Why not just put each one in their proper 1-8 slot based on the point scale and move on into the playoffs?
OK enough of that soapbox. Let's move on to this final slate of (boys) games and see who will have a successful Senior Night and who might have it end on a sour note.
Stuarts Draft at Riverheads (Thursday Night): The Gladiators had a satisfying win over the Bison last night whereas the Cougars calmed the Storm and captured the regular season crown. So this game could come down to which team can put last night behind them and have the stamina and energy to play again after just one night's rest. On the surface, the clear advantage there would go to the visiting Cougars because of their 16-man squad and their frequent rotations. Even if the Gladiators do have Robinson back, which I am personally not expecting to be the case, they would still be outnumbered 16-10. Having said all of that, you can only put five on the floor at a time and the Gladiators have beaten the Cougars at least three times in Greenville since the Draft adopted its Grinnell offense, and for that matter they have beaten them with teams that did not have the talent this one does. So yes, Riverheads most definitely CAN win this game and if so, it would be a huge momentum swing heading into the playoffs. In fact if all the right pieces of all the right puzzles fell into place for the Big Red, they could finish in a four-way tie for third place in the standings. Am I coming right out and saying that Riverheads will win? Probably not because objectively you have to give the advantage to the Draft, but Senior Night can have a big effect on things and the Gladiators do have five seniors..........Just Saying.............
Fort Defiance at Buffalo Gap (Friday Night): As described above, the Indians apparently do have something at stake as opposed to being out of the playoffs after last night's loss to Wilson. Therefore it would be a mistake for me or anyone else to assume they will just lay down and let the Gap have this one. The Bison appear to have more weapons and they will have the home crowd/Senior Night thing going on, so you have to go with the Gap to come out on top, but if you like your basketball seasons to have the most possible drama, then an Indian win will give us just that.
Staunton at Wilson (Friday Night): Prior to reading the sports pages today, I would have assumed that this one would have no real meaning. After all the Storm was in second place all alone, they were headed to the 2-B playoffs and as mentioned above, it appeared that Wilson was playoff-bound as well. But we now know (I guess anyway?) that a Wilson loss and a Fort win at Gap would indeed lead to a playoff game next week. So suddenly this one becomes meaningful after all. Wilson, just like RHS and BG, will salute its seniors, so of course they will put up a fight. But you cannot overlook the fact that Staunton walloped them by 30-some points the first time around, so I just don't see that big a reversal. The Storm will take this one while the Wilson fans are nervously watching for tweets from Buffalo Gap.
To summarize, if these three games go as I suspect they might, SD will finish at 9-1, Staunton at 6-4, Buffalo Gap at 5-5, Wilson at 4-6, and Riverheads and Fort tied at 3-7. But I for one like the sound of that Riverheads/Fort/Staunton winning combination, since it would take my Big Red out of the basement and all the way up to a third place tie in just 48 hours time!
Regardless the playoffs will be very interesting to say the least as we will have five different teams competing in three different classifications. So...Batter up!!! Oops I got ahead of myself there for a moment!!!
