SHENANDOAH TEAMS----I've got your number this time!

[longtimerhsfan]

For those of you who have followed Shenandoah District play this year, you know that we have had a crazy season with road teams winning a huge number of games and one home team after another filing out the gym unhappy. When I have more time, I will total it up, but I am pretty sure the visitors have won better than 50% of the games this year. Take this past Friday, for example. I had predicted home team wins in all four matchups, and only ONE TEAM, East Rockingham, came through.

There is only one thing to do about that and that is to predict this time, an ALL VISITORS domination of the Monday thru Wednesday schedule. That will include seven games in all, including a district make-up game and two non-district affairs. In some cases, it won't seem logical to pick the visiting team to win, but what else can you do? They just aren't playing fair this year. So here we go:

MONDAY: Only game on tap is a make-up non-district with Waynesboro going to Wilson. Wilson won on the road the first time, and is riding a nice winning streak. Leavell was on his game Friday at Riverheads and other pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit as well. Waynesboro on the other hand is up and down. So a logical pick would be Wilson. Therefore Waynesboro wins on the road by 3.

TUESDAY: Page County at Buffalo Gap: This one would seem safe anyway, but the Gap have had their moments this year where they played well and almost knocked off a higher-up. But sticking with our theme here, Page will win by 12.

TUESDAY: Riverheads at Stonewall Jackson: For reasons of school pride, I have to pick the Big Red anyway. But this one is scary. In their last two games, SJ took Wilson to the wire at home and beat Buffalo Gap on the road. So they would appear to be "hot." But I gotta do what I gotta do. Last year this one was crazy......Riverheads led by as many as 27 in the first half up there before the Generals caught fire and almost pulled it out. But.........they had Colton Harlow then. Anyway, RHS by 5 this time.

TUESDAY: Luray at Stuarts Draft: The Cougars have been one of the most unpredictable teams of all this season. They can hit 20 or more threes some nights and crush an opponent and other nights, they don't shoot any better than anybody else does. Luray handled them at home so there is no reason to think they can't again. The Dogs by 14.

TUESDAY: East Rockingham at Wilson: Perhaps the most dangerous visiting team pick on this list. A win here pretty much clinches the mythical regular-season title for the Eagles, whereas a Wilson win puts them as well as Luray back into the mix. Eagles might benefit from the aforementioned Wilson game with Waynesboro, and catch the Hornets less than 100%. So the Eagles win this one by 4.

WEDNESDAY: Waynesboro at East Rockingham: This one is listed in the paper today as being on the docket, but I was not aware that they had an association with one another and if there has already been a game between them at Waynesboro this year, then I don't remember it. On paper, East Rock should win this one easily, but remember our goal here....to have seven wins by seven visiting teams. So the Giants will catch ER coming off a high from beating Wilson and will break their long win streak with a one-point squeaker. It will help that Waynesboro does not have a Tuesday game.

WEDNESDAY: Stuarts Draft at Buffalo Gap: This is a make-up game from earlier this season. They had their wild one at Draft earlier, with the Cougars squeaking out a 115-113 win. This time I do sincerely think the Cougars will win, but it will be lower scoring this time. SD wins this one something like 87-82.

I will be back in touch Thursday to gloat about my 7 for 7 finish!!!!!!

 

[dwcherb]

I'm not gonna even try and pick this week....like you said, it has been a crazy year and now with Stonewall playing better, God only knows what's gonna happen...to bad there isn't a district tournament anymore, I think it would've been very entertaining

 

[Lukin4721]

Those were my thougths exactly when I was reading his predictions!. A tournament this year would of been more wide open than any in recent memory. East Rock has the edge right now after handling Luray Friday night, but it would certainly be exciting to if we could bring it back to EMU this year.

 

[shenhoopsfan]

The Shenandoah District tournament always packed EMU, and seemed to always have an upset here and there. For a while Riverheads was hard to beat come tournament time even when nobody expected them to win.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

Thanks for that trip down Memory Lane! Sounds like something I would have brought up myself! To recap, Riverheads had won exactly ONE district tournament in its history, and even that went all the way back to the school's first year in existence, 1963.

But for some reason, when the Shenandoah Tournament moved to EMU in either 2002 or 2003, Riverheads caught fire year after year, and won it an incredible seven out of eight years. Even the year they lost it, they still made it to the championship game.

That would have been an amazing streak even if they had been the truly dominant team in the district. But what made it even wilder is the fact that they only won the regular season title two or at the most three times during that span. They were as low as the number four seed some of those years that they won the tournament.

In one especially memorable year, can't remember which without checking it at home, they beat Luray something like 56-28 in the final game, even though the Dogs had whipped them twice during the regular season.

Those were the days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[longtimerhsfan]

I now officially give up! Just read that Wilson beat Waynesboro tonight. That is right.............a HOME TEAM won a game in the Shenandoah! What'll they think of next????