There are some intriguing matchups at this year's Carson Valley Classic boys' basketball tournament.
In the past two years, the tournament has mostly been Faith Lutheran and Douglas at the top with a bunch of smaller schools filling out the bracket.
They've got a nice schedule set up this year with Faith Lutheran (always fun to watch) and Douglas (obviously) again, McQueen (more about them below), Fallon (the breakout sensation of last year with one of the best upcoming coaches in the area in T.W. Cunningham), Pleasant Grove, Calif., and Lowry.
The games start Thursday at 4:30 (Fallon vs. McQueen) in the DHS gym, but the big question is whether or not the whole thing is going to be a go.
The second wave of this storm is expected to roll in Wednesday night. Aside from the question of whether the teams can get here or not, if school is cancelled in any of those districts any day during the tournament, those teams can't play.
It'd be a shame to see the tournament be a wash this year, but safety is always the most important thing.
We'll keep an eye on the storm (and any resulting cancellations) this week and relay the information back out to you.
Here's the top positive to take out of a tough situation last week:
The Douglas boys' opened the year 0-3, but they showed some nice stretches of play. This up-tempo style will suit them well, and this is the type of system that kids love to play in.
They fly around to the ball on defense, they've got speed and some nice shooting range in the backcourt and I really like what they have going on at the post with Jorey Scott, Hunter Myers, Matt Thomas and Kameron VanWinkle. There are a lot of options there in terms of different matchups and each guy has shown he can score.
Depth will be the key. If they can go up to 10 deep (or even more), they'll be able to keep the tempo up over the course of an entire game.
This first month (and the given mixing and matching with the lineup) will go a long way toward showing how deep they can go with their bench during the league season.
I'm planning to be at these games this week, so check online for updates (Cover It Live is the tool we use to post automatic updates during games and also allows for comments and questions from fans during the game, so be sure to check out our Web site if you can't make it to the games I will be posting from.):
Thursday: Boys' Basketball vs. Lowry, 6 p.m. (Cover It Live)
Friday: Boys' Basketball vs. Pleasant Grove, 7:30 p.m. (Cover It Live)
Saturday: Boys' Basketball vs. Faith Lutheran, 4 p.m. (Cover It Live)
(We'll get our first look at the girls' team next week. They'll host Fallon Dec. 15 and host Lowry Dec. 18. I hate doing just one team per week, but it's hard to justify travelling when you've got a team playing at home).
- I'll say it right now (as though their 3-0 record at the Wild West Shootout over the weekend weren't evidence enough): The McQueen boys' basketball team is going to be very good this year. They're big, they're fast and they play well as a group. I'm throwing them forward as my pick to win the region this year (I'll do season predictions next week).
- I was a little sad that the Wild West Shootout decided to do away with its traditional playing of Christmas music between games and during timeouts this year (They opted to hire a professional DJ instead). There was nothing quite so surreal in all of high school sports than watch basketball teams warm up in a near-empty gym to the orchestral sounds of "Sleigh Ride."
- Speaking of empty gyms, I really like Reno High's gymnasium - it's one of my favorites in Northern Nevada, just everything from the layout to the history to the weird echo-y floor with concrete steps down to the cavernous locker rooms and classrooms underneath. In a weird way, it kind of reminds me of the Hickory Huskers gym in "Hoosiers." But they've got these creepy, weird, half-body mannequin things resting in dramatic poses on these little shelves hung precariously above the bleachers now. Totally ruins the whole Hoosiers vibe.
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I've been slacking in my picks, but the computer has gone 22-9 in my absence. Maybe I should just stick to that.
Congratulations to Ed Mercer, who picked 14 out of 16 games correctly last week, just one off of winning the national prize.
Here are my picks for week 14:
Steelers over Browns
Falcons over Saints
Titans over Rams
Bucs over Jets
Patriots over Panthers
Bengals over Vikings
Bills over Chiefs
Ravens over Lions
Packers over Bears
Seahawks over Texans
Colts over Broncos
Jaguars over Dolphins
Redskins over Raiders
Chargers over Cowboys
49ers over Cardinals
Tiebreaker: Eagles 21, Giants 14
Last week: 10-6. Season: 127-65. Season Survivor: Out.
- Oh well, the list of things that TCU needed to have happen was about as long as Notre Dame's current coaching wish list, so I wasn't too upset when not a single thing on the list happened.
But still, Boise State? Didn't we do this last year?
Nothing against the Broncos. Truth be told, this is probably the best matchup on paper out of the entire BCS set this year. But, both of these schools were hoping for a little bit more I think. I know I was.
Wouldn't you rather have seen these two split up against either Florida or Cincinnati? Doesn't matter which, just give them a shot at an actual BCS Conference power and help us settle some of the questions about this season. Don't put the two mid-majors in against each other. All we learn from this is which mid-major is best.
Then again, I'm looking forward to the actual game - could end up being one of the better games of the entire season. It sure was last year. Kudos to the Fiesta Bowl for taking the best matchup over the most money (i.e. Penn State or Iowa). Here's hoping it pays off for them.
