Preview: Boys basketball sectionals (Class A)

Oh, those
tricky administrators at Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, moving the games for
Sectional 51 up a day so they now go Monday-Tuesday-Friday-Saturday, which
completely trashes our plan for Fort Wayne-area coverage.

CONSARN
IT, PAPAYA!!!!!

Oh well,
live and learn. So it is that the Class A sectional preview gets writ first as
we sail into the 2005-06 version of postseason â�?��?Hoosier Hysteria.â�?� Hereâ�?��?�s a
site-by-site preview of all 16 Class A sectionals:

Host Hebron (15-4) is the only
ranked team here and as such assumes the mantle of favorite. (If that���?�s not the
kiss of death in Indiana
sectional basketball, I dunno what is!) The 11^th-ranked Hawks, who
sit at No. 18 in the latest Sagarin power ratings (SPR), also are the only team
in Sectional 49 to occupy a power spot in the Top 35.

Washington Township (SPR 39), in fact, is the only
other school in the seven-team field to enter with a winning record at 11-9. Hebron could meet the
Senators in the championship game Saturday.

Culver
boasts a pair of teams that are ranked, No. 5 Oregon-Davis (18-3) and No. 14
South Central (Union Mills) (15-6). Those two could meet in the semifinals,
although O-D���?�s SPR is much higher (11 to 28).

There are
two other schools among the field of seven that are unranked but have solid
power numbers: Triton (11-9, SPR 21) and Westville (15-5, SPR 30). The survivor
of Tuesday���?�s opener between Oregon-Davis and Triton will face South Central in
the semis, so Westville has a definite scheduling edge here.

We would
have been all over the Lakewood Park Christian-Fort Wayne Canterbury and Fort
Wayne Blackhawk Christian-Home Military games Wednesday, but with the late
change to move the first two days up, no dice. (Another way to look at that
unfortunate circumstance would be to add a few more names to each of the
schools listed above so we could ensure job security for ink sellers around the
globe. But I digress.)

None of
these schools are ranked, though the host Braves were for most of the early
season and did reach the Class A semistate last year at Lafayette, where they got drilled by eventual
state champ Lapel. Of the eight teams in this field, only two (the hosts at
12-8 and Lakewood
Park at 13-7) have
winning records, and Blackhawk is the only one with a SPR in the Top 35 at No.
14.

This field
favors the host Cavaliers (13-7), the only one of six unranked teams with a
Top-35 SPR at No. 22. Their Game 1 opponent, West Central (12-8), is one of two
others with a winning record; the survivor of that contest could get South Newton (12-8) in the semis.

All five
of this sectional���?�s teams reside in the SPR Top 40, but only Lafayette Central
Catholic (15-6, SPR 22) is ranked at No. 8. The Knights figure to ride the
momentum of the school���?�s girls team, which will play in the state finals
Saturday and could very well force the championship game here back to March 6.

But
opening foe Clinton Prairie (8-12, SPR 40), potential semifinal opponent
Frontier (11-9, SPR 31), or possible finals foes Carroll of Flora (11-9, SPR
15) or Rossville (7-13, SPR 38) will all try to prevent that from happening.

This thing
begs to be dominated by fourth-ranked Tri-Central (17-3, SPR 3), which must be
feeling a vendetta toward potential regional opponent Lapel for ruining last
year���?�s dream season. The Trojans���?� main competition figures to be Wes-Del (11-8,
SPR 17) and the state���?�s top long-range specialist (sophomore Nick Millspaugh,
.541 3-point accuracy) in the finals or Marion Lakeview Christian (11-10) in
the semis.

But it
will be a serious upset if Grayson Flittner, the state���?�s leading scorer (29.8
ppg) and free throw shooter (.940), and his Tri-Central mates don���?�t advance out
of this seven-team field.

So what do you think? Share your thoughts in our Boys Basketball forum.