Let the March Madness begin
With the 5A and 4A boys basketball state tournaments finally here, these are some of the story lines I’ll be watching this week at the E Center in no particular order.
Which schools will bring the best crowds? Even though Bear River had fantastic support in the 3A championship at the E Center Saturday, I was most impressed by the number of fans who came out to watch first-year school Salem Hills in their Thursday game with Logan. As for this week, I can’t wait to see how big the crowds are for Alta, Bingham, West Jordan and Riverton.
What impact will injuries play? Alta leading scorer Ammon Olsen sprained his ankle in last week’s regular season finale. Skyline has three starters nursing injuries, and Brighton sophomore shooting sensation Corbin Miller hasn’t played a game since a stress fracture last month. The health of these teams may impact whether they win or lose.
Who will the E Center shooting bug bite? Whenever the state tournament is played at the E Center there’s always one team that has just an awful shooting performance. Last week in the 3A tourney it was Judge, which only made 14-of-50 shots in its quarterfinal loss to Cedar. With 16 combined 5A and 4A first round games over the next two games, it’s almost a given that a favorite or two are going to struggle shooting and make a quick tourney exit.
Will Pleasant Grove win a game? C.J. Wilcox’s career first round record is 0-2, despite his team being favorites in both of those games. This year’s first round match-up is probably more difficult than the previous two as the Vikings face an 18-3 Skyline team.
Can anyone hang with Provo? The Bulldogs are 21-0 and feature a scoring defense that only allows 37.7 ppg. It’s hard to imagine any 4A team beating the Bulldogs in the state tournament, so lets hand out moral victories to any team that can score more than 40 points against Provo.
Is Tyler Haws the best ever? A 5A MVP as a sophomore and Mr. Basketball as a junior, the BYU-bound Haws has been compared to some of the best players in the history of Utah high school basketball. He may or may not be the best ever, but that’s irrelevant this week. It’s been a pleasure to watch Haws play basketball the past couple of years, and this week is his prep career swan song, so I plan on kicking back and enjoying the show.
Which officiating crews will be better? With so many 5A and 4A games being played this week in the same venue, this week is a great opportunity to compare the three-person and two-person officiating crews. For those who don’t know, 5A has been using three officials for games since last year whereas 4A has decided to stick for two refs. In last year’s tournament at the Dee Events Center I thought the officiating was much better overall in 5A than 4A. I believe the extra set of eyes made a difference. Come out and watch the games and judge for yourself.
How many times will we hear Lady Gaga? With 39 games at the E Center this week, us media types will be watching and listening to 78 total halftime performances by drill teams and cheerleaders. We’re bound to hear a variety of songs, especially the trendy song “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga. I swear I heard that song a half a dozen times in last week’s 3A tourney, and I’m sure it will be even more overplayed this week.
What are some of the story lines you’ll be watching this week.