That time of year
It's a wonderful time of year if you're a basketball junkie like me. Gosh, but I love hoops. We're lumping high school state basketball, NCAA conference tourneys, the Big Dance selection show on Sunday, then the Big Dance starts a week from tomorrow.Today is state basketball, both of my former high school teams have made it. Kansas does it differently as we have 6 different sites, one for each class. The current class for us is 3A, which is hosted by Hutchinson in the Sports Arena.
The Sports Arena is a big old barn, but it's a great atmosphere for high school (and college) hoops. (It also hosts the NJCAA National Tournamnent) There is something magical about even going to state. Watching the kids come in to support their teams, living and dying with each basket or turnover is something else. To see the nervousness of the fans before the game is undescribeable. Seeing the joy of a team that advances on one end of the court to seeing the disappoinment on the other end. As the teams shake hands you see tears from the seniors who have had the dream to win it all since they were little kids, but you also see a little gleam in the eyes of the juniors and underclassmen as they think "wait til next year."
As it goes for our school, the boys made it through a brutal substate, and hold the five seed. They will most likely be one and done, but just to get there was quite an accomplisment.
The girls, well, this is their fourth consecutive trip to state I think. Last year they finished third. I really thought they had a good chance to win it all but the lightning-quick point guard tore her ACL in the substate final. At this level, one player can make or break a team. Anyways, I'm getting ready for the radio for two games today, possibly two tomorrow and then we'll see what happens with everything else.
posted by Rusty @ 7:08 AM
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