Less than two weeks from now, Section III’s best boys basketball teams will trek to Utica Memorial Auditorium, and six of them (two for Class C, since they split) will claim championships.
Those that were in Utica 12 months ago might find a lot of the faces quite familiar. From Cicero-North Syracuse in Class AA to New York Mills in Class D, with Jamesville-DeWitt (A), Westhill (B), Tully (C-1) and West Canada Valley (C-2) in between, all of them could repeat, and some are heavily favored to do so.
So why bother watching the same movie if you know how it ends?
Because the possibility exists, in most of these sectional tournaments, for someone else to have the happy ending. With so many playoff qualifiers (73 in all), there’s bound to be a few surprises, too. Form can’t hold all the time, right?
Well, don’t tell that to the Class D crowd. True, 15 teams are in the fray, but unless something unholy happens, 14 of them are just place-setters for New York Mills, as overwhelming a favorite as I’ve ever seen in the years covering the sectional tournaments.
It’s not just that the Marauders are 18-0, are coming off a 2010 state final four appearance in Glens Falls, have sat atop the state rankings since December and have rarely been threatened all season. It’s that coaching great Mike Adey has, in Fred Russ and Matt Welch, an overwhelming front line that dwarfs every opponent. It’s the sort of thing last seen in this class when Adonal Foyle and Hamilton was working its way to a state title in 1994.
That said, there’s still a sectional tournament to deal with, and Faith Heritage, the no. 8 seed, can’t be entirely dismissed if the Saints can get past Belleville-Henderson in the first round. No one else appears a threat in the top half of the bracket, though, and on the other side Sackets Harbor has risen to no. 4 in the state rankings and is a really good no. 2 seed. Still, the Patriots know that, should it reach the finals and face Mills, it will need every outside shot to fall for an upset to happen.
Class C has no less than 20 teams in the fray, and unlike D, a lot of them can win it. This is especially true in C-2, where Syracuse Academy of Science, glad to have moved up after losing to Mills in last year’s D final, brings its high-flying, fast-paced offense to the top seed.
Meanwhile, West Canada settles into the no. 4 seed and could meet the Atoms in a breakneck semifinal that might prove as exciting as any game in any class, should it happen. Oh yeah, and Onondaga is around, too, as Taylor Bassett leads the red-hot Tigers into the no. 2 slot with, arguably, an easier path to the sectional finals.
Move up to C-1, and it’s Cooperstown that has grabbed the no. 1 seed, but the Redskins are far from an overwhelming favorite. Not when Watertown IHC, the no. 4 seed, possesses the unstoppable Connor Caldwell, who averages more than 30 points per game as is capable of carrying the Cavaliers all the way to the title.
Still, IHC can’t look past a very good Westmoreland team in the quarterfinals, while Tully, the no. 2 seed, limped down the stretch, leaving it vulnerable to someone like no. 3 seed Institute of Technology Central, a playoff newcomer that has its own unstoppable force in Jahcin Ingram, who dropped 40 on SAS a week ago.
An initial glance at Class B would give you the notion that hungry, determined 17-1 Skaneateles is a top seed that might not get stopped. Having not lost since mid-December, Kevin Rice, Pat Roberts, Paul O’Donnell and Brandon Barron are bent on taking the Lakers all the way, and least until the semifinals it won’t have to sweat.
Ah, but looming for Skaneateles in the second week could be a very tough semifinal, for no. 4 seed Bishop Ludden gave the Lakers that lone defeat in the Carrier Dome and no. 5 seed Bishop Grimes pushed them to double overtime back in January and has quite the senior duo in Mike Stone and Mike Sugamosto. Then again, Skaneateles just bashed Grimes 73-42. Harbinger, or too easy?
Meanwhile, Westhill, trying to defend its state Class B title with the no. 3 seed, just had to love the way the bracket worked out. The no. 2 seed is General Brown, a good team – but it hardly played the sort of competition the Warriors had to deal with in the OHSL Liberty division. Really, no one should worry Westhill here – except no. 11 seed Solvay, who had to scramble just to get into the playoffs, but has a winnable first-round game at Adirondack and beat the Warriors 58-55 earlier this month. The Dan Aiello-led Bearcats are a true sleeper..
Then there’s Class A, where one January slump changed everything. Instead of mighty J-D holding its usual top seed, three straight losses, including one to Cortland, allowed the Purple Tigers to zoom up to a 17-1 mark and, lo and behold, a new top seed. Yet since Demetrius Mitchell returned from his broken foot, the Red Rams have resumed the usual habit of crushing every opponent in sight – even CBA by 20.
Thus, when Whitesboro beat rival New Hartford last night, it really lost, because at 15-3 it moved up to a no. 3 seed – and smack into J-D’s bracket. The Warriors are well-balanced and disciplined, but has no one near the talent of Mitchell, DaJuan Coleman or Tyler Cavanaugh, so everything must break right if they meet the Rams in the semifinals.
New Hartford, at 14-4, doesn’t mind being a no. 4 seed in Cortland’s bracket, even if it may have to get through Indian River and, then, a potentially hairy quarterfinal with Oneida. The Spartans can go nuclear from 3-point land, which is quite proper to deal with Cortland, a team that has answers all over the court and a terrific core of players in Brandon Babcock, J.P. Reagan, Jon Prior, Justin Hogan and Qwuhail Barlow. You just know, too, that the Purple Tigers are heavily motivated to silence doubters who think they can’t beat a full-strength J-D, should the seeds hold.
We end up in Class AA, and the consensus is that one of three sides – Utica Proctor, CNS or Henninger – will finish in front, for good reason. All had similar regular seasons, with few hiccups – and they all seemed to come against each other. The Black Knights could not beat the Raiders in two tries – but Proctor lost twice to the Northstars, just like a year ago.
Proctor holds the all-important top seed, though, and with its depth and relentless style (espeically on the defensive end), the Raiders should be fine until the semifinals, where CBA could provide real problems if Shakir Evans and Rob Cuomo can knock down 3-pointers. Meanwhile, CNS leans on Zach Coleman’s innate ability to take over a game, plus the championship experience it gained last winter. Henninger beats foe with size all over the court, even at the guard spots, where Tevin Chisholm and Tommie Spinner run the show.
A blizzard of games (pun intended, given all the snow we’ve had) is about to hit us in the next two weeks. Maybe it will look familiar in some spots, but in the playoffs, never assume anything.
