AZSPORTSNETWORK

Good Morning 3A fans!

How is the weather in the winter wonderland up North and East! Man I sure do miss the snow as I lived in CO, Mn, SD, Iowa and others where snow was the best part of the year for me.

Enough of the weather and lets start looking at the 3A conference situation as we enter playoffs.

First lets look at the boys divisions. There is no doubt that my feeling is their are only a few teams with a legit shot to win it all and that will go up or down based on who meets EFH early based on ppts. But after watching EFH and having seen all other contenders that is the conclusion I come from at this point in the season. So now lets look at the contenders for the 3A BBB run for the championship:

1. Chinle: They are a huge favorite as the team that has the best chance vs EFH. They have size, shooting, quickness and can play zone or press. They also have depth. if they are on opposite sides of the brackets then this could be a possible match-up. In my opinion they are the team with the best shot to dethrone EFH.

2. Blue Ridge: They have been playing very good basketball and if they can do this for the rest of the season look for them to be a nice contender to at least get through to the championship game.

3. Winslow: You cannot count out this talented team. But they are streaky and can go down quicker than people think.

4. Hollbrook: If they can sustain playing at a high level they can also make a run to the title game.

Now for real longshots:

5. Florence: Playing real good ball right now and can surprise and upset some teams along the way.

6. Safford: Same as with Florence. Size could be the issue.

Santa Cruz, South Pointe and Empire can be dangerous but the other North teams can also surprise but besides bracket malfunctions there are not a lot of contenders to dethrone EFH this season.

As for the girls it is all North besides Safford. Sorry but I have seen them all and it is Window Rock, Winslow and Monument valley. The other North teams can go far like Hollbrook and Ganado and Chinle but a team may not make it. I always think of Alchesay on the North but they are from the East.

Safford is the only non-North team with a chance. They have a very good team. However, their leading scorer went down vs Benson and it could be a bad injury. If this happens it hurts their chances but they are still a good team.