AZSPORTSNETWORK

Hello 3A fans!

I want to congratulate all of the state spiritline teams who competed at the state championships this last Saturday in Prescott Valley. It was very exciting!!

WE ARE PUMPED!!!!! We will be covering the North Regionals and representing Chinle as their crew. The Den is an amazing atmosphere and I cannot wait until next week. It is 4 days of probably the best basketball event in our state even equalling the state playoffs!

It starts next Tuesday and goes thru Friday and we will have all games. I am also excited because I have been losing weight just so I can go and meet with my local hook-up and get my dose of Navajo tacos!! The only thing better would be to find the local Tamale lady!! I also enjoy the fans and of course our friends from up North who we love to see and spend time with, which is never long enough. Last time we went to Chinle and covered the Coke Classic it was coooooooolllllllddddddd brrrrr. Now I love the cold and I was in heaven. But as I age I am finding out my body cannot take it like it use to and I find myself wimping out like others and wearing jackets. BUTTTTTT I will always wear shorts and never give them up even for the North cold weather.

ELVIS ALERT!!
We were told there is the Navajo Elvis guy at the games. Our goal is to get him on video and interview him on our show!! I knew Elvis wasn't dead!! he just relocated to the area of the best Navajo Tacos around!!!

Winslow Spiritline State Champions:
The North 3A had only one representative at state and they won a state championship!!! WOW they were awesome!!

Can anybody stop EFH Boys team??!!!!:
Yes and I predict that if you are a coach and call or text me I will have the correct prescription to defeat the EFH team in what would be the greatest upset possibly in the states history! However, this will not come cheap and I will be auctioning them off next week for all to bid on. This is a money back gaurantee but do not think my plan is for the weak-minded. The Vision I received last week on how to defeat this team is for only those coaches that are willing to put it all on the line!! No holding back because the plan is so deep that only a few will even have the brain capacity to figure it out. That is why the person who wins the bid on my plans should also get the extended service of me with your team helping you install for that important game.

GBB Round Valley Knocks off #1 Window Rock:
Yep they pulled it off!!! But as the basketball gods would have none of it as the RV team then turns around and loses to Alchesay by 19!???!! I tell people time and time again about the emtional aspect of the game and still people think it is a joke. However, WR may have been looking ahead as they ended up defeating Winslow showing they are still 1 of the top teams who could win state this season.

GBB Safford Loses Hancock:
IMO Safford was the only team who had the chance to break thru the North Gauntlet in the playoffs but their chances just decreased after losing their top player Hancock to an ACL injury. I saw this happen early in their game vs benson but did not want to say anything until I knew how long she would be out. Safford has a lot of depth and still has a chance but that did take a big hit with the loss to hancock. The North top 3 are very tough and the losses vs each other just makes them better. But come playoff time Safford must hope, which they should get, is 2 playoff games at home and try to avoid most North/native teams early. But after watching them they are a very good looking team with size, speed and depth.

BBB Globe:
Billy the Kidd sighting????? I hear he is back in Globe after being elsewhere during football season. If this is true the baseball coach must be overjoyed and must have been a very good person this last year because that will be huge for his chances at repeating in baseball this season.

GBB:
Empire: The girls lost Cooper to Patagonia but have moved up and is sitting in a nice spot to try and get to the playoffs this season.

Hello 2A sports fans!!

I wanted to give a huge shout to all of the cheerleading competitors at the state championship this last weekend which we covered. It was totally awesome and I will be having an editorial article tomorrow on the event.

The countdown begins as we enter into the top 24 teams in basketball who will make the playoffs or not.

A few years back as an AD I had brought a plan up in our conference that basically included allowing all teams into the playoffs, including football as well. At that point it was turned down and I was not allowed to have coaches see this format. However, last season this same format was brought to a vote and some felt it was to many teams. In the end they voted to include 24 teams and get rid of regionals.

Now the reason I still do not like this format is because of the new regional scheduling. If not for the regional scheduling I think we would have gotten close to having this as near as perfect as possible without including all teams. The regional scheduling has been horrible and made the conferences worth nothing as well as making some regions loaded with easier teams where some teams will benefit by getting in and other stronger team losing out by being in a tougher area for the regional scheduling.

I want to say once more how I am still asking Valley Christian and Phoenix Christian GBB teams to cancel the game this Friday!! Unless this is a close game this is the sort of game that is needed for our 2A playoffs which at times has been about a few teams. Having the teams undefeated and opposite sides of the bracket would have been awesome. But if VC wins and it is not close the playoffs for me will not be as exciting.

Now this gets me back to my next complaint for the 2A people as well as others. Put in a committee to seed these teams after the season is over so we do not have a fiasco like in football. IF....PC and VC are on the same side of the brackets that is gonna be a huge joke come playoff time. It is time to start being about getting the top teams into the title game instead of other issues.

Right now there are a few teams on the bubble in 2A in both the girls and boys side. The bottom of the powerpoints are going to come down to the final games being played.

Now lets talk about what happened this last week in 2A basketball:

Boys Basketball:

SCA over WWP and over Ft. Hills:
Well the hype of this game was much more exciting than the final outcome which was all SCA from beginning to the end. With only 2 turnovers they showed why they are a very good team. WWP is also very tough but I think the schedule of pre-season games is a huge difference for these type of teams. SCA lost their main big kid and reloads with a former NBA players son in Ostertag. So far the only team to come close to SCA besides the OT loss to EFH was VC. We do have film on our site of this game.

VC over Precision:
VC wins this in 2 OTs and Precision may be peaking at the right time. VC has played a tough schedule and will be ready come playoff time.

SanCarlos over Benson by 5:
Sure now other ranking sources have gotten behind the SC bandwagon now but from the out-set they have been in our top 5 because in Antonio they have one of the best players in 2A. Please do not look at this game as a bad victory. Benson is not the team who was struggling early on. They have regrouped and although they have absolutely no depth to speak of they are a very good team and can do it all. They may be one of the more physical teams to play in 2A this season. Benson has Thatcher Tuesday of this week in a game we will cover live and should be a very good game. SC has PRCA coming up and that should also be a great battle.

Willcox:
If you checked out our rankings they have moved up fast and deservingly so. I will have to say that I missed this one because of a loss they had vs Pima but I later found out their main player was out but is now back again. This Willcox team, playing with the confidence they gained from football is a huge threat to get to the state championship this season. This is not a joke at all. In my opinion one of the few rural schools that have a chance is Willcox and they have a great chance. Keep an eye on this Willcox team as a good position in the PPTs will give them a chance to get to the finals as they did in football.

North Teams:
What has happened to Many Farms??? They have dropped off the radar. GreyHills is another nice looking team who may not make the playoffs. However, a team that is on the rise but will not make our top 5 is Williams. They beat MF this last week quite handidly and have 3 games here late that will vault them higher in the PPTs. Luckily they finally jumped into the top 24 and have more than likely secured a playoff spot. Last year Valley Sanders was very tough and this season has dropped off of the map.

ALA over Horizon Honors:
Who saw this coming?? HH is in the playoffs but they are not playing good basketball right now. ALA helped themselves get back into the playoff hunt.

Morenci:
They are on a 4 game losing skid and they will welcome the game vs Tombstone this week as they need to get back on track to keep their playoff hopes a live. The problem is Tombstone can be a dangerous team even after losing a few kids. One day they play with tons of heart and then the next day they struggle with the fundamentals. With 3 games left they need to win 2 of 3 to secure a spot especially with an @ game with Benson in between Tombston and Pima. The game vs Pima could just well be the game that gets them in or out but the Tombstone game is a must win!

Bisbees chances fading away:
They are also on a 4 game losing skid and it does not get better this week! With games with Benson and Willcox they really need to beat Tombstone. They are sitting at #24 right now and even 1 win may not get them into the playoffs.

Tombstone:
How does a coach save his season if you are the Yello Jackets??!! With no chance of making the playoffs they have a chance to hurt 2 rival schools and knock them out of the playoffs with games at Morenci and Bisbee. If Tombstone beats 1 od these teams they are probably out of the playoffs barring no upsets. They end with Thatcher and Willcox but if they can end going 2-2 that would be a great way to head into next season.

NEXT Girls Basketball!

Hello 1A sports fans!!!

Wow what a week! This is the time of year that we all look forward to and there is plenty of action for us to talk about as we enter playoffs for the Winter Sports in AZ. The 1-3A soccer playoffs start this week and of course we have a lot of the regionals happening as well.

This last week we had a lot of action on the basketball court with a few upsets and a few games that have shown some teams are destined to possibly win it all at state.

Lets get this started:

Soccer:The 1-3A soccer playoffs start this week and as most of you know I was a college and HS soccer HC and love the game. Tomorrow we will do a preview on our blogs for you so that we can give some good attention to the smallball soccer in AZ.

Girls Basketball:

If you look at our rankings you can see that not one team has been overlooked and this week we will discuss what we think is happening going into the regionals and state playoffs which start in about 2 weeks.

1A Team of the Week Honors goes to Rock Point!! Last week they beat Mogollon 2x, got a revenge win at home by defeating St. Michaels and then blew out Joe City to end their spectacular week to show us all they are a legit contender for the title! So congrats to Rock Point for being named the AZSportsnetwork 1A Team of the Week!

North:

Fredonia: If there was any chance for them to make regionals I think it is far fetched this year as they have been losing games BIG this season and unless something drastically changes I do not see them getting out of regionals and surprising teams at state.

Northland Prep: I have liked this teams grit all season! They had a huge chance to beat Rock Point but could not hold onto the lead earlier in the season. They them turned around and got blown out and it seemed like this team was done for the year. I have been saying they can make a huge impact come regionasl and I still believe it as they stayed true to form as they defeated a very strong St. Mikes team and showing us all they may be the most dangerous team come regionals and if they make state!

Rock Point: Wow!!! what a week. The game at home vs St. Mikes was a huge win. But to get 4 big wins during the week shows they can keep focused for state and make a run at the title. The game I felt was huge was how badly they defeated JC, who is a very good team. Beating them by 18, 49-31 was a very good message to send to all across the state. They set themselves up for a strong run at regionals and state. I think what is very important is that they are being tested late in the season while SR and GB are coasting to easy victories at the end of the season. We will see if this helps. If they get the top seed and SR does as well then they would meet in the semis if it all comes to a head as it should.

Joe City: They had a rough week! But losing to St. Mikes and RP is not real bad as they have a rematch vs St. Mikes again this week before they head to regionals. This team has shown a lot and can win regionals but they cannot overlook a few teams in this tough region!

Seligman: This team has quietly just kept winning and lost a 10 point game vs Williams who earlier in the week upset Many Farms. Seligman is a darkhorse to make state and I think they can be dangerous if they get thru the gauntlet in the North regionals and make state. They have already beaten JC but did lose to Grand Canyon which dropped them earlier in the year in our rankings. Do not forget they also only lost by 1 to williams earlier in the year.

Grand Canyon: They have quietly continued to win and can also make noise at regionals. Their big wins have been to JC and Northland prep. They lost a close game to Seligman. Many people who have seen them, and this is 1 team I have not, feel at the beginning of the season they did not look like a playoff team. However, they have competed hard this season and going into what is the best region in 1A have a shot and could make this very interesting.

South Division: Remember that this division now comes down to the top 4 teams in powerpoints and there are not any regionals.

Who is in:
#1 seed: Gila Bend
#2 Seed: Patagonia unless they falter vs Immaculate
#3 St. David

Who has a shot at the #4 seed:

Greenfields: They are sitting 4 PPTs ahead of St. Gregs right now with the following games left to be played and our predictions:

2-2-2010: @ Academy of Tucson: Win
2-4-2010: Home vs St. Gregs: Underdog
2-5-2010: @ St. David: Heavy Underdog L

With this 4 point lead the game vs St. Gregs is huge. For GR the game they lost earlier vs Immaculate could come down to the game where they let a game slip and costs them the 4th playoff spot in the south. Plus the victory for St. Gregs vs Gilbert Christian really was a big victory as well. if they can beat St. Gregs then they can get the 4th spot.

St. Gregs: They are about 4 points behind GF with a match vs them this Thursday away. They have the following games left and are the heavy favorites to win the 4th seed. On paper they are the better team but......

2-2-2010: Desert Christian: Non-bonus points I think
2-4-2010: @ Greenfields: If they win they get the 4th spot barring any other upsets. Destiny in their hands.
2-5-2010: Host Gila Bend: L
2-9-2010: Host TO: W and if they lose to Gf earlier this game could be the game that eventually could clinch it in the end.

Immaculate Heart: Still in the running being 9 points off of Greenfields and near 3 from St. Gregory. But they have a chance and will need to sweep in order to get the 4th spot and it will not be easy!

2-2-2010: Host Patagonia: Underdog
2-4-2010: Host Tanque Verde: W
2-5-2010: @ Patagonia

Their season goes thru a Patagonia team who very well could be the story of the season. if they can sweep all of these games with the victory point they have a chance. But any loss and they are done barring a total melt-down of the other teams which I do not see happening. They may get Patagonia 1x but I do not see a sweep.

Who wishes there was still a regional: Valley Union has a decent team but the loss vs St. Gregs really hurt their chances.

But with the teams under Gila Bend being so close in talent the regionals would have been up for grabs barring any upset of GB.

East Division: Regionals here we come!!!

Salt River: This seems to be all about 2-4 as Salt River has dominated all but GB this season. However, the fact they have to go on a long road trip out East could be the hardest obstacle for them at regionals. They have to stay focused as not only is Ft. Thomas in their region but a Duncan team who just defeated Ft. Thomas this last week. In the past this region is notorious for upsets so you must tread carefully. If they win they are opposite of Gila bend in state. If they are upset then they will see GB sooner than later at state if all plays out.

Ft. Thomas: They were upset by Duncan @ Duncan but we had been warning you about this early on in the season. They have 3 strong players and will be tough at regionals but what will be interesting is if they or Duncan will be on the same side of the bracket with SR at regionals which means a tougher game in the semis for them and SR unless it is a 2-3 seed and they meet Duncan instead.

Duncan: Most dangerous team who will make the playoffs no matter what seed they get in at state.

Superior and Gilbert Christian: Both these teams have chances for the 4th seed as well as a few other teams. GC is still struggling but have beaten Superior in closer games this season. I would call it equal going into regionals.

West Division: This division is all about 3 teams. VL, Salome and yes Joy Christian. Although JChrisitian lost to VL and beat Salome they are the team secure with the 3rd spot. Salome and VL are as close as they get and really this is the regional with a less chance for an upset from teams outside these top 3. if there is a chance it will come from PhoeniX Day School for the Deaf or bagdad with Bagdad having already beaten PDSD 2x this season.

Coming Next: Boys basketball!!