Class A Football Thoughts

Has anyone in Class A actually won some impressive games so far this year?

 

Elkhorn is 5-2, but their only above .500 win is Millard South (4-3) at home.

Grand Island is 6-1, but their only above .500 wins are over Lincoln SW (5-2) and North Platte (4-3)… both on the road.

Lincoln North Star is 6-1, but their only above .500 wins are home wins over Lincoln SW (5-2) and North Platte (4-3).

Lincoln SW is 5-2, but their only above .500 win is over Kearney (5-2) at home.

Millard South is 4-3, but their only above .500 win was a home game with Westside (4-3).

Millard West is 7-0, but their only above .500 win was a home game with Westside (4-3) as well.

North Platte is 4-3, but their only above .500 win was a home game with Kearney (5-2) .

Omaha Burke is 5-2, but their only above .500 win was a home win over an Omaha North (6-1) team who had to turn to their #4 QB.

Omaha Creighton Prep is 7-0, but their only above .500 wins are a home win over Millard South (4-3) and a road win over Westside (4-3).

Omaha North is 6-1, but their only above .500 win is a home win over Papillion-La Vista (5-2).

Omaha Westside is 4-3, but their only above .500 win is a road win to start off the year at Elkhorn (5-2).

Papillion-La Vista is 5-2, but their only above .500 win is a road win at Bellevue West (6-1).

Paplilion-La Vista South is 5-2, but their only above .500 win is a road win at Papillion-La Vista (5-2).

 

I think there are only 2 teams with an impressive resume right now.  

Kearney is 5-2, with home wins over Grand Island (6-1), Lincoln North Star (6-1), and road wins over Papillion-La Vista South (5-2) and Elkhorn (5-2).

Bellevue West is 6-1, but their only wins against teams over .500 are North Platte (4-3), Omaha Burke (5-2), and Papillion-La Vista South (5-2)… all at home. 

 

There you have it… 15 teams win winning records, but only 2 have more than 2 wins over winning teams. The season thankfully is not over yet.  Who can improve their resume quite a bit heading into the playoffs?  I realize your resume doesn’t mean much since rankings are not subjective, but these numbers pretty much will tell you how good a team’s Wildcard Points will be. Kearney leads the state at 5-2 since they have some good wins.  Bellevue West is 2nd at 6-1 with their wins.  Millard West is 3rd, but Omaha Creighton Prep, despite being 7-0 is all the way in 5th. 5-2 Elkhorn is in 15th.  So some teams need to pick up these big wins to get a boost going into the playoffs in their ranking.

 

Bellevue West (6-1) already has a good resume, but still has to host Omaha Creighton Prep (7-0) AND travel to Omaha North (6-1).  They will soar to #1 if they win those, but could lose both and fall to 6-3.  Still would have a strong resume.

 

Elkhorn (5-2) hosts Lincoln SW (5-2) and then travels to Norfolk (2-5). Beating Lincoln SW is a must if they want to avoid playing one of the top teams.

 

Grand Island (6-1) travels to Lincoln North Star (6-1) and then hosts Lincoln High (2-5).  Two wins would certify the Islanders for a great ranking in the playoffs (currently 4th).  North Star would be the 3rd winning team defeated on the road.

 

Kearney (5-2) has a home game with Norfolk (2-5) and then finishes at Lincoln SE (1-6).  Kearney needs to win these two games because they will see a loss in points just for playing them.

 

Lincoln North Star (6-1) hosts Grand Island (6-1) and then travels to Lincoln NE (3-4).  This game is huge for both teams.  North Star, currently in 6th, would love to pick up another big home win.

 

Lincoln SW (5-2) goes to Elkhorn (5-2) and then hosts Lincoln East (2-5). Southwest, currently in 7th, could stay high in the rankings, but a defeat to Elkhorn would not help things.

 

Millard South (4-3) goes to Omaha Northwest (1-6) and then hosts Millard North (2-5).  Even with two wins Millard South will probably finish low in the points, currently 14th, and have a tough first round draw.

 

Millard West (7-0) hosts Bellevue East (2-5) and then travels to Papillion-La Vista (5-2).  The last game is Millard West’s only chance to improve their ranking. With two wins Millard West would jump past a Bellevue West team that stumbles and possibly even jump a Kearney team that wins twice.

 

North Platte (4-3) hosts Lincoln NE (3-4) and goes to Fremont (1-6).  The Bulldogs won’t get any help from this schedule and will be stuck near their current 12th place ranking.

 

Omaha Burke (5-2) travels to Millard North (2-5) and hosts Papillion-La Vista South (5-2). Burke, currently ranked 11th, needs to win both games to try to get in position to host a first round game, yet a loss to Millard North could be disasterous and possibly put Burke in position to fall out of the playoffs if they don’t beat PLVS. Beating Millard North will lock up a playoff berth. 

 

Omaha Creighton Prep (7-0) plays at Bellevue West (6-1) and then hosts Omaha South (0-7).  Prep, currently 5th, needs to beat Bellevue West or they could go tumbling down the rankings, possibly even falling to a road team in the first round despite an 8-1 record.

 

Omaha North (6-1) plays at Papillion-La Vista South (5-2) and then hosts Bellevue West (6-1).  North could go soaring up the rankings with two wins, but with two losses could possibly see them on the outside of the playoffs at 6-3, despite starting 5-0.

 

Omaha Westside (4-3) hosts Papillino-La Vista (5-2) and then goes to Omaha Central (0-7). Westside will make the playoffs with a win at Central, even if they lose to Papillion, but will not see a good matchup in the first round, currently 13th, unless they win both.

 

Papillion-La Vista (5-2) goes to Omaha Westside (4-3) and then hosts Millard West (7-0). Papillion-La Vista, currently ranked 10th, could fall down the rankings with a couple losses, but with two wins would be district champs and likely soar up the rankings into a home game.

 

Papillion-La Vista South (5-2) hosts Omaha North (6-1) before traveling to Omaha Burke (5-2). Like North and Burke, two wins would send them up the rankings from their current 9th ranking, however unlike North and Burke they would make the playoffs still.

 

And as an extra… Millard North (2-5) hosts Omaha Burke (5-2) and goes to Millard South (4-3).  The Mustangs are on the brink of elimination, but with two wins and Papillion-La Vista South winning out and Bellevue West defeating Omaha North would find themselves in a tie with the Vikings and Burke at a 1-3 District Record.  Millard North with a point average of 38.5714 would currently lose to Omaha North’s 41.1429 and Omaha Burke’s 40.8571 (2 of the 3 would get in), but if Burke loses twice while Millard North won they would almost certainly be the odd team out.  

 

In other words… for almost every team that has a winning record, the next two weeks will mean just about everything.

Jones vs. Young II – Preview

Tonight is the big night.  Jones vs. Young, for possibly the final time!  If the two teams do continue their strong play and meet up at State we’ll get one last chance, otherwise this is it.  The game is at Omaha Central, whose gym only holds 1700.  The place will be packed, and early!

Central is lead of course by Josh Jones, but two other guards (Ronnell Grixby and PG Chris Griffin) play key roles, as does forwards Donald Jones and Lorenzo Wilson.  West is lead by guards Antoine Young, Jeff Allgood, and center Shomari Wellington.

The two battles to watch will be Jones vs. Young and Wellington vs. Wilson.  Jones will guard Antoine on defense, though Antoine doesn’t guard Jones going the other way.  Antoine needs to get into the lane more than he did in the last game and get some FTs.  He also needs to be careful not to pick up tacky fouls or charges, as he was fouled out last time these two teams met.  Jones needs to take control of the offense and shoot better tonight.  Last game he 5-17 for only 10 points.  He also was taken out of the offense late in the game and didn’t assert himself much.  Look for him to shoot much better tonight and as a result take control of the offense.

Regardless of how Jones and Young do, the real difference makers may be inside.  Central is a smaller team with only 3 players (6′4″ Donald Jones, 6′5″  Lorenzo Wilson, and 6′3″ Denzell Cook) over 6′2″.  Bellevue West has 4 (6′5″ Steve Palmtag, 6′6″ KC Rodenburg, 6′5″ Shomari Wellington and 6′8″ Bryce Reinders).  If these 4 can dominate inside with their superior size, the scales may be tipped in favor of West.

The home court advantage could also be big for Central.  The crowd will be raucous and should provide some great atmosphere.

If you don’t get to go see it tonight (only 1700 will be getting in, so you’d have to get there early!) you can catch it Sunday on COX Channel 2.

My prediction?  Bellevue West 79 – Omaha Central – 77.

Jones vs. Young I

So on Monday I went to the Finale of the Metro Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament.

Jones being the one in the white (#23 for Omaha Central) and Young being the one in the purple (#30 for Bellevue West).

These two are both commited to Creighton for next year, and will be a special duo at Creighton.  I don’t know when the last time Creighton had two big time Omaha kids on the roster, let alone both the same class.  They will also get to play one year with Josh Dotzler (another former Bellevue West PG) as he will be a senior.

It’s fun to watch these two and their teams battle in their final year as rivals before they become teammates.  Jones would guard Young often on defense, while Bellevue West played more zone and Young wasn’t on Jones very much.

Jones is a better shooter and hit some great shots while only scoring 10 points.  He had a sick crossover pullback jumper over Young in the first half that got the crowd excited.  He also plays good defense.  He’s a pretty impressive talent, especially considering he had open heart surgery over the summer.

Young is the more talented of the two.  At 6′0″ he’s fearless driving the paint constantly and drawing lots of fouls (though not as much in this game).  The best facet of his game is definitely his passing though.  He shows an uncanny ability to pass that you know is special when you see it.  His passes are so smooth and crisp, a thing of beauty.  He also showed some strong ability to look off defenders on passes and threw a few perfect no look passes.

At Creighton, both of these players can thrive if they work hard.  Young could play PG, or SG for Dana.  If he does play PG, it will be a stark difference from former Bellevue West PG Josh Dotzler, whose shooting ability (or disability) has disheartened some Jays fans.  What Dotzler doesn’t have in shooting he does have in running Dana’s offense and playing defense.  His backup, Cavel Witter, provides some penetrating ability and offensive spark off the bench.  If Josh continues to develop, he could provide both of those roles in one PG.  Jones will also thrive in an offense where he has some better players to set him up (no offense to Ronnel Grixby and Chris Griffin).

Near the end of the game with about 3-4 minutes left, Young picked up his 5th foul while trying to block a Central player.  I didn’t think it was a very good call, Young is the biggest name in the state and I don’t think you foul him out on a play like this one.  West was up a few, but I think everyone at the game got the feeling that Omaha would put on a bit of a run and win the game.  The next few minutes however were quite surprising.  West, led by Jeff Algood, played strong down the stretch and managed to hold off Central to win by around 10 points.  Central never could get Jones going all day.  I was a little disappointed with how they ran their offense down the stretch.  Their best player is clearly Jones and there were too many possesions where he didn’t even touch the ball.  Part of this falls on his teammates, and part on him, but he needs to more assertive in situations like this.  I felt he probably could have scored some more points, but he didn’t really assert himself into the game like he was going to take it over.  He may be a player that doesn’t really want to take a game over, and that will be fine at Creighton where other players will be willing to take that role (see P’Allen Stinnett this year and Nate Funk last year).

Game 2 between these two will be January 18th (at Central).  If your a hoops fan, definitely considering making it to that game.  These teams and these two players are fun to watch!