Southern C Divisional Preview - Boys (Guest Blogger)

Hey all! Slim here once again as your resident Class C basketball blogger. Districts have come and gone, with some very exicting games I might add...so that means Divsionals have arrived!

In South-Central Montana...it's the Southern C that concerns us. The Girls Southern C doesn't get under until next week, so I'll just give you a boys preview, as the Boys tip-off tomorrow.

Southern C Boys at Billings Shrine – Thurs.-Sat.

12:30 p.m. – Plevna (15-4, 4C #1) vs. Plenty Coups (19-1, 6C #2), first round
2 p.m. - Broadview-Lavina (18-4, 5C #1) vs. Park City (13-7, 6C #3), first round
6:30 p.m. – Bridger (18-2, 6C #1) vs. Ekalaka (10-11, 4C #3), first round
8 p.m. – Harlowton (16-5, 5C #2) vs. Wibaux (18-3, 4C #2), first round

1. Who’s the favorite?

I’ve got to go with Plenty Coups here even though they lost in the district championship to Bridger. I haven’t seen the 4C teams play, so it’s tough for me to really make an educated prediction. Wibaux beat Plevna twice during the regular season, but lost the district championship. Plenty Coups did the same thing with Bridger. I haven’t seen anything from the 5C to suggest that those teams are on par with the other districts, so I’ll take Plenty Coups and can see a repeat of the District 6C Championship in the Divisional final.

2. Non-district champion with best chance to pull off an upset at Divisionals?

Plenty Coups is the simple choice, but I wouldn’t call it an upset if they won. That being said, I don’t see any of the other non-champions pulling an upset. On paper, Wibaux appears to be the best 2 seed in the tournament, but I don’t see them beating Bridger. That leaves us with three potential district championship rematches on Saturday: Plenty Coups versus Bridger in the Division Championship, and, in loser-out games, Wibaux versus Plevna and Harlowton versus Broadview-Lavina. The 2 seeds could each win those match-ups, but I’ll only take Plenty Coups over Bridger and Wibaux over Plevna as “upsets.”

3. District champion most likely to be upset at Divisionals?

The district champions are Plevna, Broadview-Lavina, and Bridger. I think Plevna and Broadview-Lavina both lose to Plenty Coups, and I do see Bridger advancing to the Division Championship. As I said earlier, Plenty Coups winning any game is not an upset, but if Bridger were to lose before the championship, that would be an upset. Wibaux could knock off the Scouts in the semi-finals, but that’s the only potential upset I see.

4. State Tournament Qualifier Predictions:

I’ll do you one better and predict the entire bracket:

Round One: Plenty Coups over Plevna, Broadview-Lavina over Park City, Bridger over Ekalaka, and Wibaux over Harlowton.

Friday Loser-Out Games: Plevna over Park City and Harlowton over Ekalaka

Semi-Finals: Plenty Coups over Broadview-Lavina and Bridger over Wibaux

Saturday Loser-Out Games: Broadview-Lavina over Harlowton and Wibaux over Plevna

Consolation: Wibaux over Broadview-Lavina

Championship: *Plenty Coups over Bridger

*Plenty Coups and Bridger advance as Wibaux cannot challenge the Scouts.

Stay tuned next week for my Girls Southern C Preview!