Hey everybody, Slim here once again with my final Class C Tourney preview. This time, we've already seen a very exciting State C boys Tourney wrap up with Winifred ending up as the only undefeated boys team in Montana (26-0), so let's now look at the the girls can do...
STATE C Girls @ Belgrade
11:00 a.m. - Belt (20-5, North #2) vs. Highwood (18-3, North #3)
12:30 p.m. - Ekalaka (24-2, South #2) vs. Twin Bridges (23-1, West #1)
2:00 p.m. - Circle (18-6, East #2) vs. Big Sandy (23-0, North #1)
6:30 p.m. - Harlowton (21-2, South #1) vs. Hot Springs (18-2, West #2)
8:00 p.m. - Belt/Highwood vs. Hinsdale (23-1, East #1)
As was the case with the State C Boys Tournament, the Northern Division sends three teams to the State C Girls Tournament. Belt and Highwood will play each other in the play-in game Thursday at 11:00 a.m. to kick off the tournament. Look at the bracket here.
1. Who’s the favorite?
As I said in the boys’ blog, all of these teams deserve to be here, and any one of them could win the tournament. The favorite here is probably Big Sandy, given the unblemished record. Twin Bridges and Hinsdale both deserve to be in the conversation with their one-loss records, but until they lose, Big Sandy is the team to beat.
2. Which non-Division champion is most likely to pull an upset?
Highwood. They played Big Sandy within a point at the divisional tournament in the semi-finals. They’ve beaten Belt three times this season, so I think they win the play-in game, then get an interesting match-up with Hinsdale. Highwood likes to get the ball up and down the floor, and Hinsdale prefers a slower-tempo. I like up-tempo style of Highwood to prevail, and the Mountaineers to pull the upset.
3. Which Division champion is most likely to be upset?
Hinsdale is the one seed I see being upset, but that’s more because of the match-up with Highwood than anything else. The other three one seeds should all win their first round games, so, if Hinsdale gets past Highwood, there would be zero upsets in the state tournament prior to loser-out action. Overall, I think Harlowton is probably the weakest one seed, and they could suffer a letdown against Hot Springs, but I don’t see that happening. The only upset I’m picking, then, is Highwood over Hinsdale.
4. Predictions:
First Round: Highwood over Belt (play-in game), Twin Bridges over Ekalaka, Big Sandy over Circle, Harlowton over Hot Springs, Highwood over Hinsdale
Friday Loser-Out Games: Ekalaka over Belt, Hinsdale over Hot Springs, Ekalaka over Circle
Semi-Finals: Big Sandy over Twin Bridges, Highwood over Harlowton
Saturday Loser-Out Games: Harlowton over Ekalaka, Twin Bridges over Hinsdale
Consolation: Twin Bridges over Harlowton
Championship: Big Sandy over Highwood
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