Three more weeks of basketball
The whirlwind high school basketball season came to a fantastic close this weekend. Just in time for another fantastic basketball postseason.
For me, the end of the high school season meant driving nearly 1,000 miles and spending the better part of a week covering great, high-intensity state tournament basketball games in the far corners of our state. In Billings, Glacier continued to put its stamp on Class AA with another strong basketball season. In Bozeman, the Bigfork boys finished off a unblemished season that only one other boys team in the state could accomplish this season. In Great Falls, Columbia Falls nearly pulled out a double state title bid, settling for third place and another great season.
Along the way, a smattering of instant classics filled the weekend, including a Class B girls final that rivals any contest I’ve seen in excitement. With a 103-game win streak on the line, Fairfield senior Jill Barta, the Montana high school player of the year, hit game-tying shots at the end of regulation and overtime and willed her team to victory over a Malta team that has played the Eagles in more important games than any other team during their four-year stretch of wins.
That’s not to mention the week before, when the Columbia Falls boys surprised everybody outside the Valley, and a few people inside, to win the Class A state championship.
It was an exciting final two weeks, and a fantastic appetizer for what is always a great buffet of basketball frenzy this weekend in the NCAA tournament.
Even with no Montana team in the men’s or women’s tourneys, there is still plenty of intrigue.
In a year filled with parity, very few teams have stood out as tournament favorites. While picking a perfect bracket is always hard, this year’s uncertainty, mixed with a certain billionaire duo’s very rich incentive may make it more impossible than usual. Unknown teams have high seeds and known teams have had poor seasons, if they’re not entering the tournament bumped and bruised.
That of course brings a slew of questions that can only be answered as you watch the next few days.
Is Kansas healthy enough to withstand the loss of one of its best players? Is Wichita State as good as its record? Where, more specifically, is American University?
With all those questions come answers, usually in the way of more buzzer beaters, upsets and heartbreakers. A weekend that just featured plenty of that in Montana has given way to another weekend with all the same traits on a national scale.
So fill out your brackets the best you can and don’t bank on a billion dollars washing your way in the next month. After all that, forget who you picked, relax and have fun. Another great week of basketball is here, even if school-sponsored basketball isn’t here for long.