Early season hoops hint at fun second half of season

You can’t learn a ton from the pre-holiday high school basketball schedule.

Many teams are playing games out of conference, out of class and sometimes out of state. How any of the jumbled mix of slates we have seen so far will translate at the state tournaments in two months is yet to be seen.

But, as we start to enter the brunt of the conference schedules, the outlook is starting to get clearer.

Here’s what we know for sure.

The Columbia Falls girls are good. Really good.

At 8-0 as of Wednesday, the Wildkats are beating teams by an average of more than 36 points per game. The closest game they’ve played this season — a 58-49 win over Northwest A rival Frenchtown — they led 22-2 after the first quarter.

Really, really good.

The biggest remaining test before the postseason for Columbia Falls will come on Jan. 20, against what may be the only team with more talent in the state, Missoula Sentinel.

The Spartan girls have yet to allow more than 34 points in a game this season, winning that game by 30 points. Also a clear favorite to take the state title, the Sentinel girls have looked nearly unparalleled in Class AA this season.

That game will certainly be one of the most intriguing of the season, even if last season’s contest between the teams ended up lopsided.

Yet, after that matchup, each team might have to find a way to hone in its best basketball while up big down the stretch, especially the Wildkats, who play in a down Northwest conference. The biggest test in the last few weeks may be against themselves, fighting against malaise to keep in peak form through the end of the season.

The Ronan girls have also looked dominant in the early season, though their dominance relative to the rest of the much larger Class B. By any metric, however, the Maidens (10-0) are among the best in the class and an easy pick to be battling for a trophy on the final day of the season.

The boys standings are a little muddier, with the bet teams all playing with apparent flaws.

It’s clear Glacier is one of the better boys teams in Class AA, if not the best in the West.

Behind the monster numbers being put up by center Jaxen Hashley, the Wolfpack (6-1) has beaten two of the top teams from the East in Great Falls (8-1) and Bozeman (6-2). It also lost badly to a Butte (5-3) team that hasn’t done much outside of that game.

Where then, does the Wolfpack stand against teams like defending state champs Billings Skyview (5-0)?

I have no idea.

But it probably means that they can hang with the best teams in the state if not beat all of them.

The same can be said for Bigfork, which is off to a 7-1 start this season, with a strong resume and a history of winning.

How good are the Vikings? Still to be seen, especially with no seniors on the roster and only three juniors. The talent and pedigree are there, and Bigfork is the favorite to win District 7B. How deep the team is able to go may depend on the growth of the team, both metaphorically and physically, in the next two months.

Polson and Flathead are both at 4-4 and look like they could each play their way into the playoffs with a strong second half. The Libby boys and Flathead girls are also on that list.

There are a few big nonconference games still left and a boatload of intense conference games to sort through. Some of these conclusions will bear out and others will be far off.

Even without knowing anything for sure, it’s clear that what we will see in the second half of the high school basketball season will be fun.

I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.