For d1 Will Oakley and Raft River dominate there? Shoshone could do ok. Lighthouse athletic program down. How will Grace do? Gage Stoddard is on his mission will he play anywhere when he gets back? Will Grace get bumped up to 2a anytime soon? Butte and Challis how will they do. Taylor’s Crossing not that great.
Don‘t know much about treasure valley or Northern Idaho on that level. Lapwai, Prairie, maybe Troy tough.
D2 Rockland, North Gem, Watersprings any of those teams may make a run. Mackay and even Grace Lutheran, Sho Ban and maybe Clark County could make some noise. Leadore not sure.
Sawtooth Carey been to state seventeen straight years. Head and shoulder talent wise many of those years. When there was talent near there level beneficiary of ball bouncing there way during district tournament.
Had transfers move in sometimes, cases of divorce, Hayden Waynent after football season in Richfield moved to Carey during basketball season. Carson Perkes Richfield last year Carey this year.
Hunter Smith dad took job in Carey eight grade year after growing up in Dietrich. Will Perkes take Carey to state this year? And would they of been to state without those players? Besides farms a few small businesses Carey is largely a bedroom community. I don’t know what else would bring big population to that town middle of nowhere. Will be d2 next cycle but enrollment may go down for at least a few cycles.
Most players lived there since birth but have the small percentage of transfers helped them? Richfield tough. Clay Kent good athlete, Luke Dalton, Hudson Lucero could help. I don’t know how old Cole Pecks kids are, he lives in Richfield may have commuted to Carey though for school. Camas lost Trey Smith but good athletes still around. Doubt Hagerman or Hansen will make much noise.
Castleford good, to be d1 state let them stay down this cycle. Will be down football next cycle. Dietrich the Shaw cousins, Payton Sneddon if Hayden Astles knee recovers will help Dietrich this year. Sawtooth this may be year Panthers don’t know what to do first weekend in March.
Horseshoe Bend and Council maybe Cascade could make noise in Long Pin. Two teams state this year.
don’t know much abWhite Pine or North Star. what i see happening in 1a this year.
Lapwai throttled everyone. Other schools some made state by skin of teeth. A last second foul with made free throws snd last shot in ot sent Carey to state. Winning coin toss and getting first round sled with Hagerman helped.
they misses several one and ones against Rockland at state. Fouk not called toward end ,ay of upset people, but was there a foul at end that put Carey in state? Besides getting a transfer from Richfield. I don’t think officials ever effect the outcome of game with something at end. Plenty of other things that happen.
than Rocklamd had close game with Camas, and North Gem got in by skin of teeth against Watersprings. So state this year at 1ad2 level some games blowouts but many close games to get there and close games in tournament.
Dietrich is missing the tournament now. Had some injured players. Sun Valley 2a enrollment made a run. Beat Castleford surprised me. Camas took tournament. Sun Valley ahead of Carey whole game. Carey couldn’t miss second half. Richfield transfer got fouled with two seconds left put game in ot. And Carey player scored on last second.
will they finally miss state? D1 next cycle. Rockland and Council could be tough as well. Don’t know much about Northern Idaho teams besides Lapwai winning it all. Camas or Rockland could take it all.
I knew the VC vs LC game would be a good one. I picked victory solely based on the regular season match up. You very well could be right about Lakeside. I personally think Logos will give them the better game as Prairie seems to be inconsistent lately. With Liberty winning and if Lakeside pulls it off Oakley and Rimrock will bump up in the seeding and a intriguing first round match up at state could be Lakeside vs Grace. That would be a rematch of last years 3rd place game that Lakeside won in overtime.
Big win for Liberty Charter last night over Victory Charter. Because District 3 doesn't allow the 3rd place to team to challenge for the second bid to state, both Rimrock and Liberty Charter have clinched.
Up north, the more I think about it, the more I like Lakeside to win the play-in game against Prairie/Logos. Vander Brown might be the best pure scorer in the state this year. He's gotta be averaging close to 25 points a night.
District tournaments are wrapping up this week how are things looking for state? As far as I see it Lapwai, Kamiah and Oakley are all in for sure and Grace is looking good to get in as well. In the 3rd District you have Rimrock, Victory Charter and Liberty Charter still duking it out. 2 out of 3 will get in but their regular season games were all to close to pick favorites right now. The last 2 spots are probably the hardest to pick. The second place team out of the 4th District will get one of them which will be between Raft River and LHC. The last spot will most likely be one of 3 teams. Lakeside, Prairie, or Logos. The exception being if Genesis Prep or Wallace pulls off the upset over Lakeside. These are my picks in seed order.
1-Lapwai
2-Kamiah
3-Grace
4-Logos
5-Victory
6-Rimrock
7-Oakley
8-LHC
I base this off of maxpreps. If I went off of my personal feelings Grace would be 2 and Oakley would be 5.
1AD1: I don't see Lapwai losing a game this year. They are one of the best teams in the state, regardless of classification. Grace is probably the 2nd best team in the state, and I would slate whoever winds up in 2nd place in District 2 as the 3rd best team. Lakeside and Oakley will also compete for a trophy at state. The District 3 schools are not on the same level as the rest of the state, Rimrock losing to Murtaugh is evidence of that.
D2: It's a shame that only two teams will likely get in from District 4. Camas, Carey, Dietrich, and even Castleford are arguably 4 of the top 6 teams in the state. I'd take either Camas or Carey as the title favorites this year. Whoever comes out on top between Rockland, North Gem, and Watersprings will also be competitive at state. Council will probably win District 3, but they have lost to the four best teams they've played this year. I doubt anyone from the north will make any noise at state. District 4 will be fun to follow in the home stretch of the regular season, and the district tourney should be very competitive.
D1- I know all the talk is about Lapwai and their incredible run but let's not just stop talking about the rest of the classification. Up north their district tournament is going to be very interesting to see who finishes 2nd behind Lapwai with Prairie, Kamiah, and Logos in almost a dead heat. Also don't forget about Lakeside whose limited schedule has them flying under the radar right now. In District 3 it looks like Rimrock and Victory are the only competitive teams and I could see either or both of them going 2 and out at state. This weekends game between Victory and Butte should give us a better read. In the 4th district Oakley seems to be in charge with Lighthouse sitting in the 2nd spot. Oakley had a very impressive win over Ambrose and could be hitting their stride. In the combined 5th/ 6th Grace got the big win over Butte in their first match up. Grace in my opinion is not getting enough respect this year. I see them as the next best team in the state after Lapwai and I think it will be a travesty if they don't meet in the championship.
Another month later.....
At the D1 level, I think it is going to be very tough for anyone to take down Lapwai. They have two wins over 5A teams...which they won by double digits both times. They are rolling - Prairie, Logos, and Kamiah look strong there as well, but Lapwai has beaten them both handily. It will be tough for a team to stop them at this point. A confusing one is Rimrock and all of district 3. Rimrock now is in the drivers seat after beating Liberty and Victory Charter...but they have a strange loss to Murtaugh in there...what happened there? Was it a fluke or does it show that the mid-level district 4 teams are better than the top of district 3? Heck, Murtaugh also beat Notus in the past week, those are the top two teams in district 3 right now. Just some food for thought there, there is a lot going on. Not sure much of it matters though, I do think Lapwai is just going to win the whole thing and probably very easily.
D2 level is looking strong in district 4. Crazy that only 2 teams will get into state, most likely being Camas and Carey, which will leave out a Dietrich team that could probably beat any of the rest of the field. Rockland and North Gem should get the bids from dist 5, I would think that those teams, plus Council, will be the main ones to look out for at state. Should be a much more open tournament than D1 I believe. Going to be fun down the stretch!
Well we are about a month into the season and this is how I see things early on.
1AD1 4th district Shoshone is looking better than expected while RR is look down. LHC and Oakley could also contend for the top spot. In the 3rd district right now it looks like Victory Charter is the top of the conference but have played a limited schedule so far. I dont see Riverstone doing much but liberty could compete for the two top spots. Up north its Lapwai on top and and statewide. Kamiah looks though and Prairie could be right there as well. Lakeside in the other northern district will probably win the district and could make it to state. In the east it comes down to Grace and Butte. Butte is very senior loaded but Grace has a very deep team and I see them getting the bid to state.