Area Tournaments: What to Watch for
Area tournaments are always super competitive and entertaining. Seniors are focused on extending their season, younger players are ready to burst onto the season, and everyone is fighting for an opportunity to make the state tournament. In the state of…
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Continue ReadingArea tournaments are always super competitive and entertaining. Seniors are focused on extending their season, younger players are ready to burst onto the season, and everyone is fighting for an opportunity to make the state tournament. In the state of Alabama, Area champions and the runner ups receive state tournament bids. Area champions also earn the right to host a sub-regional/opening round game of the tournament. This article will look at 4 things to watch for.
Home Court Advantage: In any sports, playing at home is crucial for post season success. In Area, the regular season champion hosts the Area tournament. Often, This gives teams 2 more home games. Winning that first game means you qualify for state. Winning the championship gives you 1 more home game in the opening round of state.
Upsets: Upsets are apart of sports. It is extremely hard beating teams for a second or third time. Sometimes, teams get caught looking ahead at potential matchups or are too relaxed entering the games. The hardest teams to beat, are the teams with nothing to lose.
Stock Risers: Every year kids pick up late scholarship offers, because they perform when the stage is biggest and the lights are brightest. The best way to help your recruiting, is to extend your season. Playing well in the postseason never goes unnoticed. Kids that are fringe D1 prospects have the opportunity to earn that big time offer. Don’t forget about the recruits will very little going on. There will be athletes that burst onto the scene and earn multiple offers from all levels.
Matchups: At this point in the season, matchups become very important to a team’s success. This can be broken down into different areas, such as in game adjustments, schematics, and personnel matchups. Alabama does not have a shot clock, so in game adjustments and schemes play a big role in a team’s success. Player matchups are always very important. Area tournaments put some of the best players against each other. It is always interesting to see positional matchups and the cross-positional matchups.