4A: Regional Breakdown, Look Ahead
The Regional Championships have now been completed and we are looking back at how things transpired and what we should look for the rest of the tournament. Here is the breakdown. 4A Regionals: How That Broke Down On Saturday, with…
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Continue ReadingThe Regional Championships have now been completed and we are looking back at how things transpired and what we should look for the rest of the tournament. Here is the breakdown.
4A Regionals: How That Broke Down
On Saturday, with four Regionals in contention in 4A, we saw a fairly chalk evening session after a couple of surprises that morning. Northridge knocking off Munster was a bit of a surprise. They are one of the best shooting teams in the state and potent enough, in retrospect. New Palestine was able to handle Avon’s runs and outscore them and make it into the Regional Championship.
The biggest surprise was to see Ben Davis make another run into late March as they knocked off Lawrence Central. LC was seen as the best contender out of the South with their depth and top-end talent. They just made it out of Sectional 10 and beat Warren Central. But, Ben Davis proved their two-headed monster of Jalen Windham and Dawand Jones is more of a difficult matchup than you would have thought.
Then you have Carmel, Penn, and Center Grove make it through to the Semistate Round along with Ben Davis. Those four teams have been four of the best teams in the state all year long and it isn’t much of a surprise that they made it this far, although the paths are never easy. These teams have a combined record of 91-19 this season.
4A Semistate: What To Watch For
Penn vs. Carmel – 3:30 PM ET Saturday @ Lafayette Jefferson
These two teams haven’t played each other a ton and it was 2010-11 since their last matchup. They played during the regular season that year and the year before with Carmel taking both. Now, things are obviously different and won’t be that easy for either team as the stakes are higher and these teams are a combined 48-4 this season.
Stylistically, these two teams are going to look similar and the roster makeup is pretty capable of being able to matchup against each other well. Penn’s guards might be a little better but Carmel’s post players are pretty rock solid. This is the type of game where both teams can play games a multitude of ways and maybe the team that asserts their chosen style first gets a slight advantage.
Ben Davis vs. Center Grove – 6:00 PM ET Saturday @ Washington
Earlier this season, Center Grove beat Ben Davis, 56-45. This was in the middle of a tough stretch for Ben Davis playing Pike, Center Grove, and Carmel in a 3-game stretch. Center Grove has been up and down all year but are in the middle of their best winning streak of the season at 6 games. Their offense has been so up and down as well and in both games in Regionals, scoring 65 and 64 points, doubled up 2 of their 3 Sectional offensive outputs, 32 and 29 points.
But, Center Grove did look better in Regionals, had the offense going and Trayce Jackson-Davis might have just solidified his case for Mr. Basketball dropping 40 points in the Regional Championship game against Bloomington South. However, Ben Davis’ path has been difficult with beating rival Pike and then taking down Lawrence Central. They are tested and putting up big time numbers.