Basketball zones in the spotlight
Just a tad of high school basketball in the area this week. I imagine it’s a similar environment to many pockets of small-town America in the 1950s. As a tribute to the truly great recently departed Dick Enberg, who arguably first came to prominence calling the UCLA men’s hoop team coached by perhaps the best coach of any sport, anywhere, anytime, John Wooden: Oh, My! ••• Obviously, nothing beats attending events live. However, if you want to follow action you may not have seen, or thirst for supplementary info, I have to commend our legacy media in this regard. I would be surprised if any daily newspaper in Canada devotes close to the column inches that high school sports overall receives from the Lethbridge Herald for example. That habitually peaks this week.
In cyberspace www.SouthZoneBasketball.com is your
South Zone 1A/2A Basketball Championships home, while www.SouthHoops.ca is the 4A Zones and associated junior varsity playoffs information portal. ••• 3A Zones are hosted by Medicine Hat McCoy this year. 1A/2A once again holds sway at the Lethbridge College Val Matteotti Gym. As for 4A, games are in higher-seed schools tonight, then head to the 1st Choice Savings Centre at the University of Lethbridge Thursday to Saturday. ••• The third and final ASAA official basketball rankings of 2017-18 are up. Frankly, they are not important to individual teams this week. They don’t inand-of-themselves earn provincial championship berths, but are a significant component in seeding March 15-17 provincials for teams that qualify out of zones.
The rankings are very important to zones as a whole, though. And, I’m very pleased to see that through the last rankings South Zone has earned wildcard berths in seven of the eight categories, with only 3A boys exempted. ••• The associated Southern Alberta High School 4A Boys and Girls Basketball Leagues do not hold varsity league playoffs, with teams going straight to South Zones at the conclusion of the regular season.
Ties are not broken for league titles. This was a phenomenally close chase. Magrath and Cardston tied atop the boys table at 13-1, with Raymond, LCI and Magrath sharing the girls crown at 11-3. ••• Congratulations to Stirling School on their new gym, part of a massive school redevelopment. I know the community helped fundraise significantly.
I understand the gym seating capacity is about 660. To put that in perspective, the 2017-18 ASAA School Directory lists Stirling’s Grade 10-12 ASAA eligible student population at ... 56. Hard to imagine there is a greater gym seating to high school student population ratio in Alberta, perhaps even Canada. I’d imagine the closest contenders are primarily in this area, though.
You know, like small-town USA in the 1950s. I’m sure it will be a multi-faceted hub of the community, too, extending the school’s reach while enhancing the town. ••• Good luck to South Zone competitors who are off to the ASAA Provincial High School Wrestling Championships hosted by Medicine Hat High this Friday and Saturday. Should be another wonderful showcase for the massive new school gym, following ASAA 4A Volleyball Provincials in November, with ASAA 4A Basketball Provincials presented by the school (utilizing some other venues, as did volleyball) next week.
I’m sure Kainai (2A Girls) and Claresholm Willow Creek (2A Boys) are fired up to host in ASAA hoop provincials next week (March 15-17), too.
WELLSIE’S WORLD — The promotional aspect of this column is generally selfevident I’d imagine.
But, here comes a full-on sell job, which I believe from the bottom of my (you may choose to believe “black”) heart.
Thursdays at 4A Zones are often one of the liveliest fan days on the local athletic calendar of any sport. One area school superintendent has told me more than once it’s his favourite annual sporting day period.
There are four berths in provincials on the line in consecutive games starting between 3-9 p.m. this year at U of L. The losers, who may all be top-15 in Alberta, have a long weekend road just to qualify third in each gender, to punch their provincials ticket Saturday.
This year’s potential Thursday showdowns are as crowd-appealing as any slate I’ve ever seen. Perhaps more.
If you’ve never been to a high school sporting event — or have gone cold turkey for an extended time period, I say this is a glorious opportunity to sample elegant fare. As long as you are wise and don’t get a parking ticket in the day (car pool if possible folks — free parking after 5 p.m.), I am willing to guess you’ll find Thursday at U of L among this area’s true, memorable sporting bargains.