PrepsNow Roundtable: Passing judgment on regional basketball format and top performances
The News & Observer’s high school sports panel of five community sports editors, headed up by J. Mike Blake, will be taking on different questions each week. In this week’s writers’ roundtable, the group discusses the merits of the new basketball playoff format and lists great individual performances.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association basketball playoffs changed this year when the weeklong regional format, with four games split across two neutral courts from Tuesday-Friday and the regional finals on Saturday, was shortened to just Saturday. The regional semifinals were moved to the higher seed with the option to move a game to a larger gymnasium.
The N&O panel features:
▪ J. Mike Blake (The Cary News and Southwest Wake News)
▪ Aaron Moody (Eastern Wake News)
▪ Jessika Morgan (Midtown Raleigh News and North Raleigh News)
▪ W.E. Warnock (Chapel Hill News and The Durham News)
D. Clay Best (Smithfield Herald, Clayton News-Star, Garner-Cleveland Record) is off this week.
Did you like the new basketball format, which put the fourth round game at the higher seed or a nearby larger gym? Any fixes to suggest?
Blake: The NCHSAA has to let the schools know if they can host much sooner than they did this year. Hours before tipoff, Garner and Millbrook were still talking as if the game might be moved elsewhere! The NCHSAA needs to take out the guesswork in this. Designate which gyms can and cannot comfortably host a boys basketball fourth-round game before the season even begins. Pay a small stipend to third-party gyms that agree to host. Anything but letting teams win Saturday, then find out late Monday or early Tuesday where they’ll be playing Tuesday night.
Other than that? It went a lot better than I imagined. I don’t like the idea of turning fans away from games, but I do think the fourth-round game belongs somewhere close to the team that earned the higher seed.
Moody: I think the upside for the schools outweighs the value of the neutral venue, which the eventual title contenders will see.
Morgan: I was pretty indifferent about it until I realized what a mess it was to have only the regional finals in Fayetteville. I think having the fourth-round game at the higher seed certainly benefits the school’s gate. It also allows, well in the 4A boys’ and girls’ bracket this year, parents and fans to stay closer.
Warnock: Yes, but only because for the most part it benefits the schools and reduces their expenses. If money weren’t a factor, playing on a neutral court would always add a bit of excitement for the players and fans.
Is it a good idea to shorten regionals from a weeklong event to a “super Saturday” finals-only event?
Blake: Absolutely, because the weeklong regional format just wasn’t attractive anymore. If two teams are from the Triangle, it seems silly to drive down to Fayetteville for a 7:30 p.m. game, which starts closer to 8:10 p.m., on a Thursday night only to turn back around and do it again on Saturday. No matter where in the East you are, it’s easy to swing a Saturday trip by itself, especially with so much on the line.
The move to limit the games at these sites from 24 across five days to eight on one day not only saves the NCHSAA money, it keeps that fourth-round gate money in the school’s pockets.
Moody: Probably, since time and money are of the essence.
Morgan: Each of my three years covering high school sports, I’ve been to the regional finals and no year was more, let’s say irksome, than 2016. It just seemed like because it was a one-day event, everything was super rushed. I was questioned too often about not having a pass because they gave writers “comp tickets” this year instead. There were also no programs, though rosters were provided. Usually when you get to the regional round in Fayetteville, you’re provided information about each school’s playoff history and it was slacking this year. Perhaps a two-day event would call for a bit more organization?
Warnock: Again, only because of the costs involved in teams having to travel back and forth or spend one or more nights in a motel. In my world, all basketball tournaments would be played on neutral courts.
What’s the most dominant individual performance you have witnessed in high school sports?
Blake: It’s really hard for me to pick one. I still haven’t seen a no-hitter in baseball, but Holly Springs’ Carlos Rodon threw enough one- and two-hitters in the 2011 playoffs to show off true domination. Around that same time, I did see a few no-hitters by Holly Springs softball pitcher Erica Nunn (she even threw a no-hitter against the No. 7 team in the nation, Porter Ridge, in a 2-0 loss in Game 1 of the 2012 4A title series). Green Hope grad Kristen Gaffney once went for 46 points in a game I was covering and Athens Drive’s Grace Hunter had 50 points in a loss in the 2015 regional semifinal against Southeast Raleigh. Gaffney had the only triple-double I’ve seen live.
I saw Fuquay-Varina’s Cory Hunter run for 463 yards in a game and I never saw Cary’s Eloheim Palma face anyone he didn’t pin. Wake Forest defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence ranks up there in a 4AA East final against Middle Creek, where he broke through the line on every play. No exaggeration: every play.
Moody: No-brainer for me. Stan Okoye set the Knightdale record for most points in a single game, dropping 42 against Riverside in the 2009 4A state playoffs. It seemed like he hit everything he put up. I’d love to look back and see how few shots he missed. He was a monster that night.
Morgan: I covered NBA-bound Brandon Ingram when he was playing at Kinston. This is a guy who could have scored at will 40 or 50 on any given night, but he was the epitome of a team basketball player. One of his most dominant individual performances came in a home game against South Lenoir his senior season. He made his first nine shots – a dunk here, a couple 3s there – and scored 41 points, more than South Lenoir’s whole team, to nearly beat a school record. He had 33 in the first half. His 14 rebounds and seven assists added to the stellar performance. Kinston had just lost to Goldsboro and Ingram took off early to make sure his team didn’t lose again.
Warnock: Too close to call. The South Mecklenburg teams that had Bobby Jones and Walter Davis and won three straight titles are probably the best high school program I ever saw. Individually, quarterback Chris Leak was brilliant from 1999 to 2002, leading Independence to 109 straight wins; in his last championship win, his command of the relatively new spread offense was nothing short of masterful. But the single best game was by J.F. Webb’s Isaiah Hicks in the 73-70 OT win over Statesville in the 2013 NCHSAA 3A basketball championship in Reynolds. He had 34 points, 30 rebounds and seven blocks. To me that topped even Dominique Wilkins’ second straight MVP performance in 1979 with the 29-0 Washington Pam Pack.
What’s the biggest upset you’ve covered in a prep sports game?
Blake: Boys basketball is ripe for upsets, but the odd thing is that, after the game, you talk yourself into thinking it wasn’t an upset after all. That said, no one (but me) was giving Apex a chance against Millbrook in the 2014 4A East final. Hindsight is 20/20 for the folks who doubted the eventual champs.
The biggest one I’ve experienced live and in person was my next-to-last basketball game as a senior at Western Harnett. Boston College-bound senior Evan Neisler hit a 3 at the buzzer, completing something like a 19-point comeback and we lost to Cary by one in the first round of the Tri-7 tournament at home. Cary moved to 7-18 on the year, we dropped to 18-7.
Moody: Nothing major comes to mind, but recurring upsets against one team does. I watched the East Wake girls basketball team, which was highly favored, in first-round playoff losses to Cary (2012), Harnett Central (2013) and Laney (2014).
Morgan: The first cycle of this season’s Heritage-Millbrook boys basketball series comes to mind. Heritage had never beat Millbrook, a team poised to win yet another Cap-8 Conference title and even make state championship run. The Huskies came out swinging and never stopped. It was a pretty cool reminder of why sports are incredible. It was as if Heritage, behind six straight first-half 3s from junior Colton Reed, got in Millbrook’s head, and that, above all else, gave it the upper hand all night. It’s amazing what a bit of confidence can do and how it can unravel your opponent. Heritage’s upset victory made school history.
Warnock: Chapel Hill football over a Northern Durham team that was ranked No. 1 in North Carolina. My memory is fuzzy about the year, but I think it was 1981. Chapel Hill had struggled through years of so-so finishes in the old District III “Black and Blue Conference,” and hadn’t beaten the Knights in more than a decade, while Northern was a perennial champion under Ken Browning.
This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 3:43 PM with the headline "PrepsNow Roundtable: Passing judgment on regional basketball format and top performances."