STATE TOURNAMENT: Shining Moments — Part II
Will Carius with 68 Points in Less Than 24 Hours In less than 24 hours, Will Carius scored 68 points at Wells Fargo Arena. This is not confirmed, but we’re thinking that is a state tournament record, if not, then…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingWill Carius with 68 Points in Less Than 24 Hours
In less than 24 hours, Will Carius scored 68 points at Wells Fargo Arena. This is not confirmed, but we’re thinking that is a state tournament record, if not, then it’s definitely high on the list of points scored in one day’s time. The 6-foot-6 Northern Michigan commit was absolutely amazing in Pleasant Valley’s double-overtime loss to Valley in the 4A semifinals. How amazing? Pleasant Valley scored 48 points in that game, Carius scored 34 of them while connecting on seven of his nine 3-point attempts. He was also 11-13 from the line. In the consolation game the next afternoon Carius again went for 34 points. This time nailing three of five 3s while going 7-8 from the free-throw line, oh, and adding 12 boards for good measure. He was like Superman out there.
Will Carius has 22 2H points, 32 of PV's 42 in the game and is 7-9 from downtown #iahsbkb pic.twitter.com/sSOyn14WzM
— TJ Rushing (@TjRushing) March 11, 2016
Joe Smoldt
I begged the question just before the tournament started; who will be this year’s Joe Smoldt? That question was answered before the fourth quarter of Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s quarterfinal win over Jesup. The answer? Joe Smoldt was going to be this year’s Joe Smoldt. What he did last season on his way to earning All-Tournament Captain as a sophomore was amazing. What he did in a quarterfinal win to will his team to a dominant 19 point win over Jesup was even better. Smoldt was quiet early in that one, and the game was in question at half — Rebels trailing by four. But then a third quarter explosion by Smoldt to the tune of 15 points put his team in control. His 12 additional points in the fourth quarter sealed the win. That’s 27 second half points. Though his Rebels were ousted in the semifinal round, Smoldt went on to score 52 points in the next two games, and once again earned 1A All-Tournament Captain. He’s a beast.
Earlier this week I asked who was going to be the Joe Smoldt of this year. Well, so far, Joe Smold is the Joe Smold of this year #iahsbkb
— TJ Rushing (@TjRushing) March 10, 2016
Eight Seeds
The seeding system at the boys’ state tournament — based upon overall record — received some scrutiny last week — even before the tournament started there was some outcry about the erratic seeding. And after the dust settled on Day 1 of the tourney, it became evident that the seedlings were not fitting. In 1A it was No. 8 seed St. Albert which pulled the “upset.” The Falcons are a squad which plays in one of 3A’s toughest conferences, the Hawkeye 10. Because of its rigorous regular season against the big boys, St. Albert accrued nine losses, ergo, they were the bottom-seed playing against top-seed Danville, which played a considerably easier mostly 1A schedule. Well, St. Albert wiped the floor with the No. 1 seed, winning by 23, and eventually making its way into the 1A final. Later that afternoon the same thing happened when 8-seeded Pella Christian — which also played a substantially tougher regular season schedule than its opponent — took out top-seed Dike-New Hartford.
Western Christian Dominance
Coming into the tournament there were two teams that talent-wise were considerable favorites to win their respective tournaments. One was Iowa City West in 4A, which was toppled by West Des Moines Valley in the title game. The other was the supremely talented bunch from 2A’s Western Christian, Hull. And unlike their 4A counterparts, the Wolfpack did not disappoint. They breezed their way through the tournament, winning by an average margin of 14 points, and looking good while doing it. Led by Dordt commit Josh Van Lingen, they were poised, confident and flat-out good in their 2A title run. They did exactly what we thought they’d do — that can sometimes be hard to do, just ask Iowa City West
Levi Jansen Scores 42
Another in the victim of unreasonable seeding, MOC-Floyd Valley, led by the prodigious Levi Jansen, was ousted in the opening round by a supremely talented No. 5 seed Dubuque, Wahlert. But it was no fault of Jansen’s that his Dutchmen couldn’t make it to the semifinal round. The 6-foot-2 sharpshooting Augustana commit went nuts in a frenzied fourth quarter. He scored 21 points in the final frame alone, there was nothing Wahlert could do to stop him. Jansen was scoring from everywhere; at the hoop, beyond the arc, and from the free-throw line. He ended the game with a tournament-high 42 points. After seeing Jansen two years ago at the state tournament, when he went for 32 points in a first-round loss a sophomore, and then again last summer with National AAU champs Martin Brothers, we can honestly say we were not surprised by the colossal performance. But for at least 30 minutes last week, the rest of the state knew that Jansen was elite, truly an all-time great.