1A Regionals: Preview, Prediction, and Notes

The first week of the State Playoffs are complete and we are looking ahead to this Saturday and the day long fight that is Regionals. Today, we take a look at the matchups in the 1A Regionals in preparation for this weekend’s games. 1A Regionals: HOST: Triton Game 1: Gary 21st vs. Elkhart Christian Game 2: Caston vs. Argos Regional Notes: This Regional is the most lopsided Regional in the state. Gary 21st is a true team that can win 1A this year and they had a few teams that kind of surprised to get here in Caston and Argos. Elkhart Christian hasn’t been too great this year either but they had the easiest path to get here. They are also the one team that has played some high-end teams in the state with Prairie Heights and Blackhawk Christian. Gary 21st presents a very unique style against most 1A teams so pretty much every team they play from here on out will be more built around slower-paced, motion style offense. Only a couple teams left in the tournament might matchup well. Biggest Surprise To Get Here: Caston is the pick here. They had to get past Tri-County and then Pioneer. North White they avoided so that helped immensely but they had to really battle with Pioneer to get through. Caston was projected the 3rd most likely team to get out of their Sectional and for good reason. They were only 11-11 before Sectionals started but had split with Pioneer earlier in the year. My Prediction: The pick is Gary 21st. Now, Argos might have the best chance to pull this off. They are 16-9 and have won 7 of their last 8 games and have held opponents to 41.5 ppg. Now, Gary 21st will be their most difficult test to do that to but they play such an opposite style that you hope that can throw them off a bit. Argos has also shown that they can win games if it gets into the 60’s. But, Gary 21st is probably just too good this year. HOST: Frankfort Game 1: Southwood vs. Covington Game 2: Blue River Valley vs. Cowan Regional Notes: This Regional looks like a really interesting one, definitely among 1A groupings. Southwood is a team that was in the worst Sectional in the state but they made it through well. Covington had to take down powerhouse Central Catholic to get here. Blue River proved they are as good as their record states at 19-6 and Cowan really turned some head escaping a very balanced Wes-Del Sectional. Covington comes in as the best team but this won’t be easy as Southwood has a veteran coach and a team that has nothing to lose. Blue River and Cowan played earlier in the year as Blue River won by 21 but Cowan has won 7 of their last 8 and looks locked in lately, scoring above their average offense in 6 of those last 8 games. Biggest Surprise To Get Here: The biggest surprise here is Cowan. They had the most balanced Sectional with them only having a 16.4% chance to win and five teams having 10 or more % chance to win. Liberty Christian and Wes-Del looked great at the start and then Daleville made a play to get in. But, somehow Cowan made it out of there alive and has a big factor going in their favor in [player_tooltip player_id="874121" first="Riley" last="Duncan"]. He’s a game-changer if used properly. My Prediction: The pick here is Covington. They took out the toughest team of any of these teams in this Regional in Central Catholic. They are a team built of guards who all can shoot and they play uptempo and so far this year, they have yet to lose to a 1A team they have played. They have actually played more 2A/3A/4A teams than 1A teams so they are tested. Blue River probably gives them the toughest test but outside of Wapahani early in the year, they don’t have a ton of marquee wins so this would have to be one of them. HOST: Martinsville Game 1: International vs. Bloomfield Game 2: Oldenburg Academy vs. Greenwood Christian Regional Notes: This Regional is the best one in 1A with three teams with 16 or more wins and International having played a very difficult schedule playing some of the top 1A and 2A teams in the state. This grouping also have a ton of talented prospects to watch. Bloomfield and Greenwood Christian come in as the two best teams but Oldenburg Academy is playing well down the stretch after winning 6 straight with wins over Morristown, Jac-Cen-Del, and Lawrenceburg. Greenwood Christian is the best team in 1A this year going 24-1 with some marquee wins and their one loss coming to a really good University team. International has the best player of the group in [player_tooltip player_id="783151" first="Jaden" last="Thomas"] and if he gets hot he can drop 30+ which could be a game changer in this one. The results here could go any number of ways. Biggest Surprise To Get Here: Oldenburg Academy is the pick here. Not that they shouldn’t be here but Morristown, Jac-Cen-Del, and Southwestern-Shelbyville are all really tough and they beat two of those teams to make it through. No one else had to go that hard in their Sectional to do it. That could be a good thing for them as they now get the top team in the state to open up Regionals. My Prediction: The pick here is Greenwood Christian. It is a toss-up though. Greenwood gets the advantage because they have some bigger key wins. Bloomfield should be their match in the finals but Bloomfield has done a really good job with their schedule playing a ton of great teams but just couldn’t get over the hump. Now, they were missing their best player for some of those so with [player_tooltip player_id="875682" first="Turner" last="Royal"] back, they could get it done this time. Would give Greenwood Christian a 60/40 chance of getting through. HOST: Loogootee Game 1: Crothersville vs. Barr-Reeve Game 2: Northeast Dubois vs. Christian Academy Regional Notes: This Regional is going to be interesting as most will pick Barr-Reeve but Northeast Dubois and Christian Academy are not the easiest teams to beat. Luckily for them, they would only have to play one of them. Crothersville has gotten to this Sectional for the first time in 105 years. So, they have exceeded expectations to this point. Barr-Reeve has done exactly what they do each year with is win 20+ games and get deep into the tournament. Northeast Dubois has had some weird stretches this year as they have won 4 games in a row 3 different times but also has a 5-game losing streak in the middle of the season. They did play Barr-Reeve close during the regular season. Christian Academy is a team that has a record that doesn’t look like a top team in the state at 18-7 but they locked in at the end of the year and are on a 10-game winning streak and none of their 7 losses are bad losses, all came against really good teams. They could cause some problems. Biggest Surprise To Get Here: Crothersville is the pick here, right? They haven’t been able to win a Sectional ever and won their first in 105 years. Not really sure what else to say. Great honor for this team to pull off a Chicago Cubs type accomplishment. My Prediction: The pick here is Barr-Reeve but this will not be easy. Crothersville might not be able to really give them a fight, unsure of how much luck they used to get through the first round, but Christian Academy is not a team they want to see. Christian Academy doesn’t have Barr-Reeve’s depth but they have size and skill and enough starters to give them a run. [player_tooltip player_id="875670" first="Keegan" last="O’Neill"] vs. [player_tooltip player_id="875664" first="Bailey" last="Conrad"] will be worth the price of admission. Northeast Dubois does know Barr-Reeve better but this game is being held at Loogootee, not the Home of the Jeeps.