Sunday, March 7, 2010

Class 5A State Basketball Preview

The 5A Boys Tournament will be very strange without three-time defending champion Topeka Highland Park taking part this year. The Scots were bounced in their Sub-State championship.

That leaves undefeated Bishop Miege as the hands down favorite. The Stags are ranked 27th nationally by ESPN Rise.

The Great Bend-Gardner-Edgerton game also has an interesting storyline as longtime Great Bend head coach Jeff Langrehr and his son Conner will be on the other side of the court coaching and playing for the Blazers. You can bet emotions will be running high in this game.

On the other side of the bracket, we are likely looking at a McPherson-Andover Central semifinal if the chalk holds. This is a great matchup of Christian Ulsaker of McPherson vs. Marshall Miller of Andover Central. Both players are supremely talented and fun to watch.

On the girls side, the top notch programs are all in attendance this year with 15 of the last 16 championship schools being represented. Tiffany Bias' sprained finger on her shooting hand is the question for the top seed Andover Central Jaguars.

If Bias is healthy, then betting against Andover Central is a terrible idea. There is no other player like her in the state of Kansas.

Can anyone stop Miege? Who will win the Gardner-Edgerton-Great Bend game? Who would you prefer on your team Christian Ulsaker or Marshall Miller? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is going to be a great first round game between the Great Bend Panthers and the Gardner-Edgerton Blazers. The question is who will have the upper-hand? Will it be the Blazers who have a great coach who has coached the senior class of the Panthers since they were in third grade? Or will it be the Panthers, who will not have to worry about all of the emotions of playing your hometown friends that seem like they used to be family? It is going to be an interesting battle between the abandoned senior class of the Panthers and the father/son tandem of the Blazers.

Anonymous said...

Miege wins it all. GE over GB. Miller over Ulsaker.

Anonymous said...

Panthers have played together for years. I think the Langrehrs will have a harder time with the emotions of having to play against their prior basketball family.

TOPCITY said...

HP WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR

Anonymous said...

Did everyone just forget about the bishop Carroll newton game?

Anonymous said...

With GE beating GB in the first round, I know of 3-4 GB Seniors who will try to be in Topeka Friday to support Conner and Jeff.