Area Tournament First Round Upsets
Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa last year's lost to Sparkman
The first round of the boys area tournaments started Friday and we had a couple upsets that were definitely unexpected. This season has been one for the ages with 15 kids signing division-I scholarships during the early signing period so we expected to see the team rankings to waver a bit during the season. What we didn't expect was for some of those division-1 signees and highly ranked teams to take a dive during the first round of the area tournament. Losing in the first round of an area tournament ends a team's season but if a team makes it to the championship game of an area tournament, they're guaranteed a sub-regional game regardless if they win or lose in the area championship game.
Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa was ranked at #7 in our latest 6A team rankings and held a 20-4 record. No one outside of Bessemer City, who won 50-47, predicted this loss for Hillcrest who lost to Sparkman in the Northwest Regionals last year. Hillcrest won state championships in 2008 and 2011 while upsetting top ranked LeFlore in 2008 who was led by Sacramento Kings Demarcus Cousins and former Indiana/Ole Miss guard Nick Williams who is now playing professionally in Brazil. Hillcrest is used to giving out sad faces but got one of their own from Bessemer City who is a better team than their record states. Bessemer is very young and has three talented sophomores who are featured in our 2016 player rankings -- Carlos Bell, AJ Johnson and Micah Fuller. For senior Ray Tubbs (2014 #56) he had to end his season really early but the recruitment trail awaits for him as he is a talent that can contribute at the next level. Bessemer City will face our 6A #9 Tuscaloosa County in the Area 13 championship game Monday.
St. Pauls celebrates as they upset LeFlore
This was probably the most unexpected loss as St. Pauls knocked off our 5A #9 LeFlore in overtime 61-59. LeFlore was probably the only team everyone felt like had a chance to knock off #2 Faith Academy but their chances are out of the window opening the door for St. Pauls who is now fulling manned. Greg White (2014 #20) went down last June with an ACL injury and was expected to miss his entire senior season. He beat the odds returning in January and has contributed to his team even if he is not close to being the player he was prior to the injury but his presence is always a factor. Auburn football signee Tre Williams was the determining factor in St. Paul's win over LeFlore. His 24 points and 15 rebounds shows how he manned the middle against a very long LeFlore squad. St Pauls will face our 5A #2 Faith Academy Monday in the 5A Area 1 championship game.
LeFlore has several college prospects and was probably one of the deepest teams in the state. Chance Morton and Walt Massey are both in our 2014 player rankings, 2016s Reginald Todd and Jamani Glover are both top 10 players in 2016 while 6-6 Johnathan Busky will enter our 2017 rankings. Both Morton and Massey are receiving college interest from JUCO to D-II while Todd and Glover already possess D-I interest as sophomores. Greg White was being recruited heavily by several mid to high major D-I programs and hopefully he gets back to full strength to continue his success.
Note: LeFlore has never lost in the first round of the area tournament since its existence.
LeFlore has several college prospects and was probably one of the deepest teams in the state. Chance Morton and Walt Massey are both in our 2014 player rankings, 2016s Reginald Todd and Jamani Glover are both top 10 players in 2016 while 6-6 Johnathan Busky will enter our 2017 rankings. Both Morton and Massey are receiving college interest from JUCO to D-II while Todd and Glover already possess D-I interest as sophomores. Greg White was being recruited heavily by several mid to high major D-I programs and hopefully he gets back to full strength to continue his success.
Note: LeFlore has never lost in the first round of the area tournament since its existence.
Riley Norris in his last high school game
This wasn't so much of an unexpected upset as Grissom defeated 6A #8 Albertville but the score was more unexpected with a 55-39 victory for Grissom. Grissom has been a team all year that everyone was afraid of as they reached the championship of the Huntsville Times Classic and knocked off several good teams prior to that.
Alabama signee Riley Norris (2014 #2) tried to will his team to victory with 28 of their 39 points but it was not enough to advance as Albertville probably had one the hardest first round games in 6A. 2015 Luke Luna 6'10 C had a stellar game with 10 point and 11 rebounds which probably was the determining factor in the win as Albertville zoned the much larger Grissom squad but it proved to be ineffective. Reed McLelland also cashed in 17 points and Devorice Milbry (2014 #54) added 10 points for Grissom who didn't get many points from 2015 Jacquez Johnson 6'5 F but is a physical presence at all times.
Grissom will face 6A #5 Lee-Huntsville in the Area 10 championship in a rematch of the Huntsville Times Classic championship game in which Lee-Huntsville won.
For complete scores of the first rounds in the area tournaments click here.
Alabama signee Riley Norris (2014 #2) tried to will his team to victory with 28 of their 39 points but it was not enough to advance as Albertville probably had one the hardest first round games in 6A. 2015 Luke Luna 6'10 C had a stellar game with 10 point and 11 rebounds which probably was the determining factor in the win as Albertville zoned the much larger Grissom squad but it proved to be ineffective. Reed McLelland also cashed in 17 points and Devorice Milbry (2014 #54) added 10 points for Grissom who didn't get many points from 2015 Jacquez Johnson 6'5 F but is a physical presence at all times.
Grissom will face 6A #5 Lee-Huntsville in the Area 10 championship in a rematch of the Huntsville Times Classic championship game in which Lee-Huntsville won.
For complete scores of the first rounds in the area tournaments click here.