Prep2Prep's Matt Cook provides a rundown of the Kansas boys basketball state tournaments, which began this week.
Boys 6A state basketball tournament
Defending 6A state champs Blue Valley Northwest beat Wichita North on Thursday by a score of 65-44 to move into the semifinals. Next up is Maize, which beat Olathe East, 44-43 in a tightly contested game.
These two teams did not play each other in the regular season but you can bet they watched each other’s opening-round games closely so both teams will be ready to go Friday at 4:45 pm at Koch Arena in Wichita.
Wichita East beat Wichita Southeast, 70-59 setting up a semifinal matchup with Blue Valley North, which knocked off Shawnee Mission Northwest 66-57.
Wichita East has already advanced a round farther than last year and Shawnee Mission Northwest didn’t even make the state tournament last year. Like the first game, these two teams didn’t play against each other in the regular season so both teams will be excited and ready to go at 8:15 pm Friday in Wichita.
Boys 4A Division I
Neither McPherson or Paola made a state tournament last year, but in the new 4A Division I tournament, they have both advanced into the semifinals.
McPherson beat KC-Sumner 53-38 in the opening round while Paola beat Winfield 51-48. Out of the four teams left, McPherson has one loss on the year compared to Paola’s six, El Dorado’s nine and Topeka-Hayden’s 10.
If you predict tournament winners based on regular season wins and losses, McPherson is the clear favorite to be the first-ever 4A Division I state champions. This game will start at 8:15 pm Friday in Salina at the Bicentennial Center.
As previously mentioned, Topeka-Hayden upset No. 2 Independence 82-74 while El Dorado upset No. 3 Basehor-Linwood 66-60 to set up a semifinal not many would have predicted.
Both teams have stepped up their games during the post-season and have peaked at the right time. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:45pm Friday in Salina at the Bicentennial Center.
Boys 4A Division II state tournament
All of the higher seeds have survived so far in the boys 4A Division II state tournament at Hartman Arena in Wichita. No. 1 Andale beat Iola 56-47 to advance to this year’s 4A Division II semifinals.
Andale was in the 4A state tournament last year and lost to eventual state champion Ottawa in the semifinals but bounced back to beat Abilene for a third-place finish.
Andale will play No. 4 Eudora, which beat Holton 48-32 on Thursday, a win that may have helped ease a little of Eudora’s pain from losing to Holton in the 2012 4A state championship football game. Andale vs. Eudora is scheduled to start at 4:45 pm on Friday.
In the other half of the bracket is the defending 3A state champion Scott City Beavers, who beat Pratt 71-52 to earn a trip to the 4A Division II semifinals.
Their opponent will be Concordia, which beat Girard 77-63. It would be very interesting in the first year of this new division to see the third-place team from 4A last year, Andale, meet up with the defending 3A state champion Scott City, in this year’s 4A Division II state championship.
Scott vs. Concordia will happen at 8:15 pm Friday and the state championship game will start at 6:15 pm Saturday at Hartman Arena in Wichita.
Boys 2A state tournament
No. 1 seed St. John plays No. 4 seed Olpe at 4:45 pm Friday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan with the winner advancing to the 2A state championship game.
St. John, the defending 1A Division I state champion, has made a smooth transition to 2A, as it improved to 24-0 with a 69-42 win over Washington County in the opening round.
Olpe, which also played in the 1A Division I state tournament last year, beat Hillsboro 59-42 and now gets its chance to take out St. John and play for a 2A state championship.
Pittsburg-St. Marys Colgan beat No. 2 seed Valley Falls 60-57 and will now play No. 3 seed Plainville, a 46-41 winner over Meade on Thursday.
Pitt-St. Marys Colgan made the 3A tournament last year but lost in the first round, while Plainville is making its first trip to the state playoffs in a few years. This semifinal is set to tip at 8:15 pm Friday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
