Breaking down the Class 5A Boys West regionals

Posted on February 24, 2010

The four regionals on the East side of the state for the Class 5A boys appear to be almost too predictable. Claremore, the host team, appears to be the only team to pull off an “upset” over Booker T. East Central, Edison, and Memorial should roll and make for an interesting day on Friday, March 5th, in the area tournament.

The Zebras have an outstanding record (20-1), but the quality of schedule is no where near Booker T. Claremore’s best win came against then 11th ranked Bishop Kelley and their only loss came to Choctaw.

For the West its a little more complicated to sort through. There should be two great regional opening games with Lawton Mac and Deer Creek in the Ardmore Regional along with Southeast and Northwest Classen in the Guthrie Regional.

The Mac/Deer Creek winner will have a shot at the Ardmore Tigers for the regional championship. The Highlanders have split with Ardmore already this season and the Highlanders are hard to handle in their 1-3-1 zone defense (something Deer Creek may have trouble with). Ardmore has lost four of their last six games, but has been a team that has proven to win in the post season.

Southeast and Northwest Classen had a battle earlier this year with NW winning in overtime. Each team has dropped regular season games this season with Guthrie. However, the Jays are not as dominated as years past and can not assume a win from this point on after their game with Noble.

Day two will be interesting in the Western Heights Regional as the Jets and Capitol Hill should match up. Western Heights has already taken down Capitol Hill on a neutral floor (46-37). The Jets should play three games and make a rare trip to the State Tournament.

The most intriguing regional by far is the El Reno regional. Three of the four teams play in the Suburban Conference with El Reno, Carl Albert, and Chickasha. El Reno should have a pretty easy time with Ada before meeting up with Carl Albert, but Chickasha may be a little stubborn to go away too easy.

The Titans took down El Reno on Senior Night, in Midwest City, last week (68-62). Carl Albert has won six of their last seven games while El Reno has dropped three of their last five. I believe, the Titans sneak out of Canadian County with a regional championship trophy.

The area tournament may feature a Carl Albert/El Reno show down with Guthrie for an early ticket to State. The Suburban Conference could, once again, put four teams back into the state tournament and I believe it will happen with Western Heights, Guthrie, Carl Albert, and El Reno.
If not all four Suburban Conference teams punch their ticket then Northwest Classen, Capitol Hill, or Lawton Mac have put a nice string of wins to get in.