Big Week for Hoops! State A Preview

The South Dakota State A basketball tournament opens this week at the Rushmore Center in Rapid City. There is a distinct Cahoona interest in this year's tourney as three Cahoonas claim Region 6 champion, Chamberlain, as their alma mater (with one's son on the Cub team) while another has children that attend Region 8 champ Rapid City St. Thomas More. Of course "Shot Clock" Kirby would claim any school as his alma mater if it meant a chance to soak some cold suds or sip some fine whiskey!


St. Thomas More (22-1) is seeded #1 (by virtue of their beating up a hapless AA Rapid City Douglas), and will tangle with Lennox in the first game of the tournament. The Cavs are fortunate that those extra power points take them out of the Cubs bracket! They should have no problem disposing of the Orioles.

Fourth seeded Madison (21-2) will play Aberdeen Roncalli (20-3) in the second game of the afternoon on Thursday. I expect Madison, whose only two losses are to #1 seed St. Thomas More and #2 seed Parkston, to take care of Roncalli. In the first game of the evening session, Parkston (22-0) should handle Sioux Valley (18-5).



The final first round game feature the Cubs (18-5), who ride a 10-game winning streak into the tournament, and Little Wound (22-1), whose only loss this season came to Heart of the Earth, MN. The Cubs were the last team South Dakota team to beat Little Wound as they defeated them in the consolation round of last year's state tourney. There was some bad blood at the end of that game. While my heart says Cubs, my brain says that the 3-point shooting and up tempo offense of the Mustangs will be too much. Little Wound will advance.

Friday's semifinals feature two great match ups. St. Thomas More and Madison square off in a rematch of the mid-season Hansen Classic nightcap in the Corn Palace. The Cavaliers got the better of things in the Palace but are short some personnel since that game. The familiarity of the Rushmore Center and being able to sleep in their own beds offsets that though and the Cavaliers will advance to the finals.

Parkston and Little Wound match up in the nightcap. This game should be a shootout and I think the Trojans have the quickness to defend the Mustangs on the perimeter. I look for a great game with Parkston eeking out a narrow win.

Roncalli and Chamberlain will win their games on Friday setting up a match up between the two for the consolation championship on Saturday.

On Saturday, Lennox will win the seventh place game over Sioux Valley and Roncalli will take a close one over Chamberlain for fifth. Madison will beat Little Wound as the Mustangs mail it in.

The championship game will feature the defending state champion St. Thomas More Cavaliers and the Parkston Trojans. This final could have been foreseen a year ago when the Cavs won the title and Parkston easily walked through the consolation bracket.

I believe that playing in the Rushmore Center and sleeping in the own beds will give STM just the slight edge they need to beat the Trojans. I look for a close game that will be decided by depth. The Cavaliers will surge in the fourth quarter to repeat as state champions.

My longshot pick is that the Cubs and Cavs square off in the finals with a bottle of good whiskey on the line. My most solid prediction is that there will be some trash-talking and beer and whiskey swilling among those stogie-smoking Cahoonas in attendance. So let it begin here: It is tough for the rest of the Class A public schools to keep up with the Cavaliers' or Mustangs' recruiting (McCauley is at his third school in three years). The word is that Lebron James just about went to St. Thomas More rather than entering the draft because the money was better at STM!!

If you cannot attend and want to follow the action, here is the Class A tournament page and you can watch live webcasts here.

Let's go Cubs!!!