Jaycee Bradley and Norfolk are a No. 8 seed and have a tough road ahead of them at the state tournament. But they're not counting themselves as underdogs.
Photo by Rod Adams
Much like their 16-seed counterparts of the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, the No. 8 seed at many state high school basketball tournaments won't be popular selections to advance to the second round, let alone win the whole thing.
Regardless of an 8-seed's record and who they played against during the regular season, they are generally considered to be one-and-done entrants into the ‘Big Dance.'
That being said, each 8-seed in this year's Nebraska girls state basketball tournament field hopes to duplicate and improve upon the Class D1
Emerson-Hubbard (Emerson) Class D-1 effort of a year ago. The Pirates upset top-seeded St. Mary's in opening round action before falling to eventual runner-up Humphrey St. Francis in the semifinals and to North Platte St. Pat's in the consolation championship, finishing fourth.
MaxPreps Class C1 No. 16
Concordia (Omaha) basketball coach Marty Senechal isn't ready to sell his squad short in 2015 either. Partly because the 18-5 Mustangs produced a fantastic regular season. Secondly, Concordia did play at top-seeded and fourth-ranked
Lincoln Christian (22-4) a month ago – and nearly won before falling 55-49.
"With 40 seconds left, we were down two," Senechal recalled. "We were competing. We were playing with a very good basketball team.
"The 8-seed has the least amount of pressure. I doubt anyone outside of our program thinks we can win the basketball game. But I know our girls aren't thinking like that. They were all excited when we realized we were in the tournament and that we'd be playing Lincoln Christian. That's the team they wanted to play. They've been wanting another crack at them since the loss."
According to Senechal, the hard part is over. Winning a sub-district and district championship and getting to the state tournament was the hard part for Senechal and the 47 other programs taking their crack at winning a state championship. Now it's time to have fun and go play basketball in the Nebraska classification that may be the most wide-open.
"At this point in the season, everybody has the same shot," Senechal said. "Our mantra for the rest of the season is, ‘Why not us?'"
Friend coach Scott Kraus is in the same boat as Senechal in that his 8-seed and seventh-ranked Bulldogs (21-5) will take on top-ranked
St. Mary's (O'Neill) (22-2) in opening round action at Lincoln Southwest High School Thursday. While Friend did not play St. Mary's during the regular season, the Bulldogs did have plenty of success in 2014-15.
The first year coach appreciates what previous coach Andy Imus did in building the Bulldog program into the successful one it is today. But now he is hoping to guide the defending champion Bulldogs back into the championship winner's circle – this time as the 8-seed.
See the MaxPreps Nebraska girls basketball playoff brackets"We talked before the district championship game about how we would probably have to win our way into the state tournament," Kraus said. "We're okay with the 8-seed. After all, we are at the point in the season where we are going to have to win three games, regardless of who we play, and when we play them. Our girls are confident. I don't believe we have played a complete game yet. Sure, we've shown flashes of what we can be and of what we can do, but we haven't put together that one game. I believe we have our best basketball in front of us."
As for a game plan against St. Mary's, Kraus said he simply wants his ball club to relax and play Bulldog basketball.
"As an 8-seed, no one expects us to win this basketball game, so there is no pressure on us," Kraus said. "We are trying to keep our practices short, so our players get some rest. It's important for us to cover the things we need to cover in practice, but we also want to keep it fun. A lot of girls can get run down and burned out, so we're trying to keep it fun."
Class C2's
Ponca and Class D2's
Crawford also earned the 8-seed after posting 18-6 and 21-3 records during the regular season, respectively. While both clubs have tough assignments ahead of them, both have become accustomed to winning. The fourth-ranked Indians will try to get by No. 1
Crofton, a team that may be the best Nebraska has to offer. The eighth-ranked Rams, meanwhile, will attempt to upend top-ranked
Sacred Heart (Falls City).
Class A's
Norfolk (13-12) and Class B's
Scottsbluff (10-12) round out the 8-seeds in Nebraska's field of 48 teams. The Panthers are slated to take on Class A top-ranked
Benson (Omaha) (26-0), while the No. 21 Bearcats will take on top-ranked
Pius X (Lincoln).
The Bunnies will put returning all state forward
Kianna Ibis on the basketball court against 18th-ranked Norfolk, and the Panthers will counter with 5-10 senior
Jaycee Bradley, who also played her way onto the all-state teams a year ago.
"They are very athletic," Norfolk coach Jared Oswald said. "Person-for-person I don't think we match up with them athletically. I'd say we're a disciplined bunch. We work hard and our goal is to play five-on-five basketball."
Oswald doesn't have his pregame speech thought up yet, but he said he and his ball club are excited for the opportunity to compete at the state tournament.
"There are eight teams left, and here we are still playing," he said. "We're excited about that opportunity. Only so many teams get this opportunity, and we're one of them. Everyone is 0-0 right now, and it comes down to who puts together the three best basketball games. We hope that's us."
If you are unable to attend this weekend's action, NET is webcasting Saturday's NSAA Girls Basketball State Championships.
Click here for this weekend's girls basketball schedule.
