A month in and D1 seems to be lacking consistency. In the 4th district Valley struggled a little early but seem like they are turning things around while GF seems to be doing the opposite. Oakley is #1 in the power rankings after handling a good challis team but then turns around and loses to Grace at home. Speaking of Grace and Challis they seem to be on a collision course to face off for district champs. Either team would represent well at state. The 3rd district seems to be going Ambrose way and Liberty Charter is looking solid too. Up north Lapwai will be there with Prairie and Potlatch right on their heels and what the heck is going on in Wallace? Are they legit or paper giants? I would love some insight there.
I have seen Oakley play, they were better last year. Same with Valley. But overall, 1A hoops looks to be down across the state so they should still be top teams. Ambrose hasn't looked themselves to start the season and theyre middle of the pack right now in the 1A WIC. They have been playing some solid teams, so I bet they will be there in the end but right now its hard to tell. Saying it seems to be going their way currently is an overstatement. Liberty will be there in the end, Seth will get them going by districts. I would say that Liberty, Ambrose, possibly Riverstone will could be at state from the area. Wallace is hard to judge, that weird district rule with them always confuses me. From who they have played, they look to be legit.
Wallace is legit. We've played Prarie, Potlatch and Wallace and yes they are the real deal. Their only downfall is their bench isn't deep. I think they play a consistent 5 players as the 6th man got hurt. I haven't seen a team shoot as good as they do in a very long time. Prairie and Potlatch are tough as well. If I had to rank them I would have a hard time picking #1 between Wallace and Prairie, but I'd probably pick Prairie just because they have more depth.
Wallace has had some injuries this year, but despite that the team continues to pile up wins against larger schools. The Miners have wins against 3A IML teams Kellogg, Bonners Ferry and Priest River, a victory over 2A perennial state team St. Maries and a defeat of the defending 1AD2 champion Genesis Prep, which was without star Jonny Hillman for the game.
We're getting close to district tournament time. Here are some of my thoughts. Up north Lapwai is leading the way and should finish as seed 2A but Prairie has surprised them before and could do it again. I think Wallace will get to state and if I understand it right they will have to play two play-in games. One against #3 from the 2nd (Potlatch?) Then the #2 from the 4th (Oakley or GF?) I think Valley is playing better ball now and will win the 4th. That leaves us with the 3rd district and district 5/6. These are too close to call right now but they both have huge games this week that might start clarifying things. Ambrose will face off against Liberty Charter for 1st place in the 3rd while Challis and Grace face off for first place in the 5/6. My way too early pick for a title match up based on the bracket and where I think everyone will finish is Lapwai vs Valley. It's too bad Lapwai, Wallace and Grace/Challis could all end up on the same side of the bracket.
Its years like this that make the state tournament format tough. There are only 2 teams in the 1a WIC that are state teams, Liberty and Ambrose, but there will be a third from that league that just gets embarrassed against some team like Lapwai or Wallace or the like. I think they should take into consideration a more competitive team and not simply give it to someone based on the league they play in. At the beginning of the year, I would have said Riverstone based on returning players, but they are falling apart and lost recently to teams like wilder and compass. I would love to see a competitive team from another conference make it to state on years when there just isnt a third team from the WIC that should be there. Just my .02. I went to the LIberty/Ambrose game last week, what a battle.