Day One from the Pizza Hut Little Four Tournament

Tuesday was a success for the Pizza Hut Little Four Tournament.  There was only one upset on Day One and the Southwest Guilford Cowboys pulled it off when they defeated Smith 49-47.  SWG was a #6 seed and Smith was seeded #3.

Elesewhere among the boys we saw Dudley 68-Grimsley 53, Northeast 40-Page 38, Greensboro Day 58-Northwest 40.  The girls winners included Page over Southwest Guilford 45-36 and Grimsley 56-Northeast 38, Northwest 45-Smith 43, and Dudley 66-Greensboro Day 28.

Action today for the girls gets under way at 6pm with #2 Grimsley 11-0 facing #3 Page 9-1.  Then at 7:30 it will be #1 Dudley(8-1) facing #4 Northwest(10-2).

On the boys side #6 Southwest 5-5 takes on #2 Dudley 7-1 at 7pm and then at 8:30 #1 Greensboro Day School(10-1) meets #4 Northeast(10-1).

Josh Chavis of Dudley was the player that got my attention.  JC is now a major scoring threat for Dudley and he has a very solid three-point shot.  Chavis has become a huge part of the Dudley offense with the departure of Graves, Polk, and Johnson(Robert) and JC is the man who would lead Dudley to the title.

GDS has some problems at the point guard spot with the graduation of Little Four Legend Alan Fox.  The Bengals were counting heavily on Jay Lewis to run the point but he has been injured.  I can’t tell you who is manning the PG spot right now for GDS but they have no lack of talent on the inside with Johnny Thomas and Josh Lanham.

The GDS-Dudley matchup would make a great final and Chavis would lead Dudley and J&J would lead Greensboro Day.  Josh and Johnny may prove tougher than Kenny Belton for Dudley on the inside because KB is still playing a bit stiff and J&J seem to be more mobile.  JC will be the key and if GDS can’t stop his outside shot and penetration then we have a ballgame.

I’m not exactly sure what coach Guy Shavers and his Cowboys from SWG bring to the table but they will have their hands full with a very tall Dudley team.  Northeast Guiford will rely on their man among boys, Mezie Uzochukwu, but Uzo will need help from DJ Pettress, Colin Ransom, and Jamal Rasool if NEG hopes to beat GDS.

On the girls side Grimsley should hold court and seed against Page and the WhirlieGirls will be led by Trumae Lucas.  Lucas will have to have a complete game if GHS plans on stopping the Pirate upset attempt.  Northwest has just Asha Hardaway who can really take it to the basket with authority, she had 22 versus Smith, and Dudley may try to run NWG right out of the Coliseum.

In our “People We Saw at the Little Four File”, there was Jim Gentry, Marlan Smith Sr., Todd Shuping the Grimsley football coach, James DuBose of Pizza Hut, Donald Moore of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, Fred Black of the Greensboro Sports Council, Marc Bush of the Greensboro Sports Commission, Justin Smith, Johnny Smith, Jeff Smith(Jeff the assistant coach for GDS), John Thompson head coach of NC Wesleyan(JT’s at the Little Four every year), we saw ace photographer Nelson Kepley of the News and Record, top sports writer for the N&R Robert Bell, Keith Tolbert N&R, Noel Glascow from News 2, Dodson Schenck the chairman of the Tournament, Larry Dunlap of the public address announcer’s Hall of Fame, Bob Lowe and his sidekick Wes from Greensboro College, and Big Jim Modlin of Fitness Today. I saw Dwayne Wade(ESPN on ABC, TV 45 locally) on Christmas Day and he took the LA Lakers out and Wade is the best player today in the NBA.  I am not a huge fan of the NBA, but this Wade cat is one heck of a player.  The kid can get it done and it looks like he is having fun.  I’ll throw out some more names on Thursday. 

My Greensboro library computer is acting up today so I better make sure this blog gets saved and we will have more from the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday.  If you’d like to follow the evening games listen to AM 950 WPET beginning at 6:45 on Wednesday and at 5:45 on Thursday.  We thank Don Moore for the Mud Bowl Pictures that came our way on Christmas Day. 

2 thoughts on “Day One from the Pizza Hut Little Four Tournament

  1. HP Central boys win big on the the 1st night of the Enterprise tournament, they will play Tville Thursday night at HPU, Andy the word on the street is GDS is afraid to play Central this year have you heard that from your soures.

  2. HP Central boys won big on the 1st night of the Enterprise classic, they will play Tville Thursday night at HPU, Andy the word on the street is that HP Central wanted to play GDS this year but GDS wanted no part of that game, could you check your with your connections and let us know.

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