The Little Four after Eight

Eight games in the books and the action doesn’t get rolling again for Kevin McCoy, David Flynt and the Greensboro Sports Council until 2:30 this afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center.

I want to begin by saying not great, but excellent coverage by Don Moore and Demp Bradford here at GREENSBOROSports.com. Demp was sending the info over and Don had it up on the site all day and into Wednesday evening. We have had a number of hits at the site over past couple of days and Don has had the updates coming in loud and clear. Again that’s a job well done by Don and Demp. It is very impressive to know a major event is going on at the Coliseum and instant news and reports are available for those people that are searching for the scores and stats. Don can help and he is getting the word out to the community.

As for the games, the ones I was broadcasting on the radio(WPET AM950) along with Jim Modlin, well they were not close at all. Greensboro Day School blew out NWG 52-35 and Dudley routed Southwest Guilford 77-48. GDS is the #1 seed and Dudley is seeded #2 and that would make for a fine finale but we may hear from Northeast and Grimsley about who’s going to the finals.

Grimsley got off to a slow start but the Whirlies came back to stop Smith 58-50, while NEG got past Page in overtime, 74-72. Now NEG(6-2) will face GDS(14-2) and Grimsley(8-2) meets Dudley(5-1) tonight at the GCSEC(Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center).

Who looked good on the boys side Wednesday? Brandon Pennix was strong as he usually is for Dudley, Jay Lewis was effecitive not only with his 14 points but with near double-digit rebounds for GDS, Keith Manley was massive for Grimsley, and Jamal Rasool led NEG high school to their OT win over Page. Other players to keep on your radar screen as day two approaches?

Marcus Heath was hot with 16 for Dudley Wednesday and can the senior keep it up and will freshman PJ Hairston explode, and can the “Big Cat”, Mike Coger, stay out of foul trouble for the Panthers? For Grimsley going up against Dudley, will JB Beloved be able to put together back-to-back big games?(Beloved had 21 for the Whirlies on Wednesday) Will the Whirlies have David Dupont(6’5) run the point guard spot and have JB run the baseline? Can Jonathan Leonard maintain his defensive intensity level for Grimlsey and who will he match up with?(Heath, or his he tall enough to try and stick Hairston?) Will Christian Tonkins body Pennix or will Manley?(Manley has had tendencies to get into foul trouble and he likes to go for the blocked shots)

There are a lot of good possibilities as we speculate. In GDS vs. NEG how much improvement will Javan Mitchell show for GDS now that he has one Little Four game under his belt? Mitchell will have to stand tall to battle Rasool and Tee Cleveland from NEG. Are Seth Hawkins and Markee Brown set to make it two straight 10-plus point nights for NEG with the defense that Bengal coach Freddy Johnson is going to throw at them? Bruce Woodall had four three-point plays on Wednesday for GDS, with three coming on shots behind the arc and another the old fashioned way with a deuce and a free throw. Woodall is in a rare position where he could leave GDS with three straight Little Four titles.(He’s a senior and GDS has already won two straight). The Bengal complimentary players like Wintringham, Pulliam, Carty, Dorsett, and Weavil are going to have to be ready to run and run and run on offense and be patient on defense because NEG coach Curtis Hunter likes to run that motion/passing offense.

I didn’t get to see any of the girls games on Wednesday and the old saying is, “to be one you have to see one”, but I know that Bob Lowe of Greensboro College(along with side-kick Wes) had everything under control on the girls side of the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. The Smith Golden Eagles girls got the big upset of the day knocking off #2 seed Dudley 60-52, out-scoring the Panthers 26-10 in the fourth quarter. The top-seed, the Grimsley girls, demolished GDS 75-19 after leading 49-9 at the half and then out-scoring the Bengals 14-1 in the third quarter. The Lady Pirates of Page set up a re-match of last year’s semifinals when they topped SWG 57-39 yesterday. In 2006 Page upset #1 Grimsley in the semis on the way to the Pirates tenth Little Four title. Another team to watch, Northwest Guilford, seeded third, ran their season record to (11-0) with the Vikings 51-41 victory over NEG.

Today at the Special Events Center in the Consolation bracket for the girls it’s going to be NEG vs. Dudley at 2:30 and SWG vs. GDS at 4pm. In the boys consolation games it’s NWG vs. Page at 6pm and Smith vs. SWG at 7:30.

Championship bracket action has for the young ladies at 3:30 NWG vs. Smith and at 5pm Page battles Grimsley. For the boys we have GDS vs. NEG at 7pm and then Dudley takes on Grimsley at 8:30. All championship action for the boys and girls will be on the main floor at the Special Events Center.