Pizza Hut Invitaional Tournament Pairings to be released today…

They will release the Pizza Hut Invitational Tournament pairings today, at the Greensboro Coliseum and we will know how the teams will stack up for this year’s basketball event.

Last year’s winner on the boys side was Grimsley and the Whirlies topped Northern Guilford in the finals….On the girls end of the court the Smith Golden Eagles, led by LeKendra Wilkerson, went home the winners and there is a very good possiblity that we will see new champs this season…..But with the Grimsley boys at (4-0), going into this evening’s game at home with Page, the Whirlies have made an early statement, that they are not going to sit back and watch other teams just walk up and wear out the Whirlies….Any team that faces Grimsley this year will be in for a fight, as the Whirlies came into the year after losing four of five starters off of last year’s squad and only returning point guard Burrell Brown has come back for 2010/11…..The Northeast Guilford boys are off to a super start at (6-0) and they might end up your #1 seed, although that honor could once again go to Greensboro Day School….The Bengals are right at (9-2) to begin 2010/2011, with losses to The Upper Room(with Rodney Purvis/Louisville signee) and to Raleigh Ravenscroft…..NEG with that (6-0) start also made it to the finals of the NCHSAA 3-A Eastern Regionals last season, where they fell to the eventual State Champions from Rocky Mount, with Tashawn Mabry……NEG could be #1, Grimsley #2, GDS #3 and Northern #4….Or you could see, GDS#1, NEG #2, Grimsley #3 and then NG #4 and even Smith and Page might want to jump up on here with Ragsdale and NWG battling it out for the middle to lower postions…..

Who knows you might even see Grimsley #1, GDS #2, and NEG #3….I would have to guess that those three would have to be in the top three…..Girmsley unbeaten so far and defending champs, NEG at (6-0) and what they did in the Regionals last year and GDS with one of the overall strongest track records, in tournament history…….

On the girls side, it will be very interesting…Smith has not gotten off to a great start and NWG is down this year after graduating three, three-year starters….The Page girls got off to a great start and then lost this past Saturday to WS Reynolds and their DI-signee leader, in Whitney Knight(26 points vs. Pirates)…..Senior Brittany Drew will be the glue for Page this year….Drew has to come through and be zoned in from three-point range, to ensure that the Pirates will be near or at the top…..Northern Guilford will be somewhere in the upper portion of the girl’s seedings with the Coffer sisters leading the way and Greensboro Day is now ready to play and will have something to say about the outcome of the Girls Championship, at the Pizza Hut Invitational…Ragsdale has been right at .500 in the early stages of 2010/2011 and the Tigers will probably show up somewhere near the mid-way point in the seedings….Grimsley has not had a good go of it early and NEG is currently in the midst of major rebuilding project in the girls program, out on Hicone Road…..You may have to go with something like Page #1, Northern #2, Greensboro Day School #3, Smith #4, NWG #5, Ragsdale #6, Grimsley #7 and NEG #8….Moving GDS up that much that quick to #3 might be a push, but with Smith, NWG, and Ragsdale all at about dead-even, that may be the way you have to go…..

It will be interesting and it should be fun and will have those seedings and then the brackets up here for you this afternoon and as we have learned from the past years, The Greensboro Sports Council and Pizza Hut always put on a top-notch tournament…..