Thoughts on Day One at the HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament

A few thoughts on Day One at the HAECO Invitational Tournament, at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center…

The #1 Seeds win big, the Greensboro Day School boys 60-33 over Grimsley and the Northwest Guilford girls, 72-10 over Grimsley….The Whirlies will have to file these two losses away and find a way to battle in the consolation rounds on Wednesday…In the boys game it was GDS and Grimsley tied at 11-11 after one quarter and the score was just 23-20 GDS at the half…GDS took the second half, 38-13….

That Greensboro Day-Page girls game turned out to be the top game of the day, with the 6th seeded Bengals topping #3 seed Page, 41-39…Now GDS faces #2 Northern Guilford in the girls/women’s semifinals and with NG’s Elissa Cunane and her Nighthawk teammates setting their sights on the finals and a Championship rematch with Northwest Guilford….

There may be no stopping Northern Guilford and Northwest Guilford and what a sight it would be to see Elissa Cunane and Liz Kitley in a “Battle of the Bigs” and that might be one of the marque meetings that would be sure to add another chapter the ‘History of the HAECO’ memory album….Kitley vs. Cunane and this might one of those good ones for the history books, you just never know, but we do know that Ragsdale and Greensboro Day might be thinking about making some of their own history on Wednesday, when the RHS Tigers face NWG and the Lady Bengals tangle with Northern Guilford….

GDS girls top Page in what would be “The Game of the Day” for Tuesday and for the girls, now on to Wednesday….Thanks to Wes Gullett(Greensboro College SID) for sending us all of the girls scores on the day and a BIG thanks to Don Moore for getting all of those scores posted…..

On the boys end, what about #1 Greensboro Day vs. the Smith Golden Eagles in the final????? It could happen and Smith has some of that quickness that you need to stay in a game with Greensboro Day, with kids like Isaiah Bigelow, Silas Mason, Cameron Hayes and Jacob Crutchfield….Smith has the bigs with Jaylan Gainey and Jaylin Gamble….Smith has some depth and for now Smith will have to get past the Page Pirates on Wednesday night at the Special Events Center…

Page has a five-pronged scoring fork of their own with Jahlen King, Trent McIntyre, Terrell Davis, Elijah Short and Alex Angus….Page has to be able to run and play that up-tempo defense that creates turnovers…Against Page Smith will have to be able to compensate for the Page speed and quickness and make sure the first pass is the ‘right pass’ or it might go past you and into the hands of Page…..

Page does not have the size to go at Smith inside and Page will have to lean on their quick steps and speed to the basket….In the Northwest Guilford game most of the time it was one and done on offense for NWG and you don’t get many second chances on the boards when you are facing the Smith Golden Eagles…One of the things I really like about that Page’ defense is that the Pirates attack the opponent’s passing lanes…Hands and feet and avoid defeat, right???

Greensboro Day has way too much for the Northern Guilford boys, but if the NG Nighthawks can get some help for Andy Pack, like NG did vs. Dudley, NG has a chance, by executing long pass-after-pass extended offensive possessions(Coach Bill Chambers from NG going Dean Smith on you)….On Tuesday Andy Pack got his 20 points and NG has a very good chance to win when Andy Pack gets to 20, but he will need to get to 25-30 if Northern looks to beat Greensboro Day….’Pack Man’ got help on Tuesday form Dakari Mitchell with 12 points and also much-needed help from Holden Lewis and Kellen Hodge….

Greensboro Day can blow you away if John Newman III and Will Dillard are having their way they can make you pay, but GDS is getting extra effort especially on defense from Tripp Greene(Greene sets the tone for the GDS ‘D’) and the GDS Bengals’ freshman Carson McCorkle can nail the three once he gets warmed up….If you lay off of Newman and Dillard the Bengals can still kill you with PG Austin Inge, P Mike Fowler and P Nicholas Evtimov….Newman on Tuesday was working to the tune of 15 points, 5 rebounds and 6 steals and I think the most impressive part of Newman’s game may have been his three assists….John Newman and Will Dillard find ways and they just know how to make their teammates look better…

Last year GDS had the Big Four with J.P. Moorman, Jordan Perkins, Newman and Dillard….This season GDS has Newman and Dillard back and they are working to build the Bengals’ team by getting their younger Bengals more involved….

Dillard and Newman can lead and with those at the top of their game, Greensboro Day can remain the top seed….

Thanks to Dave Walters for sending the Game Reports and the Tuesday Tourney Wrap Up and our thanks to Don Moore for getting all of the game and updates posted and they were up quick….

Full disclosure right here for you, and all of the tourney info you could possibly use….

You may have some comments and if so, post them…..

Do you see anybody else in the finals other then GDS-Smith boys and NWG-Northern girls???

Will the GDS boys or NWG girls be dethroned?????

Six straight Titles GDS boys and three straight NWG girls……

Check out all of the games, they are playing now at, GreensboroSports Radio and the games are running 24/7….