Basketball State Tournament Seeds Set to Go Out

By Don Eskins

On Sunday, March 2, the NMAA will release the brackets they’ve assembled for this year’s boys’ and girls’ state basketball tournaments.

In Class 5A, 16 seeds will go out in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions. Teams seeded one through eight will serve as host sites for first-round games set to get underway on Friday, March 7, for girls and Saturday, March 8, for boys.

The quarter-final, semi-final, and championship rounds will take place in Albuquerque March 11-15 for girls and March 12-15 for boys.

The Cavemen and Cavegirls are hoping to land one of those seeds.

At the end of regular season play, the Cavegirls had accumulated a record of 17-9, the Cavemen 16-10, and after having posted identical 2-4 conference marks both finished third in District 4/5A.

As of Monday, February 24, MaxPreps has ranked the Cavegirls 12th and the Cavemen 14th in Class 5A.

CHS’s Resumes Up Front

Although finishing third in District 4/5A, both boys’ and girls’ conferences were loaded with talented teams. In girls’ play, the Hobbs Eagles have been ranked No. 1 all season, and Clovis, who had been ranked No. 5, currently sits at No. 7 after having sustained a 44-39 loss to Roswell.

In boys’ play, Hobbs has been ranked No. 2 for most of the season, and Roswell is currently ranked No. 4. So, from a standpoint of strength of schedule, it’s hard to imagine that any other conference in the state, boys’ or girls’, was any tougher.

Almost half of the Cavemen and Cavegirl losses have come during conference play against teams ranked among the top five in the state.

Cavemen and Cavegirls fans should keep in mind, as we all wait in anticipation of this year’s brackets, that there are several other areas of criteria, besides records and rankings, considered by the NMAA in making their final decisions as to just which teams will get in.

Note: Both the Cavemen and Cavegirls registered victories on Tuesday night, February 25, in the District 4/5A Basketball Tournament’s opening round. Carlsbad’s boys routed the Clovis Wildcats 48-30, while the Cavegirls topped the Roswell Coyotes 38-27.

The wins pushed the Cavegirls record up to 18-9, the Cavemen 17-10. On Thursday night, the Cavemen battled Roswell, and the Cavegirls took on Clovis during the conference tournament’s second round of play. With wins there, both teams would move on to the District 4/5A championship final on Saturday, March 1, in Hobbs.

Tipoff for the district final has been set at 5:30 p.m. for the girls and 7:30 p.m. for the boys.

Cavemen and Cavegirl District 4/5A Tournament results will be posted in the Friday, March 7, edition of the Local.

A good showing during conference tourney play could go a long way toward helping both the Cavemen and Cavegirls secure seeds in this year’s state playoffs.