Post by outlawdog on Mar 10, 2020 6:41:15 GMT -7
Mar 2, 2020 19:24:41 GMT -7 DoggieDog said:
The schools set the playoff format and the schools set the criteria. The NMAA enforces those policies. The NMAA makes a ton of money off the state basketball tourney. Thus 16 teams. You have 96 teams in Albuquerque next week. It is a huge event.
The criteria leaves no doubt for who makes it. The old district champ and runner up sucks because some districts are loaded and some just plain suck. You want the best teams playing. The old way left great teams out and ok teams in. The state tourney has become where 12 seeds have won. It has made the state tourney even more popular cause of the Cinderella Story type teams. Having this type of seeding would have helped Artesia back in the late 70s and beyond. I can remember the 82 team having to play that BS preplayoff in Tohatchi. Should have never been played. Should have been played in Albuquerque. Then I think the next year we got runner up and a rotating BS playoff system left us out. Or something like that in those year. After that there has been Artesia teams that should have been in the playoffs and could have gotten hot and made a run.
This year Artesia has a shot at doing something great. If they can get by Grants then anything can happen.
By the way this year the 95 State Championship team will be honored at the State Tournament at halftime of the 4a state title game. They will hold a reunion also. kind of bittersweet is Bubba Jennings may not be able to make it. His team is one of the top teams in Texas and if they make their state tourney he won't be able to make it. His school is a 3a school in Texas. It was 25 years ago that this team won Artesia's first state title in basketball. My wife and I will be there. We love going to the state toutney and this year will be a treat watching how these young men look after 25 years of winning the state title. It feels like just yesterday we were there to watch that magical run. First coming from 10pts down with 52 seconds left in the game to beat Grants. Never forget the Grants fans cheering we want Academy then us beating them. Then Beating an Academy team that had James Borrego as their star. He is currently the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. They had a run of state titles until we beat them that year. We did it again 2 years later.
Where is Jennings coaching these days?
Artesia should have done whatever it took to hire Jennings when he decided to get back into HS Basketball...