By RORY FAUST Sun Staff Reporter | Posted: Thursday, January 21, 2010 7:00 pm |
Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun
Justin Russell, left, and the Coconino boys basketball team didn't get on the court this week at all after playing well of late. The Panthers will have to wait until next week to play after this week's Grand Canyon Regional Invitational was scrapped because of the snow.
Kelley Smith figured his Coconino boys basketball team was peaking at the right time heading into this week's Grand Canyon Region invitational.
After starting the season at 4-6, the young Panthers had won four of their past five games - including a key road win at region leader Cottonwood Mingus.
But Coconino's momentum was dashed by a series of snowstorms this week. And the boys and girls basketball region invites have encountered the same fate.
"I think this is probably the worst thing that can happen to us," Smith said Wednesday evening. "At this point in the season you need to be working on your game."
Currently on the bubble for the Class 4A, Division II state playoffs, Smith and the Panthers (8-7 overall, 3-1 GCR) hoped to ride their hot streak to a region invite title and an automatic state berth.
But a week's worth of snow has changed the dynamics of this season's GCR basketball season.
A pair of moderate storms earlier this week pushed back the region invite's opening rounds. On Thursday, one of the biggest expected snowfalls in Flagstaff history forced the GCR to cancel the tournament all together.
Flagstaff High athletic director Jeannine Brandel announced the decision Thursday afternoon.
"We were very concerned about teams having to travel," Brandel said. "The weather has been so horrendous everywhere. Cottonwood is worried about flooding. There's just too much danger. It just wasn't worth it."
There was talk of squeezing the entire boys and girls tournaments into one day on Saturday, but Coconino athletic director Eric Freas said the Flagstaff Unified School District ruled out that scenario Thursday morning.
With regular-season region matchups scheduled right up until the beginning of the state tournament, the invite won't be made up at a later date.
Brandel said the GCR's two automatic state berths will go to the top two finishers in the regular season standings. If teams are tied for the second spot, the first tiebreaker will be head-to-head competition and the second will be power rankings.
That figures to benefit teams at the top of the boys standings, such as Flagstaff High, and could hurt teams like Coconino and Sinagua, which were hoping to get hot in the region invite and lock up an automatic berth in the 16-team state tourney field. The winner of the region invite would have received one of the two berths to the state tournament.
"For us, (wining the region invite was) really our best chance at moving on to the state tournament," said Sinagua coach Mike Palmer, whose team is 24th in state power rankings. "That's my fear, that they'll end up doing away with it."
No one was happy about the extended time off.
Flagstaff city teams were barred from practicing since Monday because of district snow-day policies. Meanwhile, their region rivals were unaffected by snow and enjoyed their regular court time.
Like Coconino, Flagstaff High was riding a wave into the anticipated region invite. The Eagles (11-4, 4-1 GCR) had won four straight games by an average margin of 26.5 points, but coach James Kirk fears his team could go cold after not practicing for a week.
"They (the district) have their policies, I understand that, but we haven't been together since Saturday," Kirk said Wednesday evening. "I don't think it's good. Only Flagstaff (city) teams aren't practicing. I think that makes it really tough, because every other team is practicing."
Coconino's Smith said he encouraged his players to go to a private gym, or even shovel snow, in order to stay sharp.
"Athletes need to stay in shape, and you can easily get out of shape in three days," said Smith, whose team is 20th in power rankings. "I think rest is the worst thing at this point right now ... we need to be practicing. I can guarantee you that Mingus, Mohave and Page are all practicing; they're not resting.
"I have a young team. I need them to be in the gym," Smith added. "If this puts us out of practice for a week, I don't see how we can come back and play on Tuesday against Mohave, who has been practicing the entire time."
