Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Basketball season is flying by.

The start of the postseason is just two weeks away for Class 2A teams in the Your Prep Sports area while 3A and 4A teams open postseason play on February 22.

Every team is chasing the same thing, a spot at the state tournament scheduled for March 8-12 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

With the release of postseason assignments for 3A and 4A teams last week the postseason paths for area teams became much clearer.

Here are a few initial thoughts from the release of the postseason assignments.

The River Valley Route

Regina and West Branch would both need to win one game against a non-conference opponent to reach the state tournament and that would be in the substate final.

All 12 of the River Valley Conference teams in Class 2A landed in the same two districts with Regina in District 9 along with four other South Division foes and West Branch in District 8 North Division teams.

The Bears’ Trek

The potential path to its first state tournament berth is an intriguing one for fifth-ranked West Branch (12-0).

Half of the Bears’ wins this season have come against district opponents with a 62-58 win over Northeast the only game decided by less than 12 points.
With familiar foes waiting in tow district games the postseason intrigue for West Branch lies in on the other side of the substate in District 7 where Dyersville Beckman (10-5), Waukon (12-5) and North Fayette Valley (15-2) are the likely top three seeds.

Streaking Spartans

There are five teams in Class 3A with one or fewer losses and Solon landed in the only substate to feature two of those teams.

Solon (14-1) joins the lone remaining unbeaten team in 3A Monticello (14-0) as the only teams over .500 in Substate 4.

It’s easy to think about a potential substate final meeting between those two teams but the Substate 4 field is sneaky deep.

Central DeWitt (7-7) has five losses to 4A opponents and handed Solon its only loss and West Delaware (8-8) has twice played the Spartans tough.

Path to Another Clipper State Voyage

Similar to Solon in Substate 4 what stands out immediately with Clear Creek Amana (13-2) landing in Substate 6 is the Clippers being paired with second-ranked Pella (13-1).

Taking a closer look at the field that features four teams from the Little Hawkeye there isn’t all that much separation between the top six potential seeds.

Newton (5-7) has a pair of wins over Grinnell (7-8) which won at Clear Creek Amana in December.

There are still plenty of regular season matchups that can alter seeding – Clear Creek goes to Washington (10-4), Grinnell travels to Knoxville (9-4) and others.

Still, this seeding meet will be among the most interesting involving area teams.

Class 3A Overview

Solon and Clear Creek Amana both seem to have gotten challenging but manageable draws in a 3A field that is always a challenge to separate.

Always worth keeping an eye on in 3A is the teams that play in predominately 4A conferences and compete in 3A in the postseason such as Central DeWitt which landed with Solon in Substate 4.

Western Dubuque (11-2) and Dubuque Wahlert (6-5) in Substate 3 and Davenport Assumption (10-4) and Cedar Rapids Xavier (7-7) in Substate 5 are in the same situations.

Of those teams this season watch Western Dubuque.

Iowa City Split

All three Iowa City schools in Class 4A were separated and are heading in very different directions in the postseason.

Liberty High (5-1) is headed east in Substate 6 with five members of the Mississippi Athletic Conference.

West High (2-4) is headed slightly north in a somewhat geographically interesting Substate 3 that features MVC foes Linn-Mar, Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Prairie with Ottumwa and third-ranked Johnston (5-1) tossed in.

City High (2-3) goes further north in an all-MVC Substate 4 that features top-ranked Cedar Falls (10-0), Cedar Rapids Washington (9-5) and Waterloo East and Waterloo West.

Liberty High’s Interesting Ride

It’s been an interesting, challenging, season filled with stops and starts for all three Iowa City schools.

Liberty High has certainly had its fair share of ups and downs opening the season with five consecutive wins and climbing to fifth in the 4A rankings while having its season suspended twice for two weeks.

The Lightning have one of the most interesting postseason assignments for area teams as well joining No. 10 Pleasant Valley (11-3), 2020 state qualifier Davenport North (6-5) and Burlington (5-9) in Substate 6.

Central Iowa’s 4A Footprint

The CIML made up half of the Class 4A tournament field and produced both state finalists last season and the conference could be an even bigger factor this year.

If the postseason started today its likely five CIML squads would be top seeds in their substate, including Johnston which joins West High in substate 3.

Southeast Polk (9-2), Ankeny Centennial (10-1), West Des Moines Valley (8-3) and Waukee (8-1) could all state claims to top seeds in their substates.

(All Records as of January 31)

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