Long Time Coming – Jacksonville and Oxford Take 1st Place (Boys/Girls)

Date
By Al Muskewitz  
East Alabama Sports Today  

Jacksonville, Oxford girls pull down top seeds in County Basketball Tournament; it’s Jville’s first since 1995, Oxford’s first since 2002

WEAVER — The basketball coaches of Calhoun County recognized the deep quality of Jacksonville’s roster and the Oxford girls’ body of work Wednesday by installing them as the No. 1 seeds in their respective brackets of the Calhoun County Basketball Tournament.

It has been 20 years since either has been a No. 1 seed.

Oxford (12-3, 3-0 in county) ended Anniston’s six-year hold on the No. 1 girls seed; the Lady Jackets last were No. 1 in 2002. For Jacksonville (10-4, 4-0), it’s been since 1995 – the last time it won the tournament. The records were confirmed by county sports historian Rip Donovan.

First-year Jacksonville coach Shane Morrow, attending the meeting in a school he once taught, said he hadn’t planned to speak or lobby at the meeting and just listen. There was no debate for his team’s selection as the boys No. 1.

“Obviously, it’s an honor to be No. 1; it tells you what the rest of the county coaches think about the team,” he said. “But you’ve still got to go play the game. That’s the biggest thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re 1 or 14, you’ve still got to go through the gauntlet.”

As tight as the boys seedings were expected to be at the top, it was really hard to debate the top seeds. There has been only one head-to-head matchup among the projected top four and the common opponents were about a wash. Only Jacksonville played more than two games against in-county opponents.

In the end, Jacksonville’s deeply talented roster, led by 6-9 Cade Phillips and guard John Broom, won out. It took all of about 15 minutes to seed the field.

“We’ve got a roster full of good kids, talented kids,” Morrow said. “It’s 1 through 12. We’ve got a lot of good kids, good players, but, again, you still have to go out there and play the game. We’ve had some Jekyll and Hyde in us this year, so I’m hoping we’ve turned the corner a little bit and maybe we’ll get a little more consistency, because you’ve still got to go play the game.”

Oxford coach Joel VanMeter, whose team was installed as the No. 2 seed ahead of Anniston and Alexandria, was comfortable with the seedings and who came out on top of them.

“Just look at (Jacksonville’s) roster; they’re really, really talented,” he said. “All four teams are obviously pretty close. I think any of the four teams are good enough to win it and I think at the end of the day it’s kind of like 11-12-13-14, 1-2-3-4 there’s not a whole lot of difference.”

If the top seeds hold through the semifinals, Morrow said “it’s going to be exciting for the County, it’s going to be exciting for us.”

Oxford coach Melissa Bennett was prepared to fight for her team getting the No. 1, but she didn’t have to, either. It was a unanimous choice.

“The girls will be excited,” Bennett said. “Anniston has been on top for so long, we just hope we can get in there and kind of make that No. 1 seed proud. On the girls side, the No. 1 seed has always, since I’ve been at Oxford, won. Let’s hope that brings us that good mojo, too.”

The Lady Jackets are the winningest team in the county. They are undefeated against in-county competition and their three losses have come to teams ranked in the top four of their respective classifications.

“I think our strength of schedule really helped this year,” she continued. “We’ve got a good record, but it’s more of a proven record … We kind of went after a harder strength of schedule this year, so that number means more this year because it’s been tougher to earn.”

The tournament starts Jan. 14 at Jacksonville State and runs through the following Friday.

In non-tournament related news, JCA coach Tommy Miller reported during the meeting point guard Tyler Doggrell has transferred from his school to area rival Faith Christian. Faith coach Cory Hughes said he learned of the transfer right before the county seeding meeting. It wasn’t immediately known when Doggrell would be eligible for the Lions, but if it’s a bona fide move he could be eligible immediately.

Faith was seeded No. 9 in the boys bracket, JCA No. 12. 

Interestingly, eight county schools have games scheduled for Jan. 14, the first night of the tournament. Traditionally teams are prohibited from playing outside games during tournament week, but because the event was moved up to accommodate the arena’s availability, teams will be allowed to play those games on the opening night.

Anniston and Jacksonville, two of the top three boys seeds on opposite sides of the bracket, go head-to-head that night three miles from the tournament site.

CALHOUN COUNTY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BOYS BRACKET
(Overall record as of Jan. 5, in-county record)
Friday, Jan. 14
No. 11 Pleasant Valley (4-12, 1-3) vs. No. 14 Wellborn (0-10, 0-7), 4:30 p.m.
No. 12 Jacksonville Christian (6-8, 2-4) vs. No. 13 Ohatchee (3-9, 2-3), 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 15
No. 7 White Plains (6-10, 1-4) vs. No. 10 Donoho (6-7, 2-2), 9 a.m.
No. 8 Weaver (9-5, 7-1) vs. No. 9 Faith Christian (12-5, 3-1), noon
No. 6 Piedmont (7-5, 3-3) vs. PV-Wellborn winner, 3 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 17
No. 5 Saks (7-3, 4-1) vs. JCA-Ohatchee winner, 11:30 a.m.
No. 3 Anniston (9-7, 1-0) vs. Piedmont/PV/Wellborn, 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 18
No. 1 Jacksonville (10-4, 4-0) vs. Weaver-Faith winner, 4:30 p.m.
No. 2 Oxford (10-10, 1-0) vs. White Plains-Donoho winner, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 19
No. 4 Alexandria (5-1, 1-1) vs. Saks/JCA/Ohatchee, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 20
Semifinals, 4:30 p.m.
Semifinals, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 21
Championship game, 8 p.m.

GIRLS BRACKET
Friday, Jan. 14
No. 11 Faith Christian (4-8, 3-1) vs. No. 14 Donoho (0-12, 0-5), 3 p.m.
No. 12 Saks (2-5, 2-3) vs. No. 13 Wellborn (1-8, 1-6), 6 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 15
No. 7 Jacksonville (6-10, 3-4) vs. No. 10 Jacksonville Christian (6-8, 4-3), 10:30 a.m.
No. 8 Pleasant Valley (8-5, 2-2) vs. No. 9 Weaver (7-7, 4-4), 1:30 p.m.
No. 6 Piedmont (8-5, 4-2) vs. Faith-Donoho winner, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 17
No. 5 Alexandria (7-7, 2-2) vs. Saks-Wellborn winner, 10 a.m.
No. 3 White Plains (5-8, 3-2) vs. Piedmont/Faith/Donoho, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 18
No. 1 Oxford (12-3, 3-0) vs. PV-Weaver winner, 3 p.m.
No. 2 Anniston (6-8, 1-0) vs. Jacksonville-JCA winner, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 19
No. 4 Ohatchee (10-5, 4-2) vs. Alexandria/Saks/Wellborn, 6 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 20
Semifinals, 3 p.m.
Semfinals, 6 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 21
Championship game, 6 p.m.

Who’s been No. 1

No. 1 seeds in County Tournament
(in EA Sports Today era) [**read more]

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