Home › Sports › High School
High School Basketball: AHS relieved with state seeding
WE'RE NO. 1
Here are the No. 1 seeds for the upcoming state boys and girls basketball tournaments. First-round games start Friday throughout the state in Class 5A-3A. For a look at the complete brackets, go to abqtrib.com and click on the "High School Sports" blog.
Class 5A
Rio Rancho (boys), Mayfield (girls)
Class 4A
Del Norte (boys), Roswell (girls)
Class 3A
Hope Christian (boys), Portales (girls)
Note: Class 2A and 1A teams will be seeded next week.
RELATED STORIES
More High School
- Richard Stevens: Faces I'll remember are the smallest ones
- Michael Garcia: Here's to you, athletes, coaches and friends. These memories - and lessons - will last forever.
- Tribune sports: Five faves
MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES
-
ABQTrib.com to remain available
08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008 -
Congressman is indicted
08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Series of attacks target Green Zone
08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Iran is defying U.N., agency says
08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Waterboarding approval probed
08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008
TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*
- Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
- Is Rome Burning?
- Ominous Skies
- The Road to Invalidation
- Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.
STORY TOOLS
SHARE THIS STORY [?]
Hot tea and late-night television are out for Ron Estrada.
The Albuquerque High boys basketball coach can stop worrying. He can sleep.
His Bulldogs made it.
"Some of the boys I've talked to are in awe," said Estrada on Sunday afternoon after learning AHS earned a No. 16 seed in the Class 5A basketball state tournament. "They're just, `Wow. Wow.' "
At the start of the season, perhaps no Class 5A boys team had a longer shot for the postseason. The Bulldogs had lost 55 straight games - partly because of forfeits handed down in the tenure of embattled former coach Ron Garcia - and seemed miles from their last state tournament berth in 1998.
AHS went from no-chance to a strong maybe in the last two weeks. The Bulldogs (11-17) won four straight games before falling to Sandia in the District 2-5A semifinal on Friday.
"We're very pleased, very relieved that our efforts have been recognized," said Estrada, whose Bulldogs travel to No. 1 seed Rio Rancho on Saturday for a first-round game.
Emphasis on "relieved" for Estrada. In recent weeks, he has slept like a newborn baby - up every couple of hours. He downed several cups of tea and wore out his TV's remote control trying to relax.
Sunday night, it was his cell phone's battery that was worn. Estrada fielded several calls and made a few more, including one to his hospitalized uncle Frank.
But for every piece of good news delivered Sunday, there was a dose of bad.
Gadsden (15-12) finished outside the top 16 according to the selection committee. Three below-.500 at-large teams were picked before the Panthers.
The West Mesa girls shared the feeling.
At 7-18, Mustangs coach Brett Jones knew his was a bubble team, but he said he was optimistic about its chances. West Mesa had four wins over three other borderline teams - Manzano, Highland and Albuquerque High. None of those teams had more wins than the Mustangs, which play in District 1-5A, arguably the state's toughest 5A girls league.
But West Mesa didn't make it.
"I was surprised," Jones said.
When you might expect anger, Jones was understanding. West Mesa's fate seemed to turn on a coin flip and a new New Mexico Activities Association rule, Jones said.
Here's what happened:
Rio Grande (the No. 16 seed) and Manzano (the No. 15 seed) tied for third place in District 5-5A. A coin flip awarded third place - and a seeding break - to Manzano.
An NMAA rule instituted this fall says teams can't be seeded above district teams they finished below in the regular season standings.
At 13-14, Rio Grande deserved a low seed. The Ravens got in and, because of the rule, so did the Monarchs.
"Bottom line, we just didn't win enough games," Jones said. "Maybe this will be a learning experience for us."
Scheduling note: Because so many factors influence seeding, many coaches simply hope for a spot among the top eight. It usually grants them a home playoff game.
Usually.
That's not the case for the St. Pius X boys and Gallup girls. Both No. 6 seeds will hit the road this week, because they face off with unusually low-seeded district tournament champions. District tournament winners are guaranteed home games, even if they are the lower seed at state.
Gallup travels to No. 11 Eldorado on Friday (times have not been announced yet) and St. Pius X heads to No. 11 Santa Teresa on Saturday.
