Final Four of the 2013 Boys sweet 16 basketball tournament. 7:30 PM tip-off time.

 

 

This should be a dandy.

Brian Milam just reported that South Carolina is very interested in Madison Central's Dominique Hawkins and if Central makes it to the finals of the sweet 16, Frank Martin will come watch it.

ttt

Hoptown is going to have to play much better than they did today to keep pace with Central.

Hoptown plays lethargic at times. Can't do that against Central

I'll take the Tigers in this one.

Hoptown 69

Madison Central 66

I think MC wins this game over Hop-town, although I could see it being close into the 4th.

I like Madison Central by 12. Hoptown just doesnt have enough shooters. They have length and athletisim but struggle to score.

My keys of the game.

Hoptown's Defense is probably the best in the tourny. It is suffocating at times and they will force turnovers. However, if Hop can't shoot, they won't win. I think this game simply comes down to which offense does Hoptown bring to the floor. If they shoot 50% or better, the Tigers win. If they shoot 40-50% it is a toss-up. If they shoot under 40%, then Central wins.

 

Central

The key will be not to turn the ball over. Holmes had a good defense, but it isn't near as good as the Tigers. I also think Hawkins will get his, but somebody else is gonna have to step up and score. If they can get this, they have a great chance of winning. If Central has less than 10 turnovers, they win. If they have 10-12 its a toss up. More than 12 then the win goes to Hoptown.

 

 

Hoptown has kind of flown under the radar this whole year. They gave the "big" boys all they can handle in the Christmas tourny. The only big loss they had was to Ballard and they were up by 4 in that one. Apparently they had a terrible 3 quarter, other than that, they could have beat Ballard. Central has proven they belong in this tourny. They also have arguably the best player in the state in Hawkins. I think this will be a great game...hopefully as good as the Holmes/Central game. One other factor that we have to bring into play is going to be the crowd. It will be mostly Central. Hoptown will bring fans, but they are 4 hours away instead of just 1 hour. I think the crowd helps Central pull it out.

 

Prediction: Hoptown 75 - Central 78

Hoptown has been one of the teams that has frustrated me during this tournament. You can just see the athleticism they have and how good they have shown they can be but they played like they were looking ahead to this game last night. I see this game playing close until the 4th quarter and like a coach told me yesterday, "The cream of the crop always rises to the top" and Hawkins and bosley don't let Central lose. I'll take the Indians by 8-10.

These teams would be playing as I type this. I am kind of missing the morning semi's right now.....always enjoyed listening to them.

Central 74

Hoptown 62

Mad. Cent. by 10+

Central should win by 10 plus. Hop town has no shooters. They can get up and down the floor but so can Central.

Hoptown by 5.