Those who continue to scroll will be rewarded…

Diary entry 2/27/15: Day eight without Twitter. I am beginning to wonder why I gave up the app for Lent. I often find myself confused and lost throughout the day without knowing what Norm Macdonald or Pat McAfee are doing at every waking moment.
I find it most difficult to have a thought that I cannot share with my followers. Do my followers miss me? Do they even know I’m gone? Every Indiana basketball tweet has one less retweet due to my absence. How will Skip Bayless know he is an idiot if I am not tweeting to him on the daily?
I fear for the next 32 days. How will the world survive not knowing my instantaneous reaction to the next episode of Better Call Saul?
I have made it this far, I must continue to be strong. I think I saw some Oreos in the pantry, perhaps I will just be weak in a different fashion.

What a big weekend we have ahead of us, Kosciusko. Both boys swimming state finals and girls basketball semi-states take place over the weekend and each event has major local ties.

The Tiger Den is hosting the 2A and 3A semi-state championship games. Wabash will compete against Fort Wayne Canterbury in the 2A title while fellow Three Rivers Conference teams Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley will square off in the 3A ‘ship. If you can get a ticket, please go. It will be a great environment with three regional schools.

Several Warsaw boys swim team members will be competing at state Friday (and hopefully Saturday) along with Wawasee’s Logan Brugh. Some other area schools will have swimmers down at IUPUI as well. I’ll be down in Indy covering every splish, every splash and every cookie not eaten in the hospitality room.

I wish the very best of luck to the Lady Vikings at semi-state as well as all Tiger and Warrior swimmers at state this weekend.

Last Week: 6-2
Overall: 120-53

Boys High School Basketball 2/27

Whitko (6-15) at NorthWood (18-2), 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: It’s a good warm-up for sectional, and that’s about it for both teams. NorthWood gets a chance to fine-tune a few things while Whitko gets a chance to see the best team in its sectional right before the tourney begins.
The Wildcats have a much better team now than they did at the beginning of the season, by far. That does not put them on NorthWood’s level, but it’s still nice to acknowledge improvements.
Whitko has played some tough teams lately, so playing a superior opponent should not bother the ‘Cats. NorthWood is just not going to drop a game on senior night. Simple as that.
The Pick: NorthWood 65, Whitko 50.

Wawasee (11-10) at Tippecanoe Valley (13-8), 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: The forgotten rivalry. It’s a game that happens every year, but has really lost a lot of its luster in recent seasons. That is mainly due to that fact that these two teams seem to draw each other in the first round of sectionals every year, which makes the season finale sort of a “meh” kind of game.
That didn’t happen this season, but the Warriors and Vikings could meet in round two next Friday.
It’s hard to predict this game because both teams are very similar and I have no idea how the coaches will approach this. They can look at it like any other game and go hard for the win, or take it easy and not risk anything before the postseason.
If Alex Clark and Gage Reinhard both have good nights for the Warriors, then I don’t see Valley keeping up for the whole game. I also don’t see the Vikings rolling over in a home finale.
“Meh.” *flips coin*
The Pick: Tippecanoe Valley 53, Wawasee 49.

Carroll (21-2) at Warsaw (17-4), 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: I felt good picking the Tigers to pull the upset over Carmel last week, I had them winning by five. Warsaw did not disappoint with its performance, but Carmel still pulled it out, by five.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers this week, but they are back at home. Seeing as Carroll is not ranked as high as Carmel and knowing that Warsaw gets the comfort of the Tiger Den, I should easily pick the Tigers. However, I’m going the other way with this.
Carroll scores at a much higher rate than Carmel and I think they will be able to keep Warsaw on its heels at all times. I see this game being more of an offensive game over being a defensive struggle. Senior night will create a great atmosphere for this matchup, I just think Carroll converts more big buckets late.
The Pick: Carroll 57, Warsaw 52.

Triton (14-7) at Knox (2-19), 8:00 p.m.
The Scoop: Knox has lost 17 games in a row overall and eight straight to the Trojans. It’s not worth getting into some analysis about why Triton will win this game. Jordan Anderson goes for 17 points while Austin Sellers adds another 14 for the Trojans.
The Pick: Triton 54, Knox 39.

Portage Christian (7-18) at Lakeland Christian Academy (0-21), 8:00 p.m.
The Scoop: LCA came so close to getting that first win the other night. Getting that close to a victory and coming up short can be devastating for a team that has already had everything else go wrong this year. But, hope is on the horizon.
Portage Christian may have seven wins, but most of those are against teams that I’ve never heard of before. (To be fair, I’ve never heard of Portage Christian before either)
Cougars, I’m going to give you your key to victory, you’re welcome in advance.
Stop Seth Nykamp. There, that’s it, you’re done.
You stop this Nykamp kid, you win. Yes, I researched Portage Christian. Yes, I know who its top scorer is and that the team only averages 39 points per game. They also average 25 turnovers per game. Twenty-five.
Nykamp averages just over 12 points and six rebounds per game, he leads the team in both categories. I am challenging someone, anyone, on the LCA roster to stick to Nykamp like glue and keep him from carrying this team.
Okay, now that you’ve shut down Nykamp, keep Zach Szakacs at bay as well. He is the team’s second-leading scorer. Do these simple things and you will win. I have faith.
(Yes, I too find it ironic that I cannot find my wallet half the time but I can find stats on Portage Christian basketball)
The Pick: LCA 42, Portage Christian 35.

Girls High School Basketball Semi-state

Warsaw Semi-state

You knew I was cooking up something good for semi-state.
(Wardrobe provided in part by Lady Viking basketball)

Rochester (23-4) v. Tippecanoe Valley (24-2), 6:00 p.m.
The Scoop: Here we are, 26 games for the Lady Vikings comes down to one. The whole season comes down to a single game, 16 miles from home against a team that is only 14 miles away.
Who would have guessed that these two teams would be battling it out for the right to play at state? I love it. It’s great and it’s even better that they get to play it in Warsaw.
The first time these two met back in January I referred to Rochester as the “Striped Horses” instead of Zebras. Looking back now I realize that comment is…still funny, but this is semi-state and I have to be serious!
To be honest, if you would’ve told me last Friday that Rochester and Valley would play at semi-state, I would’ve picked the Zebras in the rematch. But, since that time I’ve seen Valley play two incredible regional games. I was maybe a little bold calling the Lady Vikings a team of destiny before last week’s regional. After the regional, however, it became clear that this team is definitely guided by destiny.
Valley refuses to lose, regardless of the situation. The girls know what has to be done against a dangerous Rochester team, they’ve done it to perfection already this season. Protect the perimeter, stay strong inside.
I have faith in every girl on that Valley roster right now. They are playing with a higher purpose in mind. They are making history with every basket at this point, they know it and they are not phased.
After beating Rochester in January Valley senior Caylie Teel said that her team knew that night was “the night” and it was the biggest game they would play all season, “outside of sectionals.”
Well, the night is back on Saturday and sectionals are just a nice memory in the rear-view mirror at this point. Every time the stakes have gotten bigger, the Lady Vikings have gotten better. Why change now?
The Pick: Valley 53, Rochester 45.