It's Here

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Sports fans, it's time for the Friday Free for All.
Over the next two hours, we'll bring you all the
latest from across the region in high school and college sports.
Now Here are your hosts, Chris Johnson and Alex Whederspiel.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome in, Welcome all, and welcome back.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
This is the Friday Free for All, brought to you
by Dan Cavatot of you at GMC.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
What a week. What a week.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
The full tournament is set on the girls side Boys
Regional Tournament. There are thirty two teams left in each classification.
We're going to have that down to sixteen by the
end of the night, and by the end of next
week we'll have it down to eight in each classification.
Thirty two teams standing. That's all that's left on the
girls side. Including last night's action where East Fairmont, Grafton

(00:50):
and Lewis County all got in exciting work. There got
a great show lined up for you today. We have
just a bunch of stuff.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
To go over.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
So let's let's hold on. Let's really break it all
down for you. So in some form or another, we're
gonna talk today about just about every team we possibly can.
We're gonna talk about Lincoln the Cougars with Craig Dutton.
We're gonna talk about East Fairmont with Sean McNamara. We're
going to talk about Bridgeport and Tucker County with Chris

(01:23):
George and Travis Jones. Philip Barber. The girls back in
the state tournament after a really slow start to the season.
Jeff Rodgers is going to join me for that. Bill
Nestor will be talking about both RCB and South Harrison.
He's been joining me on the South Harrison broadcast and
has some great insight on that team and why they
are much more dangerous than you'd think for your typical

(01:44):
seven seed coming into this after going ten to twelve
in the regular season. So all that coming up, plus
during the morning spield today, we're gonna have a little
spillover bonus segment. Luke Wiggs gonna join us from Wheeling
on the phone to chat about the Mountain East Conference tournament.
Big win for Fairmont State yesterday, big loss for West Virginia.

(02:06):
Wesley and the women's team knocked out the two seed
eliminated by West Virginia State. Keep an eye on that.
That West Virginia State team dangerous and one of only
three teams to beat Fairmont State and the only team
in the conference to beat Fairmont State on their home
floor this season, so keep an eye on that. All
that being said, we're gonna get to our first conversation

(02:27):
with Chris Johnson, my usual co host and partner in crime,
who's gonna be remote for a.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Of course, he's gonna be in Charleston next week and
joins this by zoom today. Chris Johnson is here with
us now, folks, my typical co host of the Friday
Free fra aud I believe we will be back in
person next week.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I don't want to make any promises quite yet, but
we're wrong.

Speaker 5 (02:50):
I'll be in Charleston tournament.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's right. Wait what am I talking about?

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Of course it's State tournament week for the next two weeks,
so so now it's gonna be like it'll be a
little bit, it'll be closer to the end of the month.
But regardless, Chris Johnson is here with us. We're gonna
break down. We're gonna set the table, set the stage
for all the storylines UH going into uh this weekend.
I mean, it's just unbelievable. And uh, where we finally
reached this point. Girls tournament is set. Uh and we

(03:16):
also have a boys regionals now are are We're gonna have.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
A huge piece of data after tonight.

Speaker 6 (03:24):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
And I guess where I'd like to start is let's
let's start with the girls tournament and then we'll jump
back over to to boys basketball.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
But uh, well, first of all, Chris, how are you doing?

Speaker 4 (03:33):
Man?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
How's your how's your your day going?

Speaker 5 (03:35):
I'm doing okay. It's just this weather has been a
little crazy this week.

Speaker 7 (03:39):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (03:40):
You know, I took all of her out on Wednesday
wearing shorts, and you know, the next day, I'm back
to wearing layers and snow on the ground, you know,
typical West Virginia weather does Tommy year though.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
I guess so that sounds right, sounds right for late
for late basketball. See. So let's let's We're.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Gonna start with the girls because that's where the that's
where things are are kind of set in stone at
this point. And I think a good place to probably
start with with the girls is in Class double A,
where Philip Barber and Richie County both got in Worth
noting also in Class single A, three teams in north
Central all got in in Tucker County, Gilmour County, and

(04:26):
then Notre Dame getting in is an eight seed.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
They're gonna have a tough one with Gilmour County to start.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
We'll get to all that, but let's start with Let's
start with a team near and deer, a school near
and dear to your heart, Philip Barber and the girls.
We're gonna talk a little bit later with Jeff Rogers
about this, but they they got there. I mean, this
is not what it looked like. This is not the
direction it looked like it was going. When the season started.
They got off to a really slow start and they

(04:50):
weren't playing well. And it really started all to come
together after the the big deep freeze in January, and
here they are once again. I don't envy a one
seed that has to take on Philip Barber. I just,
you know, you just feel like you can never count
them out. They are back in the state tournament now.

Speaker 8 (05:12):
I every time I think about the Philip Barber girls program,
I go back to a conversation I had.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
It might have been after their first game of season.

Speaker 8 (05:23):
I ran into Jamie Carpenter, you know, the father of
Philip Barbara, point guard Finley Carpenter, and.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
He said, we might be the youngest team in the state.

Speaker 8 (05:35):
I mean, starting two freshmen, three sophomores, he said, but
I think we could be pretty good by the end
of the year.

Speaker 5 (05:43):
And that has stuck with me all season. And then
about midway.

Speaker 8 (05:47):
Through the year, you could see them starting to turn
the page a little bit and and I remember thinking,
you know what, I wouldn't be surprised if this team
found the way you need to get to Charleston.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
And here we are.

Speaker 8 (06:00):
Uh, you know, so kudos you know to coach Mauser.
And there's talented young players and you gotta this team
has been such a focal point of the state tournament
the past couple of years. You know, just a couple
of years, we'll moved from them playing you know, for
playing for a state championship. A lot of those girls

(06:20):
have since gone. You know, the Sparks sisters. Uh, you
got McKenna Halfan, who is who stopped playing basketball to
focus on volleyball and track. You get you know, the
Bodkins girl. Uh, you know, her mom got a job
at Concord, so they moved and now she's you know,
a stand out for Hedgesville.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
So a lot of pieces have been missing.

Speaker 8 (06:44):
But you look what you know, you know, Isy Nots
has kind of become you know, to go to player
on that team, and you know, it's a friendly, it's
a green point guard, and you know, there's just a
lot of really good young talent you know on that team.
And you know, and I think we're also dealing with
a school now that's you know, they're they're used to winning,
you know, they want to get to the state tournament
instead of you know, just being happy to have a

(07:06):
good season and maybe get there, like oh, maybe we'll
be back in.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
Ten fifteen years.

Speaker 8 (07:10):
Though, I think Philip Barber is the type of girls
program now that you know, we want to get to
Charleston every single year, and you know, and said a
lot of that I think goes you know to the
culture and the job at coach Rick Malser is done.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
There's there's a little bit here of playing with house money,
and that makes Philip Barber dangerous. But you don't, yeah,
you don't go to the state tournament to to lose,
if you if you catch my drift, So I think
that would be a really interesting matchup one eight.

Speaker 5 (07:36):
I am a huge fan of the Wyoming East program.

Speaker 8 (07:41):
Uh you know that that wouldn't be my ideal pick
to play, you know, you know, uh if I was
the year the head basketball coach of any girls basketball
team regardless of classification. But uh, you know, it is
what it is. It's a one eight matchup, and you know,
you know you you can't beat them. You know, you
know you can't win it all of you. If you

(08:02):
don't run it, you go through Wyoming East at some point.
So you might as well do it in the first round.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Ye uh, Well, like.

Speaker 8 (08:07):
You said, the house money aspect is huge too. It's
like no one's going to think Philip Barbara has much
of a chance to win in this game. So we'll
see what happens.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, uh okay.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
The other one, by the way, in this region, Richie
County and Saint Mary's, that's gonna be the one o'clock
game on Tuesday. Just wanted to point that out there.
Congrats to Richie County and the Rebels forgetting to the
state tournament against a what's going to be a really
difficult Saint Mary's team in that first round.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
Yes, Saint Mary's is I mean double a is really good.

Speaker 8 (08:41):
We haven't even mentioned Whealing Central yet, you know, I mean,
so it's just.

Speaker 5 (08:47):
The really really or is Whaling Central.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
Of the one?

Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yes, yeah yeah too. Okay, Wyoming is
the is the four. They've got James Monroe. But by
the way, if Philip Barbara wins, they could very well
to play Wyoming East in the second round.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yeah yeah, how about Oh yeah?

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (09:03):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (09:03):
How crazy?

Speaker 8 (09:04):
I mean, I guess you just assumed the biom the
East is number one seat every year.

Speaker 5 (09:08):
But that's right.

Speaker 8 (09:09):
No, there're the four and had that first round matchup
with James Monroe. But yeah, no, I mean whe In Central.
I mean, the same things apply. You know, it's a
tough draw for Philip Barber, tough draw for Richie County. Uh,
you know Saint Mary's Addie Davis one of the best
players in the state. Uh, you know, yeah, it's gonna

(09:30):
be tough. But you know, there's a lot of other
schools that would trade places with Philip Barber and Richie
County just to get the chance to go Charleston and
participate in state tournament.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Let's let's go over to Class Single A, where the
other one eight game is definitely gonna have a lot
of interest in this area. Obviously, Gilmour County sort of
on the outskirts of north central West Virginia. But the
I mean, the Titans continue to be one of the
premier girls basketball programs in Class Single A, and that
is gonna be Uh. First of all, congratulations to Notre
Dame for their win over Magnola, but that is a

(10:01):
tall task on their in their first round matchup going
up against Gilmour County. That's gonna be a Thursday evening game,
five thirty game on Thursday, March thirteenth.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Uh, and listen, kudos to Notre Dame for getting there.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
That, however, is that's your reward for getting to Charleston.
Is you got to go up against maybe the best
team in all of Class Single A.

Speaker 8 (10:21):
Yeah, you talk about like opposite ends of the spectrum.
You know, Gilmour County is established as one of your
the premier programs in the state, you know, especially in
Class A. You look at Notre Dame, it wasn't that
many years ago where I mean they were struggling to
have enough girls to even feel the team. Uh, you know,

(10:42):
coach Wilson is in our second year now, and you
like seeing teams like this kind of rebuild and get
back to Charleston. But I think it's also nice that
you know her daughter, Selena Wilson. I think it's one
of the you know, the hidden gyms when it comes
to girls basketball in this state. Like everyone who sees

(11:03):
this girl's play talks about how amazingly talented it is.
So I think it's really really cool she's going to
get to play on the biggest stage the state has
to offer. So I think, you know, again, I would
be hard pressed to pick a not the name to
upset Gilmour County, but I think at the very least

(11:25):
the rest of the stage is going to be going
to recognize his name, Sleen Wilson, you know, after you know,
the state tournament.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, very good. We're gonna Oh and one other one
worth noting here. Of course, Tucker County, who has had
had not a great end of their season, has picked
up their play.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
Now.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
Granted they the game against Harmon, I think that was
pretty clear they were going to win that game.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
You know, they just needed to play the game.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
It was though, a good win against East Hardy to
get on into the state tournament. And so Tucker County
didn't play a great end of the season, but they
still wind up getting in, getting in as a three seed,
no less. And so listen, it's hard to count out
any Tucker County team at this point in the season.
Obviously they've been kind of up and down, but now

(12:11):
they might be trending back up.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (12:14):
I mean, are we allowed to even have you a
state basketball tournament without the Tucker County girls involved?

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Probably not?

Speaker 5 (12:21):
No, Yeah, So yeah, I mean, you know that's the team.

Speaker 8 (12:25):
They just know how to play when it comes you know,
late February or early March. So, I mean, would you
be shocked if Tucker County finds a way to to
get to the semifinals, to get to state championship game.
I mean I wouldn't, you know. I mean, class that
is a pretty good field. You know, you got you
know what, three time defending state champion Camraun who lost

(12:48):
a lot, but they're still back in and as the
number four seed, you know, and you know they they
still have Macy Neely you know, on that team.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
So wouldn't count on the Cameron Dragons either.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Definitely and worth noting, by the way, Morgantown and University
both made it into the Class quadruple, a field that
is worth checking out. Morgantown in the two seven. They
are the two seed will face Washington in the first round,
while University is the four and the four five They
will face Saint Albans.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Those should be exciting games.

Speaker 5 (13:17):
The first round game mighty first round game.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, you know, it's funny you just talk about you
talk about you know, you want to talk about teams
who know how to play. In February and March May,
I present Morgantown in University.

Speaker 8 (13:30):
Yeah, and you know, huge win for University to knock
off defending state champion of year Willing Park. You know,
it's gonna be kind of odd not seeing Alexis board
as you finish her prep career at the state tournament.
But you know that young lady has nothing to be
ashamed of with everything that she accomplished during her time
at Wheeling Park. And I still say she's the best

(13:51):
player in the state. I think she's the front runner
for the Maru Strowsky Award.

Speaker 5 (13:54):
Again.

Speaker 8 (13:55):
I know some people might like, well, but they didn't
make it to Charleston this year. I'm like, well, you
look at everything they loss, and you know she lost
her on top of the graduation losses. You know, her
all state teammate La La Woods went out, you know
in the summer, you know, with the torn acl So
I mean, Alexis really puts that team on our back

(14:15):
this year. So you know, it's not a legacy award,
but I mean, Alexis board is just to me, it's
still the best girls basketball player in the state.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Yeah, and we're going to talk about Class Triple A a
little bit later on in the show, so I'm gonna
save that for now. In the meantime, let's move over
to boys basketball where the regional action gets started today.
And boy, it's just felt like a long and winding
road to get here, but we are finally here. There
are a bunch of locals in prime position to potentially

(14:49):
move on to the state tournament. In Class Single A,
Tucker County looks like they have a really good chance
of getting there. Clay Battel Notre Dame is a four seed.
They're going to have to get through Clay Battel, and
then in Class Triple A Bridgeport, of course, the one
seed looks like they're gonna have some work to do.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
In that second game.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
But even still, you gotta think that Bridgeport's a heavy
favorite to advance out of their region. RCB and Lewis
County in the more interesting side of that bracket where
they're likely headed for a showdown in the regional final,
though you can't count out anybody this time of year.
Of course, Fairmont Senior another one seed in their region.

(15:29):
We could see Elkins join them out of Region one.
So there's a lot going on in Class Triple A.
I'm gonna go through all these really quickly and then
you can kind of pick all the cart where you
want to go. Class Double a's got some fantastic as
well regions, and in particular really excited about Region two,
where Doddridge County, Richie County, and Braxton County have all

(15:50):
at times this season really looked like tournament teams, but
that only two of those teams can go. Doddridge has
the clearest field and I'll have an interesting one potentially
in their second round game should they get there, against
either Liberty or Petersburg, but Dodgerge County has got the
clearest path. Richie County Braxton County would theoretically have to
go through one another, and I still have been telling

(16:12):
folks don't count out South Harrison has actually played really well.
They played Richie really well earlier this year, they played
Braxton pretty well earlier this year, and they seem like
they may be rounding an edge in terms of learning
how to win basketball games.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
They're much improved.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
And the only reason they're a seven seed is because
they in Philip Barber their game pre February twenty six
got canceled and never made up. So that's a little
bit of a tougher one for Richie County than I
would anticipate. So a lot of great action in the
classes one Single A, Double A and Triple A, and
then in Quadruple A as well, usual suspects. Morgantown University

(16:49):
right up there, both with a buye into the regional final,
so they will take on the winner of Morgantown faces
the winner of Preston Wheeling Park University faces the winner
of Buckhannon Upsher and John Marshall in class Quadruple A.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Both those teams with the chance to get back.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
So heavy North Central potentially heavy North Central representation. But
we are going to see how this system works in
earnest on the boy's side as well. Now, Chris, a
lot of really good games potentially coming up in the
next today and then in the next week.

Speaker 8 (17:19):
Yeah, you know, my focus is primarily on chless trip
away where I think when it's all said and done,
the Big Ten Conference is going to have four schools
in state tournament. I think Bridgeport and Fairmont Senior we're
both going to advance to Charleston. I think Bridge Sport
is going to be the number one overall seed. I

(17:40):
think Fairmont Senior is probably in that number three number
four range. I also think Robert C. Bird and both
Elkins are going to find a way to get to Charleston.

Speaker 5 (17:48):
So half of your field is going to be Big
ten schools.

Speaker 8 (17:52):
Then you throw in your shady Spring looks like, you
know they're going to get their uh you know, I
think Nitro is going to get there. Uh you know,
so right, there's I mean, that's six teams. I'm not
saying I'd write them in pen, but I Wilson wouldn't
be looking for an eraser either. So yeah, I you know,

(18:13):
the more and more I see this Bridge Sport team,
the more and more I think they could be. They've
they've got what it takes to be the last team standing.
I mean, they got such a good eight man rotation.
You know, they're unselfished or defensive minded. The one thing
I worry about with this team, and I've talked to
both head coach Dave Marshall and you know assistant coaches,

(18:36):
you know, Bo Castler and Grant Burton about this, is
that there's times where this team will get out to
a big lead and they let it off the gas
a little bit.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
And it's not you don't want your players being dirty
out there. You don't want them being jerks.

Speaker 8 (18:53):
But I do wonder if sometimes if this team has
that killer instinct whereas I mean, you get a chance
to you metaphorically speaking, step on the team's throat. Sometimes
they don't do that. Now, I also realize that's easy
for me to step back and say, because I have
never been a part of a basketball team as talented

(19:16):
as what this twenty four to twenty five Bridge Sport
Endings team is. You know, I don't know what it's
like to play for a basketball team. They're gonna jump
out into a twenty five to three you lead against
an opponent, so far be it for me to tell
you know, kids, you know they need to you play

(19:38):
with a little more intensity in moments like that.

Speaker 6 (19:40):
I just know.

Speaker 8 (19:41):
I've been to the state tournament a lot, and you
make it to the semi finals. You get a league
like that against someone they're not going to lay down
for you.

Speaker 5 (19:51):
You've got to be able.

Speaker 8 (19:53):
When the time is right to show the ability to
put the foot on the gas and not let up
to meet us. The one thing I have not seen
from this team, and I fully realize that it's kind
of nitpicking, you know, for a team that's twenty one
and one and done pretty much everything you would want

(20:14):
a basketball team to do thus far. But that is
just the one thing that has me just a little cautious.
I still think they're going to end up being the
Class Trip Play state champions, but I would like to
see that aspect come out at some point between now
and when that you know, the title game would be.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
I will say this about bridgeportin and I agree with
you in the sense that you know it when you
when you're this good, you kind of have to nitpick
even to talk about a team, Otherwise what else is
there to say.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
I would be very surprised.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
I think it would be an outright shock if this
team is not in Charleston. Number one seed, maybe the
number two seed we'll see. But but top two yeah, yeah,
top two seed, I think the more interesting thing there.
And this is maybe where we uh will wrap this
and I'll get your final thoughts on this. I think

(21:08):
potentially r CB Lewis County is one of the few
true if it happens, which I think it's going to,
if that's the regional final, that's gonna be one of
the few true swing games. Uh, there are some littered
throughout the possibility. There are a couple of regions whereas
some there are some really good teams. I gotta go
back and find Ravenswoods region is is is really good

(21:31):
this year.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Hold, I gotta, I gotta find that.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
But but as I remember, that's got like four potential
teams who in a perfect world, right, Williamstown, Williamstown, Wheeling, Central,
Ravens would and even Tyler Consolidated has been pretty good
this year. But that's that's actually got you know, the
potential where you could say, you know, based on what
we know about Lewis County, yeah, they've been a little

(21:53):
hit or missed this year, been a little inconsistent, but
it wouldn't completely shock me if that one trends more
like a real swing game than RCB. Necessarily as the
outright favorite, I think RCB would be favored. But based
on what we've seen of Lewis County here and based
on what we saw you know again, I go back
to that Braxton County team that made a run to
the state tournament last year. I don't think it's crazy

(22:14):
to think that Lewis County could be one of the
teams to unseat a top two seed.

Speaker 8 (22:22):
Yeah, no, I think I think I think you're one
hundred accurate on that. The thing we forget about Robert
she Birds sometimes is as talented as they are and
as much success as they've had, that's still a really,
really young basketball team. Uh, you know, so you can
get this time of the year. I mean that can
be a factor. He gets a team that's playing with

(22:42):
some experience.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
It's true, very good, Chris.

Speaker 3 (22:46):
I guess the big question now before I let you
go is how how pumped are you for the state
tournament to be back?

Speaker 2 (22:52):
And what's your I guess, what what do you do?
What's your plan?

Speaker 3 (22:55):
Because You're going to be there for a lot of games,
especially the boys tournament with Bridgeport in it.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
What's what's the plan?

Speaker 5 (23:02):
My plan right now is I'm going down.

Speaker 8 (23:07):
Friday morning, uh next week, be there for the girls
semi finals, to be there Saturday for the state championship games.
Then you know, I'm the All State chairman for girls
of basketball, so I have the All State meeting on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
You know, the boys tournament gets started on Tuesday. So
what I'm gonna do this year, I'm just.

Speaker 8 (23:27):
Gonna stay down there instead of just coming home for
a day and you know, getting your the family and
you know, the pet's all excited to see me, and
then you're just basically long enough to unpack and then
pack and turn around and drive back to Charleston.

Speaker 5 (23:44):
I'm just gonna stay down there.

Speaker 8 (23:46):
So uh yeah, I'm gonna be away from home until
you know sometime I think March twenty third, because I'll
have the entire week and like I said right now,
I envision in Bridgeport playing for a state title on Saturday.
Then we got the boys All State meeting on Sunday,
and then I can come home and you know, see
the dog and get some laundry done.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I get some get hey real quick.

Speaker 8 (24:11):
Since I may not be talking to you, I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go ahead and give you my state champion predictions.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh yeah, good call, got yes.

Speaker 8 (24:20):
Okay, yeah, okay, okay, four girls, quade state champion, more Thantown,
triple A.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
Man, this one's tough. This one is tough.

Speaker 8 (24:37):
I kind of like nitrate to repeat, double A.

Speaker 5 (24:41):
I'm still going. I'm I'm still going with wine Ming
East Man.

Speaker 8 (24:44):
There's no program in this state knows how to turn
up their game a tournament time like Wyming East girls.
So even though they're a four seed, I'm going with
Wyming East and double A.

Speaker 5 (24:54):
Single A.

Speaker 9 (24:58):
Man.

Speaker 5 (24:59):
I Wilmer County.

Speaker 8 (25:00):
I think Gilmore County may be the easiest uh predict
uh for boys and quade. Like spring Mills, trip away,
I like Bridgeport, double A, I like west Side and
single A. Sorry to all my friends in Tucker County.
I think Tug Valley funds a way to.

Speaker 5 (25:17):
Win it again.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
All right, very good, that's.

Speaker 5 (25:21):
My four picks. All right, very good, A total picks. Y.

Speaker 10 (25:26):
Yeah, Chris, sometimes I'm sure I'll text you throughout the
week and we'll try to see if we can get
you on at some point on one of the one
of the shows.

Speaker 8 (25:37):
But yeah, even next Friday, I may have to to
go live from the Civic.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
So okay, ah on assignment. Love it very very good.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Well that's that's and Travis Jones will be there, so
we'll just we'll just get you guys lined up on
a on a on a land line and we'll go
from there. Chris, much appreciated.

Speaker 8 (25:53):
Man, We can do that, yeah as always, man.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, scratch Ali behind the ears for me and we'll
talk with you as soon as possible.

Speaker 5 (26:02):
Sounds good, my man.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
We'll take a break back after this.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
Cavatoyo WIGMC Friday, Free.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
For all Friday, Free for all. Now Bill Nester joining us.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
As we'll get into a little Double Harrison County action.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
We'll start with RCB.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
We'll talk a little South Harrison as well, but let's
start with the Eagles, and let's start with an RCB
team that finally, finally, finally gets the second season underway tonight.
And it's just so strange because they had this big,
big gap of time off. They only wound up being
able to play nineteen games. I think, as I understand

(26:42):
that they could have gotten some additional games in if
they if they wanted, or if they could have found it.
But you can get up to twenty two in in
the regular season. But regardless RCB plays nineteen, they go
thirteen and six. Had a really strong run in the
middle of the season. From January twenty seventh to February thirteenth,
they played nine consecutive games. They won all nine of

(27:07):
them and against some pretty good teams.

Speaker 5 (27:09):
I might add.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
They beat Preston County that one took overtime, They beat
Fairmont's Senior, they beat Buckhannon Upsher Those are some pretty
good wins on the books. They lost to some pretty
quality opponents over the course of this season as well.
If you look back on the year, they lost to
University played them pretty tight. They lost to Doddridge County,
a really good Doddridge County team, I might add, played
them pretty tight, lost to Fairmont Senior once, and lost

(27:33):
to Bridgeport twice. Those games were not quite as tight
the Bridgeport losses. But regardless, RCB, with their resume, earned
enough for a two seed in the New regional format,
and as a result, they get to skip Bridgeport entirely.
No need for a third meeting between the two unless
they happen to meet in the state tournament. So Bill

(27:55):
RCB has a pretty good path if they want to
get back to Karlston, They've got a pretty good path there.
But they still have work to do starting tonight.

Speaker 9 (28:06):
Well, tonight's going to be a tough one. Of course,
people look at this on the outside and they say, well,
Robert sed Bird with a couple wins, and by margin,
fairly easy wins over Lincoln. But when you look back
at those games, they were tight at different times in
those contests. And the Cougars always play Robert Seedbird tough

(28:27):
in the second season, and part of that reason is
because of Jordan Toad and his ability to prep his
team to play in big game situations. And he always
seems to have a trick up his sleeve, especially when
it comes to Robert Seedbird. He's always got some kind
of a different defense or a different look, some kind

(28:47):
of a scheme if you will, that gives Robert Seedbird fits.
And we saw a little bit of that a prelude,
if you will, in Game number two against when these
two teams locked up Lincoln when he went to a
one to three chaser. Robert C. Bird's premier offensive player
this year has been Logan Boys, averaging over seventeen points

(29:10):
a game. Can score the basketball, driving to the hoop,
shooting jump shots, and knocking down deep threes. He's definitely
an offensive threat anywhere on the floor. So what coach
elected to do was go to the one three chaser.
It's a one three zone with a man Oliver Boyce everywhere.
Paul's used problems for Robert S.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
Bird.

Speaker 9 (29:31):
We expected to see that again in this contest. And
so just an idea, an example of what coas can
do and will do in these kind of games. So
you look at this contest and you say, well, on paper,
it should be a walk in the park, but not
so fast, because the Cougar's playing some good basketball recently

(29:51):
led by the re emergence of the big fella inside
Aiden Rice, and also some strong play from guards like
freshman Paul Vincent. And then the fact that you've got
the ace and the hole in the defensive coach and
toast with his efforts, this is going to be a
tough one, no doubt. About it, and I know that

(30:12):
coach Lucas isn't taking this game for granted, no, and.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
It makes sense to But the funny thing is you
and I remember you diagnosing or that's the wrong word,
but diagramming for me. You were kind of listing off
all the different injuries RCB had dealt with over the
course of the season, which makes their regular season and
that nine game winning streak even more impressive because they
just haven't had a lot of guys healthy, and in particular,

(30:36):
some guys come back, someone else always seems to go out.
They just never seem to have that full compliment of guys.
So going into the second season, where are they health wise?

Speaker 9 (30:46):
Right now? The healthiest they've been since the earliest of games.
They've got everybody back and healthy for the first time
and probably since Game four, game five, and that's a
good sign for this team. And they've also had a
chance to practice an extensive amount of time with all

(31:06):
those guys back, and I think that's important for them.
You and I have had several conversations, both during this
show and also just talking just in general about what
fits the needs of each individual team, and for this team,
I think the best thing for them was to have
extensive practice time, Whereas some teams they need more time

(31:29):
on the hardwood in game situations, but for this group,
I think they really needed to have a chance to
get back to practice, to get some time together, to
get that cohesive core back in intact prior to playing.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
This lockup of Lincoln makes sense.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
It does make a lot of sense, and of course
that's why they come in having played, as I alluded to,
only nineteen games, which is going to.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Be probably on the lower end.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
I haven't looked at their every single team super closely
in that regard, but that's going to likely be a
little bit closer to the low end. Most teams got
up around twenty twenty one, and many teams did get
to twenty two, like Shady spring On they got to
twenty one. Princeton only got to twenty. But if you
look at the top ten teams by record in Class

(32:20):
Triple A, I'm pretty sure RCB played the fewest games,
which is definitely interesting because it means that theoretically, could
this team be the freshest going into it. And now
that's going to lead me to obviously, I don't want
to look past Lincoln but I want to take a
moment because the next time that we talk about this
one way or another, we will know what's gone down,

(32:44):
we will.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Know where OURCB is.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
So if we're going to do a true preview here,
we have to kind of preview both. So if they
were to get past the Lincoln Cougars and get within
one game of going back to the state tournament, something
that you know this team has desperately been looking at
all year, they would either have to face Lewis County
or Frankfurt. And Lewis County has been interesting. Let's assume

(33:08):
they're the favorite for just a moment here. Lewis County
has been really interesting this year because we've had a
couple of our folks on this show who have seen
Lewis County this year, either because their team played them
or they were at a tournament where Lewis County played.
And Lewis County is a three seed, they're kind of
a wild card to me because one, they have had
some The first of all, they're ten and ten, which

(33:30):
right off the bat should give you an example what
kind of a wild card they are. But they also
started really slowly, so they started want to say three
and six and they're ten and tens. They have now
won seven of their last eleven games or something of
that sort. They've played much better of late. They've won
three out of their last four. They beat Liberty, they

(33:52):
beat a very good Braxton County team, granted a classification lower,
but a very good Braxton County team on the road.
I might add they have had some moments this year
where you go, WHOA that Lewis County team. Hey, hang
on a second. At Bridgeport. They beat Scott in the

(34:14):
tournament that was held by Bridgeport around the holidays.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Now they would lose to Bridgeport.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
They really struggled in that game, but there were a
lot of folks I talked with Travis, talked with Chris.
They're really impressed with the way Lewis County played. So
I think it's interesting if OURCB should find themselves in
the regional final game, it's going to either be a
Lewis County team or a Frankfurt team. And I don't
think either of those games. No one's going to look
at that and say those are gimme games. Those are

(34:40):
both going to be pretty tough opponents.

Speaker 9 (34:42):
There's no doubt about it. They're both going to be
solid opponents. And you assume that it's going to be
Lewis County based on the streak ability of this team
where they're at right now, streaking on this win streak,
playing great basketball, and with the talent they have and
coach Sims, the veteran mentor, They've got all these things

(35:04):
pointing in their direction. And why not when you've got
the inside outside game, you know, on the perimeter, with
seniors Gillespie and Robinson outside being able to fill it
up from the perimeter, and the big fellow Benji Puttman
inside the one of the biggest, most prolific post players
in the state. Yeah, they've got the total package, no

(35:24):
doubt about it. But what helped Robert c Bird to
the early season victory over the Minutemen was the fact
that they heeded them up with the full court pressure defense,
turned them over and got some easy buckets. And I
think that's going to be the recipe for success against
the Minutemen. It's also going to be the recipe for

(35:44):
success against Frankfort, and it definitely is going to be
the key against the Cougars because if you get a
half court set against any one of these three teams.
If you're Robert C. Byrd, then you're going to decrease
tremendously your chances of revival and advancement. But you've got
to be able to get in an up tempo game

(36:04):
with any one of these trio of teams, and you
want to get easy buckets, you want to get deep
into their benches, and you want to force other players
to beat you other than the usual suspects. So for
Robert Seabird to thrive and be successful, they've got to
get into numbers games two on one situations to thee
on two where they have the advantages where they can

(36:27):
score the ball in transition, where they can get the
buckets that get the offense going kickstart the offense. They
thrive on momentum. That's the type of team Robert seed
Bird is. When you're in a half court set, primarily
it's hard to get momentum. And so when you're playing
against teams like these teams were talking about here, they

(36:47):
have the tools to be able to sustain a game
in the half court set. When you've got a post
player like Putnam and we're talking about Lewis County right now,
you can just feed it inside and he can go
to work. He can get you in foul trouble, he
can slow a game down, and he can really make
it a kind of game that really makes it hard
to beat a team like Lewis County. I think that's

(37:09):
part of why they've been so successful and so hard
to beat here recently. So if you want to win
in advance and get to Charleston, if you're coach Lucas.
One thing that has aided this team throughout this season
and through the fact that they've had to battle all
these injuries, is the fact that they've had to build
a little bit more depth. They've gotten some guys that

(37:31):
have stepped up and played some minutes on the bench.
So this is the deepest this team has been all
season long. So what that means is you can really
get after it, play as intense as you can defensively,
and then go to your bench and then be able
to keep that relentless pressure going and at the same
time wear down the opposition. So I look for him

(37:53):
to do that from the start of the game all
the way through. He wants to extend the game, he
wants to make the game as long as possible. So
that the other teams he plays, whether it's Lincoln and
then potentially Frankfort and or looking at Lewis County, he
wants to make them have to go deep down their
bench or wear them out and then what he's done,

(38:16):
and especially when you look back at the nine game
win streak, when you get into the fourth quarter of play,
if the Robert Seabird playing goals have a lead, he
would take the ball and then he spreads it out.
He pulls the ball out and makes a team try
to guard them all the way around the floor, which
leads the back door cuts, which leads the bigger dribble
drive lanes and more opportunities to get to the rim.

(38:40):
So that's been the recipe for success for this team,
and I look for it to be no different in
the opener against Lincoln and then if they can advance
in the second game. So that's what he wants to do,
is wear teams down and then be fresher than they
are in the fourth quarter of play. So that's what
he looks to do and hopefully he can get the
job done against them. But that's where the cat and

(39:01):
mouse game comes in. So when you look at Lincoln,
you're going to see coach Toath try to slow it down.
You'll see some zone looks from them and they'll try
to confuse them. So rcb's got to recognize and then
react to what they see and to be able to
score some points in that half court set. That's the
difficult part. So when you look back last time these
two teams played, because they were in that half court

(39:24):
set in the first quarter play, it was a twelve
to twelve game Alex So it was it was a
nip and tuck thing. So I can if that the
pace of play is dictated by Robert C. BYRN, they'll
have the advantage. But if the Cougars can dictate pace
of play, it goes in favor of them. And the
longer that Lincoln can hang around in this ball game,

(39:45):
the more it benefits. Then the pressure then goes on
Robert C BYRD because they're picked to be the favorites,
and then every shot becomes more magnified, every possession becomes
more magnified. So that's what RCB has got to be
able to do. They want to come out swing and
they want to try after the heavyweight knockout early on
in this thing to get the big lead and then
try to put the pressure on the Cougars. So that's

(40:07):
the checks and balances that we'll see. That's the game
plan going into it, and which team could execute their
game plan that's the one that's going to have the
advantage down the stretch of this contest.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
All right, Let's talk a little bit about South Harrison.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
They go in as a seven seed in Class Double A,
but you and I have talked about this a few
times that I don't think they're your traditional seven seed.
They're a team that started three freshmen, two sophomores, and
they've got a bunch of young players coming in. I mean,
they're really really underclassmen heavy, and you've seen we've seen
these freshmen kind of take big, big steps over the

(40:41):
course of the season, and that finally came to fruition
in what has been a really difficult year for them.
They ended on a four game losings or nearly ended
on a losing streak. They were on a four game
losing streak going into the final game of the regular season,
dealt with a ton of adversity against a pretty good
Tiger Valley team that got a winning record and played

(41:04):
really well in Class Single A, and the Hawks were
able to pull out a win over some pretty adverse
conditions and end their losing streak, pick up ten wins
on the season for a team that won just four
a year ago and using really only one player in
the starting lineup from last year's team in sophomore Adam Marple.

(41:24):
So really it's almost like the rebuild times too, because
it was just a bunch of brand new in many
respects starters again, and here they are. You reach this
point of the season and yeah they're a seven seed,
but the two seed that they are taking on in
Richie County. As a team, they actually played pretty well
at the start of that losing streak. They were on
a three game winning streak going into face Richie County

(41:47):
at home on Valentine's Day, played a pretty good game
against the Rebels. Richie County ultimately was the more mature team,
I think you would argue, and in the fourth quarter
kind of pulled away in that game and won fifty
one forty four. But I would say this is an
interesting This is an intriguing matchup for a two to seven,
and there aren't a lot of those across the state.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
In my mind, but this is definitely one.

Speaker 9 (42:09):
Of them, There's no doubt about it. This is very
intriguing because of where South Harrison is currently. You know,
how many times do you see a team that goes
into tournament play with a huge win streak, they've been
cruising all year long, and then they get into the tournament,
they get into a close game with an underdog, and

(42:30):
then they fail and the reason for that is because
they weren't tested. Well, you can't say that about this
hot team. They've been tested and they've seen every type
of game you can possibly see in every type of scenario.
They've had wind streaks, they've seen losing streaks, they've found
ways to battle through adversity. They've seen all kinds of close,

(42:52):
narrow losses, and they've found a way to win a
close game. Just recently here against Tiger's Valley. As you
talked about, they tinkered with the lineup. You know, they
had a chance to move some players around against the Bulldogs,
and then we saw them get that win and get
some confidence, and most importantly in that game, they had

(43:13):
several players step up to contribute. Everybody got the job
done in that game. Cooper Sanders Will twenty nine points,
Graham Sauce with twenty three Fence, de Macker scores, Joseph
Penston Morocker scores seven points in the fourth quarter when
it mattered to most with a big double double, thirteen points,
thirteen rebounds, Mason Belcastro off of the bench with two

(43:33):
big threes and a free throw down a stretch. All
these guys contribute, and hats off to head coach Scott
Wallace and his coaching staff, Rick Finceon, Mocker you know,
and Josh Toothman. They make a decision in that contest
to step their two big guys in the game because
the foul trouble. They don't even play until one minute,

(43:55):
less than one minute left in the third quarter play.
Adam Marple and jose Fence the marker have three fouls
at the half and they end up out scoring Tiger's
valley in that third quarter play, so they get that win.
And I'll tell you to quote the legend coach Rihtten
from Fairmont State used to walk around campus alex and

(44:17):
he used to ask you, how's your head? And that
was an expression he'd say, a question you ask you,
and the question was where are you at? Mentally how's
your head? And if you ask the South, here's some players,
how's your head? Right now? They're in a great headspace
because they're confident, they got to win. They're ready to go,
they're poised, they're focused, and most importantly, they know they

(44:39):
can play with this Richie County team because as you
mentioned a moment ago, they played him tough and they're
one time that they locked up this year, so they're
ready to go in this one and they're the underdog.
No pressure on them. Everything points in favor of them.
They can play loose and play free, and in this contest,
if they can get into the halftime break close against
the Rebels, then anything goes in the second half because

(45:02):
in all the pressure falls on Richie County because they're
expected to win this one. In their senior backcourt, that's
when RTT Johnson he's going to feel little bit of
pressure because he doesn't want to lose his last game
and be done with his senior career. He's going to
be playing at a higher level. He's going to be
forced to press a little bit and then you're going
to see some of the advantage go to the Hawks.

(45:23):
So I like where they're at heading into this contest
with Richie County.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Yeah, and I was going back to say, I was
trying to remember exactly how the game script went down.
And the Hawks had a tough first quarter against Richie County.
They really took a two Richie County going into halftime,
had a ton of momentum after outscoring them by eight
and the second quarter, they won the third quarter. Cooper
Sanders with twelve points in the first three quarters, and

(45:48):
then Richie County the senior leadership took over in the
fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
So that was the story of that first.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
Game between these two, and it gives me some thought
that there's a Hawks team here who you know, we
talked about this a little bit on the broadcast earlier
this week, that you know a lot of these kids
have been playing all season now. So you talk about
Joseph Fence, Demockery, you talk about Cooper Sanders and Grandsauce.
Those kids aren't really freshmen anymore. They played twenty plus

(46:17):
games this season. They're not really freshmen. What's interesting is
deeper down the bench, some of the kids who have
not played as much. A kid like Mason Belcastro, a
freshman who scored seven points in that win over Tiger's
Valley seven really critical bench points that they really needed
when they got it, and he had a late free
throw that was really critical as well to ice the game.

(46:37):
And you gotta wonder will those guys be able to
keep up what they did against, say, Tigert's Valley if
put in the same situation. I'll be very, very curious
about that as well. But I think you have to
be a little bit impressed with the Hawks team. They
didn't play a lot of games in region, and this
is this is sort of the interesting thing. I think
We've talked about this couple of times on the show,
and I'm probably going to continue to I'm going to

(46:59):
continue to beat drum on this for a while. I
think this is the kind of the direction that we
need to be head if this system is going to function.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
I think we gotta.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
See more in region games during the season. I just
don't like if I go back and I think the
Hawks only wound up playing three out of their twenty
one games in region, I'll double check that, but I'm
pretty sure I'm right that it was three games and
they went zero to three in the region. Two against
Doddridge County sorry, four games, and technically only one of them,

(47:31):
of the two against Doddridge County, gets counted.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
But so they played four games.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Out of a total twenty one, only three of them
get counted. That's to me something long term we got
we gotta look at. And I should rephrase one more thing.
They did ultimately play Liberty Harrison, but that didn't get
counted in the voting. The voting was already long in.
We already knew the region rankings when they played Liberty
on March third. The rankings had been out for almost

(47:57):
a full week at that point. So I that's to me,
and I'm sure the Hawks are not alone in this.
That's something that probably does need to change long term
where we need to get more of these in region
games during the regular season. I'm not saying a straight
round robin where you play all seven if you're in
a region of eight, but boy, wouldn't it be nice

(48:17):
to get close?

Speaker 9 (48:20):
It would It would be a great opportunity if you
can get and he would also be a great measuring
stick for coach Wallace to be able to see exactly
where his teams stacked up with the with these play
with these teams that he's going to be playing in
the postseason to get an idea of what he needs
to work on and how he could prepare for the postseason. Fortunately,

(48:40):
he has had that one opportunity to see Richie County,
you know exactly what he has. But a lot of
these teams looking around, he's not seen them and has
no idea what he would have to face or what
he'd be up against. So that's a big disadvantage for
the teams themselves, number one, because they don't know what
the opposition looks like. And then number two two is

(49:00):
also a disadvantage because they're not really ranked according to
what their qualifications are or how good they are. So
I agree with you completely in that scenario. So, yeah,
it would be nice for that to be a change,
and hopefully that's something that will happen down the road.
Obviously the first year, working some bugs out, getting the
kinks out of it, and hopefully they can get that rectified.

(49:23):
But one last point about the Hawks two, and I
think this is going to be key for their success
in the game tonight, and that is these youngsters that
we talked about. This is their first postseason, Alex, and
the one thing that you have to learn, and that
you do learn as you get a few postseasons under
your belt, is that the way the game is refereed,
it's officiated differently in the postseason than it is during

(49:45):
the regular season most of the time. Typically the officials
you see you don't see during the regular season, and
those officials don't see you, and so those games usually
are officiated a little bit tighter than what you'll see
during the regular seas. So for the Hawks, who have
had issues with south thrubbles throughout the regular season, that's
been a concern and it can be a concern in

(50:07):
this one tonight. So they've got to really be careful
and be aware, especially early on, of how the game
is going to be officiated, and so they need to
take note of that, recognize and react how it's being called,
and then play accordingly. Because the number one thing they've
got to do is keep their bigs Marple and fence
Demacher on the floor. They've got to be able to

(50:28):
battle Isaac Hodges, the six' seven junior who had a
big game in that lock up the first time. Out
if they can do a good job Corralling hodges and
Keeping johnson the point guard in. Check they've got a
good chance of pulling thepset in this one.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
Tonight all, right going to go ahead and throw out
a couple of quick, promos. Folks so if you're interested
in The South harrison game Against Richie, county you can
hear that On sky ONE o six five dot. Com,
now all the regional action is on the exact same time,
tonight SO i will be on separate calls this. Evening
but so That's South harrison And Richie county On sky

(51:04):
one of six five dot. Com, bill tell the folks
where they could HEAR rcb And.

Speaker 9 (51:09):
Lincoln, well you can CATCH rcb And lincoln one oh
one point three sm or one oh one three the
bear dot com six forty five for the pregame and
sevens for the.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Tip very, Good, bill much appreciate.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
It thanks it is always for pulling double duty and
talking a Little South harrison hoops with me as well AS.
Rcb looking forward to talking with you next week and
we'll know the fate of these two.

Speaker 7 (51:29):
Teams, alex all is my.

Speaker 9 (51:32):
Pleasure thank you so much for having me. On have
a great restless show and a great weekend as well.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
You as, Well sir and we'll take a break on that.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Note more high school hoops coming, up and going to
talk a little girls basketball as well a little bit
later with the tournament tournament fields now.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Set that all coming.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Up here on The Friday free For all brought to
you By DAN cavitteo To BUICK.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Gmc time for more high school sports talk on The
DAN CAVATORYO WA Gmc Friday free For.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
All definitely among the busier guys this time of. Year
Travis jones played by play voice for The Bridgeport indians
joining us now as well As Fairmont state men's basketball
and there of course busy in The Mountain East Conference
tournament which is going on. Now in a, reminder, folks
we are going to talk about The Mountain East Conference
tournament With Luke wiggs coming up during the nine o'clock.

(52:19):
Hours to stick around for that great tournament so, far
a lot of great, Games, travis, though let's talk a
Little bridgeport basketball because it is finally. Here it's the
winner go, home the do or, die the games that
matt that truly matter are officially here And bridgeport kicks
theirs off their second season off tonight at seven.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
O'clock.

Speaker 11 (52:40):
Yep you're, right reaching two chair title or tournament starts
tonight With Berkeley springs And bridgeport for seven o'clock tip.
Time of, Course bridgeport's top Seed Berkeley springs THE. Ac
the winner of the game gets the winner of the
four to five, matchup which will Be kaiser And. Hampshire
that game also tonight at seven. O'clock so winter, tonight

(53:03):
we'll know their next round opponent And bridgeport takes care
of business so they'll they'll host the Co regional championship
Next thursday night with a right to go To.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
CHARLESTON i imagine this is a game where they are. Hoping
they know they're going to get the best shot of their.
Opponent they know they're going to get the best shot
in every game from here on, out whether It's Berkeley
springs or nightro in the state. Tournament BUT i also
have to imagine that they're prepared to give their best
going into.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Tonight they understand what the assignment is.

Speaker 11 (53:33):
Now, yeah no, Doubt AND i think you, know you
say you want to be playing your best basketball the
year right, now AND i don't know collectively over the
last you, know two weeks of. Games if that's the,
case BUT i do know that they're coming off their
best performance of the season Against Fairmont senior back On tuesday.
Night that was just a gem of a, performance particularly

(53:55):
on the defensive. End you, know you Play Fairmont senior
twice now this, season tell them to thirty five and
thirty eight, points AND i thought they just did an
outstanding job locking down and they were. Focused and, Say
indians fans have to be extremely excited because it does
feel like this team is kind of locking in at
a different level defensively heading into the.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Postseason, yeah it's one of those things.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
TOO i wonder if as you get closer and closer
to games like, this where the focus, level the intensity
level just kind of, changes and and you, know there's
definitely a sort of a back and forth debate on.
This do you want a game as difficult As Fairmont
senior right at the end of your, schedule right as
you're getting ready to go into tournament, play regional, PLAY

(54:41):
i should say regional tournament.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
PLAY i gotta get used to the new.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
Terminology but by the same, token there's a real measuring stick,
there and this is how we have to play in
games like this moving, Forward and you'd rather be doing
that On march fourth than On february, FOURTH i, imagine.

Speaker 11 (54:56):
Well AND i think hindsight's twenty, twenty you, know you
look back on it, now and it worked out great
because it was a chance For bridgeport to make one
final statement before the voting is done as to the
seating at the state. Tournament and you, know while it
really worked out In bridgeport's favor Because Shady, spring you,
know has played a difficult second half of the schedule

(55:17):
and they have stumbled a bit with a.

Speaker 4 (55:20):
Couple of losses here.

Speaker 11 (55:22):
Recently and then of, course you, Know fairmont Beat nitro
over the weekend, too down To, nitro so that Hands
nitron another you, know later season loss that's will be
on the top of the mines of the of the
coaches when they vote.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Again so, YEAH i hear what you're.

Speaker 11 (55:37):
Saying you, know Had bridgeport lost To Fairmont senior and
that could have really backfired in their hopes to be
the top seed in the state, tournament but it certainly
went their. Way AND i don't think there's any question
now That bridgeport will be the top seed in The
Class TRIPLE a tournament when the seedings are, released which
of Course the process is is that once they get

(55:58):
down to this, gown down to the round of, sixteen
which will happen after this first round regional, game the
coaches revote and then they'll slot in based on that
voting the top eight seeds at the.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Tournament do you want to go just elaborate a little bit.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
More you talked about the defensive performance of the of
The indians in this last game Against Fairmont, senior And
i'm curious if you want to go in a little
bit deeper on what some of the things they did
so well Against Fairmont senior so effectively and was it
any different than what they've been doing this.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
SEASON i, mean just.

Speaker 11 (56:30):
They did it at a much higher. LEVEL i thought
their concentration was, good their focus was. Good they locked.
In you, Know Phoenix sickles drew the early assignment On Trey, cumberliage,
which if you, know there's no secret if you're going
to Beat, fairmont you've got to Keep Trey cumberlande under
twenty points and not allow, him you, know kind of go.
Off and you, Know phoenix guarded him, first got a

(56:52):
couple of fouls, early SO i had to go to
the bench and then they had to switch, him you,
know onto a couple of different other, guys AND i
thought that that was one nice key is they they
were able to switch you, Know jacks McDougall over to.

Speaker 4 (57:04):
Him they were able at times to.

Speaker 11 (57:09):
You, know swing some other guys over there and put
him On Jack spataford had him for a little, bit
a couple of, possessions and they did, IT i, thought
an outstanding. Job and Then sickles came in the second,
half and When bridgeport really made their run and blew
the game, open you, know he came in and not
only was, scoring but also was on that defensive assignment
and stayed away from that third foul untill until about

(57:30):
midway through the fourth, quarter WHICH i thought was key.
Too but you, know, overall, defensively their communication was, good
their switching was. Good they rebounded. TREMENDOUSLY i, Mean Carter
zuliani was. Unstoppable seventeen, points seventeen, rebounds and a couple
of block shots in the. Game SO i thought, it you,
know just all around was their best performance of the

(57:53):
season coming off Which Dave marshall told us two real
good days of. Practice SO i think this team's locked
in And I'll i'll be surprised if they don't play
extremely well, tonight very.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
GOOD i it's it's one of those things where it's
AND i talked about this With Chris johnson a little,
bit it's really hard to talk about this team at
this point. There they've been so good this year that
AND i know that you mentioned that they had maybe
before That Fairmont senior, game hadn't been playing necessarily their best.
Basketball yet they were still winning and continue to win
and continue to play. Well then it almost felt, like you,

(58:25):
know we were nitpicking a little. Bit but it's an
encourage encouraging. Sign and obviously you look at their draw
through the regional. Tournament these are two games regardless of
who they. Play if they do get advanced and advance
to the four or five, game they really should win
both of these.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Games i'd be very surprised if they.

Speaker 4 (58:44):
Didn't, YEAH i mean both at. Home, yeah you would
expect them.

Speaker 11 (58:48):
To but, again that's that's the beauty or you, know
if if if you don't take advantage of, it that's you,
know that's the downfall and the scary part about this
type of. Setup it is one and, done so you
only have to have one bad, night and you know
another team only has to have one good, night and
all of a, sudden you, know your eighteen game winning
streak and your twenty one and one record goes by the.

(59:09):
Wayside you, Know, ALEX i go back To Grant, burton
who's you, Know bridgeport's one Of Dave marshall's assistant. Coaches you,
know his senior Year bridgeport WAS i think twenty three
and oh and went To wesleyan and lost to A
bucano team that had a losing, record so they didn't
get To. Charleston so it it does, Happen and Certainly

(59:30):
i'm Sure grant will tell that story, once if not,
twice in the in the in the first two rounds
of this.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
Regionals that you, know you're not there till.

Speaker 11 (59:40):
You're, there and then once you get, there then then
we can kind of worry about what the road To
saturday will.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Be you, Know i've asked this. QUESTION i don't think
we got a definitive. ANSWER i mentioned this To, chris
Both chris is and now to. You is there been
a year Where bridgeport football and basketball has won a
championship in the same, year same academic.

Speaker 11 (59:58):
YEAR i should, say, oh, okay so, no But i'm
trying to think back, here give me a. S. No
So bridgeport football won in two. Thousand bridgeport baseball and
boys basketball both won in two thousand and, One so, technically,
yes that would be the same academic, year different calendar. Year,

(01:00:21):
okay so football one In, december basketball one In, march
baseball one In. June but, yes that was all in
the same academic school. Year so that was two thousand
and two thousand and.

Speaker 4 (01:00:31):
One that's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
Wild that's a great that's a, great great pull on your.
Part all, Right, travis much. Appreciated, man tell the folks
where they can hear tonight's.

Speaker 11 (01:00:39):
Game all, Right Chris george on the call. Tonight i'll
be back with him should The indians advance Next. Thursday
So chris has the call tonight on one of three
to three kmz or The Bridgeport sports. App and remember
tip off is straight up seven.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
O'clock very, Good Thanks. Travis we're gonna go ahead and
take a.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Break Chris george joining us next here on The Friday
free For all brought to you Bind Dan cavit out
Of BUICK.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Gmc now back to The Dan. Cavatoyota you AT Gmc
friday free for all on ONE o three three W
kmz and.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
We've Got Chris george now on the. Phone, WELL i
guess actually on zoom with us. Now uh and Uh.
Chris it's finally. Here it took a really really long
time and three weeks basically without, games but we have
finally made. It it is the heart of playoff. Season
the girls bracket is. Set the boys regionals begin. Tonight

(01:01:32):
it's an exciting time if you're a basketball, fan AND
i want to start on the girls, side BECAUSE i
know you're you're kind of an avid follower of both
the girls end boys. Tournament and looks like a great
set of thirty two teams headed To charleston next week
for the girls, tournament, including by the, Way Tucker, county
who seems to have found their stride here later in the.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Season.

Speaker 12 (01:01:53):
YEAH i think IT'S i thank the new formula they
have with the regional setup eliminating, sections WHICH i am
still a big fan. Of by the, WAY i like
the old. SYSTEM i wish they would have kept, it
but their idea of trying to get the best teams
Of charleston is working for the most. Part there were
a couple upsets that got, through and that's. Fine that's.
Basketball It's march. Madness there needs to be, upsets, right you.

(01:02:15):
KNOW i think so everyone's got shot and, OVERALL i
think you've got your best teams. There AND i think
that's important for a state that went to four classes
in basketball LIKE i did the other. Sports but you,
Know West virginia maybe a four class, state but it
kind of spread out the, talent so to. Speak AND
i think getting the best teams there in every class

(01:02:36):
will kind of help that because we had a lot
of blowouts the last couple of years down, there and
both the girls and boys bracket in all four. Classes,
NOW i think of a better chance to get the
top one and, two maybe three seats down. THERE i
think you're going to have. That and you Mentioned Tucker
county girls big win at home the other night Over East,
hardy and that was. NEEDED i, Mean tucker girls had

(01:02:58):
struggled down the. STRETCH i thought they played some of
the worst basketball in many years in the regular, season
and they found a way to get By, harmon which
we knew they. Would that was they could have won
that game, blindfolded but The East tardy. Game you, KNOW
i thought they were the. FAVORITE i thought they did
what they were supposed to, do and they showed that
they're the most experienced. Team when that's setting and the Congratulations.

(01:03:21):
Tucker they head down there is the three. Seed we'll
see how they do. There It's Gilmour county's. YEAR i
don't see anybody Beating Gilmour, county but, hey you know
what happens In. March upsets, happened and if it's Not
tucker pulling an, upset maybe somebody else. Will But Gilmour
county to me is a, really really good single eight.
Team they remind me Of cameron from a year ago as.
Well they're just a very good.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Team you, know on your note about getting the best
teams down, there this is the first time That i've
looked and, said you, know a couple of these eight
seeds actually look legitimately dangerous since moving to this. System
So Philip barber is an, Eighth, yeah been red hot and,
Listen Wheeling central is going to be the favorite in that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Game but that's not think that's a. Gimme and then
another one that's really, Interesting, Nitro.

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
These are both On these are actually back to back
games on the first, day number One nitro And Class
TRIPLE a number Eight Lewis. County, again that is not
a gimme in a one eight game like we've seen
in the last couple of.

Speaker 12 (01:04:13):
Years, No AND i think you brought up a good
point And Philip barber And i'll make this point because
they went down there a couple of years ago.

Speaker 5 (01:04:21):
And was a lower seed and pulled an.

Speaker 12 (01:04:23):
Upset you, know they're very. Athletic they have a lot
of those volleyball girls who had Been charleston already and
done their damage there and know what it's like to
play in that. Building and they're not. SCARED i mean
something about The Philip barber. Girls no matter what, sport
they're just not. Scared they're, tough they'll not be. Scared
you're going to have to beat. Them, unfortunately Winning central
may be as good as any team From TRIPLE a

(01:04:45):
down The SINGLE.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
A they're that.

Speaker 12 (01:04:46):
GOOD i was very Implused Flinting central AND i had
to see them a little bit of them earlier this.
Year you could put them in any of the three
classes From TRIPLE a down they could win. That i'm
not sure they could Win quad. A but that's how
Good Willing central. Is it's just one of those years
It's Willing central was the top, seed maybe not as
talented as they as they. ARE i could see an upset,

(01:05:09):
THERE i really, could you, Know Philip, Barbara Lewis. County you,
know here's a team that kind of you, know through
the middle of the season ran into a rough patch
with some with some illness and some. Injuries and someone
had told me that that that team is the most
talented team in that. Region they just didn't finish the
season with the overall top. Seed SO i Think Lewis

(01:05:29):
county someone to really really has a chance to do
some damage as.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
Well all, right let's switch over to, boys and we'll
start with With Bridge, board who of course has the.

Speaker 5 (01:05:38):
One to eight.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Matchup and you, know at this point it really is
just about you got to take care of business, now
because for The, indians their path To charleston and in,
fact perhaps to the number one overall, seed which we've
been talking about for a couple weeks, now it is
pretty crystal. Clear and it all starts tonight Against Berkeley.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
Springs it.

Speaker 6 (01:05:56):
Does AND i.

Speaker 12 (01:05:57):
THINK i will say this back on back On tuesday.
Night that was the Best bridgeport has played all. Year
and it was a complete team. Victory and they've had
those this, year, okay but considering who was Against Faaramont,
senior who was sixteen and, four their rival who every
time they play it's a, battle and it's A fairmont

(01:06:18):
senior team was playing their best basketball of the season
in the five game winning, streak and that's A fairmont
team that has improved so much Since december you wouldn't even.
Recognize And bridgeport that was the best they played all,
year hands. Down dominated the glass on both the offense
and defensive. END i think there was only one chance
there in the second. Half fairmont had an offensive rebound

(01:06:40):
that they scored on a Putback Carter. ZULIANI i, mean
unbelievable for him at seventeen points and seventeen. Rebounds the
guards were. GOOD i think bridge portally took five threes
on the, night which is showing you what they were.
Smart they attacked inside with their size With, Zuliani Phoenix

(01:07:01):
sickles And Jack. Spatafoor jack had a big game on
the board as, well and they just dominated that game
in the second. Half that was a heck of a
game though for four quarters that the score wasn't in
any indication of how that game. Was so Congratulations Dave.
Marshall they earn the one. Seed now the second season,
starts and he'll be the first to tell you it's
one game at a. Time it doesn't matter if he's

(01:07:23):
playing the fifth grade elementary school champions from another county
or if It's Berkeley. Springs they're going to take it.
Serious they know a win you, advance a, loss you're,
done and he understands you slip up Against Berkeley springs
and lose that everything you did in the first twenty
two games means absolutely. Nothing so it's all focused on The.
Indians they're ten and. Twelve it's a team has ten

(01:07:47):
wins over a single a. Competition they've lost to some
smaller schools and some bigger, schools.

Speaker 4 (01:07:54):
But they have some.

Speaker 12 (01:07:56):
Size they can shoot the ball a little bit and
if you don't show up up and, play you don't
want a team like that can hang around into the
second half and you don't want that to. Happen So
Bridge sport's got a focus and then Victory friday will
set up a matchup Next thursday against the winner of
The Kaser hampshire game and the four to five, matchup
And kaser has been playing some really good basketball at.

Speaker 13 (01:08:18):
The end of the.

Speaker 12 (01:08:18):
Season hampshire swept. Them swept them in the regular season
on two very close. Games but that's a toss up.
There that's a huge. Rivalry it's Between hampshire And.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
Kaser so let's do a little rapid fire here and
let's stay in the. Region on the other side of
it where there's a little more. Drama there's a possible
showdown looming BETWEEN rcb And Lewis, county two teams That
bridgeport saw a couple of times this. Season what are
your thoughts if they were to meet for a chance
at a state? Tournament berth on the line thoughts ON

(01:08:51):
rcb And Lewis. COUNTY i Think robert.

Speaker 5 (01:08:54):
C byrd is earned a two.

Speaker 12 (01:08:56):
SEED i think you, know if they, played if they
play their style of that good smothering man, DEFENSE i
think that gives them. Advantage Lewis county really impressed me
at the end of the, year that huge win Over.
Frankfurt they scored over ninety, points not only fifty five
to The. FALCONS i Know, falcons The frankfurt is the
sixth seed in that in that, region but they're they're
a decent sixth. Seed And Lewis county when they show

(01:09:19):
up and want to, play and they show up and
they execute or four quarters and limit their, turnovers they're.
GOOD i mean they can their guards or they, hustle
they play. Hard Ben putnam one thousand points. SCORE a
kid is a six sixty six kid that can go
outside and shoot the. Three when they're right and their mindset's,
right they're. Dangerous so that's gonna be an interesting matchup.

(01:09:43):
THERE i don't, know Because Lincoln bird could be, interesting
and that's another rivalry game That lincoln And aiden Am
rice and The. Cougars if they play well and hit
their shots and give that could be a possible upset.

Speaker 4 (01:10:01):
There we'll just have to wait and.

Speaker 12 (01:10:03):
SEE i think it's gonna Be bird advancing on in At,
charleston but it wouldn't surprise me if lacoln doesn't pull
an upset Or Lewis key doesn't pull a victory out,
there that's gonna be interesting on another.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
Side and then real quick BEFORE i let you, Go
elkins the two seed In region one In class triple
a give us a quick word On, elkins who, obviously
outside Of Fairmont, senior you would think has the really
the best shot on the other side of that. Racket
but you can't really count At North mariyon.

Speaker 12 (01:10:31):
Either North mary's playing pretty good. Basketball they ended the
year with a huge win and scored over eighty points
in their last regular season game Against. GRAFTON i Know
graftons struggled this, year but anytime you score over eighty
points and hold the opposition of, forty that's saying a.
Lot North marion And elkins played just a couple of
weeks ago on A, saturday Late saturday afternoon In elkins

(01:10:55):
And elkins won the game before. Points, However North marion
won the second half by twelve. Points elkans jumped out
to a big lead in the first. Half North marion
owned the second. Half it was a tail two. Halves
problem Was North mary's just a little bit, late just
didn't get. Enough if they had another minute to go
in that, game IF i could have. Won but those
two teams look like that's what's going to end up.

(01:11:15):
Being grafton is going to Give elkins everything they. Want
grafton's a team that can play, hard but you, know
they finished for two wins this year and they've really.
Struggled SO i Think elkins And North marion's going to
be a heck of a battle because in this new,
Setup Faremount senior sitting pretty on the other. Side we
know they're going to get. There but That North Elkins
North marion game is going to be. Fun but let

(01:11:36):
me tell you something About, Elkins they're playing really good.
Basketball end the end of the. Year if a win
At preston and played over in The panhandle Against, washington
lost by, twenty but That washington team's pretty, Good so
it wouldn't surprise me If Elkan's North mariyon get out of.
There we'll. See it should be a fun, game very.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
GOOD a lot of basketball coming up over the course
of these next couple of, weeks really. Exciting And chris
have a call tonight At bridgeport And Berkeley, springs.

Speaker 12 (01:12:03):
And we didn't get a chance to talk About Tucker,
boys BUT i don't think they'll have any trouble in their.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
Region, yeah that's Why i've.

Speaker 3 (01:12:09):
DONE i was KINDA i, mean they have a bye and,
yeah it's just it's one of those weird things where
that region does not look, again it looks much more
interesting on the lower half where they won't have to
See East hardy Or Tiger.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Alley so, yeah, yeah SO i will talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:12:25):
That i'm sure next week we'll talk about If tucker
does what they're supposed to. Do we'll be talking About
tucker and their chances in the state, tournament which is
A i think a more interesting conversation for.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
Sure, chris thanks, man much. Appreciated thanks for going rapid
fire with.

Speaker 4 (01:12:40):
Us should be.

Speaker 9 (01:12:40):
Fun all.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
Right we'll take a break back after this year on
The Friday free For, all brought to you By Dan
Cavataota BUICK.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
Gmc back to THE wkmc locker room for more high
school sports on The Dan cavatoyota w AT Gmc Friday
free For.

Speaker 3 (01:12:54):
All Jeff rogers now joining us on The Friday free
For all And, Jeff i've seen two very different.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
Seasons Philip barber.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
Girls they started off a little, slow but once they
sort of got things, going got a lot of practices,
in got their reps, in they got red, hot and
they have punched their ticket to the dance In. Charleston
Philip barbara boys have got some work to do if
they want to get, there and certainly would be considered
a long shot to get To, charleston but that is
the beauty of the new. Format you, know it's winner

(01:13:24):
take all every single, Game so if you bring your
best stuff this time of, year you have a.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
Shot, jeff what's, up? Man? Hey not a?

Speaker 13 (01:13:30):
LOT i like i'm's been a busy season catching up
on all these rescheduled, games and you're seeing what these
teams can do on the floor once they finally got
a chance to.

Speaker 2 (01:13:40):
Play, yeah no, kidding it.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
Is it has.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
Been it's been a challenge almost every week to. Week
it's been a real. Challenge but let's start with the.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Girls they.

Speaker 3 (01:13:51):
Really did not have a very good start to the,
season but they ultimately would earn a number one seed
in their. Region they finished the job with a win
earlier this, week and now they're they're going dancing a
little bit unfamiliar territory IF i remember, CORRECTLY i don't
think they've been an eight, seed not in certainly not
in recent. Memory but they're gonna be an eight, seed
AND i gotta tell, you as far as eight seeds,

(01:14:13):
go they're gonna be one of the more dangerous ones
because the other thing is they're, young and by this
time of, year young, players well they're not so young
anymore with the type of of of the type of
experience they've, accumulated especially in, big you, know kind of important.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Games SO i don't envy that.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
One for the one SEED i think Is Wheeling Central
catholic in that in that, Bracket BUT i don't envy.
Them it's it's a it's not the easiest ask as
far as a one eight game. Goes, Obviously Willing central
really excellent. Team but take us through This Philip hararber.
Team take us through what it took for them to
finally kind of uh get OVER i say finally as

(01:14:50):
if it was some long, thing but to get over
the hump early in the season that seemed to be
kind of in their, way and to get to where
they are, now which is they're They're charleston.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
Bound.

Speaker 13 (01:14:59):
YEAH i, mean we talked about it a little bit
earlier in the season about how this team was very
young and they'd lost a lot of senior leadership from
last year's team that went To, charleston and you, know
we talked early on with head Coach Rick mauser about his,
philosophy and some of his early games that were on
the schedule were designed to try to help this team

(01:15:19):
to grow and mature a little. Bit and you, know
by and, large his young team has done just. THAT i,
mean they did start out. STRUGGLING i think they were
one and six at some point early in the, season
and then they just after all the cancelations After christmas
due to, weather they came back and they've just been
on fire ever since and getting.

Speaker 9 (01:15:40):
Better with every.

Speaker 13 (01:15:41):
Game and as the team started the, season they were
led by by sophomore is he. Not it's a six
foot post player inside and she pretty much put them
on her back and carried them early. On but as
the team has, grown you can just see the confidence
that these girls have developed out on the, floor and
not only in their own, abilities but in the abilities

(01:16:03):
of their. Teammates they do a much better job sharing the,
basketball helping on. Defense just looks like a completely different
team from earlier in the.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
Year are you surprised at all by their position as
an eight?

Speaker 3 (01:16:16):
Seed, AGAIN i get it based on the context of
everything that's, happened in the context of this is a
very different team from The Philip barber teams have passed
that have obviously been so dominant and so, good particularly In.
Charleston this is a young, group, Absolutely but is it
knowing their reputation and the program's, reputation does it surprise
you at all that they're the eighth seed going into this.

Speaker 13 (01:16:38):
Tournament, yeah it kind of, Does AND i would imagine
that it does have to do with just what you,
said them being a very young team and everyone thinking
they're probably a little more inexperienced than some of the
other rosters that are heading. There but you, know they
went into regional players the number one seed in the
region and took care of business in their two games
in the region to move on to the state, tournament

(01:17:00):
and then end up seated Behind Richie county at the state,
tournament Which Richie county was the two seed in their
seed or in their. Region i'm sorry for that. Play
So i'm a little surprised that they're clear down with
the number. Eight and as you, Mentioned Wheeling Central catholics
will surely be a tough matchup for them in the
first round is their perennial state tournament. Participants but but you,

(01:17:27):
KNOW i think it's a challenge That Philip barber has
always looked up to with a tough schedule that they
played early. On they're used to playing tough. Competition they
even sprinkled in a non conference game Against, logan who's
another state tournament, participant you, know in mid. Season that
was one of their mid season, losses one of their
two or three losses that they had after the, break

(01:17:48):
but very competitive game against A logan. Team you, know
that's really. Good so hopefully we'll see these Lady colts
go To charleston and surprise some, people you, know with
that young roster and coming from an.

Speaker 2 (01:18:00):
Acy tipping Off tuesday at five point.

Speaker 3 (01:18:04):
Thirty that, game and by the, WAY i should remind,
folks all those games can be heard right here on this,
station so make sure you're. Listening in the entire tournament
can be heard right here on ONE o three THREE.
Wkmz just one on their note before we switch over
to the boys real quick and give them a few.
Minutes BUT i will say also that girls team again
you talk about battle. Tested you know another team they

(01:18:26):
played that pretty darn good Class TRIPLE A grafton that
was on the schedule as. Well that was not a
Game Philip barbara wasn't a pushover in that. Game SO
i do think that as far as eight seeds, go
especially in the modern, tournament where typically eight seeds have
not been as good in the in the four classification
system because it's again more teams making the. PLAYOFFS i

(01:18:49):
know they're, young But i'd be a little, worried a
little Worried Wheeling Central catholic the clear, favorite BUT i
don't think that this is as cut and dry as
we maybe would have seen in years past in a
one to eight under the current. Format So i'm gonna
be really interested in this, game and of course perfect
it's gonna be on day one in the afternoon, session

(01:19:09):
So i'm excited for. That let's switch gears over to the.
Boys obviously they're getting into regional play. Tonight they wind
up with a sixth seed in their, region as they
never got a chance to reschedule their game With South
Harrison hawks didn't win a, game so they wind up
getting voted as the seventh. Seed tall task for The
Philip Barber boy has been a tough season for, them

(01:19:29):
and they go on the road to A Braxton county
team that's been awfully good this. Season, though as the
three seed would, indicate they have had their moments where
they've been, beatable but IT'S i guess you would say
doable for, anyone but not necessarily an easy draw in
that first.

Speaker 13 (01:19:47):
Round Braxton, county you, know they've had their moments playing
on the. Road they've been about a five hundred team
playing on the, road but very strong on their home.
Floor they have a nine to one record this, year
AND i think they the first game that they played
there this season on their home floor and on a
nine game winning. Streak, sense so definitely going to be
a tough challenge For Philip. Barbar's they traveled down the Flat,

(01:20:08):
woods and you, KNOW i don't know a lot About
Braxton county heading into that game other than that they
have a pretty explosive offense led by a big post
player in the middle In Steven, boggs and they have
three or four outside shooters who can shoot the three pretty.

(01:20:30):
Well some of the highlights THAT i, saw they made
quite a few three, pointers shot very, well shot a
very good percentage for those games THAT i.

Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
Saw, YEAH i ACTUALLY i got to see.

Speaker 3 (01:20:39):
Them they came To Lost creek this season and they
were coming off fresh off a win Over Doddridge county
the night, before so they were definitely limiting some guys
and they still played really well in that. Game got
to win over The hawks and did a lot of
it Without. Bogs he kind of played sparingly in that,
GAME i think to rest him up a little, bit
and they still played really. Well so, yeah, no not

(01:21:00):
not going to be definitely not going to be an
easy one For Philip. Barber what's the biggest thing other
than getting a? Win what's the biggest thing to accomplish
in a game like this if you're a Young Philip
barber program season hasn't gone the way that you wanted to.

Speaker 2 (01:21:13):
Go is it to show a little bit of.

Speaker 3 (01:21:15):
Fight is it to get the right guys in there
and give them this kind of winner take all experience
they get ready for next. YEAR i, MEAN i will
say we saw a year ago a little bit of
a different, scenario but we did see a year ago
under the old, system this Very Braxton county team under
five hundred AND i wound up going on a run
and getting to the state tournament as a result of
their postseason. Play so it's obviously, Doable BUT i am

(01:21:39):
curious what's the big thing That Philip barber maybe wants
to accomplish in this game outside of simply just getting a.

Speaker 13 (01:21:45):
Win, WELL i think the biggest Thing alex That Philip
barbara struggled with this year has been consistency from game to.
Game and one thing that we've seen the last couple
weeks of the season is some of the younger players
stuff up a little bit and advance their game and
and start contributing a little. More SO i think that's
something that Coach johnson will be looking to see as
the continued growth and development of particularly Sophomore Landing carpenter

(01:22:09):
and Junior Kale, wolf who have really stepped up in
the last few. Weeks their senior point Guard Logan watson
is a solid player and he's done a good job
leading that offense in the last couple of, years and
he's going to try to hold everything together for him out.
There the couple wild cards that they have are two
really athletic kids that can really turn up their game

(01:22:31):
at any time and take, over and That's Malachow polling
And Patrick, webster and they've had moments this year where
they've really shined and just taken over, games or at
least for parts of, games but then there have been
as many moments where they've struggled to maintain that consistency
from outing to. Outing SO i think that's the main.

(01:22:51):
Thing If Philip barber can come out and play at one,
pace one consistency throughout the whole. Game they usually start
gaming strong and then fade to middle quarters and then
mount a little bit of a comeback towards the. End
BUT i think they're going to need to see consistency
throughout all four.

Speaker 2 (01:23:07):
Quarters all, right very, good. Man tell the folks where
they can hear the.

Speaker 13 (01:23:11):
Broadcast we'll have that broadcast live on twelve FORTY am
and ninety nine point nine FMWDN, e and it's also
available through THE wvrc.

Speaker 2 (01:23:21):
App we'll just go to.

Speaker 13 (01:23:24):
THE wdne with those call signs and you should be
able to get into the game right from.

Speaker 3 (01:23:28):
There all, Right very, Good, jeff much appreciated. Man we
will we'll talk with you at some point. Soon all,
right thank, You, alex appreciate. You that Is Jeff, rodgers
play by play voice For Philip Barber girls And boys.
Basketball we'll check in With Craig dutton and The Lincoln
cougar's coming up next.

Speaker 1 (01:23:44):
Time for more high school sports, talk Obout Dan, cabatoyo wagmc,
friday free for.

Speaker 3 (01:23:50):
All all, right we've now Got Craig dutton joining us
and he has got The lincoln boys team tonight as
they will get started with their regional efforts trying to
get a little bit. Deeper and it's worth noting this
is A lincoln team that has played a lot of
these games really tough in the, past and even though

(01:24:10):
it's been a down, season you kind of expect that
same level of effort tonight as they take On Robert, seabird,
who while admittedly is probably favored in this, game still
we've Seen lincoln play this team really tough in the.

Speaker 2 (01:24:22):
Past, craig why don't you talk a little bit about.

Speaker 3 (01:24:25):
THE dna of These Lincoln cougars and what they're going
to need to do to really make this you make
a real effort.

Speaker 14 (01:24:30):
Tonight, honestly would say This lincoln, team you think about
one from POINT a to POINT, b has changed and
morphed so much this. Season they really haven't found their
best set throughout the, year like a starting five or
a secondary five that can go with On Jordan toasts.
Squad but Coach toast talk talk to me a little

(01:24:51):
bit this week and he said they feel they've got
enough sets to run AGAINST. Ourcb they just need a
player or two to break out and get into the
scoring column other Than Aidan rice or even freshman Cole.
Vincent if they can Add Vincent, rice and if you
could plug in two more players that can match that
scoring and get in the double, digits they have a

(01:25:13):
really good chance of matching with The eagles And her
two previous, matchups the first one That Bird. Cage in
the first, matchup they actually had the lead in the
third period ON ourcb and then succumbed into the fourth.
Period that's how a lot of their games have been
in this fifteen game losing streak for The. Cougars but
as of recently they're starting to find a lot of

(01:25:34):
contributions out of Junior Luke. Joyce Brody barnes has been
the point guard for a number of, games Helping land
And swagger out in that point guard. Position they've really
been impressed With Cad, riley who's come off THE jv.
Team he's tenacious defensively and we saw that in The
bridgeport game last week where he was outstanding coming off

(01:25:54):
the bench and he likes to fight for those. Rebounds
that may be what you need coming off the. Bench
is a good defensive presence on This lincoln. Team but
in that second matchup WITH, rcb it was all dictated
on trying to shut down your logan. Boys when you did,
That lincoln had a really good chance and stay within single.
Digits BUT, rcb very, athletic will try to spread you

(01:26:17):
out and that's what they want to do To lincoln
in this. Matchup third time. Round, Alex, HONESTLY i think
This lincoln team third time. Round it's only up from
here For. Lincoln you, know of all the times to
do it would be in the postseason when it's a,
winner go home situation for The. Cougars BUT i think this,
team this five person rotation will have it's not necessarily

(01:26:38):
a five person there's maybe about eight or different eight
to ten different guys that depending on who the hot hand,
is that's where Coach toath will go.

Speaker 3 (01:26:46):
With, Yeah i'm really curious to see how they play this.
GAME i, KNOW i know it's been a tough. Year
three and seventeen is never, easy BUT i say this.
AGAIN i think about That South harrison team last. Year
you're four and eighteen during the regular season and they're
in their twenty third. Game they gave A Braxton county
team that was red hot and ultimately wound up finding

(01:27:07):
themselves in the state tournament all that they could. Handle
AND i think about that a lot BECAUSE i think
about When South harrison was on the other side of.
That they took a pretty pretty heavy blow and they
still won all the, games but they Played Notre, dame
they Played, trinity and That Notre dame team was pretty
down And Notre dame gave them a really great game,

(01:27:27):
plan gave them a lot to handle in that. Game
AND i think to, myself If I'm lincoln And i'm
throwing the kitchen sink At ROBERT. C, bird what do
you think that looks like in this, Regard because we
know that teams will up their game in moments like.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
This we know that there's a talent.

Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
Talent deficiency or debt between these two, Teams but we
also know That lincoln has PLAYED rcb tough twice in
the regular. Season so when all the chips are, down
what can the coaching staff kind of throw AT rc
beat to make them think.

Speaker 7 (01:27:58):
Twice, honestly it is going to be that.

Speaker 14 (01:28:02):
CONTRIBUTION i really would like to See Wyatt, finch who's a,
senior really come out and play well in this. Matchup
he did the first time around versus The, eagles second,
matchup not as much when they really needed him to
be a presence in the post play With Aiden, rice
Because rice is going to do gray even on a down.
Night he usually is in double digits for The cougars
and he does an outstanding job leading them on the.

(01:28:23):
Floor but if you can Get Wyatt finch and him
together and their win Over grafton very first game of the,
year both of them were in double digits and scoring
and it was hard to stop them.

Speaker 7 (01:28:33):
Too in the.

Speaker 14 (01:28:33):
Post of, course when you play his own, defense we're
trying to play straight man.

Speaker 7 (01:28:39):
Demand it made it really hard against.

Speaker 14 (01:28:41):
Him but in that second, Matchup Brody barnes was doing
an outstanding job playing. Defense you can't say enough when
he was trying to trap Up Logan boyce from the scoring,
end and they. Did they kept him under double digits
until they finally had to give in and spread themselves
out defensively to try to STOP rcb if they can
get contributions from whoever the other four other Than Brody,

(01:29:03):
barnes who's going to be focused on defensive play in
this regional semi. FINAL i really think you're going to
depend on Cole vincent to be in double. Digits Aidan
rice will have to do that and you're going to
need that. Contributor it's going to Be Wyatt, finch it
could Be Brody. Barnes it would be nice to See Luke,
joyce who's had a couple double digit, games really come
out and do. So and, honestly if it was some

(01:29:25):
one of these other players who have been kind of
quiet since the start of the, season a J bart
Or Landon swagger who had a great start to the,
season if one of those two can really get hot
and help in the post or helping the, scoring that
will make a difference For lincoln in this, matchup because
it's more it will be more issues and not for
Coach Basil lucas trying to stop multiple guys who are

(01:29:45):
getting hot on any one moment instead of just trying
to shut down you, know Either vincent at the guard
position Or rice in the.

Speaker 3 (01:29:51):
Post very, good very, good why don't you tell the
folks where they can hear tonight's, broadcast especially For lincoln.

Speaker 14 (01:29:58):
Fans, yeah we'll be on at six forty from the
Bird cage and tip off at seven o'clock in The
Class TRIPLE A reach and TWO cos semi, final seven
Seeded lincoln versus number TWO. Rcp, HONESTLY i don't think
we had a chance to talk about. THOSE a little
SURPRISE ourcb ended up with the two, seed with after
am sure upsetting. Them but you, know, honestly For lincoln
that's that's a great draw because if you can get,

(01:30:19):
by you could potentially take on a team you beat
And reach In frankfurt or third Seeded Lewis, county who
they only lost by nine in the regular. Season so you,
know this matchup ought to be great one For lincoln
if they can get, by like we, said six forty pre,
games seven o'clock tip off And mutcat AND i will
be on the.

Speaker 2 (01:30:35):
Air then, awesome very.

Speaker 3 (01:30:37):
Good Craig dutton play by Play voice of The Lincoln
cougar's looking forward to talking with you here in the
next couple of weeks as, well and we'll chat with you.

Speaker 2 (01:30:44):
Then thanks.

Speaker 7 (01:30:44):
Man sounds. Great thank, You. Alex you have a wonderful.
Morning All, right we're gonna wrap the.

Speaker 3 (01:30:48):
Show on the other side of this. Break sean McNamara
is going to join us for our overflow segment in
the morning, spiel and we'll talk With Luke wiggs about
The Mountain East conference tournament as. Well that's all coming.

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
Up time for more or high school sports talk on
The Dan cavatoyo W Gmc Friday free For all.

Speaker 3 (01:31:05):
Folks that's gonna do it for the main portion of
The Friday free For all. TODAY i want to thank
you for being with us on the radio side of,
Things but, LISTEN i don't want you to go, anywhere
and here's.

Speaker 2 (01:31:14):
WHY a couple of.

Speaker 3 (01:31:15):
Things, first we're gonna do an overflow segment With sean
McNamara On East fairmont boys. Basketball we're also gonna talk
during the at the bottom of the nine o'clock hour
With Luke wigs on the Mount East conference tournament and
the latest going on there at the men's day today
there women's semi finals set For.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
Saturday will chat all about that coming up With.

Speaker 3 (01:31:33):
Luke in the, MEANTIME i want to remind you that
any part of this show that you miss is available
in podcast. Forms you should go check that out, app
The spreaker app or your preferred podcasting. Platform, okay you
got to go check that out in case you missed
any of our great, segments whether it Was, Travis, Phil
chris or Other chris. ANYONE a lot of great guests

(01:31:54):
today and uh just full of, great great. Information gotta.
Go we're back next. Week and if you're sticking around
with us for the, overflow we appreciate you'll bet we'll
be back on the other side of the hard.

Speaker 1 (01:32:06):
Break you've been listening to The dan cavatoyot of you
AT Gmc Friday free For. All be sure to tune
in Every friday as we review and preview local high school.
Sports this has been a special presentation OF Wvrc media

(01:32:27):
and ONE o three THREE.

Speaker 3 (01:32:28):
Wkmz all, right we are going to jump into our bonus. Segment,
first we're gonna start With Sean, macdamara who comes on
to talk a little bit About East.

Speaker 2 (01:32:39):
Fairmont, Hey, alex how are you doing really?

Speaker 3 (01:32:43):
WELL i was just, saying this has got to be
Like christmas for. YOU i was thinking about this all this.
BASKETBALL I i was talking about this on my other show.
Yesterday but so this time of, year you've got girls
state tournament is coming, up Boys regionals right, Now you've
got the WOMEN'S Nc double lay A big Twelve conference,
tournament all sorts of other conference, Tournaments Mountain East Conference.

(01:33:05):
Tournament we're just fast approaching like the mecca of basketball,
season which Is March. Madness and then in the, background
there's just like a bunch of other little basketball things
happening down the line at the high school IN d two.

Speaker 2 (01:33:16):
Level it's just it's it's NonStop basketball this.

Speaker 15 (01:33:18):
Month, yeah there's definitely a lot of a lot of
basketball going, on which is, Awesome which is. AWESOME i
don't currently have any role in coverage of the state
tournament on either, side but it's all streamed And i'll
pay attention and watch as absolutely much as if much
of it AS i, can WHICH i really do. Appreciate
and then THE Mec tournament's always fun conference tournaments and college,

(01:33:40):
basketball and then uh, yeah and then there's ALWAYS nba,
on WHICH i guess very.

Speaker 3 (01:33:45):
Much you know, WHAT i wasn't even talking about it
from a COVERAGE i was thinking about it just like
as a guy who loves basketball this is, yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:33:51):
Yeah, no for, well the best thing is just that
there's in Granted i'm working my nine to, five but
there's a game on at. NOON i could turn one
on during long right when you get all four mark at,
five there's a game on. Somewhere so there's just always it's,
constant which is really.

Speaker 3 (01:34:06):
Cool, yeah all, right let's talk a Little East fairmont boys.
Basketball they're going to be facing off With brooke. Tonight
they have a difficult path out of their. Region they're
going to have to go up Against Fairmont senior if
they do win this game this. EVENING i, think, honestly
you talk with any of these, TEAMS i think they'd
all much rather be in the other side of, it
in the two seven to three six.

Speaker 2 (01:34:27):
Side but nothing you can.

Speaker 3 (01:34:29):
Do this is Where East fairmont, is smack dab in
the middle of a seventeen, region is the fourth, seed
and they'll have to go through their arch rival to
get To. Charleston it's it's a difficult road For East.
Fairmont take us through it a little.

Speaker 15 (01:34:40):
Bit, YEAH i, mean you're, right it's a difficult. Road
and you look at the other side of the bracket
with two Seeded elkins seven Seeded crafton Three North marriya
and six, weird and you are right THAT i Think
East fairmont would probably prefer to be on that side
of the, bracket but at the same, time they had
their chance to earn the spot, there and so they're
they're where they're, seeded and they're taking on A brook

(01:35:01):
team at, five the fifth seed that has the same
record as. Them so an interesting matchup going on between
two eight and fourteen. Teams Fairmont East fairmont fortunate enough
to get the home game there with the coaches voting
on the, rankings so it's gonna be a really interesting.
Game there's NOT i don't have too much to go
on AS i go to preview it as far AS

(01:35:22):
i can. Tell, yeah the only common opponent between the
two teams Is North, marion and they've both Played North
marion twice And North marion has.

Speaker 4 (01:35:32):
Beat them both both.

Speaker 15 (01:35:33):
Times so it's a really interesting match up, there just
in that not a lot to base stuff on common
opponent wise or really anything like. THAT a lot of
What brooke has done has been against out of state.
Opponents now they've beaten some in state. Opponents they picked
up wins Over, Oak glenn and weird at the end
of the season wins Over Madonna. Cameron so been up

(01:35:55):
in that, region but outside of The Northern, panhandle not
much to go off of with This brook.

Speaker 3 (01:36:01):
Team you, know this is also An East fairmont. Team
they had something like nine games were decided within you,
know single digit. Points think they were four and five
in those, games and some of those games were particularly,
tight and it seemed like they have maybe turned a
corner a little, bit playing a little bit better Against
Buchanan upsher in their last one out they lost that,
one forty eight to forty. One that was just a

(01:36:23):
couple of days, ago their last chance to get a
tune up. In but it is worth noting this is
An East vermont team that started four and two and
not much has gone right since six and twelve in
that span Since i'm, sorry my math is, horrendous four
and twelve in that span since starting out four and.

Speaker 15 (01:36:43):
Two, yeah a lot of that has to do with
the schedule that they're going. AGAINST i, mean you look
at that and you know They're, Hampshire Philip, Barber, Grafton
Saint jo's picked up wins over, them and then schedule
gets a little a little. Tougher you Play ROBERT. C,
Bird elkins And, bridgeport you, know In North marion again
And Fairmont. Senior you know that played some difficult competition there.

(01:37:07):
Throughout so part of that is schedule, BASED i WOULD
i would, say But East fairmont's hung. Tough they're a
very young, team first year head coach in there only
two seniors on the squad that are that are really
seeing you, know a lot of, time and so you,
know opportunity lays ahead of. Them it's a it's A brook.
TEAM i think they stood match up. Against it's just

(01:37:29):
gonna come down to a what happens on the. Court
and For East fairmount all year that's kind of been
just scoring. Points that's been been where they falling.

Speaker 3 (01:37:36):
Short, yeah is this one of those situations, where more
than anything, else you'd just like to, say for a
team that's that's certainly young and obviously graduated a lot
of talent a year, ago is, This, hey we we
need to go in with the right attitude and the
right mindset because there's stuff that outside of just outright
wins and. Losses if you, want if you play a

(01:37:57):
game Against, brook you want to accomplish more than just.
Winning you want to get really good minutes for these
players in a winner take all. Game you don't want
this to be you don't want this to be a.
Blowout that's a nice And i'm not expecting it to.
Be but that's sort of the other side of, it
right where you want to, say we need really, good
strong minutes because we want this thing to we either
want to win this thing or we want this thing

(01:38:18):
going down to the wire so that we can play
in these situations that teams don't often get a chance
to play.

Speaker 15 (01:38:23):
In, YEAH i, MEAN i think obviously the goal is to,
win but you do want to see some gain some
good experience for. Guys and you look at some of
their top players that they, Have river McLay and the leading,
Scorer Forest. Fairmount he's the. Sophomore you've Got Jackson, conaway
a freshman who's playing center and playing really well at

(01:38:44):
least has. Been so you, know it's a good opportunity
for some of the young talent to get in there
and play. Well AND i think that if they go
in and they play a good, game they should be able.

Speaker 5 (01:38:57):
To come out on top against brou All, Right.

Speaker 3 (01:38:58):
Sean thanks for your, time, Man we'll gonna go ahead
and take a, break and a reminder to everybody that
the regional action begins tonight across the whole state on
the boy's, side seven o'clock start, time all. Right before
we jump over to talk To Luke, wiggs wanted to
just look a little bit At Class TRIPLE a on
the girls side of. Things didn't get a chance to

(01:39:19):
do it during the main. SHOW a couple of things
worth noting. Here you're gonna have an opening round matchup
Between grafton And East. Fairmont that one should be really really,
good four or five. Game excited to see how that
one plays. Out and Then Lewis county not your typical eight.
Seed we talked a little bit about that With Chris.
GEORGE i think that's really interesting as far as how

(01:39:39):
things are going to look ahead for this. TOURNAMENT i don't,
listen they're gonna be an underdog no matter. What but
it's not crazy to me to think that these are
some of the better eight seeds that we've probably ever
seen in The Class TRIPLE a. Tournament so and really
in all of, these in all of these, Tournaments i'm
actually Super we're impressed by what we've been seeing.

Speaker 2 (01:40:04):
Coming out of the.

Speaker 3 (01:40:04):
REGIONALS i think you're seeing some of the best fields
since expanding to four. CLASSIFICATIONS i Think chris Was Chris
george that is mentioned this was just spot on about.
That and in the, meantime that's gonna be a great
four or five. Game that's a rematch of a game
from back all the way back On december, Eleventh grafton
one on the road At East fairmont fifty one to forty.

Speaker 2 (01:40:25):
Eight that was the only time they played this.

Speaker 3 (01:40:28):
Season all, Right coming up, next it Is Luke wiggs
who is going to wrap up our show with the
bonus segment talking about The Mountain East conference. Tournament we
are going to break down every game from, yesterday every
game today today being the quarterfinals for the. Men of,
course if you're listening in podcast form then you know
it may not necessarily be quarterfinal. Day but also we'll

(01:40:48):
get some predictions From luke as. Well that's all coming.
Up get your fix on The Morning spiel right here
on ONE o three three. Wkmz this is The Morning
spiel presented By Royal Water treatment on ONE o three

(01:41:08):
to three. Wkmz we are also into overflow mode for
The friday free for. All that's what happens in the
month Of. March it's just basketball on the, brain, NonStop
all the. Time and to help us out with the latest,
topic we're jumping on one that we don't often get
to do. Here but it Is Mountainast conference tournament week

(01:41:29):
in the backdrop of everything else that's going on across
the state in the basketball. World But Luke wiggs is
on the line with us right. Now who is typically
out over In martinsburg AT, wepm out there hosting a,
show directing sports doing play by, play this week is
In wheeling doing.

Speaker 2 (01:41:48):
Coverage i'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:41:49):
Sure i'm an ask him in a second year doing
play by play AND i think digital reporting for The
Mountain East conference. Tournament but he'll clarify that in a.
Second but he is, there he's on, scene he's covering the. Games,
luke what's up?

Speaker 6 (01:41:59):
MAN i cannot believe THAT i swindled my boss and
the letting me go for two and a half weeks
out Of martinsburg to spend this half week In. Wheeling
in the next two weeks In charleston for the girls
in boys state, Tournaments BUT i can't. COMPLAIN i gotta
be honest with.

Speaker 3 (01:42:13):
You it's a really good way to spend a couple
of weeks just NonStop, basketball and that's all that's on
the brain at this point. Anyway, so are you doing
games on The Metro news app or you digital?

Speaker 2 (01:42:25):
Report what is your role? THERE i didn't realize to
ask you this before we got on the.

Speaker 6 (01:42:29):
Air, well it's actually been kind of. Cool The Mountain
East conference And commissioner Reed amos is really one of
the best commissioners in all of The division two. Athletics
not only is it On Metro news television in The
Mountain East conference streaming, platforms but all but one game
is also airing On Sports Net, pittsburgh of, course where
The pirates and The penguins. Are SO i got to

(01:42:49):
make my network television play by play debut, yesterday and
that's WHAT i get to do these next couple of.
Days i'll be calling Games, Today i've got a men's,
quarterfinal tomorrow women's semi, final and then This Sunday i'll
get to do both championship games on the radio WITH.
Dj Shat zemsky is always a great guy to do games,
with so it's just play by play for. Me i've

(01:43:11):
graduated from some of The Metro news grunt, work if you.
Will i'm still doing some red hatting down and the
girls and boys, tournaments BUT i finally cracked the play
by play rotation AND i couldn't be. HAPPIER i, mean
it's a ton of fun being up here At West
benco and calling the.

Speaker 3 (01:43:26):
Game well and so it's also a great brand of
basketball and it can leave you breathless at. Times that's
The Mountain East conference for, you because they just they
play at such a high, pace so high. Scoring and
one of the TEAMS i want to start with Is
West Virginia wesleyan because they were and we're gonna start
on the women's. Side they got victimized yesterday by a
team that kind of lives that ethos In West Virginia.

(01:43:49):
State and it's tough Because wesleyan really big breakout performance
for the team this year and they come in and
not all that dissimilar to What Frostburg state did last.
Year they come in and they can't get out of
their first game of the. Tournament talk a little bit
About wesleyan And West Virginia, state BECAUSE i got to tell,
You i'd be afraid IF i were the other three,

(01:44:10):
Teams i'd be a little afraid of This West Virginia state.

Speaker 6 (01:44:12):
Team, YEAH i, Agree and this was actually the GAME
i got to call. YESTERDAY i want to start by
Saying i'm really impressed with What Brett vincent's been able
to accomplish At West Virginia. Wesleyan this is his fourth.
Season in his first three, years he wins eighteen, games
and this year he wins, nineteen which is incredibly remarkable
for a program that hasn't had a lot of recent

(01:44:33):
women's basketball. Success SO i don't want to take away
from what was an incredible, season but you're. Right Drawing
West Virginia state in the first round of this tournament
was always going to be a tough. Ass you look
at the Mount In East conference women's basketball standings two
through seven are all within three games of each. Other
that's how competitive this league. Is And West Virginia state
is a team that made it all the way to
the championship game of this tournament last, year And Charles

(01:44:55):
marshall is a very talented head. Coach they forced twenty
eight points off at turnovers in this, game And Bailey
goins was instrumental in the fourth. Quarter wesleyan struggled in
the first half to handle the. Pressure they figured it
out in the second, half started to be a little
bit more efficient in the half, court and they went
to a one two two zone to Force West Virginia
state to take shots that they didn't want to, take

(01:45:15):
and it almost. Works But Bailey goins scored all twelve
of The Yellow jackets points in the fourth quarter to
give them this. Victory West Virginia leslian was just right
on the cusp of pulling off that comeback the entirety
of the second, half but just came up a little bit.
Short and you're right. Now This West Virginia state teams In.
Boldens they won their first day by double digits Against Point.

(01:45:36):
Park they Beat wesleyan, yesterday and they absolutely are a
team that can go on a run in this.

Speaker 7 (01:45:40):
Tournament, Yeah they're so.

Speaker 3 (01:45:41):
Strange to me, too because the instances Where i've seen
them this, year they've been. Outstanding and yet you, know
you look at the, numbers you look at the way
they played much of the, season there was a lot
of inconsistency there throughout the course of the. Year i'm
wondering if any of that appeared at all, yesterday kind
of your diagnosis on This West Virginia state. Team they
a seven seed when you look at what they can

(01:46:02):
do and what they have, DONE i, mean in, fact
when it all. Works they're the only team this year
that Beat Fairmont state In fairmont and broke a very
very Long Fairmont state home winning. Streak as a result of,
That it's hard for me to understand how they fell
all the way to the seventh. Spot the one THING
i think of is that not converting enough off of,
turnovers maybe not quite shooting well, enough and yet still.

Speaker 2 (01:46:24):
The Times i've seen, them they've done those things. Well
So i'm kind of.

Speaker 3 (01:46:26):
Curious if you're the, doctor what are you diagnosing for
This West Virginia state? Team why are they where they
are as more of a cinderella than a favorite in this.

Speaker 6 (01:46:34):
Tournament, well that's what was fascinating WHEN i was preparing
for that game. Yesterday you look at the raw numbers
and they don't feel like a seven. Seed they leave
the conference in. Rebounding they're one of the top defensive
teams in THE. Mebc and what's fascinating is despite the
fact that they're a seventh, seed they're second in the
conference in point, differential so they've had some big wins this.
Year for, me it kind of comes down, to you,

(01:46:54):
know you live by the, sword you die by the.
Sword when you play that pernetic style of subbing in
five players at a. Time they went twelve deep in
the game Against Wesley and, yesterday SO i guess sometimes
it can kind of be hard to get in and
out of that. RHYTHM i, mean you, know nobody's going
to run that system as well As Kim caldwell, did
Although Charles marshall is very. Close don't get me, wrong

(01:47:14):
but maybe there's some inconsistencies in their ability to score,
CONSISTENTLY i should, say because of how much they sub
and this team doesn't shoot the ball as well as
they did last. Year but when they have the ability
to turn teams over like they did Against wesley and,
yesterday that's what always keeps them in the. Game so
it's almost like they're better constructed to be a team

(01:47:35):
that wins in a tournament than they are to be
a team that has a great regular. Season they had
some hiccups in the, road but now that it's time
to buckle down and play these games and you, know
try to get an that large bit to THE ncaa.
Tournament they've really locked into form and they're playing good.

Speaker 3 (01:47:48):
Basketball we Have lukewigs with us who is doing some
of the games on play by play up At West
Banko arena for The Mountain East conference. Tournament we're going
to jump now over To West Virginia state's upcoming opponent
and that's going to be On saturday in the semi.
Finals Glenville state coached by The stolar. Sisters lots Of
fairmont connections over At Glenville state right, now and of

(01:48:09):
course folks are very familiar with this program and the
deep runs that they've been. On Glenville state's kind of
an odd ball because, one they're a six, seed as
you kind of pointed, out they're probably about just as
good as any of the other seeds two through. Seven
and they've been interesting because there were times this, season
like last, year WHERE i thought they looked like they
were ready to kind of take over as maybe the

(01:48:30):
true number two in the. Conference While Fairmont state's kind
of in the midst of their dominant stretch with this
group of seniors who are getting ready to. Graduate that
didn't quite happen this, year or maybe it did and
there's just so much parody that it doesn't reflect in the.
Standings but a year ago the issue was. Injuries this
year it's that everybody's kind of close to each. Other

(01:48:50):
how do you feel about This glenville team going into this?
One and how do you feel about This glenville team
going up against This West Virginia state team with so
many connections between the two.

Speaker 6 (01:48:59):
Programs, now that's a great question because you're going to
see so many different players hit the floor because both
of these teams like to get deep into their. BENCH
i was impressed with WHAT i saw From glenville yesterday Against.
Wheeling you, Know wheeling's always kind of got that home court.
Advantage being in their, backyard they are able to outdraw
more often than not the teams they get to play
In West Banco. Arena But Glenville state really set the.

(01:49:20):
TONE i think that's what's going to be key when
they Play West Virginia. State they Outscored wheeling eighteen to
eight in the first quarter and never really looked back
and kept The cardinals at arms. Length the WANDO A,
kigmo the freshman of the year in the, conference goes
for fifteen. Points and one thing That glenville does do
well is they negate teams from shooting the three ball,
well which is what they did yesterday Against. Wheeling they
held them to nineteen percent from. Three, Now West Virginia

(01:49:40):
state doesn't rely on those outside, shots so that creates
some interesting matchup. PROBLEMS i guess For Glenville state in this,
game BUT i don't. Know you, know it's hard to
predict when you've got twelve deep rosters on either, side
you have no idea who the five are going to
be on the floor to close out the. Game is
both of these head coaches try to slot different players

(01:50:01):
into different angles in different points of the. GAME i
think it's going to be a really good. Matchup LIKE i,
said you, know a six beating a three and a
seven beating a two in a conference tournament usually is
a big. Deal we talk about, upsets but in The
Mountain East conference there's just no margin for. Error what's
fascinating Is Fairmont state AND i, know, Well i'm sure
we'll talk about them in a. Moment is the only

(01:50:21):
team on the women's bracket that has a good enough
at large resume to get into THE NC Doublea. Tournament
and then those teams, too through the rest of the
conference are all battling out potentially to Upset faaramont and
get an automatic qualifying bid to THE NC Doublea. Tournament
And West Virginia state And Glenville state have to be
going into these games thinking, themselves why not?

Speaker 3 (01:50:40):
Us, Yeah, no it's a great. Point it's a really good.
Point there's a level of intensity that all of them
have to ratchet up right. Now and of, course if
you want to be the, best you have to beat the.
Best and that brings us to number One Fairmont state
in the six o'clock game, yesterday took out number Eight
charleston seventy five fifty Six elica D'Angelo with twenty one.
Points in it had been kind of an up and

(01:51:00):
down season for, her she leads the team in, Scoring Leslie,
huffman the conference player of the year with seventeen, points
And Fairmont state with the most comfortable win of any team,
yesterday and that seems about right for the number one
Seed falcons and really good win for Coach Stephanie anderson.
Squad they are looking to be back to BACK mec tournament, winners,

(01:51:21):
which AS i, recall they have never done.

Speaker 2 (01:51:23):
Before so this is a definitely big, deal potentially monumental
for the.

Speaker 3 (01:51:27):
Program and they're doing it with the backdrop of they
have a whole bunch of seniors who are on their
way out the, door so it is kind of do or.

Speaker 6 (01:51:35):
Die, Yeah Fairmont state coming off to that champion of
The tournament championship, win like you, said last, year which
was their first in program. History AND i was on
that broadcast as, well and what was unique to me
is they did have some key, losses but looking at The,
angela looking At Jalen, gibbs looking At Leslie huffman and,
saying you, know they got a lot coming back this.
Year that's how deadly This Fairmont state team can. Be
and they've lived up to the building in a conference

(01:51:56):
with so much, parody they've risen above the rest of
the entire already the regular. Season, NOW i will say
they came out just a little bit flat in that
game AGAINST. Uc it was a three point game to
end the third, quarter but they Outscore charleston twenty four to.
Eight in the fourth. Quarter they really turned on The
jets and picked up that. WIN i feel as though
they had a good enough, conference or rather a good

(01:52:17):
enough resume to make THE ncaa, tournament even if they
had been upset in the first, round but that win
yesterday certainly solidified. It and obviously now you're playing for
back to back conference, championships like you, said which would be,
historic but you're also playing to set your regional seating
as best as. Possible The Western division of THE psac
is going to send a lot of teams to the women's.
Tournament Fairmont state wants to make sure that they're on

(01:52:40):
the upper end of those eight teams they get to
the Mid Atlantic. Regional if they win, TODAY i think
they can do. That if they win the entire, TOURNAMENT
i think that they're going to be one of the
top two seeds in this. Region so you're, Right Coach
anderson continues to do great things For Fairmont. State elsa,
d'angelos like you, said it had some roles throughout the regular,
season but she's turned it on in tournament. Time it's
one of those players that the second she steps Into

(01:53:02):
West Banko, arena it's like a second. Home she locks
in and propels These falcons to new heights like she
did yesterday over The university Of.

Speaker 2 (01:53:10):
Charleston i'm sure they'd love to host if.

Speaker 3 (01:53:12):
Possible that doesn't look particularly likely when you take into
account their opening season, loss WHICH i believe was Against.
Lockehaven but they last year they had that odd situation
where they hosted as a two seed Because, agannon IF i,
recall could not host the entirety of the tournament because
of construction that was going. On so kind of a
strange thing there That fairmont got to host as a two.

(01:53:32):
Seed but we'll keep an eye on that storyline as,
well BECAUSE i don't think it's out of the. Question
it's just not particularly. Likely and let's wrap With Frostburg.
State we'll go over to the men's after this because
that's the action coming up. Today Frostburg state wins in,
overtime and, again all three of these games outside of
The Fairmont charleston, game and even as you alluded, to
that one was close through, three but all three of

(01:53:54):
these other games they really came down to the. Wire
this one took extra time to get. Done Frostbrook state
And concord both had really strong. SEASONS i Think Frostburg
state almost a little disappointed compared to where they were
a year. AGO i felt like they also had a
claim to stake as the number two team in the,
conference and they didn't really do that this. Year they
got swept By Fairmont, state AS i, recall including a

(01:54:18):
pretty Big fairmont win At frostburg in the final regular
season game of the. Year But frostburg still gets the job.
Done they get their first win in tournament, history and
it's a solid win for The.

Speaker 2 (01:54:28):
Bobcats.

Speaker 6 (01:54:30):
Yeah, Absolutely AND i got to be, HONEST i feel
really bad For Fred. Persinger he was the one that
called this game AND i left BECAUSE i wanted to
go to. Bed an old. Man persinger had to stay
up past his. Bedtime AND i did a really good
job on the broadcast of this. One but you're, right
This frostburg, team you, know a bad taste in the
mouth of what happened last. Year we're afraid the history
was going to repeat itself Against, concord but they knuckled

(01:54:51):
down and won this game in. Overtime Emily weekly one
of the top scorers in the, country the number one
scorer in THE. Nbc she gets the thirty points in this,
game but she does so on twenty, seven AND i
know Coach eckleberry would like to see that become a
little bit more. Efficient and everybody knows What Emily weekly
is capable. Of but you get a big performance yesterday
From Alena tate going for twenty, eight so you need
That robins of the proverbial, batman if you, will if

(01:55:14):
this team wants to make a deep. Run and you,
KNOW i don't know how opinion it are opinionated you
usually get on the, show But i'll say, THIS i
Think Fairmont state And Frostburg state are the two best
teams remaining in the field by. Far SO i think
we're going to get a look at the actual conference championship,
game if you, will in this semi final matchup coming

(01:55:34):
up On. Saturday Fairmont state's the best, Team Frostburg state
has the best. Player you've got two of the best.
Coaches Remember Jenna eckleberry's a couple of years removed from
a run into THE Ncaa tournament With Shepard, university where
she was The shepherd was the team that Gave Glenville
state their best game in their run to the national
championship that. Year in the round of thirty two THAT

(01:55:56):
i believe was a one possession. Loss so she's got
postseason pedigree Soda Stephanie, anderson and that's a Game i'm
incredibly excited to watch when it comes up On.

Speaker 3 (01:56:06):
Saturday you are welcome to get as we encourage getting
opinionated on this. Program the one THING i will note,
though is that AND i talked about this With sean McNamara,
yesterday who is my color commentator when we Do fairmont home.
Games HE i, mean we both agreed pretty happy For
fairmont That West Virginia state is a team they potentially
don't have to see unless it's the championship, game because,

(01:56:27):
again there was just there were some extenuating. CIRCUMSTANCES i
Think fairmont maybe played one of their worst games of the,
season but that is in part Because West Virginia state
played a phenomenal. Game and SO i do think that
there's from a pure matchup perspective that one would worry
me a little bit If I'm fairmont walking into that
game in the. Championship that's not your typical seven. Seeds

(01:56:49):
so that's the one potential. MATCHUP i think they can
Take glennville for a third, time, though certainly beating any
team three times is not, easy BUT i think they
can do. THAT i think they've shown they they can
beat That glenn's. Team i'd be a Little i'd be
a little. Concerned they had some issues in the. Post
they had some issues with foul trouble Against West Virginia.
State that's going to be a real interesting game if
that one winds up being the championship, GAME i think

(01:57:10):
that'll be a fascinating.

Speaker 2 (01:57:11):
One on the women's side of, Things.

Speaker 6 (01:57:13):
YEAH i think you're, right and foul trouble's. Important you
go back to That wesleyan. Game El Pa teri is
the best shooter For West virginia wesley and she got
into foul. Trouble wesleyan only went about seven, deep so
they were without, her had to go down to a
six man rotation in the third quarter and fatigue did
really start to set. In it's similar For. Fairmont they're
deeper Than. Wesleyan but you're, right that's what's kind of
difficult about The Mountaineast. Conferences each of these teams just

(01:57:36):
to have kind of different. Flavors you. Know the pedigree
Of Glenville Fairmont states just got you, know they might
not have the best player on the, floor but they're
gonna have, two, three, four and five best players on the.
Floor and then you've Got frostburg that's got an elite,
scorer and then you've Got West Virginia state that is
just so positionally dominant. Defensively so you're, right there's not
an easy matchup when you get to the semi finals

(01:57:57):
of a conference tournament, ever but certainly not on these.

Speaker 3 (01:58:00):
Conference All, Right, Well i'm very amused we just spent
seventeen minutes talking ABOUT mec women's. Basketball but, hey that's
why we pay you the big bucks For luke is
to talk about the hard. Topics let's move over to
the men's side of, things where there are obviously some
some critical games today in this region in North Central
the three teams That i'm sure fans will be paying

(01:58:20):
close attention To Fairmont, State Glenville, State Davis. Nelkins Davis
nelkins has a very tough. DRAW i hate to short change,
them but they had a tough season and now they've
got a really tough. Draw they did win their their
opening round, game but, BOY i WOULD i don't think
there's anybody who wants to face This West liberty team right.

Speaker 6 (01:58:39):
Now, yeah, ESPECIALLY i mean you never want to face them,
ever but especially not in the form That West liberty
is in right. Now they haven't lost Since january. Fifteenth
in their last four, games they've scored one to. Nineteen of,
course the one sixty two, Game i'm sure you've talked about,
before one oh two and one oh. Six they've taken
two hundred and fifty more shots than their opponents this.
Year is, incredible and they've got six from players averaging double.

(01:59:01):
Figures but you, know you talk about top end talent
when we were talking About Emily weekly For. Frostburg you've
Got Sam rolli there AT d and e fifteen points
per game for him this, season which is honestly below
his career, average and this is going to be the
one hundred and fourteenth collegiate game that he's played in
twenty one hundred and sixteen career points and just over
six hundred career. Assists so when you've got a guy

(01:59:23):
like that that doesn't turn the ball over much because
he's got close to a two to one career assist
to turnover, RATIO i believe that helps against the pressure
Of Wes. Liberty there's just so many different ways That
Wes liberty can beat, you AS i know you've seen
and everybody's seen over the last couple of. Years but
what Gives dne that puncher's chance is having a veteran
point guard in this. Game now they're going to have

(01:59:45):
to try to win this one in the double, digits
if you. WILL i don't think they can keep up
With West liberty in a game that goes up over one.
Hundred so that's kind of What i'm looking for in that,
matchup and that's actually the Game i'm calling. TODAY i
haven't done A Wes libe game in a, while So
i'm gonna go outside and run a couple of laps
and get the heart right up and take some caffeine

(02:00:07):
and lock in for that.

Speaker 3 (02:00:08):
One, yeah you're not gonna have a. Choice they're Gonna
they're gonna keep you on your toes the whole. Game
i'm actually curious because when you mentioned the one hundred
and sixty two point, game it got me thinking about.
This do you know the only team ranked ahead Of
West liberty in total points per game this?

Speaker 6 (02:00:22):
SEASON i do Because i'm very good friends With Mark,
schunster who is the play by play voice Of nova?
Self how about?

Speaker 3 (02:00:29):
That there you, Go that's that's a great. PULL i
did not Know mark was doing. That that's good for.
Him that's wild to. ME i would have if you
would put a gun to my, HEAD i, said, oh no.
Question Wes liberty's number one in scoring in the, nation
would never have pulled. That SO i looked it up
really quickly at a sheer, curiosity especially after the one
hundred and sixty.

Speaker 6 (02:00:46):
Two of, course you know the connection. There that's Where
Jim crutchfield went after Leaving West. Liberty when those two
teams played the national championship a couple of years, ago
you got The Ben hallett apprentice versus the master Of Jim.
Crutchfield Nova southeastern. Team they've got the best point GUARD
i think his name Is graziano in the, country and
they put up. Points. Man And i'll tell you, THIS

(02:01:07):
i know this is not A Nova southeastern based. Show
they're playing in their conference, tournament either semifinal or final,
today which they're. Hosting they have a chance to break
The division two record for consecutive home. VICTORIES i was
talking To mark about this. YESTERDAY i don't just know.
This they're currently at eighty consecutive home wins and if
they win, today they will break The division two.

Speaker 4 (02:01:29):
Record that's.

Speaker 3 (02:01:30):
Fantastic hey Tell, Mark Tell, MARK i, said, hello good,
dude and that's awesome that he's got the top scoring
team in the nation In division two. Basketball so let's
jump over to the number two Seed. Fairmount they're actually
the first game of the. Day they're going to face
off with a Point park team THAT i would describe
as at times feisty this, season but certainly there's a

(02:01:52):
reason why they're sitting in the ten. Seed but that
feisting has got them through the opening. Round SO i
don't think this is a gimme for the number Two.

Speaker 6 (02:01:58):
Falcons not because look at the two regular season matchups
between the. Two fairmont won them, both but it was
a five point win and an eleven point. WIN i,
mean this is a Point park team that's, tough And
Kevin reynolds as their head. COACH i remember hearing about
him when he was coaching At Slippery rock BECAUSE i
do games in THE. Psac Slippery rock's a program that's
been playing basketball for a. While they've got nine total

(02:02:21):
twenty win seasons And Kevin renolds had six of them
before he takes This Point park. Job but you're, right
going up Against, faaramont they're eight one in the month Of.
February you, KNOW i don't need to tell your listeners
About david And Andre harris And Tommy williams and all
the great talent that they. Have and you know this
is a team that is also trying to play for.
Seeding they have an at large. RESUME i think that's

(02:02:42):
good enough to get them a, bid but a deep
run into this conference, tournament and even a conference tournament
win Between Fairmont, State West liberty And gannon out of
THE pa, sect one of those three teams is going
to host this Mid atlantic. Regional Fairmont state probably has
the weakest resume of the two because of they're out
of comfort, schedule which wasn't their. Fault but if they

(02:03:02):
go on a run in this conference tournament and you
get some, luck you, know My Shepherd rams still alive
in the in THE psac, tournament could potentially upset. Again
and you know that's What Faramount state's looking to play.
For you can't overlook a Good Point park, Team BUT
i Know fairmont has aspirations of a deep tournament.

Speaker 3 (02:03:17):
Run, YEAH i feel like the only way they would
if they had if they won this. Tournament more than
likely they're going to have to go Through West liberty
to do.

Speaker 2 (02:03:24):
It But i'd be.

Speaker 3 (02:03:25):
CURIOUS i don't know that their resume would be strong
enough if they won this tournament without Beating West, liberty
if somehow they fell in a surprise. Early so that's
an interesting storyline to pay attention to as. Well real,
quick Because i've kept you for a while. Already, well
we'll rapid fire through these last Two Glenville state And
charleston And concord In West Virginia. State give me a
quick take on each of these two, games then we'll

(02:03:46):
get your prediction on the winner of this.

Speaker 6 (02:03:48):
Tournament The university Of Charleston, glenville you, see has won
seven games in a. Row James long in his first,
season had some hiccups kind of you, know Around christmas,
time but they've rided the ship and they're playing good
ball right. Now Dwayne jones might be my favorite player
in the. Conference he's third in the nation and Assists
glenville's coming off a good victory Against concord to finish the,
Season so there in form and speaking Of, concord That

(02:04:09):
Concord West Virginia state game is a rematch of the
second to last game of the year for both of those,
teams Were West Virginia state won in triple. Overtime and
you've got two of the best scorers in the conference
In Colin tolbert For, concord or averages twenty one game
And Jayden slack For West Virginia, state who average is.
Eighteen SO i think that's going to be a matchup
of two really fun. Players So i'm excited for both

(02:04:31):
of those. Games you Seeing, Glenville like you, said it's
going to be the second game today and then the
nightcap will be That Concord state. Game.

Speaker 3 (02:04:37):
Excellent Hey, luke are you on the call for The
Fairmont State Frostburg state women's?

Speaker 2 (02:04:40):
Game did you say that?

Speaker 4 (02:04:41):
Earlier?

Speaker 6 (02:04:42):
No, TODAY i am doing The West Virginia i'm, sorry
The West liberty. Game oh, No i'm doing the semi, final.

Speaker 3 (02:04:48):
Not Involving, okay all, right BECAUSE i am GONNA i
am going to try to turn that one, on BUT
i actually Have it's weird to say, this BUT i
have free time On.

Speaker 2 (02:04:57):
SATURDAY i don't know what that. Is But i'm gonna,
ye we're gonna try to watch some E mec.

Speaker 3 (02:05:02):
Basketball but, hey If i'm still at my, House i'll
watch The Glenville state game as.

Speaker 2 (02:05:08):
WELL i think you're gonna get a real good one.

Speaker 3 (02:05:10):
THERE i think That Glenville State West Virginia state game
is going to be has the potential to be maybe
the highest scoring game of the. Tournament So luke much, appreciated,
man great, work AND i look forward to seeing how
the rest of this tournament.

Speaker 6 (02:05:25):
Plays, out all, right, absolutely thanks for having.

Speaker 2 (02:05:27):
Me, yeah, man and tell the folks one more time
where they can catch all the action for all of these.

Speaker 6 (02:05:33):
Games, well you can watch it for free if you
download The Metro news television, app or you can go
to west Bankol arena dot com if you want to
purchase tickets and come up and watch these. Games it's
a really fun.

Speaker 3 (02:05:43):
Tournament very, good, Thanks, Luke thank you all right that
we'll do it for the show today.

Speaker 2 (02:05:48):
Special thanks to all of our. Guests fantastic work.

Speaker 3 (02:05:51):
Today Luke wigs on The Mountain East, Conference seawan McNamara
On East Fairmont, Special thanks as well To Craig dutton
and To Jack rogers Talking lincoln And Philip, Barber Chris,
George Travis jones Talking, bridgeport among many other topics as,
Well Tucker, County elkins and the like on girls and
the boys side of things as, Well Bill nester for

(02:06:13):
TALKING rcb And South, harrison a great group of, guests
and of course my co Host Chris, johnson who is
going to be on location for the next couple of.
Weeks want to thank everybody who helped out with the
show and helps out all season and all year. Long
it has been an absolute blast AND i can't believe
we are at tournament. Time we will have a regular

(02:06:34):
show for you next. Week it will not be interrupted
by the, tournament but there will be no overflow because
there is no morning, spiel so it'll be a strict
two hour radio show next week and the pod will
be up almost. Immediately all, right, folks thanks for listening
in and remember you can catch the show if you're
listening in podcast form live on the radio AT wkmz
ONE o three three or wkmznews dot, com or by

(02:06:56):
downloading THE wvrc media app

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