My early LCT blog

The brackets and seeding for the LeFlore County Tournament were decided on Wednesday evening.

I am no expert, which most people notice quickly and don’t hesitate to inform me, but I have seen nine of the county schools play basketball this season and will add two more to that list when I watch Talihina play at Wister tonight.

The only other schools I have not seen are Arkoma and Whitesboro, but I plan on seeing them some time this year.

I also have a ranking for county schools on the Journal. Let’s see how the old Craigger did as opposed to how the coaches seeded the schools, shall we? Yes, we shall!

Girls Boys
Journal Coaches Journal Coaches
1. Howe 2. Heavener 1. Talihina 1. Talihina
2. Heavener 2. Howe 2. Howe 2. Spiro
3. Pocola 3. LeFlore 3. Spiro 3. Poteau
4.LeFlore 4. Pocola 4. Poteau 4. Heavener
5. Poteau 5. Bokoshe 5. Heavener 5. Howe
6. Panama 6. Poteau 6. Pocola 6. Panama
7. Spiro 7. Panama 7. Panama 7. Pocola
8. Talihina 8. Wister 8. Wister 8. Wister
9. Bokoshe 9. Spiro 9. Cameron 9. Cameron
10. Wister 10. Talihina 10. Arkoma 10. Whitesboro
11. Arkoma 11. Whitesboro 11. Whitesboro 11. LeFlore
12. Whitesboro 12. Arkoma 12. LeFlore 12. Bokoshe
13. Cameron 13. Cameron 13. Bokoshe 13. Arkoma

As you can see, there are some differences, not that it matters a whole lot. The main differences in the two are in the boys where I have Howe rated second while the coaches had the Lions fifth.

If you look at the team, they are not as athletic as some schools ranked above them. But they are a solid team with good basketball players and I think Howe deserves my ranking because they just knocked off Red Oak on Saturday night.

One big difference on the girls is the coaches have Bokoshe at fifth while I have them at ninth. No offense to the Lady Tigers, but I feel like both Poteau and Panama are better teams and would win head-to-head.

The Journal and coaches also have Pocola and Panama at different positions. They are two similar teams with good coaching and players.

My darkhorse for the boys is Poteau. I have the Pirates at No. 4 while the coaches selected them third. But if any team has a chance at knocking off Talihina, Poteau would be my choice. The Pirates are the biggest team in the county, are also well coached and have some good guards.

Everybody is pointing to a Heavener and Howe matchup in the girls. But a team to watch out for is LeFlore. The Lady Savages have some good scorers and one of the better players in the county in Misty Johnson.

The Journal had Pocola selected above LeFlore, but this is one that could go either way. Overall, Pocola has better athletes, but it would not be a big surprise to see LeFlore finish third.