Section races down to the wire

Its a late season breather with no boys games on the schedule tonight.  So with only 2 more full weeks of regular season play remaining on the schedule, I figured it'd be a good time to take a look at some of the section races.

Section 4A
There are 26 teams listed in the section, only 18 played last year.  Take out Lion's Gate (closed), Four Directions, St. Paul Prep and Prairie Seeds Academy for playing before opening night and Math & Science for a limited schedule and I wouldn't be shocked if there were only 13 teams playing.  MCA and MTS are neck and neck for the top seed.  MTS has 6 in a row on the road in the last 2 weeks.  Keep an eye on the Eden Prairie score next Friday night as they won at MCA by 17.  Heritage was 2nd in the MCAA but lost to St. Agnes by 23.  Interesting debate there for the 3 seed.  Part of me would like to see St. Agnes at 4 for a rematch with MCA.  FAIR and Humboldt both lost to Bethany who was last in the MCAA, expect that to hurt their seeding.

Section 4AA
Concordia and Blake are clearly 1 and 2.  Providence, SPA, BC, Edison, MPA, ISM and Great River seem set at the bottom.  The middle 5 are a mess of .500 teams.  St. Croix Lutheran won the head-head with Minnehaha and is ahead of them in the league, but lost to Roosevelt.  Breck at Trinity on the final night could determine the higher seed between those 2 teams.

Section 3AAA
De La Salle and Columbia Heights are the clear 1 and 2 seeds.  Fridley will be the 8 seed.  Central at Como Park on Friday night gives Central a chance to put Como Park behind them.  Totino-Grace still has a good shot at the 3 seed.  St. Anthony can help their cause for the 3 spot by beating Concordia and Irondale in their next 2 games. But St. Anthony lost a shootout to Como Park earlier in the year so 3-7 could still fall anywhere.  Patrick Henry is dangerous no matter where they end up, but likely they'll be #7.  If that's the case, they've already beaten Columbia Heights this season.  They still have games with North and DeLaSalle.  Central still has Orono and a trip to Johnson.

Section 4AAA
Johnson and Hill-Murray are the clear 1 and 2.  Harding and South St. Paul will fill the 6 and 7 seeds.  Mahtomedi fighting St. Thomas for a higher seed out of the Classic Suburban.  St. Thomas with a brutal remaining schedule (Tartan, Hill-Murray, Holy Family).  That might allow Highland Park to sneak up and steal the 3 seed thanks to their head-head win over Mahtomedi on the 1st Tuesday of the season. 

Section 6AAA
How in the world do you seed this section with 4 conference champs.  Mound-Westonka and Holy Angels will take the 6 and 7 seeds.  BSM has to take the top spot with no bad losses.  Washburn and Waconia is a coin flip for 2 and 3.  I take Waconia as they have a win over Hutchinson who beat Washburn over the holidays.  Holy Family gets the home game with Richfield this season in the 4 vs 5 game if its me, but the AA schedule vs the AAAA schedule always rears its ugly head come seeding time.

Section 2AAAA
Another section that's really tough to seed.  Eden Prairie gets the nod right now as they've split with Chaska and they have the road win at Hopkins which is hard to argue with.  Chaska comes in at 2.  Shakopee will get the 3 if they run the table since they've beaten Edina head to head and beaten Chaska (Edina lost to Chaska).  Kennedy, Chanhassen, Prior Lake and Jefferson fill out the bottom half.

Section 3AAAA
Still a scrum at the top with Eagan, Lakeville South and Eastview all fighting for the top spot.  Eastview has big wins over both as a resume builder.  Lakeville South has split with both and has both coming up.  Lakeville North at Apple Valley next Friday is a preview of the 4 vs 5 game with the winner hosting.  Burnsville is on a major skid right now (lost 8 in a row before winning at Jefferson last night).  A loss at Rosemount next Friday could push them all the way down to #7.  Park is the clear #8.

Section 4AAAA
Tartan holds on to the #1 seed now over Roseville thanks to the Raiders loss at Mounds View.  CDH can still steal the #2 seed but they'll need to beat Roseville on the final night to share or win the league to do it.  White Bear Lake looking at another home 4 vs 5 game.  Stillwater will need to beat East Ridge at home next Tuesday to hold that 5 spot.  North St. Paul in the running as they've won 6 in a row after losing 9 of 10.  Only impressive win for those 3 teams is Stillwater beating Hill-Murray early in the year. Woodbury is 0-7 in the section but they have wins over Shakopee and Forest Lake.  Any of those teams could finish 5-8.  The 8th seed means hosting the pigtail game against Sibley.

Section 5AAAA
Champlin Park at Osseo could be for the top seed next Tuesday.  But both have tough final tests on the last night of the season.  Irondale has won 8 in a row since losing to Cooper, including a good win last night over St. Louis Park.  The Irondale at Cooper rematch on March 1st looks like a possible matchup for the 3 seed.  Spring Lake Park and Mounds View come in at 5 and 6. Centennial has won 6 of 7 since starting 2-13.  I see them at 7 and Park Center at 8.

Section 6AAAA
Minnetonka is your top seed here. Wait a minute, wrong season.  Despite a rough year, the Skippers will avoid the 1-8 game with Hopkins as I see them at #7.  Minneapolis Southwest comes in at #8 to get that honor.  Robbinsdale Armstrong gets the 3 seed over St. Louis Park at 4 thanks to a head to head win.  But Armstrong is on a slide losing 5 of 6 after a 14-2 start.  Minneapolis North may win the Minneapolis City and get the 5 seed.  But a loss at South next Friday would push them to 6.

Section 7AAAA
Duluth East is on fire right now winning 9 in a row.  Their win over Forest Lake last week gives them the top seed.  Forest Lake takes #2 via a head-head win over Blaine who earns the 3.  Duluth Central at Andover next Saturday looks like another 4 vs 5 preview with home court on the line.  I'll Anoka and Cambridge-Isanti, for 6 and 7.  St. Francis at Coon Rapids in the 8 vs 9 pigtail game via Coon Rapids winning at St. Francis late last month.