VHSL Hoops State Tourney - Daily Diary Volume 1

Hello friends and welcome to our first Daily Diary from the VHSL State Tournament. Due to my broadcasting obligations for the NFHS Network, we aren't doing our customary 'LIVE Blog' like we've done in past years, but you can follow updates on Twitter @ hatfieldsports + see the games live and archived through NFHS Network.

We also are posting Predictions on our VIP Board daily and the Tournament Central link (which can be found here) will keep you posted with postgame sound, stats and a whole lot more.

Before I get to my impressions of Day 1 of the Final Four at VCU, I must give the fine people in the back a shout out / kudos for the mid-day lunch yesterday. The barbecue was OUTSTANDING, and even though I didn't get as much as I would like (I'm not lying... I'm being honest; was getting prepared to call a game), it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to anyone reading this that we get the BBQ / macaroni salad combo again, perhaps as early as Wednesday.

Anyways, enough of my food rant. Let's go through my impressions from Day 1 of the tourney and what's happening today...

Highland Springs' Taya Bolden had maybe the stat-line of the State Tournament on the Girls side. The honor for the Boys side to this point would go to Greensville's Jordan Peebles. Bolden's 25 points and 27 rebounds were immensely important as she helped her team rally to beat Thomas Edison 72-61 in overtime.

With that win, Highland Springs now gets a re-match with Princess Anne, who beat them in the 5A State Championship two years ago and handed them their only loss to date on this season in the 5A-South Region Championship held at Prince George High School back on Saturday, February 27th.

Coach Franklin Harris told me yesterday that Bolden has been doing this all year in terms of crashing the glass. She has rebound efforts of 29 and 24 in contests as well. Clearly, she's one of the most improved players in the state and another grand performance would go a long way towards hanging in there with a chance to beat Gadiva Hubbard (Minnesota signee) and the PA crew.

Most everyone anticipated that the Monacan Girls would be playing again for the 4A State Championship. Led by an All-American level talent in junior Megan Walker, who is being recruited by most everyone in the country and played on Monday in front of Notre Dame's sideline boss Muffet McGraw, the Chiefs are stacked and had no trouble dispatching King's Fork, 79-55.

Walker finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Her teammate, Jaiden Morris, actually upstaged her in a sense - for a day - with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting. Morris will play her College Hoops at George Mason.

What people didn't think would happen is that the Monacan Boys team - seeded #4 when the State Tournament began - would go from losing consecutive regional playoff games to Eastern View and Lake Taylor to knocking off undefeated Loudoun Valley in the quarterfinals before beating GW-Danville 65-63 on Wallace Washington's buzzer-beater.

Washington had missed a wide open lay-up earlier in the fourth quarter that could've ended up costing the Chiefs, but got redemption for it with the biggest shot of the tourney - and his career - to date. It was a balanced attack for Head Coach RJ Spelsberg.

All five starters for the Chiefs scored in double-figures. Washington joined Darian Peterson, Greg Parham, Nick Parks (CNU commit) and Trejvon McFail in double-digits. Four them were All-Conference performers and only McFail wasn't.

It'll be a re-match with Lake Taylor for the Chiefs, who lost by 14 to the Norfolk school in the regional semis. Very few will pick them to win, but who thought they would get this far? Not many either.

Lake Taylor was able to turn a deficit after three quarters of play against John Champe in the 4A State Semis into a 76-69 win, where they piled up 29 fourth period points. Most impressively, their most talented player - senior small forward and Conference 17 Player of the Year Travius Smith - battled foul trouble and ended up with just 10 points and six rebounds.

So how did Lake Taylor get it done? They called on a trio of sophomores to get them there.

Joe Bryant led the Titans in scoring with 15 points off the bench to go with seven rebounds and three assists. Dereon Seabron, who seldom played a season ago at Norcom, nearly recorded a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Jalen Jordan had seven points, none bigger than his three-pointer that cut the Champe lead to 45-44 late in the third quarter when the Titans were reeling a bit.

Other than Smith, Amahd Elliott and Gabe Miller along with football guys like Daz Palmer and J.T. Wahee, this Titans team doesn't have a ton of seniors contributing. Throw in junior Demontae Tyler, who scored 12 points, and the Titans have enough underclassmen coming back to be in the title hunt again in 2017.

To win their first ever State Championship in Boys Basketball, all Lake Taylor has to do is beat a #4 seed Monacan squad they defeated 71-57 in the regional semifinals, a game that has come during this 14-game winning streak that ranks as the best stretch in longtime Head Coach Kenny Brown's tenure.

Alas, basketball fans finally get to see the Westfield Bulldogs with a record of 24-3 against the Woodside Wolverines, who come in red hot on an eight-game winning streak and with a 20-5 mark.

Westfield was ranked #1 in the preseason in Group 6A. Woodside came in at #2 in the preseason in 6A. Both appeared to be on a collision course all year and perhaps in the State Championship, though Westfield seeing its 22-game winning streak snapped in the 6A-North Region Championship by Battlefield put these two on the same side of the bracket.

So arguably a game worthy of being the State Championship - no disrespect meant towards Battlefield or Oscar Smith - comes in the semifinal round.

It's also been a much-anticipated game because the two schools were supposed to play this year in the 8th Annual VirginiaPreps.com Classic Presented by Cox Sports at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach on January 23rd. But that event ended up having to be re-scheduled due to a snowstorm, and neither was able to fit in their schedule with conference games taking precedence.

It's a fascinating 1-2 punch match-up in this one as well. Westfield is led by the duo of Tyler Scanlon (23PPG) and Blake Francis (19.6PPG, 55 3's). Woodside counters with its terrific tandem of PG Devante Carter (13.9PPG, 6.4RPG, 5.7APG) and wing Chris Orlina (20.7PPG, 8.7RPG), flourishing in a reserve role. Will Orlina start or come off the bench? Only time will tell.

Keep an eye on the supporting cast members. For Woodside, those guys are Jordan Forbes (13.6PPG, 8.3RPG, 4.5APG), TahJay Jacobs (9PPG) and Juwan Davis (42 3's) that do the most damage. Westfield also needs production out of Hank Johnson (13.2PPG), Kory Jones (8.1PPG, 28 3's) and Joe Katchmark (27 3's)

Westfield played a thrilling triple-overtime game with Landstown in last year's State Semis at VCU in what one of one of the longest - and also most exciting - games of the tourney. Regulation may not be enough time to settle a victor in this one either.

Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.