Metro Basketball Tournament Upside Down With New Spin

For the first time in its existence, the title isn’t entirely accurate.

Yes, the huge Albuquerque Metro Basketball Championship kicks off Tuesday at eight gyms around the city. In each place he will play two matches. to date. That’s true of any sport.

Five teams out of 32 teams in two fields (men’s and women’s) will be participating from outside the Tokyo metropolitan area for the first time.

The Hobbes boys and girls, the Santa Fe High School boys and girls, and the Gallup girls are competing this week.

And this year’s competition is also seedless.

Highland Boys coach Justin Woody, whose Hornets won the Class 4A state title last year, said: “One of his biggest complaints is that he’s going to play the same team over and over again.”

(Tuesday’s full schedule is on page B4.)

The boys from Valley and Rio Grande haven’t played in the Metro this year.The daughters of Rio Grande, Del Norte and Manzano have also opted out.

Brackets were handed out to coaches around mid-November.

“I was surprised the bracket came out so quickly considering so many games haven’t been played yet,” said Lisa, coach of the two-time Class 5A Women’s State Champion Volcano Vista Hawks. Villarreal said. “(But) you just have to be prepared for any situation.”

Volcano Vista will be the most challenging of the eight women’s games in the first round as the Hawks (10-1) take on the Albuquerque High (9-1) in the Valley on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. join. This is a game that doesn’t happen in the first round of the seed bracket.

Sandia (8-1) is also in that four-team pod, as the Matadors face the Valley on Tuesday night at 7:15. This means that Wednesday night’s quarterfinals will very likely feature a matchup between teams with one loss (Sandia-AHS or Sandia-Volcano). Volcano and Sandia rank him 2nd and his 3rd respectively in his latest 5A coaches poll.

For the #1 Hobbes Women, the Eagles (10-2) will face Rio Rancho at 5:30 on Tuesday at Cibola. Albuquerque Public Schools made clear Hobbes’ commitments dating back to last spring. The young Eagles has three of his sophomores who just got named to his team at Home All-Tournament, but without the talent of standout guard Wisdom his Anthony (knee injury). , heading north for this tournament.

Many teams compete in back-to-back tournaments, playing 7 matches over 11 or 12 days.

Two of them are the Rio Rancho and La Cueva boys who will meet in La Cueva on Tuesday night at 7:15pm. Both the Rams and Bears won last week’s tournament. Rio Rancho won his own event (handily) and the Bears won his 1st place at Las Cruces Holidays in his Hoopla.

The boys from Santa Fe also participated in the Rio Rancho Tournament. The Demons open Tuesday with his strong Atrisco Heritage team, where he is 10-1.

“It’s going to be a really good test for the players physically and mentally,” Demons coach Zach Cole said of the four-game Metro format in five days. “I felt it would be a great opportunity to challenge the players.”

The only undefeated men’s team on the field is defending 5A state champion Volcano Vista (11-0), who open at 5:30 on Tuesday at La Cueva against Albuquerque High.

The quarterfinals will take place on Wednesday, with the women playing one match across eight venues in Cibola, El Dorado, Highland and Valley.The Boys of Del Norte, Manzano, La Cueva and Sandia — all at 7:15 p.m.

Albuquerque High will host the men’s semifinals on Friday at 5:30 and 7:15 pm. The women’s semi-final will be held at He Atrisco Heritage on Friday at the same time.

The AHS will have both finals on Saturday at 4pm (women’s) and 6pm (men’s).