Don't overlook the SCAC

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

After battling back and forth in a SCAC West boys basketball campaign that fluctuated from start to finish and then surviving a wild district tournament to reach this weekend's Class 1A state tournament, the coaches at Granger, Highland and Naches Valley are beginning to sound a little bit like a mutual admiration society.

Granger coach Miguel Bazaldua sang the praises of Highland (14-9) and its coach, Josh Borland, after edging the Scotties 51-47 for the district tournament title.

"The way his kids are playing right now, I think they're going to surprise some people," said Bazaldua, whose Spartans bring a 17-6 record into the tournament. "They're playing some really good basktball right now -- rebounding well, pushing it, hitting their shots. We were lucky to beat them."

Told of those remarks, Borland was quick to reciprocate.

"That's kind, considering they're playing pretty well, too," he said, and then was quick to point to Naches Valley (16-7), which routed SCAC East regular-season champion Connell in a winner-to-state, loser-out game.

"The thing about Naches is they've got seven or eight kids who could go for 15 points any night," Borland said. "There's not just any one or two guys you have to stop, because you don't know who's going to go off."

Highland had not reached the state tournament since 2000; for Naches Valley, the drought has been even longer, with the Rangers earning their first berth since 1998.

For the Rangers, that was goal one.

"I'm having them reappraise their goals right now," said Naches Valley coach Jon Eldridge, whose team opens tournament play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against fourth-ranked Chelan. "Most of them had goals to getting to state, and I hope they revise those to placing at state."

Highland will have the early wake-up call Wednesday, since the Scotties tip off at 9 a.m. against No. 10 Bellevue Christian, which won back-to-back state titles in 2005 and 2006. Granger is at the absolute other end of the bracket, scheduled to play No. 3 Port Townsend at 9 p.m.

Obviously, each faces a difficult matchup -- ranked opponents with hefty reputations. Were Las Vegas oddsmakers taking action on high school games, all three SCAC West teams would be underdogs. For that matter, so would the lone SCAC East qualifier, Burbank, which opens against dangerous Lake Roosevelt at 2 p.m.

But Borland cautioned against overlooking the SCAC's contingent.

"Really, people are underestimating the whole SCAC," Borland said. "People have been doing it for years, and if you do some research, you'll see that SCAC Teams have brought home a lot of hardware over the past few years."

Very true. SCAC teams have earned 12 trophies over the last four years and put five teams into the semifinals.