Northern Region Report: District Tournaments

The regular season is over, the coaches have named the All-District teams (and we’ll name our All-Region teams next week) and the district tournaments are underway. Before we make our predictions, let’s set the stage for the eight boys and girls district tournaments in the Northern Region. The tournament brackets are static, meaning the winner of the 8 vs. 1 game plays the winner of the 5 vs. 4 game in the semifinals, while the winner of the 6 vs. 3 game takes on the winner of the 7 vs. 2. The winners of those games meet in the championship.

Patriot Boys:

(8) Lee vs. (1) T.C. Williams

(5) South County vs. (4) Woodson

(6) West Potomac vs. (3) Annandale

(7) West Springfield vs. (2) Lake Braddock

Patriot Girls:

(8) Lee vs. (1) West Springfield

(5) Woodson vs. (4) T.C. Williams

(6) Lake Braddock vs. (3) Annandale

(7) West Potomac vs. (2) South County

Concorde Boys:

(6) Centreville vs. (3) Westfield

(5) Oakton vs. (4) Robinson

(1) Herndon and (2) Chantilly have first-round byes. Herndon plays the Oakton-Robinson winner, Chantilly plays the Centreville-Westfield winner.

Concorde Girls:

(6) Chantilly vs. (3) Centreville

(5) Herndon vs. (4) Westfield

(1) Oakton and (2) Robinson have first-round byes. Oakton plays the Herndon-Westfield winner, Robinson plays the Chantilly-Centreville winner.

Liberty Boys:

(8) Marshall vs. (1) Langley

(5) Jefferson vs. (4) Fairfax

(6) Madison vs. (3) South Lakes

(7) Stone Bridge vs. (2) McLean

Liberty Girls:

(8) Jefferson vs. (1) Stone Bridge

(5) South Lakes vs. (4) McLean

(6) Marshall vs. (3) Madison

(7) Langley vs. (2) Fairfax

The National District played its first-round games Monday. Edison, Yorktown, Mount Vernon and Falls Church advanced on the boys side. For the girls, Mount Vernon, Edison, Yorktown and Hayfield qualified for regionals. The semifinal matchups are below.

National Boys:

(5) Falls Church vs. (1) Edison

(3) Yorktown vs. (2) Mount Vernon

National Girls:

(4) Hayfield vs. (1) Mount Vernon

(3) Yorktown vs. (2) Edison

South County-Woodson meet in district’s biggest first-round clash

Each first round game is huge, as a district semifinal berth earns a team entry into the region tournament. Still, none is as big as the four-five matchup on the boys side of the Patriot District, as the South County Stallions head to Fairfax to take on the Woodson Cavaliers. Both of these teams were ranked in our Northern Region Top 10 Coaches Poll wire-to-wire this season, and both are capable of winning the district. However, after splitting their matchups in the regular season, with each winning at home, one of their seasons will end Tuesday night.

“The game [at Woodson] our defense was really strong,” Woodson coach Doug Craig said. “We jumped on them early and were able to maintain our defensive focus. Looking at the tape of the second game, our defense wasn’t bad, but it seemed like in the second half we had a breakdown on the offensive end. They got a run that kind of carried them.”

Woodson jumped out to big leads in both games, and actually had a 10-point lead going to the fourth quarter of the game it lost at South County. The Stallions outscored the Cavaliers 24-9 in the final quarter of that game.

“We got closer to them on defense, and they turned the ball over,” South County coach Wendell Johnson said of his team’s ability to come back in its win over Woodson. “We have to make sure we get out on their shooters.”

To stop the Cavaliers offensively, you must stop point guard John Schoof. The problem with that is Schoof is a savvy player, very strong with the ball, and he knows when to give it up.

“We haven’t been able to [stop him] in the first two games,” Johnson said. “We’re going to keep throwing different guys at him, hopefully make him bring the ball up the entire length of the court. We want to wear him down a little bit.”

South County definitely has an edge in overall team athleticism, but the Stallions’ greatest strength, its height inside, is counteracted by Woodson’s overall length. Everyone in the Cavs’ starting five is 6-foot-3 or taller, and they all average at least five rebounds per game. That could spell trouble for South County’s big men, Nik Biberaj and Marquiece Johnson.

“They rebound the ball really well, they get most of their rebounding from those two,” Craig said of Biberaj and Johnson. “We have good size. We have to be physical. With our bigs, it’s not about them getting the rebound as much as keeping their bigs off the glass and letting our bigger guards get the boards.

“We’re just going to be physical and do the non-glory things you have to do to win.”

Both these teams have had their ups and downs this season. Woodson split with four of the other five top teams in the Patriot District (South County, Lake Braddock, Annandale, West Potomac), but was swept by regular season district champ T.C. Williams. South County lost six games in a row at one point during the season, before recovering to five of its last seven.

Such is life in the Patriot District.

“We’re a bit of a Jekkyl and Hyde team,” Craig said. “It’s foucs with us. Our focus and our energy isn’t there some nights, and some nights we come out and can beat anybody.”

“To our kids’ credit, they never quit,” Johnson said when talking about the losing streak. “In practice, we were working on the things we had to, working on our rotation, and our guys got a little big better at it. Part of it is they learned, they paid attention. When we kept losing, we knew said, ‘What do we have to do to get better?’ We came together and everyone identified goals.”

These teams know each other well, and while their styles may be different, both Craig and Johnson agreed on what the key to the game will be.

“If we can own the paint, if we can limit their shots to one per trip, I feel we’ll do pretty well,” Johnson said.

“We have to play balanced defense for 32 minutes,” Craig said. “We have to be really sound from possession to possession and control our defensive glass.”

Predictions

By their very nature, preseason predictions are a fool’s errand. At this point of the season, however, we have a body of work to judge each team on, and the prognosticator (read: me) can look a whole lot smarter the day the playoffs start as opposed to three months before they tip off. With that said, let’s take a look at who Patch is predicting to win each district, and the 16 teams on both the boys and girls sides that will be in the regional tournaments.

Patriot Boys:

District championship: T.C. Williams over Annandale

Other regional qualifiers: Lake Braddock, Woodson

Concorde boys:

District championship: Chantilly over Herndon

Other regional qualifiers: Westfield, Robinson

Liberty boys:

District championship: Langley over South Lakes

Other regional qualifiers: Jefferson, McLean

National boys:

District championship: Mount Vernon over Edison

Other regional qualifiers: Falls Church, Yorktown

Patriot girls:

District championship: West Springfield over South County

Other regional qualifiers: Annandale, T.C. Williams

Concorde girls:

District championship: Oakton over Robinson

Other regional qualifiers: Centreville, Westfield

Liberty girls:

District championship: Fairfax over Stone Bridge

Other regional qualifiers: Madison, McLean

National girls:

District championship: Mount Vernon over Yorktown

Other regional qualifiers: Edison, Hayfield