Aztec-Shiprock Extras; Boys District Standings

Here's how the District 1-4A boys standings look as of Thursday night, if I'm not too incompetent to calculate the blanks that the NMAA site leaves out:

Piedra Vista 4-1
Kirtland Central 3-1
Shiprock 4-2
Aztec 1-4
Farmington 1-5

The Scorpions are 4.5 games back of PV and seem to be disintegrating after a 7-1 season last year. Shiprock and Kirtland, meanwhile, stayed within range this week. The Chieftains need to beat both PV and KC on the road in their final two and have long odds.

Coach Cliff Johns, who won't coach against PV because of the NMAA suspension, told his team to "take one game at a time." Cliche, but perhaps Shiprock got a bit caught up in the big picture toward the beginning of district play.

Johns subbed in five players at a time in the second half of Thursday's 63-44 win against Aztec and didn't have trouble with fatigue a day after beating up Farmington.

Shiprock didn't look spectacular on offense. They shot 25 percent from the 3-point line with some good looks against Aztec's 2-3 zone and took 20 3s.

They did make their free throws and made the Tigers look silly with their press.

It seems like there's been a healthy helping of off-court tension/issues this year on the boys' side. I have to commend Aztec coach John Feil for staying calm and not taking himself too seriously with interview requests despite the fact that he's disappointed for his players, who want to be more successful.

That hasn't always been the case. Sometimes frustration makes coaches difficult to deal with.

It'll be curious to see what the selection committee does with the district. Shiprock got left out last year based on a weak overall schedule. They feasted on 3A teams before district play began but do have 17 wins and will be favored to get at least one more on its home floor in the district tournament.

Can the committee leave out an 18-win team? Or how about the KC/PV loser that likely will finish second in District 1-4A? The Broncos are an interesting case at 12-9. They have the toughest schedule of any district team and a couple good wins (Grants, at St. Pius, at Durango, at Shiprock, at PV), but they may need to win three out of four and close district play 15-10.

If they held home court in the tournament, they'd be 16-11 and it would be hard not to include three teams in the state tournament.

I spoke with Jesse Abernathy, a junior DB for Aztec, and he seemed anxious for the fall after ripping up his knee during the first Belen game this year.

I also talked with a member of the Aztec wrestling team, who seemed excited about this weekend's district tournament, though he declined to offer a prediction.

Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher