High School Hoops and NASCAR

High School Hoops

After falling to East Gaston for the second time this season, R-S Central Men found themselves as the co-champs of the Southwestern 2A Conference with South Point. It's the first league title in 17 years when they shared it with East Rutherford in 2001. No question, it's the best Central team since that 2001 season.

East Rutherford's ladies took home the Southwestern 2A regular season Conference title, but not unblemished. They lost a stunner to Shelby by 10 on the road before firing back two days later to win by 36 over the Shelby.

The Southwestern 2A Tournament is this week as the girls and boys finals will begin at 6pm and 7:30pm Friday (2/16) respectively. They will take place at East Rutherford since this year's tourney is held at the highest #1 seeded Ladies, which is the Lady Cavs.

Following that next week will be the playoffs.

On the Men's side, R-S Central (17-7, 7-3) will at least host one game in the first round on 2/20/18, but the No.1 league seed is on the line. Depending on who goes farther in the Conference tourney is who ends up as the #1 seed. R-S Central could host two or three games if the right scenario plays out.

East Rutherford (16-8, 6-4) has been making a late push as they have won six of their last eight. East will likely have to play on the road in the playoffs, but dangerous they will be.

On the ladies side, East Rutherford (20-3, 9-1) will be at home for at least two rounds, if not more. East Burke, Smoky Mountain and Mountain Heritage seem to be the class of the 2A West, but East Rutherford definitely has the ability to make something happen in the postseason. R-S Central (13-11, 7-3) will make the postseason as one of the final 10 in, but they too could surprise some teams with Jada Logan back in the lineup.

NASCAR

The Daytona 500 starts the beginning of the season and I am curious to see as to how this one goes. Predicting a winner is never easy. Look at last year's race, tell me who had Kurt Busch. Stop Lying!!! None of you did.

Brad Keselowski won this past week in the Clash. This is not your typical race week. Teams are down in Daytona for a week and a half. They all have the same car except for the aerodynamics specs among manufacturers. For example, the Chevy's have a new nose and while they qualified well this past weekend, they didn't race well in the Clash except for Chase Elliott.

Alex Bowman is in 88, Chase Elliott is now in the 9, but with the same team. Ryan Blaney is in the 12 and Erik Jones is in the 20. I predict all four will win at least one race this year. There is also a new rule that allows one less crew member over the wall for pit stops. That's going to be tough to deal with in the early season.

As for the race, I will take Joey Logano, but Brad K and Chase Elliott should be stout.