Are you seeing an increase this year? Early on it sounds like many have experienced an increase this early in the season.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_34c8f3ba-2c8c-5750-bef4-75eb7f7ba4e1.html

Members of a Santa Fe police SWAT team arrested a suspected drug trafficker Thursday night, when they say he showed up at a Santa Fe High School basketball game with a fanny pack full of drugs.

Why play? Why tell your kids to play? Why did you play?

One lesson you learned that has stayed with you from your head coach (or assistant)

Friday Night Showdown

West Mesa at Carlsbad.

NMpreps.com's No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams collide as West Mesa head on the first night of a two night tour in the great southeast. A quality test for West Mesa to see if they can contend with the interior threat that is Kaliyah Montoya and Dayshaun Moore. Not to mention the height of their senior standout, Carsyn Boswell (5'9"). West Mesa will likely look to their taller frontcourt, and guard Maiah Rivas.

Portales at Robertson

Portales' Taylee Rippee has a dislocated shoulder and may not play. An injury she suffered the last time these two teams met at Capital City's championship game. Look to Robertson to repeat a similar performance with Portales not having Rippee.


What To Watch (Tournament Edition)

Rio Rancho's Tournament

Centennial and Piedra Vista @ 5PM
Another quality long-distance opponent for each team. A matchup like this is tough to come by and that makes it all that more important to clinch the win and a bid to the title game against Rio Rancho or Belen. Centennial has the size to match with Piedra Vista. Piedra Vista has the scoring options. Great far north-far south matchup with 5A seeding implications.

Also See: Clovis-Las Cruces @1PM


Academy's Joe Armjio Tournament

La Cueva and Mayfield @ 3PM
A great ALBQ vs. Las Cruces showdown. Mayfield has had a so-so season thus far, and are looking for a big win. This game against a reeling La Cueva team who struggled in their win against Hope Christian is one Mayfield wants bad. Alize Ruiz leads Mayfield so far this season. Mayfield may have the quickness to contend with La Cueva's guard heavy lineup.

Also See: Gallup vs. Hope @ 4:45PM


Moriarty's Alice King Tournament

Pojoaque Valley vs. Miyamura
Both teams had no problem with their first round matchups. This is another big matchup as far 4A seeding can go. Miyamura plays with pace and Pojoaque Valley has shown some defensive prowess early this season. Another interesting offense versus defense oriented matchup.

Also See: Moriarty vs. Grants

Carsyn Boswell scores 19 points vs El Paso Socorro to give her 2006 points in her career.

Any new potential meetings?

Way Too Early District Champ Predictions
1-5A: Cleveland: The Storm are 2-0 and have earned a quality win over Clovis, the Albuquerque win might not help this year. However, this hands down will be the most difficult district this season. Atrisco and Volcano Vista along with Rio Rancho could all end up winning or finishing fourth; no matter how they finish, they could also be picked to win it all in 5A.
Safe Man: Cleveland - Talent
Betting Man: Atrisco - Defending State Champ. Grit
Smart Man: Volcano Vista - Buy Low/Win High. Something is brewing.
"Buy Myself a Chance" Man: Rio Rancho - Style of play

2-5A: Eldorado: The Eagles are 3-0 on the season and yes they are likely to drop a game or two during the regular season, they will still win this district. They could also find a hiccup at either La Cueva or West Mesa but should be fine. I would say they are close to that 25 win total against. La Cueva did have a nice win last week.
Even Money: Eldorado - Talent
Keep This One in your back Pocket: La Cueva - Under the Radar
Western Union Exchange: West Mesa - Shooters-Shoot but Some Risk (Are they a real Prince?)

3-5A: Las Cruces but maybe Onate: Cop-out answer, yes I complain about posters (in my own head) when they give the cop-out answer. Here is more of a wait and see. Onate is good. Are they DC good? This weekend and tonight will show more. Las Cruces has head coach Benjamin. He also has the next wave of good Dawgs ready to mark their territory. Can Mayfield and the Half-Dollar (50 point game) Saterfield make a run? Our story still rings true from the preseason with the others battling near the bottom. Centennial, Gadsden, Alamogordo not there this season. Deming is more in that group or in the unknown with Mayfield (possible 15/16 types).
Uncontested Layups: Las Cruces - Best Chance. Talent and system.
Free-Throws: Onate. They have some talent to win this district
Threes: Mayfield. Long shot but not everyday you have a D-1 talent.

4-5A: Roswell. Now we still have a mixed bag of unknowns. Roswell gets the nod today but that could change by Saturday. Clovis, Hobbs and Carlsbad could all still make a run come the end of February. Roswell lost to Santa Fe (yes, we know they will never go back to Santa Fe if you read the sfnewmexican) but the criteria will still read a loss. However, we like the makeup of the team to be the best possible odds to win this district - today.
Spot Up Shots: Roswell - Shooters game
Zig Zag Drill: Clovis - Not love but really like to get better
Suicides: Hobbs - Not love but have to do
Five Man Weave: Carlsbad - Up and Down

5-5A: Santa Fe. I know we are buying the hottest toy out right now. Who doesn't? However, in this case, if you have not seen the Demons, you like this one to sustain a season long journey. Head coach Zack Cole has done a tremendous job creating his culture. Manzano, Capital will not be far behind and in a battle for second. Sandia floats around at three with Albuquerque and Rio Grande rounding out the order.
Triple Double: Santa Fe - Talent, Chemistry, and Coaching
Double Double: Capital - Talent and Coaching
Pick and Roll: Manzano - System will keep them around and sneak up on ya.

Todays 16 (If the Tournament Ended Today)
Cleveland
Volcano Vista
Rio Rancho
Atrisco Heritage
Eldorado
La Cueva
West Mesa
Roswell
Clovis
Hobbs
Santa Fe
Capital
Manzano
Las Cruces
Onate
Mayfield

Tomorrows 16 (Work Left To Do)
Carlsbad
Sandia
Deming
Piedra Vista
Farmington

Next Years 16 (A Lot of Work Left To Do)
Centennial
Albuquerque
Rio Grande
Cibola
Alamogordo

Who is out there?

Starting Five: Top 5 Games to Watch Today (Plus a 6th Man)
Clovis (2-1) vs Hope Christian (0-3), 11:30am at Academy
Onate (3-2) vs Eldorado (3-0), 1:15pm at Academy
Espanola Valley (4-3) vs Bernalillo (3-0), 2:00pm at Cleveland
Las Cruces (5-0) vs Grants (3-2), 4:15pm at Belen
St Pius X (3-3) at Gallup (1-2), 7pm
La Cueva (1-3) at Del Norte (3-1), 7pm

Scoop: Espanola Valley still lingers in the top 5 of the coaches poll despite some losses, including to an unranked Grants team. Bernalillo at 3-0 is one of the top dark horses in the classification and opportunity for movement. Grants gets to rebound against one of the top teams in 5A basketball in Las Cruces (5-0). St. Pius X and Gallup have similar early resumes and one gets to notch a resume builder. La Cueva earned its first win this week, now they get a Del Norte squad that has notice from around the state after a positive showing against the top ranked Los Lunas Tigers. Onate and Eldorado might steal the highlight though of the day. We all know Eldorado (No. 2) is ranked low for a reason, but Onate could be the spoiler this season.

Who do you have this point?

Heading into another tournament heavy weekend (only five by my count), we'll take a look at Thursday's best looking matchups as well as any other non-tournament games that are on tap for the night.

Mel Otero/Rio Rancho Tournament
The Field: Rio Rancho, Piedra Vista, Centennial, Las Cruces, Clovis, Albuquerque, Belen, Espanola Valley.

Intriguing - Centennial/Clovis is by far the most interesting matchup in the first round. Clovis is coming off a tough loss in Espanola. Centennial is coming off a four game home stand going 3-1 in the run. This will be their first trip on the road this season and it'll be against a tough Clovis team that defeated Portales early this season.

Player Watch: Rio Rancho's Laura Gutierrez, Piedra Vista's Elaina Watson, Las Cruces' Christian Aguayo, Belen's Sydney Valdez, Espanola Valley's Destiny Valdez, Clovis' Mikyla Harkley, Centennial's Jessica Rios, Albuquerque's MC Curtis

Joe Armijo Tournament at Academy
The Field: Not a traditional bracket tourney, but Thursday will feature Hope Christian, La Cueva, Cleveland, Onate, Academy, Artesia, Mayfield, and Manzano.

Intriguing - Cleveland/Onate in the first day looks to be a key head-to-head matchup for both 5A teams. Onate has been up and down sitting at 3-2 while Cleveland, off their first loss of the season, now sits at 4-1. Cleveland looked outstanding at Capital's tournament, but Onate has shown some flair and ability to win big (going 1-1 on a road trip to ALBQ that included a 20 point win vs. Manzano).

Player Watch: La Cueva's Kaya Ingram, Onate's Sydney Hobbs, Artesia's Paityn Houghtaling, Manzano's Mya Williams, Cleveland's Desiree Forster, Mayfield's Alize Ruiz, Hope Christian's Morgan Trout, Academy's Andrea Park.

46th Annual Alice King Invitational at Moriarty
The Field: Moriarty, Rio Grande, Grants, Bernalillo, Pojoaque, Cobre, Melrose, and Miyamura.

Intriguing - Pojoaque/Cobre is where we can see what both teams really have in terms of potential offense. Cobre comes in at 4-1 and with a higher scoring margins despite them not being entirely known for putting points on the board. Meanwhile, Pojoaque comes in at 3-0 but hasn't allowed a team to score more than 40 points yet. A clash of potent offense and a stout defense spotlight the first round at Moriarty.

Player Watch: Moriarty's Ashley Strader, Miyamura's Odessa Begay, Melrose's Nataley Mondragon, Pojoaque Valley's Taylor Roybal, Bernalillo's Juliana Aragon, Cobre's Skkyla Guck, Rio Grande's Jocelyn Griego

Small Schools

Clayton's Orange and Black
The Field: Logan, Raton, Cimarron, Boys Ranch, Clovis JV, Evangel Christian, Des Moines, Clayton

Des Moines vs. Clayton - The latest Cowbell tournament champs in Clayton take on tough Des Moines team that's on a five game winning streak.

Mescalero Classic
The Field: Fort Sumner, Quemado, Gateway Christian, Capitan, Alamo Navajo, Hondo Valley, Jal, Mescalero Apache

Fort Sumner vs. Quemado - Off a tough Texas tour and a dominant win against Santa Rosa, Fort Sumner comes into this tournament 1-3. Quemado sits at 2-2 and is looking for that statement win this season.

Player Watch: Mescalero's Fallon Velasquez

Elida Tiger Invitational
The Field: Hobbs JV, Portales JV, Mora, Floyd, Dora, Grady/San Jon/House, Clovis Christian, Elida

Dora vs. Grady/San Jon/House - GSJH is 1-4 and Dora is 3-1. One team is looking to collect some wins at this tournament and the winner possibly gets Elida in the semifinals.


Other Marquee Games
-Texico at Tucumcari - BIG East matchup

-Sandia at Volcano Vista - Crosstown showdown


Where will you be?

Gallup Stunned At Home

St. Pius gets the win in Gallup, 53-43.

Tight game throughout with Gallup within two possessions. St. Pius owned the boards. Gallup had a cold shooting night from beyond the arc and from the free throw line. St. Pius extended lead under three minutes left in the game from the free throw line.

has been dismissed from Michigan team

What do you have?

Read: Click Here

What does yours look like?

Schedule
Volcano Vista (2-1) at Valley (2-0)
West Mesa (1-1) at Albuquerque (0-3)

Quick Notes From Last Night
Bernalillo earned a road win yesterday at Grants for a 4A showdown. The Spartans have some impressive guard play led by Reyes Herrera, who is next level ready.

Los Lunas, the top ranked team in 4A, earned the win on Tuesday but Del Norte played well throughout the contest. Del Norte could play into the conversation as a top-8 type of team.

Farmington won 77-45 over Kirtland Central on Tuesday night and we have yet to see the Scorpions but have played well early this season under their first year head coach.

Santa Fe continues to roll and moved to a 32-point win over Espanola Valley at home last night.

La Cueva earned the first win of the season and sends Hope to 0-3 after a 96-80 win last night.

Volcano Vista at Eldorado
What a display of youthful talent the Lady Hawks have.Four of NM Elite's 15U team play for Volcano Vista and man, can they play. Their inexperience did come up a few times as well as the depth of VV which was only 7-players consistently. Eldorado though has made themselves known to play from behind and make things interesting. After trailing by twelve, Eldorado would creep as a close as four points before VV would increase the lead back to 10 points. It was a big night for the Lady Eagles frontcourt with Breanne Edgar and Ella Escobar scoring in double digits for the Lady Eagles. Lexi Brazier would finish with 10 points to lead the Eldorado backcourt. Volcano's Jaelyn Bates would lead all scorers with 24 points. Natalia Chavez would chip in 23 points of her own.

On the real:

Volcano Vista can put up points in a hurry. They put up 25 points in the first quarter against a fairly good defensive Eldorado team. The fact that they usually have three solid ball-handlers on the floor helps this Lady Hawks team maintain their pace of play. At 5'10" Natalia Chavez is a rare tall guard with good handles and the ability to knock down shots from distance. Bates, though is their best playmaker and you can't lose her like Eldorado did a few times tonight.

Eldorado struggled out the gate in a surprising cold gym (seriously, everyone was still wearing their jackets and even the officials said it was chilly inside). The buckets they could find early were often in transition, but they struggled to knock down shots. Eldorado would find success though in a second half in the interior. Eldo' played pretty much even with Volcano. It was the costly first quarter that came back to haunt them. Looking at 1-3 isn't the great start Eldorado might have wanted, but they haven't been out of a game yet. Look for them to turn it around after hosting Del Norte when they'll face Highland and Los Lunas on back-to-back nights.

Players Who Impressed Me

Volcano Vista's Jaelyn Bates: Though I've seen the AAU highlights, watching the kid in person is something else to see. Not one shot she attempted looked terrible and the ones that missed either hit back iron, or rattled out. Keep an eye on this one through the next four seasons.

Eldorado's Colexi Brazier: A true competitor that faced foul trouble through much of the game and ended up fouling out late. The kid played hard and smart after picking up her 4th foul. She plays with a brace, but it's hard to tell how much it impacts her with her little bursts of speed and defensive ball pressure. The senior will not go quietly no matter the score.

Tyson vs Douglas

Who watched this fight?

What do you have?

What games are you at this week?

What predictions do you have this week?

Who watches? Thoughts on this game?