Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're watching the Prep Rally podcast.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Welcome to Prep Rally. I'm your host, Maria Manon, and I'm here with Brandon Thomas of Northwest Arkansas and Leland Barclay of the River Valley. Well, you guys, I'm so excited to say, but we just had some awesome tournaments.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: I tell you what, it was fun. And I didn't even get to go to the tournament that I thought I was going to be going to. So.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Yeah, you know what?
[00:00:23] Speaker A: I was really jealous of you guys at the 6A tournament, not only from the games that you saw, but the food you got to eat and all those things that Leland was telling me about the next morning.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: I can't. Yeah, you should be. It was fun. Yeah. I didn't want to send pictures just because, you know, I was trying to still be humble. I didn't want to make you feel bad.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Well, and I think everybody appreciates what the job at the Springvale School district did. I just heard it was first class all the way.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: One of the things I really appreciated, though, is the principal, Jason Jones. He was there the entire time for all the games, which I thought was really cool, like, just supporting those other teams coming in for the tournament. So that was nice. Another highlight that I. Didn't you sneeze, Leland?
[00:01:05] Speaker C: I just coughed.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: I said no hacking before the show.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Well, Spring. Spring is in the air.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Excuses, excuses. Anyway, what's not an excuse, but really cool, is during the whole tournament, during 6A, Diane and I noticed that Cy Bates of Springdale, he was at almost every. Every game at that 6A tournament. And I. We thought it was impressive because he, you know, I asked him in a Post interview after Springboro won against Jonesboro, and I said, you know, we noticed you at almost every game. So, like, what was that whole process like? And he just said, even for the girls games, he likes to, you know, see what everyone's doing and see what he can learn from it. And I thought that really shows the real reason why a lot of his coaches say, like, he's really the backbone of that team because he does all that research for the team. And, you know, I know he doesn't get some of the numbers as, you know, Conley or Sosa and Cely, but he really is the backbone of that team.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: There are people that do that. I mean, you know, a lot of fans will just go and, you know, go find them a comfortable spot in the gym and stay all day. I mean, you know, and I guess they call those people basketball junkies, right, Leland?
[00:02:20] Speaker C: I think so. That's a Good name for it.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Well, he truly is a basketball junkie. I just thought it was very impressive, and I. You know, I think it resonates on the floor, especially with his teammates and him being a leader on the sideline because, you know, he's watching everybody. And so he is almost like that catcher. That catcher in the sense of.
For basketball, you know.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: I'd like to give a shout out to the good folks at Valley Springs and North Ark Community College over in Harrison. That's where I spent all week at. In the Class 3A state tournament. Those were the two tournaments that we were able to staff at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and River Valley Democrat Gazette. And I know Leland got to go to North Ark. For one day, too.
You know, they did a great job as well. I mean, these. These tournaments are no joke. It's hard putting them on. It's a lot of work. It takes a lot of people to pull them off. But, you know, we got through it, and now we're ready to do some state championships.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's also, too. At the end of the day, I know that these teams are competing against each other, but it was also really cool to see a lot of different players sitting in the crowds for different games and cheering on, I'm sure, their friends on that other team as well. So I think there was a lot of camaraderie in the state tournament as well, which is nice to see because, you know, you're competitive on the court, but when it's not your turn playing like, you do have those friends from the other schools that you come on and cheer. And I noticed that with Cy Bates for Harbor during their game because Cortland Muldrew was his former teammate. And so he was kind of. Kind of trying to keep it, like, you know, incognito, because he was just, like, kind of hidden. But whenever Courtland would score, I noticed, like, you know, Cy would give, like, a little clap with that. So I thought it was cool, him giving some support to his former teammate.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: It's a. It's a unique experience. It's a. It's a special experience. And, you know, I think everybody should get to go through it at least just once. You know, it's. It's. You know, Leland's covered countless years of these things. I've covered a bunch. I mean, and, you know, it's fun to go through it, but you're always glad when it's over with and you can go back home.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Well, it was a fun process. I was glad Leland kind of Took me under his wing for the first game, that north side game against Jonesboro. I mean, that north side team lit it up. I mean, they. They won BY what, Leland, 50 points? No, it was 30 points because they put in backups.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: Yeah. And it was the. I think they invoked the mercy rule.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you could tell because they cleared out their bench. But it was fun. I felt like I kind of learned a lot about the Northside team from Leland, and I felt like by the end of the week, I kind of adopted that team because some of the girls knew who I was during the interview. So it was more interactive and more fun because I felt like I had gotten to know them throughout the week.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Hey, go on our Instagram page and check out some of the interviews Sidney had with these players from Northside and Springdale. Fun interviews. And I think you had a good time with them. So it.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: It was fun. I. Like I said, I think getting to know some of these players made it more fun. When we did our show at Springdale the week prior, you know, some of those coaches knew who we were, so it was a lot easier to be like, hey, is this person up for an interview? You know, or is it there anybody you have? Because by that time, you know, there were so many players just in the locker room just getting ready to straight up leave. And so some of the coaches really took the time to pull some of those players being like, hey, you know, you got to do this interview. So I really appreciated that. From the north side and Springdale staff.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: Prep rally pod on Instagram. Check us out, give us a follow, comment on us. We love all the feedback we can get. Well, I mean, you know, so now we're down to just a few teams left, you know, and we have state championship games starting on Thursday in Hot Springs. And I know Leland is making the trip down with our guy Ron Green to handle the photos. And, you know, you talk about another unique experience, Sidney. The Hot Springs experience for the state championship game is another very special experience.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Yes. And maybe next year. But, you know, I kind of value my sleep this year after that whole tournament run. It was a great experience, but I think I'll hold off on Hot Springs experience.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: For those of you who are also needing your sleep, I will tell you that all the games will be broadcast on pbs, and we will have coverage on every single one of these state championship games in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. So it's a blessing.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: It's a blessing. We live in the age of technology. You can watch it from the comfort of Your own home.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: But so you know, the game, game number one for the Northwest Arkansas River Valley folks is going to be the Lamar Lady Warriors. And I know Leland's going down for that one. You know, Lamar is in our coverage area in the River Valley. I got to see them play a couple times this last week, and I don't know that I was ever in doubt that they were going to get there. They. They kind of. Leland, they kind of showed from the very beginning that they were the best team on the floor.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll tell you, that first round game against Bergman, you know, like coach Brandon Schluterman said, that was not a number, a normal number four seed that they went up against that game, because I know that region, first of all, that they came out of, Bergman came out of was very toug. There were some upsets. You know, Manila won, I guess, three close games or two close games in that region. So, you know, it was kind of a little bit of a topsy turvy. But that's sometimes what we get in regionals. Teams get upset in the district, so then they get a lower seed in the regional. It's the same way in the state tournament. They come out of those. Those tournaments in 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A where there are always some upsets that lead to some surprising seeds going into those tournaments. In the 6A and 5A, they play for two months to decide those seeds. So that's a little bit different. But in 4A, 3A, 2A and Single Single A, there's always some very interesting games because of upsets and the seedings.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: And that was like a Bergman home game. You know, Bergman's just a few miles from Harrison. And you know, if it was anything like the boys game that Bergman played a few days later, I mean, Bergman people everywhere. But I'll tell you this, on Saturday, Lamar people everywhere, it was so loud in that gym and the Lamar boys and girls were there. And I tell you, kudos to them. They brought a great student section. They brought great fans. It was a great atmosphere.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: What about.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Well, the. So then after Lamar plays undefeated Dover on Thursday, then our attention will turn to the Class 5A girls game between Farmington and Greene County Tech.
Well, we've talked about a lot about Farmington all year. They're going to be probably very big favorites. It gets a really good Green County Tech team. Leland. I was having to tell Sydney earlier where Green County Tech is continuing our geography lesson, but the one thing that I remember from my days of living over in northeast Arkansas is Greene County Tech can play some basketball over there. And, you know, and Farmington, they got a little bit of a scare against Valonia a couple nights ago.
[00:09:47] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, Valonia is very good. They, you know, they came out of their conference number one. See, Greene County Tech's been good all year and. And, you know, I guess I was over there in 2011 to cover the state tournament at Greene County Tech. Beautiful facilities. I like the fact that in an afternoon game you get a lot of sunlight in that gym, and it's just a really, really good setting. But, yeah, Farmington, I think that was a little bit of a surprise, but.
And I think in tournament time, the cream always rises to the top. It just took Farmington a little bit longer for it to rise to the top in that semifinal game.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: You know, I just wanted to defend myself real quick. You know, at your age, you should be knowing all those things. I'm still young. I'm still learning as I go. Okay.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Now, I. When I was at the3.8 tournament, and that's a fair point, but when I was at the 3A tournament and I was looking at some of these teams and I was like, you know, I don't know that I exactly know where Melbourne is or I don't know exactly where Australia or. Yeah. Or Florida or something like that.
You know, there's a Sydney, Australia, too. So. Yeah, how about that?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: But please don't tell me you learned that this year.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: I did, actually.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Just kidding.
You know, in Farmington, you know, they've just been blowing people out. Blowing people out. But when you get into the state tournament, you only have to. You only have to be a team one time, you know, in regular season, you may think, whoa, how we beat them for three. Three times in. During a year. And. But when you only have to be a team once, you can do some crazy stuff to try to get people out of their rhythm. So Valonia was face guarding Easton McCullough, the big star for Farmington, and they held her to 10 points. Well, Farmington's got other good players, and they. They did the deal so well.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: I think that's the best part about sports, though, is you can watch them, you know, struggle at the beginning of the year, but that's not where they're going to be at the end of the year.
[00:11:46] Speaker C: Well, and I think, too, another thing when it comes to tournament basketball, especially in high school, is, you know, these teams, especially on the lower classifications, the smaller classifications, they come up and play, you know, 14 games. But then they go to a district tournament in a, in a gym. Then they go to a regional tournament in another gym. Then they go to the state tournament in another. In another gym. And then the championship games are in Hot Springs. So the venue and the backdrops and the settings and everything's the same. I know Gene Hackman took a tape measure out and measured the court one time for his team in the movie Hoosiers. So yes, that part of it is the same, but that's about all that's the same is the dimensions of the court.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So, you know, once the 5A championship is over, then we're looking at what I'm going to call the main event here, the six day games on, on Saturday at noon and at 145, the noon game will be a very surprising Fayetteville team making a great run. Look at that there. Fayetteville Bulldog, you know, as a. As against Fort Smith Northside as an.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: But see, you know what, Since I adopted that north side team this past week, I love both teams. I know I'm an alum of Fayetteville, but I'm really not biased in this one because I, I really have enjoyed watching the north side.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: It's tough being a sports rider, Sydney, because you get to know a lot of these folks and kids as you're covering them and when they have to play each other, you know, you like people on both sides. Somebody's got to lose though, you know.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: But, and I, I think, you know, despite the boys game later on, but I really do think that this Northside Fayetteville game is going to be the more competitive game. I watched both of them in their finals at the tournament and it was a close game for both. I mean, it was down to the wire for Fayetteville at the end, winning, I think by just a few shots. But luckily for Fayetteville, they had a lot of foul shots. I mean, they had about 14 foul shots in that line.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: They made them.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: That's the thing. And they made them. And then with Northside, I think it was, they won by three points. Three ish points. Yeah, it was down to the wire in both those games. Like I said for Fayetteville, they can't rely on those foul shots though for north side.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: I'll be curious to get Leland's take because I've seen Fayetteville on north side plenty this year, but it's been a while, it's been several weeks and Fayetteville is just on a great roll. Leland, Coach Rimmer has really Done a great job of getting them playing their best basketball here at the end of the year.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: My takeaways real quick from that, from watching Fayetteville earlier in the year is they don't look like the same team that they do now. And so that's why I think it's going to be back to back matchup. I think it's going to look similar to the Bentonville north side game, if anything, because of how well Platteville how play itville.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: Fayetteville's playing Savor Leland.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: Yeah, and, and I think you're right. It's going to be, I think a low scoring defensive game because both of these teams know each other so well. Nothing is going to happen in this game or neither team's going to do something that completely shocks the other. Both coaches are veteran coaches, you know, and Vic Rimmer, you know, he's kind of a River Valley guy too. He coached at Charleston for a while, so he's kind of a River Valley guy too. And you know, I think it's going to be just a really, a really.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Good game, you know, and I really think it's going to come down on to whether cherished Blackman can dunk it or not.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Leland, read off some of the metrics about, about north side, you know, how many trips to the state finals this is. You know, it's just mind boggling that the success this program has had under Ricky Smith.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: Well, it really is in fact, I guess the semi. No, the second round game. No, it's the first round game where they won their 25th game. That means that over the course of Ricky Smith's 31 years at Northside, they have averaged 25 wins per season.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: This will be their 15th trip to the state championship game. 14 of those are under Ricky Smith. He's the winningest coach in the state's largest classification. You know, and I could go on and on and on.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: How many of they won? Eight.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Eight. But you know, Fayetteville has eight championships too.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: So that's for these little bit of a tiebreaker there on who's going to get their ninth.
[00:16:06] Speaker C: Yeah, eight. Eight apiece for those two, you know, very tradition rich programs.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Well, Leland will be in there. He'll be at that game in person and get to, you know, give you all great coverage for it from Hot Springs. And then that leads us into the 6A boys game. You have the Springdale boys.
Man, it's been an interesting last few weeks with those guys, but they have kept the, kept the train on the tracks and they're going to play Bryant for the state championship.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: I just want to say, like, Springdale is just one of those teams. In the third quarter against Jonesboro, for them it was about 27, 25. It was close for a little bit in the third quarter, but Springdale never was fazed by that. I think they're one of those teams that they truly are.
They truly are that team this year. I just don't. I mean, Bryant had some really good plays against harbor, they did. But against a team like Springdale, even when they're up by maybe two, five points, they're never phased by it. And that's not. That's something that Bryant is going to have to watch because it might be close, but Springdale can easily pull away.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: They are very talented. Leland, what is your take on the 6A boys game?
[00:17:24] Speaker C: You know, the, you know, as. As much as we know about Isaiah Seeley, you know, Cortland, you know, Muldrew and those players from this area.
Kellen Robinson is every bit as much as those guys are in Central Arkansas, and I think he makes the difference for a veteran and a very good Brian Hornet team.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Oh, it sounds like we're kind of leading into a who you got here.
Now we're not going to do who you got on this one. We haven't done that all year for basketball.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: I say we should right now. I mean, I'm going to.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: No, I'd have to pick both teams on that girls game, so.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Oh, for. Well, I thought we were just doing it for the boys game. For the girls game, I can't pick. It's going to be. I think if there's going to be a game to watch this weekend, it's going to be the Fayetteville north side game. Let's say it, for just game to watch. I think that's the who you got. Oh, game to watch.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: That's the one that's the most appealing to me is going to be the Fayetteville Northside girls game that. What was it?
Walter Woody called it, a rock fight with Northside and Bentonville because they play. So, you know, it's going to be so physical. And that could be the case with Fayetteville and Northside too. I mean, it's just going to be a battle.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: It's going to be who can be up to the foul line. Because I noticed for Bentonville, that's one of the things that hurt them against north side as a lot of their players were getting up to that fourth foul where they had to, you know, towards the fourth quarter. And I saw it during harbor and Bryant, which this might be an advantage for Bryant against Springdale, but they were really good at making a lot of the harbor players almost foul out. They did it with Courtland, Muldrew and then same with Northside against Bentonville. They had a few girls just on that fourth one. So. Well, I think that's going to be the big biggest contender is who can.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: Get the most fouls sometimes that is very much the way the game is called. Can often be a big determination.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: It's just going to be who can really hone in their emotions. I mean there's a lot of emotions in this final, but it's going to be who can really play at that kind of under the radar, just keep their head down, stay focused because it gets intense. I mean in that north side Bentonville game, it was intense.
And props to Northside as well because Bentonville had a home crowd. They had a lot of people. Like there were specks of red in the crowd but I mean when Bentonville would score, it was just a roar in the stadium. So impressive to those Northside girls for just like honing in on that and still being able to come away with a victory.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: And that's another cool thing about the state championship. Like you know these hometown, you know, these, these teams that travel and travel well, I mean they bring a lot of people to these games and you get some really good active crowds there at the bank Ozk Arena.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Well, I think that's going to be it for prep rally today. Make sure that you catch us next week for what happened in these finals. And yeah, make sure to check out our social media pages too so you can see who is.
Well, I don't know, are you going to be there to film some of it for us?
[00:20:25] Speaker A: No, I will not be making the trip to Hot Springs. We'll have our guy Al Gaspini, who's our brand new sports rider and got to cover a lot of the 6A state tournament. He'll be going down for us and we'll have Leland and Ron down there and you know, then we've got our guys with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Eric Taylor and Sam Lane and and those guys down there too are really good guys and work do a good job for us.
[00:20:52] Speaker C: Well, and Brennan's going to be going. So we will have video. We will have video from the Lamar girls and Northside Fayetteville game.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Well, you heard it here. So make sure to watch those games this weekend and we'll see you next week.
