March Madness comes a little early

What a weekend for basketball. The Nevada Tigers and Lady Tigers playing in district championship games and the Cottey Comets -- with a former Lady Tiger leading the way -- earning their own spot in a title contest.

Playing the part of road warrior I set out to St. Louis Friday, hoping to catch the Comets in what I was hoping wasn't their final game of the season.

Pitted against the higher seeded Meramec Magic in the region semifinals, the Comets played like many thought they would going into the year.

If there was ever a game that could define Nevada alum Lacy Leonard and what she did at Cottey in her two seasons there, it was Friday's semifinal. How about 32 points and eight rebounds, with two 3-pointers in overtime that each gave her team the lead. The second trey gave the Comets a lead they wouldn't lose, moving on to the region championship game Saturday.

Cottey ran into a loaded North Central Missouri College team in the finals, one that goes 10 deep in legitimate players and is every bit as good as their No. 6 national ranking. North Central has perhaps their best ever team this season (it is certainly the best team I've seen in the region since I started covering Cottey three years ago). So Cottey's season ended Saturday, but I wasn't able to stick around to watch it because I had to get to Harrisonville for the high school district championship games.

That means the region semifinal game is the last taste in my mouth when it comes to Cottey basketball, and what a taste it was!

Moving on to the high school scene, the girls took on Pleasant Hill -- home of the smarmy, condescending fans who were a little overconfident of the Chicks' chances. Of course the Lady Tigers didn't help in that regard, with that maddening one-point loss at Pleasant Hill a couple weeks before in what was likely tied with the Webb City game as the worst Nevada has played this season.

Would the Nevada girls repeat their sub-par performance against the Chicks? If you really asked that question then you don't really know Nevada's girls.

The Lady Tigers made a statement, jumping out to a 19-2 lead in the first quarter and dominating the game throughout. The game wasn't their best for 32 minutes, but they did play well and they didn't give Pleasant Hill any hope of an upset repeat.

Now the ladies get to play the second-ranked Bolivar Lady Liberators, a team with only one loss this season. Nobody is giving Nevada a chance in Wednesday's sectional game. The COC crowd is barking and laughing, already expecting Bolivar to move on to the state quarterfinals where they would potentially play Republic (who has Carthage in the sectionals). If I were Nevada's girls, I would be a little ticked off that nobody is giving them any respect. I would be a little upset that everybody says Bolivar is too good to be beaten. The truth is Bolivar has a real nice team, but they aren't unbeatable. If Nevada can bring intensity and confidence into the sectionals, I think the Lady Liberators are going to have a fight on their hands.

The final game in a hectic 36-hour stretch this weekend was the Nevada boys against Warrensburg.

Before I talk about the actual game and the players involved, I must first report that the Warrensburg fans are likely the most obnoxious, ignorant, classless fans I have ever seen (and heard). If the WHS fans were officiating the game, Nevada's players would have all fouled out and Warrensburg wouldn't have committed a single foul. Luckily the fans had no impact on the play.

Instead the players (and I had no problem with the way Warrensburg's players carried themselves) decided the game and they proved to have a little too much firepower for Nevada to keep up with.

That doesn't mean the Nevada Tigers went quietly. Instead they showed what wearing crimson and grey is all about. They fought and clawed their way through the game, and with 32 seconds left were actually within four points of a district championship. Considering what most people (including myself) thought the Tigers would do coming into this year, you have to call Nevada's boys' season a complete success.

Later this week I will talk about the Tigers in greater depth, because I really think it's a heck of a story. But as far as this weekend was concerned, I couldn't have asked for anything more. More than 800 miles traveled, a district title and pair of tournament runners up. In all cases I saw teams that you can proud of. Those who are fans of Nevada-area basketball can certainly hold their heads up high.