CLASS 4A

District Upsets: The only top seed heading into the district playoffs that didn’t win its tournament was DeFuniak Springs Walton in District 1.  It lost in the semis, but still found its way into the regional tournament as a 5 seed.  In District 4, Jacksonville Bishop Kenny was in the 8 seed position going into the tournament, but a loss in the semi-finals to neighboring Bolles put Bolles in and knocked Kenny out.  In Region 3, Brooksville Nature Coast fell by a single point in the semis, so their 8 seed spot was taken by Bradenton Bayshore.  In all, a lot of status quo heading into the regional round.

Toughest Region:  Down south in Region 4, all but Miami Pace are ranked in the Top 20 in Class 4A.  Yes, it is top-heavy with #1 Mater Lakes, #2 Calvary Christian, and #4 North Broward Prep, but #9 Cardinal Gibbons is no slouch and #13 Gulliver Prep, #15 St. Brendan, and #18 Delray American Heritage have solid strength of schedule numbers as well as far more wins than losses on the season.  Close games should be the norm throughout this region.

Best Opening Matchup: By the numbers, it should be Sarasota Booker hosting Tampa Robinson in a 4 vs. 5 matchup in Region 3.  Booker (#32) and Robinson (#33) have the same number of wins (13) and almost identical strength of schedules.  Another one to watch is Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons on the road at Gulliver Prep in Miami.  Gibbons is rated higher but Gulliver is at home AND has a greater strength of schedule.  We’ll see if any of that matters on Thursday night.

Best Chance for an Upset: In Region 3, St. Pete Lakewood travels up I-75 toward Brooksville to take on Central in a 3 vs 6 matchup.  A classic case of big city vs. small town, it is interesting to note that Lakewood strength of schedule is much higher, though its W-L record of 7-14 is almost the inverse of Central’s (17-5).  Not saying go ahead and bet the house on it, just don’t be surprised if it happens.

Our Picks:

Jacksonville Andrew Jackson over Jacksonville Bolles

Jacksonville Ribault over DeFuniak Springs Walton

Jacksonville Paxon School over Tallahassee Godby

Santa Rosa Beach South Walton over Jacksonville Raines

Orlando Lake Highland Prep over Titusville Astronaut

The Villages Charter over Palatka

Palm Bay over Umatilla

Eustis over Lake Alfred Discovery

St. Petersburg Gibbs over Bradenton Bayshore

Sarasota Booker over Tampa Robinson

Fort Myers Gateway over Estero

Brooksville Central over St. Petersburg Lakewood

Hialeah Mater Lakes over Miami Monsignor Pace

Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons over Miami Gulliver Prep

Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian over Delray American Heritage

Coconut Creek North Broward Prep over Miami St. Brendan

CLASS 5A

District Upsets: Three of the top seeds heading into the district tournaments did not win their respective title.  In District 1, third seed Pine Forest defeated top seed Pensacola Washinton by a single point to take the title.  When the tournament began, Pine Forest was on the outside looking in.  Their win knocked out St. Augustine from District 4 despite their reaching the finals in that district.  In Region 3’s District 8, Tampa Blake fell by two points to Tampa Jesuit.  Despite that, Blake kept its #1 seed in the region.  Finally, in District 16, a young Miami Northwestern squad took down neighboring TERRA Environmental.  Melvin Randall, he of seven state titles, appears to be working his magic down south once again.

Toughest Region: Region 4 is a nightmare down in South Florida.  All eight regional participants are ranked in the top fifteen in the classification prior to the district tournaments.  To give you an idea, the 1 vs 8 matchup on Thursday night pits #1 Norland against #6 Somerset Academy out of Pembroke Pines.  Hopefully the quality of play and competitiveness will be reflected on the scoreboard.

Best Opening Matchup: Braden River hosts Port Charlotte in a 3 vs 6 matchup.  Port Charlotte was ranked #23 heading into districts while Braden River was right behind them at #24.  Port Charlotte has a greater strength of schedule so we will see if that helps them get a road win.

Best Chance for an Upset: Call it a hunch, but it just seems like the 7 seed St. Pete High has a real chance to go into Seminole, the 2 seed, and come out with a win in Region 3.  St. Pete actually had a better record going into the district tournament than Seminole but its strength of schedule was much less.  Also, while it is a 4 vs 5 matchup that could go either way, Orlando Jones should be unfazed in facing a high scoring Wesley Chapel team on the road.  Jones plays a tough schedule against some quality Central Florida teams, so it will be interesting to see if that has prepared them for situations like this.

Our Picks:

Daytona Beach Mainland over Pensacola Pine Forest

Pensacola Washington over Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee

Tallahassee Rickards over Lake City Columbia

Jacksonville Riverside over Deltona

Tampa Blake over Zephyrhills

Wesley Chapel over Orlando Jones

Leesburg over Lecanto

Tampa Jesuit over Ocala Vanguard

Cape Coral Mariner over St. Petersburg Northeast

Naples Barron Collier over Sebring

St. Petersburg Seminole over St. Petersburg

Bradenton Braden River over Port Charlotte

Miami Norland over Pembroke Pines Somerset Academy

Oakland Park Northeast over Fort Lauderdale Archbishop McCarthy

Fort Lauderdale Stranahan over Miami TERRA Environmental

Rockledge over Miami Northwestern