24 Feb 2020

Region Second Round Preview: Class 4A & 5A

CLASS 4A

We finished 14-2 with our first round picks in this classification.  Jacksonville Bolles survived the long road trip to Panama City to take out a solid Rutherford squad.  The bigger surprise was Booker winning big on the road at Cocoa.  It is rare for teams to cross the state on a weeknight and win, especially by double-digits.

Numbers of Note: At-Large teams finished 5-11, showing that winning your district and playing at home matters.  Surprisingly, all of the higher rated teams won on Thursday.  That includes the five higher rated teams that had to win on the road.

Best Matchup: Tough to choose between Tampa Catholic/St. Pete Lakewood, Fort Lauderdale University School/Fort Lauderdale Stranahan, and Miami Gulliver Prep/Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest.  The first two games are district rematches.  We’ll go with original programming in Gulliver vs. Pine Crest.

Best Chance for an Upset: If Booker can go across the state and beat Cocoa, why not do it again Tuesday night against Astronaut in Titusville?  Also, Eastside at The Villages looks to be a contest where the home team, in this case The Villages, should be on upset alert.

Our Picks

Jacksonville Paxon over Jacksonville Bolles

Jacksonville Bishop Kenny over Gadsden County

Orlando Lake Highland Prep over Anclote

The Villages over Gainesville Eastside

Tampa Catholic over St. Petersburg Lakewood

Titusville Astronaut over Sarasota Booker

Fort Lauderdale University School over Fort Lauderdale Stranahan

Miami Gulliver Prep over Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest

CLASS 5A

We were 14-2 overall in our picks, choosing Norland to win at home and Belen Jesuit to win on the road.  The only upset (maybe) of note was Boyd Anderson winning on the road at Norland.  BA was the higher rated team, but usually home teams prevail.

Numbers of Note: At-Large teams went just 3-15 in round one.  Higher rated teams finished a healthy 15-3 in their matchups.  Higher rated teams finished at 3-3 when on the road.

Best Matchup: In this classification, round four of Oakland Park Northeast and Pembroke Pines Charter is Tuesday night’s highlight regardless of classification.  Northeast is 2-1 against Pines Charter, but this one means the most!

Best Chance for an Upset: Both Leesburg and Land O’Lakes have the quality guard play that can carry a team into a tough environment and pull out a win.

Our Picks

Jacksonville Lee over St. Augustine

Tallahassee Rickards over Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee

Sebring over Leesburg

Orlando Jones over Land O’Lakes

Clearwater over Port Charlotte

Tampa Jesuit over Naples

Oakland Park Northeast over Pembroke Pines Charter

Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson over Okeechobee