AN ADMIRABLE ASPECT of basketball, college or prep can be found in how the sport approaches scheduling.
For most top-tier programs, or those that have their sights set on making extended postseason runs, getting as many upper-echelon opponents on their schedules as possible remains the goal.
Iron sharpens iron, and tough schedules make for gains in the state’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) — the metric used to seed the state regional round and the state basketball tournaments.
And the tough schedules make it fun for fans, athletes and coaches alike.
Zags and Riders
This thought popped into my head Saturday evening as I watched now No. 2 Gonzaga nearly give away an important non-conference game at Pac-12 power Arizona before hanging on for an 84-82 win. That game came just hours after witnessing the Port Angeles girls take down the W.F. West Bearcats, a team two seasons removed from a Class 2A state hoops championship, 47-44 in a poised performance.
Roughrider head coach Michael Poindexter knew the game was a special one — win or lose.
“That’s why we’re here, man,” he said after the game. “With 1:06 left [during a timeout], I said ‘No matter what happens — and something is going to happen — win or lose. And we’ve said it before, but this is why we play the game.’ ”
Poindexter said he was just trying to loosen the nerves of his team during a close game — but the point remains. Games like that one — a gritty, back-and-forth grinder — are why the players play, the coaches coach and the fans come together to cheer.
The Riders’ victory over a solid W.F. West squad may not have been possible if Port Angeles hadn’t extended itself by facing and falling to another state contender — Burlington-Edison — on the road and state powerhouse Lynden at home earlier in the week.
Later this season, the Riders will face Class 3A Ferndale and Seattle Prep at a holiday tournament in Lynden and travel to visit another 3A team in Bellevue.
The Rider boys haven’t shied away from a tough slate of contests in recent seasons, scheduling a home-and-home with Lynden Christian that will see Port Angeles visit the Lyncs in early January.
The Riders also have been fixtures at the SunDome Shootout during winter break and made an eventful trip to Pullman in a snowstorm a few years back.
Other schools playing up
Port Angeles isn’t the only North Olympic Peninsula school to schedule up a level.
The Sequim girls, currently 5-0 and wrecking shop with a 35-point per game margin of victory, will be tested mightily when it visits Lynden Christian as part of the same Cloud Nine Christmas Classic as Port Angeles.
And road games at Class 3A Edmonds-Woodway and Tumwater, a sneaky pick to make the 2A state tournament this season, also will test the Wolves.
Neah Bay has never been afraid to play any team at any classification.
The boys basketball team is young and rebuilding this season, but still honored a game against Port Angeles.
The Red Devil girls have played Sequim, 1A Forks and 2B power La Conner thus far and will face Burlington-Edison at Port Townsend’s Crush in the Slush holiday tournament Dec. 27.
Crescent, with improving boys and girls teams, also stepped up to play Forks in a recent doubleheader. The Loggers’ boys squad played well in a loss to the Spartans.
The Forks boys will have some fun this week against a crafty Sequim team tonight, at home against Tumwater Thursday and at Saint Martin’s College against Toledo on Saturday.
College or prep, teams who seek out tough schedules are doing themselves good.
“When you play [big] games in December, I think college basketball gets noticed instead of waiting until February to pay attention,” Few said after Gonzaga lost to North Carolina on the road last season. “It’s the right time and the right game to play.
Tonight, North Carolina will visit Gonzaga’s McCarthey Athletic Center for a game. The Tar Heels could have turned down an away game with the Bulldogs, demanded it be played at a neutral site or insisted it be played at their own Dean Smith Center. But they stepped forward and embraced a challenge.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few and his program get a lot of flak for playing in a weak West Coast Conference. But the Bulldogs have long held firm to testing themselves against top squads in the non-conference portion of their schedule.
Few praised North Carolina coach Roy Williams for being a proponent of the Tar Heels trip west.
“He deserves the credit for this,” Few said of Williams. “He’s comfortable scheduling like this because he knows its good for college basketball and not just him and North Carolina. He’s really concerned about the good of the game.
“It’s not unlike the Arizona game. These are national level games that grab the attention of not just college basketball fans but fans across the country. And I think people appreciate seeing them on other people’s home floors. For them to come out to Spokane and come and do this is really cool and Coach Williams deserves all the credit.”
All that said, DVR the Bulldogs-Tar Heels game and come watch the Port Angeles boys take on a North Kitsap squad that is getting early season attention as the favorite to win the 2A state championship on the first Saturday in March.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Riders gym.
