Nobody said it was going to be easy. Starting Tuesday, barring a postponement due to weather, the 105th boys basketball state tournament will begin. You don’t have to look very far to find one of the more compelling sectionals in the state when things tip off at North Side Gym in Elkhart. Class 4A Sectional 4 is comprised of six teams, five of which competed in the Northern Lakes Conference that was eventually won by the Warsaw Tigers. Going into postseason play, the Tigers are considered to be the favorites to raise the trophy, but as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend.” Without taking into consideration the level of talent and competition that will be on display, the draw has left the Tigers with a pretty sizeable mountain to climb. They open up the week by facing a Concord team that took the Tigers to the brink earlier in the season. Opening up the tourney in the 6 p.m. game is never a favorite for coaches or players. The atmosphere is drastically different than what you would expect, and after a Friday night win over No. 6 Carroll, it left the Tigers a small amount of time to prepare for the Minutemen. The Minutemen are led by Filip Serwatka, who was arguably the best player in the conference this season. Wawasee fans know all about him as he had back-to-back possessions ending in powerful dunks. He poses problems both inside and out for the Tigers. Concord found itself short-handed in that earlier matchup as well. Brett Austin, son of head coach Steve Austin, was left at home battling an illness. He will be in the lineup come Tuesday, and has a skill set that will draw some extra focus from the Tigers defensively. A win Tuesday night would earn the Tigers a chance to play a very determined Elkhart Memorial team. Throw away the last meeting at the Tiger Den, Kyle Sears has his team begging for a rematch against the Tigers. Led by Demitri Giger, Memorial’s focus has been to continue to get better in order for a playoff run. Sears, Memorial’s first-year head coach, has taken over quite nicely for the Chargers. His team has bought in and could be a very dangerous opponent for Warsaw on Friday. The bottom part of the bracket has two teams that seem to be on a collision course for Friday night. On paper, the Goshen Redskins and Northridge Raiders should be the two teams playing for the right to go to Saturday night’s championship game. Goshen was red hot prior to their loss to St. Joe on Friday. Friday night will be special. Both games should live up to the hype that will come prior to the game. All this talk about other teams, we should probably touch on the favorites. After finishing the regular season 18-4, the Tigers gained a ton of momentum by knocking off Carroll in the regular-season finale. It’s the type of performance you almost come to expect from this group of guys. They always seem calm and are rarely rattled in the face of adversity. That’s the type of attitude and composure it will take to bring home the championship this weekend. They will surely face adversity in the 96 minutes of basketball they hope to play. The draw did the Tigers no favors. Going through the gauntlet of Concord, Elkhart Memorial and then Northridge/Goshen won’t be an easy accomplishment. The highest rewards normally don’t come easy and that’s exactly what the Tigers have their sights on this week. If you listened to the post game coverage of Friday’s game, though, you know how close this team is. This group of seniors is very close and even talk about being brothers and family. It’s that kind of bond that helps you battle through three games in five nights. It’s that type of bond that makes this a special group and one that loves the challenge ahead of them. Those types of teams excite me, and this week is set up to be one Warsaw fans won’t soon forget. So the time has come to close up town and head to Elkhart to support the Tigers this week. They’re a team very deserving of your support and have done an exemplary job representing themselves, each other, their school and the community.
