Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Rocky Mount boys lost Friday  night at home puts them into a very precarious position.  Having won two of the last three state championships Gryphon basketball now judges itself on  titles instead of great seasons and a lost to a very good Hunt squad leaves Rocky Mount looking to find a way back to the state title just maybe on the road.

There is no doubt you have to be lucky along the way for all the dominoes to fall just right.  One of those double six's is getting home games in the sectionals.  Just ask Northern Nash Girls what it is like having to play the sectional finals on somebody Else's home floor to get to the Regional.  In order to get the #1 seed from the Big East now they cannot stumble any where else during the regular season and need to beat Hunt at Hunt the next time around.  Should they be tied at the end of the regular season with Hunt they would have to beat Hunt in the conference tournament at Hunt.  There would be a good chance they would then have to beat Hunt at Hunt to in the sectional finals if they were to lose either the next conference game with Hunt or the tournament final.

There is no doubt this is the best Hunt team I have seen since Hunt joined the Big East.  They have size and speed and beat Rocky Mount when the Gryphons were not hitting from the outside but they were even inside where Rocky Mount could not make up for the outside.  Like the Pack beating Duke Saturday Hunt doesn't have to apologize for the Gryphons shots not falling like The Pack needed to beat Duke Saturday regardless of who Duke had on the court.

Northern Nash Girls and Rocky Mount stay on a collision course as both have won their opening two conference games.  Fike girls beat Nash Central Friday so the Lady Bulldogs are 0-2.  This is not a good start at all for the Lady Bulldogs chance of returning to the sectional finals for a second year in a row.

Northern Nash's victory over Southern Nash is the first conference win for them in almost two years.  Rick Ruffins has a much improved team this season and they have a shot to finish about even in wins and losses in conference play.  They find themselves tied with Nash Central and Rocky Mount.

It didn't take long for Hunt to stay in house and name Stevie Hinnant the Hunt athletic director as the football coach replacing Randy Raper.  Hinnant is only the 4th football coach in Hunt's history.  Stevie is a graduate of Hunt and other while he was off in college has spent every year of his life at Hunt.  He was a freshman there when the school opened 35 years ago.