5A:  This bracket is loaded with talent.  Picking this might be as easy as winning the lottery.  I think Couer d’ Alene, Lewiston, Mtn View, and Rocky Mtn could all win.  I see these four teams advancing to the semis where CDA/Mtn View and Lewiston/Rocky Mtn would match up.   I’m predicting CDA and Rocky Mtn meeting in the finals where the Lady Vikings will take home their 9th state title making them the all-time leader in Girls’ State Championships.   However, just like the lottery, don’t be surprised if I don’t win.

4A:   The top two teams in the state, in both the media and the power rankings, are Skyview and Twin Falls.  The Hawks received all 9 votes from the media voters and their only loss was to a very talented 5A school, the Rocky Mtn Grizzlies.  That’s good enough for me.  These top two ranked 4A teams will meet in the finals, and I’ll take the Hawks over the Bruins for all the marbles.

3A:  Every year there’s a bracket that begs to have the entire tourney seeded. This year it’s the 3A bracket.  The top two teams in the state, Sugar-Salem (22-1) and Filer (20-3), meet in the opening round of the play-offs instead of being on opposite sides of the bracket where they belong.  If this game is a barn burner and the title game is not, it won’t surprise me.  I’ll say this again:  if we can seed a dozen wrestlers in multiple weight classes, why can’t we seed 8 teams in basketball?  Is seeding a perfect system?  No, but it’s far better than the bracket we draw up a couple of years before the tourney starts.  I’m taking the Diggers (formally known as the Beet Diggers) over the Trojans of Homedale in the title game.

2A:  Remember how Moby Dick begins?  Call me Ishmael.  Well, when it comes to the 2A title, call me Homer.  I have to pick the NP Pilgrims.  Why?  It’s simple: because I taught and coached there for 32 years….and they’re good.  My heart and soul is there.  I simply cannot pick anyone else.  So if they don’t win, you can laugh at me all you want, but if they did win and I didn’t pick them, that would be far worse, like in light years worse.  They’ll beat the Ririe Bulldogs in the finals for their second title.  You heard it here first!!

1AD1:  The Hagerman Pirates sit stop the 1AD1 division because they are very good….and undefeated.  To remain perfect, they may have to beat an always talented and dangerous Lapwai squad.  I see these two powers meeting in the finals.  I enjoy watching Lapwai play because of their run and gun style.  They can overpower teams with it.  Prairie, with 8 school titles, is perennially good, and they might win this title in 2014.  However, my crystal ball has the running Wildcats from Lapwai winning their 7th championship over the Pirates.

1AD2:  The #1 team in the state, Richfield, didn’t make it through district to state.  Welcome to Idaho where 3 months of play is fairly meaningless, and a one week period called District determines who goes to state.  This puts far too much pressure on teenagers that have proved it for a long period of time, and must re-prove it in a short period of time.  I don’t know what happened to the Tigers in District, but I know one thing:  in their District, they had to play 4 games in a row, Feb 10, 11, 12,  and 13.  After a 3 month season, this just doesn’t seem right.  If you know me at all, you know I have been arguing against District for years. The league winner should get a berth to state, and the other seeds in each District can come from the District tourney.

OK, back to the bracket:  Dietrich is going for a four-peat, but many fine squads may spoil their chances.  This entire bracket is filled with good teams who can win it all.  Filling out this bracket will require a great thinking effort on my part:  heads its Rockland, tails it’s Kendrick; heads its Dietrich, tails it’s Council, and so on.   After all the coins were tossed it was Rockland over Nezperce for the Championship.

There you go, folks.  Wanna pick the title teams yourself?  Just comment below and pick away.  Best of luck to all the teams that made it to state, and they all need to remember one important fact in case they don’t win it all:  It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all!