Way back in early December, when the boys basketball season was in its early stages, the results of our preseason Coaches Polls for every single conference in Idaho were released.

In the 1AD2 Long Pin Conference (District 3), a few eyebrows were raised when the Cascade Ramblers were selected as the preseason favorite.

And throughout the regular season, that league-winning potential showed itself in flashes.  But there were also stretches where the Ramblers looked like an unfinished product.  Ultimately, Cascade went 13-7 overall, 7-5 in league, and earned the #4 seed at districts.

But last night in Council, the Ramblers came together for a 57-50 upset win over the top-seeded Lumberjacks.  Cascade will now face second-seeded Garden Valley for the district championship next week.

"I know every coach is supposed to say that they believe in their team," Cascade coach Josh Hurley said.  "Having said that, I truly believe in this team.  We have overcome a lot of adversity this year and have not let that adversity define us."

"A few of our maxims that drive us perfectly apply to our current situation," Hurley added.  "Stay undefeated (meaning) failure is only final when you quit and fail faster (meaning that) teams that fail faster learn to succeed faster."

Samuel Huckaby led the Ramblers with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting form the floor.  Tyler Thurston added 13 points and dished out seven assists, while Cole Olson scored 13 as well.

"These guys have overcome sickness, injuries in close games, and our starting point guard being out for five weeks with a broken elbow," Hurley said.  "They just keep looking ahead and growing.  The maturity of these kids to keep showing up to practice pushing themselves to go harder, to fail faster and to learn is what has positioned us to make a run for our district championship and a state berth."

Now there's still a chance that Council can fight their way back through the consolation bracket and earn the league's second bid to state.  But for the moment, our Bracketology will replace Council with Cascade.

A similar development happened at the 5A District 5-6 Tournament, where third-seeded Highland knocked out second-seeded Rigby in overtime 64-54.  We had projected Rigby to win a State Tournament Play-In game against a team from District 3.  We will now project Highland into that same space.

Additionally, last night, Declo clinched the 2A District 4 championship over Wendell with a 60-50 win.  Melba and Cole Valley Christian also locked up auto bids from 2A District 3.

Also, huge shout out to Lapwai junior Kase Wynott.  The lanky forward piled up a quadruple-double in Lapwai's 103-36 win over Genesee in the opening round of the 1AD1 District 2 Tournament.  Wynott had 37 points, 19 rebounds, 12 assists and ten steals for the Wildcats.

Here is our latest Bracketology.  As a reminder, you can follow all of the district tournament action here.  Teams will be seeded according to their MaxPreps rating.  Teams in bold font have officially clinched state tournament bids.  Until official bids are clinched, we will project the highest seeded teams in each district tournament to claim the automatic bids available.  In the case of potential Play-In Games, the team with the highest MaxPreps ranking will be projected to win.

CLASS 5A

District 1-2 1.5 bids
District 3 4.5, .5 bids (potentially could be 6 with play-in wins)
District 5-6 1.5 bids

#1 Lake City (21-0) vs. #8 Highland (12-10)
#4 Madison (16-6) vs. #5 Coeur d'Alene (14-6)
#3 Mountain View (18-4) vs. #6 Timberline (16-7)
#2 Owyhee (17-5) vs. #7 Meridian (13-9)

CLASS 4A

District 1-2 1 bid
District 3 2 bids
District 4 2 bids
District 5 1 bid
District 6 2 bids

#1 Hillcrest (20-1) vs. #8 Sandpoint (8-13)
#4 Skyview (16-5) vs. #5 Twin Falls (13-8)
#3 Blackfoot (13-7) vs. #6 Bishop Kelly (12-9)
#2 Pocatello (20-1) vs. #7 Jerome (13-8)

CLASS 3A

District 1 1 bid
District 3 2.5 bids
District 4 2 bids
District 5 1.25 bids
District 6 1.25 bids

#1 Bonners Ferry (18-1) vs. #8 Buhl (8-14)
#4 Snake River (15-6) vs. #5 McCall-Donnelly (13-4)
#3 Teton (18-5) vs. #6 Homedale (13-7)
#2 Sugar-Salem (19-3) vs. #7 Kimberly (8-13)

CLASS 2A

District 1-2 1.5 bids
District 3 2.5 bids
District 4 1 bid
District 5 1.5 bids
District 6 1.5 bids

#1 Melba (22-0) vs. #8 Declo (13-9)
#4 St. Maries (14-5) vs. #5 Ririe (18-4)
#3 Cole Valley Christian (19-4) vs. #6 New Plymouth (18-5)
#2 Bear Lake (20-2) vs. #7 Firth (14-7)

CLASS 1AD1

District 1 1 bid
District 2 2 bids
District 3 2.5 bids
District 4 2 bids
District 5-6 .5 bid

#1 Lapwai (22-0) vs. #8 Liberty Charter (15-6)
#4 Lakeside (13-3) vs, #5 Castleford (15-4)
#3 Kamiah (19-4) vs. #6 Carey (16-7)
#2 Grace (17-4) vs. #7 Victory Charter (18-3)

CLASS 1AD2

District 1 1 bid
District 2 2 bids
District 3 2 bids
District 4 1 bid
District 5-6 2 bids

#1 Rockland (20-2) vs. #8 Clark Fork (12-8)
#4 Watersprings (19-3) vs. #5 Deary (11-8)
#3 Camas County (15-5) vs. #6 Garden Valley (15-6)
#2 Kendrick (15-3) vs. #7 Cascade (15-7)