NYSPHAA

The Section 2 champions have been crowned. The celebrations were fun but it is back to business for some Capital Region high school boys basketball teams. The next goal will be winning a state championship. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has set the brackets. Let's see who, when and where are the Capital Region champions going.

The high school basketball season can be long and grueling from November through March. Now add the lose and go home stress of any sectional tournament, and the result will be a ton of ups and downs. There are amazing accomplishments that haven't happened in 55 years and tremendous disappoints for teams that were basically expected to win. These boys and girls are 15 to 18 years old. When you get to this stage of the season, these student-athletes, along with their dedicated coaches have put a lot into their season. It means more.

Some of the best memories of tournament basketball come from the upsets. Watching the pure jubilation of high school or college athletes when an underdog knocks off a favorite is always very cool. Watching the disappointment on the other side, is too often pushed to the side.

Thursday night there was a slate of 8 Section 2 girls basketball championship games, just prior to the impending storm. As snow dumped on the Capital Region on Friday, Section 2 wasted no time to quickly reschedule the day's slate of games. Let's start with the rescheduled games and then we'll recap Thursday night.

As the pending snowstorm targets the Capital Region on Friday, local high school basketball teams are trying to make their weekend mean something in the Section 2 championships. On Wednesday, there were 8 games on the schedule in boys basketball and another 8 for the girls.

Coaches tell their players all of the time, you never know. If you do your jobs, play smart and execute properly, good things happen, like a #13 seed can upset a #3 seed on their home floor. That's why you play the games. Upsets happen in the NBA. They happen more often in college and certainly more than that in high school sports. Tuesday night had a few examples in the Section 2 championships.

There were nasty snow squalls mixed in with some bone-chilling wind but that didn't stop the teams playing on the first sectional Saturday of 2022. The Section 2 high school basketball championships continued on schedule. There were 16 games on the docket, all in girls basketball.

It's time to breakout your favorite high school sweatshirt or hat. You old rivalries are heating up. Mid-February means the best in Capital Region high school basketball will be battling it out in the Section 2 boys and girls basketball tournament. Tournament play starts on Friday. Let's start with the boys and the Class AA Bracket. Will #1 Green Tech run the table or will #2 seeded Niskayuna have eyes of their own on the title?

I'm all for rules, as much as the next person. However, you have to know the ramifications of the rule and understand who the rule is punishing, as well the concept of the violation before implementing the rule. What is the rule supposed to accomplish? Nassau County, high school football had a rule designed to prevent teams from running up the score. It sounds fine on the surface but when you understand each circumstance, a blanket rule doesn't work.

As the temperature drops, the rivalries in high school hoops heat up. Tuesday night was no different on basketball floors in the Capital Region. There were 29 boys games on the docket and another 22 for the girls. A big shout out to Tamarac boys basketball for their #1 ranking in Class B in New York State. Congrats to Coach Eric Medved and the Bengals!

The one of the best things for high school student-athletes is getting to compete for your school against the next town over or a long-time rival. Numerous times, athletes from different schools have talked to me about their moms and dads competing against those same schools and therefore passing down the rivalry. Friday night, we start to get into the meat of the high school basketball season with plenty of those rivalries on local courts.

Wednesday night was a light night on the local high school basketball courts and score reporting was even lighter! Thank you to everyone that reached out to me @charlievoelker on Twitter to request scores to be posted. We are working on getting regular reporting of scores and highlights.