January 29, 2013

Joshua J. Grine
NMPreps.com Basketball Analyst

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Week Twelve:The season continues to bring surprises and Tuesday night could be another night of shocking wins.

Three Gyms To Be At

1. Bernalillo High School: No. 15 Capital at No. 20 Bernalillo. District 2-4A is deep this year and these two teams are preseason favorites to vie for the District title. Both ranked in the Top-25 and could lead to a scoring frenzy as Bernalillo likes to get up and down with a trio of guards and Capital who has been slowing it down a little this year, has been known to run with the "running" teams.

2. Sandia High School: No. 2 Sandia vs. Rio Rancho. For one, Sandia has never been ranked this high in the three years that I have been at NMPreps.com running the Top-25. Next, I like this match-up because Rio Rancho enters the week unranked for the first time this season. If that's not a chip on your shoulder I don't know what is.

Untitled Document

TOP 25 SCOREBOARD

Top-25 Rankings

Tuesday, Jan. 29th

No. 1 La Cueva
Cleveland

No. 2 Sandia
Rio Rancho

No. 3 Valley
West Mesa

No. 4 Hobbs
Goddard

No. 5 Las Cruces
Mayfield

No. 6 St. Pius X
St. Michael's

No. 7 Manzano
No. 18 Hope Christian

No. 9 Clovis
Texico

No. 10 Roswell
No. 12 Carlsbad

Text Scores: (505) 414-4313

3. Carlsbad High School: No. 10 Roswell at No. 12 Carlsbad. Who would have thought that we'd be picking a Carlsbad game as a must see. Well, the Carlsbad Cavemen still have a long way to go to get the full respect they have been looking for the past three years and this game will help them or could send them spiraling down.

A Few Questions:

1. Can both of these teams regain that "Final Four" contender title? No. 11 Atrisco Heritage vs. No. 17 Albuquerque High. It's crazy to think that the, once, No. 1 team in New Mexico - Albuquerque High - has fallen all the way to No. 17 in week twelve. The Jaguars of Atrisco Heritage, a APS Metro darling, has also fallen some recently. Who is still our contender and who plain fooled us?

2. Is Los Lunas legit? No. 21 Los Lunas vs. Gallup. Both of these teams have been bad picks all year. I mean bad picks as you think they are starting to win and you take them in a "can't lose" game and then they lose. Or you pick against them and then they upset say - Sandia (Gallup did). I like this game and it will likely send us to a three way tie for first in District 6-4A if Gallup wins.

3. Can Rio keep it going? No. 25 Rio Grande vs. Highland. The Ravens of Rio Grande are 2-0 in District 5-5A and tied for first-place. Are the Ravens ready to proclaim themselves as District Champs for the first time in - too many years? The team never quit after a sluggish start and hats off to their character as they are back in the Top-25.

Grine: Tuesday Rundown

Upset Pick of Tuesday: Rio Rancho over Sandia.
Yawn game win by twenty: Espanola Valley over Los Alamos.
I'll be at: Bernalillo vs. Capital.
I would be at if I was in SENM: Carlsbad vs. Roswell.
Small School Game: Mesilla Valley vs. Lordsburg.

Keep An Eye On These Teams

West Mesa Mustangs: The Mustangs have been patiently waiting outside the Top-25 for a few weeks now in our Next Five In. They take on District 5-5A leader No. 3 Valley but the Mustangs look stronger in 2013 and could be interesting.

Onate Knights: The Knights have been on the bubble all season at around No. 17, 18 or 19 and need just those few "bubble must" games to get them to 15 or 16 and IN the state tournament. The game with Alamogordo serves the purpose for that and also could slide them into second in District 3-5A. This is a must win game for Alamogordo - you can't lose this one. This is a must win game for Onate - you can't lose this one. Contradiction? Yes, I can do that (haha).

Artesia Bulldogs: Coming out of of the blue, well I guess orange, we have the upset style Bulldogs who have been doing work as of late. They are actually on the verge of being ranked in the Top-25 for the first time in three years. Interesting game.

Monday Missings

Fresh Faces: Brianna Reyna, Texico. I know that I haven't been able to cover girls basketball like I really wish I could, this season being strapped for time. But freshman Brianna Reyna dropped 16 points on Eunice on Saturday of week eleven and 24 points last night in a, 52-40 win over Lovington. Huge numbers and future Top-10 player.

In case you missed: My car is up and running from Saturday. That means I will hope to schedule some out of town games come February. People have been listing games they would like us to attend and I will likely pick five to go to! Thanks for the e-mails and kind words everyone!

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Joshua J. Grine joined NMPreps.com before the 2010 basketball season as our Senior Basketball Analyst. Grine is a former coach (Valencia, Rio Rancho) and basketball player (Grants, Rio Rancho) who has been around New Mexico for several years.

E-Mail: grinejosh@yahoo.com
Twitter: Twitter Here.

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