Column: Class 1, District 16 Bracketology
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The revealing of the district tournament brackets is always an exciting time even if most fans have a pretty good idea of how the seedings will go ahead of time. For our Class 1 schools, “Selection Tuesday” was this week and the matchups became official.
With tournaments starting next week, let’s take a look at both Class 1, District 16 and look at the road to sectionals in both girls and boys basketball.
Class 1, District 16 boys
Hosted by Mound City
Seeds: 1. Rock Port, 2. Platte Valley, 3. Worth County, 4. Stanberry, 5. Mound City, 6. North Nodaway, 7. Northeast Nodaway.
With just two squads above .500 in this bracket, the assumption from many will be that this is all leading up to a Rock Port-Platte Valley showdown in a rematch of a 74-59 win for Rock Port on their home floor earlier this month.
In that game, Jack Meyerkorth was phenomenal with 35 points while both Reid and Logan Ellis were in double figures. The Blue Jays enter the tournament as the clear favorite to win it.
With that said, Platte Valley has its share of firepower with their own All-State candidate in Justin Miller as well as a supporting cast of Tucker Klamm, Xavier Middleton, Dylan Klamm, Landon Wiederholt and Andy Mattson that has contributed to two straight district titles.
Meanwhile, the third-seeded Worth County Tigers are the only team to beat Rock Port since mid-December. The Tigers beat the Blue Jays 47-41 in Rock Port on Jan. 28. Senior Karson Briner is a weapon that nobody in the district has a great matchup for and he has shooters around him with Hayden Sanders, Cole Ruby and Caleb New.
Stanberry and Mound City offer a rematch from a 58-55 overtime Bulldog win on Nov. 26. Considering we all hadn’t had our turkey at that point, it will be very interesting how that matchup changes the second time around. Both teams lost by over 30 points to Rock Port just last week, so the semifinal matchup will heavily favor the Jays.
North Nodaway draws Worth County in the opening round and that game was just a 4-point Tiger win in early December. The Mustangs have the size to match up with the Tigers while seniors Mason Casner and Owen Martin are proven guards.
Worth County is the favorite, but this represents a tougher match than the Tigers would have likely picked considering they’ve handled both Mound City and Stanberry more easily this season.
Northeast Nodaway checks in as the seven seed and should be commended for how they have hung together this season, and senior Jake Redden has become a double-double machine, but they fell to Platte Valley by 38 points in January.
Class 1, District 16 girls
Hosted by Platte Valley
Seeds: 1. Rock Port, 2. Platte Valley, 3. Mound City, 4. Northeast Nodaway, 5. Stanberry, 6. Worth County, 7. North Nodaway.
This is a fascinating district because it has four of five top teams in the 275 Conference, but with conference champion Nodaway Valley taken out of the mix.
That made seeding rather simple at the top with the head-to-head matchups ruling the day.
Rock Port has four losses this year — none to a MSHSAA Class 1 school. They have two losses to Class 2 Nodaway Valley, one to Nebraska powerhouse Falls City-Sacred Heart and one to Class 3 Mid-Buchanan.
They have three Meyerkorth sisters, any of whom are capable of being the best player in this tournament.
That said, Platte Valley played Rock Port to a 42-40 final in Rock Port and is playing some of its best basketball at the right time led by senior Maleeah Bliley. Platte Valley has never not won the district in the history of the co-op, going back to 2019.
The three and four seeds in this district would be a one seed in many other ones.
Mound City very well could be the team to beat moving forward in the 275 Conference and the district with their underclassmen talent. Platte Valley beat them by 19 in Mound City in January, but a potential semifinal should be much closer.
Northeast Nodaway won the Stanberry Invitational and took second in the PVI and King City Invitational. They know how to buckle down for tournament week. Baylie Busby is one of the best players in this tournament. However, if they make the semifinal, they will have to find a way to turn around a 31-point loss to Rock Port in January.
That gets us to the GRC portion of the bracket where both Stanberry and Worth County have shown flashes this season. They are both extremely young teams with bright futures, but both struggled this season against Mound City and Northeast Nodaway.
North Nodaway doesn’t have a senior on the team and will have a tall task in a rematch against Platte Valley, but has gotten better throughout the season.
