Now that teams have finished their regular season games the KingCo basketball bracket and schedule is pretty much set to go. Both the Mercer Island teams made the cut for the league tournament, which starts Tuesday night at higer seeded schools.

Boys tournament

The MI boys will play Tuesday, against Juanita at MIHS starting at 7 p.m. in a loser out game.

“Tuesday’s Kingco playoff game versus Juanita is a loser out game and you can throw the records out.  They are going to come in and play hard and they have some dangerous weapons.  We can’t be looking ahead,” said boys head coach Gavin Cree after Thursday’s home win over Mount Si.

Sammamish will take on Liberty in the No. 4/No. 5 game at Sammamish on Tuesday. The winner of the Mercer Island/Juanita game will play Mount Si at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18 at Bellevue College, while Bellevue, the No. 1 boys seed, will take on the winner of the Sammamish/Liberty game.

Girls tournament

Mercer Island earned a bye in the first round after clinching the KingCo title, heading into the tournament as No. 1. They will play on Thursday night at Bellevue College at 8:15 p.m. against the winner of the Liberty/Mount Si game which takes place Tuesday night.

For the rest of the KingCo teams, Tuesday is the big day with Juanita hosting Interlake and Mount Si hosting Liberty. The winner of the Juanita/Interlake game will play Bellevue on Thursday evening.

Championship round

The KingCo tournament will finish up on Friday, Feb. 19 at Bellevue College. The 3rd/4th place boys game will be at 3 p.m. Friday, with the 3rd/4th girls tipping off at 4:45 p.m.

The boys championship will be at 6:30 p.m. and the girls is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m.

Prices

Due to the fact this is a league tournament students will not be able to get into games free with their ASB cards (as they can throughout the regular season). Here’s the price breakdown from KingCo:

Adult/students without ASB       $6.00
Students (with ASB)                     $4.00
Children K-8                                  $4.00
Pre-school                                      N/C
Senior Citizens (60 yrs +)           $4.00

Here’s the latest basketball poll as voted on by sports writers in the Reporter Newspaper group.

Class 4A boys
1. Federal Way (13-1)
2. Gonzaga Prep (13-1)
3. Curtis (15-1)
4. Jackson (13-1)
5. Walla Walla (13-2)
6. Richland (13-2)
7. Skyline (12-2)
8. Kamiakin (12-3)
9. Lake Stevens (11-4)
10. Decatur (11-5)
Others receiving votes: Kentridge (11-5), Garfield (10-4), Foss (11-4), Lake Washington (11-3)

Class 4A girls
1. Auburn Riverside (16-0)
2. Issaquah (13-1)
3. Newport (13-1)
4. Woodinville (13-1)
5. Edmonds-Woodway (13-1)
6. Federal Way (12-3)
7. Chiawana (12-1)
8. Jackson (12-2)
9. Marysville-Pilchuck (12-3)
10. Kentwood (11-4)
Others receiving votes: Bellarmine Prep (11-5), Mount Tahoma (13-3), Lewis and Clark (9-5)

Class 3A boys
1. Enumclaw (14-0)
2. Bellevue (14-1)
3. Rainier Beach (12-3)
4. Seattle Prep (12-3)
5. Lakes (10-4)
6. O’Dea (11-4)
7. Mount Si (11-4)
8. Shadle Park (10-3)
9. Capital (12-1)
10. Foster (11-3)
Others receiving votes: Sammamish (11-4), Meadowdale (11-3), Franklin (7-7), Kennedy Catholic (10-5)

Class 3A girls
1. Holy Names (13-2)
2. Kennedy Catholic (12-3)
3. White River (12-2)
4. Mercer Island (11-3)
5. Lakes (10-4)
6. Mount Rainier (12-2)
7. Bonney Lake (11-4)
8. Yelm (11-4)
9. Port Angeles (12-2)
10. Sumner (10-4)
Others receiving votes: Shorecrest (9-4), Seattle Prep (10-4), Juanita (10-5), Shadle Park (8-5), Lakeside (9-6)

The poll is voted on by sportswriters from various Reporter papers in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts and opinions.

The Mercer Island girls are sitting at No. 4 in the 3A poll, but those top four teams essentially hold the same record. The Islander girls outlasted a tough Mt. Si team last night 51-50.

Issaquah and Newport in the girls 4A poll still sit in top spots, as do the Bellevue boys who held on to No. 2 this week, despite a close game against Sammamish last week.

Class 4A boys
1. Federal Way (12-1)
2. Gonzaga Prep (12-1)
3. Curtis (14-1)
4. Richland (12-1)
5. Jackson (11-1)
6. Walla Walla (11-2)
7. Skyline (12-1)
8. Lake Stevens (10-4)
9. Decatur (11-4)
10. Foss (10-3)
Others receiving votes: Kamiakin (11-2), Lincoln (8-5), Kentridge (11-4)

Class 4A girls
1. Auburn Riverside (15-0)
2. Woodinville (12-0)
3. Issaquah (11-1)
4. Newport (11-1)
5. Federal Way (11-3)
6. Edmonds-Woodway (11-1)
7. Kentwood (11-3)
8. Jackson (11-1)
9. Chiawana (11-1)
10. Lewis and Clark (8-5)
Others receiving votes: Bellarmine Prep (9-5), Marysville-Pilchuck (10-3), Mount Tahoma (12-2)

Class 3A boys
1. Enumclaw (13-0)
2. Bellevue (13-1)
3. Rainier Beach (11-3)
4. Seattle Prep (11-3)
5. Lakes (11-2)
6. O’Dea (10-4)
7. Shadle Park (9-3)
8. Mount Si (10-4)
9. Capital (10-1)
10. Kennedy Catholic (9-5)
Others receiving votes: Meadowdale (10-2), Franklin Pierce (8-4), Sammamish (10-4), Shorecrest (9-3), Franklin (7-6)

Class 3A girls
1. Holy Names (11-2)
2. Kennedy Catholic (11-4)
3. White River (11-3)
4. Mercer Island (11-3)
5. Lakes (9-4)
6. Bonney Lake (10-3)
7. Yelm (10-1)
8. Mount Rainier (11-2)
9. Lakeside (8-5)
10. Seattle Prep (7-6)
Others receiving votes: Shadle Park (7-5), Port Angeles (11-2), Shorecrest (7-4), Sumner (8-4), Meadowdale (8-4), Renton (7-4)

Just chatted with Mercer Island football coach Brett Ogata about last Friday’s win over Ingraham in the pouring rain. The Islanders earned their second win of the season 45-0 (click here for a full recap of the game).

Overall, he said it came down to the fact the team believed in itself.

“The kids played with a lot of confidence,” Ogata said. He said the defensive line had their best game of the season, keeping Ingraham from scoring all night. Ogata also said despite lots injuries on offensive line (and really just the team as a whole) the guys stepped up and made it happen.

This week the Islanders head to Sammamish for a KingCo basement showdown. Mercer Island football currently sits in the sixth spot in the KingCo league with a 0-4, 2-5 record while the Totems are 0-5, 1-6 this season. But Ogata said rather than focusing on Sammamish, Mercer Island is focused on what they need to do, as has been the trend all season.

“Really it’s about what we need to do to get better each week,” he said. “We worry about Mercer Island, not the other team and that’s how we’ll get to the highest potential for us.”

One thing this rebuilding year has shown, especially younger players, is that opportunities abound. The team has battled injuries and sickness throughout the season, along with many of the other teams at the school. But it’s been specifically hard on football as Ogata said the team lost “crucial players” to season-ending injuries.

“We have had a ton of them,” Ogata said of injuries to players. “A lot of younger players are hurt too, but the majority of the season ending injuries have been seniors.” Of that group of six who now find themselves stuck on the sidelines four are seniors, a junior and a sophomore.

After Sammamish on Friday night the Islanders will host Juanita in the last home game of the regular season. Ogata said mathematically the team is not slated to make the playoffs. He said if they had beat Mount Si there was a chance, but now it looks a lot less likely. After the Juanita game on Oct. 30, the Islanders will play a crossover game with one of the Metro 3A teams. Who exactly it will be depends partially on how the team plays this weekend and how the Metro league shakes out.

Ogata said the most likely scenarios for the crossover game are if the Islanders beat Sammamish, most likely they will play their last game away against the Metro #8 team OR if the Islanders lose Friday night to the Totem they would host the Metro #9 team on Nov. 6.

It all just depends on the numbers.