Class 4A Boys and Girls State Tournament Predictions
Final Four and Championship Predictions
Doug Wight is a Public Address Announcer for the University of Denver. Doug has also helped me with my bigger school predictions for the past few season and I am glad to have his thoughts on the 4A Final Four and Championships.
Class 4A Boys
There are two great matchups in the Class 4A Final Four: (17) Holy Family vs. (4) Eagle Ridge Academy and (2) Resurrection Christian vs. (6) Lutheran.
(17) Holy Family vs.(4) Eagle Ridge Academy. Holy Family played and lost to a number of Class 5A schools during the season, resulting in a mediocre record and seeding for the tournament, but that steeled the Eagles for a big Class 4A tournament run. After a close victory against a talented DSST-Green Valley Ranch squad in the round of 32, the Eagles destroyed formidable Metro League opponents #1 Kent Denver (by 27 points) and #8 Colorado Academy (by 17 points) to reach the Final Four. Why? A tenacious, lock-down defense and an efficient offense. Meanwhile, a senior-laden Eagle Ridge team with five senior starters has handled three challenging opponents to reach the Final Four. Experienced coaching matters at this stage of the tournament, and Holy Family coach Pete Villecco has the experience to guide the Tigers to the Class 4A Championship game. This could be the best game of the tournament, and we think Holy Family will prevail.
(2) Resurrection Christian vs. (6) Lutheran. Lutheran is a perennial participant in the State Championship. Moving up to Class 4A this year, they haven’t missed a beat, thanks to consistently strong coaching under Bill Brandsma and effective reloading from some graduations. Despite a perennially strong program, Resurrection Christian has struggled to reach the State tournament pinnacle previously. A win over Lutheran and the experience of tough tournament victories over Steamboat Springs and Classical Academy in the Great Eight may compel Resurrection Christian to a championship bout with Holy Family.
Championship: Holy Family is on a roll. Their lock-down defense, which eliminated prior opponents, is not like any opposing team has seen this season. Despite the odd #17 seed, Holy Family prevails to win over Resurrection Christian to win the Class 4 State championship.
Class 4A Girls
Top Four Seeds (2) D’Evelyn vs (3) University and (1) Holy Family vs.(4) Lutheran.
The top four seeds advanced to the Class 4A Final Four. Now it’s time to battle it out for the State championship. D’Evevlyn’s Peyton Marvel scored 36 of D’Evelyn’s 54 points in the Great Eight victory over an upcoming Riverdale Ridge squad. How well University contains Marvel will do much to decide the result of this semifinal. D’Evelyn is undefeated, but University is the 2022 Class 3A State Champion, and undefeated in a tough conference, well-coached and formidable opponent. D’Evelyn handed University one of its two losses this season. We predict that University’s size and experience prevails over the previously undefeated D’Evelyn team thanks to its tournament experience in tight games.
Holy Family is #1 for a reason: They dominate the opponents with a combination of size and skill. Lutheran as always is a very well coached team, and if they can hit their three pointers that they scheme for they can beat anyone. We think Holy Family will just be too strong inside for Lutheran to overcome.
Championship: This is a classic matchup. A very strong #1 seed vs. a repeat State champion, albeit University is moving up a class. Very hard to tell them apart. We think Holy Family’s strong inside game and overall experience playing tough Class 5A opponents leads them to a narrow State Championship victory over University.
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