While it’s true that the Emporia High boys are the No. 1 seed heading into Sub-State play, EHS senior Caydrick Bloomquist says the Spartans are approaching Wednesday night’s game against No. 8-seeded Wichita West as if the roles were reversed.
“We have to go out there and play like they’re the No. 1 seed and we’re No. 8,” Bloomquist said. “We can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to go out there and play like every game is going to be the toughest game out there.”
Much has been made about the Spartans receiving a No. 1 Sub-State seed despite owning an 11-9 record overall. By contrast, the other three top-seeded teams — McPherson, Highland Park and Bishop Miege — have a combined record of 54-6, making it seem as though Emporia simply got the benefit of being placed in a weak Sub-State bracket.
But of Emporia’s nine losses, two have come to the top-ranked team in Class 5A, Highland Park. Another two came at the hands of Class 4A’s No. 1-ranked team, Hayden. The Spartans also have losses to Manhattan and Leavenworth, Class 6A’s No. 3- and No. 5-ranked teams, respectively.
“A lot of coaches are going to say, ‘The other games don’t matter. Now, these games are all that matter,’” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said. “But I think the games that we’ve played do matter because of the teams we played. I don’t know if we’ll play any tougher teams night in and night out than what we saw in the Centennial League.
“Even though we have nine losses and we don’t have a glossy No. 1-seed record, we’re very well prepared because of the type of competition that we’ve played all year.”
If that’s the case, then Bloomquist and the Spartans are expecting that preparation to pay off in a big way, as a trip to the Class 5A State tournament next week is waiting if the Spartans can play like a No. 1 seed and win two games in Sub-State, starting with Wednesday night’s matchup against Wichita West (1-19).
The Spartans enter the contest against West on a two-game losing skid, as last week the Spartans suffered losses to Hayden and Highland Park to close out the regular season.
However, in both games, Emporia played a slow-down offense to combat the athletic ability both opponents possessed, and while both games ended in a loss for EHS, the players believe they played well enough to win.
“I think we’ve been playing good, but we haven’t been getting the wins,” said senior Brandon Childs, whose play has come on strong toward the end of the season. “Last week, we got two losses, but we know we’re doing things right. We just have to keep improving on those things.”
With a State berth just two victories away, Emporia knows that while it might be the top seed, it still has to prove it on the court.
“Wichita West is probably the most dangerous team we could face right now in the state of Kansas,” Rick Bloomquist said. “They don’t have anything to lose. They have everything to gain, and when you get a team that has no pressure — a team that’s not ‘supposed’ to win — they may be one of the most dangerous teams to play at this point.
“It’s a team that if we don’t come out focused and the game’s close at the end, bad things are going to happen for us.”
The winner of the EHS-West matchup will face the winner of the Arkansas City-Valley Center matchup on Saturday at either 5 or 7:45 p.m.