2 - Capital City in my sights

It didn't go so good for Greensburg last night in their 56-30 loss to Crest.

Throughout the game at Busch-Gross Coliseum on the campus of Fort Hays State, I sat by Greensburg coach David White's son, Zach. He's in his second year at Kansas University, but he made the trip across the the state for the ballgame. A former player at Greensburg, he watched his brother, Eric, a senior guard on the team, and his dad be frustrated by poor shooting and an inability to stop Crest's star player, Brandon Newton, who sprang for 17 points.

Greensburg, a team that rode a wave of two upsets through sub-state, came to a screeching halt. Before the game, Zach and his friend Alex Reinecke tried to figure out who their opponent was. The No. 1 seed in the 1A tournament is a relative unknown. I overheard another official in the tournament hospitality room ask the same question: Who is Crest? "In all my years following high school basketball, I've never heard of Crest," he said.

Well, they're pretty good. But they didn't even steal the show - not for me. There was an all-out production going on during the game. Two state-of-the-art video cameras recorded the Greensburg team and following's every move. They recorded the pre-game meeting between the coaches, with a big fuzzy mic held over the two coaches by a professional sound guy. They walked around the court during pregame intros and timeouts recording the players and coaches. The filmed the game, the crowd, the sideline, the cheerleaders and the band.

I was very confused at first. For a second, when I first saw one camerawoman, I thought, oh, Smoky Hills Public Television. They always tape-delay this tournament. A second later, I knew something was up. I saw another cameraman, the sound guy with his huge, fuzzy, Russian-winter-hat-type mic at the end of an adjustable pole. A crew of three or so producers directed the cameras' movement. A couple more directors sidled around, looking for good shots in the arena. This was not a local crew.

Zach White told me that the Discovery Channel has been filming the town of Greensburg for the past six months: town meetings, cleanup, community activities. He said the series on Greensburg is supposed to air in November.

Overall, it was a very interesting night. It was a bit odd to see the Greensburg team surrounded by cameras during timeouts, especially when the realization of the end of their season was settling in. They were down like 20, White was still trying to make adjustments and a big billowy mic lay at the peak of their huddle. Kind of weird.

Overall, though, this was a great story. Greensburg beat Macksville in the sub-state semifinal after losing to them by 25 during the season. In the sub-state final, they beat Moscow on a last-second three-pointer by Andrew Seiler. Seiler, a little guard at 5-5, ended the game against Moscow by catching the in-bounds pass at half-court with 2.8 seconds left and draining a pro-distance three at the buzzer. Seiler hit a three to end the game against Crest, as well, but a series of missed layups and poor outside shooting throughout the game rendered it nil.

Congrats to Greensburg, and fare you well as you continue to rebuild the town. The fact that your basketball team made the state tournament without a home court is stunning and unusual.

On my way to Hays I stopped off in Salina to watch the Colby-Andale girls game in 4A. Colby has a quality post player in Lizza Mazanec, but her game seems limited to eight feet and in and I wonder what she'll do against a physical defender like Bailey Gee of Andover Central. Tasha Wagoner is a 5-8 outside shooter for Colby. I'm not sure what she's capable of off the dribble, though. Colby crushed Andale to stay undefeated.

I tried to rush back to Salina to see Abilene, Andover Central's opponent on Friday, but I didn't make it. All three of these teams remain undefeated in the 4A girls tournament: Central, Colby, Abilene. I will take Central over Colby if they make it to the final, but I have no idea about Abilene, as I didn't get to see them. I think Bailey Gee can dominate Mazanec, and I saw no one on Colby that can begin to stick with Tiffany Bias.

Ok, I'm off the Topeka to watch the Bishop Carroll girls start the state tournament against St. Thomas Aquinas. Then, tonight, I go to Emporia for Wichita Heights boys' 8:15 start against defending 6A champion Blue Valley West. Abby Fawcett of Carroll and Kelton Marshall of Heights - I'm looking for big-time performances.