Well, that was fast.The District 8 Athletic Association schedule has snuck up on us and tips off today, with an interesting formatting change to the schedule.
For starters, the fact that there are 6 senior teams and 8 junior teams means that junior and senior teams (at times) will not always be playing the same school on the same day. This is evidenced today by Resurrection heading to Cambridge, where the juniors will play Monsignor Doyle and the seniors will battle St. Benedict. The St. Benedict juniors, meanwhile, will host PRDG.
PRDG and Monsignor Doyle are the two teams that are not fielding senior teams this coming season.
In junior, the league is going to a partially tiered schedule, to hopefully avoid some of the imbalance and blowouts that happened last year during the usual schedule (teams play each other once at home, and once away).
This year, the 8 teams will play a round-robin format (7 games), and then the top 4 teams at that point will form the "A" division, with the bottom 4 teams forming the "B" division.
The teams will then play 3 additional games against the other teams in their division, for a 10-game total schedule. There will also be an extra playoff round, with teams "B2" playing "A3" and "B1" playing "A4". The winners of those games will advance to the semifinals against A1 & A2, who will have opening round playoff byes.
Anyways, I'll do a more detailed preview post in time, but here's a quick look at today's picks, starting in senior:
Senior - 5pm tip-offs (except RMC, 5:30pm)
Resurrection at St. Benedict
My Pick: RCSS by 15
Two of D8's top scorers will face-off in this one, with Kayla Leusink (who put home 32 points in one game over the weekend) taking on perennial 20+ PPG threat Sarah Schulz and the Phoenix.
I'll go with Rez in this one, although I'm a bit concerned about possible injuries (they were unable to field a team for the final at the WODSS tournament this weekend due to injuries & other commitments). Keep an eye on this one.
Woodland Christian at St. Mary's
My Pick: SMHS by 25
Fresh off of a couple nice wins over the weekend at the ECI tournament, the Eagles should open their 2013 season with a win over the visiting Cavaliers.
St. David at Rockway
My Pick: SDCSS by 9
The league's two bottom teams from a season ago will get the opportunity to get a win right out of the gate. Advantage St. David, who also have some talent moving up from last year's D8 finalist junior team.
Junior - 3:30pm tip-offs (except RMC, 4:00pm)
St. Mary's over Woodland
Resurrection over Mons. Doyle
St. Benedict over PRDG
St. David over Rockway
