Jeff, Wash facing surprising substate opponents

CEDAR RAPIDS - Not exactly who they thought it'd be. Not exactly that Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Jefferson mind.

The Warriors and J-Hawks aren't going to say it publicly, but there must have been an internal, collective “yippee” last Friday night when they found out who they were playing in tonight's Class 4A substate final round.

Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines is the site for the 2011 Boys' Basketball Tournament.

Washington gets Dubuque Hempstead in an 8 p.m. game at the U.S. Cellular Center. Jefferson draws Waterloo West at 7 at UNI's McLeod Center.

“I think it's kind of a relief,” admitted Jefferson's Alec Saunders. “We just have to be ready to play (West) now.”

Not that Hempstead or West are bad basketball teams or anything. It's just the alternatives for Jeff and Wash were a lot scarier.

Hempstead (11-12) shocked top-seeded Cedar Rapids Kennedy at Kennedy in its substate semifinal, a Kennedy club that beat Washington (16-8) twice in the regular season. The Warriors played Hempstead once and won by 13 points in Dubuque.

West (9-14), meanwhile, stunned top-seeded Cedar Falls, a team that won at Jefferson in early February. The J-Hawks (16-5) smoked West in the regular season by 30 points.

“I told my staff that Waterloo West was kind of a spooky team,” said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. “They've really been playing better, they do some unusual things, they're very athletic. So I was kind of making arrangements to get some other tapes on them.”

Turned out to be a prudent maneuver.

“With Hempstead beating Kennedy, too, which some people would say is even more of an upset, I think it speaks to how tough the MVC is,” Ordman said.

The possibility of getting three Metro teams to state in 4A for a second consecutive year is very much alive. Top-ranked Linn-Mar (22-0) is a prohibitive favorite in its 6:30 substate final against North Scott (16-6) at the U.S. Cellular Center.

Amazingly, half the 4A field could be from the Mississippi Valley Conference. Iowa City West (18-4) has a substate final tonight at Muscatine against Davenport West (19-3).

Iowa City West has won 14 in a row despite five of its top six starters being freshmen, sophomores or juniors.