Don't tell Metro schools they have no chance

CEDAR RAPIDS - You get this from Marcus Paige.

“He's something else.”

 And this from Josh Oglesby.

 “He's really good. That's about all you can say.”

There's been more said about Harrison Barnes. A lot more.

The Ames superstar is considered the top college recruit in the country and perhaps the best prep boys' basketball player in Iowa history. The consensus is he could have jumped straight to the NBA next year but decided to play at least one season at North Carolina.

Linn-Mar's Paige and Cedar Rapids Washington's Oglesby have played with or against the 6-foot-8 wunderkind in AAU ball and summer pickup games. You sure won't hear anything negative about him coming from their mouths.

“I personally think he is worth the hype,” Oglesby said. “And he's just an overall good kid. He has a 4.0 (grade-point average), focuses on more than basketball. That's all you can ask for.”

Well, Washington can ask for a victory against him. The Warriors play Ames in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state basketball tournament Wednesday in Des Moines.

It'd be hard to find a more prohibitive favorite for a championship than these Little Cyclones, who are on a 50-game win streak - 26 last season and 24 this season. The pairings are set up for Ames to possibly meet all three 4A qualifiers from the Metro: Washington, Cedar Rapids Jefferson in the semifinals and Linn-Mar in the finals.

You can call this tournament the Ames Invitational, if you want, but that doesn't mean anything is being conceded.

“I think that's unfair because it takes away from how well the other seven teams in the tournament have played basketball this season,” said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman, whose J-Hawks are in the state field for the first time since 1999. “Maybe Ames will win it, maybe they won't.”

“It's a great opportunity,” Washington Coach Brad Metzger said. “You've got to go down there and play somebody. At that point, everybody should be pretty good, and they are pretty good. But we play who they tell us to play.”

Todd Tharp of the Iowa High School Athletic Association said he expects some sort of attendance bump this week because of Barnes and Ames, though he's not certain how big because much of Central Iowa already has been able to watch them. Ames has played games at Wells Fargo Arena, Drake's Knapp Center and Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum this season and had a nationally televised game on ESPN.

Ames is beating opponents by an average of 30 points a game. Barnes (who averages 26.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game) is complemented by 6-7 forward Doug McDermott (20.5 ppg and 7.8 rpg), who has signed with Northern Iowa.

“I don't think we're really worried about what the other teams are doing,” said Paige. “I know we're going to give everything we have, focus in one direction, be on the same page and just go in there blazing and try to do the best we can and get as far as we can. That's regardless of who we play.”

Linn-Mar was in a one-possession game late with Ames in last year's championship game before losing by 10. That was without one of its best players, Western Michigan freshman Nate Hutcheson, who was suspended.

They won't say it publicly, but the Lions think they can play with Ames. For that matter, so does Washington and Jefferson.

No team is unbeatable. Right?