Iowa high school boys’ basketball notebook: A look at Class 1A, 2A area districts and substates

The Iowa high school boys’ basketball postseason is upon us. Opening-round games in Class 1A begin Friday, with all of Class 1A and most of 2A getting going Monday.

Here is an in-depth look at the districts and substates involving Class 1A-2A schools from The Gazette area.

Class 1A

District 5: North Linn is the top seed, Don Bosco (13-8) the No. 2. Highland and Cedar Valley Christian are the other area schools in this nine-team district, and they play each other Friday night. No doubt the top-ranked Lynx (18-1) are the prohibitive favorite here. If anyone else wins, it’d be a major upset. This is Substate 3, with the corresponding District 6 comprised of schools from outside the area. Ankeny Christian (17-3) is the top seed, West Fork (17-3) the second seed.

Districts 7-8: Third-ranked Bellevue Marquette (21-1) is District 7’s top seed, with Bellevue (10-9) No. 2. The teams played late in the regular season with Marquette winning by seven. Springville, Midland and North Cedar also are in the district. Dunkerton (17-3) is the No. 1 seed in District 8, with Maquoketa Valley (17-3) the No. 2. Lisbon, Central City, East Buchanan, Hillcrest Academy and Lone Tree are others in it. MV has two losses to North Linn, one to Clinton Prince of Peace and split two games with a good 2A Alburnett club. Dunkerton played Thursday night at North Linn.

Districts 9-10: Sigourney is the only area school in District 9. Fifth-ranked Winfield-Mount Union (16-2) is the top seed, with Burlington Notre Dame (14-5) second and WACO (16-5) third. WMU beat WACO in the regular season. Montezuma (14-7) and Tri-County are the lone area schools in District 10. Fort Madison Holy Trinity (16-5) and North Mahaska (15-6) are the top seeds, respectively.

Districts 11-12: It’s 183 miles between Keota and Lansing, yet those schools are the top district seeds in Substate 6. Keota is 21-0 and ranked sixth, Lansing Kee is 19-2 and ranked 10th. Gladbrook-Reinbeck (16-5) is the second seed in District 11, with English Valleys, Meskwaki, North Tama, BGM, HLV, Belle Plaine and Iowa Valley also in it. Keota and G-R are favorites here. South Winneshiek (13-8) is the second seed in an Upper Iowa Conference-heavy District 12 that also includes Kee, West Central, Elkader Central, Turkey Valley and Clayton Ridge, as well as Starmont and Edgewood-Colesburg from the Tri-Rivers. Give the IHSAA creativity for this substate.

Class 2A

District 5-6: Jesup (15-5) is the lone area team in District 5, and is the second seed. Second-seeded Hudson (19-1) is the top seed and certainly the district favorite. In corresponding District 6, MFL MarMac (18-3) is the top seed and the only one of the seven teams with a first-round bye. Fellow UIC member North Fayette Valley (18-3) is the second seed. Postville, Union Community, New Hampton, Waukon and Oelwein round out the field. All in all, a fairly even group here.

District 7-8: West Branch (15-6) is the second seed in the six-team District 7, with eighth-ranked West Burlington (18-0) the top seed. Burlington Notre Dame is a common opponent of the two, with West Burlington beating it by 13 and West Branch beating it by 10. In District 8, ninth-ranked Monticello (17-2) and Cascade (15-4) are the top two seeds. Monti beat Cascade twice in the regular season. Third-seeded Northeast (13-7) has won nine of 11 games and just beat Monticello.

District 9-10: Mid-Prairie (11-8) is the lone area team in District 9 and is the third seed, behind top-seeded and fifth-ranked Pella Christian (15-5) and second-seeded Eddyville EBF (14-5). Alburnett (18-3) is the top seed in District 10, with Iowa City Regina (14-6) the second seed. Alburnett ended the regular season with a 14-game win streak. Regina lost four of its final five.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com