To celebrate the three straight weeks of tournament basketball coming to the Civic Center starting this week, the city of Charleston has unveiled a new slogan: Basketball Month in Charleston.
It's an apt phrase, and one that already fits. "Basketball Month" started a couple of days early and its reach has extended past the walls of the Civic Center and throughout the Kanawha Valley. If you have a hankering for hoops this week, there are plenty of places to satisfy it.
Of course there's the tournament that kicks off the celebration at the Civic Center, the Mountain East Conference tournament. Both the men's and women's competitions begin Wednesday and will feature at least two nationally ranked teams on the men's side. Fairmont State hasn't done anything to lose the No. 1 ranking it reached last week. West Liberty came in last week at No. 7, but fell in triple overtime Saturday to Wheeling Jesuit, which sat among teams also receiving votes.
The Hilltoppers should stick around the top 25 and that win might give the Cardinals the push they need to return to the national rankings. Yet if last season's tournament was any indication, star-studded lineups don't always guarantee a shot at the MEC crown. Fairmont State, West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit all were in the nation's top five - West Lib at No. 1, Jesuit at No. 4 and FSU at No. 5. None of them even played for the conference championship. That honor went to Notre Dame College and eventual champion Concord, which upset the Hilltoppers on a breathtaking game-winning shot from senior Rob Reed.
When the MEC clears out, West Virginia's prep girls basketball teams move in. Before they do, they must decide which teams around the state earn their way into the bracket through regional co-final games.
The Kanawha Valley could get as many as five teams into the state tournament field - South Charleston and St. Albans in Class AAA, Winfield and Poca in Class AA and Charleston Catholic in Class A. SC made the state tournament last year and Charleston Catholic was there the year before, but it has been a while for the Red Dragons, Generals and Dots. That all five are a win away from a spot at the Civic Center (and five teams out of 24 available slots would be an impressive haul) makes for an exciting regional round. And Catholic, St. Albans and Winfield all try to take that next step at home.
The boys postseason just recently began, as sectional games started this past Saturday. There might not be a more competitive section in the state than the four-team group in Class AAA Region 3 Section 1. It includes Capital, George Washington and South Charleston, all of whom were ranked in the Class AAA top 10 in the latest state poll. Capital returned to No. 1, while GW sat at No. 7 and South Charleston was at No. 8.
Of those three teams, the most that can reach the regional co-final round is two. Capital plays St. Albans in the first round and GW and SC clash in the other game, the winners of those match-ups playing for the right to host a co-final. So among three of the best teams in West Virginia in their classification, at least one is guaranteed to need a ticket to get to the state tournament after its first postseason game. Those are some pretty high stakes right off the bat.
So if you have a basketball jones - be it college or preps, men's or women's, boys or girls - this week is a perfect one to search for a cure. Basketball Month in Charleston wastes no time in getting good.