Wild Bill’s Sports Roundup!

Bill TurnerWell, it’s the Wild Bill Valentine edition.

Since The Chief always expects some kind of holiday gift from the sports department, I guess I’ll have to trod out to Dollar Tree for a mushy card or a Cupid paper clip holder that will look good on his desk. Better yet, since Valentine’s Day falls on Saturday, I can get him some red M&Ms after they’re marked down 50% on Sunday. Either way, Cupid will be in flight like The Chief’s Perfect Polly.

No better way to get this week’s column rolling than a look at the latest “Big-11” Top-3 poll in girls and boys high school basketball, where shakeups give us one new frontrunner and another team comes close to making it two-for-two.

GIRLS:

#1) William Fleming : The Lady Colonels (18-4) take over the top spot with a convincing 28-point win Tuesday night over Rockbridge County. Fleming looks strong heading into postseason play.

#2) Cave Spring : The 17-5 Lady Knights make their first appearance ever in the “Big-11” Top-3. The Knights soared to the second spot after their double overtime win over Hidden Valley Thursday night. It’s the first winning season for Cave Spring in 9 years

#3) Hidden Valley : The Titan girls will be looking to regroup heading into the playoffs after they suffered the loss to Cave Spring. At 19-3 Hidden Valley could still be at the top of the poll by season’s end.

Potential poll breaker: 13-8 Lord Botetourt

BOYS:

#1) William Fleming : The 20-2 Colonels cemented their spot at the top by holding off #2 Northside Monday night in the raucous Viking gym. Fleming looks to be in great shape for one of two top seeds in the upcoming Conference 24 tournament.

#2) Northside : The Vikings came close to a sweep of Byrd and Fleming on their home court in a 4-day span. Despite the loss to Fleming, 17-4 Northside stays in the second slot heading into Conference 31 tournament action.

#3) William Byrd : The Blue Ridge District completes the sweep of the boys Top-3 as the 17-4 Cavaliers returned to winning ways Tuesday night with a 24-point win over Alleghany.

Potential poll breakers: North Cross (18-3); Glenvar (18-3)

We move to the unusual games of the week where last Saturday’s match ups in the Pioneer District between the girls and boys teams of Parry McCluer and Highland provided proof that defense wins games.

In the boys game played in Monterey, the Fighting Blues of Parry McCluer held Highland to 2 points in the second and third quarter, six in the first and fourth, on their way to the 77-16 win.

Not to be outdone in Monterey, the Lady Blues held Highland to three points in the first, second and fourth quarters to go along with a goose egg in the third for the convincing 76-9 triumph.

My guess, somebody used the full-court press.

Last call goes out for Monday night’s Roanoke Valley Sports Club meeting at the Salem Civic Center where veteran college football coach Phil Elmassian will be the guest speaker. A 5:45 social is followed by the 6:15 dinner meeting. Contact Maggie Drewry at 540-353-1103 to make reservations and purchase tickets. Guests and prospective new members are welcome.

Now, to the ever-popular mail bag where one observant reader asks about basketballs falling through the rim rather than bouncing off them.

Dear Wild Bill: I’m always amazed when I watch basketball games how often the ball rims-out or bounces off the rim on a shot attempt. How much extra room is there between the size of the rim and the size of the ball? (Jerry/Roanoke)

Good question, Jerry. Here goes. The rim has an inside diameter (width) of 18 inches. A standard basketball has a circumference (Distance around the outer edge) of 30 inches. Since circumference of a circle or sphere equals pi (3.14) X diameter, the diameter of a basketball is approximately 9.55 inches. So, if the ball goes into the rim perfectly centered, theres 18 minus 9.55 inches= 8.45 inches, divided by 2 = 4.225 inches of room on each side of the ball to the rim. So, on a 3-pointer from 25 feet, you’ve got just over 4 inches of error to avoid the rim. No wonder so many shots draw iron, and no wonder you always learn something when you read this column.

Until next week take your best shot at a question to the mail bag at [email protected]

– Bill Turner

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