Covert vs. WMC | Class-D semifinals | A liberated fan's dream

Covert's Amere May Jr. should have a big game

The basketball that the average fan wants to watch and the basketball that the average coach wants to coach are fundamentally different.  The latter is a style of the game predicated on exact execution of strategically designed plays on both the offensive and defensive end of the floor, while the former is a track meet, wherein players run their tails off up and down the floor and teams alternate buckets like the gym was in a thunderstorm.  They are two distinct and separate styles of basketball that don’t typically meet, but when they do it makes for a heck of a ballgame.

Enter Covert vs. Western Michigan Christian, tonight at the Breslin Center.

Semifinal matchup number-1 in Class-D pits two of the most athletic teams in West Michigan against each other, each manned by a coach who believes his club is at their best when the shots are flying, and so are the bodies.  And you’d better believe us fans are stoked at the possibilities for fast-paced basketball awesomeness that this matchup represents.

It’s funny, reading some of the trash talk from opposing fans on the Mlive forums:

big16….. > Them Doggs just too quick. Go Covert Bulldogs…run em like crazy

oldskoolbulldog67 > I don’t think no one in class-d is as quick and athletic as my Bulldogs. If they run it’s a wrap around the third or fourth quarter

okred997 > (WMC is) extremely quick and love to run, run, run the entire game. You are not going to wear them down. Going to be a track meet. Looking forward to it. great postseason run for the bulldogs, but (Evan) Bruinsma and (London) Burris, the Warriors quickness and size is just too much for a very good Covert team. WMC is just better.

All bias aside, you can feel the energy behind these two teams.  Covert’s is a fanbase that feels slighted by the media for their lack of coverage all year long, and wants to prove everybody wrong with a win over two-time champion WMC.  WMC’s fanbase is accustomed to winning, and winning some more, but while they expect a victory over Covert, they aren’t quite as confident as they might like.

As a liberated fan of the game of basketball, you don’t want to miss this one.

Analysis

Looking at the matchup analytically, all bias aside, each team has the talent to walk away with a victory tonight.  And that uncertainty is only helped by their shared uptempo style of play.  That many possessions, it may come down to who can get hot at the right time.

Covert is lead by all-everything guard Amere May Jr., a 6-foot-2 scoring machine.  May scored 38-points in the quarterfinals and has scored more than 40-points in five games this season and more than 50-twice, including a season high of 57.  It will be difficult for WMC to set their defense to stop May with everybody running at top speed, so look for a big scoring game from the all-stater.  And if the Warriors do manage to stifle May’s scoring output, they’ll be forced to contend with Steven Dean, an outstanding second option from the guard position.

Western Michigan Christian’s up-and-down style, while it has brought them success all season, also plays right into Covert’s hands.  Still, the Warriors have a mammoth sized trump-card in 6-foot-7 all-state forward Evan Bruinsma.  As a relative big-man, Bruinsma has an outstanding ability to run with the guards, and can alter shots anywhere around the hoop on the defensive end.  But perhaps more importantly, Covert has nobody who can guard him on the offensive end.

If you consider the next-level skills of May and Bruinsma a wash when set against each other, the game may come down to the matchup between Dean and WMC’s lightning quick point guard, London Burris.  Burris has a multifaceted offensive game, and can hurt an opponent off the dribble, pass or shot.  If it comes down to this matchup, your guess is as good as mine.

At the end of the day, what we’ve got here is a basketball fan’s dream.  A matchup between two of the most athletic, skillful teams in the state, at the Breslin Center, for the right to play for the state championship.  The only way to lose is if you’ve got a horse in the race.

Prediction

This one could go either way, but WMC’s experience combined with Bruinsma’s height inside will make the difference.  Warriors win, 77-83.

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