Coming Sunday: Girls & Boys District Basketball Brackets
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 12, 2021
District brackets for girls and boys basketball will be drawn Sunday and posted to the MHSAA Website.
The top two teams in each District, based on their Michigan Power Rating (MPR), will be placed on opposite sides of those brackets so the earliest they may face each other will be the District Final.
Games through Saturday will be counted toward MPR, and teams must have at least eight results to be seeded. Only the top two teams receive seeds; the remaining teams in each District are placed using a predetermined order.
The MPR listings on MHSAA.com allow users to see all teams in one list, or teams by Division, or teams by District. Click to see the Girls MPR and Boys MPR lists.
District play begins March 22 for girls basketball and March 23 for boys.
PHOTO: Saginaw Arthur Hill, right, and Flint Carman-Ainsworth are among hopefuls again entering this postseason. (Photo by Terry Lyons.)
#TBT: Hoops Titans Meet in Class A Final
July 26, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The talk of the 1998-99 high school boys basketball season in Michigan revolved around a pair of Class A stars who went on to meet in one of the most highly-anticipated MHSAA championship games in recent memory.
It’s been two decades since Lavell Blanchard led Ann Arbor Pioneer to a 54-47 win over Jason Richardson and Saginaw Arthur Hill, holding off the Lumberjacks’ third-quarter comeback attempt to claim the program’s lone boys basketball championship.
Richardson, who claimed the state’s Mr. Basketball Award just ahead of Blanchard earlier that week, had 16 points, nine rebounds and six steals in only 24 minutes of action with four fouls forcing him off the floor. Blanchard scored a game-high 29 points to go with 14 rebounds in his final prep game, staying on the court for all 32 minutes of the Pioneers’ victory.
Richardson played at Michigan State and then 14 seasons in the NBA, while Blanchard went on to University of Michigan and then played professionally in Europe.
This summer, Blanchard has found his way back to making an impact at the high school level. He was one of 30 first-year athletic directors in attendance at the MHSAA’s New Athletic Director Orientation Program at the MHSAA Office on Thursday and is readying to lead Manchester High School’s athletic department this school year.
PHOTO: Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Lavell Blanchard, left, defends the rim as Jason Richardson drives during the 1999 Class A boys basketball championship game.