West Metro playoff outlook

Playoff pairings officially came out today, and there’s some drama in line for the West Metro, particularly on the girls side. Here’s a glimpse at the playoff outlook for each of the West Metro hoop squads:

Putnam City North

Boys: Oddly, PC North jumped ahead of Norman North in the statewide rankings, but among east-side voting for the seeds, Norman North held onto the No. 4 spot. That’s where the Panthers will go, opening with Sapulpa, which is a solid No. 12 seed, despite the 7-11 record. Of course, it only takes a first-round win to advance to area, but you’d rather be in the winner’s bracket. So it’ll likely take beating Norman North on its home floor to get there. Assuming PC North goes 2-0 in regionals, it would be top-seeded Broken Arrow waiting in the next round, and that’s a good matchup for PC North, because of the similarities of the teams, but we’ll get into that more if it happens.

Girls: The addition of JohVonna Mitchell will give the Lady Panthers a boost. The key will be learning to play with her on the floor over the next three games. They ended up in the 8-9 game on the east side, opening against Sand Springs. Ironically, the PC North girls also got sent to Norman North, where they’ll likely face the top-seeded hosts if they advance.

Putnam City

Boys: No big surprises here, the Pirates are hosting as the No. 3 seed on the west and will face West Metro foe Yukon in the first round, with either Lawton Ike or Edmond North in the next round. Most intriguing would be the area winner’s bracket game of PC-PC West, should both teams advance. With the excitement that series has generated this season, a meeting with a state tournament berth on the line would be wild stuff.

Girls: Coaches showed a lot of respect for Putnam City, moving them ahead of Lawton, which is ranked five spots higher than PC, for the No. 5 seed in the west. Putnam City will head to fourth-seeded Norman for the regional tournament, opening against Lawton Ike. Despite the loss to Yukon last week, the Lady Pirates are still a good team ready to make an impact in the postseason. Interestingly, depending on how things work out for PC, it could get another shot at Yukon in the area tournament.