Title Defense Begins Wednesday for Red Knights

After winning 24 of its 29 games thus far in the 2010-11 season, it has come down to this for the girls basketball team: three more victories and the Red Knights will repeat as Class 3A state champions.

"We are just real excited to make it to state for the second time in two years," senior guard Sidney Pilarski said. "Our first goal was to make it back to state. Now that we are here, we just want to go as far as we can."

After closing out the 2010 calendar year with a 4-3 record, BSM went on a tear from January on — the Red Knights are 21-2 since New Year's Day. 

"It's been a great year," BSM head coach Bob Lyons said. "The expectations after winning the state championship last year were that we all wanted to get back to this point, give it another shot and see if we can repeat."

The lone losses for the Red Knights since the calendar turned have come against Eden Prairie, ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, and DeLaSalle, the second-ranked squad in Class 3A.

"The biggest challenge this year has been getting our kids to understand that we are the biggest game on everyone's schedule and that everyone wants to knock off the champ," Lyons said. "Matching our opponent's intensity was a challenge for us early in the season and we suffered three losses before Christmas.

"However, after the break, we came back re-focused and re-energized and since January have been playing some really good basketball."

The Red Knights sparkled in North Suburban Conference play, winning the circuit title by two games over Robbinsdale Cooper with an unblemished 16-0 record in conference contests.

"We needed to stay healthy, have a lot of things fall into place and needed some luck along the way," said Lyons, who is in his 15th season as head coach. "We've had some bumps along the road, but it has been a pretty great year so far."

BSM claimed the No. 2 seed for the Class 3A bracket, ahead of DeLaSalle (the Islanders are 24-4 so far this season), with No. 1-ranked Hill-Murray (28-0) earning the top seed and Alexandria (24-3) taking the four seed. The remaining four teams — Red Wing, Grand Rapids, Marshall and Rogers — were not seeded and placed according to random draw.

The Red Knights, who are 8-1 all-time in state tournament games, drew Marshall for their state opener and will tip-off against the Tigers at approximately 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

"When we were in the tournament in 2006 and 2007, they seeded one through eight and I think the tournaments really worked out well," Lyons said. "When you get random draw, I think it is sometimes not fair, but we're fine — every team, when you get to this point, is playing good basketball and deserves to be here — but if you were to seed the tournament one-through-eight, I don't think it would be the way it is now."

The coach's comments may allude to DeLaSalle. Despite being seeded lower than BSM, the Islanders drew what could be considered a "weaker" team in Rogers, which enters state play with a 15-14 record as opposed to Marshall's 20-6 mark.

"I think Marshall could be the four or five seed," he said. "But there's been years in the past where the one seed has had the toughest game."

As for the tournament's locale, going from playing in a high school arena to the bright lights and grand stage of Williams Arena — and possibly the Target Center for the Class 3A semifinals and finals — provides a challenge of its own.

"It's a great experience and the kids really enjoy playing at Williams Arena and Target Center," Lyons said. "It has a different feel to it, though. Fans are closer to the court, it's louder and the floor is longer and wider."

In order to prepare at least for the different court dimensions, the Red Knights will spend their last day of pre-state practice on the collegiate court at the University of St. Catherine's in St. Paul.

While contending with the different atmospheres the state venues offer, BSM will also be potentially facing a more difficult road than it did en route to its 2010 state title, when the Red Knights defeated two unseeded teams before topping then-fourth seed Hill-Murray for the title.

This time around, if it is able to top Marshall, Lyons' team could face DeLaSalle — the last team to defeat the Red Knights, winning 54-50 on Feb. 8 — in the semifinals before possibly taking on the undefeated Pioneers in the championship game.

Regardless of the opponent, Lyons said his team can only control what it can control.

"We're just going to keep doing what we do and for the most part just concentrate on what we do best," he said. "Hopefully, our best will be good enough."

An opening-round loss would conclude the Red Knights' tournament after just one game, while a win would advance BSM to the semifinals at Target Center for a 2 p.m. match-up on Thursday.

A victory in the semifinals places the Red Knights in the Class 3A title game on Saturday at 6 p.m. in downtown Minneapolis; a semifinal loss puts BSM in the third-place game that is scheduled to be played at the Gangelhoff Center at Concordia University in St. Paul at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"I just want us to play well. When you get this far, that's really what you want," Lyons said. "It'd be a shame to come this far and lay an egg — you really want to just play your best.

"If we come out and don't win, but play well, then we're fine with that."