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It’s the time of year when, if a state resident is ever going to get excited about high school basketball, the moment has arrived.

There’s a story elsewhere in this sports section about the Scott boys team anticipating a tournament run.

Meanwhile, the girls of West Virginia will see their tournaments begin even sooner. The sectionals are set from February 18 through 23; the regionals are February 26-28; and the state tournament is scheduled for March 6-9.

Generally speaking, the boys schedule is a week later than the girls, as outlined in the article in this issue.

Any time the post-season rolls around is exciting for fans, players and coaches. Hope, as they say, springs eternal within the human breast — particularly in athletics. (Of course, I still hope to land the pretty girl half my age, which really proves that hope is eternal).

Scott and Head Boys Coach Nick Cabell have reason to be optimistic as tournament time approaches. They have won games over virtually all of their regional tournament opponents, thus assuring local fans that wins are possible at tourney time.

In addition, Scott has built a solid reputation for doing well in the post-season. It would not, then, surprise anyone to see the Skyhawks in the Charleston Civic Center come early March.

As Cabell has said, a great deal will be determined about the Scott fate by how they perform during the closing of the regular season. As he pointed out when interviewed last week, three wins are key to seeding for the Hawks in their tournament.

Speaking of “seeding,” it has long been my belief that this is the correct term for what places teams in certain positions at tournament time. Some folks, though, have typically referred to the practice as “seating.” I see where the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (SSAC) uses the latter term on its Website.

While I don’t think we could prove “seating” is incorrect, the term generally refers to how high a team is placed based on its prior record. That, it seems to me, is “seeding” not “seating,” but what do I know.

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Everything, that’s what. Just ask my previous readers. I have been proven to be right 99.2 percent of the time. Hamlin’s loss is definitely Madison’s gain. And, believe me, they are mourning my departure in Lincoln County.

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On the subject of fans turning out to root the local team on, it is noticeable when the Skyhawk cheerleaders are not on the sidelines, firing up the fans. It was a very quiet Scott crowd in the make-up game at Sissonvile a couple of Saturdays ago. In no small part, this was because there were no Hawk cheerleaders on the floor to incite the fans.

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Sticking with my subject, it will be great when the 30-ish lady decides I am the man of her dreams. Oops. Wrong subject; this is supposed to be a sports column not advice to the lovelorn.

My subject. My subject. It was, uh ….

Oh, I know … how fans can help their teams to victories. That WAS it! I think.

Who can forget the bedlam in the Scott cheering section when “Kingery’s Krazies” took charge? Now, nobody expects current Coach Cabell to be as colorful as former Coach Jason Kingery (in fact, Bobby Knight is likely not as colorful as Kingery), but I wonder if a shot of “Cabell’s Crazies” night not be just what the doctor ordered,

It would be great to see the student body get behind this year’s Skyhawks in a powerful way as the season rolls to a conclusion.

In other words, get out those “Cabell’s Crazies” shirts and fire up the crowd.

With Coach Cabell in charge, we can even spell “crazies” correctly.

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I mentioned last week my opposition to most school consolidations. In nearby

Lincoln County, state school administrators recommended that the county’s four

Class A (Duval and Guyan Valley were occasionally Double A) high schools be consolidated into two. Voters rejected a school bond issue that would have facilitated those two schools years ago. So, when the state school board assumed control of Lincoln County schools, high school consolidation was at the top of their list of “improvements.”

Instead of designing two high schools for Lincoln, though, the state board built just one within the county at Hamlin. The move effectively meant Harts area students were redirected to the new Chapnanville Regional High School. It also meant that top-notch athletes from the Sod-Alum Creek area would attend classes in neighboring counties.

One top choice for Sod-Sumerco residents is to head across the hill to Scott rather than traveling the crooked road to Hamlin. Another factor in student-athletes coming to Scott instead of Hamlin is that, at Scott, they have at least a shot at winning state championships. Heretofore, the only state championship Lincoln County High can contend for is girls softball. Otherwise, the athletic program is in shambles.

Now, Lincoln school administrators are attempting to drive all Alum Creekers to Scott, South Charleston or George Washington High.

A bond to be voted on February 23 would close Midway Elementary School in Alum Creek and move it to a consolidated elementary (with Duval) at Sumerco. While anyone who looked at the “jungle” where the board proposes to build a new road and school would dismiss it out of hand, the move just makes no sense for stability in the county’s schools anyway.

Alum Creek parents line the road beside Midway Elementary, letting their children out for classes and then traveling on to Charleston where nearly all of them work. Nobody believes these same folks are going to drive 15 minutes to Sumerco to let their children out and then turn around and head back the same eight to ten miles to head to Charleston. Instead, even elementary students will be going to Alum Creek Elementary or Ruthlawn Elementary in Kanawha County.

If Lincoln officials force Alum Creekers toward Kanawha County for elementary school, who figures they will switch back to Hamlin at high school time? Additionally, children in McCorkle, Woodville and Alkol will likely turn to Madison schools if forced to choose between them and Sumerco.

Thus, February 23 may be a red-letter day for Scott High School sports. Although I think it is unlikely the bond will pass, Lincoln school administrators are trying to drive Alum Creek-McCorkle students to other counties, just as they did the Harts high schoolers. Since the tax increases would not apply to Boone Countians, I think we all should get out and work for the passage of this bond to assure Scott High of a continuous supply of quality athletes from the neighboring county.

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Those who cannot make it to Scott games in person are always reminded to access live coverage by googleing wvsportsnet.com on the Internet. Once there, click the link at the top of the home page for all the Skyhawk action.