Sectional review:

So, how'd Winless Watch do in picking sectional titlists? Not that bad and not that well, really.

I said:

WW says to look for Seeger to win its first sectional championship since 1978.

Uhhhh ... close. Seeger fell on Saturday night to Carroll (Flora) - a school that, with the win, won its first sectional championship, so congrats to them! - but the Patriots' drought shall extend to at least 31 years. (And 18-3 looked so much better than 9-12!)

The longest drought broken on Saturday didn't belong to any of the teams with the 25+ year droughts I wrote about last week. Instead, it appears that the longest dry spell snapped was 23 years, by two teams: Daleville and Culver, who both won their first sectional crowns since 1985 last Saturday night.

On the positive side of the ledger, I also indicated that Indianapolis Lutheran was a virtual lock to win its first sectional. And they made it happen, downing University in a sectional final delayed two days due to University's girls playing in their state championship game on Saturday morning. Congrats to the Saints!

Another team I had stated that had a good chance to win its first sectional was Borden, and they succeeded by beating South Central (Elizabeth) on Saturday. While they play a solid Barr-Reeve team in the regional opener this week, don't put it past the Braves to advance; they did, after all, put the only blemish on #2 Orleans' otherwise-perfect record this season.

With the exception of the previously-mentioned Carroll (Flora), all of the other squads who were still alive for their first sectional championship last Saturday night lost. Winless Watch called the Covenant Christian defeat at the hands of Tri-West last week (though I believe Covenant was still ahead in the game's final seconds), while New Harmony, Churubusco and Fort Wayne Canterbury also suffered defeats to put an end to their seasons.

This leaves a grand total of 21 "legacy schools" who have yet to win a boys basketball sectional.

Last week, I listed five other teams aside from Seeger who had a chance to break their long sectional droughts. Morton Memorial, Wabash, Elwood, Union (Modoc) and Union County all fell in their respective sectional championship games.

Also last week, I listed all of the teams who, despite winning 5 or fewer games during the regular season, were still alive for a sectional championship - Elkhart Central, Loogootee, Tri-Central, New Prairie, Fort Wayne Elmhurst, Vincennes Lincoln, Wabash, North White, Springs Valley and New Harmony. They all lost, and the Winless Watch kiss of death is alive and well. Insert various levels of sadness and disgust here.

For what it's worth, there are still a handful of teams alive in the tournament who still have overall losing records on the season despite having won two or three games in their sectionals. The best story of all of these is probably Class 4A's 11-13 Terre Haute North. They are coached by Jim Jones, whose biggest claim to fame is that he coached Larry Bird in high school.

You probably couldn't have found a team with less momentum entering sectionals than the Patriots, having lost 9 of their last 11 regular-season games (including a weather-induced forfeit to Lawrence North on the season's final weekend that school officials refused to make up on Saturday or Monday). But Jones announced before sectional week that this season, his 45th on the bench, would be his last; duly inspired, his Patriots reeled off three victories in the sectional against teams with a combined record of 40-21 (including a 17-3 Plainfield team that many had pegged as the prohibitive favorite of the sectional).

Three other teams, all in Class 2A, enter the regional round with sub-.500 records: Garrett's 10-12 Railroaders, first-time sectional champs Carroll (Flora), also at 10-12, and Tri-West (11-12). And a handful of other squads still alive in the tourney raised their records above .500 during sectional week - 12-11 Peru, 12-10 Rushville, 12-11 Culver, and 13-10 Kankakee Valley.

I'll check in once more before season's end with the final Winless Watch rankings and the Winless Watch Boys' Team of the Year.