Yodice: Five days of drama and intrigue in Week 2 of state tournament

Welcome, everyone, to the greatest five days of New Mexico’s sports calendar.

You could argue that these ensuing five days contain more excitement than perhaps all the other days of a high school athletic year combined. It’s one long, exhilarating sweet spot, and the state’s most glorious melting pot.

We have arrived at the start of Week 2 of the state basketball tournament, which tips off Tuesday at 8 a.m. inside both the Pit and the Rio Rancho Events Center. There are 80 teams, 70 games and five marathon days in front of us in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Bernalillo.

The higher seeds went a combined 68-12 in the first round. There are a few double-digit seeds who come to the metro area with more remote hopes than others, including the longest shot left on the board, the tiny but entertaining 11th-seeded Shiprock girls.

Let’s see if I can sketch a road map to what’s ahead.

The tip of the arrow is Volcano Vista’s quest for a fifth consecutive Class 5A boys title. The Hawks are the top seed, but their road is fraught with challenges, starting with a quarterfinal showdown Wednesday night against Las Cruces.

District 1-5A has given us nine of the last 10 state champions, plus the top three seeds in the 5A bracket this year. I’ll say it again: it’s difficult to imagine someone other than Volcano, Cleveland or Rio Rancho holding a blue trophy on Bob King Court come 9:30 Saturday night.

Party crashers? Well, don’t sleep on Las Cruces. Definitely don’t sleep on La Cueva.

Sandia has an all-sophomore superstar backcourt who are finally together for the first time all season. Which makes them relevant this week. But the Matadors are probably going to have to go through all three of that dynamic 1-5A trio to win a state championship this week. Doesn’t feel like their time yet, but it’s coming.

Will we get a repeat of Highland-Artesia in the boys 4A title game? It’s seeded to be that way. The Hornets have the most fantastic guard play of any team in the 4A field, and frankly, Highland’s collection of guards is arguably superior to most 5A teams, too.

The girls 5A quarterfinals has brought together pretty much all of the metro area’s elite guards. Abby Pavia of Albuquerque High is here at the Pit for the first time. She’s on that short list of players who are worth the price of admission. Other fantastic guards have been down the ramp before, like Jordyn Dyer of La Cueva, Madi Martinez of Rio Rancho, and Kaiyah Benally of Sandia.

Sandia’s girls are chasing a three-peat, but the Matadors are in the top half of the bracket with No. 1 Hobbs, and the Eagles are clearly the favorite.

Coach Lori Mabrey of Rio Rancho will have an enormous rooting section this week. She sat out as head coach all of last season as her husband, Buster Mabrey, passed away midseason. She returned this season, still hurting and still adjusting. We all miss seeing Buster’s face at Lori’s games.

The 4A bracket received a shot of adrenaline when Gallup beat Kirtland Central in their recent district tournament final, this after losing two league games to KC by a combined 67 points. Are we going to get that pairing on Friday night in the final? (This would give us the best crowd of the week, to be sure.)

Truth is, there’s only one team, from my chair, that could interrupt this seemingly inevitable championship pairing, and that’s Albuquerque Academy. Harper Dunn, the junior transfer from Corona, makes her Pit debut, and the Chargers could run square into Gallup on Thursday morning in the semifinals. The Academy opened its season at Gallup, and it went poorly. The Chargers must be itching for another shot at the Bengals.

Family ties abound. Too many to mention.

Drew Bramlett of La Cueva could follow in the footsteps of his famous father, A.J., if the Bears get into the championship game come Saturday night.

Then there are the Martinez sisters from Rio Rancho: Madi, Lilly and Larissa. They can all play. Cannon Cole is the son of Cleveland head coach Zack Cole.

Not sure if they’ll make it to the Pit, but the formidable — and spectacularly named, right?! — Guck brothers, Zavin and Izon, average close to 40 points a game combined for Cobre.

The Indians first have to deal with Bosque School in the quarterfinals, and what a story this has become emerging from the West Side.

The Bobcats fired head coach Clifton Davidson on Feb. 18, on the last week of the regular season, which still barely computes with regard to the timing of it all. Bosque in the first round — with Davidson sitting in the stands in what can only be described as an incredible flex — beat Cottonwood Classical Prep on a buzzer beater.

Bosque could become a special story over the next five days.

It’s quite rare to have a woman coaching boys basketball, but Menaul’s Anelisia Peña, a former Bernalillo Spartan, is running the Panthers during state because Menaul, like Bosque, fired its head coach near the end of the regular season.

Menaul is coming off a close road win in the first round over Escalante.

All 10 of the defending state champions are still going, including Robertson’s boys, a 10 seed. Remember, the Cardinals won a blue trophy last March having undergone a head coaching change in midseason, so it’s not like Menaul or Bosque School couldn’t follow suit.

So, where will the next five days lead us? Who can say for sure? This is one reason we all sign up so enthusiastically to partake of this week’s joys and pleasures.

Settle in, everyone, and let’s begin.

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.