NW Arkansas Combined 3A/4A conference in 2016-2017

[beach bum]

The league will have an 18 game conference schedule that consists of seven 4A and three 3A schools. The league will be Greenland, Elkins, and Haas Hall with the 4A schools being West Fork, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Gentry, Gravette, Pea Ridge, and Shiloh Christian. These are not particularly stout 3A teams so they will struggle mightily before they re-seed for their 3A conference tournament. What do teams have coming back? Here is how I see it....

1)Pea Ridge- they return tons of talent
2) Shiloh Christian- another year with that coach and I think they take a good step forward
3-5)Prairie Grove, Gentry, Gravette- there should be a little of a battle for the next tier of teams
6-8)Lincoln, West Fork, Greenland- I see these teams not being the worst but not quite at the level to compete near the top of the league
9 &10)Haas Hall and Elkins- Haas Hall played well at the end of the year so they will struggle still but won't nessacarily get beaten like a drum as first thought. Elkins just doesn't have the talent to play with 4A schools


..... Huntsville and Berryville may get hurt by playing so many 3A schools in their combined conference and not seeing good weekly competition but luckily for them the 3A schools they will play are at a different level than the ones in NWA. Valley Springs and Marshall just had really good years and Bergman is usually solid. Then obviously Huntsville & Berryville will be re-plugged back into the 1-4A after the regular season for their conference tourney.

[pridgehog]

It would have been nice of the AAA to allow the 3A and 4A teams to only play 1 time to allow them to schedule games that would help them get prepared for Post Season. Very bad deal what they have done. 

[beach bum]

It would have been nice of the AAA to allow the 3A and 4A teams to only play 1 time to allow them to schedule games that would help them get prepared for Post Season. Very bad deal what they have done.

I agree.... Pea Ridge will coast through this league next year. Anything less than lets say a 16-2 conference record would be a let down for them. Only a few of their games will be tough on the road. I'll say they only lose once next year in conference play with what they have coming back and win the league by 2 or 3 games pretty comfortably ahead of the 2 seed.

[beach bum]

Pea Ridge will be loaded... rumor is they just got Farmington's best player. They will be up there with Arkansas Baptist challenging them as a state contender IMO if the rumor is true.

[BigMan15]

With the talent they already had plus adding Thomas will be huge for them!! I look for them to make a big run!

[HawgDaddy]

The league will have an 18 game conference schedule that consists of seven 4A and three 3A schools. The league will be Greenland, Elkins, and Haas Hall with the 4A schools being West Fork, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Gentry, Gravette, Pea Ridge, and Shiloh Christian. These are not particularly stout 3A teams so they will struggle mightily before they re-seed for their 3A conference tournament. What do teams have coming back? Here is how I see it....

1)Pea Ridge- they return tons of talent
2) Shiloh Christian- another year with that coach and I think they take a good step forward
3-5)Prairie Grove, Gentry, Gravette- there should be a little of a battle for the next tier of teams
6-8)Lincoln, West Fork, Greenland- I see these teams not being the worst but not quite at the level to compete near the top of the league
9 &10)Haas Hall and Elkins- Haas Hall played well at the end of the year so they will struggle still but won't nessacarily get beaten like a drum as first thought. Elkins just doesn't have the talent to play with 4A schools


..... Huntsville and Berryville may get hurt by playing so many 3A schools in their combined conference and not seeing good weekly competition but luckily for them the 3A schools they will play are at a different level than the ones in NWA. Valley Springs and Marshall just had really good years and Bergman is usually solid. Then obviously Huntsville & Berryville will be re-plugged back into the 1-4A after the regular season for their conference tourney.

Bergman hasn't been good since winning 28 games in 2012.  Since then, they've won 18, 15, 10, and 9. Trending downward in the past 4 seasons under the current coach.  Most of their talent has transferred out of district.   

[beach bum]

lets not give Pea Ridge the crown yet, this same group of kids they have now still has not made it out of regionals. I think they are hurt with the fact that the 4a-1 was awful last year and will be worst this year,its hard to  get stronger as the season progresses playing such bad teams.

You do know one person out of 5 players makes a huge influence in basketball right? Look at what one impact player out of 11 does in high school football. With that addition on top of Pea Ridge already being good they will go to the top 3 or 4 teams in 4A! Looking down that line I have no idea how Pea Ridge does anything less than a 17-1 conference season. The conference had a quarterfinalist. That isn't all that "weak". That doesn't equal a tough conference but that certainly isn't a weak conference either.

[Ole Legend]

I think Pea Ridge will go undefeated through conference play. Matt Thomas from Farmington is now at Pea Ridge, and they return a ton of talent. They only graduated one, and he struggled through injuries for the past two years.

[Pipedream1]

Sounds like Pea Ridge may make a run.

[TigerMan2005]

They were considered state contenders multiple times and havent even made it to state with that coach

[Ole Legend]

They were considered state contenders multiple times and havent even made it to state with that coach

"That coach" is extremely young. 26 years old I believe. Pea Ridge will be a top 5 team in the state ALL year. They have Farmingtons best player from last year, and they are returning a two time all state point guard.

[Trojanball24]

Who are the top ten players in this conference? If PR is 1 who is 2 and 3?

[pridgehog]

Who are the top ten players in this conference? If PR is 1 who is 2 and 3?

If you look at the District and how it aligns once the 4A teams Join up for the District tourney, I think it will look like this.
Pea Ridge and Huntsville both undefeated in League going into the tourney so I can't say which would be 1 or 2.

3 Shiloh
4 Gravette
5 Prairie Grove
6 Berryville
7 Gentry
8 Lincoln

[Ole Legend]

As the season gets closer and closer. Who are teams playing first, and what benefit games are going on this year? I know the Pea Ridge boys are playing Rogers on Tuesday night, and the Pea Ridge girls got off to a good start in the Green Forrest tournament this past week!

[Trojanball24]

Recently moved to Lincoln how good is this conference I may watch some games this year? How is Lincoln?

[Ole Legend]

Conference play starts this upcoming week. Pea Ridge travels down to Elkins. What other matchups are this week?

[beach bum]

Haas Hall and Prairie Grove play Tuesday. Haas Hall is really small, but moves the ball quite well around the perimeter. They can definitely beat Prairie Grove with PG having very vital pieces still in football.

[beach bum]

Recently moved to Lincoln how good is this conference I may watch some games this year? How is Lincoln?

This conference is usually so so.... Not the worst, but not the best. Huntsville is in the 1-4A and usually a very steady good program. They however are in the other combined conference. Pea Ridge is on the rise in every sport basically including basketball and have tons of talent. Lincoln will have the occasional good team here and there but not a yearly top player in the conference.

[Ole Legend]

This conference is usually so so.... Not the worst, but not the best. Huntsville is in the 1-4A and usually a very steady good program. They however are in the other combined conference. Pea Ridge is on the rise in every sport basically including basketball and have tons of talent. Lincoln will have the occasional good team here and there but not a yearly top player in the conference.

Pea Ridge has been good at basketball for a while. 2011-2013 they were the team to beat in the 1-4A. In the 2012-13 season they beat all the local 7a teams except Bentonville.

[Brian G]

In the 2012-13 season they beat all the local 7a teams except Bentonville.

Define "local".

[Ole Legend]

Define "local".

Rogers, Heritage, Harber, Southside

[pridgehog]

Pea Ridge has been good at basketball for a while. 2011-2013 they were the team to beat in the 1-4A. In the 2012-13 season they beat all the local 7a teams except Bentonville.

I remember in 2012-13 they had this Horton kid who had unlimited range. Could hit threes from 30 feet like they were layups!

[Ole Legend]

I remember in 2012-13 they had this Horton kid who had unlimited range. Could hit threes from 30 feet like they were layups!

The older Hall kid was a stud that year. They had a move in from Bentonville (DeLeon), and lost one of their better post players to a torn ACL right before the season.

[Brian G]

Rogers, Heritage, Harber, Southside

Gotcha. 

[beach bum]

Pea Ridge has been good at basketball for a while. 2011-2013 they were the team to beat in the 1-4A. In the 2012-13 season they beat all the local 7a teams except Bentonville.

Pretty good to me means winning in the postseason.... They couldn't do that either when I was in high school years ago too with good regular season teams then also.

[beach bum]

Gotcha.

Those are cellar dwellers of the old 7A West... Once Barnes was no longer a coach Rogers fell badly. We beat Springdale in high school but they stunk to high heavens then so it didn't mean anything too.

[Ole Legend]

Pretty good to me means winning in the postseason.... They couldn't do that either when I was in high school years ago too with good regular season teams then also.

In 2011 Pea Ridge was regional runner up to Clarksville, 3 time state champs, and went on to win a game at state and then lost to Hunter Mickalsens team.

[Ole Legend]

Those are cellar dwellers of the old 7A West... Once Barnes was no longer a coach Rogers fell badly. We beat Springdale in high school but they stunk to high heavens then so it didn't mean anything too.

A 7A team should still beat the smaller schools regardless of how good they are in conference.

[Brian G]

Those are cellar dwellers of the old 7A West... Once Barnes was no longer a coach Rogers fell badly. We beat Springdale in high school but they stunk to high heavens then so it didn't mean anything too.

I'm very familiar with the 7A West.  Few here know more than me.
In that season(12-13), SDale made the finals.  I knew that PR didn't beat Fayetteville either. I was just interested in the definition for clarity.

[Brian G]

A 7A team should still beat the smaller schools regardless of how good they are in conference.

Not a slam dunk.  It takes less players to be good at basketball and a good coach can make waves.  It just depends on the year.  Plus it depends on what time of year you play them.  One might be short some football players.

It's not the exact same but this year I'd say almost every one of the Top 10 teams in the state are from 6A and 5A.  At least right now.