High school basketball: Lone Peak, Bingham favored in 5A

OGDEN — The 5A boys basketball state tournament gets underway at the Dee Events Center today, and as has often been the case the past five years, Lone Peak is the team everyone is gunning for.

"They have the best record. They have the best plus-minus win percentage. I would say by all indications that would be the team to beat," said Bingham coach Mark Dubach.

Some believe the 20-win Knights are unbeatable, but Viewmont knows otherwise after handing them their only loss in the preseason. Viewmont coach Jeff Emery chuckles that his team might've got lucky, though.

Inevitably, some teams ended up with easier playoff draws than others, but it's only an easy draw if you take care of business.

Last year is a great reminder that anything can and usually does happen. No. 1 Bingham didn't make it out of the quarterfinals, while Copper Hills was the surprise semifinalist of the tournament and nearly upset Davis to advance to the championship.

This year's tournament will probably feature some upsets as well because quite frankly, there are plenty of question marks about the strength of the four regions.

Today's first round tips off at 9:30 a.m. with West Jordan facing Granger, and wraps up at 9:10 p.m. with Davis vs. American Fork.

For the first time in a while, Davis wasn't the dominant team in Region 1. But was that because it was a down year for the Darts? Or because co-region champs Viewmont and Fremont stepped up to Davis' historical level? If it's the latter, don't be surprised if Region 1 ends up with two teams in the semifinals just like last year.

Murray and West shared the Region 2 title this year with identical 18-3 records, but many believe the glossy records are inflated by an easy schedule. Outside of beating each other, neither has a win over a team ranked in the top 14 of the latest Deseret News top 20 rankings.

Region 3 features two of the best teams in 5A in Bingham and West Jordan, but there's a sizable gap between the two after Bingham swept the season series with double-digit victories.

That's exactly what happened in Region 4 with American Fork and Lone Peak. As talented as the Cavemen are, they buckled in the second half, losing to the Knights in both meetings by double digits each time.