Sorry about the lack of updates recently, but I've been pondering a state tournament that could be more fun than a barrel of monkeys:

Class 1A girls.

It's already been an amazing year, and the best is yet to come. The classification is incredibly top-heavy, as Burlington (11-1), Southeast (11-2), St. Stephens (14-2), Arvada-Clearmont (10-1) and Cokeville (13-1) hold down the top five spots. Every single one has proven they deserve the No. 1 ranking, and believe me -- ordering them every week is one of the toughest tasks I have.

Past those five, though, there are several other teams that have dropped hints that they, too, could compete for a state championship, including Midwest (10-2), Kaycee (7-5) and Hulett (7-5) from the Northeast and Ten Sleep (8-3) and Fort Washakie (6-3) from the Northwest. Some deserving teams won't get past regionals.

This week might help provide some separation -- or maybe just create more parity. In the Northwest, Burlington plays Ten Sleep and St. Stephens (and the Burlington JV plays Fort Washakie in a game that counts in the conference standings), while in the Northeast, Kaycee plays Arvada-Clearmont and Midwest plays Hulett.

Southeast and Cokeville are the undisputed leaders in their respective conferences and might not be challenged by any Class 1A teams until regionals.

And the semifinals and finals of this year's state tournament could be among the best ever. The unbelievable parity of the top five teams all but guarantees that.

Sure, other classifications have similar parity. The difference between 1A girls and the rest of the state is that here we are in late January, and no clear leader (or pair of leaders) has emerged. Instead, the top five of 1A remains a mishmash, one that won't be cleared up until March 1 in Casper.

Posted by patrick.schmiedt@trib.com