By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Bishop LeBlond boys' basketball team is having their final practice at Grace Gymnasium on Wednesday before departing for Springfield that same afternoon.
Their game isn't until Friday evening. The Eagles are leaving early to get a jump on Thursday's snow.
"It's going to be weird," junior Jake Korell said, "just practicing and just not doing anything the whole day Thursday. So, it'll be interesting."
It's an unexpected wrinkle, but that's not always a bad thing. This season has had a lot of twists and turns for Bishop LeBlond, and in the end, it's resulted in the Eagles' first trip to the Final Four in boys' hoops since 2002.
"It's been really exciting, you know," said senior Chris Guldan, who eclipsed 1,000 career points earlier this season. "We're looking forward to going down there and competing. Hopefully, we get to the championship game and win it all."
LeBlond (20-10), district runners-up to North Andrew the season prior, won their first district title since 2015 after beating the Cardinals 39-33 in Rosendale.
They went onto beat Gallatin in sectionals and Lakeland in quarterfinals. Now, the Eagles go for their first state championship in boys' basketball since 1977 in just their fourth ever Final Four appearance.
LeBlond didn't have a winning season in boys' basketball from 2016-2020. Girres' first season concluded in 2017, and the Eagles had single-digit wins in three of his first four years.
But after a 16-11 mark in 2020-21, the team started to believe.
"The last couple of years have been tough," senior Alex Libel said. "But I mean, to have so much success this year, it's been amazing. It's been awesome.
"And we always told them, 'Just relax,'" Girres added. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get there and for them to see that pay off, to see those butt kickings we took for a couple of years pay off now, it makes it that much better now I think for them to understand how much work we put into it."
It's been quite the year for Girres, who was named LeBlond's new athletic director this past July. He's also the head coach of the Eagles' boys' golf team - a team that won its fourth state title this past May in Girres' first year as the head man.
"I can't even put it into words," Girres said of the experience. "It's been incredible. I got an opportunity for my golf boys to win a state championship. Some heartbreak with losing in the district championship last year, our basketball team, but to follow that up with the run we've had this year, we couldn't have asked for a better year."
LeBlond faces No. 1 ranked Norwood (29-1) in the state semifinal on Friday night at 8 p.m. at JQH Arena in Springfield - a team that finished third at state last year.
It's a big challenge and the Eagles are underdogs on paper, but that's a position they're used to.
Hitting above their weight is what LeBlond has done all season. The Eagles have played in 16 games against opponents in Class 3 and above this season. They went 4-1 against Class 3, 6-4 against Class 4 and 0-1 against Class 5.
They also played teams like Stanberry and Mound City in Class 1 - both 20+ win teams, both district champions and Stanberry is Final Four bound in Class 1 as well.
"We've kind of been the underdogs all the way through the playoffs," Girres said. "I think that just kind of drives us. It's fine with us if we're not expected to win, because our kids are just going to compete and play like it's any other game. So, whoever it is, we just have to go play that next game."
LeBlond boys' basketball is the fourth Golden Eagle team to reach a Final Four in less than a year's time, joining boys' golf, girls' tennis and volleyball.
Making the Final Four is hard to do. Winning it is even harder. It's been 45 years since LeBlond boys' basketball has won it all, but Girres is confident that if his team keeps doing what they do best, they'll give themselves a chance to win.
Heck, it's gotten them this far, and it's been 20 years since they've even reached the Final Four.
"Be appreciative of it," Girres told his team. "Enjoy the moment, but at the same time, not put a whole lot of pressure on themselves and feel like they have to go do anything other than what we've been doing all year. That's the key - trying to make them understand that it's just another game."
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.