By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
For the first time since 1992, the Benton boys basketball team will compete in the Final Four, starting today.
Head Coach Jared Boone says while he's told his players it's ok to take step back and realize how special this opportunity is, he's also reminded them to think back to the offseason, and remember this was the goal
"To get down here and have an opportunity to play for a state championship, and it's like you guys have achieved that but we're not satisfied with this, because we want to win," Boone tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "Just kind of keep reminding them of that and allowing them to take it in, but also not making it seem like oh it's state so there's a lot of pressure blah, blah, blah, it's like no it's just another game on the schedule."
For the first time ever, both the Benton boys and girls basketball teams will be competing for a state championship, at the same time.
Boone says a lot of people in the southside of St. Joseph know how important this is
"They know the specialness of this and the importance of this," Boone says. "And so I've been making jokes to my wife and everybody it's like man I hope people lock their houses up, because the whole south end could get robbed because nobody's going to be down here the next couple days."
Girls head coach Chris Michaels says this is special, and adds after serving as an assistant under Boone, it's something he knew would happen sooner rather than later
"We knew Boone would be there but to be able to be there with him and the both of us going and supporting each other and basically having a built in crowd that travels with you is something that's special, and will never be forgotten," Michaels explains.
The Benton girls basketball team went to two straight Final fours before missing out last year. This year, they are back in Columbia looking for a state title.
Michaels says his message to his girls coming into this season was to remember what it felt like to not be part of the final four.
"We just kind of got surprised a little bit last year and I think we thought it was going to be easy to make it again," Michaels says. "What we did this year is we came in and made sure we understood it was going to take everyday getting better in order to do our goal, and so we've done that and we've gotten better every single time we touch the floor, and we're very intentional in what we do."
Both the boys and girls are in action today, both against Logan Rogersville. The boys tipoff at 4pm, the girls at 8pm in Columbia. The championship and third place games will be Saturday
INTERVIEW WITH JARED BOONE
INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS MICHAELS
FRIDAY JOURNAL
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