The state tournament brackets are set, so it’s time to further dissect the baseball playoffs. Here is the primer that ran in the paper on Friday. However, the seeds weren’t set before our print deadline, so for all you loyal online readers here’s a more in-depth breakdown. As I said in the outlook, the randomness of the matchups is going to play a big role in how the playoffs play out, and that looks to be the case. Here are my thoughts on what will happen in the first two …

Arcadia senior outfielder Brendan Satran is closing in on the 4A/Division II career stolen base record. The Titans’ leadoff hitter has 15 stolen bases this season in 22 games to lift his total to 70, which is closing in on the record of 74 bases Mike Nixon swiped when he starred at Sunnyslope.
Satran is batting .418 this season and has scored 28 runs for Arcadia, which is ranked fifth in the Tribune’s latest Division II rankings.
Arcadia has five regular season games left and then an undetermined amount of postseason contests. …

It’s time for my third annual ‘February Frenzy’ bracket challenge, where I face off against nobody in a quest to fill out the perfect bracket. Here are the Division II predictions. Division I can be found here.
Division II
First round: No. 16 Flagstaff over No. 17 Bradshaw Mountain; No. 9 Saguaro over No. 24 Thunderbird; No. 12 Poston Butte over No. 21 Youngker; No. 13 Sunnyslope over No. 20 Douglas; No. 19 Apollo over No. 14 Cactus Shadows; No. 22 Tempe over No. 11 Coconino; No. 10 Nogales over No. …

It’s the final go-round of regular season games for girls basketball. Everything wraps up Friday night and Sectionals from each Division begin next Tuesday, with semifinals set for Thursday night and championship games on Friday night, Feb. 10  (Division IV girls are Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday).
The top eight teams in each Section advance to the Sectional Tournament, which is single elimination. If a team wins its first game in the Sectional Tournament it should advance to the state tournament.
(All games are 7 p.m.  and records are PP games only through Monday).
Pinnacle at St. …

The three-week crush is on everywhere to get one of those 24 playoff spots come February. Appetites were whetted by the terrific Chandler-St. Mary’s matchup last Friday night, but more good stuff is coming quickly.
(All games at 7 p.m.  Records are power point games only as of Monday, Jan. 9).
Xavier at Highland (Monday):  Talk about starting off the week with a bang, the Gators (6-2) and Hawks (6-1) could meet again after this, somewhere along the lines of a state quarterfinals matchup. If you like shooting, defense and fundamentals, this …

Arcadia boys basketball star Larry Lewis won’t sign with Southern California this year, Titans coach Luke Neibling said.
(EDIT: Actually, Neibling called back to clarify this isn’t a done deal quite yet. Lewis is taking his SATs soon, and if he can improve his scores enough, it could be good enough to get him into USC. The Trojans still have a scholarship offer on the table for Lewis and he would still like to go there if he is accepted).
The 6-foot-3 senior shooting guard has been committed to the Trojans since …

The Arcadia girls basketball team captured the tournament title at its own Lady Titan Winter Hoops Classic on Wednesday night.
The Titans defeated Saguaro, 48-27, in the championship game. Arcadia was the only undefeated team in the tournament, finishing 5-0. Saguaro went 4-1 for second place, as did Buena, which finished in third by defeating Horizon 39-26 in the third place game.
Here are the teams from the East Valley that participated, their record in the tournament, and what placed they finished in:
1. Arcadia (5-0)
2. Saguaro (4-1)
4. Horizon (3-2)
10. Marcos de …

The championship game is set for the Lady Titan Winter Hoops classic, a girls basketball tournament at Arcadia.
The host Titans have advanced to the title game, where they will take on Saguaro at 6:30 p.m.
Arcadia defeated Cibola, 43-32, in the quarterfinals and Buena, 51-41, in the semis to make the championship. Saguaro beat Liberty, 53-38, and Horizon, 47-40, to get there.
Horizon and Buena will face off in the third place game at 5 p.m.

Arcadia will host its third version of the Lady Titans Winter Hoops Classic beginning Monday at Arcadia H.S.
There will 22 teams participating among seven pools in the three-day tournament at Arcadia High School (4703 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix) in both the main gym and auxiliary gym.
After a couple days of pool play the semifinals will be Tuesday (Dec. 27) at 6:20 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. , which ends with the tournament championship game on Wednesday (Dec. 28) at 6:30 p.m.
The third-place game is Wednesday (Dec. 28) at 5 p.m. …

The Division III postseason begins on Friday. Below are my thoughts on how each round will play out. I’ll publish my Division II predictions on Tuesday and Division I predictions on Wednesday.
Division III
First round schedule: No. 16 Campo Verde at No. 1 Sabino; No. 9 Thunderbird at No. 8 Williams Field; No. 12 Sunrise Mountain at No. 5 Saguaro; No. 13 Douglas at No. 4 Queen Creek; No. 14 Desert Edge at No. 3 Cactus; No. 11 Agua Fria at No. 6 Nogales; No. 10 Peoria at No. 7 Arcadia; …