Welcome to your winter-weather edition of "The Shoot-around," our little weekly update of Marion basketball rankings, conference standings, look aheads, and all of the other things that we can't fit into a normal week's coverage. ICE STORM '24 If you've as much as looked outside at any point since Sunday afternoon, you'll notice that Mother Nature dumped a heaping helping of the cold stuff on us, and it's already affected Marion hoops. Tonight's home date with Batesville has already been called off and rescheduled for Tuesday, January 30, also at home. All the times and events will remain the same, it'll just be played on the 30th. Our basketball league does a really smart thing when the coaches get together and they build in an inclement weather date just in case something that happened this week happens. It's the first Tuesday after the first seven conference games, which gives teams the chance to make up any date that they may have missed so far in January. The downside is that it's only one date, and if this snow and ice sticks around another day or two, then a second makeup date will be needed as Friday's road trip to Greene County Tech would be in question. THE WEEK AHEAD Speaking of those Golden Eagles, both games carry major implications for Marion at this important junction of the season. Greene Co. Tech is the last remaining unbeaten conference team on the girls side of the 5A East, and the Lady Golden Eagles are outscoring league opponents by 15 points a game through three outings. Marion resides at 1-2 in league action so far, but the Lady Pats have proven competitive enough, splitting overtime decisions against West Memphis and Nettleton, before falling short last Friday night against Searcy. For Coach Shunda Johnson's crew, the last four conference games on the back half of the league slate represent an opportunity to solidify themselves as a state-tournament team, and only the top four remain. Marion plays Friday night at Tech before hosting Paragould (0-3 5A East) on Tuesday, January 23, traveling to Valley View on Friday, January 26, and then the rescheduled Batesville contest on January 30. Should the Lady Pats win three out of four in that stretch, Marion will be right where it needs to be in the playoff hunt. On the boys side, it's been fun to watch these Patriots defend and do the gritty things that you need to do to win games on the margins. Marion has yet to have a dominant offensive showing through three league games, but the Pats have won two by double digits, and topped Nettleton by nine. But the Pats have not played a league game yet outside the friendly confines of Fidelity Bank Arena, and Tech always plays the Pats tough inside Eagle Arena. Marion is very much in the hunt right now for a second straight 5A East title, but mark your calendar for Friday, January 26, when the Pats travel to play the Valley View Blazers, the only other 3-0 team in the 5A East so far this year. You may remember that the Blazers dealt the Pats Marion's only conference loss last season, and it was a contest played under some truly odd circumstances. It was Senior Night at Valley View and it was the last night of the regular season. On top of that, Marion had already clinched the conference title and No. 1 playoff seed, and the game was being played at Valley View's older, smaller gym due to exploding pipes that ruined the Blazer Arena floor December 2022. Valley View protected its home court on Senior Night, pulled off the stunner of the night across the state and made the big dance as the No. 4 seed from the 5A East. You never want to look ahead, especially with a road trip to Tech scheduled for Friday night, but should Marion survive the Eagles this week, it seems possible that the Pats would play the Blazers on January 26 with both teams boasting 6-0 records in the 5A East. This would be a good time to remind you now that Marion's conference and state-tournament games will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel. RANKINGS RUNDOWN The Marion Lady Patriots remained in the ScoreBookLive.com's Top 25 rankings again this week, checking in at No. 18 after splitting a pair of decisions last week. Greenwood (No. 3), Vilonia (No. 8), Nettleton (No. 13), Russellville (No. 14), W. Memphis (No. 15), Searcy (No. 16), Mountain Home (No. 17) are currently ranked ahead of Marion, while the Lady Pats outrank Greene Co. Tech (No. 20), and Lake Hamilton (No. 25) in the comprehensive Top 25 ranking. The Marion boys got a bump in this week's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette "Super Six" ranking, jumping from No. 3 to No. 2 following new No. 1 Benton's victory last week over defending Class 5A state champion Pine Bluff. Pine Bluff tumbles from No. 1 to No. 3, followed by Vilonia, Russellville, and Van Buren. Emmanuel Wade's Patriots also climbed a spot in the ADG's overall Top 10 ranking, moving from ninth to No. 8. Marion found itself hot on the heels of Benton in this week's SBLive.com's weekly Top 25 rankings, as well. The Panthers hold down the No. 5 spot in the state there, followed by Marion at 6, Little Rock Christian at 7, Pine Bluff at 8, and Lake Hamilton at No. 11. Other 5A schools in the SBLive Top 25 are No. 15 Vilonia, No. 16 Maumelle, No. 17 Russellville, No. 18 Mountain Home, No. 19 Nettleton, No. 20 LR Parkview, No. 24 Van Buren, and No. 25 W. Memphis. GIRLS 5A EAST STANDINGS AS OF 1/16 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Greene Co. Tech 3-0 Searcy 2-1 Valley View 2-1 W. Memphis 2-1 Marion 1-2 Batesville 1-2 Nettleton 1-2 Paragould 0-3 BOYS 5A EAST STANDINGS AS OF 1/16 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Marion 3-0 Valley View 3-0 Nettleton 2-1 Searcy 1-2 Greene Co. Tech 1-2 Paragould 1-2 W. Memphis 1-2 Batesville 0-3 Top 4 teams make this year's state tournament in Searcy FRIDAY NIGHT'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Weather permitting Marion at Greene Co. Tech Searcy at Valley View Nettleton at Batesville W. Memphis at Paragould