I think they could be formidable opponents..... but I believe that the strength of Region C overall is questionable. Like George Wythe... they always seem to have some decent athletes.. but the Hogoheegee District is not the same as the district as Altavista's. Playing teams such as Chatham, Gretna and out of out of conference games against really strong AA teams can do nothing but make you tournament tested come time for it. Clarke County, Altavista, and say Northumberland from the East Coast... its a different brand of ball over there. East Coast focuses a lot more on offense I believe that the teams from the West which can help or hurt you come state play. You take a solid defensive team from the West facing a solid offensive team of athletes from the East... it can be a toss up. But you take an undisciplined team of athletes from the East against that same solid team from the West... I believe they then show how the West was won. Castlewood has all the athletes to take it to Richmond and they are by far the best team in the West. I heard on here that Gate City lost to Norton tonight by one at Norton. To me, Gate City is the only team with the capability of taking out Castlewood in Region D play. I believe to do so they will have to bring their "A" game. If Gate City gets by the Quarterfinal round of Region D play and then gets by Twin Valley.. you will have to park at Ma's and Pa's to get to the gym. Well.. that might be an exaggeration but it will definitely be a game where they will have to bring in fire marshals to close the doors to turn away people. I believe it would be that type of game. No matter who wins the Region D this year... Clarke County is the marked team and they have to play through the pressure of trying to repeat... and that is tough. I believe if anyone has a chance to advance to a State Final in Richmond this year... I believe I would rank it......1. Castlewood - because if they do anything they value what they do on the floor and they may have a bad night.. but they can still outsmart you if need be. They have a very nice inside - outside game and they will attack, attack and attack your interior middle all night long as long as you give it to them. But if you shut it off, you better be ready to scramble to the perimeter because they are going to have shooters relocate for the open "3" and trust me.. they can knock it down. The only knock on Castlewood is their bench. You bring dead on, tough ball pressure and they are going to be struggling to get their starters back in without rest. 2. Gate City - showing signs of coming together... if they peak at the right time.. they could be the state's surprise team and could go a lot deeper than most suspect that they could. Keys for Gate City being there in Richmond are going to be how much they grow together as a team and realize that no one person is going to be able to carry them to their final destination. With only one senior on this team... the further that this team progresses together... the more confidence they are going to realize how close to their dream they can really be and how much of a reality it could be come March. Because a state quarterfinal appearance and possibly a state final four appearance later... and you are going to have one hungry bunch of Devils ready to make a run for the state championship next year. If the Devils realize all the potential that their team has now as one unit.... then as Coach K would explain in terms of the "fist"... this fist known as GC is gonna put some teams on the rope and knock them out. If Castlewood and Gate City are the teams in the Region D Final this year... get ready for Ali-Frazier.....its gonna be a good one.