The long wait is over for the #3 in 3A Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad. The Panthers will step onto the big stage today at the class 3A State quarterfinals. Knoxville, who is making its fifth appearance in Des Moines, is one of two unbeaten teams playing in Des Moines this week. The 24-0 Panthers drew the #2 seed and will take on 7th seed Cedar Rapids Xavier, who is making its 7th State Tournament appearance. All season long the Panthers have played who is in front of them, and while the talk has always been about the competition on Knoxville’s schedule, both Kaiden Smith and Landen Norris tell KNIA/KRLS Sports that is all talk and they are there to win three more games.

Kaiden: We haven’t seen that in the South Central Conference so that was cool to see and we might have to see it again at State.”
Landen: “The strength of schedule has been a lot of talk and it is now. We’re just focusing on ourselves, and filtering out the noise and even if we don’t play the greatest competition, we’re still solid.”

The Panthers win outside of the South Central Conference with wins over Little Hawkeye Conference teams Pella Pella Christian ,and Oskaloosa plus a win over a team from the Raccoon Rivers Conference and WaMac Conference. Coach Joel Keady tells KNIA/KRLS Sports at this point, it is who can be the better team over the next 32:00.

Keady: “At the end of the day it’s going to come down to who are your guys? We scouted each other and you’ll see who’s the better basketball team for that 32:00 and you may not be the best team overall, but just who can be better over 32:00.”

Turning our attention to Cedar Rapids Xavier, the Saints according to Keady are very guard heavy with three players averaging in double figures led by Zander Murray, who averages 14.3 points per game. The Saints also have size in six feet eight inch A.J. Evans. Cedars Rapids Xavier comes from the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division and currently has a 15-9 record and posted a 7-7 conference record in a 4A heavy schedule. Live coverage from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines will begin at 10:00 with the tipoff scheduled for 10:30 on your radio home for Knoxville Sports 95.3 KNIA.