5 THINGS: The Cream of the Crop, This Rises to the Top

Here are the Five Things for Tuesday, January 31, 2012:

Hoops, hoops, hoops! There are three Narragansett basketball games of note today:

• The Pier School boys' basketball team (11-7, 9-5 Southern Division) continues on in the playoffs, taking on the No. 1 seed from the Central Division, Gallagher Middle School (11-1, 11-1 Central Division) of Smithfield. Tip-off is at 3:30 p.m., and for directions, click here. While the Mariners' record isn't as gaudy as last year, when they were , they still have a formidable scoring backcourt of Jack Clancey and William Doyle. Seventh grader Lance Waranis also scores aplenty from the center spot. The Mariners advanced after . To see the full bracket, click here. If Narragansett wins, they will play 3:30 p.m. Thursday, either at Cole or Ferri Middle School, or hosting Curtis Corner Middle School, depending how the other games finish.
• The high school boys' basketball team (7-8, 5-6 Division II-South) hosts Pilgrim (3-13, 2-9 Division II-East) at 7 p.m. Junior varsity starts at 5:15 p.m. The Mariners currently have four points for state tournament seeding purposes, earning them a tie for the No. 25 slot with Tiverton. Barring an epic collapse, the Mariners should qualify for the state tournament, as all teams in the Top 32 with a .400 or better record qualify.
• The high school girls' basketball team (12-2, 10-0 Division II-South) looks to stay undefeated in Division II play, traveling to Rogers High School (12-2, 10-1 Division II-South) in Newport for a 7 p.m. game. Junior varsity starts at 5:15 p.m. Narragansett handed Rogers its only Division II loss on Dec. 19, beating the Vikings 61-41. For directions to Rogers, click here.

Deja vu! Remember how there was a boys' indoor track meet yesterday, but it was freshman states, so there was no guarantee any Mariners were competing? Welcome to Tuesday, where the girls' indoor track team might be competing at freshman states! The meet is up at the Providence Career and Technical Academy, so check with your favorite freshman to see whether they're competing or not. Any athlete that has qualified for the state meet is ineligible for the freshman states.

“Some people go to The Prout School and would like news too, you know.” I know that lately, unfortunately, we've been slacking with our coverage of Prout. I'm going to try to do my best to remedy the situation though! (I have gotten your other e-mails, and yes, indoor track and middle school sports coverage is also on my “to do” list.) If you have a Narragansett-based Prout student that you'd like to get some props, feel free to send information to narragansett@patch.com. But for now, here is a look at the sports teams in action on Tuesday:

• Girls' (3-2-1, 3-2-1 Division I) and boys' (1-4, 1-4 Division I) swimming hosts the East Greenwich girls' (0-3, 0-3 Division I) and boys' (0-3, 0-3 Division I) swimming teams at the South County YMCA. Given the respective records of the East Greenwich squads, there is a good chance the Crusaders sweep on Tuesday. Both meets start at 6:45 p.m., according to the RIIL.
• Boys' basketball (14-2, 11-0 Division III) travels to the Davies Career and Technical High School (1-10, 1-7 Division III) for a 6:15 p.m. game. Junior varsity is at 4:30 p.m. If you have a player that typically doesn't get a lot of varsity time, well, this would be the perfect game to see them in action, judging from records and past history. For directions, click here. The team currently has a No. 9 seed for the state tournament, thanks to its gaudy record in Division III. However, it is a down year for Division III, and the Crusaders lost their only game played against Division I opponent, a middle-of-the-road Classical team (8-6, 5-6 Division I-East), in Prout's season-opener. Narragansett's Chris DiClemente is a starter for the Crusaders.
• Girls' basketball (9-6, 6-5 Division II-South) will look to rebound from a loss Friday to the aforementioned Mariners, hosting Johnston (8-5, 8-3 Division II-North) at 7 p.m. Junior varsity is at 5:15 p.m. A win is vital for the Crusaders, since six teams in the division have records of either 6-5 or 5-6 in division play. Narragansett and Rogers have a four-game lead on the rest of the division, and Warwick Vets (1-9) and Toll Gate (0-11) have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

Things exist beyond sports, like Hot Coffee. The documentary will be shown twice at on Tuesday, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. For event details, click here. Remember all those joke punchlines in the 1990s about the lady who spilled hot McDonald's coffee on herself and sued them? Well, the documentary explores the truth behind the incident, and why maybe an elderly woman shouldn't have been so ridiculed.

Only 365 days until we can share a beer! Happy birthday, Tyler Seguin! Listen, I won't lie – It is a little depressing to me that you're seven years younger than I am, but you've already won a Stanley Cup and according to AOL News have a contract for $900,000 per year, with incentives that bump the value up to as much as $3.75 million... Now that I think of it, next year, you can buy that beer. (p.s. Ladies, he is allegedly single, according to various gossip boards on the Internet, but he is also allegedly a player on and off the ice. So be careful, make sure you don't get cross-checked. Ha ha ha?)

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