(CSIHS practice on Wednesday)
At 3 this afternoon, we’ll be covering the Chief Sealth International High School game vs. Seattle Prep in Bellevue – a game that’s technically for “seeding” purposes for the upcoming state tournament, which the Seahawks are in, regardless of whether they win. WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand talked with head coach Colin Slingsby for a preview – read on:

For four out of the past five years the Chief Sealth Seahawks got close, one-game close, but they never made it to state.

That changed Tuesday night when they beat Mercer Island to move on to today’s seeding-round game against Seattle Prep. Looking back, Coach Slingsby said he noted the passage, thinking about this year’s senior-laden team and all those kids who graduated – the seniors who never got this far. It’s the first time in about 10 years that Sealth has gone to state and while Slingby says it’s time to review the tournament just past, it’s also time for his players to understand that this is about taking it one game at a time.

One game at a time starts with facing Seattle Prep, a team the Seahawks lost to (57-50) a little over a month ago. Slingsby says he thinks this is a far-different matchup, as his team has been through several big games since then. Those games include their win over Bellevue at the King Holiday Hoopfest at UW, and the 3- and 4-point losses to Rainier Beach, the team that had been ranked as number one in the 3A by the Seattle Times for most of the season. He says if you roll that up with playing seven games in 11 days, then you can understand why he thinks his team is mentally prepared to take on whatever comes next.

Slingsby says he’s going to stress lots of review and lots of shooting practice while not “getting bogged down in analysis by paralysis.”

Today’s game takes place at 3 pm at Bellevue CC, and the team plays again on Saturday, with the time to be determined. We’ll be tweeting live at @wsblive.