varsity.roanoke.com

Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

William Fleming's Shaquan Manning and his fellow Colonel teammates go for the Group AAA state title tonight in Richmond.

Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

William Fleming boys basketball coach Mickey Hardy cheers after a late basket in the Colonels' win over John Marshall on Tuesday.

RICHMOND -- Mickey Hardy has a stand-up sense of humor.

But one look at the King's Fork High School basketball roster and it is clear the William Fleming coach is not joking about the Colonels' opponent in tonight's VHSL Group AAA championship game at VCU's Siegel Center.

King's Fork's two junior guards stand 6-foot-3. The Bulldogs' senior swingman is 6-4. Another junior -- the kid who Georgetown coach John Thompson III came to watch Wednesday -- is 6-6. Then there's 6-8, 295-pound center Davante Gardner.

"It's a tall mountain for us," Hardy said.

Opponents have been looking down on Fleming throughout the state tournament.

Saturday, Booker T. Washington coach Darren Sanderline blamed the officials for his team's state quarterfinal loss to Fleming.

"It definitely fired us up," Fleming guard Troy Daniels said. "We took that, not as fighting words, but words to get back out on the court and prove everybody wrong."

Wednesday, John Marshall guard Randall Ward said his team "played down" to Fleming's level during the Colonels' 65-62 semifinal victory.

"They counted us out," Daniels said. "Now we're in the final game."

Fleming is in the Group AAA championship game for the fourth time. The Colonels came up one game short in 1977, 1982 and 1994 under former coach Burral Paye.

Fleming is trying to join Jefferson (1970), Patrick Henry (1988, 1992) and Cave Spring (2002) as the only Timesland schools to win a Group AAA crown.

Many players on this year's senior-laden team had roles on Fleming's 2007 Group AA championship team. Now the Colonels are trying to become the only school in VHSL history to win a Group AAA title after having won a a Group AA crown.

"A lot of guys don't get the opportunity to play in two championship games or coach in the game," Daniels said. "We're just going to go with the flow, play the game of basketball."

That's all Hardy can ask from a team that won the Northwest Region title with three road victories -- including a third this year at Western Valley District rival George Washington. The Colonels returned from Richmond late Wednesday night and are scheduled to leave at 9 a.m. today for a return trip.

It will be Hardy's final road trip with a group of players he speaks of in glowing terms.

"I've been the coach here six years," Hardy said. "I tell you, they're like my sons. They love me, and they know I love them. They're winners. They're winners off the court as well as on the court.

"They're all 'Yes-sir, no-sir' kids. They're kids you can turn your back on. That's a credit to their parents. When they come to practice, they practice hard. So I'm not surprised when they come out and play hard."

King's Fork is a five-year-old school that is 30-1 after knocking off Petersburg 73-67 in Wednesday's other semifinal. The Suffolk school defeated GW 60-53 in a quarterfinal last week, and Hardy planned to pick up a game film Thursday from GW coach Bobby Martin.

"GW had them by 11 going into the fourth quarter," Hardy said. "Bobby Martin told me if they had made their free throws they would have won the game. They were 1 for 6."

Hardy was unable to scout King's Fork on Wednesday because the team's charter bus driver had a deadline to return to Roanoke.

Many believed there would be no return trip today.

"A lot of people have been doubting us," Hardy said. "We just want to go out and play for ourselves."