If you know me well, you will know that my dad is a basketball coach and this means I am a huge fan of high school basketball. Every year at the end of March I go to Sparty-land to watch the high school state finals, and I also follow the sport from the beginning of the season. I know where most of the state's recruits end up and in most college games I will randomly say "I watched that kid play in high school." It kind of scares Chels a bit.
The first game of the season for high school hoops was last night, so I thought I would give a preview of the year to come and to get some people excited early so they will join me at the Bres in March.
Class A: Kalamazoo Central is the defending back-to-back Class A champions, and 3 years ago they were runners up. Not a bad start for their 4th year under 30 coach (1 loss in 3 postseasons). Central dodged a bullet this year when the Saginaw head coaching job opened up (Thomas' alma-mater) many thought he was next in line. But he decided to stay put to continue his dynasty in the Zoo. The thing that makes his teams so good is they play so well together, and play some of the best pressure defense that I have EVER seen from a high school team. It helps that they have sent 3 players to D1 over the past 3 years, but their team defense will keep them in a lot of games this year. They play some of the most aggressive defense that high schoolers can. They are confident in their ability to protect the hoop, even a little bit cocky. They also are not scared to play anyone, anywhere. So look for them to be battle tested by the end of the year. They will have stiff competition in their own league this year since Loy Norrix (their hated rival) is also a top 10 team. This team is led by Oakland recruit Bishop Robinson (36 points 10 rebounds last night), who will most likely be a first team all-stater. These two teams will beat up on each other twice this year (both games played at Western so police can monitor better), and they will have to beat each other to win the district. Look for Central to keep it going in the tournament even if Norrix beats them in the regular season. Romulus is the Class A preseason number 1 team for the second year in a row. They are led by the young out of place coach that has no control over this team. So yes, while they are very talented again in their back court, I don't see Romulus going very far in the tournament until they can prove they can win big games.
The best recruit in the state happens to come from Class A this year. He is the future Spartan Matt Costello, he is in the driver seat for Mr. Basketball and is Bay City Western's only real talent. He is pretty slow, and will potentially get shut down by a more athletic physical team like a Kalamazoo Central or Saginaw Arthur Hill. Western made their first trip to the Bres last year (they actually won districts for the first time), I have a feeling they will be back again this year.
Arthur Hill has a big time recruit in Jordan Hare who decided to spend the summer working on his own and not in AAU ball, which means his recruiting hyp basically disappeared. But this kid can play. The problem is he is very lazy, and only seems to play his best against the best competition. So look for Arthur Hill to drop a few games this year that they shouldnt, but also to knock off a top rated team at some point.
The best conference in the state is curently not the PSL (Detroit Public School League), but involves mid-Michigan teams like Okemos, Lansing Eastern, Sexton, Jackson, Holt, etc. Sexton is the Class B reigning champ, so we will talk about them later. But the other teams are all in class A. Eastern is led by 5'6" "There is no shot I dont like" Cha Cha Tucker... yup he goes by Cha Cha. While his frame is too small for D1 basketball his ability is not. He can score in bunches from all over the court. He hit 5 game winners last year from 3, half court and 3/4 court, and he wasnt even the best player on his team. It will be interesting to see how he does this year as the teams primary offense. Okemos is led by Chris Harison-Docks, he is a do everything player. He usually will not have a huge statline, but will be assigned to cover the best player on the opposing team and will still put up close to triple double numbers each game. He is planning on going to Oakland as well.
The best player in all of Class A might be Troy's junior James Young. I am not sure where this dude came from, but is rated in the top 10 overall for the 2013 class by some sites. He is a 6'6" wing player, but he does a lot more than shoot. He is pretty strong and gets into the lane more than settle for the jumper. He also will lead his team in rebounds. The problem is that his surrounding cast is not very good, so Young will be double teamed most of the year and will probably transfer to a different school before his senior season.
I think the traditional powers will be playing in the final 8 of the season, but there is no true power in Class A this year. It should be exciting!
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