High Five: Teams trending up/down, intriguing title race
Got something I missed in this week’s High Five, or want to make a suggestion for a future High Five post? Tweet at me, @BHudson977, or comment on this post to let me know. Wossman sliding at bad time Hopefully…
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Continue ReadingGot something I missed in this week’s High Five, or want to make a suggestion for a future High Five post? Tweet at me, @BHudson977, or comment on this post to let me know.
Wossman sliding at bad time
Hopefully you read about my experience at the Don Redden Memorial Classic last weekend, in which I promised to have more on the state of the Wossman Wildcats. Here it is: they’re sliding, and doing so with quite poor timing.
Wossman started the tournament with a loss to Carroll – one of the best rivalries Louisiana high school basketball has to offer, thus a brutal loss to take as morale goes – then followed it up with a second loss to Rayville in the consolation bracket. Wossman would have played a final consolation game against Bastrop (a game I think Wossman would have won with relative ease), but harsh winter conditions in the area scratched the Friday schedule, forcing a condensed Saturday schedule and the loss of non-essential games like that one. So now the Wildcats are 13-8 (for comparison, they went 25-9 last year) and enter district play with four straight road games. This is a terrible time to be down since 2-3A, for my money, is the best district in 3A. (District 6 is pretty good, too, I know.) I’m fascinated to see where Wossman falls to in the next power rankings release – I don’t think it will be too bad, but it could get catastrophic if they lose a pair of district games early.
I know it sounds strange to estimate a defending state runner-up losing a few district games early, but with teams like Richwood, Carroll and a surging Madison to deal with, it’s not unreasonable. Speaking of Madison…
Is Madison for real?
If you take a look at the 3A power rankings, most things you see are going to make a good amount of sense except for one jolt: Madison is solidly in the top five. That’s what happens when you go 14-1 in the non-district. The problems lies in the (lack of) strength in that schedule: looking it over, the most quality wins in my opinion are over teams like Ferriday, Tensas, Sicily Island, Delhi and West Monroe. It’s not that those wins are something to be ignored, but that’s not the basis of a bona fide championship contender, either.
All that is about to change: After opening district play with a presumed win over Caldwell, Madison gets Carroll, Wossman and Richwood in consecutive games. All of them are at home, but the point remains that Madison will show its true colors in the next two weeks.
Will Peabody lose again? Probably not.
There’s no denying that, for a team of Peabody’s caliber, the non-district schedule is much tougher than the district schedule. Look at this stretch in mid-December: Sulphur, Terrebonne, Natchitoches Central, Washington-Marion and Woodlawn (Shreve.) all in the span of a week, winning four of those games and losing to Natchitoches by two. It’s hard for me to see Peabody taking a loss in district or in the two season ending non-district games listed on its MaxPreps schedule against Jennings and Tioga.
Ruston’s quiet rise
Can’t we all be a little guilty of watching 5A teams like Bonnabel, Natchitoches, Ouachita and others knowing that’s where it’s all coming down to at some point? Those of us that have (I’ll wear that label, too) have missed the rise of Ruston to the top 10. Since Christmas, all Ruston has done has beaten quality teams like Carroll and Carencro, with the one loss being by two to a Rayville team that’s captured my attention from the get go. Ruston gets their shot at Ouachita next week as a proof-of-concept moment, but in the meantime, know there might be something brewing there.
Seriously, who is going to win 1A?
Your guess is just as good as mine.
Lincoln Prep is the current No. 1 in the (soon-to-be updated) power points rankings, but that team has cooled slightly since its piping-hot start. Delhi Charter was one of the three last unbeaten in the state…and has since taken three L’s, including one by 10 points to district foe Sicily Island. That win looked good for Sicily Island, but there are some real head-scratchers on their results to date so far. There’s certainly merit to White Castle, Delhi and Tensas, among others, although White Castle is sliding of late.
I would guess, at this point, we’ve got anywhere between six and nine teams that could reasonably be projected to win this title. Maybe that herd thins out over time, maybe it doesn’t. but it’s something to keep an eye on. (I’ll help you out there as much as I can.)