5 Things to Watch: Judy Dixon Tournament

The Judy Dixon tournament is held yearly at Greenway High School. They will utilize both their main and auxiliary gyms to host the tournament. The tournament will go from December 26 to December 29.

1. Game of the Day

There are a couple of games to watch with intrigue on the 1st day. Washington and Peoria will feature plenty of talented guards which should make it fun to watch. Peoria brings into the game Kaleb Brown and Isaac Monroe as their top two guards while Washington features Jared Smiley. While this game will be fun to watch, Peoria is the favorite.

The top game of the day is without a doubt Moon Valley vs. Valley Vista. Moon Valley has been playing undermanned for a good portion of the season. However, they bring into this game arguably the two top prospects for either team in Ty Harper and Trent Hudgens. These two prospects will need their role players to step up in order to have success tonight. However, both of them are handfuls whom Valley Vista will have to play exceptional defense on in order to limit their scoring impact.

Valley Vista, on the other hand, has a top tier guard in Josh Holloway. Holloway can score the basketball in an array of ways and is not afraid to let the ball fly from anywhere on the floor. In addition to Holloway, Vista has two other guards who are leading them in scoring and put a lot of pressure on the defense in King Thurman and Sidney Thomas. Between these three guards, Valley Vista has some of the toughest guard play in the tournament.

Further, Curtis Nicholas provides the team with some athleticism and rebounding. This should be a competitive game with Valley Vista moving on to the next round.

2. Top Half

Paradise Valley and Estrella Foothills are the two favorites on the top half of the bracket. They will most likely play each other in the second day of action. Foothills is led by big man Shaun Wahlstrom. He is competitive, long, and intelligent. His ability to make impact plays as a big man aids Estrella Foothills in competing with anyone.

Wahlstrom is not alone, however. He has Regan Jenkins and sharpshooter Dean Grant to aid him in scoring the basketball. This team is well-built and rarely makes mistakes. They have as good of a chance as anyone of coming out of this tournament on top.

Paradise Valley is not the same group that made it to the final four last year. However, they are still solid and have been more than competitive this year. They have taken their fair share of bumps and bruises, but they will look for this tournament to be the spark that leads them to a strong second half of the season.

Nathan Perry is the emotional leader of the group. In addition to creating energy for the team, he is the primary creator for the team offensively as well. In addition to Perry, Anthony Giliberto is a skilled post player. He competes well on the glass and has solid footwork on the block. This is as solid of a guard and post 1-2 punch as there is in this tournament. 

In addition to these two, look for Jordan Hope and Kendyl Watson to play key roles for the team in this tournament and in the 2nd half of the season.

3. Bottom Half

The bottom half of the bracket has more teams that could potential make it out alive. The three favorites are Valley Vista, Peoria, and Ironwood. 

As mentioned earlier, Valley Vista will be led by their solid guard play. Further, Peoria has stout guards, but also has a skilled big man in John Price. Price is a difference maker for this group due to his size and athleticism. 

While Vista and Peoria are solid, Ironwood is the most likely to make it out of this side of the bracket unscathed due to their versatile style of play. They have no shortage of weapons and they share the basketball extremely well.

Dominic Gonzalez leads the team in scoring while Cassius Carmichael is nearly averaging a double-double due to his hustle and instincts. Further, JJ White has consistently been one of the top defenders for the team and a knockdown shooter while Bailon Black gets the team into their sets and creates for others while shooting the ball at a high rate from deep. Lastly, Malik Smith is the bully for the group. His strength and athleticism enable him to compete with bigs and guards.

4. Championship Predictions

While there are multiple teams that could make it out of their sides of the bracket in this one and done format, Ironwood and Estrella Foothills are the favorites at this point. Both teams have played well early in the tournament and have found their offensive and defensive identities. With that said, there are plenty of things that can happen in one and done formats. Do not be surprised to see some of the other teams that were mentioned sneak in here and take home a championship.

5. Diamonds in the Rough

While the Judy Dixon tournament does not feature some of the top tier teams that it has featured in the past, there are multiple prospects to watch whom may not be on college coaches' radars at this point. Below are prospects to watch who were not mentioned previously in this article:

Sunday John 6'5 SF 2020 Willow Canyon

KJ Patrick 6'0 PG 2019 Willow Canyon

Kolby Lathrop 6'4 SF 2020 Ironwood Ridge

Erik Cochran 6'2 SF 2020 Ironwood Ridge

Dershon Thompson 6'1 SG 2019 Fairfax

Billy Coleman-Tuitavuki 6'1 PG 2019 Fairfax

Zakee Shelton 6'2 SF 2019 Fairfax

Troy Yazzie 6'2 PG 2019 Flagstaff