Sectional Preview: Logansport Regional

The high school season is almost over and we are getting locked in for the State Playoffs. It is that time of year where we start looking ahead and previewing each and every Sectional. Time to take a look at the pairings that make up Regional 2.   Sectional 5: DeKalb The Teams: Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne North, Fort Wayne Northrop, DeKalb, East Noble, Carroll (Fort Wayne) Our Contenders: Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne North, Fort Wayne Northrop Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="870219" first="Jalen" last="Jackson"] (2022) - Fort Wayne Northrop Prediction: At first glance at the bracket the first thing that stands out to me is the three favorites all have to compete in the opening round with Snider and North facing off along with Northrop getting the better draw with facing East Noble. Dekalb and Carroll got the first round byes but a bye for Carroll is really not going to do much to help them. Dekalb on the other hand could benefit with the bye as they will face either a Snider or North team that went to war in the first round. Full expecting Northrop to have an easy path to the finals and they will most likely meet the winner of the Snider/North game, which I am predicting the winner to be Snider there. In the finals, you will have two very talented teams going at it with guys like [player_tooltip player_id="870249" first="Karson" last="Jenkins"], [player_tooltip player_id="1168150" first="Aidan" last="Lambert"], [player_tooltip player_id="1063977" first="Grant" last="Brown"] facing Jackson, [player_tooltip player_id="1272953" first="Dalman" last="Alexander"], James Mallroy. The more talented team here is Snider and that is who I am going with to make it out of Sectional 5.   Sectional 6: Huntington North The Teams: Homestead, Columbia City, Fort Wayne South, Huntington North, New Haven, Fort Wayne Wayne Our Contenders: Homestead, Columbia City, Fort Wayne South, Huntington North, Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="1063961" first="Fletcher" last="Loyer"] (2022) - Homestead Prediction: Kind of like what you just read with Sectional 5, the opening round will feature all four of our favorites competing with one another. On the top half of the bracket, [player_tooltip player_id="868222" first="Darrion" last="Brooks"] and New Haven got the bye and will play the winner of Homestead/Huntington North and on the bottom half you have a 2-17 Fort Wayne Wayne team with the bye and will face the winner of the Columbia City/Fort Wayne South battle. It will be a challenge but I think Homestead will have more than enough to make it to finals and meetup with [player_tooltip player_id="1063976" first="Mason" last="Baker"] and Columbia City after barely getting by South before having a very easy semifinals game. As far as a winner goes, it is very hard to predict anybody else to come out of Sectional 6 besides Homestead. I think they will come in with something to prove and with a potential Mr. Basketball finalist on their roster with Loyer, it will be tough to stop them.   Sectional 7: Logansport The Teams: Harrison (West Lafayette), Lafayette Jeff, Kokomo, Marion, McCutcheon, Logansport Our Contenders: Harrison (West Lafayette), Lafayette Jeff, Kokomo Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="1363488" first="Flory" last="Bidunga"] (2024) - Kokomo Prediction: The best regular season team out of Sectional 7 got the best draw here with Lafayette Jeff having to go through McCutcheon (6-13) and host Logansport (3-17) to easily get to the finals. The bottom half provides a little bit more of a competitive challenge, however. I am expecting Harrison to easily get by Marion before meeting a very sneaky Kokomo team, who actually was beaten by Harrison 62-57 back in January. That should be another great game and actually going to predict Bidunga and the Wildcats so get the somewhat upset here and meetup with Jeff in the championship game. When that happens, Kokomo will give Jeff the best game they will have in Sectional 7 but I think Jeff is going to find a way to get it done. That Bronchos team is just too talented with experienced guys like [player_tooltip player_id="1195605" first="Javan" last="Buchanan"], [player_tooltip player_id="1063969" first="E.J." last="Reese"], and [player_tooltip player_id="870299" first="Owen" last="Linder"] and they should be looking to make a deep run this post-season.   Sectional 8: Noblesville The Teams: Fishers, Carmel, Zionsville, Westfield, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville Our Contenders: Fishers, Carmel, Zionsville, Westfield Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="1297052" first="Jalen" last="Haralson"] (2025) - Fishers Prediction: Sectional 8 is always loaded and this year is no different at all. Looking at the bracket, I guess by default you can say Hamilton Southeastern (9-12) got the best draw simply because they got a guaranteed spot in the semis. The opening night however, is just a massive night of hoops with Zionsville vs the host Noblesville followed by [player_tooltip player_id="1158186" first="Braden" last="Smith"] and Westfield vs the Harlason and Fishers. Even though Noblesville no question has the talent with [player_tooltip player_id="868230" first="Preston" last="Roberts"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1042494" first="Luke" last="Almodovar"] to get an upset, they have struggled to put together much consistency this year and when you play a stacked team like Zionsville, it makes it tough to really trust them. Therefore, Zionsville should be the one to meetup with Carmel in the semis for a star-studded matchup. With the Westfield/Fishers game, it is going to be a fantastic game but it simply comes down if a returning Smith and his sidekick [player_tooltip player_id="870245" first="Cameron" last="Haffner"] will be able to carry the Shamrocks past a Tigers team that has arguably been the best all season. It is tough to call, but I think Fishers just barely squeaks by and then beats a Hamilton Southeastern that took them to them to double OT earlier this season. With the likely Zionsville/Carmel matchup in the semis, it be big 3 vs big 3 with [player_tooltip player_id="868255" first="Logan" last="Imes"], [player_tooltip player_id="774740" first="Isaiah" last="Davis"], and [player_tooltip player_id="868244" first="Nick" last="Richart"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="769662" first="Peter" last="Suder"], [player_tooltip player_id="769678" first="Charlie" last="Williams"], and [player_tooltip player_id="1042491" first="Sam" last="Orme"] and could very well be the best game of the entire post-season. Both the Eagles and Greyhounds are capable of getting the win here and even though my heart thinks a healthy Zionsville team can get it done, my gut won’t let me pick against the defending state champs as I feel they not only beat Zionsville in the semis, but they go onto beat Fishers to walk out of Sectional 8 as the champions.