Sectional Preview: South Bend Washington Regional

The high school season is almost over and we are getting locked in for the State Playoffs. It is that time of year when we start looking ahead and previewing each and every Sectional. We will start with Michigan City Regional and have two previews per day until the start of the Sectional tournament on Tuesday, March 2. Today, let's look at the South Bend Washington Regional.   Sectional 17: Hanover Central The Teams: Calumet, Griffith, Hanover Central, Lighthouse CPA, River Forest Our Contenders: Calumet, Hanover Central, Lighthouse CPA Players To Watch: Eric Martin (2022) - Calumet Prediction: This Sectional is not one of the most exciting across the state, but it should be incredibly competitive. Calumet comes in as the only team with a winning record at 11-9 thanks to Eric Martin who is averaging 19 points and 15 rebounds per game. They should be in the Sectional finals. Lighthouse CPA comes in with just 4 wins, but two of these came against Sectional opponents. They should have a semifinal matchup with Nicholas Holden and Hanover Central who have the second-best record in the Sectional. I'm going to take Lighthouse CPA to make the finals behind their 20-point scoring duo of Davarius Stewart and Shamar Mays, but Calumet is going to redeem their loss from earlier in the year to win just their second Sectional title since 2000.   Sectional 18: Kankakee Valley The Teams: Culver Academy, Kankakee Valley, Knox, New Prairie, Wheeler Our Contenders: Culver Academy, Kankakee Valley Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="868239" first="Cooper" last="Farrall"] (2023) - Culver Academy Prediction: This Sectional is the one with the least amount of clarity due to only three games being played between Sectional opponents all year. However, two clear favorites dominate this Sectional with Culver Academy (14-6) and Kankakee Valley (15-5). We will get immediate clarity in this matchup though as these two teams meet in the first round. It will be a battle between [player_tooltip player_id="868239" first="Cooper" last="Farrall"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1293386" first="Fola" last="Fayemi"] of Culver Academy vs [player_tooltip player_id="1158194" first="Cam" last="Webster"] and [player_tooltip player_id="870260" first="Nick" last="Mikash"] of Kankakee Valley. I am going to take Culver as I believe they're more battle-tested, but it could go either way. New Prairie and Knox play for a trip to the finals on the other side, but they shouldn't pose much of a problem for the favorites on Saturday.   Sectional 19: Mishawaka Marian The Teams: Jimtown, John Glenn, Mishawaka Marian, South Bend Clay, South Bend St. Joseph, South Bend Washington Our Contenders: John Glenn, Mishawaka Marian, South Bend St. Joseph, South Bend Washington Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="1391323" first="Brycen" last="Hannah"] (2023) - John Glenn Prediction: #1 John Glenn and #2 Mishawaka Marian come into this Sectional as the clear favorites as the two top teams in 3A. Mishawaka Marian and their duo of [player_tooltip player_id="1049162" first="Deaglan" last="Sullivan"] and [player_tooltip player_id="769703" first="Richard" last="Brooks"] definitely got the better of the draw with the bye and the winner of Jimtown and South Bend Clay, so the Knights should make their way to the championship game. John Glenn and [player_tooltip player_id="1391323" first="Brycen" last="Hannah"] have a tough matchup with [player_tooltip player_id="868232" first="Marcus" last="Northern"] South Bend Washington who they only beat by seven on the road earlier in the year. Then, with a win, they will face a young South Bend St. Joseph squad with [player_tooltip player_id="1297002" first="Chase" last="Konieczny"] who they beat on the road by 15. Should John Glenn and Mishawaka Marian get to the championship game, we should have one for the ages as the two teams come in with combined 39-4 records. John Glenn got the win on their home floor by four points earlier in the year over Mishawaka Marian, but with Marian hosting, I am taking Mishawaka Marian to take the second Sectional title in the past six years.   Sectional 20: Maconaquah The Teams: Benton Central, Maconaquah, Northwestern, Peru, Twin Lakes, West Lafayette, Western Our Contenders: Peru, Maconaquah, Northwestern, Twin Lakes, Western Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="958403" first="Matthew" last="Ross"] (2022) - Peru Prediction: This Sectional is completely wide open with five teams coming into it with double-digit wins. Peru and Maconaquah come in as the likely favorites, and #7 Penn and [player_tooltip player_id="958403" first="Matthew" last="Ross"] would've been the pick. However, on Tuesday night, they went into Maconaquah and got beat by 17 points. The senior duo of Brayden Betzner and [player_tooltip player_id="1169396" first="Hayden" last="Maiben"] have the Braves playing great basketball. However, with our four top contenders all on the bottom of the bracket. Peru will have to get past Western and [player_tooltip player_id="870290" first="Evan" last="Kretz"], while Maconaquah will have to get past Twin Lakes and their senior duo of [player_tooltip player_id="870301" first="Clayton" last="Bridwell"] and [player_tooltip player_id="870292" first="Caden" last="Harker"]. On the other side, Northwestern got a great draw, and they should put themselves in a position on Saturday night for just their second Sectional win since 2008. I am going to pick Peru to pull it out, but it truly could be any of these five teams hoisting the trophy on Saturday night.