VISAA Division One Semifinals: Five Takeaways

<p>I was in Petersburg, VA on Friday for my annual trip to the VISAA semifinals. The division one semifinals featured the top four seeds and those results are posted below followed by five takeaways from the two games.</p> <p>Paul VI 70 Episcopal 49</p> <p>St. Stephen’s &amp; St. Agnes 85 Bishop O’Connell 57</p> <h3><b>After McDaniel, Youth Leads PVI</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By now everyone knows that PVI has won the WCAC championship and State championship and will look to win the Alhambra this upcoming weekend. People need to start getting used to hearing about Paul VI… the only valuable senior they are losing is Dug McDaniel. This team is going to be in prime position to win it all again next year. Look for 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="999616" first="DeShawn" last="Harris-Smith"] to take control of the team next year.</span></p> <h3><b>Episcopal Falls Short Again</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once again Episcopal falls on the short end of the stick but look for them to try and compete for another title next year as they always reload. The loss on Friday night closes out the careers of [player_tooltip player_id="962815" first="Charlie" last="Jackson"] who will be playing at Johns Hopkins next year and [player_tooltip player_id="815609" first="John" last="Loughlin"] will be playing at Washington and Lee.</span></p> <h3><b>Two Available Prospects For O’Connell</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was a group that had a very up and down season but overall a lot of success and ultimately had the talent in my opinion to win a state title if everything could have worked out in their favor. Unsigned seniors David O’Nanina and [player_tooltip player_id="897404" first="Paul" last="Lewis"] are two guys that have improved drastically and need to be more sought after immediately.</span></p> <h3><b>Elliot Black Still On The Board</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mike Jones and his staff continue to win a lot of games as the program continues to prove itself as one of the best in the state. They have a senior in Elliot Black that is another available prospect that schools need to reach out to immediately. Black had a good few weeks in the playoffs and has been playing some of the best basketball I have ever seen him play.</span></p> <h3><b>Four Historical Programs</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once again these four schools find themselves in the final four of the VISAA tournament as they are the cream of the top in division one. It is always super fun to watch these groups go at it against each other because of the great coaching and tremendous history of the four programs. </span></p>