Top Big School Substate Matchups

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The format for big school substates prevent some of the clusters of top schools in one tournament which you see in the lower classifications. The opening rounds, for that reason, sometimes lack intriguing matchups. But there are a few games that look evenly-matched and worth noting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here are the top matchups in the substate round in 4-6A:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>6A West – #11 Wichita Southeast at #6 Manhattan:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wichita Southeast put together a really nice stretch at midseason, but it was sandwiched by two long losing streaks. Will the Buffaloes emerge from an ongoing five-game skid when they travel to Manhattan? They will look to guards <strong>Mason Le</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2321567' first='DJ' last='Brown']</strong> to provide toughness and playmaking. They have center <strong>Judah Love</strong> to combat Manhattan's collection of nice bigs. The Indians are led by 6-foot-6 [player_tooltip player_id='1080174' first='Jack' last='Wilson'] but also feature 6-foot-6 <strong>Cole Coonrod</strong> and 6-foot-4 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1490020' first='Collins' last='Elumogo']</strong>. Manhattan is coming off an impressive upset of Washburn Rural and a win over Hayden for postseason momentum.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>5A West - #9 Great Bend at #8 Hays:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>These rivals split this season, and Hays just edged Great Bend on Friday 47-40. Hays graduated a ton from a year ago and has looked to some young guys in what could be seen as a rebuilding season. Stepping up as a leader has been point guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1953943' first='Jack' last='Weimer']</strong>, who can light it up from deep and handle the ball and guide the offense. Great Bend has a diverse look with scrappy guards like <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1300834' first='Maddox' last='Spray']</strong> and <strong>Cooper Combs</strong>, a big man in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1624962' first='Ben' last='Nicholson']</strong> (pictured) and a rising star in freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2209727' first='Ian' last='Premer']</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>4A East - #9 Hayden at #8 Parsons:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hayden is just 10-10, but records never tell the story with the Wildcats. They historically take their lumps in the regular season, but are sharpened by clashes with bigger schools come playoff time. That might be the case again this year. They have two veterans of playoff runs in post [player_tooltip player_id='1080188' first='Joe' last='Otting'] and guard [player_tooltip player_id='1080202' first='Jake' last='Mueller']. Parsons won just one game before Christmas, but has won 10 games since. The quality of those wins will have to be proved, however. The Vikings are led by all-state caliber guard <strong>Jesse Jones</strong>, who averaged 16 points per game and can go off on occasion. Another Viking to watch is <strong>Julius Smith-Reece</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->