The D12-1A District Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The D12-1A district will be interesting in 2023-2024. McKenzie advanced to the State Tournament three times in the last five years. Their basketball reputation is infallible and the program continually pumps out teams better than the sum of their parts. Though the Rebels won the district easily last year at 6-0, McEwen features a team capable of dethroning them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline">Predicted Order of Finish</span><br>1 - McKenzie<br>2 - McEwen<br>3 - Big Sandy<br>4 - Houston County<br>5 - Hollow Rock-Bruceton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Big Sandy returns their two leading scorers, thus their predicted third place finish. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2058104' first='Cole' last='Pierpont']</strong> is a handful on the low blocks. Expect him to put up around 18p, 9r in this upcoming season. Pierpont's biggest weakness is free throw shooting (63%) and he needs to address it this off-season. With better touch from the line he can, and should be the most productive big in the district and perhaps region. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Big Sandy was terrible last year in the win/loss columns (11-16, 0-6). Can they catapult over Houston County? The prediction here is a tentative 'Yes.' <strong>Garrett Cagle</strong> (2.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg) and <strong>Dalton Barnes</strong> (4.1 ppg, 0.6 apg) played some last year, but must taken on a larger scoring role to help the top two guys (Pierpont, Green). Barnes was really unsteady as an outside shooter last year. He shot 26-105 from the field, which was bothersome.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McKenzie lacks the star power of last year, especially after Marquez Taylor graduated. The two-sport star was just a remarkable athlete. Strong, powerful, fast, spirited. This Rebels team does have some depth in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2637837' first='Carter' last='Kee']</strong>,<strong> Stafford Roditis</strong>, <strong>Drew Chappell</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2637835' first='Martez' last='Teague']</strong>, but <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2058086' first='Tate' last='Surber']</strong> is the go-to-guy. The football State Champion is a warrior rebounding and put up 13 and 13 in the State Tournament. The team needs more than him to score, and that is where the veterans of <strong>Hayden Garrett</strong>, Roditis, [player_tooltip player_id='2637837' first='Carter' last='Kee'] come in.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Casen Clark</strong> is a nice player, a '25 guard, for Houston County. The team lacks strength and does not have the star-power of Big Sandy or McEwen. The have some grit, but did not play with much muscle last year. It will take more toughness and better shooting to ascend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Houston County</span></strong><br>#10 Brady Link (2025)<br>#32 Owen Baggett (2025) PF<br>#24 Casen Clark (2025) PG Needs more hulking body. He needs to put some strength behind his scrappiness. No ego. A team success is just as rewarding to him as his individual success. Can he score in bunches? It remains to be seen. <br>#12 Hagan Honeycutt (2025)<br>#33 [player_tooltip player_id='2639787' first='Mac' last='Baggett'] (2025)<br>#22 Built like a hooper. Long and lean. He looks to be a small forward on this team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/houston-co-high-school-erin-tn/gam26043ea4ad">Houston County vs Away - Boys Varsity Basketball 06/02/2023</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong>McKenzie</strong></span><br>#10 [player_tooltip player_id='2058086' first='Tate' last='Surber']* (2025)<br>#11 Hayden Garrett (2024)<br>#12 [player_tooltip player_id='2637837' first='Carter' last='Kee'] (2025)<br>#15 Drew Chappell (2024)<br>#21 Evan Norman (2026)<br>#22 Eli Vinson (2026)<br>#23 Stafford Roditis (2024)<br>#25 Christopher Beck (2024)<br>#33 [player_tooltip player_id='2637835' first='Martez' last='Teague'] (2025)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">McEwen</span></strong><br>#14 [player_tooltip player_id='2058518' first='Caleb' last='Coates']* (2025) 6'3" SF <br>#15 Hawkins Winstead (2025) 6'3" SF/PF<br>#21 Dalton Williams* (2025) 6'1" SF<br>#35 Landon Davis* (2025) C<br>#42 Cade Dreaden* (2024) 6'8" 250 PF</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Starters from 2022-2023 are marked with an asterisk.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Hollow Rock-Bruceton</span></strong><br>#11 Caden Dean (2025)<br>#12 Thatcher Crews (2026) C<br>#20 Seth Thomas* (2026)<br>#22 Tanner Walters* (2027)<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Big Sandy</span></strong><br>#2 Nathan Merrell (2025) 5'11"<br>#11 Seth Green* (2024) 5'9"<br>#12 Dalton Barnes* (2024) 5'8"<br>#14 Chance Barcio (2024) 5'11"<br>#22 Michael O'Connell (2026) 5'9"<br>#23 Garrett Cagle (2024) 6'4" PF<br>#25 Gavin Newman (2025) 6'2" F<br>#35 [player_tooltip player_id='2058104' first='Cole' last='Pierpont']* (2024) 6'4" PF</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DISTRICT STANDINGS (2022-2023)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td>McKenzie</td><td>6-0</td><td>21-6</td></tr><tr><td>Houston County</td><td>3-3</td><td>14-15</td></tr><tr><td>McEwen</td><td>3-3</td><td>13-14</td></tr><tr><td>Big Sandy</td><td>0-6</td><td>10-16</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->