The D12-1A District Preview
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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.…
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Continue ReadingThe 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.
Predicted Order of Finish
1 – McKenzie
2 – McEwen
3 – Big Sandy
4 – Houston County
5 – Hollow Rock-Bruceton
Big Sandy returns their two leading scorers, thus their predicted third place finish. Cole Pierpont Cole Pierpont 6'4" | PF Big Sandy | 2024 State TN 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.
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.’ Garrett Cagle (2.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg) and Dalton Barnes (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.
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 Carter Kee, Stafford Roditis, Drew Chappell, Martez Teague, but Tate Surber Tate Surber 6'2" | SF McKenzie (football) | 2025 State TN 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 Hayden Garrett, Roditis, Carter Kee come in.
Casen Clark 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.
Houston County
#10 Brady Link (2025)
#32 Owen Baggett (2025) PF
#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.
#12 Hagan Honeycutt (2025)
#33 Mac Baggett (2025)
#22 Built like a hooper. Long and lean. He looks to be a small forward on this team.
McKenzie
#10
Tate Surber
Tate
Surber
6'2" | SF
McKenzie (football) | 2025
State
TN
* (2025)
#11 Hayden Garrett (2024)
#12 Carter Kee (2025)
#15 Drew Chappell (2024)
#21 Evan Norman (2026)
#22 Eli Vinson (2026)
#23 Stafford Roditis (2024)
#25 Christopher Beck (2024)
#33 Martez Teague (2025)
McEwen
#14
Caleb Coates
Caleb
Coates
6'4" | SG
McEwen | 2025
State
TN
* (2025) 6’3″ SF
#15 Hawkins Winstead (2025) 6’3″ SF/PF
#21 Dalton Williams* (2025) 6’1″ SF
#35 Landon Davis* (2025) C
#42 Cade Dreaden* (2024) 6’8″ 250 PF
Starters from 2022-2023 are marked with an asterisk.
Hollow Rock-Bruceton
#11 Caden Dean (2025)
#12 Thatcher Crews (2026) C
#20 Seth Thomas* (2026)
#22 Tanner Walters* (2027)
Big Sandy
#2 Nathan Merrell (2025) 5’11”
#11 Seth Green* (2024) 5’9″
#12 Dalton Barnes* (2024) 5’8″
#14 Chance Barcio (2024) 5’11”
#22 Michael O’Connell (2026) 5’9″
#23 Garrett Cagle (2024) 6’4″ PF
#25 Gavin Newman (2025) 6’2″ F
#35
Cole Pierpont
Cole
Pierpont
6'4" | PF
Big Sandy | 2024
State
TN
* (2024) 6’4″ PF
DISTRICT STANDINGS (2022-2023)
McKenzie | 6-0 | 21-6 |
Houston County | 3-3 | 14-15 |
McEwen | 3-3 | 13-14 |
Big Sandy | 0-6 | 10-16 |