3A Substate Preview: Tough Pairings and Top Players

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's time to turn our attention to substate play, and we can begin breaking down the groupings in the small school classes, looking forward to potential matchups and headlining players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let's start with 3A.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Final Season Rankings from the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1 Beloit 2 Goodland 3 Cheney 4 Hesston 5 Wichita-Collegiate 6 Ellsworth 7 Wellsville 8 Sabetha 9 Humbodlt 10 Norton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Riley County Substate:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The award for Toughest Substate goes to Riley County, based on history and depth of quality.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Beloit will be the heavy favorite, but we don't envy any team that might have to face Rossville, a team with a lot of length and shooting for days. Marysville has fallen on hard times, but features a top talent in [player_tooltip player_id='1588404' first='Will' last='Otott']. St. Marys will bring its own stud in [player_tooltip player_id='1962890' first='Brady' last='Hurla']. Silver Lake and Nemaha Central also have proud histories and quality players. Beloit, led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='1270292' first='Bryce' last='Beisner'], will be the favorite, but it won't be an easy path.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wellsville Substate:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wellsville hosts two ranked teams, #7 Wellsville and #9 Humboldt. The host features a couple of all-state caliber seniors in [player_tooltip player_id='1461344' first='Willie' last='Dorsey'] (pictured) and [player_tooltip player_id='1580564' first='Dezmond' last='Winton']. Humboldt will counter with a couple of talented and versatile big men in Sam Hull and [player_tooltip player_id='1772993' first='Colden' last='Cook']. These two deserve a lot more attention than they've received thus far, but they will have their chance to shine if they can somehow help Humboldt advance from this tough substate.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chaparral Substate:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The substate at Chaparral has two ranked teams, but we still don't know who all will be available for #5 Wichita Collegiate, which has been hampered by injuries. If the Spartans could be at full strength, they would pose a stiff challenge to #3 Cheney, a team with stars and a championship pedigree, having just won the 3A football title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Caney Valley Substate:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This one looks to be wide open. There are no ranked teams in this grouping. Honestly, we don't know a lot of players from this region beyond [player_tooltip player_id='1772980' first='Jack' last='Perry'], a sniper for Galena. Girard and Riverton enter the tournament with the best resumes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->