Playoff Preview: 4A-6

<p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/02/4A-6.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1130453" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/02/4A-6.png" alt="" width="742" height="691" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The favorite: </strong>One of the more interesting district pairings in Class 4A as there’s plenty of potential up and down the lineup of teams. <strong>Pleasant Valley </strong>is the #1 seed in this pairing and will look to prove they are the real deal coming off of a season where they finished atop the Mississippi Standings and ended the season on a 7 game win streak. They are led by Senior [player_tooltip player_id="727880" first="Jacob" last="Townsend"] (12.3) but this team plays pretty unselfishly and shares the basketball well. Junior PG [player_tooltip player_id="682267" first="Ryan" last="Dolphin"] (10.7) brings good shooting and heady PG play. The beauty of this team is that there’s no telling who’s night it will be offensively and makes it tough on defenses to game plan for just one or two players. The Spartans will have their hands full but will have a good chance of continuing this successful season onto Des Moines in the end. </p> <p><strong>The biggest threat: </strong>A team that is pretty similar to Pleasant Valley in that they have good scorers, but it’s always a mystery who is going to lead on that given night is Iowa City Liberty. They are led by 3 players who average 10+ points starting with Senior [player_tooltip player_id="796189" first="Kelby" last="Telander"] (14.4) and followed by [player_tooltip player_id="964877" first="Ira" last="Hazeltine"] (11.2) and [player_tooltip player_id="796133" first="Ethan" last="O’Donnell"] (10.2) who are both Seniors. Which brings another good point of this team is senior-laden leadership which can come in handy in the postseason in what could be these players’ last games. The Lightning, however, are not on a high right now as they are riding a 1-5 stretch, that also included some time off for 3 cancellations/postponement games. They will look to turn things around going into district play. </p> <p><strong>The dark horse: </strong>A team that could easily be the #2, maybe even #1 seed, <strong>Davenport North</strong>. Playing arguably their best basketball right now as they’ve won 6 straight heading into postseason play, including a win over top Class 3A Assumption and 4A North Scott. Senior and Minot State signee [player_tooltip player_id="796114" first="Jayden" last="Houston"] is a player who doesn’t get talked about enough in the state of Iowa outside of local outlets. Houston is a guard who has good athleticism, has his perimeter shot going (43% 3pt) and explodes towards the basket past defenders. He is teamed up with Iowa State football signee [player_tooltip player_id="796122" first="Quincy" last="Wiseman"] (11.5) who does a little bit of everything as well to form a good duo that could be tough to stop in postseason play. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Players to watch</span></p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="727880" first="Jacob" last="Townsend"], Pleasant Valley</p> <p>2022 [player_tooltip player_id="682267" first="Ryan" last="Dolphin"], Pleasant Valley</p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="796189" first="Kelby" last="Telander"], Iowa City Liberty</p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="964877" first="Ira" last="Hazeltine"], Iowa City Liberty</p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="796133" first="Ethan" last="O’Donnell"], Iowa City Liberty</p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="796114" first="Jayden" last="Houston"], Davenport North</p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="796122" first="Quincy" last="Wiseman"], Davenport North</p> <p>2021 <strong>Niiziar Rogers</strong>, Davenport Central</p> <p>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="964875" first="Carter" last="Furness"], Bettendorf</p> <p>2022 [player_tooltip player_id="962667" first="Amarion" last="Davis"], Burlington</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>SUBSTATE FINAL PREDICTION</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Pleasant Valley vs Davenport North</em></p> <p>In an upset, <strong>Davenport North</strong> finds themselves in this final game against a team that they beat in late January in a low scoring affair. It is difficult to beat a team more than once over the course of a season, and the Wildcats will have played one more game than the Spartans, but the edge is going to go to Davenport North. The duo of [player_tooltip player_id="796114" first="Jayden" last="Houston"] and [player_tooltip player_id="796122" first="Quincy" last="Wiseman"] and the hot streak this team is on right now is too much for this district. </p>