2022-23 4A Preview: Top Five and All-State

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2022-23 boys basketball season starts all across the state and today let's take a quick look at the 4A level with our pre-season top five and the projected All-State Team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pre-Season Top Five</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1. Junction City<br>2. Cascade<br>3. Baker<br>4. Stayton<br>5. Seaside</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Analysis: Cascade won it all last year and is certainly in the mix again this season - had senior [player_tooltip player_id='1256728' first='Ty' last='Best'] not gotten injured they might have been a shoo-in to defend their title. Junction City has a solid mix of returnees and newcomers to go along with a legendary coach that should put them over the top. Baker will be good and might even be better next season. Stayton and Seaside are a couple of annual stalwarts and seem to have the talent level and depth to be serious factors.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>All-State Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1565733' first='Paul' last='Hobson'], Jr, Baker (POY)<br>Kaleb Burnett, Sr, Junction City<br>[player_tooltip player_id='962733' first='Ty' last='May'], Sr, Philomath<br>[player_tooltip player_id='1256715' first='Garrett' last='Callsen'], Sr, Stayton<br>[player_tooltip player_id='1368276' first='Cole' last='Hammack'], So, North Marion</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Analysis: We saw Hobson play this summer with an Idaho-based AAU team and feel he's the breakout star of 4A this season. Burnett is the only returning first team all-stater from last season and should repeat the honor. May and Callsen are arguably the top two big men in 4A and their battles within the Oregon West Conference should be fun to watch this season. For the fifth spot, we went with a young talent in Hammack, who earned First Team Tri-Valley honors last season as a freshman.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->