5-5A District Preview
The Favorites: Catholic BR & East Ascension
A season ago, both Catholic BR and East Ascension were top five seeds in Division I and 5A respectively. Both of these teams are also bringing back a large part of their contributors from last season’s team. Catholic BR is bringing back a really tough 3 headed monster, with 2020 Kentrell Garnett and Collin Holloway leading the way at the guard and wing, along with 6’8 stretch 5 Nick Judice being able to protect the rim and knock down shots from outside. For East Ascension, it is tough to ever count out a squad that Coach Barry Whittington puts out on the floor, especially when 2020 G Hobert Grayson IV is going to be leading the way.
The Contenders: Dutchtown & St. Amant
The next tier when it comes to district 5-5A is going to consist of Dutchtown and St. Amant. Both of these teams are still going to be bringing talent to the table every single night, but I worry their depth of high end talent isn’t going to let them compete for at the very top of the district. Dutchtown might have the best player on the floor every single night of district competition in Nick Caldwell, and if he can play to his max every single night, they are going to be able to steal a few games that most wouldn’t expect. For St. Amant, they don’t have one single top end guy, but their depth of just really solid, experienced players is going to keep them afloat in a pretty tough district top to bottom.
Best of the rest: Broadmoor & McKinley
This is going to be a pretty rough season for McKinley for a number of reason. They are coming off the loss of Tyrece Radford who is now at Virginia Tech, and the loss of any ACC caliber player has the potential to cripple a program. And this is all before even talking about the LHSAA sanctions that they are facing. This could be the first of a few rough years that McKinley has. For Broadmoor, they are going to look really good walking through the door, especially when 6’10 Derrick Hamilton is leading the way, and if he and Najee Jones are able to take a big step forward in both of their senior seasons, they could be more competitive than they have been in years past.
Preseason All District:
Collin Holloway 6’5 SF 2020 Catholic BR
Nicholas Caldwell 6’6 SF 2019 Dutchtown
Hobert Grayson 6’4 SG 2020 East Ascension
Kentrell Garnett 6’1 SG 2020 Catholic Br
KJ Franklin 5’8 PG 2019 St. Amant
Others to watch:
Derrick Hamilton 6’10 C 2019 Broadmoor
Nicholas Judice 6’8 PF 2019 Catholic BR
Najee Jones 6’2 SG 2019 Broadmoor
Gary Smith 6’1 SG 2019 Dutchtown