“From What I’ve Seen..” – My 7A Match-Up To Watch
The final unveil of the GHSA Playoff brackets after Monday’s rescheduled finals was almost as exciting as NCAA Selection Sunday, this being my first season on the beat here for Prep Hoops Georgia. And after “road warrior-ing” my way to…
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Continue ReadingThe final unveil of the GHSA Playoff brackets after Monday’s rescheduled finals was almost as exciting as NCAA Selection Sunday, this being my first season on the beat here for Prep Hoops Georgia. And after “road warrior-ing” my way to seeing more than 80 teams this season, I still only scratched the surface of the full gamut of teams in the GHSA, and there’s so much more to see in the coming weeks.
So with no disrespect to any team, let’s have a little fun March Madness-style going through the bracket, matchups, and players who could make an impact for teams I have laid eyes on.
AAAAAAA – Etowah at Wheeler
Sam HinesWHEELER has the kind of balance and experience you’d need to make a run in 7A, a division that boasts as many as 7 of the state’s top 15 teams, depending on who’s doing the ranking. A big frontcourt headlined by senior Sam Hines (terrific mid-range shooter, powerful athlete at rim) and junior Ja’Hiem Hudson (superior rim protection and rebounding ace) and an athletic backcourt with seniors Prince Davies (hot shooting 3-point man and high riser) and Nash Kelly (strong with ball and elite defender) and rising-freshman point guard Isaiah Collier (do-it-all star to be) give the Wildcats all the weapons they need, if they’re on. And when they are on, you see the results, shown in the arguably the state’s toughest schedule. Wheeler owns wins outside of their region over ranked teams and playoff contenders in their own right Dutchtown, Lanier, Newton, St Francis, and Kell. Two of their seven losses came from out of state foes, and three more close setbacks were out of region to the #1 team in 7A and the state (Grayson), the #3 team in 7A and the state (Milton) and the #1 team in 6A and #7 in the state (South Cobb). It’s an incredibly impressive resume record aside, and their Region 2 title provided them a pretty good draw in this writer’s opinion, for if they can get by a good Etowah club Friday and the Peachtree Ridge-Shiloh winner in round 2, a semifinal rematch with Milton in Macon is not far-fetched.
Will GarveyETOWAH, a perennial playoff contender and one of the area’s steadiest programs in recent years, is certainly not going to go quietly, and although they had some notable roster turnover and saw new players step into bigger roles this year, they have the horses and discipline to give the Wildcats all they can handle. Wins over Cambridge, Sequoyah, and Marist are resume highlights out of region for the Eagles, and they had three close mid-season setbacks to playoff contenders South Forsyth (7A), Allatoona (6A) and Westminster (3A). They’ll count on steady leadership from senior Will Garvey (dependable scoring and poise) and junior Cole Ellis (crafty ballhandling and solid outside shooting), while looking to another freshman up-and-comer, wing Mason Etter, for the kind of things you can’t teach, an innate ability to be in the right spot and a nose for the bottom of the net. He and Collier on the floor for three more years is tantalizing indeed. Yet with the backcourts perhaps coming to a stalemate on paper, it will be the play of slightly undersized frontcourt mates juniors Colby Flaig and Brock Rechsteiner, two players hovering around 6-3 who ooze athletic ability but must not spend too much time in foul trouble going head to head with Hines and Hudson all night.
PREDICTION: Wheeler 62-54