Region Realignment: 6A East Valley

<p>With the previous two year block concluding this past season, the 6A East Valley region is unchanged. This region has programs that have had a lot of history of success. However, it was Skyline who won this region last year. With that said, there are some changes in terms of players and coaches that could make this region quite intriguing. The region includes: Dobson, Mesa, Mesa Mountain View, Red Mountain, Skyline, and Westwood.</p> <h2>Dobson (2019-2020 Record: 8-18, 2-8)</h2> <p>Dobson finished tied for last in this region last year with Westwood. Due to injury, their stud prospect, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="705661" first="Juhlawnei" last="Stone"]</strong>, missed a good portion of the season. Thus, Dobson received a good idea as to what life would look like without him. While this team was competitive, they will certainly need some prospects to feel some huge holes with Stone officially graduating.</p> <p><strong>Quinten Phillips</strong> provides this team with the most hope. He proved that he has the ability to be the leading scorer for the team last year while Stone was out. The 6’0 guard demonstrated that he can score from multiple levels. In addition to Phillips, <strong>Logan Blanchard </strong>and <strong>Colten Spencer </strong>will need to play bigger roles for the group as well in order for them to improve their 2-8 mark in this region.</p> <h2>Mesa (2019-2020 Record: 11-16, 3-7)</h2> <p>Mesa finished the season in 4th place in this region with one game separating them from 5th place Westwood and 6th place Dobson. While that is certainly not the type of season they anticipated or they are used to, this team brings back the most proven talent out of any team in this region.</p> <p>Mesa should expect to have a huge year from 1st Team All-Region <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="703827" first="Steven" last="Cervantes"]</strong>. Cervantes led the team in scoring and was 2nd in assists while shooting the basketball at 40% from 3. His ability to create for himself as well as his teammates will be paramount to any improved play Mesa is hoping for. In addition to Cervantes, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="959023" first="Dallin" last="Cook"] </strong>proved to be a capable duo with Cervantes. He led the team in assists while being 2nd in scoring. Between these two, Mesa will hope to feature the top backcourt in the region. Strong guard play could be the separator. In addition to Cook and Cervantes, <strong>Drew Shumway </strong>demonstrated that he can be a contributor and capable shooter. </p> <h2>Mesa Mountain View (2019-2020 Record: 14-12, 7-3)</h2> <p>Despite finishing 2nd in this region last year, Mesa Mountain View might have the most questions to answer out of any team in the region. They had a lot of seniors who were key contributors this past season. </p> <p>While this team will have a lot of question marks, Coach Ernst does not have much of a history of losing. It will be intriguing to see which prospects step up and play key roles for this team, but this group will compete. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="973584" first="Matix" last="Arnet"]t </strong>is their top returning prospect. He will have to carry a lot of the weight for Mesa Mountain View this season as a junior.</p> <h2>Red Mountain (2019-2020 Record: 8-20, 6-4)</h2> <p>While the group had a 8-20 record, they managed to finish 3rd in this region and go 6-4. Their strong finish to the season in region play should give them confidence going into next season.</p> <p>Another reason that they should have confidence is because they have the only 1st Team All-Region underclassman on their roster. <strong>Kyle Waters </strong>was the most consistent prospect on their roster last season. Now, with a year of experience in this region as a primary contributor, Waters will look to take it to another level. He won’t have the assistance of <strong>Jacob Zuniga </strong>or <strong>Chase Rohlik. </strong>As Waters improves and his teammates step into new roles, it will be interesting to see the level of success that Red Mountain has next season.</p> <h2>Skyline (2019-2020 Record: 27-3, 10-0)</h2> <p>After a terrific season which is the best in Skyline history, this team has many question marks. They will have a new coach, and they graduate 3 out of 4 1st Team or 2nd Team All-Region prospects as well as the region player of the year, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="705648" first="Dayton" last="Harris"]</strong>. </p> <p>While there are a lot of questions in regards to what this team will look like next year, they do have the benefit of having <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="809713" first="Patrick" last="Herrera"] </strong>returning. The 1st Team All-Region prospect is a knockdown shooter who was a key part of the team’s success last year. After Herrera, <strong>Greyson Cook </strong>was the only other prospect on the roster who saw significant action and carved a role for himself. He showed that he could be a catch and shoot shooter from deep for the team. Despite winning a region title, Skyline will have a lot to prove next year after the amount of talent that they had graduate or transfer.</p> <h2>Westwood (2019-2020 Record: 10-18, 2-8)</h2> <p><strong>Marcus Elzie </strong>was the leader of this group last year. However, Westwood brings back the vast majority of their varsity roster which should give them a lot of hope to compete in this region. </p> <p><strong>Bryce Baptiste </strong>was a key playmaker for this group who was able to score the basketball as well as create for others. After Baptiste, Westwood has a number of guys who playing meaningful roles last year and will look for bigger roles this year. Some of those names to be on the lookout for include: <strong>Jarim </strong><strong>Diaz-medina, Adrian Cordova, Mohiah Brown</strong>, and <strong>Rex Richardson</strong>. </p>