NW4A Preview

All,

Hoops season is only a little over a month away. What are everyone's thoughts on the upcoming NW4A Girls Basketball season. Let's get the discussion started!!

ACR- The loss of Coach Snead is their biggest loss. He was a great coach and will be missed dearly by his team and by the rest of the NW4A. They should have a solid team, but will miss the leadership of Thompson and Worley.

Freedom- Ali Ford is the real deal. She will see a lot of double teams and junk defenses. If the Foxes can come up with a way to get her opportunites she will carry Freedom. They lost a lot but should still be decent.

East Burke- Coach Murray always does a good job with his teams. JV teams was strong last year! Look for them to be near the top.

Watauga- A lot of questions to be answered here. When will the twins be ready to play? Will any of the transfers play a big role? Things are still to be determined. The future looks pretty good for the Pioneers. They have a outstanding incoming class. Will be interesting to see if any make the Varsity squad and if they will play a role on the team. Looks like Watauga could have a decent year.

McDowell- Always have to be the favorites to win the conference. Coach Silver has a great group of incoming freshman. Will be interesting to see how many play Varsity ball. Greene and Smith will lead this team all year.

South Caldwell- Lost a lot of punch last year. Hobbs returns and will have to do a whole lot for them to be successfull. JV team was not very strong. They also have a stong group coming in, but look for South to be near the bottom.

Alexander- Doesn't seem like they can keep a coach. Their last coach seemed to know what was going on and how to build a program. What happened to him?? JV team had some size last year. Until proven other wise, look for them to bring up the bottom.

Early Predictions:
McDowell
ACR
East Burke
Watauga
Freedom
South Caldwell
Alexander Central

OK, I got the discussion started. Let's hear what you got to say!

 

hard to beleive that hoops season does begin in about six weeks...I'm gonna wait a while before commenting on this upcoming season.

 

Where did Coach Snead go? Did he leave the school, or just leave coaching? I know there was something he needed to tend to, just didn't know the details. Anyway, he was a good young coach. Sorry to see him go.

I agree that McDowell is the favorite, and yes Greene and Smith will be big factors, but I think you can count on Kurie Washington to lead.

 

Hoops is not far away and it is never to early to talk about NW4A girls basketball.

1. MHS
2. EB
3. Reynolds
4. WHS
5. FHS
6. South
7. Alexander

MHS returns 3 great players in Greene, Hamilton, and Washington. Then you also have Dages and J. Smith who played alot and contributed last season. I think the biggest question is how many of the freshman will Coach Silver move to the varsity. But with the 3 players I mentioned earlier they will carry the load. It looks like another great season for MHS.

Reynolds lost alot off last years team, plus the head coach. They still have talent, but no Art Snead. It will still be a battle anytime you play them at their place.

East Burke returns alot of players off a team that had a decent season last year.

Freedom has Ali Ford. That is about all you can say for them. But if she can get some more help from anyone on the court they could upset some of the top teams. She can light it up. I still think they are a few players away from being good every game.

South caldwell is in the same boat as Freedom. They have one great player (Hobbs) and no one else. It will be a long year for South.

Alexander Central - what else can you say.

Watauga is looking to turn the corner this year and make the playoffs. I know they have some young talent coming up in Boone and with the conference a little weaker this year if they play hard and have good coaching they could have a decent year.

 

When does practice start?

 

Practice starts Oct 30th

Practice

First day of practice always starts on the last Monday in Oct - this year that falls on Oct 30th. Less then 3 weeks away.

 

Okay, now that football season is over for me it's time to focus on hoops...

To be quite honest, there are a lot of things that I don't know about in relation to the other teams in the conference but here's my take...

1. McDowell - The Lady Titans bring back four starters and their primary bench player from last year's 19-9 squad. Kurie Washington will lead this team once again, she really arrived on the scene last year averaging over 20 points per game. I also look for Kelsea Greene to really explode this season. Last year was really a transition time for her she went from being a freshmen secondary player to a primary option on last year's team, there were some struggles but she caught on as the season progressed. Look for Greene to have a big year shooting on the perimeter, plus she's still going to be aggressive on defense. Also look for Jessica Smith to have a good season. Seniors tend to step up and elevate their game and I think she may be the one to do it.

The key to the starting five will be Ebonique Hamilton. Ebonique showed flashes of just how good she can be in the paint. While a bit undersized down low, it's her long arms and her hustle that made her good. If we can get consistant effort from Hamilton, we will be okay. Over the recent years, McDowell's post players seem to blossom their junior years. Girls like Erin May, Aimee Kiser and Leah Smith have really made a name of theirselves at this point, will Hamilton do the same?

The problem for the Lady Titans is that they will be thin. After the starting five, there are a lot of questions as to who will come off the bench. The Lady Titans have a couple players from the JV squad last year who could get minutes this year, one of them is Lady Titan forward Molly Brooks. Molly was elevated last year for the playoffs but got very few minutes. Another wild-card is the upcoming freshmen class at MHS. Autumn Ward, Jaalen Corpening and Xandie Gellman highlights what should be another good group of Lady Titans that should continue the tradition over the next four years. Will any of those girls make it to the varsity level as freshmen?

I'm predicting the Lady Titans will win the conference but I'm sure there will be some tough games coming up. One thing that is definite is that the Lady Titans cannot afford an injury to the starting five.

2. A.C. Reynolds - The Lady Rockets over the past four years have knocked off teams like Freedom as the being the "one of the teams to beat" in the Northwestern 4A Conference. Just for that reason I respect the Lady Rockets program and I expect that they'll step up this season and make a run at the top spot in the conference. The Lady Rockets, like a lot of teams in the conference, do have some question marks. Who will replace Thompson and Worley as the primary ball-handlers and scorers? Every year it seems like somebody comes out of the woodwork and provides the perimeter offense needed to make the Lady Rockets a dangerous team. Who will it be this season? Plus the Lady Rockets have a new coach, the female assistant under Art Snead (can't remember her name?). I'm sure she will be running similar stuff that Snead ran, coaching in this conference will be a challenge.

3. East Burke - The Lady Cavaliers return some pretty good players from last season. Coach Murray always flies under the radar when it comes to coaching. I think he does a pretty good job with what he is given. East Burke's feeder system (Heritage Middle School) had some athletes last year and I wouldn't be shocked if they end up playing varsity this year. Watch for the Lady Cavs to take advantage of some teams (i.e South Caldwell) dropping in the ranks this year and grab third place in conference.

4. Freedom - The Lady Patriots IMO are the wild-card in the conference this season. They have a star in Ali Ford, they have good coaches (Fox & Fox) but that's about it as far as proven talent goes. In other words, the Patriots are in the same spot last year, if they can get another guard to give Ford the ball and a post player to offset any gimmick defenses on Ford, then the Patriots could finish much higher than what I am predicting them to finish.

5. South Caldwell - The Lady Spartans pretty much lose all but one player (Hobbs) from last year's team who loss to eventual champ South Meck in the sectional final. Pretty obvious they will be down this year. I think South and Watauga will fight for fifth place this season.

6. Watauga - The Lady Pioneers may benefit from some teams being down in the conference. I hear they have one of their better groups coming up the pipeline. I predict they win 3 or 4 conference games this season.

7. Alexander Central - New coach, new hopes to energize the program...We seem to hear that every year down in Taylorsville. They might win a game or two in conference.