NW4A Preview

Boy, I'm terrible with words. :banginghe

What I meant to say is that our opponents are happy to see those girls gone... I think ya'll know what I mean, lol. :imagestor

 

My bad bigdan, I misunderstood.

 

My View

Okay, Ill take a stab at it

I will start with the teams that I think will take a shot at winning the conference.

McDowell - You have to pick them to at least be in the hunt just because of what they have done in the past and also out of respect for Mike, who seems to get the kids to play with a confidence and clamness seen in very few teams anywhere, boys or girls. It is however interesting that they will be a new team in that they lost so many seniors and the heart of what made them so succesful in the last few years. It may be the year that someone like SC or Freedom gets a shot at beating them. It will be fun to see how they adjust to a new roster and a new starting line-up. But if you take them as freshmeat your going to get clobbered. I am interested to see how the Greene girl does that now she might be the focus of the better defenders on teams.

South Cladwell - I think of all the teams with the talent and chemistry to win it this year - SC is probably most well equipped for a conference title. Saying that, it must also be said that a large part of thier chemistry was do to the unbelevable leadership skills of Barrett - who is now gone. I have a strong feeling though that the chemistry that they have enjoyed even back to Pritchett might take a hard shot with Kidd thier now. She is used to being the focus of the offense and with Lackey coming on last year as the person to stop on that team it might make for a hard transition - especially if she has to share the post with Lackey. I think if you play them early in conference- especially at home you might be able to shake thier chain a little. If it does happen, Parham will not let that go on for to long.

AC Reynolds I think they have a legitamate chance also. They are going to be a much different team but they still have a large amount of their core players. I think people underestimate the importance of what Rybacki brought to that team so they might be a little down from last year and susceptible to loosing 4 or 5 conference games this year. I watched them play a little this summer and they seemed to be doing well.

THe others who will fight for maybe the third spot or a wild card. Ill put them in alphebetical order

Alexander Central God Bless this Coach. I just think they are in for another winless year. Without Miller they had almost nothing. The amazing thing is watching this school play volleyball this year WOW!!! you talk about hiegth both on the Var and JV. THis coach needs to start doing some recruiting of these players. They play with a lot of heart and I think whittington was doing a decent job. It is hard to play in this conference as a average talent team.

East Burke Lost a lot of players and won a lot last year just because of Helton. She had a way of not allowing runs to continue on them - she could score when she needed to - Without West they will be a differnt team also - she was a deceptively good point gaurd. They have some really good talent on AAU teams - wondering if any of them will be playing as freshman and will they be able to contribute. Interesting year for them.

Freedom Are they happy they lost Kidd? Gives them a chance to welcome new point gaurd with a whole lot of talent. A fairly young team who has some varsity experience. Even with new gaurd they will miss Cline. Time for Morrison to step up and see if she can score. Potential to be the team that fights for that third spot.

Watauga Lost all 5 starters. Very young with a ton of potential. Will take thier lumps this year and if they can keep thier head above water will be good in 2-3 years. Look for them to be a better offensive team then last year. Will miss Bolick's point gaurd skills - she kept them in most games. A couple of returners with a good sophmore class. The big difference with Watauga this year is they will have a little height. Sturgill all of 5'8 was the post player last year and looks like they may have a few players that are 5"10 and taller. Building year with potential of upseting some big teams if they find thier rhythm and can gel as a team.

 

I know till someone actually knocks Mcdowell off they will be picked as favorites but I will be very much surprised if they finish on the top of the conference this year. They lost a lot of their team last year and will have to rebuild. I think they are a 3rd or 4th place team this year unless the other teams are down quite a bit.
Freedom is kind of a question mark. They lost Kidd plus 2 very good players to graduation which will be a big blow to their team.
East Burke will struggle as they also lost their better players and I really don't think they have a lot of talent coming up.
Watagua and Alexander will fight as always to stay out of the cellar
For me that leaves 2 teams to battle for the conference title, AC Reynolds and South Caldwell. AC lost a couple players but pretty much have enough talent to replace them. Look for them to make some noise.
My pick for the year is South Caldwell they only lost Barrett who had lost a lot with all the injuries and never did return to the player she was. SC has loads of talent returning and with the addition of kristin Kidd will be hard to beat here's my preseason picks:

1. SC
2. Reynolds
3. Mcdowell
4. Freedom
5. East Burke
6. Watagua
7. Alexander

 

After thinking about it for a few days, I'm gonna make my conference predictions...

1. AC Reynolds: Thompson and Worley are back with a supporting cast. They lose very few if any games at home and in recent seasons has played well at some tough road environments (McDowell, Freedom and South Caldwell) I'll pick them to win the conference with one or at most two losses (lose to either McDowell or Freedom)

2. McDowell: Like Reynolds, we have two key players back this year, Lea Smith and Kelsea Greene. I think the two sophmores (Hamilton and Washington) can make an instant impact on the team. But without a doubt, the Lady Titans are down a knotch or two compared to the last few seasons. Don't be suprised if we take a few bumps in the non-conference schedule, but this team will gel as the season wears on. The Freedom/McDowell rivalry should be much better because it won't be as one-sided as in recent history. I see us splitting with South Caldwell, splitting with Reynolds, and we may very well split with Freedom.

3. South Caldwell: The Spartans bring back the most players that saw significant minutes last year (Lackey, Hobbs, Church) and with the addition of Kidd, the potential is there to win the conference. But, I'm not completely sold on them yet as the top team. I think they'll AT LEAST split with Freedom. But the key to winning the conference is if they could pick up a huge road win against either McDowell or AC Reynolds.

4. Freedom: Coach Amber Fox has got those girls in the right direction after a couple years of just wondering around in no direction. They have a freshmen coming up that is gonna make an immediate impact and that some say may be the next big star in the conference. Without a doubt, expectations are high. My question is...Can they shake off the recent struggles against the top tier of the conference? Both Reynolds and South Caldwell has had the Lady patriots number, even at home. and then McDowell has just been the better team the last few years. Brianna Morrison's time to step up her game is now, she'll be expected to carry a significant load along with Alexandra Ervin and others.

Spots 2-4 IMHO may be as close as one or two games between the three teams and could go in any order.

And now the rest of the conference...

5. Watauga: For some reason I think its their year to come up a knotch in the standings. they might even upset somebody in the upper half of the conference.

6. East Burke: Last year's squad pretty much consisted of Helton and West, they're now gone. Their JV's last year looked "weak" at best. I think they have to fight to say out of the conference cellar.

7. Alex. Central: Not much you can say about them...I think they got a new coach for about the 5th year in a row. We'll see what happens in Taylorsville this season?

 

This is the way I think things will go:

1. AC Reynolds 10-2 A very tough place to play. Always have a good student body there raising heck. Good coach. 2 or 3 key players return. Have a good inside/outside game.
2. MHS 9-3 The lady titans will have a tough non-conference schedule this year and this should better prepare them for conference play. They dropped Mitchell and RS Central which is 4 easy wins. The non-conference schedule looks like this: Providence Day School (#1 private school team in state). East Rutherford (one of the top 2A teams in the state). TC roberson (always have a decent team). They also play Newton-Conover, Enka, Owen, and at the Freedom Christmas tournament. This will be a very young team - starting 1 senior and 4 sophmores. If we had a true point guard this year i think the titans could win the conference once again. K. Greene will be running the point and will do a good job, but she would be more effective and a better scorer from the 2 guard spot. She had to quit running cross country due to a knee injury. Hopefully she will be fine by mid-november. I think L. Smith will put up 18 points and 10 boards a game this year. She will be the go to person this year. The Washington kid will be a force on the inside also. Hamilton can light it up from the perimeter. The other starter could be different each week. This team will have ok depth, but Coach Silver usually only plays 8 girls. If they can stay healthy everything should be fine this year. 18-6 reg. season.
3. South Caldwell 8-4 I know they have alot of talent returning, but until they prove they can beat MHS and ACR i will keep them in the 3rd spot.
4. Freedom 6-6
5. EB 4-8
6. WHS 3-9
7. AC 0-12

 

I think Reynolds and SC will battle for the conference title this year and I will have to give SC the edge here
Freedom and Mcdowell will battle for third with the nod here going to Freedom
Wat. EB and Alexander will play for the rest of the spots. I don't know who is favored here but my guess would be EB then Wat. and Alexander taking up their customary spot at the bottom