I think we could talk about this for days, but when you think of All-Conference and All-County and not being overly selective right yet, but when that topic comes up and again not to take anything away from anyone else, Frank Eaves, Tracy Gathings and Sam Hunt come to my mind first and if this were a horse race, to me, those three would be way out in front, based upon what I have seen so far this year…..I listed them in alphabetical order by the way and among those three I could not tell you who is the player of the year as of yet, but those three kids, have been the difference makers on their teams…If you were to subtract each one from their respective teams, who would be dealt the biggest blow? Frankie gone from Page, the Pirates still have Bryson Fonville, Brian Spain, Lance Brown and Jalen Gavin and that still gives Page a big power punch on offense, but Frank has that big-game experience for you and that means a lot…..Take Tracy Gathings away from Smith and the Golden Eagles still have Drew Williams, Adrian Wimbush, JT Williams and Cameron Woods, but without Gathings, the Eagles are losing 22 points and at least 10 rebounds per game…..TG is the go-to man for Smith, just like Frank Eaves is in so many ways for Page….Remove Sam Hunt from the Dudley lineup and you are in big, big, trouble too….Sam has become the must-have leader of this team….It is not only his leadership, it is his scoring and rebounding and the ability to get the ball up the court and place the Panthers into their offense….Last Friday night, against Reidsville, Dudley got a big scoring boost from D.J. Alston with 25 points and then Daris Workman with 14 and the output came against a very good Reidsville team, that was (16-1) coming into the game, but Sam was there with right at 10 assists…..Sam and Matt Pawlowski from Northwest Guilford, are probably your top assist men in the county….
Just some thoughts on those three, who I have seen quite a bit of this season and all three have to be on the All Metro 4-A team and on the All-Guilford County team….Three more names that come right to me that have to be on the All-Guilford team and on their All-conference teams, are Jordan Hanner(Southwest Guilford), Bryce Benjamin(Northeast Guilford) and Keaton Haack(Northwest Guilford)…..
Hanner(SWG), Haack(NWG) and Benjamin(NEG), all three have been team leaders and have produced in areas where their teams have needed them the most…..Hanner stepped up when Terrell Leach went down with injury and has been scoring at a 20.0 ppg clip, Benjamin to me, has been the most consistant Ram this season and the NWG Vikings without Haack’s inside play and his scoring, well they would be in big trouble….NWG gets points from Hylton, Clary and from Matt P. along with his key assists, but Haack gives you points and boards and nobody else in his Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference can match his rebounding….
It is hard to pick a player from Northern Guilford, because they have had so much balance among their top five this season….Do you go Chandler, McBeth or Logan, those are your top three choices….Brandon Hairston from Eastern Guilford is looking to get a spot on this team, but I’m not sure if this season has been a better one for Brandon than last year was….I’m not for sure and maybe the new coaching strategy of Joe Spinks looks to get more men involved with the total offense….
Jalen Ford from High Point Andrews also has to have a spot on here somewhere….He has had a super season for the Red Raiders and pretty much has them ranked among the Top Ten in the state….
That’s a look at most of the boys and did we leave anyone out that should be in the Top Ten????? Maybe either Malik Wright or Tevin Johnson from Southeast Guilford? I am doing all of this from the bank, the memory bank if you will and I try and recall all the teams in each conference….Most of the kids that I have mentioned so far have been consistant this season and we will look separately at the Private Schools later on…If we start mixing the two groups up, we may have a book on our hands…..
Let’s get over to the girls side of things and leave you a few names for thought here too…Some of you may say that I need to be writing more, but this is a pretty good load for Sunday afternoon and it is true that I have probably been watching too much basketball this season and I will leave somebody out, it is hard to do it all fron memory and laying it all out a straight roll, but this is working pretty good for me, so I’ll keep on writing….
For the girls, I am leaning toward Zena Lovette as the Player of the Year right now….That could change by Wednesday morning, but if you look at what she has been doing lately, she has moved toward the top…She is scoring(23 points last game) and she is setting people up….The SWG girls are now (17-4) and they are making their run and I was going to do a post on them today entitled, “I’m telling you dog, this Southwest Guilford team is putting themselves in a position to go back and get it”…..(The State 4-A Title)…And it looks like they are….I would love to see a game this week with SWG vs. Dudley, just to see where these two teams are at right now…..Page is still making noise and they have one more shot at Dudley in the regular season at Page…..On this team to go with Lovette you also have Jessica Pone from SWG and I am putting these names out there as fast as I can send them, go to Paris Kea from Page….MVP at the Pizza Hut and she has been playing a totally different game this year from last, as she sets up Coleman and Barnes down low and Kea can play some ‘D’…I think she is one of the better defenders around and she does reach for knock-aways that cause steals from behind, but that comes from her athleticism….Lovette, Pone, Kea, and one of the two Rouse sisters from Dudley…Take your pick…Others have been playing well too, Maize, Abraham, Jackson, but you have to give Dudley a lot of credit, they lost Goins and they have kept right on going…That is impressive…Brandi Robinson from Smith…To me, she is the Smith MVP…Without her over the long haul this season, Smith would not be in the hunt/thick of the conference race….Not a contending team this year, but Grimsley might have been able to pack it in after halftime in some of their games this season, without the services of one Roxanne Henshall….If she had a stronger supporting cast, she might have a shot at Player of the Year in the Conference or some conference….Not trying to dis her teammates, but that kid is still digging deep….Brittany Clency is there on this team from Western Guilford…Without her, WG is in a hole that there is no getting out of….The hard part for Clency is that she faces the same problem that top-notch pitchers face in baseball…The second time through the conference or the second time you see a team, they know you and if you don’t have any help, you are dead meat…The target is on your back and they are going to drive you crazy and put up defenses that may let you as the top player get 15 points, but if your teammates only put of 7 or so, then you are gone…If you come in averaging 22-25 ppg and the oppostion holds you to just 15 and the rest of your team only gets 5-7, you’ve got problems….
Let’s see we have Lovette, Pone, Kea, one of the Rouses, Robinson, Henshall, Clency, and you take either Hailey or Upshaw from Southeast Guilford, then Harper from NWG with Munson a close second, then Jenkins or Jones or Grier from High Point Central, then Robinson or Coffer from Northern Guilford, Imani Watkins or Santia Davis from High Point Andrews, I can’t tell you if we have one particular pick from Eastern Guilford,(many have been contributing), give me somebody from Southern since they have been battling back and I have given you a pretty good list for a weekend Sunday, for not looking down once at any resources, since I started typing this….
Send me some of your input and as you can see, I have been storing a lot of info upstairs this season and with not looking back at any notes, we have made a very good inroads into our end of the year All-Conference and All-County teams…..We got all of this your way in right at 1 hour and 12 minutes and that is a short book coming your way in quick time….
*****I am going to go ahead and print this so you will have something to read and then I will go back and make some of my corrections….*****
The boys predictions seem to be on the money. But for the girls you left off Geer and JoJo from Smith and you didn’t mention K. Johnson from Page. I don’t see how you could mention the Coffer girl from Northern? Your memory bank need a deposit!!
Good input. I was trying to limit things to one player per team and if you have the time give us your 10 for the girls…..With NG, I’m not sure who gets the nod when we select one player…..Really looking for one player from each team and with some we have to choose one from two players….Who is your Top Ten and pick them the way you want…Will be curious to see some of the fans’ selections…..Would really like to see some of those from both the boys and girls sides, with a Top Ten from each……
So let me get this straight: no HP Christian, Wesleyan or GDS players on All-County, huh? The last time I checked High Point and Greensboro were part of Guilford County.
Isn’t this the same website where the News & Record was criticized a couple of years ago for putting kids from Greensboro and High Point (Toomey and Buckland) who played at Bishop McGuinness on their All-Guilford team?
JD.
Good point, but this website is never consistent (they cannot even spell the word. No mention of Jalen Ross and you talk about Pawlowski , an average HS basketball player at best. No Williams, Pinson, etc. get a mention. Jackson Kent will still be POY and Brian Clifford will be COY ’cause they have those Page bloodlines. We even have private schools in the pills who are in Davidson and Forsyth county. This blog is more inconsistent than Meet Gingrich.
I like the idea of keeping public schools and private school comparison separate.
Private schools recruit… whether it’s blatant or in a manner that circumvents the “rules”. And with the exception of BM at the 1A level, you don’t see consistent head-to-head action private schools vs public. One could argue public schools find ways around the rules but there’s a big difference between a parent moving versus $10k per semester tuition being waived because a kid can play ball.
Have top teams in the area from public and private ever gone head to head? I’m talking like a 4A Dudley taking on a GDS? Those are the games I’d like to see.
forgot to add: to the blog haters: if this is site so bad, why are you here? No one is forcing you to read it.
It is specified in the post that this is a list of public schools only. We will do something on the private schools later on. Glad this has created some discussion and that was the intent and one of our readers requested this material so that is why it was posted. We are here to help and by the looks of some of your comments we are going to busy….We have more info here in one day than you will get in the other publications in one month and we pretty much have one man doing it all…..Glad to be of service.
Here is a little trivia session for you to work on today…Can anyone teill us who was the Player of the Year here at the site last year for:
1)Public School Boys
2)Public School Girls
3)Private School Boys
4)Private School Girls
*****That will give you something to work on today and if this was a weekend day, I would tell some of you to go out and work on your game, you need it by the way you are talking….All the POY’s from last year anyone, without looking them up????*****
Have only seen a few of the girl teams play but my choices would be:
Zena Lovette (SWG)
Paris Kea (PAGE)
Jessica Pone (SWG)
Brittany Clency (WESTERN)
how can jordan hanner not be in your top 3 when he is leading the county in scoring?
Folks, please stick to the topic and choose players versus all the side bar rhetoric.
1. Zena Lovett: Southwest Guilford: 12.6 ppg: team is undefeated in conference play and is in first place
2. Lakayla Rouse: Dudley: 11 ppg: Team is 7-1 in conference and is in first place
3. Alexis Robinson: Northern Guilford: 13 ppg: Team 9-1 in conference and in tie for first place:
4. Jessica Pone: Southwest Guilford: 12.5 ppg: Team is undefeated in conference and in first place
5. Amanda Coffer: Northern Guilford: 11.7 ppg: Team is 9-1 in conference and in first pace plus she leads county in block shots at 4.3 bpg.
Good comments so far and good input/info….
Looks like Jordan Hanners is in the Top Five and a lock so far for top ten…..It is going to be tough to wedge into that Top Three of Gathings, Eaves and Hunt….The Metro looks to be a much tougher conference than the Piedmont Triad 4-A this year on both the boys and girls sides…Boys tough with Page, Smith, Dudley, SEG and Grimsley is making a comback and the Metro girls with Dudley, Page, Smith, SEG, Southern Alamance and WG….What are others saying?????
Again, good comments and good luck with your teams…..We’ll be out there….
I have seen this on this sight a few times and I have just have to correct it. There is no such a person named Lakayla Rouse. There are two Rouse sisters. There is a Lakiya Rouse also known as KK and there is a Makayla Rouse. Lakiya (KK) Rouse is the senior #24 who plays SG, SF, PF. Makayla Rouse is the sophomore #15 who plays PG, SG. Please keep this in mind.
Andy clearly states in the article above “Most of the kids that I have mentioned so far have been consistant this season and we will look separately at the Private Schools later on…If we start mixing the two groups up, we may have a book on our hands…..”
READ ARTICLES FULLY BEFORE POSTING
Are we sure when we say “The Metro girls conference is the toughest? Have we really looked at the other conference records such as Mid Piedmont or Mid State conferences?
List some names for us, take part in the discussion and enjoy the post, that is the key…..It is good to get these kids names out there in a positive way….
Forget what conference people play in because these teams play outside their conference before the season even starts. Let me give you a hint on what the real deal is Go to the botton of greensborosports.com to the Maxprep box go to boys/girls basketball go to the leaderboards scoring,3FG,Assist,Rebounds etc you can see for youself who leads in what? If a player is leading in more than 1 area their hot because this is everybody public/private.Now who leads what?
To Reading is Fundamental:
That line was buried so deep in a rambling monologue of a post that I had to read the post three times to catch that reference. It was almost as if it was buried to start a controversy and get more posts — and I was dumb enough to take the bait, so I plead guilty.
But right from the start, he should nof have called it “All-County” if it wasn’t going to include all the schools in the county.
Child Please
Unfortunately, the information on maxpreps is relied upon what is reported by the coaches when they actually take the stats during the game. It is unfortunate that some good players in the county do not get recognized for thier talents/contributions to the team because coaches and thier staff do not take the time to input the information. These players can play four years for them and hardly get recognized outside of the school. Then folks wonder why players leave public school to attend private school. They have to get noticed somewhere and again unfortunate pay to do it because public schools just don’t have the time to invest just a little bit more in a student-athlete actually getting a scholarship. I commend the schools and the coaches who actually invest in thier players. Much work to be done by those who don’t.
Keep reading and keep on talking……Good discussion and sooner or later Springer will catch on…..He is reading, but still not yet comprehending….He’ll get it…..You know he wants to learn, that’s why he keeps coming back and we are happy to entertain all…..
We will have to narrow this down to a Top Five in just a few weeks…..
Ok putting the petty stuff to the side:
Lovette- SW
Pone- SW
Johnson-Page
KK Rouse-Dudley
Munson-NW
These five would dominate any other team of five in the county. This is the top five for All County 7 out of 7 day a week!
-March Madness
I like your five, but Im gonna go in a different direction with a couple.
Paris Kea-Page
Zena Lovette-SW Guilford
Makayla Rouse-Dudley
KK Rouse-Dudley
Brandy Robinson-Smith
On the boys side I gotta go with
Sam Hunt-Dudley
Jordan Hanner-SW Guilford
Frank Eaves-Page
Bryce Benjamin-NE Guilford
Tracy Gathings-Smith
Real deal I can go with your boys selection, so give that group 2 votes. The girls group M Rouse and P Kee dont make the cut. They are both good players but they dont get a vote off of name recognition. I always thought this selection was about consistence performance? They hadnt reached that plateau this season.
March Madness, I can respect your opinion on that, but the reason why both of those girls make my list is because as having been a pg on the highschool and college level I look at both of those girls beyond the numbers. I have seen what what Kea does for her team on a nightly basis facing traps double teams and other junk defenses thrown at her with the ball handling and distributing duties. In MY opinion she is a large part of the reason why K. Johnson (who is a good player) is having the success she is having. I saw them play early in the season at the Thanksgiving showcase against Surry Central. When Paris Kea had went down with the shoulder injury. A game in which they lost. Had Kea been playing they win that game in convincing fashion. I believe she without her that Page team is a .500 team at best.
With Makayla Rouse I can understand how it may be hard to understand her true worth on a team that has so much talent already but, I see the Dudley girls play frequently since i have a kid that i used to mentor on the Dudley boys team. When she is not playing albeit they are still very talented they don’t roll the same. Its similar to having a Mercedes Benz S550 without her but when she is playing that theam is a Bens S600. She gives them the boost they need. I really like that kids game and this may be a little sensitive with all of the Dudley fans on this site but I REALLY feel like by the time she graduates she will be one of if not the best to ever play there. She has what alot of people call that IT FACTOR!!
Your other players I can roll with. I love Z. Lovette she is one of the areas best scorers but I think she is a 2 guard in a point guards role.
KK Rouse is a beast and the most versatile player that I have seen this year and The Robinson girl from Smith is a double double waiting to happen every night. Let me know what you think
If the performance or numbers does not match up with the recognition, it becomes political. We need to stop trying to put 5 and 7 point scorers in the same category as players that score in the 12 -15 pt range and also stop trying to put 12 pt scorers in the same category with 20 point plus scorers that are also good all around players and have demonstrated that on a very consiistent basis. It has nothing to do with what they did on the AAU circuit or who is recruiting them. If a marquee player quote, unquote is getting double team or whatever other teams are throwing at them, has there not been examples around here where that has happen to players and they still are very productive and their team still win? Also lets stop putting players on high notes whom production does not indicate that and some other kid is really having a better year and we act like we do not see it happening. Averaging 5 points at one school does not make it greater than a kid averaging 10 at another and they both play the same position. Let the numbers become the mouth piece and not what we want it to be.
Some of yall need to stop trying to equate points with basketball success. -Terry you probably rather have a person on your team that has 20 points on 10-30 shooting with no rebounds or assists and 5 turnovers who team more than likely lost. As apposed to someone with a solid 12pts 6 rebounds 6 assists and 2 steals who there team probably got the win.
PJ averaged a lot of points at Dudley and they won. Also do you think Carolina would have been interested in him if he were averaging 5 ppg? Roy would have been at Dudley gym excited about a 5 point scorer. If that is true, call him about all the 5 point scorers that are labeled as team players and see if he wants to come and see them and offer them a scholarship.
March Madness
I agree with you. The ones mentioned have not reached that palteau even if their teams are winning. Those team would have won any way based on the talent level this year. Too often folks confuse activity with results. Alexis Robinson from Northern Guilford is having a much better year than both and her team is winning and yet no one mentions it. Shayla Burnett and Boggs from Southern Alamance have both out performed the ones you mention and yet you mention those names as if they have out paced the others. Thats wrong. Makayla does have potential but the numbers does not justify or warrant as one of the best. It is not that much talent or experience on Dudley that it would not allow her to shine or appear a notch above. Has Paris really stood out above other players in her conference? we all agree they are winning and so are other teams and they are in second place which could change in a few more games.
If Paris Kea were not on that Page team they would be bottom feeding in that conference. Ask any coach around here who would they rather have Paris Kea/Makayla Rouse or Alexis Robinson. Alexis Robinson is a good kid and has some talent, but she is not even in the same conversation with Paris or Makayla. Plus Northern Guilford is winning against sub par teams in a sub par conference. Anytime they have played teams with talent they hve lost ex. S. Durham, GDS, Williams, and Raleigh Wakefield. Some of yall just don’t get it Im gonna stop wasting my time with you people.
Real Deal, all I am saying is Paris has not played as well as she played in previous years. She is excellent ball player, but she has not performed as well or above other guards this year. She has the skills and potential but it just hasnt risen to the top this year. I think you should speak with her coaching staff and find out if her performance is what they predicted at the beginning of the season? If they predicted she would be averaging 12ppg they are mis-leading you and themselves. I think we all expected at least 22ppg? That’s why I think at best she deserves “Honorable Mention”!
Looks like Paris is doing a very good job of distributing the ball this year and her teammate Kayla Johnson is doing a good job with that too….Aleta Smith loooked good tonight(Tuesday) and Chelsey Coleman and Debresha Barnes are the recipiants of all those nice passes from the guards and it is making Page a more-rounded team…..Pirates all playing well and running the floor well too….
Real Deal
Past or present, what player would you compare to Paris Kea at the same position?