At least two-three very big/big games for tonight with the biggest in my opinion:(Take/make your picks here ladies and gentlemen, but I like that EG-EA boys game as the tops of the night)…
Eastern Alamance at Eastern Guilford….EG boys(11-2/5-1) vs. EA boys at (11-1/6-0)….Boys at 8, preceded by the girls at 6:30pm…Does not matter what time this one starts, this is the game to see…Mid-State 3-A major matchup with kids like Quayson Williams from EG and John Lamot, from Eastern Alamance…If EG wins, they are at the top of the heap and if they fall, there goes EA and here comes McMichael…Girls both teams at (8-4) overall and the EA girls only lost to #1 Rockingham County by 4 last night….This is the key site tonight…..
Southwest Guilford at Page 6pm girls and boys to follow…SWG boys at (11-3) and Page boys now at (7-5) after last night’s win over Southeast Guilford….SWG topped Page 65-46 back on December 10 at SWG…In the first meeting, Page did not have the services of Xavier Hill-Mais and a the Hill-Mais vs. Kaymon Mitchell(SWG) could be a real good one…Girls with Page now at (6-7) after last night’s win at SEG and SWG at (8-6) with Page taking the first encounter back on Dec. 10, by a score of 58-49…SWG can not afford to lose Lashonda Monk to fouls…Page relies much on its outside shooting and Page does not have a real power post player this year, but neither does SWG…
Ragsdale at High Point Central 6pm…The loser of the girls sees all chances for a post-season playoff gone, and that’s just the way it is and for the boys, it becomes a separation-game with the winner staying within sight of NWG and SWG, but for the loser of Ragsdale(9-4) vs. HP Central(4-8) boys, the finish line starts to become a blur…
Northern Guilford at McMichael…Looking for girls at 6:30 and boys at 8pm with Mid-State mandate, having boys JV go at 5pm to save on travel, I guess…NG boys at (7-7), but sitting at (4-2) conference and McMichael at (10-3/5-1)…Loser starts to see some of the dirt coming in around them and the holes gets deeper/bigger with every conference loss….Biggest obstacles for NG girls will Rockingham County, Williams, Eastern Guilford and Eastern Alamance…
Western Alamance at Northeast Guilford 6:30pm and 8pm….NEG boys are in that hole and the NEG have found some offense with Neal, Jeffries and Henderson, but they have to locate the defense to win the big games..Hoping NEG boys can bounce back, but it looks a bit bleak right now…
Bishop McGuinness at Dudley(Girls Only)7:30pm…Talked to Dudley coach Frank McNeil last night and he has a lot to work with Essence Abraham leading the way and some real big BIGS on the inside..He and I both agreed that the corp of Bishop’s scoring comes from Nieters, Johnson, Cappuccio and Putman…
Australia Travel Team at Northwest Guilford…4:30pm….The teams from Tasmania have at least one real good girls team and that might pose a test for NWG, but from the boys teams, Green and Gold that were in town last week did not see a ton…
From Dudley at Smith last night with the Dudley girls taking the win 52-28 and the Smith men earning the split in the doubleheader, 70-65, you have to always remember one key component when you attend these Dudley-Smith basketball games, “When take your seat, or sit down, do not get up and leave”, seating is at a premium and if you leave your seat, it will not be there when you return…No bathroom visits during these games….
On the girls end, Dudley rides the flow of Essence Abraham..She is one of the top female high school players in our area…Strong and quick and can get to the basket…Abraham, Monk(SWG), Thorpe(GDS), and the combo-guard corp at NWG with Barber, Tucker, Neas and Moore are the top guards in our area…Abraham may the strongest, Monk can slash and drive with best of them, Thorpe is what they call a “scorer” and the Viking group plays off of each others strengths and weaknesses so well, with Barber running the show, but that does not diminish the importance of her backcourt teammates…
Smith and Dudley both have some real big BIGS, but right now the bigs are just that, BIG…Lots of work to be done, down at the ‘Diamond Mine” and the one big we have talked a lot about before can shoot free throws and that is Pointer at Northwest Guilford….Elissa Cunane, from Northern Guilford, is another big that can shoot free throws and she is on her way, since she is just in the 9th grade, but she has had coaching/teaching beyond the regular day-to-day workouts that the young ladies face at their high schools, this Cunane kid has done some extra work somewhere, you can tell by the way she plays and shoots…(Especially those free throws.)
If you can shoot free throws, it like having a contract to play basketball for life…You go to outdoor court and one guy says to another, “How did that guy get in this game”, “he can shoot free throws, comes the reply”, and outdoors that is your ticket into those pickup games….That is simply how you get in and if can hit free throws, you can play until you are 100, if you want to…And you can teach basketball if you like…Everyone this day and time is looking for a shooting coach and if you can hit/shoot free throws, you qualify to teach shooting from any spot on the court…
So much outside shooting from both the boys and girls these days and the Kargo sisters at Page are very good outside shooters when their game/shot is on…You don’t want to have to shoot your way into a high school game and if your shot is falling early on, that is real blessing…
Dudley boys have to have Hendon Hooker on the court for nearly the entire game if they are going to win and that is pretty much it…Dudley really needs their tandem of Hooker and Brion Seagraves and they usually account for about 80% of the Panthers’ scoring, last night Seagraves with 24 and Hooker with 17 and Hooker fouled out with 2:30 left in the game and he sat much of the first half with foul trouble, hitting the bench early in the first period….The thing you have with Hooker is he is a proven winner…You could hear people talking about it in the stands last night and like I said earlier, don’t get out of your seat…
No real established post player on Dudley this year and the Panthers love to square up and shoot that outside shot as much as I have seen them shoot it in previous years, and they are loading it up more than ever this season…..
Dudley has seven coaches on the bench with head coach Brian Seagraves and assistants Woods, Ferguson, Josh Prince, Josh Chavis, Hinson and the new coach how looks like a smaller version of Skip McCall dressed up in a coat and tie….
Coach Derrick Partee and Coach Clarence Waddell just keep on doing it the same way for Smith…Steady as she goes and let Aaron Simpson take over the game and he has become just about as good as anybody around at doing that….Simpson with 29 last night and if you need a bucket or a drive to the basket, Simpson will get it done for you…Getting good support from Raymon Pratt, Myles White, Tristan Scurlock and their good old-fashioned post man/player Kendric Lowe…
Lowe can still make it go down low….Has a nice turn move on his hook shot and just have to keep him from taking the ball down low and to the floor before he goes up to the basket…Remember what they say, “if you bring that ball down, it might be gone and you may never see it again”…..He wants to bring the ball down and put in the two dribbles for timing before he goes up and to the hole, but you can’t afford to do that, the guards and point forwards are waiting to swipe that ball away and taking back up court for two or three…
Smith is playing very efficient basketball right now and their boys are a true contender for the Metro 4-A Title….Very fast and they have to make those long runs last…
Can’t make a run and go up 15-20 and then let the other team back in it, but if something like that didn’t happen in the Smith-Dudley/Dudley-Smith games, then this wouldn’t be Greensboro…….
Really interested to see how that SW/Page boys’ game turns out, now that Page has X. I haven’t seen SW, but know they’re good.