2018-2019 West Michigan’s Sleeper Teams
With football season coming to an end in the next month we can already smell freshly sanded hardwood courts in high schools across the state. While schools like Clarkston, University of Detroit Jesuit, Skyline (Ann Arbor) and Edison Academy (Detroit) have dominated the landscape of high school basketball in the state of Michigan these past few years, there is a group of schools in West Michigan that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Of course the perennial powers east of Lansing like Grand Rapids Christian, Wyoming Godwin Heights and Benton Harbor will show up this year but don’t count out these four schools below who should make some waves moving forward into the 2018-2019 basketball season.
LUDINGTON – Lead by senior Josh Laman. Ludington hasn’t fallen off the map partly because Laman is the last remaining player from the Cinderella run of 2016-2017. Look out as they look like they will dominate the Lakes 8 Conference and make a run all the way to the Breslin Center.
NORTH MUSKEGON – Preseason All- Stater TJ McKenzie, junior point guard De’Shary Warren and John Hayhurst offer up the trifecta of scoring and defense. This should be fun to watch this team come together and make a run in the West Michigan Conference and through the playoffs.
KENT CITY – MLive.com boys basketball Coach of the Year for the Muskegon area, Coach David Ingles manages to get the most out of his players. Returning starter Eli Carlson will now be tasked with being the floor general. Kent City doesn’t have a superstar player, but Coach Ingles creates a balanced scoring attack with solid team defense.
MUSKEGON REETHS-PUFFER – Muskegon Reeths-Puffer finished 9-11 last year, but with the return of Reeths-Puffer’s young backcourt of junior Emcee Williams and sophmore Kaleb Mitchelson this squad has something to prove this year.