6A Desert Valley Overview: Standings & Standouts
We are a good portion of away through the season and I think it is time to look at some region standings and discuss what the potential future may look like for these regions/teams. Here is the 6A Desert Valley Overview:
Standings: As of 12/9/18
1. Chaparral 1-0 (Region) 4-0 (Conference) 7-0 (Overall)
2. Liberty 0-0 (Region) 3-1 (Conference) 3-2 (Overall)
3. Mountain Ridge 0-0 (Region) 4-2 (Conference) 4-2 (Overall)
4. Boulder Creek 0-0 (Region) 2-4 (Conference) 2-4 (Overall)
5. Pinnacle 0-0 (Region) 0-1 (Conference) 3-2 (Overall)
6. Sandra Day O’Connor 0-1 (Region) 3-3 (Conference) 3-3 (Overall)
Top Players:
Nico Mannion (Pinnacle): Hands down the best player in the state, in my opinion. This University of Arizona commit has played at an extremely high level, even knocking off the powerhouse team that is Shadow Mountain. He will continue this high level of play and lead his team to a state championship run.
Josh Ursery (Liberty): Scoring machine. Simple as that, enough said. Josh just has an absolute pure ability to score the ball and it is very hard to stop him. He is the life line of that Liberty team.
Keaton Rodgers (Sandra Day O’Connor): He has played very well and held his own, even playing well against Ironwood in a holiday tournament (Ironwood is currently 6-0 and has a stout defense).
Projection
This is an extremely competitive region. I thought that Chaparral would fall after they lost Xavier Dusell, but they have turned in a great season. I definitely need to check them out soon. While this region is very competitive, I think Pinnacle wins the region and eventually 6A state. Nico Mannion and company are just too good, Nico Mannion wins player of the year, for the region and maybe 6A.