Who is in the Mix of Contenders for Division One?
Kohl Center, 2018 — As players from Oshkosh North heard the last buzzer sound, ultimately heralding a Division One state championship, players and coaches emptied the bench, appropriately storming the court to celebrate alongside fans and students. In the following…
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Continue ReadingKohl Center, 2018 — As players from Oshkosh North heard the last buzzer sound, ultimately heralding a Division One state championship, players and coaches emptied the bench, appropriately storming the court to celebrate alongside fans and students. In the following minutes, event workers entered with a ladder and placed it below the basket, and players took turns climbing up and snipping nylon, holding up their trophy beaming with pride. Only now, almost a year after the fact, we can look back at their run engineered by quirks and idiosyncrasies and apply the criteria to this year’s field of contenders.
North operated a quaint one-three-one zone, and it was the hand that fanned the flame beneath the roster. What the zone really did was it lobbied for great basketball, especially with North’s lengthy roster that was beckoning for a trap defense of that nature.
So, as we search once more for a team to fit the criteria left behind by last years champion, I find myself set on two teams (and two dark horses) with coexisting facets of their roster. Two facets that will not only take them to the Kohl Center but provide the ladder for them to be snipping nylon.
Sussex Hamilton, depth and star-power:
Patrick Baldwin Jr. is the nation’s best sophomore. In general, he’s torture to game plan for, especially when playing in quick intervals or in a tournament setting. So, when the brackets are eventually released and Hamilton is the top seed (barring injury or other caveats), teams will have one or two days to game plan for a top two player in the state. Baldwin’s mere presence will probably cause enough damage for Hamilton to breeze past the first two games in their tournament pool.
But winning won’t come solely off the back of Baldwin when they’re in the thick of the postseason, there needs to other contributions. Luckily they can stretch ten deep and not have to be subjected to bad basketball.
Baldwin and Carson Smith both average ten or more points per game, the six guys behind them can be counted for in between ten and four, and two more behind them can score 2.5 or more. When it’s a number on a screen, there very little value to three or four points. But, if you can knock down a three or convert on two layups from your fifth guy off the bench, in principle you’re more versatile offensive.
Waukesha West, star-power and defense:
The problem with going against Cam Paleese, Chris Bready, David Skogman, Finley Schumacher, and Rocky Martinez all within the same roster is that opposing teams need to raise the ante, giving up five more elite players to even cancel out their production. As you can probably infer, not many are that top-heavy to do so.
The next of many more problems that this quintuple can bestow upon teams is that there’s no aspect of the game that they leave untouched or unaffected. Points, they combine for over 50 a game. Rebounds, they account for a cut under 30 of them a night. Defensively, they are pests with over eight steals a game and almost five blocks.
Fixating more on their defensive prowess, West has been able to limit great offenses all season. They held Arrowhead to just 60 points, Racine Case to 65, and they completely stalled Muskego keeping them at 57 points.
Dark Horses:
Oshkosh West: Karter Thomas will happily come into your gym, score 40, and ruin your postseason. While West might not be a serious contender, Thomas and co. are going to be someone’s tripwire in the first or second round.
West Allis Central: They’re on the cusp of contending for a title, just a tier or two below Hamilton and Waukesha West. So dark horse is a good spot for them to land. West Allis has four double-digit scorers, the best of them being Jacob Fierst whose scoring 23.6 points a night. Watch for them to make noise late into their bracket.