Sectional Preview: Seymour Regional
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The high school season is almost over and we are getting locked in for the State Playoffs. It is that time of year where we start looking ahead and previewing each and every Sectional. Time to take a look at…
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Continue ReadingThe high school season is almost over and we are getting locked in for the State Playoffs. It is that time of year where we start looking ahead and previewing each and every Sectional. Time to take a look at the pairings that make up the Seymour Regional.
Sectional 13: Greenwood
The Teams: Center Grove, Greenwood, Franklin Central, Franklin, Whiteland, Shelbyville
Our Contenders: Center Grove, Franklin Central, Whiteland
Player To Watch: Marcus Ankney Marcus Ankney 6'3" | SG Center Grove | 2023 State IN (2023) – Center Grove
Prediction: This Sectional is a very interesting one on paper. Out of the 6 teams that make up this group, only 1 of those teams currently has a record above .500, that being Whiteland who also has the best draw in this with a first round bye in the top half of the bracket. The Warriors of Whiteland should be able to coast to the championship game as they play the winner of Shelbyville/Franklin which I am going to predict will be Franklin. On the bottom half of the bracket, the opening game will feature a pair of 8-12 teams in the opening round with Adam Ellinghausen Adam Ellinghausen 6'6" | PF Greenwood | 2022 IN and Greenwood battling Lyna Brooks Lyna Brooks 6'3" | CG Saginaw Arthur Hill | 2024 State MI and Franklin Central with a hot Center Grove team with a bye. Even though Brooks is one of the top prospects in the 2024 class and Franklin Central is 4-0 against Sectional opponents, the inconsistent team play throughout the year concerns me so I like Greenwood to advance before eventually falling to Center Grove in the semis. So that would set up a very good Sectional 13 Final between two very talented groups in Whiteland and Center Grove. Even though Whiteland has proved that they can beat Center Grove, this Trojan team has been red hot and are coming off back-to-back wins over North Central and Warren Central. However, I think the powerhouse duo of Maxwell Sullivan Maxwell Sullivan 6'6" | PF Whiteland | 2022 State IN and Austin Willoughby Austin Willoughby 6'3" | SF Chca | 2023 State IN will be too much for Ankeny and Ethan McComb Ethan McComb 6'1" | SG Center Grove | 2023 State IN to overcome. Whiteland is the predicted winner of Sectional 13.
Sectional 14: Martinsville
The Teams: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Columbus East, Columbus North, East Central, Martinsville
Our Contenders: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Columbus North, East Central
Player To Watch: JaQualon Roberts JaQualon Roberts 6'8" | PF Bloomington North | 2023 State IN (2023) – Bloomington North
Prediction: At first glance, pretty much all 4 of our contenders in Sectional 14 got an equal playing field with Columbus North and East Central getting byes and both the Bloomington teams playing a 7-15 team each in the opening round. So skipping ahead to the semis here, you should expect to see Bloomington North/Columbus North in the top half and Bloomington South/East Central in the bottom. Due to coaching and strictly just better talent Bloomington South should be able to get by East Central even though this Trojan team can be sneaky and South has shown at times they can be beatable this year. Going back to the top half of the semis, this game should be the best one of this Sectional between two very tough teams with tough talent all-around. Columbus North’s Sam King Sam King 6'8" | PF Columbus North | 2022 State IN and Cooper Horn Cooper Horn 6'2" | SG Columbus North | 2023 State IN have proven to be a fantastic 1-2 punch this season but Bloomington North’s trio of Roberts, Nick Klaiber Nick Klaiber 6'1" | PG Bloomington North | 2022 State IN , and Marco Fitch Marco Fitch 6'0" | PG Bloomington North | 2022 State IN have been nearly unstoppable when all are healthy this year and since they are healthy, I like the Cougars to get by the Bulldogs and meet up with their city rival, Bloomington South, in the finals. In the past 7 years, Sectional 14 has been dominated by Bloomington South and this year, I feel like that finally comes to an end as they simply do not have the talent to matchup with Bloomington North. The Cougars get their first Sectional title since the 2013-14 season.
Sectional 15: Seymour
The Teams: Bedford North Lawrence, Seymour, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, New Albany
Our Contenders: Floyd Central
Player To Watch: Caleb Washington Caleb Washington 6'5" | PF Floyd Central | 2023 State IN (2023) – Floyd Central
Prediction: Sectional 15 is usually somewhat wide open but this year’s is Floyd Central’s to lose, but it will be a fight. Looking at the opening round games set for this Tuesday, we get a rematch from last year’s finals between Jeffersonville and Bedford and the favorite, Floyd Central, will be taking on a tough Jennings County team. Floyd Central should get past Jennings County because the Panthers just do not have the talent to matchup and even though Jeffersonville has had a rough season with a ton of different issues, Bedford is an incredibly small team and lost a bunch of talent from last year’s team that went on that Cinderella run therefore I think Will Lovings-Watts Will Lovings-Watts 6'5" | SF Jeffersonville | 2022 State IN and the Red Devils should find a way to advance. The semis should look like this: Jeffersonville vs the host Seymour and Floyd Central vs New Albany. Floyd, again, will be too talented for Kaden Stanton Kaden Stanton 6'1" | PG New Albany | 2022 KY and New Albany to move on but I think we get a big upset with a very underrated Seymour team knocking off a Jeffersonville team that has simply struggled to put anything together this season. In the finals, the unit of Wesley Celichowski Wesley Celichowski 7'0" | C Floyd Central | 2022 State IN , Brady Moore Brady Moore 6'5" | SF Floyd Central | 2022 State IN , Cole Harritt Cole Harritt 6'4" | SF Floyd Central | 2022 State IN , Kyle Poates Kyle Poates 6'0" | PG Floyd Central | 2022 State IN , and Washington will be incredibly too much for Eli Myer and the Owls to overcome. The Highlanders have all the making to go on a deep run here in the post-season. They just need to survive this tough Sectional 15.
Sectional 16: Evansville North
The Teams: Evansville Reitz, Evansville North, Castle, Evansville Harrison, Jasper, Evansville Central
Our Contenders: Evansville Reitz, Evansville North, Castle, Evansville Harrison, Jasper
Player To Watch: Jahni Summers Jahni Summers 6'5" | SG Evansville Harrison | 2022 State IN (2022) – Evansville Harrison
Prediction: Right now, I just want to wish everybody good luck calling this Sectional and predicting a winner here because really all of these teams matchup well with each other. Starting with the top half of the bracket, we see Evansville Harrison with the bye and they will face the winner of Evansville Reitz and Evansville Central. Central is unfortunately the one team in this Sectional that most people are not giving much hope and Retiz does have the edge when it comes to talent with guys like Gavin Schippert Gavin Schippert 6'6" | PF Evansville Reitz | 2022 State IN and Isaac Higgs Isaac Higgs 6'2" | PG Evansville Reitz | 2023 State IN so I like them to meetup with Harrison in the semis. There, you will see a rematch of one of the best games I saw all season a few weeks ago that saw Reitz make a huge comeback to beat Harrison. This time around, I think Harrison gets the job done because Summers will more-than-likely be playing with something to prove. Moving to the bottom part of the bracket, it is truly a toss up with Castle getting the much needed bye and Jasper and Evansville North squaring off in the opening round. As far as who moves onto to face Harrison in the championship, think I am going to go with Evansville North simply because they are tied with the most wins vs Sectional 16 teams. In the finals, expect Summers to have a monster game as he is continuing to try and improve his recruiting as far as he can. Probably wrong here, but if I had to pick one team to come out of this loaded Sectional, my money would be on the team that has the best player out of all of them and that is Evansville Harrison.