Preview: Colorado teams in the Tarkanian Classic-Part 1
The Tarkanian Classic is a prestigious tournament located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The tournament begins on December 20th and showcases some of the top talent in high school basketball from across the country. Here, we’re previewing the Colorado teams in the tournament, who they’re up against and ways that they could win.
Grandview vs. Carver
Carver is a team from Birmingham, Alabama and are 3-6 on the season. Of their six losses five of them are within 9 points which says they’re in games, they just have to get better at finishing. They’re coming off of a devastating 56-52 loss and get to play against a struggling Minor Tigers team. Maybe they pick up a win before facing off against the Wolves.
Grandview on the other hand has looked good to start out the year. They’re 4-0 to start the year and are coming off of an impressive and well fought battle against Rampart. They take their undefeated record to Sin City and will look to bring home the trophy in a winnable tournament. Davon Walker, Dayne Prim, Ben Boone and Caleb Mcgill have been providing that balance all season long and will be asked to do more if they want to come back as champions. Keeping the pace and causing turnovers on the defensive end will not earn them a blow-out win against Carver, but have them prepped as a favorite to win it all.
GW vs. Chino Hills
Chino Hills is a team that everyone in the high school basketball world has heard of over the past few years and just recently when dad Lavar Ball pulled his son Lamelo Ball off of the team to train him and have him pursue a professional contract overseas—heard of them? Well yeah, they don’t have quite the same fire power without Ball, but still are a strong team. They’re 3-3 on the year but one thing that they do that not any other team in Colorado is doing is score—at an alarming rate. In fact, in their last four games they’re averaging 86 points a game. They can light up the scoreboard.
George Washington is a team that also pushes the pace and it starts with their trap. The Patriots don’t want to make this a track meet so I’m guessing they’ll implement a zone and showcase their press a few times. Jon’il Fugett has been doing it all for the Patriots: scoring, dishing, defending and rebounding but one thing that he hasn’t done is shoot the ball particularly well. Maybe a change of scenery is exactly what’ll kick start his jump shot from beyond the arc and get the rest of the team going. Tre Pierce and Mohommed Diallo will be asked to score on their tough interior and also limit second chance points by being aggressive at protecting the rim. With their ability to change shots, Chino Hills will be forced to get it done from outside. This will be a great test to see the type of style George wants to play as they’ve been one to push the pace all year but will be up against a faster, bigger and more athletic team.
Denver East vs. Desert Pines
Desert Pines is a Las Vegas team that’ll need a bit of home field advantage and more. They’re led by Sophomore Darnell Washington (9.5 ppg) and Freshman Dayshawn Wiley (9 ppg). They’re 2-2 on the season and are only averaging 41 points a game so they’ll need all the help they can get against East.
East is off to a 6-0 start and don’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. They’re one of the top teams in the state and are on a quest to give Rudy Carey yet another gold ball. They’re led by Senior standout and Colorado Buff signee Daylen Kountz. Kountz is averaging (21.2 points 5.5 assist) per game and looks like the front runner to win Mr.Basketball for 5A. Alongside him is Junior Kwane Marble. He’s averaging 14.5 pts, 5.3 ast, 5.3 rbs) per game. Around them two is Clayton Finley-ponds and Chase Neagle who has been having a pretty strong year as well. They’re stock is rising and has the Angels as one of the best teams in the state. They can go out there with the intentions to win it all.