What teams are doing well as of 1/3?
Cherokee, East Wilkes are some teams I want to mention.
Cherokee, East Wilkes are some teams I want to mention.
Girls Basketball What teams are doing well as of 1/3
- Thread starter Deana_King
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Cherokee looks like the best public school team in the state, any class, after winning that stacked holiday tournament at Harrah’s.
In 1A, Thomas Jefferson is having a very good year and there are going to be 4 or 5 SMC teams (from both Big and Little) who will be tough in that bracket.
In 1A, Thomas Jefferson is having a very good year and there are going to be 4 or 5 SMC teams (from both Big and Little) who will be tough in that bracket.
The entire 1A west regional semifinal is from the SMC (2 Big and 2 Little) after Robbinsville upset Thomas Jefferson, Andrews upset CPLA, and Summit upset Jackson Day. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. Will definitely be wild if two teams 20-30 minutes apart end up driving 2 1/2 hours to Hickory to play each other later this week.
It also drives home just how next-level Cherokee is. Was easy to see their scores and think they were just beating up on cupcakes, but turns out the teams in the area were pretty good…just nobody is on their level.
It also drives home just how next-level Cherokee is. Was easy to see their scores and think they were just beating up on cupcakes, but turns out the teams in the area were pretty good…just nobody is on their level.
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I think we have to readjust what we consider a strong or weak year for the 1A west now that there are 8 classes. Obviously when some of the traditionally tough teams are now 3A (East Surry/Mtn Heritage) and 2A (Cherokee, Bishop), it won't be as deep. And of the teams that are left, some have had much better teams in the past than they had this year (South Davidson, Rosman, and North Stokes being the main ones that come to mind). But at the end of the day, three of those four SMC teams that made up the 1A west semifinals were in the MaxPreps top 100 all-class rankings. Andrews swept a Franklin team this year that won two 5A playoff games, and Robbinsville and Andrews both beat a Smoky team that won in the 5A playoffs. These weren't Little Sisters of the Poor, although it was easy to think the SMC was bad because of how easily Cherokee ran through it.
But you couldn't have found a conference for a 2A school anywhere that would have been any different for Cherokee, and the area was actually this year overall. If you look at the MaxPreps rankings, four SMC teams are in the top 100 statewide, all classes (8 Cherokee, 78 Andrews, 93 HDHS, 96 Robbinsville). Throw out the COVID year when there was not much non-conference and the rankings are suspect, and 2015 is the only other year in the 20-year history of MaxPreps rankings with that many. But in 2015, the fifth highest was was 208, while this year there were four other teams (108 Murphy, 140 Summit, 142 Hayesville, 155 Highlands) higher than that. Eight in the top 200 is also three more than the most that has ever happened before. Computers aren't always right, but I think the fact that the league also had a very strong playoff performance does give credibility to numbers. So I think it does say something about Cherokee that they absolutely destroyed what was, according to the computers, the deepest year the SMC has had in the two decades MaxPreps has been around.
Cherokee beating lake Norman is what impressed me this year.
I don't place much stock in the max preps overall rankings. For example Robbinsville and Andrews both were ranked above Hayesville, despite the fact that both were swept by Hayesville who finished 2nd in conference. I much prefer the eye test. In 40+ years of watching SMC basketball this is the weakest conference I believe I have seen. If you remove Cherokee from the equation, what college prospects to see. In past years several schools have dominated players. Specifically in the 1A the playoff competition has been lacking. Look at Rosman, a young team that didn't play a conference game within a 10 point margin Rosman was able to host a playoff game they won by double figures
I would say the 2 best girls team in the state is Cherokee and North Meck. Would love to see that matchup. Want happen. I believe Cherokee want have no problem winning the State Title. Go Braves!!
I would prefer to swap the 1A and 2A teams in the brackets. I believe that Robbinsville -Pamlico and Cherokee -Wilson Prep matchups would provide more entertaining games. Would Prep beat Cherokee? I don't think so but their size could make it interesting for awhile.
I saw wilson prep lose by 35 to bishop earlier in the year and they didn't look all that good to me
Cherokee is that good. As for everyone else, I’m not sure it’s as bad as you say. Our game at HD last week was as good a basketball game as you will watch. I think teams are young, which has showed in several of our games and the reason we lost 6 games by a combined 14 points. I definitely agree the conference is down, but that doesn’t always mean it’s bad.
Teams being young could be part of the problem. However, I watched games (involving the teams that advanced in the playoffs) with scores like 28-21, 30-17, etc .... Games in which teams would shoot less than 25% from the field and win. This was not due to great defense but rather the inability to make open shots. In past years the SMC has always 2 or more really good teams and others that were average or better I'm sorry but I just don't see that
It is what it is. Robbinsville girls didn’t have any of those scores because they like to run, and over the last four games have shot the ball really well, especially Wehr and Chickalelee. There’s other factors as well, though. Wrestling and Softball are on the uptick in the SMC which is good, but takes away from some programs at certain schools more than others.
In the case of Robbinsville girls they did lose to teams that played those games. They lost 7 out of 8 to teams ahead of them in the SMC. I haven't seen their last 4 games and I am sure they must be playing better. However, I don't think they would rank as one of their best teams. I am glad they are coming together as a team but I do believe the level of SMC basketball is down.
They probably wouldn’t rank top 20, but they’ll finally get a chance to do, what so many of those 20 didn’t and make no mistake, they definitely earned it.