The Washington prep basketball regular season began Nov. 30. It ends the second week of February. We’re thus at the midway point, and this lapsed prep sports reporter will thus proceed to spend altogether too many words recapping what’s happened so far around the state and pointing out a few things to look for as the postseason approaches. I can’t help myself.
We’ll tackle boys basketball now and then move along to the girls some time over the weekend. Methodology: I divided the state into five entirely subjective regions. For each one I highlighted a few teams having particularly interesting seasons, plus any other interesting tidbits or trends that have jumped out to me as I watch from afar. Pretty simple.
Sadly, the wonderful WAPrepZone.com appears to no longer be tracking basketball results with the thoroughness it once did, which makes exercises such as this one a touch more difficult. Thankfully, ScoreCzar.com has a pretty darn helpful database of information to which I would suggest any interested parties refer. Also thanks to Tim Martinez at The Columbian for putting together this handy little composite table of all the many top ten rankings that are compiled by various organizations.
Onto the good stuff!
SEA-TAC
Any discussion of high-school basketball in the state of Washington has to begin with the Metro League, and specifically with Garfield and Rainier Beach. The Bulldogs are 9-1 as of this writing and ranked No. 11 in the country by MaxPreps, their lone loss a 74-64 result to national No. 6 DeMatha (Md.) down at the Les Schwab Invitational (an awesome event that also featured No. 2 Oak Hill and top recruit Harry Giles).
Garfield is absolutely loaded, so it doesn’t appear anyone is posting any jaw-dropping statlines. But Jaylen Nowell, Alphonso Anderson and Daejon Davis are all going to be major college basketball players, with Davis committed to Washington, Anderson to Montana, and Nowell currently ranked No. 41 in the country among juniors by Rivals.com. J’raan Brooks, J’Shaun Agosto, and Terrell Brown are all really good, too. This is the state’s best team until someone proves otherwise.
Beach, meanwhile, sits at 7-1, its only defeat coming to Simeon (Ill.), alma mater of Jahlil Okafor, Derrick Rose and plenty of other professionals. For most programs, the graduation of DeJounte Murray and the rest of last year’s stellar senior class would be crippling, but the Vikings simply plugged in 6-7 Oregon commit Keith Smith (who missed much of last season due to injury) and 6-6 Arizona State commit Sam Cunliffe (who transferred from Bishop Blanchet) and continued to chug. (Yet the Vikings are slotted No. 5 in the state in MaxPreps’s current rankings, one spot behind Kamiakin. I don’t think many people would bet on the Braves in that hypothetical matchup.)
In all, of the state’s nine juniors and seniors ranked as three-star recruits or higher by Rivals, five play at either Beach or Garfield. The Feb. 2 meeting between these two at Rainier Beach H.S. will be heavily attended.
Elsewhere in Class 3A, Bellevue (9-1), Peninsula (10-0) and Wilson (8-2) are all strong contenders to make the state’s final eight, led by some exciting guards — Mikey Henn, JaQuori McLaughlin and David Jenkins, respectively. In 4A, Jaelen McDaniels-led Federal Way (12-0) and Curtis (12-1) are dancing a tango atop the polls, with Beamer, Puyallup and Kentwood also looming in a loaded SPSL. The Eagles and Vikings don’t play in the regular season, so a potential league-tournament matchup looms large.
In the lower classifications, the big mention here is King’s, the defending 1A state champion, led by Corey Kispert, a smooth, athletic, 6-6 shooter with offers from the UW, Gonzaga, WSU and more, per Rivals — in other words, a bit of a mismatch against some of the state’s smaller schools, where the 5-10 starting power forward is a more common sight than future D-I talent. But the Knights are ranked No. 3 in the state by most outlets, behind familiar foes Lynden Christian and Zillah. The odds seem very good that your 1A state champ will be one of those three teams.
THE COAST & THE LOWER COLUMBIA
It’s a bit of a quiet winter in the area I used to professionally cover, with Union (No. 6 at 4A) and Mark Morris (No. 10 at 2A) the only two boys basketball teams currently ranked in the top ten by the AP. Both are coming off rather painful campaigns: The Titans entered state ranked No. 2 but fell 61-58 to Federal Way in a semifinal heartbreaker, while the Monarchs began the season’s final weekend as the No. 1 team in the state only to lose in the quarterfinals. Both may have taken a slight step back, but both will also still be major postseason factors.
At 4A, 3A, and 2A, the Greater St. Helens League doesn’t boast many dominant teams. Woodland (7-3) appears poised to challenge MM (7-3) for the 2A crown — if 6-11 Bryce Mulder can turn a corner with his offensive game, the Beavers could perhaps do much more. Prairie and Columbia River will tussle for the 3A title, and Union (9-2) will aim to fend off Evergreen (7-2) at 4A.
The biggest story in the Trico is the big-time scorers: Kienan Walter at King’s Way Christian and Brock Johnson at Castle Rock. Walter, who’s committed to play at North Dakota, is your typically dominant player: A 6-6 specimen who can run faster, jump higher, and shoot with more accuracy than just about everyone else on the floor. Johnson is a bit of a different breed: He stands closer to 5-11 and wouldn’t necessarily jump out of a crowd as a dominant basketball player if he were in street clothes. But the senior is averaging 27.8 points per game thanks to his serious skill in just about every facet, be it his ball handling, his shooting, or his ability to work off the ball to get open. He’s a fun one to watch.
Toledo (6-2), Morton-White Pass (8-1) and Mossyrock (7-1) all look like contenders in the Central 2B, with stars Matt Poquette (from MWP) and Jaron Kirkley (Mossy) leading the way. Tumwater (7-3) is the best team in the EvCo, but Black Hills scoring maching T.J. Mickelson is certainly worth checking out. And in the Pacific 2B, Luke Lovelady-led Life Christian (9-2) looks like the front-runner, having handed Ocosta (10-1), the Eagles’ main competitor on paper, a 62-44 defeat back on Dec. 18.
THE NORTHWEST
The best team in Wesco is Cascade (10-0), currently ranked third in the state by the AP. In fact, the Bruins of Everett are the league’s only school to be ranked in the top ten by any significant poll. Mountlake Terrace (8-2) and Edmonds-Woodway (9-2) look decent, and there’s probably a Kingma somewhere on the roster at Jackson (7-3). The mighty Thunderbirds of Shorewood are sadly 5-6.
Further north is the least surprising development of the season’s first month and change: Lynden is, again, really good. After being kept out Yakima last season by a brutal loss to Mark Morris in the regional round, the Lions (9-1) appear a bit ticked off. Squalicum (9-2) and Anacortes (7-4) have also earned mention in various top ten polls around the state, and will probably be contenders when the postseason rolls around. Remember, three of the top five finishers in Class 2A last year came from the Northwest League.
In the 1A portion of the Northwest League, the aforementioned Lyncs of Lynden Christian sit at 11-0, with all but two of those victories coming by double-digits. It’s almost as if being able to recruit gives private schools some sort of advantage over public schools…nah.
SPOKANE & FRIENDS
I will freely confess to not being an expert on the hoops played in the last two regions of my hastily redrawn state map. Thus, brevity — probably welcome if you’re still with me at this point.
In 4A, the usual suspects of Gonzaga Prep (9-1), Central Valley (8-2) and Lewis & Clark (8-2) are atop the GSL standings. Last year, all eight teams who made it to the Tacoma Dome in Class 3A were from the state’s west side, a trend that seems likely to continue this season.
Clarkston looks like it will make a healthy run at defending its 2A crown, with Idaho commit Trevon Allen leading the way, and Pullman also resembles a threat to do some damage in Yakima. Liberty (11-0) and Northwest Christian (8-2) will both have something to say about the 2B state championship race.
THE MIDDLE
The Mid-Columbian Conference offers us four teams who seem at least worth mention: Richland (6-3) and Chiawana (6-2) in 4A and Kamiakin (8-1) and Kennewick (6-3) in 3A. Kamiakin is the only one currently ranked by the AP, sitting at No. 10.
Of more interest are the lower classifications, particularly Zillah at 1A and Brewster at 2B, both of whom are coming off third-place finishes last season.
The Leopards (one of the state’s great nicknames) have gone 74-4 during their past three seasons and thus should probably be taken seriously in the state picture. There’s a lot more to this team than the awesome orange-and-black warm-up pants. But a decisive 60-38 loss to Lynden Christian in last year’s state semis does bring into question whether they can still keep pace with the private schools from the state’s west side. Brewster (11-0), meanwhile, has dominated just about everyone it played, including two-time defending 2B champ Morton-White Pass, 61-43, on Dec. 29. At this early juncture, consider the Bears the favorites to bring home the big gold trophy.
Coming soon: The girls basketball edition