Time for me to ramble.
Class AA
It'll be very interesting to see how AA plays out over the course of the year. Defending champ Proctor will be right back in the thick of things, with Tyvon Reed leading the way. The 6'2" freak athlete tweener was an all-state honorable mention in AA last year. Daquan Testamark, among others, will also be back, along with a very talented sophomore in Jalen Hawkins. He'll be brought up to the varsity and expect to start at point guard, taking over where J'Von Evans (now at Utica College) left off. We shall see what they do without J'Von and Ziggy Tracey (now at prep school). They do have competition. Last year's Henninger team was the worst they've had in a while, but they were young. Marquane Silvers graduated and is playing at Cazenovia, but that was their only real loss. They still have 7th team all-stater Romero Collier running the point, with athletes Terrence Walker & Destin Blunt ready to make sizable contributions. Maybe Shaitique Blatche is back after the issue last year? Not sure. Bishop Ludden will also be interesting - the Gaelic Knights moved up to AA after their recent success in Class A. They graduated a pair of 1,000 point scorers in Dan Kaigler (Division II Gannon) and Ben Hackett (Genesee CC), but still have 2 of the best bigs in the section in Zach Walser & Jack Rauch. I've been told they have a couple talented young freshman transfers in to help at the guard spot they so desperately need to be successful in AA, so we'll see how they progress. If you ask me, the most interesting team right now is Baldwinsville. They had a nice crew of juniors last year running the show, with Ben DiOrio and Cameron Skipworth in the backcourt and Devyn McLeod manning the blocks. They had a close battle with Union-Endicott in the season, who finished the season #11 in the state in AA. Look out for the Bees - they might be buzzing on the radar real quick! Who else will make an impact? C-NS lost a lot from last year's team that made it to the sectional final, but they still have all-stater Connor Evans. They were an underdog in the semis that beat F-M, who lost John Schurman (Binghamton) among others, but still have their all-state point guard Jake Wittig (if he's healthy). Nottingham has a year older & more mature Malik Zachery at the point with freshly Canisius-offered 6'7" Nathan Knight down low. I'll toss it up. Anyone's game.
Class A
With Ludden out of the picture, it looked like J-D's to lose for a minute. However, one private school leaves and another enters. Notre Dame gave Westhill their toughest game last year, a 3 point decision in the sectional finals. The Jugglers are now Class A's problem, and they're all back. Kevin Warmack leads the way, a 4th team all-state selection last year in Class B. The floor general still has the enforcer Joe Sullivan down low and firepower at the wing with Jerome Brabham, along with returning starters Alex Rushton & Cal Schaaf. J-D graduated Jafar Kinsey (Robert Morris), but they still have Dom DeRegis and Evan Dourdas. Put some pieces around those 2 (Isaiah Williams and the athletic big whose name I'm forgetting), and they'll be just fine for another battle for the title. Look out for Carthage up north, too. Walter Jeter is gone, but that means it's time for Peyton McLaurin to take over. I thought he was a little too reluctant to do that last year, but now he has to - and they were better when he took over games. Who else will challenge? Exactly how far can TJ Borza, Luke Moore, and Emmett Cavanaugh take Whitesboro? A little birdie in the sky told me Fulton will be tough. McLaurin is the only returning player who was an all-state selection in Class A last year - a lot of room for new heads to step up!
Class B
Ok, Notre Dame is out. Anyone want to step up and try to tangle with Westhill? You? You? Anyone? Didn't think so. There's 3 returning all-state players in Class B and 1 more that was an honorable mention selection. They're all Westhill kids. Oh boy. Jordan Roland, fresh off signing his NLI for George Washington, is the returning Class B state POY, and it's way more than just him. Fellow Division I prospect Tyler Reynolds was 2nd team all-state last year, and that might be selling him short. Jeff Lobello runs the show at point guard - the heady floor general was 1 of 2 players in Class B that got the all-state nod while scoring less than 10 points per game. Mr. OC is also back down low - Dan O'Connell was an honorable mention selection, and even Brian 'Tha Term' Daily and his 'I had so much espresso before I came here' energy on the court is back. Some of the best would-be returning players besides them in Class B are now gone - Bobby Leslie (Skaneateles) and Ross Gerber (Cazenovia) both went the prep route. Institute of Tech and Syracuse Academy of Science are always interesting, but it's really tough to see anyone messing with Westhill.
Class C
The defending champs are primed to make a repeat run. Waterville lost Jon Piersma and Tyler Lemery, but Sawyer's back. English is back. Williams is back. Zach Sawyer was a 2nd team all-state selection last year that basically turned into a better version of himself for the postseason. Where he played 2nd fiddle to Piersma to start the season, he was totally dominant after Game 18. Jake English will be the floor general for this year's squad, and certainly is capable of taking much larger of a load than he did last year. They surely aren't the far & away favorite, though. Fabius-Pompey lost Stewart Wright, but they're always tough. Tully lost Schoemaker, but they always find a way. MPH made a nice run last year, too. West Canada lost a lot, but they always have a good program and Bobby Davenport is back. The lone Division I commit in Class C is a Pulaski Blue Devil - look for them to challenge this year behind Lehigh signee Caleb Sedore. Weedsport still has JJ O'Connor. My dark horse this year in C... look out for Cooperstown. Christian Alexander was the 2nd best player in his league last year behind Sawyer as a sophomore. He averaged over 17 a game as the center, but the 6'4" fundamentally sound player is now more experienced as a wing after stepping out quite often for his AAU team. Where they went sour last year was ballhandling - the coach's kid can change that. Tyler Bertram could handle varsity presses as a JV kid, and he'll be expected to jump in and make huge contributions right off the bat - something that he can handle.
Class D
New York Mills is not the normal New York Mills. They always field a team that challenges, and it'll be the same this year with Terry Nichols (now one of the top players in the section in Class D) and Andrew Suprenant in the backcourt, but the lack of size and other potent scorers besides those two may prove very costly. My early favorite has to be Oriskany. They have the best returning player in the section in Class D in Ryan Schmadel. The junior is a scoring machine that would put up 20 a game in Class AA, too. The honorable mention selection was one of the big snubs of last year - I watched some of the guys placed above him. He was one of the top 10 in the state in Class D last season. Look for him to explode, and he's got a shooter in Anthony Warcup and point guard in Marcus Smithling back. Most of last season, they started 4 sophomores and a junior and made it to the sectional finals. Hamilton will be on their heels, with Logan Bailey, a much-improved Zach Wilcox, and Bryce Belanger back. Wilcox showed a great deal of improvement over the course of the summer, in particular, and he'll have a breakout senior year if the reigns are loosened a little bit. Sackets always challenges up north, and Copenhagen has Figueroa back. We'll see if the NYM dragon gets slayed by a CSC opponent or if the Marauders march on again.
Thank God there's no NFF.
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