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Mid-Piedmont (3A) and Central Carolina (1A/2A) boys basketball prediction!

Spw2020

Active Member
Oct 5, 2024
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Okay, so these are the two conference I’m near and concerned with (apologies for leaving other ones out).

What are your predictions for final standings in these two conferences? Here’s mine with thoughts:

CC conference:
Salisbury
Lexington
North Rowan
Thomasvile
East or West Davidson

Logic: Salisbury is almost always going to be at the top. With Ferguson gone from Tville, there’s no one who can coach their team through Salisbury’s athleticism. Though, I think Lexington could hold up. they’ve been poorly coached for a few years now; but just learning there’s been a transition in coaching, so who knows? I think Tville takes a huge step back that is unnecessary. They lost their star player (McCoy? McBride? Can’t remember), but they have enormous size on the inside with a PG who was once their QB and is fast (though unskilled compared to their last PGs). They just need the ball in the paint to their monsters. I’m not buying the hire of the HC as being that great yet. I put no stock in being a legendary player and he comes from a private school with loads of talent. I see no reason to assume success like they’ve seen the last three years. But I’m open to being wrong. Salisbury is too athletic (I’m rooting for Lexington though!)

Mid-Piedmont (3A)
This one is difficult. Asheboro and Central loose talent and size in droves, Montgomery will be awful, and I just am not sold on Oak Grove being that well coached yet (not enough exposure to it to make the call honestly). I think the addition of Grier to Ledford disrupts this conference significantly. I speculate that teams try to pack in a zone so that there are as many bodies and hands between him and the basket as possible. I think this is what will determine the success of Ledford season: can they shoot and rebound? A zone is always going to lead to the defense getting fewer rebounds. It’s also going to lead to wide open threes. If Ledford rebounds well or shoots well, that’s gonna be a big problem m. If they do both well, they may go through this conference like a hot knife through butter.

I hate to say this. It makes me groan to say this, but I think Ledford may handle this conference and potentially runs through it. I think it’s an undeniable fact that, with a future hall of famer like Don Cory and someone as extraordinarily accomplished and skilled in game planning as Ferguson is (I’ve never seen a HS team more well prepared for the specific things another team does as Thomasville was. Their playoff prep was was another dimension), that they’re not going to be out coached (that’s very much what it felt like happened to Ledford every time I saw them last year).

I think it’s possible that learning system that doesn’t seem like it could be any different than the one they had before, and even with the previous head coach that had been there for a long time, and adjusting to what it looks like to have success, could be somewhat derailing. So here’s my prediction:

Central or Ledford
Asheboro
North
Oak grove
Montgomery central

Sorry to the Ledford fans, but I hate to make this prediction! Hahaha, I’d rather see the orange and black on top; but I don’t think we have the horses or the coaching chops to take out central and now Ledford.

Don’t shoot the messenger! My old skin is paper thin!
 
The MPC will be weak compared to other 3A conferences.
It will def help Ledford to have Grier, but LHS doesn’t have much of a supporting cast. I can see Ledford, North or Central winning the conference.
I don’t see any teams making noise come playoff time.
 
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The MPC will be weak compared to other 3A conferences.
It will def help Ledford to have Grier, but LHS doesn’t have much of a supporting cast. I can see Ledford, North or Central winning the conference.
I don’t see any teams making noise come playoff time.
Makes sense. I think Ledford’s talent was hidden by bad coaching. It is a weak conference that is for sure.
 
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Central Carolina for Boys:
Salisbury
N Rowan
Lexington/Thomasville
W/E Davidson
S Davidson

Mid-Piedmont:
C Davidson/O Grove
N Davidson
Asheboro/Ledford
Montgomery Central

Some bottom dwellers are bad, but could be better but some do nothing in summers or have delusions of grandeur. E Davidson never does anything. M Central is bad and undisciplined.
 
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Central Carolina for Boys:
Salisbury
N Rowan
Lexington/Thomasville
W/E Davidson
S Davidson

Mid-Piedmont:
C Davidson/O Grove
N Davidson
Asheboro/Ledford
Montgomery Central

Some bottom dwellers are bad, but could be better but some do nothing in summers or have delusions of grandeur. E Davidson never does anything. M Central is bad and undisciplined.
After watching a few games, I think you’re not far off, but I think it’s going to be:

C davidson/ledford
N Davidson
Oak grove/Asheboro
Montgomery central

Ledford went into page’s house and beat a good and likely playoff capable 4A team. That’s worrisome to me as a N. Davidson fan. I don’t see us with anyone who can stand in front of ledford’s PG, and the way they shoot is really pretty outrageous. I doubted weather their new coach could turn that slow playing team into an up-tempo team; but the way they plan now is nothing short of a magical shift in style. It’s really amazing.

I’ve also been underwhelmed with north’s play.

Central is always a powerhouse.
 
Ann will get Ledford in a good spot and having Adam Grier helps the equation for success.

Central will always be well coached by Tysinger and having balance with basketball classes helps. Hardest working group in games overall.

North Davidson appears to not have any of 4 freshman who were on varsity three seasons back. Similar to East Davidson on not doing anything in summer months from what people state. If that group stayed together with other pieces they would have kept growing and done well. Principal and AD seem to have run critcher drive into a catastrophic mess.

Oak Grove has three solid seniors who could cause them to make noise. Appears apathy to building with young head coach leading apathy charge does not aid in growing program.

Asheboro should be solid but losing some key pieces will hurt as JV was not that good. Nance is a solid coach who gets best of his teams.

Montgomery Central is abysmal.
 
North Davidson appears to not have any of 4 freshman who were on varsity three seasons back. Similar to East Davidson on not doing anything in summer months from what people state. If that group stayed together with other pieces they would have kept growing and done well. Principal and AD seem to have run critcher drive into a catastrophic mess.
Yeah, I’ve heard there’s going to be a bit of a drop off. I cannot speak to it with authority but the rumor mill is that there’s a lot of angst between coach and others and kids don’t want to play for him.

It should be interesting to see how Ledford handles east a second time so quickly. I genuinely think they’ll go through most of the teams with relative ease, with the exception of central. The rumor is that Ferguson does an outrageously good job with scouting. I have to believe the wisdom of mr Corry contributes to that too. Not sure any of the rest of us in this conference have coaching that, all things equal, can consistently out coach those two.

I agree about Tysinger, however. Good coach, solid man, has his kids playing hard.

Did I also hear oak grove lost their 5 spot player? Big kid, to a private school?
 
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