Avery county should be in the hunt after returning most of their players. They have se great length on the perimeter for a school their size.
And for the SMC, I know everyone is picking Hayesville as winner probably with what they have returning. The two seniors they lost will hurt them more than what people think, I felt that the kid that went to north Georgia was a really solid player and could go through him to score at crucial times. Also with his scoring ability he took a lot off of Cortrell. The other boy was a great rebounder and a real hustler. I do not see Hayesville have any problems getting up and down the floor and scoring. I would say they will rotate a lot of players and put a lot of ball pressure. They do not have many holes but if I were to guess maybe rebounding? Don't know but excited to see them play.
Cherokee lost a lot in Johnson and a couple other of the kids. That will be hard to replace, but a very solid jv team that was on a whole nother level in the smc. I look for them to be down a little bit just mainly because of leadership. But with a good coach that will push the tempo and some good young guys, I look to see a team that will make some noise after Christmas.
But there's two teams that the SMC better look out for and that's Swain and Rosman.
Swain has pretty much everyone returning on a middle of the pack team from last year. The Shuler kid can play and when he gets going he gets going. Who's gonna help? The other good scorer they had from last year is back as well. I really like the way their two bigs play in Marr and Keyshawn I think his name is, I'm not sure. Those two with Shuler can really control the boards. But here's what is real intriguing is the new jv basketball coach Vince Bradley and his two sons. His oldest son Evan will be a junior and can really light up. He is a spot up shooter that will make you pay when left open. His youngest son zeke and after watching him play some before I feel that he is going to be something special the next couple years. He's only a freshman but got some good size on him and some really good footwork and good touch around the rim, he also can step out and shoot. I look for them to really surprise some teams this year.
Rosman returns their core group of guys. They really can put up some points and put them up quick. Stroup, Reese, and Thomas are capable of scoring 20+ on any given night. But what I hear is one player is ineligible and their best jv player has transferred. The Tesnow kid can play too and is a great defender and very physical, but can he stay healthy. Also green just broke his leg so is he going to get to play? So depending on depth I believe judges the Tigers. With their style of play it is good to have 8 or so guys that get a lot of play time. And their defense? Their defense was horrible last year. If they can seem to fix these two things I think the will have a very successful season.
