Welcome to The Deep Post, a column on the rumblings of the week past and ahead. It’s basketball season so we’ll switch from post routes to the post position! This week’s offering dives into the opening showings by a pair of title hopefuls.
Opening Tip
We’re a long way away from March, but the Wyoming East girls look terrific to start the season. The schedule will challenge them every week but we’re three games in and they’re flying high with all three victories coming against ranked teams in PikeView, Ravenswood and Parkersburg, the latter of which has 1,200 more kids than East.
Let’s start with the details. When I covered the Lady Warriors’ opener against PikeView I came away shocked by how efficient their half-court offense looked. The knock on East the last two years has been you could zone it and the offense would become painfully stagnant. I didn’t think that really happened Monday. Without a scrimmage to see how it would work, the half-court sets looked the best they have since 2021 when Skylar Davidson was running the show at point guard.
The number of open looks East generated for its best players was the best part. Cadee Blackburn went 5 of 11 from 3-point range and moved well without the ball. It didn’t look forced or hard, but natural. When you’re able to free up an all-state guard like that it creates a lot of opportunity. What it also does is force defenses to communicate, think and understand their rules. If you’re out of position, you’ll likely pay for it.
One other thing that stood out to me was East’s willingness to rotate consistently and stick with different players under new head coach Ryan Davidson. While stacking wins in the regular season is important for seeding down the road, the Lady Warriors play for that final Saturday and nothing less. This year Class AA is the class that will have to play games on three straight days. That’s where building depth comes into play. A first round game might be easier but double-A is stacked to the point where the semis and championship are likely to be competitive slugfests that may lead to a sluggish finish.
Three games in three days is hard. East’s best chance at defending its title comes with relying on an eight-man rotation that can help keep legs fresh. Davidson’s approach also appears to be building confidence. Alivia Monroe and Kenna Price are giving the team key points and minutes in the post, complementing the 1-2 punch of all-staters Maddie Clark and Cadee Blackburn.
The gauntlet continues throughout this month with games against Chapmanville, East Fairmont and Greenbrier East.
Welcome to the JungleÂ
You couldn’t blame Shady Spring boys basketball coach Ronnie Olson if he jokingly hung a “World War Champs” banner. The Wesley Christian team his Tiger handled Thursday fielded starters from different countries.
Despite a size advantage, Wesley found out how difficult it is to go into Shady and win.
The Tigers roared to an early lead and coasted with a cast of characters most casuals wouldn’t recognize. Guys like Cam Manns, Jaedan Holstein and the Chapman twins have all moved onto college, paving the way for a group of guys that had to practice against them every day.
Make no mistake, the Tigers still field a Player of the Year candidate in Ammar Maxwell and another all-state contender in Jack Williams but the kids around them are having to prove they can maintain the standard. They’re off to a terrific start but there’s work to be done. Next weekend should give us a better idea of where this Shady team currently stands as it travels to two-time defending Class AAAA champion Morgantown. The Mohigans field a player in Sha-Ron Young who is on the shortlist of players to contend with Maxwell for the Evans award. They also have one of the best programs in the state.
The Tigers are playing for that final Saturday of the season regardless of the turnover but next weekend’s showing should give his insight into how far off they are from that goal.
ReinforcementsÂ
Canvasing the area, it doesn’t appear too many teams picked up a ton of transfers. Bluefield added Princeton starting point guard E.J. Washington as well as another guard from PikeView. Princeton picked up a pair of transfers from PikeView who also played football, Liberty’s Ethan Williams transferred to Independence, Kellan Heffernan left Beckley for Greater Beckley and Midland Trail added the Bailes brothers from Nicholas County.
On the girls side Melania Hayes transferred from Bluefield to Summers County and Kyndal Lusk left Westside for Wyoming East.
My stance on transfers is I don’t really care either way.
I do think all teams stand to benefit from their new additions but the Bluefield boys are the ones I’m most intrigued by. I thought the Beavers already had a championship caliber roster but it would be challenged by depth or lack thereof. Double-A gets the three-in-a-row treatment on the boys side which makes the depth factor more important. I thought the inability to go deeper than six hurt Bluefield last year. This year they’ll have three starting caliber guards between Sencere Fields, Kam’Ron Gore and Washington and a dominant post player in R.J. Hairston. Jase Smith, a sophomore, should help a lot too.
The Beavers will be one of the teams that will make Class AA fun to watch. For my money I think it’s going to be the best of the four classes with Charleston Catholic, Wheeling Central, Williamstown, Chapmanville and Ravenswood rounding out a competitive field. I don’t think any other classes that deep. Class AAAA looks top-heavy and triple-A is in a transition period after Fairmont Senior. Tucker County felt like it was ahead of everyone last year in Class A after James Monroe.
It should make for fun final three days in Charleston.
