With basketball right around the corner, any predictions for 3a, 2a, 1a? Also, any new impact players to watch out for?? Any new coaches as well???.... Seems like some schools have already started conditioning. Lets hear whats really going on.....

What I know
AAA-2 team race as usual. Curry has really improved at PG so maybe that will help them with PW
-Heathwood returns about everyone

AA-Beaufort has a new coach
1st baptist has a new coach- he came from PG

I believe Jackonsville, North Florida, and another D1 school in Georgia have made offers to Curry from PG

I heard pinewood picked up another kid. Can't confirm it though...

I heard pinewood picked up another kid. Can't confirm it though...

I can confirm it. Pinewood's "new kid" for roundball is playing QB on the Panther football team - Bruce Haynes. Bruce started on the state champion Summerville High hoops team as a 10th grader last year until that team was at full strength (read A.J. Green) after the football playoffs. Bruce ended up as the 6th man and made the winning shot in the AAAA championship game against Spartanburg.

For all his talent, Bruce will have to fight for a starting spot on a team with 5 experienced seniors (Jennings, Manigault, Bogdan, Justin Bishop, and Malcolm Reed). I think he'll find a spot in the starting lineup though and be team captain in '09-'10. He's a natural athlete and driven and determined winner (think Ryan Steed but two inches taller).

Another possible "new" kid on the hoops team may be the Upper School Principal's kid - Sean Hamilton (a 6'4" or so 11th grader who transferred to Pinewood in January when his mom was hired and is also playing football for the Panthers). It also wouldn't shock me if Laquan Gilliard stayed in shape between football and baseball seasons by playing a little roundball this year. Gilliard doesn't have a lot of experience playing competitive basketball, but he is an awfully gifted athlete.

The biggest difference between Pinewood and the top independent school teams in the country (Gonzaga, Christ School, etc.) is depth. Pinewood's top 3 or 4 can hang with about anyone. If the Panthers can play 7 or 8 deep this year, they'll have a shot at winning one of their national tournaments.

To be clear, though, no one at Pinewood is taking another SCISA AAA championship for granted. Porter-Gaud also has one of the top 30 or 40 independent school teams in the country with Khris Middleton and Jamal Curry getting better literally every day.

thanks for the confirmation. glad to hear it. yall keep up the good work.

Saw Gilliard play basketball a few years back! If he does play, Pinewood will have some depth! He should be a great rebounder with his length and leaping ability! Like you guys need any help! LOL!

ALL that talent...will it ever end at PW? And everyone thinks its the coach that should get all the credit. My daughter could coach that team to a State Championship. Thank God for Boosters.

quote:

ALL that talent...will it ever end at PW? And everyone thinks its the coach that should get all the credit. My daughter could coach that team to a State Championship. Thank God for Boosters.

I'd say your daughter could coach that team to the semi-finals BUT don't sell Porter-Gaud and - in some years - Hammond and Wilson Hall short. And all of those schools are just fine with a very talented First Baptist team moving down to AA.

To be clear, "boosters" at Pinewood contribute to the annual fund which pays for need-based financial aid as determined by an outside agency. It might surprise you which student athletes qualify for financial aid and which ones do not.

I have a feeling its going to be another ho-hum season in 3A scisa basketball. Pinewood will blow every scisa team out the water. (With the exception of PG, they will beat PG, but it will be close like always.) I want to go ahead and congratulate Pinewood on what will be their 4th straight state title. I hope I'm wrong in all of this, but I'm probably not.

Finally, a basketball topic. I love football as much as anybody, but everybody here knows that basketball is where my heart lies.

Here are the AAA breakdowns as I see them heading into preseason camp. Many teams are already into their conditioning programs and many of those teams have a ton of returning talent.

AAA Boys:
Everybody knows that this division is a two-horse race. With all apologies to Heathwood and any other wannabe contender, I don't know if there are any public school temas that can match the talent level of Pinewood and Porter Gaud. Those two teams have 6 division 1 players between the two of them. I don't think there is another classification in all of South Carolina that has 6 much less any region.

My prediction is that Porter Gaud jumps up this year and knocks off Pinewood. This might be Porter Gaud's most talented team ever (with apologies to the Kresse twins). I don't think anybody realizes how much of a loss that Ryan Steed is going to be for Pinewood. Ryan was single handedly capable of taking a player out of the game defensively and made life miserable for Travis Smith. Pinewood doesn't have the same kind of defensive stopper this season. Porter Gaud was one posession away from beating Pinewood in the State Championship game and I think this is the season that they get it done.

AAA Girls:

SCISA lost it's two best players after last season. Sr. PG Alexandra Fuller of Hilton Head Prep graduated after one of the most decorated careers of any athlete in SCISA history. 8th Grade PG Asia Dozier left Heathwood Hall and transferred to Spring Valley after being thoroughly dominated in the State Championship game by HHP's freshman Kathleen Blum.

My prediction, Hilton Head Prep wins their 5th consecutive State Championship. They lost 5 seniors off of last year's team, but they return the one constant, their coach. Hilton Head Prep has won 6 of the last 10 State Championships since the current regime took over and I see no reason for them not to continue that dominance this year. HHP has not lost to a SCISA team since 2004. Other hopeful contenders include Heathwood Hall with Ariel Brandner and Kristen Dickerson and Northwood and Pinewood with the new players that they will have.

KSU,

With First Baptist moving to AA are they the clear favorites for state?
where would it fall after that?

First Baptist will be good, but they do not have Green(at Hanahan) or Brown(who knows where he is). I think they are top 3 for sure.
Charleston Collegiate returns their 2 most important players and SCA will be good again I'm sure.

Cathedral lost everyone

Wilson Hall will be strong this year with a large number of returning seniors and the addition of PG Josh Glenn who returned to WH fron Sumter High.A spot in the semis is a definite possibility.Anything else would be gravy.

First Baptist will contend in 2a. They have an excellent new young coach, Jeff Whitmire, that is up and coming. Jeff graduated from PC two years before my daughter. He held the record for the most 3 pointers in school history at the time and to my knowledge it still has not been beat.