4A State Championship Preview

The 4A Indiana high school state championship game between McCutcheon and New Albany has many strong match-ups. It starts with the head coaches – Rick Peckinpaugh and Jim Shannon. They have a combined 1,011 wins. The two are respected across the state. This is the first state title game for each, though. Here is more on the game.

Another storyline involves two talented sophomores – New Albany's Romeo Langford and McCutcheon's Robert Phinisee. Langford is the talk of the state after scoring 46 points in the semi-state game against Southport. He is arguably the best player in the state regardless of class as a sophomore. Langford is scoring 30 points per game. Phinisee is having a sophomore year to remember as well. He is scoring 20 points per game. Phinisee has scholarship offers from Indiana and Purdue. They won't be matched-up against each other, but it will be fun to have them on the court together in a huge game.

The makeup of these two teams are similar. New Albany and McCutcheon have shooters around their stars. New Albany has Isaac Hibbard and Josh Jefferson stretching the defense for Langford. McCutcheon has Haden Deaton and Eddy Collins that are shooting well over 40% from three-point range this season. Each team has an undersized post player that gets it done in the paint. McCutcheon has Charles Phinisee while New Albany has Michael Maxwell as a glue player. McCutcheon's Darnell Butler does a bit of both roles. He is a capable outside shooter and will mix it up on the glass, at times.

The other styles of the teams are similar as well. New Albany and McCutcheon like to use their defense to create offense. Each has done it well throughout the season. New Albany is averaging 77 points per game to McCutcheon's 73. On the defensive end, New Albany is giving up 54 points while McCutcheon is just giving up 50. Both teams will extend its defense full court to create turnovers. There is an old adage that says pressing teams don't like have full court pressure implemented against them. It will be interesting to see if that holds true in this game.

This is shaping up to be an entertaining game. McCutcheon's outside shooting will be key. That would offset New Albany's pressure. There has been no containing Romeo Langford this season. He has been the most consistent player in the state. McCutcheon has to find the difficult balance of limiting Langford while not leaving Isaac Hibbard, Josh Jefferson and Sean East open all game.

This game should be played in the 70s. It isn't out of the question for the winner to be in the 80s. New Albany is the slightly stronger team, and I think the Bulldogs win their first state championship since 1973.