The 3A regionals will be great this year. There are many very good match-ups along with extremely talented prospects. Here is a look at each regional.
Blackford Regional
Fort Wayne Concordia (20-4) vs. Hamilton Heights (15-8)
Tippecanoe Valley (20-3) vs. Norwell (17-6)
Concordia is a balanced team with no high-major type of player but with a handful of very good players. Marq Rogers is having a good season on the hardwood, but will play football at Montana in college. Junior D.J. McCall has really improved this season for Concordia. Hamilton Heights is led by high-major prospect Alex Etherington and rising sophomore Grant Weatherford. Weatherford does not look to score much, but he is a great defender and facilitator. Norwell made the state championship game last year before falling to Guerin Catholic. Norwell is led by Josh VanMeter (Illinois State baseball commit) and Cam Denny (Nova Southeastern commit). I do not know much about Tippecanoe Valley other than the fact that they scored 146 points in a regulation game earlier this season. 146 points in 32 minutes is very impressive.
I like the depth of Concordia to win this regional though.
Plymouth Regional
Plymouth (20-3) vs. West Lafayette (19-5)
Gary Wallace (14-7) vs. Andrean (20-3)
Lots of talent in this regional, in the first game junior Mack Mercer will match-up with IUPUI signee Justus Stanback. Both are inside and outside threats, but I like Mercer to get the better of this battle. Gary Wallace is led by the versatile senior Charles Cooper. Cooper is a very good athlete that is a force on the glass. He will need to be dominate for Wallace to win against Andrean. Andrean is a tough, balanced team led by Nick Davidson. Davidson is crafty and figures out ways to get to the free-throw line where he is automatic. Skyler Moss is an undersized post player that produces at a high level.
I expect Plymouth and Andrean to face for the regional championship. That will be a great match-up if they do meet. I’ll predict that Andrean wins by 1.
Washington Regional
Greensburg (22-1) vs. Evansville Bosse (19-5)
Brownstown Central (23-1) vs. Vincennes Lincoln (18-6)
Greensburg against Bosse is as good as it gets. Each team has three players receiving D1 college interest at this point; Bryant McIntosh (Indiana St.), Sean Sellers and Ryan Welage for Greensburg and JaQuan Lyle, Perry Fairrow and Bo Burkhart for Bosse. None of the players mentioned are seniors by the way. Bosse might have the slight edge in overall talent, but I think Greensburg will win this match-up. Will the winner of the Bosse/Greensburg be ready for the night game though? Brownstown Central and Vincennes Lincoln are both very good teams. It will be interesting to see how the night game goes.
Greencastle Regional
Mount Vernon (Fortville) (22-1) vs. Danville (18-5)
Edgewood (15-8) vs. Frankfort (20-4)
Mount Vernon is the favorite to win the Greencastle Regional. Mount Vernon is led by junior CJ Coleman (20ppg) and senior Stephen Turner (15ppg). Danville is a very capable team though. Danville has a bunch of seniors including Ian Asher (17ppg) and Avery Motes (15ppg). Asher is going to play at Wheaton College next year while Motes is a high-academic, small college prospect. Dakota Isgrigg and Christian Smith lead a balanced Frankfort team. Frankfort is a tough team with 4 guys that are capable of having big scoring nights.
Mount Vernon should win this regional, but it will not be an easy task.
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