By: Matt Castillo-Host of The Saturday Sports Report
The high school basketball season always feels like it flies by, and this certainly is the case right after the Christmas break as the teams in our listening area are about to head into the most important stretch of the season.
The Christmas break is either a chance for the teams to rest up or get one last fine tuning by playing in a Christmas tournament. But once January hits it’s basically all region games remaining, which obviously determines if you are in the playoffs or not. With the most important games approaching, here’s an outlook for each region.
Starting in 2A with the current standings Greer middle college is 0-2, St Joes is 2-1, while the Chesnee Eagles are 2-1. Landrum is currently 1-1 in region play, while Brashier Middle College Charter is 1-1 Blacksburg is 0-2. This should be a tight race for the division title, but Chesnee is playing pretty good basketball to start this season they certainly will have an opportunity to win the region, and don’t sleep on the Landrum Cardinals as well, they are tough gritty bunch that competes hard every night.
In 3A Region play has not started yet but 3A region III will be a lot of fun to cover as I expect a tight race which could come down to the last week of season to determine the region champ. This region to me is extremely competitive and each team is capable of beating one another on any giving night. The team I really like from this region is Union, they are currently 2-4 in their non-region schedule, but they have the size and athleticism to be a problem in the 3A ranks.
In 4A the region schedule has also not started yet, but this is another really competitive region and the one team in our area is the Greer Yellow Jackets who are off to a great start with their new head coach Devin Liferidge. The Yellow Jackets will head into region play with a 9-1 non-region schedule, and this another team that has size and athleticism and could be a force in the 4A ranks!
In 5A region III region play has not yet started but the Gaffney Indians have played strong in their non-region schedule at 5-2. Gaffney may have not had their best years the past two seasons, but Coach McHam has done a nice job of developing his players and the Indians are trending in the right direction and I see this team having a chance to win the region this season. For Boiling Springs, they are going through a transition they have a lot of young talent and Coach Nash has done a great job with his team in his first season as the Bulldogs head coach, but it will be tough for them to compete this year.
In 5A Region II this was a region that was completely dominated by the Dorman Cavaliers in the past, but the gap is much closer for the other teams trying to compete with them. Currently Riverside is leading the region at 2-1, While Dorman and Byrnes are both 2-1 but Dorman is ahead of Byrnes in the standings due to beating them early this year in a close and exciting matchup. Wade Hampton is 1-2 and Spartanburg who has not played a region game so far this year, they have had a few covid cases in their program. I believe Riverside, Dorman, Byrnes have the best shot to win this region, Riverside who already beat Dorman this year is a really strong basketball team.
If I had to choose just one team to win the region, it’s the Dorman Cavaliers. They still have tremendous size they are just adjusting to not having guys like PJ Hall and Myles Tate on the floor that made it so easy for the rest of the other guys. Guys are stepping into bigger roles and it has been an adjustment for them, but I believe by the end of the year coach Thomas Ryan and his staff will make some adjustments and this team will be dangerous going into the playoffs.
As I mentioned before I also see the Byrnes Rebels to have a chance to win this region. I wouldn’t ever count out a Coach Fowler team at Byrnes High School, his team always comes out ready to play and they play extremely hard for every second that clock ticks. Coach Fowler is one of the best coaches in the state, and his team always buys into his system and they are fun to watch.
Spartanburg is capable of winning some big games inside this region Coach Ford has done an amazing job over the last couple of years and his team is always resilient. I do believe they will be in the mix.
This month will feature a lot of exciting high school basketball so if you can make it to one of these games do so! Also tune into Fox Sports 1400 as we will cover the season the rest of the way and keep you updated with what you need to know!
