Ball Fever: Return From Winter Break and the Week Ahead in Top 10 Boys 6A, 5A Hoops
By Thomas Trotman
Welcome back, hoops fans! A ton of excitement in the first two months of our CHSAA big school boys hoops. which is a sign of things to come in the New Year and eventually our #MileHighMadness March playoff fun!
We started with our preseason Coaches Poll, and now the CHSAA weekly Seeding Index will give us our weekly Top 10 Rankings!
A unique format that’s lovely for the Ball Fever Crew as it will allow us to cover many worthy teams as the RPI and Seeding Index will change as the season matures. Let’s wait no further and jump into the Top 10 teams and what’s on tap for the coming week:
Tuesday 1/6:
No better place to start this week with arguably the hottest team in the state, 6A #2 Ralston Valley, led by senior guard Caiden Braketa’s 20 points per game and fresh off a thrilling 68-66 win last Saturday over power Chaparral. To start this week the Mustangs won’t have the comforts of home as they visit Broomfield.
Another intriguing non-league match early in the week as another squad playing very well in George Washington will host Highlands Ranch in a classic “City vs Suburbs” match! The Patriots, #3 in this week’s 6A poll, traveled to the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas over the break, finished 3-1, and junior Jordan Dotson brought home “All Tournament” honors! Dotson is pacing the Patriots at 17 points per outing.
“Super Soph” alert!!! Sophomore point guard Montae Johnson has Cherry Creek off to a tremendous 7-1 start which landed the Bruins at the 5th spot in the new 6A Top 10. Johnson is leading the Bruins in points (17), assists and steals as they head over to Vista Peak to start the week.
There’s that 5A #1 squad! Palisade is unbeaten at 9-0 and have a “stat-stuffer” in senior Hunter Howard’s 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals per game! Palisade won’t have it easy as they see Coal Ridge (6-1) and averaging 70 BIG ONE’s per game!
Not to be outdone, another senior guard Luke Schmeekle is averaging an “en fuego!” 24 points per game for 5A #2, unbeaten Silver Creek. Erie will host Silver Creek this night and better bring their track shoes to compete with 73 point pace the Raptors are averaging.
***Other Tuesday “Ball Fever Fav’s: Check out this 8-0 start by Centaurus to the season who tangle with Frederick! SOLID Suburb action and throw the records out the window in T-Ridge vs. Valor neighborhood rivalry!
Wednesday 1/7:
The Fever Crew is accustomed to the Jags “ground n pound” style earning low scoring, hard fought wins but these Rock Canyon Jaguars are fueled by Jacob David’s 18 points per game and averaging 65 points as a team. Dakota Ridge (1-7) only averaging 40 points as a team may find this a tough night.
Two of our out-of-state warriors the Fever Crew covered FULLY in article one of the season in Denver East (New York road trip) and Chaparral (Arizona ballin’) have returned safely home and will rekindle their “city vs suburbs” rivalry. Chap has only lost one game in our state and currently down 1 notch in our latest rankings to 6A #4 squad. The Wolverines will not be happy after last Saturday’s heart breaker to Ralston Valley…so the Angels must bring their A game!
Thursday 1/8:
6A #5 Cherry Creek is in their second action of the week vs. Doherty from CO Springs. The Spartans have deep hoops tradition but 2-7 slow start this season.
If you walk in this gym and think you see a grown man on the court: that’s just senior stud Judah Michael casually leading his team in EVERY statistical category including his 25 points per night! This night Judah leads 6A #9 Northfield up against Conservatory Green DSST.
***Other Thursday “Ball Fever Fav’s: Not quite in the Top 10 yet but Cherokee Trail is 8-3 early on and fun “southeast A-Town” get down vs. Vista Peak is on tap!
Friday 1/9:
If you’ve made it with the crew to this stage of the “Look Ahead” you may be wondering: where’s the 6A #1 squad??? Look no further that 9-0 Arvada West led by “two sport stud” Keegen Balistreri and his 18 points per game who look to stay unbeaten vs. Boulder.
6A “TOP 10 ALERT!!!” The Fever Crew has previously discussed the scoring prowess of Jhett Wells for his 6A #10 Fruita Monument who will host #8 Rock Canyon on the Western slope.
Speaking of high level coaching: How about Denver South and Chap on a Friday evening? D South off to a slower start than the Fever Crew expected at 3-4 but a couple of those losses came out of state for the Ravens and no better opportunity to show you’re ready to ball than vs. Chaparral who will FULLY feel will have a lot to say about who raises trophies in a couple months!
Ralston Valley is riding high early as previously covered and look to keep their momentum rolling against Smoky Hill. The Mustangs continue a tough early schedule at home.
Our 5A #2 Silver Creek is headed over to Mead on Friday and look to keep the Mavericks winless on the season.
More suburb rivals? How about big Oliver Junker, the “Double-Double” machine with a massive 11 rebounds per outing get it on with Valor Christian. The Golden Eagles held their spot at #6 in 6A this week.
Another one of those “track shoe” situations with 6-0 Chatfield averaging 70 points per game led by Nolan Feddersen’s 20 points and 2 blocks per game. The Chargers look to RUN away from Dakota Ridge to close the week.
***Other Friday “Ball Fever Fav’s: If you love X’s & O’s, high level coaching, two of our best are on display with Overland vs. ThunderRidge! The Fever Crew and our “RPI” rankings do NOT see eye to eye on Rangeview NOT being in the Top 10 right now! Coach Palmer and the talented crew face Grandview for “A-Town” braggin’ rights!
Saturday 1/10:
6A #6 Mountain Vista headed north from the south to Fort Collins (3-4) for an early 12:30 p.m. tip.
Big bad Judah Michael and #9 Northfield have a battle on the way with surging Cherokee Trail in 6A.
Chatfield has another team who can get up and down the court vs. Legend on the weekend…both teams averaging more than 70 points per game!
A little more “city vs. suburb” theme before league play starts with T-Ridge trying to hand the GW Patriots their first loss in CO.
OK, Hoops fans! Believe it or not, after this week ends many teams will already have half of their regular season games in the books. Get out and support our neighborhood teams. These awesome athletes deserve our love and support!
The Ball Fever Crew will be following along all week! Catch us on twitter: @BallFever_CO_Tr
Always 72 & Sunny in the Gym!!!
