What does the future look like for C40 in girls / boys basketball?

[GamedayinMountainDistrict 10]

First off congratulations to Ridgeview and our Union Lady Bears on representing Conference 40 yet again with two finalists for the state championship in girls basketball. A big congratulations to all of our Bear athletic programs on a very successful year thus far.

So the question is what will Conference 40 look like next year for girls and boys basketball?

While we lose Jake and Jay we do have Mitchell and Slagle back. Our ladies may suffer some also.

Anyone have any predictions on the standings for next year come February?

While every team will endure some losses I believe teams like Ridgeview and Central for the girls and Union and Ridgeview for the boys will stay competitive while the Blue Devils will drop in both boys and girls with so many seniors graduating. That was one thing that gave me hope for Union for next year was when I read the board with the players names on it at a game in the gym at Gate City and counted like 12 or 13 of them boys and girls combined? That's a lot for a team to lose and still be good.

So here is how I think it will go next year. As always I welcome comments and your own predictions to this.

 

My standings are:

 

Girls:

Central

Union

Ridgeview

Lebanon

Gate City

Lee

John Battle

 

Boys:

Union

Ridgeview

Gate City

Lebanon

Lee

John Battle

Central

 

This is my opinion. Congratulations to our Conference 40 teams on your successes.

[RiverRat24 274]

For the girls I'd say Central, Ridgeview, and Union will be atop of the conference. Not sure how many seniors these teams have but I'd say they will reload well. Could be a rough 3-4 year stretch for GC girls. Don't really see them having much for a while

 

As for the boys, I think it will be a GC and Union battle for the top spot of Conference 40 with Ridgeview lurking around close behind. Also, don't really know how many seniors John Battle had last year.... But they was a very solid team and could pose some problems if they wasn't loaded with seniors. And wasnt Noaks a senior this year? Was thinking he was. Also, Wise Central had a few young players that I thought looked very promising.

 

GC boys had several seniors.... But Barnes and Qualls were the biggest contributors as they were starters. There was a bunch of seniors on the roster that didn't even get to play. GC will return 3 of their starting 5 which will include McClung, Irvin, and Collier. They will add Dean, Jenkins, Noe, and company from the JV and I expect them to fill in nicely and help lead the way to another solid year. Will be a very young team, but plenty of talent!

[Great City 210]

I was real disappointed with the GC girls this year. Honestly believed we had a team that would at least make it to the final four. Not sure how we could consistently miss so many easy baskets. We will lose ALL the starters from this year, and will struggle next year. Have a decent JV team coming up, but have no size. May struggle to win 10 games next year. Do not expect it to be pretty.

 

Girls will be a dogfight between Central, Union, and RV. 

 

 

GC boys will have a slight drop off, but not nearly as much as people will expect. We lose 2 starters. Mac and Zac will have another year of experience playing together. They both should improve their  game before next year. Losing Barnes will hurt, but we have some JV kids coming up that can play. JV finished 24-1 with the only lost coming in OT versus DB in the first game of the year. Won the next 24, and beat RV in the JV Championship game by 20 points or so. These JV kids play some impressive defense. GC will have a freshman, Dean, next year who just might have the best outside shot of anyone who has played at GC in years. Expect next year we will start one SR, one JR, one Soph, and 2 FR.  Lack of size will be a bigger factor next year. If we  could just get one of those big TN kids that I keep hearing about to transfer to GC......   :)

 

Losing Noaks is going to hurt Union. 

 

Think the boys will come down to Union and GC. 

[goofoti32 30]

On the boys side, doesn't Ridgeview lose their entire starting 5 to graduation?  Battle also graduates a ton, top 3 scorers I believe.  Lee loses their best player as well.  Central should be on the rise, as they won't lose anyone of note from this year.  Lebanon only had one senior this year-so they will return a lot from a team that finished third.   Union and GC look like the two teams most able to absorb their senior departures, and in GC's case they can always reach across state lines to reload.  

 

I would predict on the boys side

 

Gate City

Union

Lebanon

Central

Ridgeview

Battle

Lee

[swva_havok_fan 1,261]

Ridgeview girls lose both Kayla Mullins and Ivvy Gulley.  That hurts.  There's some good talent still on the roster with Counts, Frazier and Nyla Gulley.  Maybe not a conference win next year, but still in the top half.  Central has already started fueling fire by talking trash just moments after the state title game went final.  Going to be a very interesting rivalry developing between Ridgeview and Central over the years, me thinks.

Ridgeview boys lose Hunter Sutherland and Will Ratliff.  Not sure about the other three starters.  JV team made it to the championship, but I still see our boys being bottom three in the conference.  Gate City will be the superior team once again, Union will be the superior runner up again and then it's everyone else.