NMPreps.com Pre-Season 4A Rankings
The 2016/2017 New Mexico High School basketball season is here and today we release our first look at the NMPreps.com pre-season rankings. The rankings could change closer to the first week of games but right now this is what we know heading into the season
Atcitty: 4A Boy's Basketball Preseason Preview
Overview
Is it any surprise that Hope Christian is the preseason favorite? You would think that they’d drop a season after losing key seniors, but the program has done a superb job cranking out a new winning varsity roster season after season. They bring back Marcus Medina, Nelson Longmire, and Cole Yearout. They will also do plenty more traveling as they move out to the east in District 4 with Portales, Moriarty, Ruidoso, and NMMI.
West Las Vegas follows the Huskies at the second spot and will look to continue their scoring proficiency from the regular season last year. The Dons had the class-best 70.5 points per game scoring and with it being DJ Bustos’ last season after five years, they’ll look to continue that trend this upcoming season.
Pojoaque Valley was one of the top defensive teams last year in 4A when through the regular season they held opponents to a class-best of 44.3 points per game. They did struggle at times offensively, but that might change with the returning versatile wing in James Garcia. Also coming back are guard Dominic Roybal and Tevin Flowers. The Rams of Portales come in at the fourth spot. Although their district dominance might be in trouble with the addition of Hope Christian, they’ll still have some standouts to compete. They return dynamic scoring guard Junior Ramirez, the post-presence of Jeremie Karngbaye, and Tyrese Dawson to lead the Rams back to the postseason. And in at the fifth spot are the Fighting Colts of Silver. They’ll return plenty of firepower in guards Sal Cruz and Tristin Moore. Their frontcourt could be one of the best in 4A with Keshawn Thornton, Wyatt Oglesby, Tyler Gonzales, and Konner Riddle.
It was bit unusual not seeing St. Michael’s make a deep run in last year’s postseason, but this year shows a new promise. The Horsemen will be led by Luke Archuleta, Alex Garcia, and Thomas Pacheco. Robertson loss quite a bit of firepower with losing three key seniors to graduation, but the Cardinals still have plenty of talent on their roster to remain on the top teams in 4A. Junior forward Arjay Ortiz along with Noah Leger and Dante Jenkins all return for the Cardinals. Barn-burnin’ Bernalillo debuts in 4A after dropping down from 5A. Ever the wildcards, the Spartans look to make an impact and in a new district with SFIS, Sandia Prep, East Mountain, and Bosque they look to be early favorites in their district as well. Taos is fairly young, but they do return one of the better post players in 4A with Landen Archuleta. They’ll also look to Quinn Moon to contribute. And wrapping up our Top-10 are the Bears from Wingate. They’re favorites in District 1-4A against the likes of Shiprock and Navajo Prep. They bring back Brandon Belone, Leon Alonzo, and Josh Holiday.
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More to come on Chantz Atcitty joining the NMPreps.com basketball coverage.
More: Preseason Home | 3A Rankings | 2A Rankings | 1A Rankings
Grine Overview
Without much surprise, maybe no surprise, the number one team going into the 2016/2017 basketball season is the Hope Christian Huskies who are coming off winning their fourth state consecutive state championship. The Huskies went 29-2 last season and return one of the best players in 4A basketball in Marcus Medina who was ranked in the NMPreps.com Top 100 Players.
The second ranked team in the NMPreps.com preseason rankings is the Robertson Cardinals who reached the Final Four in 2016. The Cardinals return seven players from the Final Four team including a player that could be on our preseason All-State team in Arjay Ortiz. Staying in Las Vegas we have the West Las Vegas Dons checking in at third behind division one level talent DJ Bustos.
Rounding out the Top-5 is the Pojoaque Valley Elks who have one of the best duos returning in James Garcia and Dominic Roybal. For the surprise at number five is the Cobre Indians. At 11-15 last season the Indians could be the biggest dark horse in the bunch. However they return their top three leading scorers in Andru Sanchez, Damien Guck and Gilbert Soto.
The biggest snub in the top-5 could be sixth ranked Portales with clearly the best 4A post in New Mexico. Ruidoso returns one of the better shooting guards with a trio of the biggest unknowns in Silver, St. Michael's and Taos who have three of the best head coaches in the classification.
NMPreps.com Pre-Season 4A Rankings
1. Hope Christian
2. Robertson
3. West Las Vegas
4. Pojoaque Valley
5. Cobre
6. Portales
7. Ruidoso
8. Silver
9. St. Michael's
10. Taos
The 2016/2017 New Mexico High School basketball season is here and today we release our first look at the NMPreps.com pre-season rankings. The rankings could change closer to the first week of games but right now this is what we know heading into the season
Atcitty: 4A Boy's Basketball Preseason Preview
Overview
Is it any surprise that Hope Christian is the preseason favorite? You would think that they’d drop a season after losing key seniors, but the program has done a superb job cranking out a new winning varsity roster season after season. They bring back Marcus Medina, Nelson Longmire, and Cole Yearout. They will also do plenty more traveling as they move out to the east in District 4 with Portales, Moriarty, Ruidoso, and NMMI.
West Las Vegas follows the Huskies at the second spot and will look to continue their scoring proficiency from the regular season last year. The Dons had the class-best 70.5 points per game scoring and with it being DJ Bustos’ last season after five years, they’ll look to continue that trend this upcoming season.
Pojoaque Valley was one of the top defensive teams last year in 4A when through the regular season they held opponents to a class-best of 44.3 points per game. They did struggle at times offensively, but that might change with the returning versatile wing in James Garcia. Also coming back are guard Dominic Roybal and Tevin Flowers. The Rams of Portales come in at the fourth spot. Although their district dominance might be in trouble with the addition of Hope Christian, they’ll still have some standouts to compete. They return dynamic scoring guard Junior Ramirez, the post-presence of Jeremie Karngbaye, and Tyrese Dawson to lead the Rams back to the postseason. And in at the fifth spot are the Fighting Colts of Silver. They’ll return plenty of firepower in guards Sal Cruz and Tristin Moore. Their frontcourt could be one of the best in 4A with Keshawn Thornton, Wyatt Oglesby, Tyler Gonzales, and Konner Riddle.
It was bit unusual not seeing St. Michael’s make a deep run in last year’s postseason, but this year shows a new promise. The Horsemen will be led by Luke Archuleta, Alex Garcia, and Thomas Pacheco. Robertson loss quite a bit of firepower with losing three key seniors to graduation, but the Cardinals still have plenty of talent on their roster to remain on the top teams in 4A. Junior forward Arjay Ortiz along with Noah Leger and Dante Jenkins all return for the Cardinals. Barn-burnin’ Bernalillo debuts in 4A after dropping down from 5A. Ever the wildcards, the Spartans look to make an impact and in a new district with SFIS, Sandia Prep, East Mountain, and Bosque they look to be early favorites in their district as well. Taos is fairly young, but they do return one of the better post players in 4A with Landen Archuleta. They’ll also look to Quinn Moon to contribute. And wrapping up our Top-10 are the Bears from Wingate. They’re favorites in District 1-4A against the likes of Shiprock and Navajo Prep. They bring back Brandon Belone, Leon Alonzo, and Josh Holiday.
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More to come on Chantz Atcitty joining the NMPreps.com basketball coverage.
More: Preseason Home | 3A Rankings | 2A Rankings | 1A Rankings
Grine Overview
Without much surprise, maybe no surprise, the number one team going into the 2016/2017 basketball season is the Hope Christian Huskies who are coming off winning their fourth state consecutive state championship. The Huskies went 29-2 last season and return one of the best players in 4A basketball in Marcus Medina who was ranked in the NMPreps.com Top 100 Players.
The second ranked team in the NMPreps.com preseason rankings is the Robertson Cardinals who reached the Final Four in 2016. The Cardinals return seven players from the Final Four team including a player that could be on our preseason All-State team in Arjay Ortiz. Staying in Las Vegas we have the West Las Vegas Dons checking in at third behind division one level talent DJ Bustos.
Rounding out the Top-5 is the Pojoaque Valley Elks who have one of the best duos returning in James Garcia and Dominic Roybal. For the surprise at number five is the Cobre Indians. At 11-15 last season the Indians could be the biggest dark horse in the bunch. However they return their top three leading scorers in Andru Sanchez, Damien Guck and Gilbert Soto.
The biggest snub in the top-5 could be sixth ranked Portales with clearly the best 4A post in New Mexico. Ruidoso returns one of the better shooting guards with a trio of the biggest unknowns in Silver, St. Michael's and Taos who have three of the best head coaches in the classification.
NMPreps.com Pre-Season 4A Rankings
1. Hope Christian
2. Robertson
3. West Las Vegas
4. Pojoaque Valley
5. Cobre
6. Portales
7. Ruidoso
8. Silver
9. St. Michael's
10. Taos
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