Preseason Rankings: No. 17 Gadsden Panthers
The 2015-2016 season has officially started and today we start our countdown of the top 50 programs in New Mexico Big School Division (6A-4A).
More: Preseason Rankings Home: 50-1 | Rankings 72-51 | Preseason Preview Page
The Gadsden Panthers are coming into the season after a 17-11, 5-3 campaign in 2014-2015. The Panthers also reached the State Tournament with a first round showing.
Overview: A new era has started for the Gadsden Panthers after longtime head coach Michael Harper retired, a head coach with over 800-wins in his career. The Panthers are also a preseason ranked Top-25 team for the first time in the last five years. The roster returns one of it's most talented in that five year span and could be a team to crack the Top-10 fast. Tomas Cano (2016) hit the scene last year and found himself ranked in the NMPreps.com Top 60 players this summer. Cano, will be a top player this season and one to keep a close eye on. The Panthers under Harper are widely known for slowing the game down, way down, but this could be a change of scenery in that aspect as well.
Last Season
Record: 17-11, 5-3
Home Record: 8-4
Away Record: 9-4
Neutral Record: 0-3
Post Season: First Round; Lost to Rio Rancho (66-58)
Points per game: 51.75 (1449)
Points against: 45.78 (1282)
Realistic Prediction: The Gadsden Panthers have arguably their best roster in years (all the years I've work for NMPreps.com). This Panther team could be one of the best dark horse teams in 6A basketball classification. Right now we didn't want to cash all in on our hype of this team and will say 15-19 win category along with a first round tournament game. We did lean closer to saying Elite but at No. 13 in 6A basketball preseason rankings we stayed consistent with that prediction.
District Champ: 80%
Playoff Team: 100%
Elite Eight: 58%
Final Four: 25%
Title Game: 18%
Returning Players: Tomas Cano, Fernando Jauregui (2016) and Chayenne Barrientos (2016) are a trio of players that create one of the best rosters the Panthers have had.
Roster
Fernando Jauregui (2016)
Antonio Torres (2016)
Chayenne Barrientos (2016)
Tomas Cano (2016)
Jacob Holguin (2016)
Cutberto Barraza (2016)
Joshua Bailey (2017)
Kevin Medrano (2017)
The 2015-2016 season has officially started and today we start our countdown of the top 50 programs in New Mexico Big School Division (6A-4A).
More: Preseason Rankings Home: 50-1 | Rankings 72-51 | Preseason Preview Page
The Gadsden Panthers are coming into the season after a 17-11, 5-3 campaign in 2014-2015. The Panthers also reached the State Tournament with a first round showing.
Overview: A new era has started for the Gadsden Panthers after longtime head coach Michael Harper retired, a head coach with over 800-wins in his career. The Panthers are also a preseason ranked Top-25 team for the first time in the last five years. The roster returns one of it's most talented in that five year span and could be a team to crack the Top-10 fast. Tomas Cano (2016) hit the scene last year and found himself ranked in the NMPreps.com Top 60 players this summer. Cano, will be a top player this season and one to keep a close eye on. The Panthers under Harper are widely known for slowing the game down, way down, but this could be a change of scenery in that aspect as well.
Last Season
Record: 17-11, 5-3
Home Record: 8-4
Away Record: 9-4
Neutral Record: 0-3
Post Season: First Round; Lost to Rio Rancho (66-58)
Points per game: 51.75 (1449)
Points against: 45.78 (1282)
Realistic Prediction: The Gadsden Panthers have arguably their best roster in years (all the years I've work for NMPreps.com). This Panther team could be one of the best dark horse teams in 6A basketball classification. Right now we didn't want to cash all in on our hype of this team and will say 15-19 win category along with a first round tournament game. We did lean closer to saying Elite but at No. 13 in 6A basketball preseason rankings we stayed consistent with that prediction.
District Champ: 80%
Playoff Team: 100%
Elite Eight: 58%
Final Four: 25%
Title Game: 18%
Returning Players: Tomas Cano, Fernando Jauregui (2016) and Chayenne Barrientos (2016) are a trio of players that create one of the best rosters the Panthers have had.
Roster
Fernando Jauregui (2016)
Antonio Torres (2016)
Chayenne Barrientos (2016)
Tomas Cano (2016)
Jacob Holguin (2016)
Cutberto Barraza (2016)
Joshua Bailey (2017)
Kevin Medrano (2017)
