MPSSAA Class 4A basketball playoff preview

Photo courtesy of The Washington Post.

4A East

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Computer favorite: North Point

Contenders: North Point, Meade

Upset pick: No. 3 Old Mill over No. 1 Meade in the Section 1 finals

Sleeper: No. 3 Old Mill

Potential games to watch:

No. 3 Old Mill at No. 1 Meade in the Section 1 finals (season series split at 1-1)

No. 1 North Point at No. 1 Meade in the region championship (SMAC champs North Point travel to 4A defending state champs, Meade. Sounds like an intriguing match-up to me)

Computer projected region championship: North Point (-3) over Meade

4A West

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Computer favorite: Quince Orchard

Contenders: Quince Orchard, Richard Montgomery, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Gaithersburg, Walt Whitman

Upset pick: No. 4 Montgomery Blair over No. 1 Richard Montgomery in the Section 1 semifinals

Sleepers: No. 3 Kennedy, No. 4 Blair, No. 5 Churchill

Potential games to watch:

No. 4 Blair at No. 1 Richard Montgomery in the Section 1 semifinals (Blair def. Richard Montgomery 43-40 earlier this year in only meeting)

No. 4 Clarksburg at No. 1 Quince Orchard in Section 2 semifinals (in two games between the two this year, both were decided by a buzzer-beater and a double overtime thriller. With Clarksburg fully healthy, I only suspect them to give the computer favorites, Quince Orchard, a run for their money)

No. 3 Walt Whitman at No. 1 Richard Montgomery in the Section 1 finals (season series split at 1-1)

No. 1 Richard Montgomery at No. 1 Quince Orchard in the Region championship (Montgomery County’s two best going head-to-head with state tournament implications on the line, what more could you ask for?)

Computer projected region championship: Quince Orchard (-7) over Richard Montgomery

4A North

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Computer favorite: Perry Hall

Contenders: Perry Hall, Sherwood, Howard

Upset pick: No. 4 Springbrook over No. 1 Sherwood in the Section 2 semifinals

Sleeper: No. 4 Springbrook

Potential games to watch:

No. 4 Springbrook at No. 1 Sherwood (Springbrook dropped current top-seed Sherwood, 69-58, earlier this year)

Computer projected region championship: Perry Hall (-4) over Howard

4A South

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Computer favorite: Eleanor Roosevelt

Contenders: Bladensburg, Wise, Bowie

Upset pick: No. 3 Bowie over No. 2 Wise in the Section 2 semifinals and No. 1 Eleanor Roosevelt in the Region championship

Sleepers: No. 3 Bowie, No. 4 C.H. Flowers

Potential games to watch:

No. 4 C.H. Flowers at No. 1 Eleanor Roosevelt in the Section 2 semifinals (down to the wire 6-point contest in only meeting this year)

No. 2 Wise at No. 1 Eleanor Roosevelt in the Section 2 finals (this is probably the real state championship and would make a bid for game of the year being a clash of intra-county rivals ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the MSA Top-25. Give me this one over any other game in the playoffs. Eleanor Roosevelt won the lone meeting, 53-51 in overtime)

No. 3 Bowie at No. 1 Eleanor Roosevelt in the Section 2 finals (season series split at 1-1)

Computer projected region championship: Eleanor Roosevelt (-10) over Bladensburg

 

4A Power Rankings

  1. Eleanor Roosevelt (South)
  2. Wise (South)
  3. North Point (East)
  4. Bowie (South)
  5. Meade (East)
  6. Perry Hall (North)
  7. Quince Orchard (West)
  8. Bladensburg (South)
  9. Richard Montgomery (West)
  10. C.H. Flowers (South)

 

Projected 4A semifinals: North Point (-3) over Quince Orchard AND Eleanor Roosevelt (-13) over Perry Hall

Projected 4A state championship: Eleanor Roosevelt (-5) over North Point

McFadden’s take: Unlike the other classes, 4A has somewhat of a clear-cut favorite, and that is PG County stalwart Eleanor Roosevelt.

Led by one of the most recruited guards in the state, Naji Marshall (6-6) the Raiders will be a tall task to go up against given their overwhelming size (11 players of 6’3″ or taller and four 6’6″ or taller). However, it will not be an ER cakewalk to Xfinity Center as they will have to go through stout teams like C.H. Flowers, Bowie or Wise and possibly Bladensburg.

The North is a bit of a snoozer in my opinion, as I see Perry Hall getting out with not much competition. In the East, we could potentially see a match-up in the region championship of SMAC power North Point and defending 4A state champions, Meade.

As for the West, it’s relatively a toss-up due to the parity within the region, but if I had to bet money on two teams vying for a state tournament bid, it’d be the top teams Montgomery County has to offer in Quince Orchard and Richard Montgomery.

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About Kyle McFadden 270 Articles
Kyle McFadden is a graduate from Linganore High's Class of 2014 and is a sports enthusiast. He got his start as a sports writer in January 2014 for LHS's student newspaper The Lance where he wrote 13 articles. McFadden then launched his own blog in October 2014 called The Beltway Dispatch covering collegiate, local high school, and professional sports. Formally known as The Beltway Dispatch, McFadden and Evan Engelhard merged each other's respective platforms in June 2015 to make what is now Maryland Sports Access. He brings plenty of sports knowledge to the helm of MSA as he has baseball, basketball and golf experience. McFadden covers a wide variety of sports in football, baseball, basketball, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer and specializes in the collegiate and high school level's. McFadden is volunteers his time at Damascus Road Community Church -- serving as a mentor to the youth, basketball coach at the varsity and junior varsity levels, and leads a small group of high school sophomores every Wednesday night. Although he has only been around journalism since January 2014, his work has appeared in Maryland newspapers such as The Daily Times (Delmarva Now), The Hometown Observer, Germantown Pulse, and regularly in the The Frederick News-Post. He's also won two Frederick News-Post Mike Powell Excellence in Journalism awards and has appeared on The Best of SNO, which showcases top student work of high school and college journalists. McFadden also holds positions at The Frederick News-Post as a freelance sports journalist, DMVelite as a high school basketball writer and analyst, MocoFootball.com as a Maryland high school football analyst, and as a staff writer for Maryland's Yahoo! Rivals. McFadden currently studies at Frederick Community College and plans to transfer to the University of Maryland in the fall of 2017 to work on a bachelor's degree in business and journalism as he has aspirations to be a columnist for ESPN.
Contact: Twitter

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