Boys basketball district previews: Area could have numerous champions

Well, the girls have had their chance at a district title, now it’s time to get the boys postseason underway.

Luckily for area fans, there’s not a lot of travel needed to watch.

But, sorry Petoskey fans, being spoiled with a hosted district a year ago was a one-time thing.

For the rest of you, Cheboygan will host Boyne City in Division 2, East Jordan welcomes the area LMC trio that includes Harbor Springs and Charlevoix and Mackinaw City hosts the area Division 4 programs.

There’s some great matchups right from the start on Monday and with the way many brackets are set up, we could be in for some really good looking finals come next Friday.

Here’s how things are looking for 2022-23 boys basketball districts:

DIVISION 1 

District 1 

Host: Sault Ste. Marie

Teams: Petoskey (16-6), Marquette (12-9), Gaylord (12-9), Sault Ste. Marie (15-6), TC Central (12-10), TC West (9-12) and Alpena (3-18)

Matchups: Petoskey at Alpena (3/6) – Gaylord at TC West (3/6) – TC Central at Sault (3/6)

Bye: Marquette

Favorite: TC Central

Regional Site: Gaylord/Saginaw

Breakdown: It’s very interesting to see Marquette come away with the No. 1 seed, first round bye and top line throughout the bracket, especially since they didn’t end up with the most MPR points at the end of the season.

That’s big considering the title game is a non-traditional with top line hosting if the Blue Devils aren’t in it.

The most MPR points within the bracket actually go to Petoskey by a significant margin, but MPR points were taken a week prior to both TC Central and Petoskey overtaking Marquette.

But, moving on. It’s the same old gauntlet to get to regionals, though with Sault Ste. Marie joining the party this season.

Traverse City Central and Petoskey are the two strongest teams within the field and it very well could be those two meeting for the final, as they sit at opposite sides of the bracket.

Central has compiled an 8-1 record against everyone here, with the lone loss coming against their rival Titans in a big upset. The Trojans' record of 12-10 only looks like it does because of some big downstate challenges.

The last matchup between the Northmen and Trojans was just a three-point game, so a meeting in the final could be anyone’s game.

This time of year is when the stars step up and the Trojans and Northmen have the two best players here in Anthony Ribel and Cade Trudeau, respectively.

Looking for a dark horse? How about Gaylord. Led by 6-foot-4 junior Luke Gelow, the Blue Devils feel like just the kind of team someone would take lightly this time of year and they’ve finished the season going 5-1 over their last six.

DIVISION 2 

District 34

Host: Cheboygan

Teams: Boyne City (18-4), Cheboygan (7-14), Kingsley (5-16), Grayling (12-9) and Kalkaska (5-15)

Matchups: Kalkaska at Kingsley (3/6) – Grayling at Cheboygan (3/8)

Bye: Boyne City

Favorite: Boyne City

Regional Site: Sault Ste. Marie/Gaylord

Breakdown: It would be pretty easy to just write about how much a favorite Boyne City is here and gush over what the Ramblers have done this season on the court.

But, Boyne headed into last year’s tournament as the favorite and that didn’t go so well.

The Ramblers were upset in the championship game by two against Sault Ste. Marie, a team they had previously beaten by 13 points and one that carried a losing record heading in.

So, it’s probably best that the Ramblers don’t head into this one believing it’s in the bag.

The Ramblers have gone 5-0 against the district, with the lone team they haven’t seen being Kingsley.

We’ve seen at times where Boyne has gotten off to a slow start here and there, giving a lesser opponent some confidence early, which is the biggest recipe for a disaster and upset this time of year.

The stars of Boyne, guys like Alex Calcaterra, Mason Wilcox and Jack Neer, need to play like it early, reinforcing that fear these opponents might have of them going off.

Grayling heads in knowing Boyne the best and has some athletes to compete, while Cheboygan feels like one of those teams that could decide to get hot on their home court.

DIVISION 3 

District 67

Host: East Jordan

Teams: Charlevoix (4-17), Harbor Springs (12-9), Elk Rapids (16-6), East Jordan (4-17), St. Ignace (17-4), Mancelona (7-14)

Matchups: Charlevoix at East Jordan (5:30, 3/6) – Harbor Springs vs. Mancelona (7:00, 3/6)

Bye: Elk Rapids and St. Ignace

Favorite: St. Ignace

Regional Site: Gaylord/Sault Ste. Marie

Breakdown: There’s a couple obvious pieces to this district.

The first, is that St. Ignace is the clear favorite, with the ability to shoot the lights out of the gym and an impressive resume in a 17-win season. Three of their losses have also come against Division 1 teams and then another in an upset against Menominee.

The second part of this district, is that all of these teams likely don’t want to see Harbor Springs at the moment.

The Rams might not be the favorite, but they’re playing better than anyone down the stretch, having won five straight and eight of their last nine before falling to Glen Lake in the finale, which they led at halftime in. The win streak included victories over Cheboygan by a landslide, Sault Ste. Marie and Elk Rapids.

Everyone is pretty well acquainted with each other in this bracket and the opening matchup between the Red Devils and Rayders should be a good one to start it off.

The first matchup was a two-point victory for EJ, while the second was another EJ victory, one in which they came back from 18-down in the second half.

One of the more interesting factors within this district is all the young talent, from freshman Joe Gaffney with the Rayders, to freshmen Rider Bartel and Braeden Flynn with the Rams and sophomore Korbyn Russell with the Red Devils. Even perhaps the best player within the district, Johnny Ingalls of St. Ignace, is a junior.

It’ll be one of the more fun districts to play out in Northern Michigan.

DIVISION 4

District 103

Host: Mackinaw City

Teams: Harbor Light (12-10), Mackinaw City (18-3), Alanson (8-11), Pellston (7-12), Mackinac Island (4-10)

Matchups: Mackinac Island vs. Pellston (3/6) – Alanson vs. Harbor Light (3/8)

Bye: Mackinaw City

Favorite: Mackinaw City

Regional Site: Pellston/St. Ignace

Breakdown: Looking around this district, it’s nice that all these familiar teams are back together.

Depending on where teams classify in the Upper Peninsula, these teams can be broken up this time of year every once in a while, but it’s always better this way.

There’s some great rivalries here, so it would be nice to have one for the title as well.

Mackinaw City has played the best of anyone within the bracket, compiling a 5-1 record with wins over everyone but Mackinac Island, a team they haven’t yet met.

Before a season ending loss to Onaway, the Comets had rattled off nine straight wins in their Northern Lakes title season.

The best part about the Comets is they’re not getting it done with any singular player – as tends to happen sometimes at this level – but they’re getting it done with a group and almost a different leading scorer every game.

From Cooper Whipkey to Lars Huffman and Trsystan Swanson and others, it’s hard to key on any one player.

Harbor Light is a bit dangerous here, as they’ve beaten the Comets and they’ve got some nice balance around the lineup as well. They’ve also not been afraid of testing themselves down the stretch.

Pellston has obviously played the toughest schedule, but they’ve also lost to the Comets and beaten Harbor Light by just two.

It’s nice that the Swordsmen and Comets set up on different sides here, as they’re probably the two best teams, so a district final showdown in Mackinaw would be fun to see.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boys basketball district previews: Area could have numerous champions