These Midlands teams among favorites to win SC basketball state championships
It’s playoff time this week for high school basketball teams across South Carolina.
The S.C. High School League basketball playoffs begin Tuesday, with the S.C. Independent School Association postseason starting Friday.
The SCHSL championships are set for Florence Center on March 2-3. SCISA title games will be Feb. 23-24 at the Sumter Civic Center.
Here is a look at some of the teams to watch and storylines for this year’s postseason.
Five storylines to watch
▪ Can anyone challenge Camden girls?
Camden is a close loss away to Keenan in the 2021 championship game from going for its third straight championship. The Bulldogs haven’t lost to an in-state opponent since then and scored more than 100 points in a game three times this season. Camden’s average margin of victory in its 23 wins is 44.6 points. It will take a special performance to knock off the Bulldogs.
▪ Gray Collegiate’s final run in 2A
The Gray Collegiate boys and girls teams swept the 2A championships last year and will look to repeat in their final year in the classification. The War Eagles will be moving up to Class 4A next year with realignment for the 2024-26 school year.
▪ New championship venue
The SCHSL championships will be held at the Florence Center for the first time. The venue has hosted the Lower State championships for more than a decade. This year it will host the Upper/Lower State championships and the state championships all in an eight-day span from Feb. 23 to March 2. Each classification will get its own day for semifinal games. For the state championships, Class 2A and 5A games will be played March 2, and Class A, 3A and 4A play the following day.
▪ Tim Whipple’s last ride?
After winning the Class 4A championship last season, this year has been a struggle for coach Tim Whipple and the Irmo boys basketball team. The team lost most key players from last year to graduation or transfer. The Yellow Jackets this year won just five games and finished fifth in Region 5-4A, but they earned an at-large bid for the playoffs and will travel to Wilson on Wednesday.
It’s possible this could be Whipple’s last year coaching. He has 848 wins, which is believed to be second most in state history behind former Great Falls coach John Smith’s 943 victories.
▪ Will Keenan boys make a run?
Irmo isn’t the only traditional power that has struggled in the Midlands this season. The Keenan boys have just 10 wins, their first losing regular season under coach Zach Norris since 2006-07. But the Raiders won five straight to finish the season and have the talent to make a run in Class 2A.
The favorites
Here are five teams we think have the best chance to make it to the state championship games:
▪ Camden girls: The Bulldogs are the defending Class 3A champions and have been ranked No. 1 all-season. South Carolina signee and McDonald’s All-American Joyce Edwards (31.6 ppg) leads a veteran squad, which includes seniors Zyasia Carter and Deanna Jeffcoat, junior Morgan Champion and freshman Braylin Mungo.
▪ Cardinal Newman boys: The Cards came up short in last year’s championship game but have a good chance of getting back there in a wide-open SCISA 4A postseason. CN has a pair of 1,000-point scorers in seniors Evan Carter and Josiah Peeples to go along with a talented young roster.
▪ Gray Collegiate boys: The top-ranked War Eagles are the defending 2A champions and are going for their sixth championship in the last seven seasons. Gray is led by Georgia Southern signee Braylhn Thomas and has two other college signees Ellis Graham (Charleston Southern), Darius Carr (Mars Hill) and Treyvon Maddox, one of the state’s top prospects for the Class of 2025.
▪ Heathwood Hall girls: The Highlanders are the defending SCISA 4A champions and have a good shot to repeat. Heathwood isn’t very deep but has a strong 1-2 punch in Lauren Jacobs and Sabreya Monsanto. Jacobs is second in the area in scoring at 31.3 points per game.
▪ Lexington boys: This could be the Wildcats’ best shot for their first title appearance since 2000. Lexington lost to Dorman in last year’s Upper State championship but will be in the Lower State bracket for this year’s playoffs. Lexington has been No. 1 all season in Class 5A and has a roster with three Division I prospects: Texas signee Cam Scott, Jaxon Prunty and Kaleb Evans.
Five more teams to watch
Here are five other teams we think can play for or win a title:
▪ Dutch Fork girls: The Silver Foxes’ transition from hall of fame coach Faye Norris to Candace Cobb has been a smooth one. Dutch Fork won 22 games and a region championship for the first time since 2014. Dutch Fork has home-court advantage for the first three rounds of the postseason.
▪ Gray Collegiate/Keenan girls: The two Region 4-2A schools didn’t play in the regular season this year, but there’s a good chance they face off in Florence with a state title berth on the line. They met in the 2A Upper State championship last season.
▪ Lower Richland boys: Coach JoJo English has his best team since taking over his alma mater three years ago. The Diamond Hornets have size up front in 6-foot-9 senior Alex Atkinson and 6-5 junior Ethan Mays and play strong defense. The biggest challenge for LR could be a third-round matchup with No. 1 Crestwood, but it would be at home.
▪ Ridge View boys: Ridge View earned national attention by winning the Chick-fil-A Classic and have been nationally-ranked for several weeks. But the Blazers dropped their season finale against A.C. Flora, which cost them a No. 1 seed and means they’ll likely be on the road in the third round.
▪ Westwood boys: In coach Trent Robinson’s first season, the Redhawks won their first region championship in school history. Westwood has a veteran team led by senior guard TJ Bell, with several players stepping up behind Bell.
Others to keep an eye on: A.C. Flora girls, Blythewood boys, Newberry boys, Richard Winn boys, Ridge View girls
