Lets talk about the upcoming season and who might make a run at state.
The Contenders for the state title.
Chandler, DV, Cibola, Corona, MTN View, Liberty, Queen Creek
In no particular order, these teams are packing fire power to do damage at state. The predication here goes to Chandler, Cibola, or Mesa Mtn View to bring in a full team to bring home a state title. Liberty and Queen Creek should be some dark horses to watch for the top 5 while DV has a great chance to surprise many people.
The dark horses
Kofa, Boulder Creek, Mesa, Cesar Chavez
These teams here may not boast the experience and ammo to compete for the state title this year but they should not be overlooked since they all have some pretty big hitters. Kofa seems like the top team from the other teams mentioned since they looked good at the light weights last year. BC and Mesa might bring a couple good kids back and Cesar Chavez looks to have some surprise hitters that are overlooked, they always have a couple kids who place every year that do not even get ranked and beat out kids who are supposed to place (props to the coaches there). These teams should not be a threat for a state championship but individually, some contending teams should look out for the kids that are on these teams.
Everyone else in D1
May other teams will have kids place at state or even win a title individually, just like the teams above who boast bigger squads, the teams in this section will probably qualify about 4 kids. The kids they do qualify may have a chance at a state title or even place, (just ask Westwood who had a state runner up and only took 3 kids to state). Look for most of the east valley teams to do most of the damage in the placing spots. West valley teams should not be overlooked but should not be seen as a threat since many teams do not qualify many kids such as Maryvale.
In all look for all the teams to work hard this season, it should be fun to watch now that Sunnyside is out of the division, it should be a close tournament and I do not see a team dominating the tournament, expect a win by a point or so. Many of the elite teams lost kids due to Valiant College Prep so it will be fun to watch.Maybe we will all be surprised and see a new team take the reigns in D1.
The Contenders for the state title.
Chandler, DV, Cibola, Corona, MTN View, Liberty, Queen Creek
In no particular order, these teams are packing fire power to do damage at state. The predication here goes to Chandler, Cibola, or Mesa Mtn View to bring in a full team to bring home a state title. Liberty and Queen Creek should be some dark horses to watch for the top 5 while DV has a great chance to surprise many people.
The dark horses
Kofa, Boulder Creek, Mesa, Cesar Chavez
These teams here may not boast the experience and ammo to compete for the state title this year but they should not be overlooked since they all have some pretty big hitters. Kofa seems like the top team from the other teams mentioned since they looked good at the light weights last year. BC and Mesa might bring a couple good kids back and Cesar Chavez looks to have some surprise hitters that are overlooked, they always have a couple kids who place every year that do not even get ranked and beat out kids who are supposed to place (props to the coaches there). These teams should not be a threat for a state championship but individually, some contending teams should look out for the kids that are on these teams.
Everyone else in D1
May other teams will have kids place at state or even win a title individually, just like the teams above who boast bigger squads, the teams in this section will probably qualify about 4 kids. The kids they do qualify may have a chance at a state title or even place, (just ask Westwood who had a state runner up and only took 3 kids to state). Look for most of the east valley teams to do most of the damage in the placing spots. West valley teams should not be overlooked but should not be seen as a threat since many teams do not qualify many kids such as Maryvale.
In all look for all the teams to work hard this season, it should be fun to watch now that Sunnyside is out of the division, it should be a close tournament and I do not see a team dominating the tournament, expect a win by a point or so. Many of the elite teams lost kids due to Valiant College Prep so it will be fun to watch.Maybe we will all be surprised and see a new team take the reigns in D1.