Preseason High School Top 50: 20-11
20. Raleigh Charter (NC) – Trivia time: name the highest returning scorer from PACE NSC.
The answer is Raleigh Charter’s Peter, who put up 109.29 ppg at NSC. They also get Gautam’s 17.14 ppg back. This should be enough to be a top team.
19. La Jolla (CA) – They return their entire B-team and half of their A-team from HSNCT (Ben and Alison). Since both teams made the playoffs there, it’s fair to say they’re going to be a force this year.
18. Livingston (NJ) – With two teams going to HSNCT, they get two back from their A-team (Tim, with 29.86 ppg, and David, with 18.48 ppg) and two from their B-team (Govind, with 26.18 ppg, and Saagar, with 18.35). Combined, they should form a talented team.
17. Detroit Country Day (MI) – DCD features the highest returning scorer from the HSNCT, Neil, who averaged 76.34 ppg. Unfortunately, he does not return very much support, so the question is if anyone will improve enough to provide significant help or if Neil will be the only notable threat on this team.
16. duPont Manual (KY) – With 4 players returning who played at NSC and 8 who played at HSNCT, this is a deep and talented team. This include Shray (34.02 ppg at HSNCT, 32.14 at NSC), Vishnu (41.41 at HSNCT), Nick (25.74 at HSNCT, 12.73 at NSC), Meghamsh (14.34 at HSNCT, 22.30 at NSC) and Akshai (11.07 at HSNCT, 30 at NSC). It’s not clear who their top team will consist of, but it should be good.
15. Thomas Jefferson (VA) – One of the deepest programs last year sees that younger talent faced with stepping up to fill numerous holes on their A-team. A top four is not clear, but candidates include Seoup (26.70 ppg at HSNCT, 27.14 at NSC), Arjang (18.10 at HSNCT, 29 at NSC), Stephen (37.14 at NSC), Diana (35 at NSC), Olivia (32.14 at NSC), Siddharth (40.83 at NSC), Peter (28.18 at NSC) and James (24.55 at NSC). They stand a very real chance of vastly improving over this year and making an even bigger impact in the final rankings.
14. Torrey Pines (CA) – They were, essentially, a two-person team at HSNCT, with Stephen (60.99 ppg) and Vivek (33.18 ppg). Fortunately for them, both players return. It’ll be very interesting to see how they progress and if they get any significant assistance from a third (and fourth?) player.
13. Dunbar (KY) – Similar to Thomas Jefferson and duPont Manual, they return a lot of players who performed well at nationals. This includes Idrees (15.05 ppg at HSNCT), Brian (36.41 at HSNCT, 37.38 on NSC A-team), Ping (16.02 at HSNCT, 41.78 on NSC A), Victor (30.71 on NSC A), Sandy (52.86 on NSC B), Ailin (44.29 on NSC B) and Matt (37.78 on NSC B). There’s a lot of potential here.
12. Detroit Catholic Central (MI) – They lose everyone from their team that finished fourth at HSNCT and just one player from their NSC team that finished 13th. But, they return their entire B-team that came within 10 points against St. Viator of making the HSNCT playoffs. This includes Matt (11.67 ppg at NSC, 32.03 at HSNCT), Ryan (30.53 at HSNCT), David (21.89 at HSNCT) and Matt (18.60 at HSNCT). Considering the program they come from and their time spent already playing together as a unit, this team has a lot of potential.
11. Eden Prairie (MN) – Their A-team at HSNCT had everyone average at least 17.87 ppg, and as a team they had 16.12 ppb. They do lose their second highest scorer in Sam (23.53 ppg), but retain Xi, Gaurav, Robin and Neil. They also have Peter returning from their B-team, who averaged 36.84 ppg.