Coach Andre Gould of Winston-Salem Prep has an NCHSAA 1-A basketball championship under his belt from 2008.
One look at the Fighting Phoenix's stocked roster shows -- barring what would be an upset of mind-numbing proportions -- that Gould will have another title in March.
Not only does Prep have more talent than most teams in the state, never mind Class 1-A teams, it also is the team to beat among Forsyth County public schools this season.
The Phoenix added three impact transfers to seven key returning players from last season.
"We are big, we are fast, and we can shoot," Gould said. "I think we are decent at playing the game."
Last season, the Bishop McGuinness and Mount Tabor boys won NCHSAA titles, but both programs will take steps back and start over.
Class 4-A Mount Tabor lost three Division I guards, and Class 1-A McGuinness returns its top player -- guard Aaron Toomey -- but little else from last season.
All is still well with the Bishop McGuinness girls, who could face a little adversity trying to win a fifth straight NCHSAA 1-A title.
Coach Brian Robinson has one returning starter, ACC recruit Megan Buckland, a junior point guard, and seven new players on a roster of 11.
"I don't want to say we are rebuilding, but we are restarting, or something like that," Robinson said. "We are not as big as we have been, and we are very inexperienced."
McGuinness, playing in the Northwest 2-A/1-A, has not lost a conference game in four seasons since returning to the NCHSAA, but Robinson said it will be difficult to keep that streak alive.
Although Mount Tabor, Reynolds and West Forsyth have long been the boys teams to beat in the Central Piedmont 4-A, all three might take a back seat to newcomer Reagan. Coach Howard West's Raiders have nine seniors back from a 19-9 team, and the players have logged much playing time together.
"We are seniors," West said. "We have played a lot of basketball together. We don't have a whole lot of size, but we have a group that will play well together, and if we step it up on the boards and play the tough minutes, we will be in good shape."
Mount Tabor's girls have had a stranglehold on 4-A basketball in Forsyth County, but probably will find more competition in the CPC this season. Steadily improving Reynolds could take a giant step after landing Whitney Knight, a do-it-all 6-2 junior who transferred from McGuinness.
"I have 95 percent of the team coming back in addition to Whitney," Coach Monty Gray of Reynolds said. "Whitney right now is our primary ball-handler, and we ask a lot of her."
Mount Tabor has some talented returning players, including Milessa Calicott, a 5-10 junior and Division I recruit, and a lot of new faces. "It's going to take a long time before we get better because we have six or seven brand new faces," Coach Rick Anderson said."
The only boys team around with the talent to compete with Winston-Salem Prep night in and night out is Quality Education Academy, which has a strong group of players from around the country to play a national schedule and some big out-of-state tournaments. QEA also has Quincy Miller, a fluid 6-8 junior wing who has scholarship offers from many of the nation's top programs, according to Internet recruiting sites and one of the team's assistant coaches.
Never mind that Prep lost its first two games -- both to national power Oak Hill. If newcomers Anthony Thomas, a 6-8 wing from QEA, Louis Lowery III, a senior shooting guard from Parkland, and freshman Greg McClinton, a 6-6 wing from Forsyth Country Day, can mesh with the established returners, the Phoenix have the potential to stampede through Northwest 2-A/1-A.
mlinker@wsjournal.com.
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