Gramps Braggin Rights Boys Basketball Pre-season Prognostications - GAC Central conference 9/27/2021

 I had a couple of communications last night that I thought I would bring up.  First off, someone from Christian OFallon messaged me to let me know that two top scorers on the team had transferred....  Kristian Davis (457 points last year) has transferred to Cardinal Ritter and Raynard Horry, 5'7" PG, had moved to Fort Zumwalt West.  That impacts three teams and  I have adjusted my projection to take those moves into account.  If you have news of a transfer, in or out of your school, let me know and I will adjust the write-up.  

Another communication was about the St. Louis Suburban conference's makeup.  I wasn't sure so I emailed Larry Cunningham, Athletic Commissioner for SLSPHSAAA (that's a mouthful), and his short answer was "That is up to each individual school".  So that means a few schools might still opt to move up or down in the four color-coded conference set-ups.  Eureka moved up to Yellow for last season to get better competition but then, the covid pandemic kept a number of those competitive teams from getting started until January.  If schools switch in the next month, I will repost my predictions with the new list of teams.  I cannot imagine wholesale switches coming.

I mentioned an analysis I did for a North Kansas City coach, Coach Bennaka of Smithville, who has his program moving on the up and up.  I did not charge him to analyze his team's upcoming season but I did ask for some specifics on what he is doing to move a team from four wins two years ago to 13-13 record this past year.  Here is his response and if you are a coach for a team that is winning less than a third of your games these past few years, you should take note.

Here is Coach Bennaka's response to my questions about turning a program and a culture around at Smithville, MO.  IF YOU DO NOT READ ANOTHER SENTENCE OF MY BLOG, READ THIS!

I would like to think that coaching can make a big difference for a high school team.  The kids love to play but it is no fun losing.  I cannot believe that a team can have a VPS of 0.5.  It just boggles my mind but I see it in these analyses.  I don't think the kids are that bad, are they?  I think, like the North KC coach, you can make a difference in how a team plays and performs, no matter what kind of prospects you get in the next freshman class.  You might not be world-beaters, but no team should have a VPS of 0.5.  It is just bad basketball and it cannot all be put on the players.

With that said, here are my team analyses for the GAC Central, which has three or four really good teams and two extremely poor teams.  One of them, Francis Howell North, has a new coach in Mike Wright and I hope he can turn that program around.

All my links to other conferences are HERE