Words. HShoop

South of the Mason-Dixon line, the Class of ’09 is stacked with talent. And it’s not just a bunch of solid players – we’re talking the best of the best. North Carolina boasts one of the top five players in the entire class with Word of God Academy’s John Wall, and Virginia’s DeShawn Painter is a bona fide bully in the post. Let’s stack ‘em up and see which state comes out on top

North Carolina

PG: John Wall 6-3 180 Sr. Word of God Christian Academy

SG: Reggie Bullock 6-6 180 Jr. Kinston HS (UNC)

SF: C.J. Leslie 6-7 190 Jr. Word of God Christian Academy (NC State)

PF: Karron Johnson 6-8 230 Sr. Mt. Zion Christian Academy

C: Mason Plumlee 6-11 210 Sr. Christ School (Duke)

Bench: Ryan Kelly 6-10 F/C Sr. Ravencroft School, Lakeem Jackson 6-5 G/F Sr. Christ School

Virginia

PG: Tommy Mason-Griffin 5-10 180 Sr. Oak Hill Academy

SG: Steven Pledger 6-3 185 Sr. Atlantic Shores HS (Oklahoma)

SF: Brian Oliver 6-6 180 Sr. Oak Hill Academy (Georgia Tech)

PF: Deshawn Painter 6-9 195 Hargrave Military Academy (Florida)

C: Keith Gallon 6-9 290 Sr. Oak Hill Academy

Bench: Kendall Marshall 6-1 PG Jr. Bishop O’Connell (UNC), Marshawn Powell 6-8 F Sr. The Miller School (Arkansas), Glenn Bryant 6-7 F Sr. Oak Hill Academy, Dan Jennings 6-8 C/F Sr. Oak Hill Academy

Guards: North Carolina has the ex-factor in John Wall. Wall went from unknown to top guard in his class in one summer. So far he has lived up to the hype. While Mason-Griffin is a strong bowling ball type guard, he is a bit on the short side and Walls height and quickness will prevail. Pledger is also undersized for the two-guard spot, but he can shoot the rock with the best of them when he’s hot. Bullock is also a big-time perimeter shooter, so the two-guards might cancel each other out. NC gets the look in the backcourt battle because of Wall.

Forwards: The forwards match up is a tough call. A Johnson and Painter battle would be very entertaining. Painter is grossly athletic with a long wingspan, while Johnson has some athleticism as well but trumps Painter in the strength department. Leslie has better upside than Oliver, but is a bit inconsistent at this stage. Oliver is a dead eye shooter and would use his experience to get his shot against the younger and inconsistent Leslie. This match up goes to Virginia.

Center: Keith Gallon is a match up problem for any high school kid, much less a bean stalk like Plumlee. Plumlee, the talented bean stalk is a finesse big man, he is not overly athletic but he gets out and runs the floor and can handle the rock a little bit and finishes well inside. In the end Gallon would just use his brute force to frustrate and punish Plumlee in the post. Advantage VA.

Bench: The edge on the bench has to go to the squad from Virginia. Having a point-man like Marshall and bigs like Powell and Jennings off the bench should help them to a victory. Kelly would provide some match up problems with his outside/inside game but in the end Virginia just has too much.

Verdict: Even though North Carolina has John Wall, they don’t have enough depth and talent to match up with the kids from Virginia.

Tags: Border Wars
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Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

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