Who’s Gonna be Tourney MVP?

-Listen to the Boys 4A State Basketball Tournament on ESPN 97.7-

Q - Who's going to be the best player in this year's tournament?

Last year it was Lyman Simmons from Snow Canyon.

This year, Sky View's Logan Deal and Tanner Davis are contenders as well as Ridgeline's Carson Cox.

We saw Zab Santana back in 2021 be the best player in the tournament when Cedar was a 6-seed. I think Lincoln Holmes could maybe make a Santana type run this year if Desert Hills catches fire.

Crimson Cliff's Jordan Eaton could put together three awesome games and put himself in the conversation as well.

Obviously the two favorites are Owen Mackay and Kyle Lemke.

My question about Lemke is how hard is it going to be to get him the ball in the half court?

He's been able to get to his spot all year long and Dixie has been awesome at lobbing it over the tops of defenses, and entering the ball with a perimeter bounce pass. Sometimes big men suffer in the tournament because of how much focus there is on them. I think Lemke is going to get a lot of free throws, but won't get as many opportunities in single coverage (not that he got a lot of those in the regular season either).

For Mackay, we saw in round one how physical Green Canyon was. Most of Mackay's points were through contact. He didn't get a lot of open looks from three point range, and anytime he was in the paint he was hammered. I think the story for Snow Canyon this year isn't Mackay, we know he's going to be awesome, it's whether his supporting cast can make enough shots to get them back to the title.

Listen to the Boys 4A State Basketball Tournament on ESPN 97.7