In a battle of two contrasting styles Janesville Craig takes on Madison West. Craig is a bigger team that plays a zone on the defensive side and looks to pound the ball inside on offense and slow things down. West has some decent size, with the majority of their team between 6'2 to 6'5, that prefers to play an uptempo game and rely heavily on their perimeter play. West likes to push the tempo and shoot the three ball. West is a very undisciplined teamed that doesn't play very good defense and is not afraid to take the early shot when they have the ball. Craig is very methodical in their offensive approach and really take their time to find the best shot. This game looks to be lopsided but, if West can get hot from the outside and with Craig struggling some early in the season this game could really be interesting.
Janesville Craig is led by their big three, in size and in scoring. Two 6'6 senior forwards Lucas Burns and Cooper Cullen and the 6'6 junior center Jojo Pregont are the stars for Craig. Pregont will probably have his way inside as Madison West does not have any post presence what so ever. With West trying to push the tempo and taking some quick shots Craig will probably do some running of their own which will lead to some wide open shots for sharpshooter Burns who will probably have a big game along with Pregont. I really don't know what to expect out of Cullen since he wasn't suited up the last time I saw Craig play. Cullen is listed at 6'6 but, is also listed as a guard so I really have no idea what kind of player he is.
Madison West has a wide array of guards that do most of their scoring. In the last game I saw West play 6'3 senior Michael Collins had a huge game scoring 29 points. I'm curious to see if that was a fluke game because Collins has a pretty ugly looking outside shot and doesn't shoot free throws very well but, he still did score 29 points. 6'5 senior Corvonn Gaines is considered the star of the team in most peoples eyes that are familiar with the West program. I believe Gaines will struggle against the bigger Craig team but, if he can get hot from the outside, which I have seen him do, he should be able to carve up the Craig zone. Michael Horton the 6'2 senior point guard does a great job of handling the ball and distributing along with being able to knock down the open three point shot. On a better team I believe that Horton would be regarded as one of the better true point guards in the state, since West struggles Horton doesn't get the respect that he deserves. 6'4 senior Deon Johnson is a fun player to watch because he always seems to want to dunk the ball every time he gets it and will hopefully get the opportunity to impress.
My final prediction is that Craig will end up beating West by about 20 points and the game will probably be 60 some to 40 some. Craig's defense and West settling for poor shots will keep the game from getting to high scoring. In the end Craigs height and defense will wear West down and give Craig the advantage. Madison West has the advantage at the guard position but, with Craigs zone that shouldn't matter too much and if West isn't hitting the outside shots then this one could get ugly quick.
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