By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Milwaukee's Vincent High School is bidding for a third straight Division 1 girls state championship and continues to have a solid lineup, led by the likes of arguably the most talented junior in the state.
Marquis Hines is coaching the team, which is off to a 6-0 start. He is in his fourth year with the program.
“We have some good leadership and a very good point guard,” Hines said. “We also have Nicole Griffin who is probably one of the top 10 players in country. She's being recruited by every Division I school in the country.”
Griffin, a 6-foot-6 junior, averaged 10 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocked shots as a sophomore. She has upped those numbers to 17 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocked shots per outing.
“By her senior year, I'm predicting she could probably be Miss Basketball,” Hines said. “She's very versatile. She runs the floor well. Her post moves are very good. She can shoot from the perimeter and can handle the ball. The only thing she has to work on is her strength.”
Hines thinks inexperience is among the team’s potential weaknesses.
“We have a bunch of young girls,” Hines said. “We have a lot of sophomores who are every talented. But we have leadership.”
Senior Ashley Birts and Chelan Landry are other players Hines is looking for major contributions from.
Rufus King and Riverside are among the top teams Hines expects to see his team face this season
Boys Basketball
Wisconsin Lutheran is off to a 5-0 start and Ryan Walz is hoping the outstanding players on his team can make the squad a state contender.
Wisconsin Lutheran made it to the regional finals last season. Walz is in his sixth year with the program after replacing his dad, Dale Walz, a Wisconsin coaches Hall of Fame inductee. The younger Walz played for his father at Wisconsin Lutheran.
The program was 18-4 last season.
“We lost a bunch of seniors last year,” Walz said. “We had a strong junior class coming back this year. We only return one starter, Flavien Davis. He's a top 100 kid in most of the national rankings.”
Davis, a 6-4 junior guard, is averaging 13 points per game.
“He's a pretty well rounded player as you can tell by the stats,” Walz said. “He started his freshman and sophomore years. This is the first year we played him on the perimeter so his scoring is down a little bit, which we expected. He was a great post player. He's very good around the basket in scoring. We have a couple other big guys so we moved him to the perimeter. That's going to help him play college basketball.”
Cedquon Holmes is a returning junior from last season and is the leading scorer. The 6-footer is averaging 16.5 points per game.
“He's a very explosive, dynamic wing-type player,” Walz said. “He's very quick and is a great penetrator. He's a streaky shooter. When he gets hot, he can light it up.”
