Ridaught: Basketball media day unofficial start to 2024-25 seasons
On Friday from 4-7 p.m., Gainesville High School and "The Prep Zone" are hosting the 2024-25 girls and boys high school basketball media day. A total of 30 area schools have committed to participate in the unofficial tip off to the new hoops season. "Having the chance to get information out about our program and showcase some of our players to Gainesville and the surrounding areas is awesome," said Gainesville boys basketball coach Mike Barnes who is hosting today's event. "This media day can let everyone know that the high school basketball season is here. The beginning of the year is always very busy, but also very exciting." Preseason classics are next week, and the regular season is still over a week away, but the season has arrived. "We have eight players returning from last year's Sweet 16 team," Barnes said. "I expect Willie Brooks and Darius White to make big jumps with their production this year. Craig Thomas has proven himself to be a defensive stopper and BJ Smith has turned himself into a solid point guard. We have depth and experience at a lot of positions." Smith will be joined at media day by returning starter Cornelius White (13.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG). "Corn is an offensive force, both inside and outside," Barnes said. "He can finish down low and step out and shoot the three. He has worked extremely hard since the end of last season. His footwork has improved, he is quicker than he is bigger, and stronger and faster than he was at this time last year. We expect him to raise his game to another level this year as a senior." GHS, which finished 18-12 last season, is one of 10 Alachua County boys teams that will be in attendance today, while nine Alachua County girls teams will participate. "I'm fortunate to have the chance to work with a great group of guys each day and I know our players are grateful to have a platform to talk about themselves, their teammates and our program," said Barnes, who defeated Buchholz last year to win the 6A-District 2 title. Schools from the Tri-County area (Dixie, Levy and Gilchrist counties) will also be on hand, along with Bradford (Starke) and Columbia (Lake City). Here are some of the other storylines heading into the season that will be addressed and discussed at media day. Can the Williston boys and/or Hawthorne girls 3-peat? Last year both programs won their second straight title and joined a special group . Hawthorne (22-3) repeated last year and became the first Alachua County girls hoops team to win back-to-back, while Williston (29-2) repeated and set a school record for wins. It also marked the first time that the area had won back-to-back state titles in boys basketball since GHS almost 25 years ago. Williston became the first Levy County boys basketball team to win a state title last year and they became the first team from the Tri-County area to win back-to-back since Dixie County 85 years ago. Speaking of Williston, former P.K. Yonge girls basketball coach Willie Powers enters his first season as head coach of the Lady Red Devils , while his son, Willie Powers III, takes over as head coach for the P.K. Yonge boys team.
Jazzmin Bethea was hired this past summer to replace Powers as the new head coach of the P.K. Yonge girls program . Portions of today's media day will be broadcast online (audio only).for the live show. The show will also be archived. 2024-25 Media Day participants (head coach) and times (subject to change) – Chiefland girls (Lee Bell) – Ryleigh Locke, Center/Forward & Brianna Bell, PG/SG Newberry girls (Dameon Hughes) – Sarah Beaulieu, PG/SG & Brandy Whitfield, PG/SG The Rock girls (Wes Phillips) – Audrey Hubbard, PG/SG & Callie West SG/SF Williston girls (Willie Powers) – Kaylyn Brown, G & Ashlyn Young, G Buchholz boys (Elliot Harris) – Lucas Bhatia, PG & Peyton Warring, SG Dixie County boys (John Perry) – Jahiem Taylor, PG & Willie Clines SF Newberry boys (Patrick Green) – Jacob Green, G & Henry Mathias, G Oak Hall girls (Barry Hutchinson) – Leila Sims SF & Lunden Warmack PG/SG GHS boys (Mike Barnes) – Cornelius White, Forward & BJ Smith, PG/SG P.K. Yonge boys (Willie Powers III) – Jantzen Griffin, PG & Decedric Sowell, G The Rock boys (Brian Findley) – Malik Johnson, F & Hendrix Loughridge, C Williston boys (Jim Ervin) – De'Andre Harvey, G & Joel Washington, G Eastside boys (Pop Williams) – Amari Ray, G & Audric Garciso, Wing Fort White boys (Elven Sheppard) – Tafari Moe, G & Jayden Jackson, PG Santa Fe boys (Glen Banks) – Camden McLeod, SG & AJ Hall SF/PG Santa Fe girls (Brandalyn Williams) – Natalie Chohan, PG & Haleigh Richburgh, PG Bronson boys (Jon Ricketts) – Zach McClelland, SG & Justice Phillips, G Countryside Christian boys (Melvin McCray) – Conner V, Wing & Ryan Wedding, Forward GHS girls (Jazlynd Rollins) – Taylor Mullins, SG & Jamison Cardwell, PG/SG Hawthorne girls (Cornelius Ingram) – TBD P.K. Yonge girls (Jazzmin Bethea) – Jada Hutchinson, PF & Jada Adderly, PF Bell boys (Charles Townsend) – Sheldon Varnon, SG & Noah Bagby, PG Hawthorne boys (Greg Bowie) – TBD St. Francis Catholic boys (Larry Walker) – William Collett, F & Liam Banks, G Bradford girls (Sampson Jackson) – Nichelle Brown, PG/SG & Ar'Nayshia Griffin, SG/SF Eastside girls (Lonna Turner) – Trinity Cooper, PG and Akira Martin, SG Trenton girls (Lynsey Grant) – Koi Perry, PG & Nyima Gillyard, Forward Bradford boys (Tarrin Jackson) – Maliki Cobarris, PG & Keith Taylor, SG
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