HS mailbag: Could Weddington’s 2022 state champion basketball team beat 2023 Myers Park?

Longtime Charlotte Observer preps reporter Langston Wertz Jr. will periodically answer reader questions, which are lightly edited for brevity and clarity. If you have a question, visit bit.ly/AskLangston

Q. 2023 Myers Park boys vs. 2022 Weddington, neutral floor. Who wins? — Brendan from Charlotte

OK, Brendan you’re trying to get me in trouble right off the bat. But I won’t dodge. Weddington’s 2022 team was ranked as high as No. 13 nationally, won the N.C. 4A championship and The Observer’s Sweet 16 banner in the 2021-22 season. They won 49 straight games and two state titles: a 3A state title in 2021 and a 4A in 2022.

Myers Park, nationally ranked in multiple polls, finished 28-4 this season, made its first state championship appearance in 57 years and won its first N.C. 4A state championship. Next month, the Mustangs will get their Sweet 16 banner, too.

Now to your question. First off, the teams played in the 2021-22 season. Myers Park finished 17-9 that year and lost 75-51, but the Mustangs were nowhere near the team they were this season. State finals MVP Bishop Boswell wasn’t on the team. Starters Sir Mohammed, the team’s leading scorer that season, was a sophomore. Another starter now, AJ White, was a freshman who averaged six points per game.

The state championship versions of both teams are really good, but Weddington’s tallest regular player and its star was 6-foot-5 Chase Lowe, a freshman at William & Mary.

Myers Park is much larger and full of many more Division I recruits, including three players — juniors Mohammed and Boswell and sophomore White — who are ranked among the nation’s top 100 in their class. And senior center Elijah Strong just got an ACC offer from Boston College.

Weddington played really well together and shocked a lot of people, including me, with their run to the 4A title last year, rallying to beat Chambers and North Mecklenburg on the way. But head-to-head with this year’s Myers Park team would be too big an ask.

Q. Thanks for the article with (NCHSAA commissioner) Que Tucker about ticket issues and overcrowding at high school playoff games. Is there anything Charlotte can do to host the regionals? — James from Charlotte

In an exclusive interview with The Observer earlier this month, Tucker detailed all of the problems that happened during the basketball regional championship games throughout the state. The biggest issue, simply, was gym size. The gyms weren’t big enough to accommodate the crowds. I expect, and she expects, that interest will remain high in the foreseeable future and she has promised to act.

I think the NCHSAA will get permission from its board and its members to pursue larger venues, and Charlotte absolutely could and should present a proposal, via Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, to be a host. There are plenty of potential sites here, and CMS already hosts some of its graduations at Bojangles Coliseum, which would be perfect as a regional site.

And here’s a thought: As CMS builds its next few high schools, why not build one with a 5,000-seat gym? That way, it can save money on graduations and host conference tournaments, regionals and other large events. It could also be used for regular-season games that are likely to have overflow crowds.

Q. Wasn’t Central Cabarrus ranked No. 1? How can they not win the Sweet 16? — John Rowe, Concord

Hi, John. No, Central was never ranked No. 1 this season. The Vikings had a great season, finishing unbeaten and winning the 3A state championship. But in our next-to-last poll, they were No. 3 behind No. 1 Carmel Christian and No. 2 Myers Park.

Carmel, which beat Myers Park head-to-head, was upset by Christ School in the NCISAA 4A state final. Myers Park won the 4A state.

The rankings consider a team’s strength of schedule, strength of classification and results, although it leans more towards a power ranking now than in past years.

Q. How does Lake Norman High star Kirsten Lewis-Williams make third team all-district, yet make all-state? Mind boggling. — Joan, Lake Norman

Well, when I saw the all-district team, I was as surprised as Lake Norman coach McKenzie Graham that Lewis-Williams wasn’t first team. She was a 20-point-per-game scorer on, at the time of voting, a nationally ranked unbeaten team.

But you have to be a member of the N.C. Basketball Coaches Association to vote, and these things do happen. I’m surprised every year by some of the all-conference teams that come out. I’m sure some of you are surprised by our All-Observer teams, too.

I’ve been asked in the past, and politely declined, to do all-league teams for some of the local conferences when some coaches were concerned about “politics” in the voting process.

It is interesting how a player can make third team all-district in a state that has 12 districts, though. So that means that there were 120 players named to first or second team throughout the state for all-district. But a third team all-district pick made the 15-player all-state team?

Head scratcher? Yeah, but if I was naming an all-state team, Lewis-Williams would be in my first five. She was, after all, a top-3 finalist for Ms. N.C. Basketball, the state high school player of the year award. She was also Charlotte Observer regional player of the year.

Q. What else does Donnell Rhyne, girls coach at Northside Christian, have to do to get more respect locally? His name isn’t mentioned throughout the season until it has to be and that’s after another state championship. — Coach Adams, Charlotte

Coach Rhyne has won three of the past four Charlotte Observer coach of the year awards. He was at Chambers then. We didn’t cover Northside Christian very much this year, but the program reporting scores and stats, which it did not do, would help a lot.

Q. Should the Panthers take Ohio State QB CJ Stroud or Alabama’s Bryce Young. Why? — John F. Williams, Belmont

I know Stroud looks the part with the great size (6-foot-3, 214 pounds) and a great and accurate arm, and I know new Panthers coach Frank Reich likes big quarterbacks in the Andrew Luck mode. But I think Young is special. He dominated in America’s toughest conference, the SEC, and has a knack of morphing bad plays into great ones. I’m not saying he’s Patrick Mahomes, but he reminds me of Mahomes in how he can do that.

The Panthers swung for the fences trading up from No. 9 to No. 1. That wasn’t the safest move. I think picking Stroud is safe. It’s always a risky to pick a 6-foot QB, but I think Young is worth the risk.

Q. Since N.C. teams can play in the postseason now, why not have a public-private tournament of champions? — Mark from Marion

Mark, I’d love to see it. As you know, Central Cabarrus is going to play as a club team — coached by a parent or volunteer — at a national tournament in Atlanta called “The Throne.” Central will play as the N.C. Vikings and face S.C. state champ Dorman in a first-round game at Morehouse College at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The game will be televised on NBA TV and Fox Sports 1.

So, sure, you could theoretically do the same thing here: take the four private school state champions and match them up with the public school champs, with club names and uniforms. Maybe get runners-up, too. A tournament format would draw five-figure crowds every day it was played.

Q. How can you leave (player name redacted) off the All-Observer defensive team. That’s a crime. — Joanne Simmons, Mooresville

Hi Joanne, we picked 25 players on All-Observer and added all-defense, all-freshman, sixth player and most improved awards this year to recognize more kids. But everybody can’t get a trophy. We were considering players from 164 schools, or more than 1,600 boys and 1,600 girls players.

Quick story: every year a coach will tell me, his or her player is the best in the state.

Oftentimes, that coach doesn’t see very many players. Through our network of reporters and contacts we see a lot, but we don’t see the whole state. I think it’s easy to see a player dominate his or her area, or his or her league, and think they should be on our team. When you pull back to 30,000 feet and see all the candidates, you’ll begin to realize the field is much more competitive than you think.

Picking All-Observer teams takes weeks, literally, and is the most difficult thing we do all year.

Q. So, some S.C. counties touch Mecklenburg County, too. Are you going to add back S.C. teams to The Observer’s coverage area and Sweet 16 polls? We are waiting. — Myron Long, Indian Land

OK, so Myron saw the news that we are adjusting our coverage area to include N.C. counties that touch Mecklenburg County: Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln and Union.

It’s been about five years since The Observer has covered S.C. teams, after handing that off to our sister paper, The Rock Hill Herald. But yes, you are right, Lancaster and York Counties do touch Mecklenburg. Right now, there are no plans to add those back to Charlotte since we have the Rock Hill Herald, but I do remember taking lots of banners down to the Rock Hill area, like for South Pointe’s 2017 state football champion.