Class 5A Playoff Preview and Predictions

J-Jay Thomas(left) of Scotlandville and Dominick Scelfo(right) of Jesuit will lead their teams tonight

Antonio Landers(Left) of Ouachita and Shavon Coleman(Right) of Thibodaux will lead their teams tonight

Traditional power is back on top of 5A once again as St. Augustine Purple Knights led by senior Elridge Moore and sophomore standouts Javan Felix and Sydie London come in as the top seed followed at 2 by Scotlandville and J-Jay Thomas who is a Stephen F. Austin signee. Coming in as the 3 seed is Ouachita, the defending 5A champ led by coach Casey Jones and Antonio Landers. Sulphur comes in as the 4 seed led by Chip Armelin and Matt LeBato while Hammond rounds out the top 5 with first year coach Brent Grigas. With much of the hype around Scotlandville's amazing season in which they have won the East Baton Rouge Parish tournament, beaten Istrouma twice, Glen Oaks twice, Christian Life, Ouachita, Ellender and Northside, a sleeper team to watch are the Jesuit Blue Jays and 21 seed Southwood. Jesuit comes in as the 6 seed and hosts East St. John, while Southwood travels to 12 seed Central-BR. Southwood will look to the senior scoring of guards Dean Johns and Mike Davis who both can flat out play. Central will counter with PG Josh Veals, Wes Brisoe and Brock Poydras. This 12/21 game should be a great game and I am planning on covering this game tonight I don't think Southwood will win on the road, but I will not be shocked if they do. As for the top seed St. Aug, they have a tough road to the dome as does Scotlandville. St. Aug's path could include Thibodaux on the road led by top 100 player Shavon Coleman, and a possible rematch with district rival Brother Martin or a rematch from last years quarterfinal with West Monroe in which they lost. So, those are a few things to look for as the playoffs begin. Some other players to note are Jesuit's Dominick Scelfo(Cornell) and junior Brady Hadden, Brother Martin's Pat Swilling Jr., West Monroe's Cory Lacy, Hammond's Mark Bridgewater and Dominic McCoy, St. Thomas More's Xavier Blackburn and Will Norman, Westgate's Jacoby Colbert, and Airline's sophomore sensation Josh Hagins.

First Round Playoff Predictions

Top Bracket

1. St. Augustine  over 32. Acadiana
17. Thibodaux over 16. Slidell
9. Brother Martin  over 24. Lafayette
8. West Monroe over25. Ponchatoula
5. Hammond over 28. West Jefferson
21. Southwood over 12. Central-BR
20. Pineville over 13. LaGrange
29. South Lafourche over 4. Sulphur

Bottom Bracket

3. Ouachita  over 30. C.E. Byrd
14. St. Thomas More  over 19. Destrehan
11. Hahnville  over 22. Catholic-BR
6. Jesuit  over 27. East St. John
7. Westgate  over 26. Central Lafourche
10. John Ehret  over 23. Covington
15. Airline over 18. Natchitoches Central
2. Scotlandville over 31. Denham Springs

30 Louisiana Players Nominated for 2010 McDonald's All-American Game

This year's class of 2010 has been well represented on the list of nominated players for the prestigious McDonald's All-American game which includes close to 1500 nominated senior nationally of about 30,000 that play for their high school teams. Being one of 30,000 to be mentioned is an honor in itself but to actually move on and get to play in the game is even greater. Here is a list of players from Louisiana that have been selected to play in the game.

1978 Micah Blunt East Jefferson (Metairie) Tulane
1982 Benoit Benjamin Carroll (Monroe) Creighton
1983 Tom Curry Redemptorist (Baton Rouge) Marshall
1986 Dwayne Bryant De La Salle (New Orleans) Georgetown
1986 Fess Irvin East Ascension (Gonzales) LSU; James Madison
1990 Melvin Simon Shaw (Marrero) New Orleans
1992 Duane Spencer Cohen (New Orleans) Georgetown; LSU
1993 Jerald Honeycutt Grambling Tulane
1993 Randy Livingston Newman (New Orleans) LSU
1994 Neil Reed East Jefferson (Metairie) Indiana; Southern Mississippi
1996 Lester Earl Glen Oaks (Baton Rouge) LSU; Kansas
1997 Marcus Fizer Arcadia Iowa St.
1998 Stromile Swift Fair Park (Shreveport) LSU
2000 Chris Duhon Salmen (Slidell) Duke
2003 Brandon Bass Capitol (Baton Rouge) LSU
2004 Glen Davis University (Baton Rouge) LSU
2005 Tasmin Mitchell Denham Springs LSU
2006 Demond Carter Reserve Christian Baylor
2006 D.J. Augustin Brother Martin(New Orleans)/Hightower*(Sugarland,TX) Texas
2008 Greg Monroe Helen Cox (Harvey) Georgetown

*= Moved to Hightower his senior year after Hurricane Katrina

Below is a list of all 30 players nominated from our state along with their picture. Of the 30 nominated ten* kids have signed their national letters of intent to play college. Leading the list of players are four nationally ranked players by Rivals including two in the top 100. Matt Derenbecker(71), Shavon Coleman(97), Langston Galloway(120) and Brian Williams(127) have all been nominated to play in the game.

*=Technically only nine signed but Dominick Scelfo of Jesuit will be at Cornell. With Cornell being an Ivy League school, they don't offer athletic scholarships, only academic.

LOUISIANA

In Alphabetical Order

Chip Armelin Sulphur High School Sulphur LA

Markel Brown Peabody Magnet High School Alexandria LA

Signed with Oklahoma State

LaDon Carter Richwood High School Monroe LA

Jacolby Colbert Westgate High School New Iberia LA

Shavon Coleman Thibodaux High School Thibodaux LA

Signed with UL-Monroe

Matt Derenbecker Metairie Park Country Day School Metairie LA

Signed with Louisiana State University

Langston Galloway Christian Life Academy Baton Rouge LA

Signed with St. Joseph's University(PA)

Michael Harrell Southern University Laboratory High School Baton Rouge LA

Signed with Southeastern Louisiana University

Cedric Jenkins Riverside Academy Reserve LA

C.J. Johnson Rapides High School Lecompte LA

YonDarius Johnson Plain Dealing High School Plain LA

Kaleb Knight Christian Life Academy Baton Rouge LA

Signed with Grambling State University

Antonio Landers Ouachita Parish High School Monroe LA

Keelon Lee Abbeville High School Abbeville LA

Trevon Lewis Ellender Memorial High School Houma LA

Kyle McClue Riverside Academy Reserve LA

Ronald Mcghee Istrouma High School Baton Rouge LA

Elridge Moore St. Augustine High School New Orleans LA

Daniel Piper Pineville High School Pineville LA

No picture

Patrick Robinson, Jr. Christian Life Academy Baton Rouge LA

Signed with Northwestern State University(LA)

Dominick Scelfo Jesuit High School New Orleans LA

Committed to Cornell University

Gary Stewart Vidalia High School Vidalia LA

Patrick Swilling, Jr. Brother Martin High School New Orleans LA

Dantrell Thomas Many High School Many LA

J.J. Thomas Scotlandville Magnet High School Baton Rouge, LA

Signed with Stephen F. Austin(TX)

McCall Tomeny Christian Life Academy Baton Rouge LA

Tyler Washington Port Allen High School Port Allen LA

Hakeem Welch Alexandria Senior High School Alexandria LA

Brian Williams Glen Oaks High School Baton Rouge LA
Signed with Oklahoma State

Thomas "TJ" Williams Jonesboro Hodge High School Jonesboro LA

Louisiana Basketball Report Gets love

The Cornell Basketball Blog has recently mentioned our site for giving Dominick Scelfo a little publicity for committing to the Big Red. The blog goes on to talk about Scelfo's game and describe him as this:

"Scelfo is a point guard in the Steve Nash mold. Although not the best athlete on the floor when facing other college prospects, his motor is always running, he makes his teammates around him better, but is also able to find his own shots by either penetrating into the lane or getting a shot off from the outside."- Cornell Basketball Blog

I couldn't agree more. Scelfo is very talented guard that can really run a team and make others better. He proved his value this summer teaming with LSU signee Matt Derenbecker of Coutry Day, Langston Galloway, a St. Joseph's signee and Patrick Robinson a Northwestern State signee both of whom attend Christian Life. This talent quartet along with East Ascension's Keith Flemin and Brady Hadden of Jesuit led their Mid-City Cyclones team to a 7th place finish at the AAU 17-under nationals. The first time I saw Scelfo was when he was 15 in 2007. He was a small white kid, floppy hair and a tight reversible jersey that looked as if it needed grease to take it off. I remember saying to myself that he can't possibly be any good like people are saying he is, can he? Well it turned out that within 5 minutes of watching I knew he was special. Two years later I watched him, Galloway and Robinson dominate a tournament held in Baton Rouge that included the likes of LaQuinton Ross, Andre Stringer, Jalen Courtney, Deville Smith, Demarco Cox, Johnny O'Bryan, Rashad Perkins, Cedric McAfee, Jarnell Stokes, Nate Rucker and many others. In the group mentinoned there are 3 kids signed with SEC schools, 2 players that are top 10 nationally and 2 more that are top 50 nationally. The last name, Rucker is signed to N. Illinois, and he is a stud too. Just last weekend in a exhibition game at a local middle school in Memphis, Rucker broke the backboard on a dunk(pic below of backboard). With all that said, I definitely think Cornell is getting a steal. For Scelfo to play at a high level against these guys, I see nothing but great things ahead of this young man from Jesuit HS in New Orleans. Dominick is a blue-collar type player that any coach would love to have, he is a great kid that is humble, works hard and is a winner. Congratulations Dominick on your committment to the Big Red of Cornell.