I have reiterated how much I’ve been enjoying this pandemic season, despite the hurdles that many people have had to endure. Scheduling has been a treat for me, since the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) gave more freedom with scheduling games. One of the match-ups that I’ve always wanted to see was a battle of two of Southern Arizona’s blue blood programs in Sabino and Salpointe Catholic. Rarely does a 3A school play up against a 4A school. Salpointe Catholic is led by legendary high school coach Jim Reynolds, and Sabino is led by up-and-coming coach Obie Tann. Both teams have…
Author: George Courtney
I am sure a lot of our readers who are adults and into investing in the stock market have seen AMC Theaters and Gamestop stocks spike up in recent weeks. Well the same can be said about Mesa High School’s junior point guard Mackenzie Shivers. The only difference is, I don’t think Shivers’ stock will drop anytime soon, but just continue to rise. Shivers is a skilled point guard who I had the opportunity to scout in two of her games this season. I could see a lot of potential in her the first time I watched her play against…
I have been following high school basketball in Arizona since 2013. One of the programs who are competitive year in and year out are the Chargers of Cholla Magnet High School in Tucson, AZ. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Athletic Director and Boys Head Basketball Coach Masai Dean. He has built a good program in South Tucson. Here is our Q&A: Q: How long have you been coaching? A: I have been coaching for roughly (20) years. I have coached at Cholla for (13) years, (3) as the freshman coach, and the last (10) years as the…
The Arizona Preps Coaches Spotlight Series is a hot commodity with the basketball community. Our readers have been enjoying this series, since it helps put a spotlight on Arizona’s best coaches. I came up with this idea this past fall, since I understand how coaching can be a thankless job at times. (I coached 15 years before joining Arizona Preps as a scout-publisher). I had the pleasure of sitting down with Coach Henry Bribiescas who currently is the Head Girls Basketball Coach at Dobson High School. I was so excited to have the opportunity to interview Coach Bribiescas, since his…
It has been a treat in putting together Arizona Preps’ Coaches Spotlight Series. We at Arizona Preps are very grateful for all our coaches. Our coaches are undervalued and our Senior Editor (Anthony Ray) and myself wanted to do something to put coaches on a platform. We want to recognize the hard work and commitment these men and women put in throughout the year changing lives. We applaud all of our state’s coaches for their commitment and efforts for our youth. I had the pleasure of sitting down with legendary girl’s basketball coach Karen Self. Coach Self has been coaching…
The pandemic has had a bad impact on some high school programs throughout the state. Mesa Boys Head Basketball Coach Scott Stansberry has made no excuses in getting his Jackrabbits hopping hard into the season. After a disappointing 11-16 season last year, the Jackrabbits are on fire this season with a 9-1 record. One of the players leading the charge is slashing 6-foot-1 senior point guard Jimari Grayson. In last night’s game against Chandler, Grayson put up 20 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. He also broke into the 1000 points club for his career, and held one of the…
The pandemic has scrambled game schedules for all sports. Super fans like myself are treated with delightful uncommon match-ups, because teams need to fill gaps in the schedule. The result is a lot of exciting games that you would normally see only in the off-season, or invitational tournaments (non-existent this season). The Lady Jackrabbits of Mesa picked up a game against girl’s hoops powerhouse, Seton Catholic (12-0). Normally you wouldn’t see Mesa play Seton in a regular season contest, since Mesa plays and 6A and Seton in the 4A Division respectively. Last night was one of the best games I…
I had the pleasure of attending the lady’s basketball game between Poston Butte and Peoria High School on President’s Day. Though it was a holiday, I felt I was in for a treat to witness a nice contest between two scrappy programs. From the warm-ups, one prospect caught my attention. As I looked up the roster on MaxPreps, I found out her name was Britany Kogbara. I thought to myself, is she related to former Peoria and current Dream City Christian senior forward Kevin Kogbara. Come to find out, she is the younger sister of Kevin. Standing at 5-foot-11, sophomore…
Arizona Preps is continuing our Coaches Spotlight Series by putting a spotlight on Arizona’s best high school coaches. I was able to catch up with Poston Butte’s Head Lady Hoops Coach Savannah Bix. Coach Bix has done a phenomenal job in changing the culture and building a competitive program with her Lady Broncos. Here is our Q&A from our conversation. Q: How long have you been coaching? Which schools or programs? A: This is my 3rd year as the head coach at Poston Butte. Prior to that, I served as the JV Coach for one year at Desert Mountain, and…
The AIA’s condensed season has it’s benefits, as there are more games scheduled on holidays and Saturdays. The scheduling has allowed the Arizona Preps’ staff to cover multiple games throughout the week. It definitely has been a treat thus far, with a lot of parity at nearly most of the games we have attended. The GC3 Arizona Preps Girl’s Game of the Week was between the Lady Broncos of Poston Butte and the Lady Panthers of Peoria. The game left me at the edge of my seat, since it was so close. Poston Butte led most of the game, with…