Tough task ahead for Greensboro Day in national tournament
by Joe Sirera
Winning a state championship is a great way to end a basketball season, but the Greensboro Day boys team has a chance to go even further. Coach Freddy Johnson's Bengals will compete in the Dick's Sporting Goods Nationals in April in New York City.
GDS (33-2) is the No. 2 seed and will face second-seeded Montverde (Fla.) Academy (28-1) in a quarterfinal at 4 p.m. April 2. ESPNU will televise the game.
Wesleyan (27-5), which lost to Greensboro Day in the NCISAA Class 3-A championship game, was not invited.
"The players are so excited that this morning they could hardly focus when we did a little shootaround," Johnson said Wednesday.
The tournament brings together eight of the nation's elite boys high school teams, mostly from private schools. All eight are ranked in USA Today's Super 25, with Greensboro Day at No. 17 this week.
"By far this is the most top teams we've ever been in an event with," Johnson said.
The Bengals will face the event's two-time defending champion, No. 2-ranked Montverde. GDS lost to the Eagles 78-46 last season in the championship game of a January tournament in Orlando, Fla.
"They had us by at least 5 inches at almost every position. That was a key," Johnson said. "We did really well the first quarter, but got into foul trouble in the second quarter, Peter (Agba) and Darius (Moore) went to the bench and we couldn't keep up with them."
Montverde, which had Greensboro native Ty Graves at point guard for part of this season before he transferred back to Page, has lost only to Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler. The Eagles feature the nation's top-ranked senior, power forward and LSU commit Ben Simmons, as well as 6-foot-11 Wake Forest commit Doral Moore. Their roster includes three other Division I signees who stand at least 6-7.
"Greensboro Day is a bit undersized and I think they will try to control the tempo," Montverde coach Kevin Boyle told USA Today. "They have one of the premier coaches that nobody knows about."
The Bengals' coach will have some time to prepare them for the trip to New York.
"We haven't really done anything but some shooting stuff," said Johnson, the all-time leader in victories among N.C. high school coaches. "Now we'll start practicing and go every other day until we have spring break the week we go. That Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we'll practice and then go up there April 1."
by Joe Sirera
Winning a state championship is a great way to end a basketball season, but the Greensboro Day boys team has a chance to go even further. Coach Freddy Johnson's Bengals will compete in the Dick's Sporting Goods Nationals in April in New York City.
GDS (33-2) is the No. 2 seed and will face second-seeded Montverde (Fla.) Academy (28-1) in a quarterfinal at 4 p.m. April 2. ESPNU will televise the game.
Wesleyan (27-5), which lost to Greensboro Day in the NCISAA Class 3-A championship game, was not invited.
"The players are so excited that this morning they could hardly focus when we did a little shootaround," Johnson said Wednesday.
The tournament brings together eight of the nation's elite boys high school teams, mostly from private schools. All eight are ranked in USA Today's Super 25, with Greensboro Day at No. 17 this week.
"By far this is the most top teams we've ever been in an event with," Johnson said.
The Bengals will face the event's two-time defending champion, No. 2-ranked Montverde. GDS lost to the Eagles 78-46 last season in the championship game of a January tournament in Orlando, Fla.
"They had us by at least 5 inches at almost every position. That was a key," Johnson said. "We did really well the first quarter, but got into foul trouble in the second quarter, Peter (Agba) and Darius (Moore) went to the bench and we couldn't keep up with them."
Montverde, which had Greensboro native Ty Graves at point guard for part of this season before he transferred back to Page, has lost only to Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler. The Eagles feature the nation's top-ranked senior, power forward and LSU commit Ben Simmons, as well as 6-foot-11 Wake Forest commit Doral Moore. Their roster includes three other Division I signees who stand at least 6-7.
"Greensboro Day is a bit undersized and I think they will try to control the tempo," Montverde coach Kevin Boyle told USA Today. "They have one of the premier coaches that nobody knows about."
The Bengals' coach will have some time to prepare them for the trip to New York.
"We haven't really done anything but some shooting stuff," said Johnson, the all-time leader in victories among N.C. high school coaches. "Now we'll start practicing and go every other day until we have spring break the week we go. That Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we'll practice and then go up there April 1."
