Next KLAA/OAA Basketball Challenge could be interesting
Two of the biggest local conferences, the KLAA and OAA, announced the inception of a 32-game basketball challenge between their member schools for the upcoming season, and there seem to be a number of compelling matchups for both genders.
Games will be played on Dec. 14, 15 or 16, with the girls playing at the OAA sites, and the boys at the KLAA venues.
Here’s a look at what you might expect to see in Year 1 of the KLAA/OAA Basketball Challenge:
Key girls games
SALEM (21-7) AT WEST BLOOMFIELD (26-3)
A rematch of the recent Division 1 semifinal, pitting the KLAA champion against the OAA Red champ, this one should be a doozy, with allstaters Indya and Summer Davis squaring off with the Rocks’ all-stater, Madison Morson.
DEARBORN FORDSON (16-9) AT ROCHESTER (18-7)
Led by Celina Bazzi and Milan Berry, along with sibling bigs Sarrinah Ajami and Rokaya Ajami, Fordson won 11 of its final 15 games to finish third in the KLAA East. Led
by sophomore bigs Alice Max and Kiely Robinson, Rochester finished third in the OAA Red and won its first district title since 2008.
HOWELL (18-7) AT CLARKSTON (13-11)
Both teams graduate a considerable amount from the 2022-23 season, but return a key player who showed a ton of promise as a freshman — Gabby Piepho for the Highlanders and Elli Robak for the Wolves — and may be ready to step in to a starring role.
NOVI (9-16) AT TROY (3-19)
Both teams have made unexpected runs under younger coaches in the last two postseasons — Troy to the quarterfinals in 2021-22 and Novi to the regional semis last year — but will both be in some stage of rebuilding from that high. Troy got a head start on that process last season with a winless campaign in the OAA Red, but have a potential star in Diamond Prince, while the Wildcats will have an experienced back court back in Anna Lindsey and Jordan Popyk.
BELLEVILLE (18-6) AT OXFORD (19-5)
After going 4-17 in 201920, the Tigers have won 10, 13 and 18 games the last three seasons, as Jason Wilkins builds another contender. The Wildcats — who had four of their five losses come against either North Farmington or Lake Orion — got more and more experience for their young squad as the season rolled along. They’ll be without Miranda Wyniemko next season, but if healthy, will be as good as almost anybody.
OTHER GIRLS GAMES
Wayne Memorial at Troy Athens; Brighton at Stoney Creek; Northville at Rochester Adams; Livonia Stevenson at Royal Oak; Hartland at Farmington; Dearborn at Auburn Hills Avondale; Canton at Bloomfield Hills; Livonia Franklin at Birmingham Seaholm; Livonia Churchill at Birmingham Groves; Plymouth at Lake Orion; Westland John Glenn at Pontiac.
Key boys games
TROY (18-7) AT NOVI (11-12)
The streaky Wildcats started with a 4-2 December, and had a five-game win streak just before the playoffs, but it didn’t carry over into the postseason, where they lost to rival Northville in overtime. They’ll graduate six seniors from that squad, including Te’John McGowan and Rodney Hackman, but return some talent behind them. Led by Mason Parker, the Colts return a bunch from this year’s team, which finished
a game out in the OAA White, but won a district title. Troy’s first loss of last season came in the North Farmington tournament against KLAA East power Belleville.
CLARKSTON (13-11) AT BRIGHTON (18-6)
The Bulldogs will have graduated a considerable portion of one of its best teams in a decade, a squad that finished a close second to Canton in the KLAA West, then knocked off LVC co-champion South Lyon East in districts, before falling to Ann Arbor Skyline in the district title game. Clarkston continued its decades-long streak of winning either a league or district title with one of the latter, losing in the regional championship game. They’ll return the devastating interior duo of walking double-doubles in Desman Stephens II and Brody Kosin.
BIRMINGHAM GROVES (167) AT CANTON (16-8)
The Chiefs won seven straight to claim the 202223 KLAA title, after falling just short a year earlier, but were one of Northville’s overtime victims in district play. They’ll have to replace some key seniors, but the Chiefs are always one of the KLAA contenders, year-in, and year-out. Led by sophomores John Simpson and Josh Gibson, who accounted for a combined 30 points per game, a young Groves squad survived the grind of the ultra-competitive OAA White this season to win a share of the title, before falling to its own district upset.
ROCHESTER ADAMS (17-9) AT NORTHVILLE (14-12)
Led by juniors Justin
Huang, Caleb Williams and Carlos Adamson, the cardiac Mustangs needed three straight overtime games to win a district title, before falling to Ann Arbor Huron in the regional semifinals, knocking off Detroit Catholic Central and KLAA champion Canton along the way to the program’s first back-to-back district titles since the 1980s. The Highlanders went on an equally improbable postseason run, winning their first-ever regional title in program history, behind juniors Peter Kardasis, Will Dee and Brady Prieskorn.
TROY ATHENS (11-10) AT HOWELL (15-8)
The Red Hawks graduate a considerable amount from the squad that went on a seven-game win streak to put itself in the driver’s seat in the OAA Blue, then fell out of contention with a season-ending 1-4 skid, with three of those four losses by a total of five points. Athens does return Emmanuel Robinson at the point, a good spot to build around. The Highlanders also return this year’s junior point guard Jaylen Hicks, along with Andrew Weber from a team that finished third in the KLAA West, and lost to Flint Metro Stripes winner Fenton in the district finals.
OTHER BOYS GAMES
Farmington at Livonia Franklin; Auburn Hills Avondale at Dearborn; Southfield A&T at Bellville; Pontiac at Wayne Memorial; Royal Oak at Livonia Stevenson; Oxford at Salem; Rochester at Dearborn Fordson; Berkley at Hartland; West Bloomfield at Westland John Glenn; Lake Orion at Plymouth; Birmingham Seaholm at Livonia Churchill.