Back On The Court- Who's Hot, Who's Not

How area teams fared in December and what might lie ahead
By Ken DeLaat

CSAA

Newaygo 3-3, 2-0
The losses include not closing in a seesaw battle with a rugged Montague team, getting blasted by an elite  Northview squad and the loss to OV when the offense failed to get any early traction. The wins include a pair of impressive comebacks to end the year and an early W over a CM team that will be looking up at most teams in the CSAA this season.
If the Lions find some ever elusive consistency they have the weapons to do some damage in the conference race. I like the starting five and they can go deep into the bench without getting hurt. There are teams on the schedule that will pose some big problems in matchups but they will likely win more this season than they will lose.
They return to action with a home game against Ravenna (1-3) and a Friday showdown in Grant. 

Grant 3-2, 1-1
The Tigers aren’t tall but they are tough and have started by sandwiching three wins between a pair of losses to 2 pretty good squads. They have impressed N3’s erstwhile sports correspondent Mike Gesler (no easy task) and seemed poised to put together a strong season with a nice mixture of players who can score and defend. Teams with height are going to give them trouble but Coach Schuitema knows how to get the best out of his players and no one will leave a game with the Grant ballers and not know they were in a battle. They return with a trip to Sparta and a rivalry matchup with Newaygo at home

White Cloud 4-1, 2-0
Those 4 wins to open the season were impressive but the first time the Cloud ran into a team with a winning record (Baldwin) they got stuffed. Still, Coach Jones’ boys look to be a pretty good team that will continue to surprise their conference opponents with their tenacity. 
They return with 3 really, really tough games in a row; the first 2 will be on the road against teams that feast on opponents in their home gym. If they can win one of those 3 they will be better than most. If they win 2 they would likely  be contenders. And should they somehow and improbably sweep all 3 against BR, MCC and Grant?  Get ready for a bunch of folks hopping on that bandwagon.

WMC- Lakes

Fremont 2-2, 1-1
It’s early in the season but thus far the Pack has played 2 good teams (Ludington, BR) and lost each by around 20 points while picking up a pair of expected wins over Oakridge and Shelby.
In terms of conference play they still need to face a strong Whitehall team twice and another game with Ludington looms as well.
They return with a home game against a struggling Tri County team before returning to conference play on the road against a scrappy Montague squad. It looks to be an interesting season for Packer fans. There’s some fun talent on this team and the next couple weeks should indicate if they will be in the hunt. 

WMC Rivers

Hesperia 1-5, 1-1
A win over Holton just before the holiday break broke a 5 game skid that opened their season.
Coach Worcester has been patient with his developing team over two seasons and the win over the Devils won’t be their last. But they are going to find the going tough when they face the conference elite teams like the Pirates and Spartans. Hesperia has long been a wrestling school this time of year but the cagers are coming and give the program some time and one day it could be basketball will fill the gym like the grapplers do.

Holton  0-5, 0-2
The Devils are still finding themselves this season after losing a lot of leadership from last year's successful squad. Coach Swanson doesn’t have a lot of length on the bench and any foul trouble is likely to hurt. 4 of their next 5 will see them facing some of the toughest teams on their schedule and they will have to excel to stay in those games. Swanson is a good coach and his team will improve over the rest of the season but Devil fans shouldn’t be expecting a lot of numbers on the left side of the column this season.