Sage Speaks


Sage Speaks - Turbo Edition 2/15/22

CUMMING, GA – We abridge this last Sage Speaks of the regular season to a turbo version, with 4 stops through last Friday to polish off things before Region coverage began at least for me Saturday. By: Keith Agran Christian Heritage at North Cobb Christian (2/8/22) RESULT: Christian Heritage W 74-58 CHS STANDOUTS: Impressive team effort by CHS, it’s a group that may not look like much on paper compared to some of the other A-Private giants, particularly with so much youth as their star power, but perfectly capable skill-wise of making......

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Sage Speaks - 2/1/22

Sage Speaks – 2/1/22

CUMMING, GA – Three trips, 2 of those close to home to check in on North Fulton and Forsyth teams with playoff aspirations, make up this week’s Sage Speaks. North Atlanta at Tucker (1/25/22) WHAT HAPPENED: Tucker W 69-28 – Not the visiting Warriors night as they couldn’t get anything going and the host Tigers were sharp and impressive. TUCKER STANDOUTS: It was a Raylan Barrion kind of night, as the physical senior guard took on all comers and showed off his creativity and bullish nature around the basket before sitting out......

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Sage Speaks - 1/24/22 (Part Two)

CUMMING, GA – Finishing off the last 3 of my 5 trips last week, with Part Two of this week’s Sage Speaks. By: Keith Agran Winder-Barrow at Shiloh (1/21/22) WHAT HAPPENED: Shiloh W 63-44 – Behind the superb play of Tim Loud early, the Bulldoggs had the hosts reeling by halftime down 1, but behind airtight defense and the shooting of Trevon Payton (pictured above) the Generals stormed back and kept their undefeated run going (18-0 as of this posting). SHILOH STANDOUTS: The recent Limestone University-signee Payton showed off his versatile skillset......

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Sage Speaks - 1/24/22 (Part One)

CUMMING, GA – Another busy week, as nary an all-day tournament scheduled for the first weekend in a while, but we still got out to 5 sites during the last 7 days and got to see some terrific basketball. Sage Speaks in 2 parts once again opens with the early week contests. By: Keith Agran Decatur at St. Pius (1/18/22) WHAT HAPPENED: Decatur W 56-54 OT – In a stunning and stirring game, after a slow start that had things looking bleak, Decatur clawed back and hung with the high-powered Golden Lions......

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Sage Speaks – 1/19/22 (Part Two)

CUMMING, GA – To the back half of the 4 individual games from last week, covered here in Part Two of Sage Speaks. By Keith Agran Centennial at River Ridge (11/13/22) WHAT HAPPENED: River Ridge W 56-55 – In the battle of the Knights, it devolved into yet another defensive showdown involving Centennial as it took them some time to get going at their own end, but River Ridge continued its hot play (they’ve won 11 of their last 12 as of this posting), held on in a last-possession game, and got......

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Sage Speaks - 1/19/22 (Part One)

CUMMING, GA – After a busy 4 individual gym visits last week, we split the week in two to handle them in this week’s Sage Speaks in 2 parts. By: Keith Agran Apalachee at Walnut Grove 1/11/22 WHAT HAPPENED: Walnut Grove W 63-34 – Wanted to get another look at 5A playoff threat WGHS this regular season and they were sharp in handling a feisty but undermanned Apalachee group playing without star forward Josue Capeles-Torres. WALNUT GROVE STANDOUTS: As this season wears on the young backcourt of 2024 SG Tyler Jewell and......

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Sage Speaks - 1/10/22

Sage Speaks – 1/10/22

CUMMING, GA – This week’s Sage Speaks tackles my visit last Friday to Buford Arena, as well as a look ahead at another exciting week of basketball in the ATL-Metro. By: Keith Agran Habersham Central at Buford (1/7/22) WHAT HAPPENED: Buford W 72-70 – A bit of potential late controversy as Habersham’s Malachi Dooley was unable to draw the foul call trying to get off a game-winning 3 attempt as the ball came loose and he retrieved it between defenders with the clock running out. Still, it was a really high-level basketball......

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Sage Speaks - Weekday Holiday Tournament Roundup Pt 2

MARIETTA AND BARNESVILLE, GA – For Part 2 of this week’s Sage Speaks, we headed down to Lamar County HS for the Oscar Wimberly Classic and got to see 4 teams not normally heavily featured on evaluators pages in the ATL-area. Oscar Wimberly Classic Will Trammell | 5-8 | PG | Stockbridge | 2022 2022 teammates (and Georgia Fire teammates) Trenton Dillard and Khalil Stead often grab more headlines but it was Trammell’s steady and clutch play that won the day vs Westside-Macon, calm and cool with the ball and an ace......

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Sage Speaks - Weekday Holiday Tournament Roundup Pt 1

MARIETTA AND BARNESVILLE, GA – This edition of Sage Speaks covers a pair of mid-week post-Christmas holiday tournaments after TOC, and we highlight some of the players from each of them. Here is Part 1 from the first 3 games in Marietta: By Keith Agran Pope Hounds Holiday Hoop Classic Ethan Underwood | 5-10| CG | South Forsyth | 2022 He’s the man this year with the graduation of Devin McGlockton and others, and even though he has shown scoring chops in the past the aggressiveness using the bounce into space rather......

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Sage Speaks - Two Week Edition 12/13

CUMMING, GA – Having missed our prior weekly report on regular-season action, and with so many day-long tournaments going on in-between, we cover two weeks here today with a look at 3 regular-season games from 11/30 thru 12/7. By: Keith Agran South Gwinnett at Chattahoochee (11/30/21) WHAT HAPPENED: South Gwinnett W 51-42 – The Cougars couldn’t come up with a performance to back the hanging of AJ White’s jersey in the rafters as the school’s all-time leading scorer, but certainly South’s exceptional on-ball defense had a lot to do with Hooch’s woeful......

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