Here's hoping the COVID-19 delay to the start of the boys basketball season can end sometime in the near future.
Last week was supposed to be the first slate of games, but a partial shutdown order by Gov. Whitmer's office in late November has the MHSAA scrambling for when they can finally give basketball teams the OK to begin tryouts and practices.
It'll likely be a shortened season, like many of the fall sports just endured, but when the players finally take the hardwood for the season-opening tip, it should start what we think will be another awesome winter in the greater Port Huron area.
The Times Herald asked every boys basketball coach and media member in the Blue Water Area to submit a ballot for who they think will be the top-15 players this season. Almost a dozen ballots came back, and, after tallying them up, the pre-season All-Blue Water Area team that follows shows where each player landed in the voting. A player needed to receive at least one vote to be eligible for the team.
An impromptu pre-season Player of the Year poll was hosted on Twitter and voted on by fans. There were no surprises in how that poll turned out, as Croswell-Lexington senior Hunter Soper, considered the top college prospect in the area by many coaches and media members, won the poll in a landslide over the likes of Marysville senior D'Marco Singleton, Port Huron Northern sophomore Tyler Jamison and New Haven's Brent Wiles.
FIRST TEAM
Tyler Jamison, Port Huron Northern (146 points, four first-place votes)
Hunter Soper, Croswell-Lexington (125, five first-place votes)
Brent Wiles, New Haven (118)
Tyler Johnson, Croswell-Lexington (105)
D'Maro Singleton, Marysville (96)