The Michigan Center Cardinals boys basketball team remains unbeaten this season at 11-0. By the end of January, the Cardinals have notched wins over both Hanover-Horton and Napoleon, their primary competition in the Cascades Conference. The Cardinals beat the Comets, at home, by 19 points and dominated the Pirates in their gym by 27 points. The Cardinals closest margin was in a win over Dewitt in the Williamston Invitational, a game the Cardinals won 86-75.
The Cardinals are led by an experienced group of seniors including Kylen Brown who was an all-state honorable mention player last season. The Cardinals have 4 players who average double digits in scoring.
- Maxpreps.com has the Cardinals ranked the highest in statewide polling with a #2 ranking trailing only 13-0 McBain. This service has Hanover-Horton ranked 10th.
- Website prephoops.com publishes rankings from 3 of their contributors, the highest of which ranks Michigan Center at #6 and the lowest has MC at #8 ( the other guy has them at #7). All three of these guys have Hanover-Horton in their top 10 and all 3 also have Flint Beecher ranked at #1. Hard to disagree with the ranking of Flint Beecher as they have won 4 of the previous 5 class C state championships.
- The Associated Press however has left Michigan Center out of their rankings completely. Hanover-Horton received an honorable mention.
The Cardinals have played well this season and certainly dispatched their biggest rivals in dominant fashion. The Cardinals must still face a rapidly improving Napoleon team one more time, and not many teams enjoy heading out to play the Comets in their home gym. And if the regular season trials don’t trip up the cardinals their district tournament bracket features possible match-ups with Napoleon, a streaking Concord team, and another looming meeting with Hanover-Horton. If you’re familiar with recent Jackson basketball history, the Comets have had some success in district tournaments under coach Chad Mortimer (14 consecutive wins).
Coach Travis Gaddy has a simple philosophy that keeps the Michigan Center boys working hard through it all: Practice like you’ve never won, and play like you’ll never lose.
