Red Chips secure top seed in Tempe with win over the GOATS
Darycke Brisby of Red Chips
Coming into this Tempe Draft season, the GOATS had to be considered the favorites to come away with a one seed in the draft tournament. Team captain, Christian Bower, was able to team up with the Klay to his Steph once again, as Adam Bickerstaff fell to the second round for Bower to swoop. He was able to draft Shak Preston in in the first round, and he added UH Arizona legend Donald Didlake in the third round.
Tempe has plenty of talent, but putting Bower and Bickerstaff together automatically gives that team an over/under of 7.5 wins, and I probably would’ve taken the over at the start of the season.
That would’ve been a losing bet, as the GOATS fell to 6-2 last night after losing to Red Chips 77-66. The win crowns Red Chips the regular season champs in Tempe, as they finished with a 7-1 record.
The Red Chips were led by the trio of Dontez Thomas, Jalen Richard and Darycke Brisby. All three of them had a double-double, which led to them combining to score 64 of Red Chips’ 77 points and grabbing 41 of Red Chips’ 50 rebounds.
Red Chips only had five players last night, and one of their players missing was team captain, Tre Lansing, who’s averaging 21.2 points and a team-high 8.6 assists this season. They were able to manage just fine without him, and it will be interesting to see what this team will be able to do in the draft tournament if they are at full strength.
Their starting five of Thomas, Richard, Brisby, Lansing and Jonathan Fisher are all more than capable scorers, as their points per game ranges from 23.3 (Richard) to 17.8 (Brisby), and their field goal percentage ranges from 60% (Brisby) to 46% (Fisher).
Those are incredibly balanced numbers, and it’s been on display five times this season. They have a 5-0 record in those games, winning by an average of 8.6 points.
The GOATS had their own attendance issue last night, as Preston (averaging 16.7 points and 9.3 rebounds) missed his first game of the season.
“We’re missing Shak, our best scorer. We have a certain way we run our offense and without him, we’re just a bunch of guys running around the court,” GOATS player Casey Day said after the loss.
Their only other loss of the season came when Bickerstaff was out injured. The GOATS have played four games this season at full strength, going 4-0 with a an average point differential of 8.8.
There’s no doubt that if both of these teams are at full strength, they will be extremely difficult outs for anyone in the draft tournament. Red Chips will get the slight advantage of the higher seed, and Darycke Brisby was calmly direct when talking about the confidence level of his team right now.
“Won’t matter where we stack up, we good. We’re coming in hot, coming in heavy. Whoever plays us, they better be ready,” Brisby said.