Orlando Comets

(KB - 03/20/09)    Well, the Comets are officially in decline.     It used to be that EVERY member of the Orlando Sentinel's All-Central Florida first team was also a Comets player.     Now that figure is down to 50%.     At this rate, pretty soon I won't be able to walk into any church in the area with a beer in my hand.

Comets players Cabby Duren, Lindsay Watson and Jenn George were honored as First Team players.     Erin Knight and newcomer January Miller made the second team.        Yeshira Delgado and Kamari Smith were fourth team honorees.

Duren had an amazing season in which she won two state championships--one in golf and one in basketball.     Duren raised her stock in each of her seasons on Lake Howell's varsity basketball team.      She truly was the top true point guard in the area, driving Lake Howell's offense like a master tactician.     Using the variety of weapons at her disposal, Cabby sliced up defenses with her quick, pinpoint passing.     Duren also added a nice mid-range jumper to her offensive arsenal this year.    She might have been a POY candidate if not for having to play in the shadow of Gatorade POY Ashley Jones.       Duren is set to play golf at South Carolina State in the fall.

Lindsay Watson, too, had a sterling season playing point guard for the Bishop Moore Hornets.     Watson is more of a scorer than a distributor.     She is deceptively quick, though, and is very hard to stop in open court.    The Hornets were upset by Titusville Astronaut in the FHSAA 4A championship game.     Were it not for that, Lindsay might be celebrating her second Central Florida Player of the Year award.

Instead, that honor went to Ashley Jones, who has been piling up the accolades in the off-season.       Jones won Gatorade POY, FHSAA 5A POY, Seminole County POY and now this.    Jones is also one of four ex-Comets players on this list.    The others are Alexis Prince, Tera McDaniel and Shekeyia Colyer.     So really, the Comets are well-represented on this list.    But since we keep score by where they played in their junior year or where they are currently playing, we didn't count these girls as Comets players.

Jenn George rounded out the first team for the Comets.    She averaged a double-double this year (14 ppg, 10rpg) and is headed to the University of Florida to play alongside Tailor Jones and Jenn Mossor.

Yeshira Delgado was a fourth team selection, but she also was selected as Osceola County Player of the Year.    Delgado joined the Comets Red this year.

Who was NOT selected?

Two names immediately come to mind.     Where is Selena Archer?     Where is Kasie Parker?

I didn't see Archer play this year, but a 6'5" center that's already verballed to Miami certainly cannot NOT be an All-Area selection.     Just because her team didn't win a lot of games is no reason to overlook her obvious talent.

And overlooking Parker almost smacks of incompetence.    One could be persuaded to believe that Kenny Kallina wrote these rankings personally.    This is another manifestation of the "Lake Mary Syndrome".     Three Lake Howell players are already on the list.     In the interest of fairness, the voters won't choose a fourth.    (This syndrome dogged the Rams recently when Tailor Jones and Asia Wilson were consistently overlooked for honors that their play had obviously earned simply because three other Lake Mary players were already on the list).    

In Parker's case, I can honestly say she got ripped.       Parker could easily be a first team player and certainly should have been on the second team.     She is a scoring machine with the ability to  hit the three or slash to the hole.    She is also a credible defender.    Leaving her off this list is simply wrong, that's all.

The Sentinel list of All-Central Florida players contradicts the Metro coaches vote.     Last month the high school coaches in the Metro Conference got together and voted freshmen Alexis Prince and January Miller as Metro players of the year.    They voted Kaylynn Dinkins to the third team.    They ignored Charo Fowler completely.

The Sentinel took a more balanced view.    Dinkins was voted to the first team (as was proper).    Fowler was mentioned as a third team selection.     And where the Metro coached voted Alexis Fitts as a first team selection, the Sentinel dropped her to Honorable Mention status.

Not sure I agree with that one.    Fitts was the most consistent player on a wildly inconsistent Winter Park team.

But these polls are just opinion polls.     Everybody has their opinions.

My opinions just usually happen to be right, that's all.