VaPreps 3A All-State Hoops Teams for 2015-16

VirginiaPreps.com is proud to release our 8th Annual All-State Basketball Teams.

There are a total of 12 honors with six players, including a Player of the Year, for First Team and six more on the Second Team.

So what are the factors that go into the choices that are made? All selections are made by me with no consultation of the coaches simply because that’s what the VHSCA Teams are designed for in my opinion. However, we try to study individual statistics (some supplied by coaches upon request) as well as factor into the equation team success and overall impact.

Once everything is weighed, we try to blend it all together and make the best choices possible, even though there’s no such thing as a perfect team or right and wrong picks.

It’s never an easy process because there are always many deserving players who don’t get recognized on First or Second Team.

Without further ado, here’s the VirginiaPreps.com 3A All-State Basketball Teams for the 2015-16 campaign with bios on each player . . .

3A First Team:
Travis Fields - Norcom - Sr.
K.J. Davis - Norcom - Jr.
Kendrick Tucker - Northside - Sr.
Justin Kier - Spotswood - Sr.
Maliek White - George Wythe - Sr.
Deonte Jones - Hopewell - Sr.

Player of the Year: Travis Fields (Norcom)
Coach of the Year: Leon Goolsby (Norcom)

3A Second Team:
Jeremy Carter-Sheppard - John Marshall - Sr.
Greg Jones - John Marshall - Jr.
Luther Gibbs - Culpeper - Sr.
Travis Ingram - Norcom - Jr.
Brody Hicks - Cave Spring - Sr.
Ryan Ingram - Western Albemarle - Jr.

Named the 4A State Player of the Year a season ago, few could've envisioned Fields capping his career the way he did. Sure, earning State Player of the Year again and winning another state title - his third in a Norcom uniform - seemed like distinct possibilities that ended up coming true. But overcoming foul trouble with his team trailing Hopewell by seven in the fourth quarter made the odds longer.

Yet, the 5-foot-10 point guard has been a testament of hard work and overcoming obstacles, spearheading the comeback in the 3A State Championship by sinking a buzzer-beater in overtime as he finished with 30 points on 14-of-23 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in the dramatic 67-65 win at VCU.

Fields, who'll play his College Basketball close to home at Old Dominion, averaged 17.7 points per game along with 5.5 assists and 2.6 steals per contest as a senior. He was chosen as 3A-East Region Player of the Year as well.

A 6-foot-6 junior with multiple Division I offers on the table, Davis won his second straight State Championship ring with the Greyhounds and recorded a double-double 16 points and 10 rebounds in the 3A title game victory over Hopewell. For much of the season, one could argue he was the MVP for a Norcom team that went 29-1 overall, only losing to 5A State Tournament runner-up L.C. Bird.

In Norcom's road win at Norfolk Collegiate in overtime, he poured in a career-high 40 points. He also had a 33-point performance in a win over Kecoughtan. The First Team All-Region selection in 3A-East averaged 20 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game, all of which tops on the squad.

This 6-foot-2 guard came to Northside from Patrick Henry-Roanoke following his sophomore year and left quite a legacy with the Vikings, who he helped reach the State Tournament Final Four on two straight occasions. Though a 71-67 overtime loss to Hopewell in the semifinal round closed out Northside's season at 27-2 overall and halted their 24-game winning streak, Tucker gave his team a chance to win before fouling out.

During the State Playoffs, Tucker averaged 23.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game with 15 of his team-high 25 points against Hopewell coming on three-pointers. He was named First Team All-Region as well as First Team All-State by VaPreps for the second year in a row.

The only player in Spotswood history to play in the State Tournament all four years of his career, Kier goes on the short list of most accomplished players in VHSL history that didn't capture a ring. He did just about everything else though, repeating as 3A-West Region Player of the Year as well as Conference 29 Player of the Year and the Valley District Player of the Year.

Signed to play his College Basketball at George Mason, Kier averaged 21.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists per game to go with 54% shooting from the field, 75% at the foul line and 38% on three-point tries. Besides leading Spotswood to a 23-5 record, the 6-foot-4 guard finished his career with 86 wins (2nd most in program history), 1728 points, 508 rebounds, 478 made free-throws (most in Blazers history), 366 assists and 127 made three-pointers.

Although the Bulldogs were unable to repeat as State Champs in Group 3A largely due to having to incorporate some new faces in their lineup, White remained the main constant on the court they could count on for production. As a senior, the 6-foot-2 point guard earn Conference 26 Player of the Year honors as well as First Team All-State by the VHSCA and All-Region First Team recognition.

Set to play his College Basketball at Providence, White averaged 19 points, seven assists, six rebounds and over two steals per game. That came after a junior season in which he earned State Player of the Year honors and developed into one of the nation's Top 150 prospects in the Class of 2016.

Headed to play his College Basketball at Fayetteville State, Jones helped the Blue Devils not only return to the State Tournament Final Four one season after losing in that round to Spotswood, but helped the team advance a round further and reach the title game for the first time since 1996. He averaged 21 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals per game.

Playing under new Head Coach Kurt Young, Jones' numbers didn't decrease and he remained a weapon from long distance, canning 46% of his three-point shots. The 6-foot-2 senior received First Team All-Region honors as Hopewell finished 23-6 overall and ranked #2 among all Group 3A schools.

Arriving to Norcom in 2006 from Woodside High School in Newport News, where he won two state titles as an assistant coach, Goolsby has transformed the Greyhounds into a perennial power. Under his reign, Norcom has now won five State Championships over the past seven seasons, including the rare three-peat completed this year as the Portsmouth school moved down from Group 4A to 3A.

In four of their five state titles, the Greyhounds have rallied from second half deficits. That included coming from seven points down in the fourth quarter with Player of the Year Travis Fields in foul trouble against Hopewell. Through 10 years on the job, Goolsby has compiled a record of 216-58 with this year's team going 29-1 overall.

Over the past three seasons, Carter-Sheppard has drained 233 three-pointers, more than any other public school player in Virginia. That included 61 treys as a senior. The University of Central Florida signee averaged 15.8 points, 3.6 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game for a John Marshall team that made its second State Tournament Final Four appearance in three years.

Carter-Sheppard, who as a sophomore was the leading scorer the Justices in their 3A State Championship victory over George Wythe, shot 44% from the field in 2015-16. He also converted 108-of-127 free-throws (85%) this past season.

The 6-foot-6 forward/center earned First Team All-Region honors in 2015-16, helping lead the Justices to their second State Tournament Final Four in three years. Jones put up 15.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game - registering 19 double-doubles on the year - plus shot 52% from the field and averaged 1.4 blocks a contest.

As a sophomore, Jones was named Player of the Game in the Justices' VirginiaPreps Classic victory over Landstown at Virginia Wesleyan College. In his junior year, he got the MVP trophy again, leading John Marshall to an overtime win over Blue Ridge in the event at J.R. Tucker High School.

For the sixth straight year, Culpeper won at least 20 games and the Blue Devils won their fourth consecutive conference crown. Gibbs, who played in the VHSCA All-Star Game and earned Conference 28 Player of the Year honors, was a big reason why. He averaged 22 points, six rebounds, six assists and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting over 42% from the field.

Chosen First Team All-Region in 3A-East, Gibbs didn't frazzle against stiff competition either. He scored 34 points in a loss to 4A State Tournament qualifier Eastern View and had 29 points in a win over Group 6A Riverbend. Also a standout track athlete Gibbs became the fourth Culpeper player since 2011 to eclipse 1000 career points.

For the second year in a row, Ingram was chosen 2nd Team All-State VaPreps as he helped the Greyhounds capture their third consecutive State Championship. Often, the 6-foot-4 junior guard served as the energy and excitement barometer for his squad with highlight reel plays and dunks that got the crowd on their feet.

This past season, Ingram averaged 12 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game en route to Second Team All-Region honors. In the State Tournament, he averaged 12.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while converting 69.6% of his field goal tries (16-of-23).

A 6-foot-4 shooting guard who'll play his College Basketball at Liberty University, Hicks was selected First Team All-State by the VHSCA or VHSL for the second consecutive year. His consistency, scoring in double-figures most every time out, allowed the Knights to earn their first trip to the State Tournament in four years.

In fact, Hicks' 1321 points rank third most in Cave Spring history and his 162 three-pointers have only been bettered by J.J. Redick, a former star at Duke who currently plays in the NBA. What some may not know is that Hicks threw down a school-record 25 dunks this season, showing another element to his game in helping the Knights go 22-6 overall.

Ingram led the way for the Warriors' first State Tournament appearance since 2009 and just their fourth in 20 seasons under Head Coach Darren Maynard. One of his finest outings of the year came in the team's State Tournament quarterfinal loss to eventual 3A Champ Norcom at ODU, where he scored 24 points and made four three-pointers in the contest.

It was no coincidence that Western Albemarle's increased offensive production as a team coincided with the emergence of Ingram as a reliable go-to guy. He averaged 15.9 points per game on the season. The Warriors, who went 24-7 overall, went from scoring more than 70 points only once during the 2014-15 campaign to doing it five times in the month of December alone this past season.

Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network. Check out Hatfield's Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don't forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.