With two, and possibly three, All-Montgomery County guards returning next year and with three proven frontcourt players also back in the fold, Coach Jim Torrence's Watkins Mills HS is being projected as one of the top 4A

teams in Montgomery County, and possibly the state of Maryland, in 2004-2005.

While Montgomery County 4A East powers like Magruder, Springbrook and Blake all sustained heavy graduation losses from their excellent 2003-2004 teams, Watkins Mill returns most of their top players and, hopefully, will be adding former two-time All-County point guard Stephon Snowden to their 2004-2005 squad.

The Wolverines went 14-8 this past season. Watlkins Mill tied Quince Orchard for the Montgomery County 4A West's best record, but Quince Orchard swept the Wolverines in the regular season.

Watkins Mill returns a pair of senior guards in 6'2" Justin Carter and 5'10" Gene Davis who drew All-County mention in the Washington Post, the Journal and the Gazzette. Carter averaged 13 points and 6.5 rebounds from his wing position. Davis averaged 15 points a game.

MdVarsity.com covered several Wolverine games last year. We were extraordinarily impressed with the athletic duo of Carter and Davis. Both players were in their first year of varsity competition last season, they

had played JV as sophomores. In fact, Coach Torrence told us this week that Carter did not play organized basketball until his sophomore year at Watkins Mill.

"Justin is very athletic. He has really progressed and improved as a player.

It has hard to believe that he has really only been playing organized basketball for two years. He had a terrific sophomre year," said Coach Torrence. "At the end of the year, a (assistant) coach from Morgan State University attended one of our games and he was so impressed with Justin that he wanted to offer him a scholarship on the spot! Justin has grown about 2 inches just since the end of the season- he is about 6'2" now. He could have a really good season this year."

Though Davis is only about 5'10", and somewhat slight of build, Coach Torrence believes that Gene is better suited to playing on the wing rather than playing point guard.

"He can play point, but, yes, he is better on the wing. He is very athletic. Gene can shoot and he can score in a lot of ways.

He creates problems for other teams on both ends of the court with his quickness and athleticism. If Stephon plays next year, it will enable us to play Gene mostly on the wing."

Snowden was an All-County choice as a 5'8" freshman in 2001-2002. A fearless, tough, quick-on-quick competitor with great athletic ability, Snowden nearly helped carry Watkins Mill to the Maryland State 4A Final Four as a ninth grader. His duel against Magruder's mercurial star Isaiah Swann before a packed Magruder Gymnasium in the Montgomery 4A Semifinal that year was the stuff of legend. Even though Snowden had no jump shot to speak of, he had quickness, moves, and toughness in such abundance that opposing teams could not keep the precocious 5'8" freshman out of the lane. He also created havoc on defense with his tenacity.

By the end of Snowden's freshman year, a number of prep basketball and recruiting websites projected him as one of the top players in Maryland for the Class of 2005. After the classic Magruder-Watkins Mill tournament game that year, a Division-I college assistant coach told MdVarsity.com: "If that kid (Snowden) ever gets a jump shot, he'll be a high school All-American."

Snowden had some problems with his conditioning and consistency as a sophomore in 2002-2003, but he still made All-County Third Team. Snowden did not play at Watkins Mill as a junior.

"Stephon attended South Hagerstown last year. He played football, I believe, but not basketball. If Stephon can

regain his old form, we'll have ourselves a very good point guard next season," said Coach Torrence. "Stephon has gone through a lot, dealt with some things. We're hopeful he'll be back and playing at his previous

level."

Coach Torrence has no concerns about his frontcourt. He returns three key veterans who average about 6'4", which is a pretty good average size for Montgomery County. 6'4' senior lefthanded leaper Herbie Spellman is the best of the frontcourt returness.

"Herbie is a great leaper. He plays bigger

than 6'4". He averaged about 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 blocks a game as a

junior," said Torrance.

Coach Torrance is very high on the potential of 6'5" rising junior Ben Steinberg.

"Ben averaged about 6-7 points, 5 rebounds as a sophomore. He was only 15 years old this season, I thought he really played well for a young sophomore. He has great hands, which is important for a big man. He can be

a really good player for us."

6'3" senior Ben Tubman gives the Wolverines some much needed muscle up front.

"Ben is about 6'3", but he is very strong. He is a good rebounder and defender. He bangs and works hard inside," said Coach Torreance.

Coach Torrence hopes to build some depth for next season over the summer. The Wolverines are playing in the Montgomery County 2004 High School Summer Basketball League. Watkins Mill is the host school for the "Patriot Conference" of the Montomery County Summer League. Games are played Tuesdays and Thursday nights at Watkins Mill.

"We have some players coming up from the JV who might help us next year, but I'm reluctant to name particular players at this time," said Coach Torrence. "I still think it is a big jump from JV to varsity basketball in Montgomery County."

How does Coach Torrence feel about being projected as one of the early front

runners for Montgomery County and Maryland 4A Titles next season?

"I think that all of the players that we expect back next year do show up and everyone is eligible, healthy, yes, we can be very good next season. But there are a lot of good teams in Montgomery County and in the State. Quince Orchard gets most of their players back. Magruder lost a lot, but you know Dan (Harwood) will have them tough by the end of the year. Springbrook and Blake will have players...you never know who will be good, Kennedy loses a lot, but they could be good."

"It would be great for the school and the community if we have a great year (next season)," said Coach Torrence, who is in his seventh year at Watkins Mill. "We have 'knocked on the door' a couple of years, so it would be nice to kind of break through. When Stephon (Snowden) was a freshman, we had that game at Magruder in the semifinals when we were up by eight points with two minutes to go, but Isaiah (Swann) beat us. We've been close before. We'll see, we could be good."

MdVarsity.com plans on profiling some of the individual Wolverine standouts this summer and next season.