Huge weekend for Wise

What a weekend for future Arizona guard Nic Wise. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound playmaker led his (35-5) Kingwood (Texas) High School squad to a 76-67 victory over previously undefeated and No. 2 team in the nation Westfield High School in the region championship. For his efforts, Wise was named region tournament MVP.

"I'm really proud of him," said Wise's father and AAU coach Greg Wise of the Houston Hoops. "Against Westfield, Nic played the best game I've ever seen him play in high school."

Wise, who hit for 32 points, 8 assists and 4 steals in the upset, was pretty much in agreement with his father.

"It is at least pretty close to the best game I've played," said the younger Wise. "It wasn't my highest scoring game, but I had 8 assists and only a couple turnovers. It is definitely in my top two or three games."

In his two game MVP region performance, Wise totaled 54 points, 14 assists and 8 steals. On the season, Wise is averaging 21 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals per game, and he is a favorite to win player of the year for the city of Houston.

Presently ranked No. 120 in the Rivals150, Wise acknowledged the difficulty of being a highly ranked prospect so early in his career.

"It is sort of a relieve coming down to the end of my prep career," he said. "It's been up and down for me. Early on I was a top ten prospect, and then I started dropping down. It wasn't that I got worse. I pretty much staid the same. It was just that other players kept growing and getting better.

"When I was in ninth and tenth grade, I was focused on the rankings and wanted to make the McDonald's game. But then I started to just focus on winning championships and didn't worry about the individual stuff. Winning championships is better than anything."

With a state championship from last season under his belt, Wise and his teammates will go for a repeat this weekend.