Each season, the culmination of the Outside the Huddle Top 50 player countdown is the naming of our annual First Five, the highest preseason honor for OTH basketball coverage.
The First Five traces its lineage back to The News-Sentinel’s years of presenting “Fabulous Five” teams of the area’s best five players in both boys and girls basketball. This player is part of our sixth season of naming First Five players.
No. 4 – Chase Barnes, Wayne
One of the most basketball smart players in the area, Barnes has shown a keen ability to just understand the game and adapt on any given night to Wayne’s needs; it has led to a great deal of success for him and for the Generals. The talented combo wing can score at all three levels; he shoots the lights out some night and other shows a ferocity in getting to the rim, leading to him averaging 13.9 points per game last season. Barnes continues to add strength to his game, which helps him excel in getting downhill while still using smooth dribbling to get defenders off balance. He rebounded extremely well for a guard with multiple gams with 5+ boards, with 3.3 per game in total.
COACH’S QUOTE ON BARNES
“Chase has shown advanced maturity on and off the court. His mental toughness keeps us steady when times are most difficult. On the court Chase has the ability and determination to impact the game as a scorer, defender, rebounder or whatever we need at a particular moment. He is most known for his ability to get buckets, and rightfully so, but his aptitude on defense is what sets him apart from other players. It will be exciting to see where he takes his game this coming season.” – Wayne coach Anthony Brewer
Be the first to comment