This preview will cover the teams ranked 121st to 130th in the pre-nationals rankings. I’m skipping #130 Arcadia C (CA) and #125 Auburn B (IL) until their A teams are reviewed.

129. Millburn A (NJ) – This team returns all of its scoring from a 9th place finish at New Jersey NAQT States in a season with a few top 10 finishes in a strong NJ-area region. Going to more tournaments would make me feel more comfortable about predicting big things for this team.

Expected performance next season: Up

128. Flowery Branch A (GA) – A playoff team at HSNCT that was eliminated in the first round, the GATA 5A state champions return everyone from their squad last year.

Expected performance next season: Up

127. University School of Nashville A (TN) – The second place team at Vanderbilt’s ABC tournament made the HSNCT playoffs with a 6-4 record, though they were bumped in the first round. They do return Victor, who’s a solid player, but graduate the rest of their major scorers, including Jesse Bennett. They’re in the unfortunate position of needing some rebuilding before they can achieve such results again.

Expected performance next season: Down

126. Winchester Thurston A (PA) – The champions of the Rockwood Invitational went 7-3 to make the playoffs at HSNCT, but had the misfortune of meeting Northmont in the first playoff round on their way on a 0-2 elimination from the tournament. That was still good enough to tie them for 53rd. Everyone from the team at Rockwood has graduated, so this is another team with a rebuilding job in front of them.

Expected performance next season: Down

124. Rock Bridge A (MO) – Champions at Helias Catholic’s tournaments, Rock Bridge disappointingly missed the playoffs at HSNCT after an otherwise solid season. They had a very solid team with some solid support players built around Salah D.; with Salah graduating, the question this season is if they’ll be able to fill the void.

Expected performance next season: Down

123. Foothill A (CA) – This team had a couple of good fourth place finishes at California Cup events. Bryce scored almost all of their points for them. Bryce graduated. This probably isn’t great for their 2014-15 prospects.

Expected performance next season: Down

122. Mountain Lakes A (NJ) – They finished tied for 77th at NAQT HSNCT and 44th at PACE NSC. They largely depended on Michael for scoring (67 PPG at Penn QuAC), and with his graduation they will be weaker, not to mention the effect of losing 3rd and 4th scorers Chris and Andrew. Second scorer Ron returns (28.5 at QuAC) – if he can elevate his game, they might be able to avoid missing a step.

Expected performance next season: Down

121. Manheim Township A (PA) – After a 5-5 finish at HSNCT and tied for 73rd placement at PACE NSC, the champions at the Centennial Invitational had a team with pretty evenly distributed scoring and returns 3/4 of those players. This should put them in a very good position for the coming season.

Expected performance next season: Up