National Powerhouse, ESPN RISE national Semi-finalists, Mountain State Prep, out of WV, is no more... But for the folks of West by God, and more specifically, the greater Huntington-Ashland-Ironton Area, thankfully, the Huntington Prep Express is still going strong.
Last season, HPE sent Gorgui Dieng to Louisville and Justing Coleman found a home in Marshall. HPE however, was not a smiles and ass-slaps after the season completed. There was some problems with their equation, and things needed to be fixed, or else.
Academics are more important than you would think, even to a program which is just a Basketball Program, HPE does not operate it's own schooling of the players, they rely on an agreement with an outside educator to do so. Last year, it was Huntington private school, Covenant, and after a review of less than stellar academic performances of the players, the staff elected to go a different route for the educational needs of it's players and struck a deal with Huntington-St.Joe, to handle the book part of the HPE.
As the deal is, St.Joe is responsible for the boys classroom education, HPE is only held accountable for their jumpshots and verticals. The school operates it's own school-funded basketball program seperate from The Express.
This season, after missing the boat on some great oppurtunities last season, WSAZ has elected to broadcast select HPE games on television on either Channel 3 or My Z, similar to the Mayo/Patterson situation at Huntington High a few years back.
Schedule has not been released yet, so I don't have any info on which games will be televised or who the opponents will be for this season.
The team this season is littered with some projects from Africa, and it looks like a refugee from the former Mountain State Academy , a Canuck and some Milwaukee kids, mixed with a transfer from DC and Muncie, IN...
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