VirginiaPreps.com is proud to release our fifth annual Group AAA All-State Basketball Teams - - First, Second, Third Team and Honorable Mention selections - - for the 2012-13 campaign. In fact, it'll be the last AAA All-State Basketball Teams for us or anyone given that there will be no Group AAA next year with the VHSL going to a new conference re-alignment plan next year.

So what are the factors that go into the selections that are made? All are made by me with no consultation of the coaches simply because that's what the VHSCA team is for in my opinion. We study individual statistics, team success, and overall impact. Once everything is weighed, we try to blend it together and make the best choices possible, even though we know there's no perfect team or right and wrong picks.

This is no easy process because there are SEVERAL really fine players that didn't get recognized on First Team, Second Team, Third Team or even Honorable Mention. A lot of difficult picks had to be made, especially on the Player of the Year front as there was no clear-cut favorite this year with a few individuals sticking out. There was a lot of going back-and-forth on those names before ultimately arriving at a decision.

Here's how the choices are broken up. We select five players on First Team, five on Second Team, five on Third Team and five for Honorable Mention, making it a total of 20. Below is the complete list with bios.

1st Team:
Marcus Evans - - Great Bridge - - Jr. G (PLAYER OF THE YEAR)
Rajay Bullock - - Kecoughtan - - Sr. F
Troy Caupain - - Cosby - - Sr. G
Timmy Jones - - Henrico - - Sr. G
Anthony 'Cat' Barber - - Hampton - - Sr. G

2nd Team:
Brian White - - John Marshall - - Sr. F
Ramone Snowden - - Kellam - - Sr. F
Will Ferguson - - Herndon - - Sr. G
J.R. Washington - - Stonewall Jackson - - Sr. G/F
Lucas Brown - - Mountain View - - Jr. G

3rd Team:
Khory Moore - - Wakefield - - Sr. G
Tavon Mealy - - Armstrong - - Sr. F
Eric Bowles - - W.T. Woodson - - Soph. G
Kenny Williams - - L.C. Bird - - Soph. G/F
Marvin Smith Jr. - - Henrico - - Sr. F

Honorable Mention:
Jordon Talley - - Henrico - - Sr. G
Malique Trent - - Norcom - - Sr. G
Zach Fong - - Gar-Field - - Sr. G
Marcus Banks - - Patrick Henry-Roanoke - - Sr. G
Ahmad Thomas - - GW-Danville - - Sr. G/F

VirginiaPreps.com Second Team All-State Hoops 2012-13

In his first and only season with the Justices after playing at SportsQuest, White made an immediate impact for John Marshall and was the horse in the front-court they rode all the way to the Central Region Championship game and Group AAA State Final, both being losses to Henrico. The 6-foot-7 forward effectively did damage in the high post, low block and made plays whether it was in the half-court or transition.

Signed to play his College Basketball at The Citadel, White was chosen as the Colonial District Player of the Year and First Team All-Central Region. On the year, he averaged 19.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while shooting 68.2% from the field and 79% from the foul line.

In the State Playoffs, White's averages increased to 21PPG, 11.3RPG and 2.6 rejections a contest, connecting on 90% from the foul line. He had a monster game of 33 points and 13 boards in the State Tournament quarterfinals in helping the Justices eliminate Eastern Region Champ Great Bridge.

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Most any other years, Snowden would've likely been selected First Team All-State, except the Eastern Region this year featured a couple of nationally-ranked senior prospects and a junior who beat them both in taking his team to State's for the first time in 55 years. What the 6-foot-5 wing has done for the Knights though since he entered the school as a ninth grader has been rather remarkable.

In the four seasons Snowden has started at Kellam, the Knights have gone 76-26 with a pair of Beach District regular season titles, one that they shared with Landstown, and two district tournament crowns. They made it to regional semifinals his sophomore year, got back to the region playoffs this past season and won 20 of their first 25 games overall. During his senior year he averaged some gaudy numbers of 22 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals per game.

Snowden finished with 22 double-doubles, playing an average of 25 minutes a contest and shooting 56% from the field, 37% from three-point range. A couple of his monster games included scoring 36 in the opener vs. Landstown and filling the stat sheet with 22 points, 19 boards, six assists, three blocks and three steals against Green Run in the Beach District Tournament Championship.

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Playing his first full season at the point with the Hornets, Ferguson transferred from Bishop O'Connell to Herndon midway through his junior year. As a senior, he took control of games, even ones where they didn't come up on the winning side because the other team they faced might've been well-rounded and deeper from top to bottom.

A great example of that came in the Ronald Curry Classic Championship game, where the Hornets fell to W.T. Woodson by two in a game where Ferguson scored 31 of his 37 points in the second half. Super quick and able to get to the basket at will, Ferguson was named the Concorde District and Northern Region Player of the Year and also tabbed Second Team All-State by the VHSCA.

Statistically, Ferguson was nothing short of superb and did so without a ton of help around him. He averaged 22.4 points per game, drained 45 three-pointers and made 140-of-178 attempts from the free-throw line (78.7%). Herndon ended up capturing the Concorde District regular season title and finishing 18-7 overall, losing at home to W.T. Woodson by 11 in the regional quarterfinals.

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A two-sport athlete that excelled at football in addition to basketball, Washington did all he could to carry the Raiders to a perfect mark, both regular season and tournament, in the Cedar Run District. His play certainly got noticed, earning Cedar Run District Player of the Year honors and All-Northwest Region First Team for a Raiders squad that finished a victory shy of the State Playoffs.

It was in late December right after Christmas that Washington got the attention of the whole state. In a win over Freedom-Woodbridge at a holiday tournament, he poured in a school-record 61 points, one of the highest totals ever recorded in a contest in Northwest Region history. When his jumper was falling from the start, opponents got headaches.

For the year, Washington averaged 23.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 43% from the field, 80% at the foul line (152-190FT's) and drained 62 three-pointers. Having him made life easier for Stonewall Jackson on its way to a 19-7 overall mark and appearance in the Northwest Region semifinals, where they were knocked out by Mountain View.

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Following up a 19-8 record during his sophomore season, Brown was out to show the doubters in his junior year that he's more than just the Head Coach's son and was a point guard with the skills necessary to lead a team to a Championship. Lucas passed that test with flying colors as Mountain View reeled off 24 consecutive wins en route to a Northwest Region Championship, plus a perfect record, regular season and tournament, in the Commonwealth District.

Mountain View's 26-3 overall record gave them the second highest winning percentage behind only Henrico among all Group AAA schools in Virginia in 2012-13. Brown played at a great pace and proved to be the consummate facilitator, putting up 11.7 points, 6.5 assists and 3.2 steals per game. His turnover total stayed low and his poise was high.

As the Wildcats punched its ticket to the State Tournament, Brown got chosen the Northwest Region Player of the Year. He left the court in a loss to Wakefield having played his tail off with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting and six assists in the quarterfinals of the State Playoffs.

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Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network. Check out Hatfield's Twitter page for more sports related info and updates. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don't forget to listen to High School Sports Talk every Saturday from 10AM to Noon on ESPN Radio 94.1 and watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.