Coaches Confidential: Best WNC high school basketball player you faced this season

There are many talented Western North Carolina high school boys and girls basketball players this year.

Some of the top boys players in the area this season include East Henderson's Caiden Brewer, Hendersonville's Malachi Simpson, McDowell's Rylan Parkins as well as many others. Some of the best girls players are Asheville School's Ryann Hernandez, Mountain Heritage's Keira Wilson and Reynolds' Peyton Harvey.

But only one of them can be the best.

The Citizen Times and Times-News asked WNC high school basketball coaches to name the best player they faced this season. It's the first part of our "Coaches Confidential" series where we grant local coaches anonymity in return for answering topical questions about their sport.

Coaches across the WNC were emailed and asked to submit their answers, which were lightly edited for clarity. Here are the responses from coaches.

Here is who they thought was the best player this season.

Best boys basketball player

There was no consensus on who the best player was this season.

"Caiden Brewer. Extremely hard to stay in front of. Knocks down open 3s and doesn’t have to take a lot of shots to be extremely effective."

"Malachi Simpson. His athleticism and motor is second to none. The way he plays the game is so difficult to guard throughout the course of a game."

"Caiden Brewer. Really good all-around player. Can score from all three levels and he's very unselfish."

"Dacen “Pop” Petty, East Rutherford. He scores at every level, and knows how to draw fouls. He’s also an elite passer."

"Rylan Parkins, McDowell High School. Tough matchup inside. Unbelievable footwork and finishes well."

"Ian Bailey, Asheville Christian"

"Declan Brown, A.C. Reynolds. He can score at all three levels. Really smooth jumper that is hard to alter."

"Tre Crite from Brevard. Tre is a 6-7 wing and can score from anywhere. He was a toughmatchup for us. He also has one of the higher ceilings of anyone in WNC in my opinion."

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Best girls basketball player

Coaches were also split about the top girls basketball player.

"Pisgah’s Dot Mills. ... a great individual player who can score, take you off the dribble and makes others around her better. Pushes tempo."

"Whitney Roger, Cherokee. Very dynamic, can do it all."

"Keira Wilson, Mountain Heritage. She creates mismatches with her size and skill. Hard to find someone who can match that to be able to guard her. Having the team around her that she has makes it hard to be able to double her or add any help."

"There were two that I feel were equally difficult to prepare for. Whitney Rogers from Cherokee, and Olivia McNabb from Hiwassee Dam. My reasoning for mentioning Whitney is because she is an “all-around” player, who is extremely skilled both inside and outside the lane, and is a threat anywhere on the floor. Olivia was equally hard to deal with due to her athleticism, height, and the fact that she is amazingly talented in the low post. She is by far the best post player our team has faced all year, and is the player for HD Varsity Girls that has been mostly responsible for their success."

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Coaches Confidential: Best WNC basketball player you faced this season