DII - FINAL FOUR - AT THE CONVO!

[Ironman92]

It's going to be tough to beat Athens at the Convo

I think Athens takes a close one or Unioto excels by 15+

I think Warren wins by 14

[mglight88]

I think Athens will advance to play Minford in the district final
Go Falcons!

[danicalifornia]

It's going to be tough to beat Athens at the Convo

I think Athens takes a close one or Unioto excels by 15+

I think Warren wins by 14

That's exactly how I feel about the Unioto game.

I'll make my final picks closer to game time.

[Raider6309]

Remember to get there early Unioto and Athens fans. Last year Warren got their early and took over the logan elm section and made them sit in the upper bowl

[pfloyd]

Today is THE day !!! Basketball Thirty !!! In the Convo !!! Lou "the Voice" Horvath on the PA ! The Cheap Seats !!! … Daylight Savings Time !!! - oh wait - we lose an hour sleep - never mind on the daylight savings time thing …

Game 1 : Athens vs Unioto … my Elite 8 numbers 3 vs 1 … I like it !!! … not sure there is a better matchup to tip off the 3 Weeks of the Convo …

Athens brings the BEST 4 starters on the floor - Joe Burrow, Griffin Lutz, Ryan Luehrman, Adam Luehrman - ALL outstanding … 3 players at 6-4 and Lutz who PLAYS like he is 6-4 with his length … AHS also comes into the competition with the shortest bench - Vander Ven , the fifth starter is a good player but not the caliber of his teammates - but who is ? VV will hurt you IF you leave him unattended for that spot up trey … Burrow shoots the 3 better than almost anyone in SEOhio when he is allowed to set and shoot … Luehrman "squared" are at their best when Lutz penetrates and dishes … the opposition game plan has always been - get one of the 4 bigs in foul trouble , get them off of the floor , get to the AHS bench … force the ball out of Lutz's hands make the others make decisions with the ball … pressure the ball … 32 minutes of pressure to wear out the big 4 … Warren has been the only team to execute the game plan in getting a 30 point win over the Bulldogs … IF you can't take away one of the keys for AHS - then you have to put your athletes up against Athens D1 athletes … you lose that matchup …

Unioto … the BEST overall TEAM in SEOhio this season … a total TEAM … solid defense … multiple offensive weapons for balanced TEAM scoring in the starters - Strange/Hosley/Overly/Cottrill/Adkins … a deep bench - Nick Corcoran leading the pack Lovely/Houser/Swackhammer … the Shermans' make you pay with inside and outside scoring … solid inside presence in Adkins/Erique Hosley … Hosley is this years version of Hayden Dunn (Lucasville Valley) - a beast on the board, stronger than anyone he will play against, gets position and off the floor better than anyone who will guard him … Defensively? - as good as there is in the tourney from SEOhio … with the numbers they can run at you YOU will tire before they will tire … UHS is undefeated for a reason - they're a good ball club with outstanding coaching court side by Coach Hoops … weakness ? in the games I have seen this season Unioto has shot "less than 50%" from the charity stripe - will this be the Sherman's achilles heal ?

… looking forward to seeing this one from the Cheap Seats !!! it should be a dandy … 32 minutes of intense hoops … 2 outstanding teams … a couple of my favorite coaches … let's tip it off !!!

[danicalifornia]

Remember to get there early Unioto and Athens fans. Last year Warren got their early and took over the logan elm section and made them sit in the upper bowl

Thank you!

[danicalifornia]

Pfloyd- a big positive is that the Shermans have been shooting much better from the FT stripe in the second half of the season, bumping to over 60% as a team, while Cottrill/Strange are over 70% and Corcoran/Overly are over 80%. Having Wheeler (6'4/6'5) back has given a big boost to their inside presence, slightly reducing Houser's minutes. The Shermans get 21 PPG off of their bench and will need that tonight. Adkins has gone into double figures 8 times this year, all in games where he has came off the bench. Wheeler, Swackhammer, and Houser all have done it as well, but not as often.

I personally can't wait for the Lutz vs Overly matchup. 2 outstanding PGs who can penetrate and provide for teammates. Overly is the better outside shooter, but I could see Lutz' length giving him a little bit of an issue on how close to the line he shoots it. Should be fun.

[biggdowgg]

Can't wait to see the warren/Minforc clash tonight!

[pfloyd]

… biggdowgg ! it should be a great matchup for sure … I was at the WarriorDome for the first meeting this season when Warren came away with a 62-60 win over the Falcons … great game !!! … I think I even posted after the game in my wrap-up that I wasn't sure if the best team won that night … Minford played a great game … leading at the end of the first 3 quarter breaks 14-8 … 29-23 … 46-40 … Minford has many weapons - very balanced Jared Alley/Kenton Gullion/Brandon Rowe/Dillon Sheppard/Trey Kelley all with the potential for double figure games … I was extremely impressed by Dillon Sheppard - outstanding inside game for MHS undersized but knows how to get his shot, and how to get it in traffic … imo NOT continuing to go inside where Sheppard got touches in the 3rd quarter was the beginning of the end for Minford in the game … the Warren Defense turned up the pressure in the 2nd half of play forcing turnovers, getting buckets in transition … Minford had one flaw as they struggled from the line 13/21 in the game with a number of those misses were the front end of the 1 & 1 … IF you believe the posts in the last few weeks about the Falcons - they aren't playing their best hoops … add that to the fact that Warren IS playing some its' best basketball … some things have changed for the Warriors since the last matchup - the defense has improved even more … Michael Hall has pushed his game to the next level - he is facing up to the basketball more than in the beginning of the season … getting touches on the perimeter he wasn't getting early on … the inside game has been strengthened by committee - Blake Kidder, Maz, Henthorn, Seth Hall have ALL crashed the boards in earnest … this will be a good game for sure … Kyler Dennis' injury ? it does throw a kink in the rotation for sure … with Seth Hall coming off the bench it is instant and consistent offense … to now be a starter - WHO will be the instant offense when it is needed most ??? who will step up for the Warriors … imo the role that Seth Hall plays off the bench might have us seeing a different starter than S. Hall … imo you have to have that role - the instant/consistent offense he brings to the table off the bench … we'll see later tonight …

[tomcat fan]

Update on Warren game?

[enigmaax]

Warren 27 Minford 22

Half

[Raider6309]

Warren vs Unioto should be a good match up but was impressed with Unioto

[warrior90]

Warren looked a little out of sync without kidder and dennis on the floor. I think the Warriors will give Unioto a good run next week, but we have to shoot the outside shot a little better.

[mhs95_06]

One player cost us from seeing a classic closely contested game in the first game of the night. Athens was trying to play iron-man ball with just 5 players and taking a time-out near the middle of each quarter, but one of them ruined that strategy by taking two fouls in the 1st quarter in what looked like almost on purpose fouls that were very un-smart. He stayed in the game, but it came back to haunt when he picked up two more fouls early in the 3rd qtr, both reasonable fouls, but it gave him 4 and took him out of the game and significantly weakened the Athens defense, and Unioto took advantage by lengthening their narrow lead and forcing his re-entry with 30 sec left still in the 3rd qtr. But the damage was done and Athens could not recover and we were deprived of a likely nip and tuck game to the end.

[ToTheTop56]

I stated in an earlier post that this Warren team is the BEST "TEAM" we have probably seen here. example 1... Portsmouth game at Portsmouth, Maz was at a state soccer banquet, Henthorn was in foul trouble. The bench stepped up, and Warren won a tough one. Again last night, with Dennis out and Kidder hurt, the bench with Seth Hall, Luke Drayer, Collin Welch and Trevor Cochran stepped up... As long as the coaching staff will keep running replacements in and out, keeping fresh legs, there are very few teams that can run for 32 minutes with the Warriors. Henthorn and Mike Hall had what true team leaders should have (great games, making great decisions staying within themselves the whole game). With the family first attitude of this team, it's hard to say how far they will go!!!

[bman]

Unioto did a nice job of using its depth and mixing in some trapping to wear on Athens over the course of the game. What surprised me was how dominant Unioto was on the boards. With Athens' size, I felt like that was going to be pretty even coming in. Give props to the Sherman for their aggressiveness on the boards. Very balanced effort by the Shermans with contributions throughout their lineup, led by Corcoran and Overly, but also getting real steady play from Hosley, Cottrill and a few clutch shots or boards from Strange, Adkins and Swackhammer.

Joe Burrow put on a fantastic game for Athens in the loss. Looking forward to seeing him in scarlet and gray.

Warren struggled from the three in the first half, but made a nice adjustment of getting the ball to the basket. Impressive to see them beating a good Minford team without Dennis for the whole game and Kidder for part due to an ankle. Nice team effort, led by Michael Hall and Henthorn.

It was nice to see the color analyst of the Athens radio nation, our own 93Bulldog, to chat some hoops with him. Also nice to see pfloyd in the VIP room to talk basketball with before he went back up to his plush reserved cheap seats.

Should be a dandy final between the Shermans and Warriors.

[ONE OF A KIND]

Athens went back to the old ways of rolling out the ball like gym class, and the only coaching was screaming at the refs. It almost worked, as the refs were very kind to Athens to say the least. I would rather have seen them use the ex-OU coach more in this game, but hey they almost pulled out the win, and if the one twin could have stayed out of foul trouble they might have won it.

[Raider6309]

Athens went back to the old ways of rolling out the ball like gym class, and the only coaching was screaming at the refs. It almost worked, as the refs were very kind to Athens to say the least. I would rather have seen them use the ex-OU coach more in this game, but hey they almost pulled out the win, and if the one twin could have stayed out of foul trouble they might have won it.

It didn't matter who coached, Unioto is really good and wore us out. They had three different people guarding Lutz and Burrow the whole game. Unioto should beat Warren. Pfloyd was right in the rankings again

[ONE OF A KIND]

Athens went back to the old ways of rolling out the ball like gym class, and the only coaching was screaming at the refs. It almost worked, as the refs were very kind to Athens to say the least. I would rather have seen them use the ex-OU coach more in this game, but hey they almost pulled out the win, and if the one twin could have stayed out of foul trouble they might have won it.

It didn't matter who coached, Unioto is really good and wore us out. They had three different people guarding Lutz and Burrow the whole game. Unioto should beat Warren. Pfloyd was right in the rankings again

When you are 4 deep, and try running up and down the floor with a team that is 9 or 10 deep, you will tend to get worn out. However, I disagree and think that is part of coaching so it could have mattered who coached. Also, no offense whatsoever. Run down the court and either drive to the basket or pass it to Burrow for him to throw up a 3 pointer. It did almost work though, so it's hard to argue against it. Just shows how much talent Athens has that they were that close with no game plan. Kind of disappointing though with all that talent the past two years and no regional berth. Especially last year.

[Raider6309]

Athens only has 1 true basketball player and 5 football players playing basketball. Athens went to the regionals two years ago. a lot of talent moves away. Been happening since the school was started