Waverly (0-3) @ Northwest (3-1) 12-17-24

[Zahns Corner]

Can Waverly finally get into the win column? Northwest no longer an automatic out and Waverly, despite expectations, is searching for answers early in the season. Should be a competitive game.

Thoughts?

[danicalifornia]

Call me crazy if you want, but I don’t understand why there were big expectations for this Waverly team coming into the season. They lost 13 of 14 to end last season, now 16 of 17 games total.

Yes, they have some young talent, but it’s young still. Teams that start 5 underclassmen in this area don’t magically start winning instantly.

Expectations being high in 25-26 makes way more sense to me, as it will be Year 3 under Coach Bradley and they’ll have much more expierence and strength with mostly juniors then.

As for this game, Northwest is coming off of a big win over Valley and I think will be riding high. At some point the Tigers will get a big road win, but I don’t think it’s tonight.

[Zahns Corner]

Call me crazy if you want, but I don’t understand why there were big expectations for this Waverly team coming into the season. They lost 13 of 14 to end last season, now 16 of 17 games total.

Yes, they have some young talent, but it’s young still. Teams that start 5 underclassmen in this area don’t magically start winning instantly.

Expectations being high in 25-26 makes way more sense to me, as it will be Year 3 under Coach Bradley and they’ll have much more expierence and strength with mostly juniors then.

As for this game, Northwest is coming off of a big win over Valley and I think will be riding high. At some point the Tigers will get a big road win, but I don’t think it’s tonight.

Fair analysis . Waverly appears to have some excellent young talent, but that youth lacks experience and physical maturity required at the varsity level.

[danicalifornia]

Call me crazy if you want, but I don’t understand why there were big expectations for this Waverly team coming into the season. They lost 13 of 14 to end last season, now 16 of 17 games total.

Yes, they have some young talent, but it’s young still. Teams that start 5 underclassmen in this area don’t magically start winning instantly.

Expectations being high in 25-26 makes way more sense to me, as it will be Year 3 under Coach Bradley and they’ll have much more expierence and strength with mostly juniors then.

As for this game, Northwest is coming off of a big win over Valley and I think will be riding high. At some point the Tigers will get a big road win, but I don’t think it’s tonight.

Fair analysis . Waverly appears to have some excellent young talent, but that youth lacks experience and physical maturity required at the varsity level.

I do think that they could be a scary matchup come tournament time, as they’ll continue to improve and the SOC3 is going to get them prepared as there are no nights off.

[OSUfrenzy]

Waverly 42 Northwest 37

[danicalifornia]

Good win for the Tigers. Sounds like they went into a big cold spell, but turned up the defensive effort at the same time.

[smurray]

I don't know how anyone would have had HIGH expectations coming into this season. While there is talent, the Tigers start a freshman at point guard and 4 sophomores. The 6th man off the bench is a senior but is not an offensive threat, while the 7th man is yet another sophomore. Waverly with no Juniors at all and no other seniors dressed right now. The schedule has not been easy, and after the lopsided loss to ZT, the Tigers were a couple made baskets here or there away from beating Hillsboro and Western on the road.
This group needs to stick together, (parents & community have patience), and learn to play together. It's not going to happen overnight. There have been a lot of missed shots (under the bucket and wide open threes), and when those start falling, the Tigers will start winning some more games.
14-15 year olds playing against 18 year olds (maybe 19) is a big difference!!! GIVE IT TIME

[EagleEye3]

Waverly will be fine in time, the future is bright

[bobcats94]

I don't know how anyone would have had HIGH expectations coming into this season. While there is talent, the Tigers start a freshman at point guard and 4 sophomores. The 6th man off the bench is a senior but is not an offensive threat, while the 7th man is yet another sophomore. Waverly with no Juniors at all and no other seniors dressed right now. The schedule has not been easy, and after the lopsided loss to ZT, the Tigers were a couple made baskets here or there away from beating Hillsboro and Western on the road.
This group needs to stick together, (parents & community have patience), and learn to play together. It's not going to happen overnight. There have been a lot of missed shots (under the bucket and wide open threes), and when those start falling, the Tigers will start winning some more games.
14-15 year olds playing against 18 year olds (maybe 19) is a big difference!!! GIVE IT TIME

You're right, anyone who watched Waverly a lot last year and knows the young kids they are playing wouldn't think they are going to win 17-18 games but I do think the expectations are a little bit higher than scoring 34 pts(9 at the half) against a Western team that will be lucky to finish above .500 this year in the SOC II. Man for man no one can say that Waverly doesn't run more talent out than Western and most of these sophomores were starting varsity last year so they do have quite a bit of experience and other than Alexander they definitely are physically ready for varsity. Russell IMO could be one of the better players in the area, good size, athletic, can shoot. Alexander, Hurt are capable scorers and you have two strong bigs in the Myers to go with them. I was expecting Waverly to finish 3rd behind Minford/Webster but they very well could finish last. Talent is there, just a long list of other variables that are not right now.. but maybe this Northwest win will get things heading back in the right direction. we shall see

[OldHooper]

Bobcats94 - I agree with your take on the questions marks regarding scoring. Wild to have 9 in a half.

Not sure on your take of the players specifically though. Alexander looks physically mature enough - scoring 23 against the defending Regional Runners Up, and doing it in their house. I watched him at Hillsboro and he dealt with serious pressure and face guarding and handled it like he’d been playing at this level for a while.

[smurray]

I don't know how anyone would have had HIGH expectations coming into this season. While there is talent, the Tigers start a freshman at point guard and 4 sophomores. The 6th man off the bench is a senior but is not an offensive threat, while the 7th man is yet another sophomore. Waverly with no Juniors at all and no other seniors dressed right now. The schedule has not been easy, and after the lopsided loss to ZT, the Tigers were a couple made baskets here or there away from beating Hillsboro and Western on the road.
This group needs to stick together, (parents & community have patience), and learn to play together. It's not going to happen overnight. There have been a lot of missed shots (under the bucket and wide open threes), and when those start falling, the Tigers will start winning some more games.
14-15 year olds playing against 18 year olds (maybe 19) is a big difference!!! GIVE IT TIME

You're right, anyone who watched Waverly a lot last year and knows the young kids they are playing wouldn't think they are going to win 17-18 games but I do think the expectations are a little bit higher than scoring 34 pts(9 at the half) against a Western team that will be lucky to finish above .500 this year in the SOC II. Man for man no one can say that Waverly doesn't run more talent out than Western and most of these sophomores were starting varsity last year so they do have quite a bit of experience and other than Alexander they definitely are physically ready for varsity. Russell IMO could be one of the better players in the area, good size, athletic, can shoot. Alexander, Hurt are capable scorers and you have two strong bigs in the Myers to go with them. I was expecting Waverly to finish 3rd behind Minford/Webster but they very well could finish last. Talent is there, just a long list of other variables that are not right now.. but maybe this Northwest win will get things heading back in the right direction. we shall see

QUOTE: "There have been a lot of missed shots (under the bucket and wide open threes), and when those start falling, the Tigers will start winning some more games."