Harvest Prep vs Africentric

[CoachC]

It would be nice to have an option to move this type of game to Pickerington North if both Central teams win. Really no reason for them to have to make trip down to Convo. That may help attendance in future years

Probably would've been better if they played in another district altogether. I don't understand why they are playing Southeast teams this early anyway.

[Eagle82]

I would say 10 to 20 people show up for this game

[Raider6309]

It would be nice to have an option to move this type of game to Pickerington North if both Central teams win. Really no reason for them to have to make trip down to Convo. That may help attendance in future years

Probably would've been better if they played in another district altogether. I don't understand why they are playing Southeast teams this early anyway.

Where else would they play? Southeast Ohio has a tiny population so the region is bigger. Africentric and Harvest prep are 60 minutes from Athens. Peebles is 90 minutes from Athens.

[4thgoal]

If you follow it back to the sectional level for all 4 regions, there are an equal number of teams (+/-1 or 2) in each. Thats how teams from 'outside' make it into the SE district for tournaments. We all would like to see a team from south of I-70 and east of US-23 making it to the final 4 each year, but that's not how it is set up for any sport. As mentioned above, Peebles and the other SHAC schools are not really in south eastern Ohio, but they have been in our tournaments forever. Basically it is the same as how the Reds used to be in the NL West....same principle.

[1987chieftains]

Can't speak for Harvest Prep but a few years ago when Africentric played Eastern Pike at Logan in the Regional Final the Nubians were lucky to have had 100 fans in attendance. Those 100 were loud and proud though!

you are right. i was at this game. i think there was more logan fans then nubians

[eagles73Taylor]

formerfcfan, and southeast Ohio or Appalachia for that matter hasnt had its fair share of inequality and stereotyping? One of the poorest parts of the state with very little infrastructure and socio economic availability makes for some pretty tough living around these parts as well. Like I told the AD from Cleveland Central Catholic in Piketons state tourney run, the only difference between the social problems of his kids and ours was that we lived a little further spaced apart, instead of city blocks entire counties. Pike County is rampant with single family homes, welfare, child hunger and abuse, so I dont feel sorry if their fan base cant afford it, you think everyone in Peebles is at an advantage? lol

[dslig1frompriz]

formerfcfan, and southeast Ohio or Appalachia for that matter hasnt had its fair share of inequality and stereotyping? One of the poorest parts of the state with very little infrastructure and socio economic availability makes for some pretty tough living around these parts as well. Like I told the AD from Cleveland Central Catholic in Piketons state tourney run, the only difference between the social problems of his kids and ours was that we lived a little further spaced apart, instead of city blocks entire counties. Pike County is rampant with single family homes, welfare, child hunger and abuse, so I dont feel sorry if their fan base cant afford it, you think everyone in Peebles is at an advantage? lol

I think he was talking more about the advantages of the bastion of wealth that is Trimble Township. Lol

Our ancestors weren't slaves 400 years ago so we can't talk about socio-economic issues.

[Raider6309]

Poorest schools in Ohio
#1 new Boston
#6 Portsmouth
#9 Nelsonville York
#15 Athens

[anderson2012]

formerfcfan, and southeast Ohio or Appalachia for that matter hasnt had its fair share of inequality and stereotyping? One of the poorest parts of the state with very little infrastructure and socio economic availability makes for some pretty tough living around these parts as well. Like I told the AD from Cleveland Central Catholic in Piketons state tourney run, the only difference between the social problems of his kids and ours was that we lived a little further spaced apart, instead of city blocks entire counties. Pike County is rampant with single family homes, welfare, child hunger and abuse, so I dont feel sorry if their fan base cant afford it, you think everyone in Peebles is at an advantage? lol

I'm not disagreeing with you at all; disadvantage doesn't heed to geographic borders, it happens in every community and region but to varying magnitudes. In Ohio, the geographic pockets of where disadvantage is most prevalent are in the urban areas of major cities, cities that have suffered tremendously from the depart of factories like Steubenville and Lima, and in geometric terms the area of Ohio that bares the worst disadvantage is definitely Southeastern Ohio. All of those areas have an overabundance of issues that you mention, single-parent homes/un-wed families, welfare, etc There are similar causes that have led to the abundance of rural poor and urban poor in their respective communities, but both of them each attribute to functions and institutions that can not possibly be changed or reverted.

No, I'm not saying places like Peebles enjoy economic prosperity and resemble socioeconomic qualities of your high-end suburbs. I think communities such as Peebles, Glouster-Trimble etc travel as well as they do because they support their kids well. They have community identity. I'm willing to bet there are a lot of multigenerational Indian and Tomcat families that made the trip to OU this week. I'm going to logically assume that while cost of filling up your tank before/after going to OU from Peebles, combined with tickets for the whole family, can be a significant portion if not all of a person's disposable income for a two-week or month period, those that really value this experience for them and their kids have an idea how to budget accordingly for that two-week period or that month and make such an expenditure of time and money work. Realistically, do most City League folk carry the same attitude? No. But, tradition is generally the big factor. The changes in Columbus City Schools in the 80's and 90's compared to 2015 regarding what buildings are open and what buildings are closed is pretty notable. Plus, they don't make kids go to the public hs that is closest to them anymore. Africentric being a relatively new school, plus the fact it is selective enrollment just naturally means there aren't going to be many HS sports fans with a loyalty to a certain school like Peebles. Harvest Prep's deal is basically the result of spending the majority of its years as a school not having an identity or much pull to a certain community outside the World Harvest megachurch and not really having a reputation for academics in a private school sense. Plus it is still a relatively new school as well.

Again, don't think low attendance really is a big deal. Idiots just use it as a vehicle to throw knives at school communities they view as inferior because of prejudices and disdain if their kids lose to such schools. Strong fan followings are impressionable and invaluable to kids, but it's a boys basketball tournament. Not a cheering contest.


Socioeconomic issues are always an open forum no matter your skin color. In many ways Southeast Ohioans hurt much worse than the urbanites. If there is one theme I've noticed on here when discussing socioeconomics it would be that it is a) one-sided, presents one perspective, b) generally brought up when it's a public v. private postseason tournament match-up (almost always after a loss), c) almost never comes up when discussing public v. public in the tournament or hypothetical public v. public such as a football playoff or the regional stage of the basketball tournament despite the fact there have been and can be more glaring cases of economic inequality with two public schools than a private v. public. The fact is everyone is entitled to their opinions and whether or not they want to learn more about a certain topic and develop a more well-rounded mindset toward something. I posit that the most glaring issue in the state of Ohio is the tale of the have's and have-not's & its an issue that is far more prominent in interscholastic competition on a football field or basketball court with two public schools while being pertinent in school performance; and unfortunately the root of this inequality is money. Two public schools aren't always going to be the same. Grandview Heights and Bexley are nothing at all like their comparably sized Appalachian counterparts in Nelsonville-York and Meigs. Ohio has a broken system when it comes to schools. In the athletics sense, Africentric and HP only have a hand-up above everyone else because they can (and do) recruit out of a larger population for their athletics and they are really the only two outliers in that regard to D4 in the Athens Regional. The other selective enrollment schools in the D4 Athens Regional take whoever they can get that can pay tuition. Some of them have foundations to help subsidize costs, but they generally go to the kids that attend the church it is tied into and in most cases I've heard they benefit kids with divorced parents or parents that lost their job that had at one point in time were in the system of education and it's designed to either bring them back in or keep them in. The high schools I know of only do that for kids coming in the 9th grade or those that fall under said circumstances while enrolled at the school. Do those private schools appreciate the economic advantage? Sure, but pulling from a wider area geographically generally doesn't translate into getting all-state basketball players.

[Pol pot]

I think basketball fans care. The amount of fans shouldn't matter. Maybe there are some real world socio-economic factors that limit fan base for them. These are still kids working together to accomplish something bigger than themselves. Working towards their goals and dreams. Learning life lessons.

+1, some here acting like these kids do not deserve to play in the Convocation Center. Sad!!! Being a Saturday there will be more fan support, last year for this game there was just under 1,000

[Pol pot]

I think basketball fans care. The amount of fans shouldn't matter. Maybe there are some real world socio-economic factors that limit fan base for them. These are still kids working together to accomplish something bigger than themselves. Working towards their goals and dreams. Learning life lessons.

I agree with part of what you are saying, but the real reason there will be next to no attendance for this game is that the kids on the team are not part of a community like most teams in our area. They are not kids that have known eachother since a young age and played biddy ball together. These teams are kids that were brought together via AAU to win basketball games and therefore do not have the same community support.

I will bet that Harvest Prep sells more pre-sale tickets than Burg did for it's District Final at the Convo.

[Pol pot]

It would be nice to have an option to move this type of game to Pickerington North if both Central teams win. Really no reason for them to have to make trip down to Convo. That may help attendance in future years

State has tried that, and they keep bringing it back to Athens. Better facility and helps the kids for the next round at the Schott, not to mention that the Regional sites in Columbus are more expensive than Athens

[4thgoal]

I will bet that Harvest Prep sells more pre-sale tickets than Burg did for it's District Final at the Convo.

What year are you talking about?

[Raider6309]

Harvest prep 14
Africentric 12
end of 1st

[Pol pot]

I will bet that Harvest Prep sells more pre-sale tickets than Burg did for it's District Final at the Convo.

What year are you talking about?

I am speaking of this year. Lock it, HP sold more in the semi and this final than Burg sold in anyone of their two trips to the Convo this year.

[wipala]

Ohsaa wants big city schools in all regionals, they stack the deck, imo! Go to the ohsaa site and see where Columbus schools are and have played their tourney games. With all the schools in the metro areas of Ohio another 3-4 regionals could be made. Sure the teams from SEO make it to finals however look what happens the following shuffle for sites to play. imo

[Raider6309]

Harvest Prep 34
Africentric 33
halftime
11 for Africentric 17pts

[Raider6309]

Ohsaa wants big city schools in all regionals, they stack the deck, imo! Go to the ohsaa site and see where Columbus schools are and have played their tourney games. With all the schools in the metro areas of Ohio another 3-4 regionals could be made. Sure the teams from SEO make it to finals however look what happens the following shuffle for sites to play. imo

no they don't, Trimble and Peebles had a cake walk till they finally played a decent team. There are many d4 schools that would die for Trimble and Peebles draw

[Raider6309]

Harvest Prep 50
Africentric 46
end of 3

[Raider6309]

Harvest prep 70
africentric 62
final