SHL Pre-season

[white thunder]

Thoughts and predictions???
I believe Lynchburg in big school and Leesburg-Fairfield in small school

[sparky]

what does lynchburg have coming back that would make them the favorites?

[white thunder]

Not saying there favorites, just my pick with inman and waits both coming back

[TribeManiac10]

Im not completely sure how this season will shake out in the big division given the losses to each team but here are my small division picks. Im picking North Adams to win the big division however. They return virtually everyone and will have the best post in the SHL along with one of the better backcourts, behind only Eastern with Lawson and Scott and Peebles with Arey and Justice in my opinion.


Small Division

1. Leesburg Fairfield
2. Whiteoak
3. Fayetteville
4. Ripley
5. Manchester

[sparky]

did ripley keep their new coach from last year? did carson find another job?

[r1master]

Carson got the head coaching position at Westfall. Lynchburg lost to East Clinton and North Adams tonight...of course, everybody knows teams often look whole lot different in December than they do in June

[davewottle]

Big school & small school? Really, I bet Ripley has probably 10 boys or so less than big schools Peebles, Lynchburg, North Adams,

It is a joke to have big school and small school in the SHL. This makes a mediocre league worse. You only have to deafeat (4) schools to be a league champion

[sparky]

actually the big and small schools play a league game against the other division for 13 league games. the shl has 4 schools out of the 10 make the final four and state champion georgetown was a previous shl school as well. as was western latham who made it to the regional finals. not to shabby for a WEAK league.

[boomer633]

Big school & small school? Really, I bet Ripley has probably 10 boys or so less than big schools Peebles, Lynchburg, North Adams,

It is a joke to have big school and small school in the SHL. This makes a mediocre league worse. You only have to deafeat (4) schools to be a league champion

That's not correct. For one the SHL is not mediocre and that is reflected by tournament and out of league wins. Secondly in addition to playing each school in their division twice they also play each school in the other division once and that game also counts as a league game.

[TribeManiac10]

Big school & small school? Really, I bet Ripley has probably 10 boys or so less than big schools Peebles, Lynchburg, North Adams,

It is a joke to have big school and small school in the SHL. This makes a mediocre league worse. You only have to deafeat (4) schools to be a league champion

The SHL is probably the third strongest league in the southeast every year behind the SEOAL and SOC II. Not to bad for a bunch of D4 and small D3 schools.

[pfloyd]

SHL ...

... mediocre ??? (I refuse to put SHL and mediocre on the same line because it is sooooo not true)

... Peebles, North Adams,Eastern Brown, Whiteoak, Manchester ALL outstanding hoops seemingly every year ... a league of not only excellent team basketball, great defense, outstanding coaches to go with some of the best individual talent in Southern/Southeastern Ohio ...

... I totally enjoy watching TEAMS in the SHL every year ... heck this season the usual cast of characters will be joined by Fairfield Leesburg, Lynchburg Clay, Fayetteville as teams to watch in the SHL ... AND those of us who truly ARE fans of high school hoops WILL be watching the SHL this season ...

[Ushoot2Ishoot3]

The SHL is fun to watch but does anyone know any SHL player that has went to play at a major D1 school in the last ten years?

[streetballer]

I think eastern brown will win shl hands down..some people are downing manchester cause they lost a lot from the team that went back-back-back district championships but have some good talent coming up from jv and jh..

[PHStide]

I've seen several of the teams play this summer. Summer ball = Vacation's, work and just not showing up.

So here's my opinion based on what I saw

Eastern-Lawson & Scott will anchor a very sound team.
NA-Great size with Sparks and Bales. Solid gaurds and good depth.
Peebles-Senior's & Sophs. It all depends on how the young kids fill in gaps. depth may me a concern. Very athletic !!!
Lynchburg- Very inconsistent and young.
WU-Improving but will not be a factor in this year.

Fairfield-impressed with the guard play of Williams and Hilderbrandt. More size than I expected. One of the top 4 teams in the league.
WO-hard to say, not much summer involvement. Many playing summer baseball.
Fayetteville-Will be improved. Fun team to watch, Iles and the boys will lead the league in 3's.
Ripley- I wasnt impressed with what I saw this summer, I heard they were missing a few kids???????
Manchester-I know this will make streetballer mad, but I see the hounds well back in the pack.

[TribeManiac10]

I think eastern brown will win shl hands down..some people are downing manchester cause they lost a lot from the team that went back-back-back district championships but have some good talent coming up from jv and jh..

I have Manchester finishing last in the small division but I'm certainly not trying to put the players they have down or the school. They could potentially move ahead of Ripley or Fayetteville but I just don't see it happening given what I've seen at one of their open gyms and at a few of their scrimmages. It will be huge losing Combs, Ricketts, West, etc. It will take a few years for them to get back into contention.

Here is my updated ranking of the schools based on what ive seen from them at scrimmages. Top four in the big division could move up or down one or two places, IMO.

Big Division

1a. North Adams- Ton of height(6'6" Bales, 6'5" Sparks), good guard play, very deep
1b. Peebles- One of the best frontcourts in the league(Arey, Justice, McAdow, Crothers, Porter, Pryor), will play at a fast pace, could struggle against teams with exceptional height.
3a. Lynchburg Clay- Good Size(6'5" Jr Inman), young, future all league guard in Jr. Waits.
3b. Eastern Brown- Could be higher but I'm not sold on them after losing their senior class(Payne, Purdin, and Doss), will return one of the best players in the district in Chase Lawson and a kid who should have an all-league season in Nathan Scott.
5. West Union- Will improve from last season but ultimately finish last again, very young, Frost should have a good year.

Small Division

1. Fairfield- Solid top to bottom, still kind of young, Williams will follow Arey by a hair as the best PG in the league, could be the top team in the league.
2. Whiteoak- Return a lot from last year's team, Doc Seip should put up big numbers.
3. Fayetteville- Mystery team, should be better as Illes matures but they also lost their second scoring option in Trevor Clark.
4. Ripley- Have no clue what they return but they will probably finish higher than Manchester.
5. Manchester- Lost almost everyone, Gaffin will have to put the team on his back this season if they want to move ahead of Ripley and Fayetteville in the division.

[cobbtown]

The big school is going to be a dog fight this year, I give the slight edge to Eastern over NA and Peebles. Lynchburg will improve as the season gets going and W Union will do better than 1 win this year.

Small school will come down to WO and Fairfield. WO basically returns everyone. Fairfield returns 3 starters along with a 18-2 JV squad and a new coach. I think it will come down down to Doc Seip, Fairfield was able to contain him with bulk last year, this years team is better suited for speed. I see Fayetteville in 3rd with Manchester and Ripley fighting for river rights.

Should be another great SHL season with 4 or 5 teams with a chance to win the league crown.

[TribeManiac10]

The big school is going to be a dog fight this year, I give the slight edge to Eastern over NA and Peebles. Lynchburg will improve as the season gets going and W Union will do better than 1 win this year.

Small school will come down to WO and Fairfield. WO basically returns everyone. Fairfield returns 3 starters along with a 18-2 JV squad and a new coach. I think it will come down down to Doc Seip, Fairfield was able to contain him with bulk last year, this years team is better suited for speed. I see Fayetteville in 3rd with Manchester and Ripley fighting for river rights.

Should be another great SHL season with 4 or 5 teams with a chance to win the league crown.

Have you seen Eastern play this summer? I haven't and I was wondering what they have to put around Lawson and Scott. Will Lawson have to guard the other teams' bigs? I dont think I remember their JV having much height last year.

[m1002880]

I would have to go with Eastern to win the league this year. The return the best player in the league in Chase Lawson and have a good second option in Nathan Scott. They also have a bunch of good role players that do the dirty work. Plus, Rob Buecler is one of the best, if not the best, coaches in southern Ohio.

[cobbtown]

Yes I have. They have some nice role players that play Coach B's game (disciplined and physical). Lawson is the best athlete on the team and will be forced to match up accordingly. They do have decent size and bulk down low, what they lack in size they make up with a very structured post defense (fronting and dbl team).

All in all I was impressed with the overall team structure.

From what I saw this summer Eastern, Peebles, NA and Fairfield are the top teams.

[Lightle04]

Im an soc guy but over the summer I saw North Adams, Peelbes,Fayetville ,Fairfield ,West Union all play . Fairfield when I saw them the best team of those but it's only summer .