Pfloyd's Elite 8 of Southern/SouthEast Ohio- Preseason 13-14

[93Bulldog]

I think we are good to go ... Minford and Meigs replaces Chillicothe and Fairland ... Minford heads to the Southeastern sectional and Meigs heads to Logan.

[93Bulldog]

Minford making it to the Convo in DII would be interesting. They will get to see what Fairland had to endure when they jumped from III to II. They have big Jared McCray back, but lost Austin McBee, so even making it out of the Southeastern Sectional could be tough.

[danicalifornia]

Minford making it to the Convo in DII would be interesting. They will get to see what Fairland had to endure when they jumped from III to II. They have big Jared McCray back, but lost Austin McBee, so even making it out of the Southeastern Sectional could be tough.

Even with losing Chillicothe, Fairland, and Waverly from the sectional, the Southeastern sectional is still strong, even if it is not as deep as the Logan sectional at this point. Chillicothe, Fairland, and Unioto all had leads in the 4th quarter of their district semifinals losses last year, so they weren't that far off from the studs from Logan.

Miami Trace will be very tough once again, a new coach but also 4 Pettiford brothers on the roster and a bunch more athletes will have them bringing pressure nonstop once again.

Washington CH had a tough matchup with Chillicothe in the tournament, but they return a lot and had a loaded JV team last year that should fill some gaps. They have a ton of shooters even though they are undersized.

Circleville returns David Burroughs who missed most of last season and also returns a lot of key pieces and is always battle tested in the MSL. I think they will make some noise with a new system and some very talented guards.

Unioto will be better, even though replacing a near guaranteed double double on the inside will be very tough. A lot of solid basketball players and fared well in the summer without their top 3 bigs.

Minford, with Jared McCray has a gigantic advantage over everyone else in the SE sectional. No one has the size to match up with Mr. McCray or his awesome footwork on the inside for a kid his size.

[pfloyd]

... as usual daniC - great information in your rundown ... by the way I got an email from Coach Helber (Logan's head coach) told me that Unioto beat my Purple at OU camp this summer , Coach Helber's words about Unioto " they look like the real deal for this coming year" ...

[93Bulldog]

According to Floyds Elite 8, which is basically 'the law' anymore or 'gospel' ... lol ... 6-of-the-top-8 are the DII teams that could meet up at the Convo ... with the top 3 all being from the Logan sectional.

[bman]

Dani has all the numbers figured out...downplaying those superior math skills.

On another note the SVC should be pretty exciting this year with Piketon, Unioto, SE and ZT. Also some very good young players with Mowery at ZT and Thomas at Adena, for starters. How do you break it down Dani, since you are our SVC guru? I'm more of a novest since I spend most of my nights watching the MSL.

[LetsGoPSU]

Im guessing there are no Division additions in hoops?

[danicalifornia]

Dani has all the numbers figured out...downplaying those superior math skills.

On another note the SVC should be pretty exciting this year with Piketon, Unioto, SE and ZT. Also some very good young players with Mowery at ZT and Thomas at Adena, for starters. How do you break it down Dani, since you are our SVC guru? I'm more of a novest since I spend most of my nights watching the MSL.

Based on what's back from last year and seeing a few in the summer, I'd say:

Zane Trace would be the favorite. Mowery might be the best player in the league as only a sophomore, add in 3 other very good starters and that's a great start. Brian Hall played almost exclusively on JV last year, but he's very good and should help recover some of the boards that Beam pulled down. They barely even went 7 deep last year, but I think Coach Alley will have more to work with this year.

It might sound like a homer pick, but I think Unioto has the best shot to over take ZT for the league crown. They will have more depth and from what I've seen this summer, more cohesiveness and that's without the whole team there. With names like Hosley, Cozad, and Coman, they have guys who can get stops consistently now and the trio of Corcoran, Overly, and Strange should be able to score with any backcourt.

I'll toss Southeastern in at 3rd. They showed flashes at times last year, but then they could lay an egg at other times. There are a couple of huge question marks that I think are best to not be mentioned here, but if they bite them, I see them dropping a couple slots. I do like the combo of Miles and Cartee for Coach Cox's debut team.

Piketon, I have at 4 right now, but that's due to a few things, like a coach. But, Jeremy Farmer should dominate in the post like he did in the 2nd half of last year and that's a good place to start for whoever the new coach will be. Brewster showed he can score in bunches last year and should thrive as the top dog on the Redstreak perimeter. I'm excited for the younger Moore, but I wasn't impressed with the JV team last year and I think that could hurt their depth and that's why I have them 4th. But, give me a big 3 of Farmer, Brewster, and Southworth any day.

Huntington should benefit from their rough end of last season. Losing their best player halfway through the season made others step up and while they didn't get positive results, they each found the roles they would be filling this year. Kellough, Shanks, and Hall should be a formidable trio and the township is never an easy place to win.

Adena will be much improved. They made big strides last year and will only get better with Coach Smith and Easterday working their tales off. It helps to have a player of Thomas' caliber as well. The Warriors play with confidence and will be a factor in the end.

Paint Valley is my #7 for now. Stratton, McCloy, and McFadden should give a lot of teams fits, but I'm not sure they will have the overall depth to really compete yet. But, those 3 are all underclassmen so things will be better for the Bearcats.

I think Westfall will be the celler, but not for long. As bman said earlier, they have good young talent, but I think they are a year away from really competing. The Anderson brothers are both solid players, but the older one is really the only returner from a 7 win team. Missing out on much of the summer probably won't help much either for Coach Younkin. But, Westfall kids always work hard and have confidence, so I wouldn't count them out of any ball games.

Overall, I think 4 teams get to the Convo, but it's an overall young league and should be fun to watch and I don't see a whole lot of blowouts league wide.

[pfloyd]

... it just doesn't get any better than that SVC rundown - thanks daniC - it gives so much more info to go on for initial rankings of teams on the Elite 8 lists ... on a side note how has Erique Hosley recovered from his arm injury sustained at Logan? at 6-3 last year/starting (so he has lots of experience coming into 2013-14) - he will be a beast in the paint for UHS ... with Unioto being a preseason pick to win the SVC they will STILL be a young team! losing Chase Detillon 6-5, Bryce Aldridge 6-2, Zach Downs 6-0, Dylan Minney 6-2 (who jumped into the starting lineup last season after Hosley's injury)

Kyle Strange 5-11 jr
Nick Cocoran 6-1 jr
Nick Overly 5-7 jr
Erique Hosley 6-3 soph

5th starter : Nick Cozad 6-0 jr, Coman ? (from daniC's post), Trevor Detillon 6-3 jr , Alek Adkins 6-4 jr

[moonshine]

Learning something new about BB since I am a Football Guru!

[pfloyd]

... LOL - moonshine it is a well known fact that ALL of you "oblong" football guys are closet roundball guru wannabes LOL ... you football gurus ARE allowed to lurk on the basketball forum BUT it's like those "newspaper internet deals" you only get 8 basketball posts per month then have to go back to lurking until the next month LOL ... I suppose you could say the same about me, I venture over to the football forum to get background information on the teams Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ( to learn something) ... I have set my goals for the Fall season to get out, follow the Purple and teams on the Southeast Ohio gridiron ... I used to be into hs football BIG TIME, did game rundowns, pre and post game napkin stats ... football was actually the reason I got on jjhuddle back in the day BUT that morphed into doing basketball, I stayed with hoops and backed out of football ... my hope is that this season's edition of the Purple on the gridiron gives me a good reason to get back in the stands on Friday nights ... I'm not even going to be unrealistic about my expectations for the Purple - I want Coach Burke's TEAM to pass the eye test for me - players being taught the fundamentals of the game AND the nuances of their positions, improvement from game to game win or lose, players showing a competitive attitude win or lose EVERY GAME no matter the numbers on the scoreboard , the new coaching staff playing the type of game that fits the makeup of the personnel on the team instead of trying to force fit players into a brand of football, and hard-nosed , fundamentally sound DEFENSE ( in my mind you will ALWAYS run into opposing players that are head & shoulders above the field, they are that much quicker, stronger, bigger etc) these kids will beat you that 5% of the time on field BUT imo that other 95% of the time your TEAM, playing TEAM defense, able to wrap up tackling wise, knowing there assignments/knowing how to play their position, yes and having players that have skills that can be emphasized to make TEAM better and force the opponent to do things they aren't comfortable doing ... 95% of the time you are able to play the opposition even up ... will you win them all? - not hardly ( sometimes that 5% of the time the opposition is THAT MUCH BETTER and will make you pay for it with BIG plays), WILL YOU be "in" most games - imo ABSOLUTELY - by being "IN" most games with the fundamentals it opens the door for ALL of the "other factors" that determine the outcomes of games into play - turnovers, field position, special teams play, field goals/extra points ... imo IF you can play fundamentally sound on both sides of the ball, and strive to win the turnover/field position game/win on special teams/win the kicking game - YOUR TEAM will be competitive every game ... the better you get at the little things, the more the ball starts bouncing in your direction, the more you win the "games within the game" you will be in a position to win the games you should AND some of the games you aren't supposed to win ... with ALL of these components being good based on fundamentals it also means that you have literally every player on the TEAM contributing and more importantly FEELING/KNOWING that they are contributing, FEELING/KNOWING that they are a reason TEAM is improving and yes winning ...

... wow! I started posting, forgot we were on the basketball forum ! , sorry for rambling ABOUT FOOTBALL NO LESS! ...

[WarriorBlue]

Even with losing Chillicothe, Fairland, and Waverly from the sectional, the Southeastern sectional is still strong, even if it is not as deep as the Logan sectional at this point. Chillicothe, Fairland, and Unioto all had leads in the 4th quarter of their district semifinals losses last year, so they weren't that far off from the studs from Logan.

Anybody can beat Anybody at Anytime! We all get that but when trying to predict game outcomes you really can't realistically overlook the talent at Athens( Borrows, Watson, Salztman) Warren( French, Hall, Patton)
We're talking ANOTHER level. Borrows & Watson as well as French & Hall are getting serious DI interest. Salztman & Patton would be the best player on 90% of the teams in SE Ohio. Both teams have major assets coaching on the sideline.
The Logan sectional will be brutal. SE teams will be climbing an uphill battle!

[bman]

Good run down dani. I'm going to make a point of it to try and take in a ZT game this season, rather if it's against Logan Elm, Amanda or Westfall. They had some real promising kids last year that should be even better with experience. Those top three to four teams have some solid pieces. It'll be interesting to see how the young kids at Westfall develop this season, with folks like Anderson and Staten trying to lead the way as seniors. Anderson can stroke it at times. Staten could have an interesting year with his athleticism.

[danicalifornia]

... it just doesn't get any better than that SVC rundown - thanks daniC - it gives so much more info to go on for initial rankings of teams on the Elite 8 lists ... on a side note how has Erique Hosley recovered from his arm injury sustained at Logan? at 6-3 last year/starting (so he has lots of experience coming into 2013-14) - he will be a beast in the paint for UHS ... with Unioto being a preseason pick to win the SVC they will STILL be a young team! losing Chase Detillon 6-5, Bryce Aldridge 6-2, Zach Downs 6-0, Dylan Minney 6-2 (who jumped into the starting lineup last season after Hosley's injury)

Kyle Strange 5-11 jr
Nick Cocoran 6-1 jr
Nick Overly 5-7 jr
Erique Hosley 6-3 soph

5th starter : Nick Cozad 6-0 jr, Coman ? (from daniC's post), Trevor Detillon 6-3 jr , Alek Adkins 6-4 jr

Coman is a 5'11 Jr. His stepdad is Unioto legend (and former NAIA POY) Jason Cruse. He started at Unioto and moved to Florida, but he was back for the OU camp and can be a tenatious defender. 2 more kids that could jump into the starting lineup after solid summers:
6'6 Sr Alex True
6'1 Soph Cole Cottrill

[danicalifornia]

Good run down dani. I'm going to make a point of it to try and take in a ZT game this season, rather if it's against Logan Elm, Amanda or Westfall. They had some real promising kids last year that should be even better with experience. Those top three to four teams have some solid pieces. It'll be interesting to see how the young kids at Westfall develop this season, with folks like Anderson and Staten trying to lead the way as seniors. Anderson can stroke it at times. Staten could have an interesting year with his athleticism.

The more and more I think about it, the better I think the Mustangs will be. Anderson is a streaky shooter, but can get going in a hurry and their freshmen group from last year was very good. I think by midseason, they can have it turned around and compete night in and out.

Is there any chance at all that Amanda will be able to convince the state to let them come to the SE?

[93Bulldog]

One thing I would like to see more of is TVC-Ohio teams playing SVC teams ... Vinton County gives us the only gauge of how the two leagues compare ... A TVC vs SVC challenge (like they do in college hoops with the Big 10 and ACC) would be a great idea for early season games.

[Dundas]

One thing I would like to see more of is TVC-Ohio teams playing SVC teams ... Vinton County gives us the only gauge of how the two leagues compare ... A TVC vs SVC challenge (like they do in college hoops with the Big 10 and ACC) would be a great idea for early season games.

I like that idea. Maybe make it an all day event on a Saturday or a Friday night/Saturday split. With River Valley coming into the Ohio division, the TVC will only be 1 school smaller.. you could bring in a hocking team to make it even. I think Wellston would be a good place to hold it since they have the biggest (by far) gymnasium and are pretty central to both leagues..or rotate it between schools/leagues. VC has been in the ZT tipoff classic a number of times and normally face an SVC opponent. They have also played Huntington and Adena in recent years and for the last several years have played Paint Valley, Piketon and Southeastern. VC has only played Unioto 4 times (the last in 1992) but have played the U in the foundation scrimmage the last two years. Vinton County has never faced Westfall but has had scrimmages against them in the past (most recently last year)

[93Bulldog]

Wellston gym ... Friday night and Saturday event ... perfect!

[WarriorBlue]

Why not a SEOAL vs TVC Ohio. That's the real comparison. Prolly none of the coaches wanna go there. Throw Fairland in the mix for good measure

Warren/Athens
Portsmouth/Vinton Co
Logan/NY
Gallia/Wellston
Jackson/Alexander
Fairland/Meigs

Now that's an event!! 93Dog let's get this done!!

[bman]

Dani, Amanda has tried a couple of times but the issue is the Central District voting it down. They are a floater between D2 and D3 in all sports but football now and most of your D3 schools in the Central District are now located north of Columbus. With the Central District going to home sectional play in all sports, that makes travel tough. Amanda's sectional boys hoops tourney game was 85 miles away in Fredericktown. With the 33 bypass opening at Nelsonville later this year, Amanda is only about an hour from Athens. Folks look at it as an hour to Athens or at least an hour fighting Columbus traffic, even when they reach district play, to go play at a Delaware or Dublin Jerome or Big Walnut as a neutral site.

I'm surprised the Central District has resisted so long, because there is an invisible line of US 22 that separates the Central from SE, and Amanda is south of the line.

As for Westfall, it is definitely going to take its lumps early but they may be a sleeper when sectional play starts depending on how the young guards develop. If they get the right matchup, they may be able to sneak a spot at the Convo. Anderson can shoot the ball, and a little more consistency would go a long way. I can see Staten being a slasher type to the basket, mixing it up for some putbacks and rebounds.


And on a TVC-SVC challenge, the perfect venue for it would be OU-Chillicothe at the Shoemaker Center. Piketon-VC play yearly there.