2017-18 Season ... Who are the top teams in each league ?

[pfloyd]

Before everyone moves on to baseball ... on the way down to KW on the plane I started listing my top top teams for the 2017-18 season ... I'm getting information together to read through so I can come up with the Preseason rankings ...

I have a good list of teams 1- 40'ish ... I would like ALL of the Elite 8 readers to have some input - I'm looking for information as to which teams YOU feel strongly about as the top teams in each league ... as I said I have MY list BUT I'm looking for the info that has some of the teams who have been down of late but have players starting to come thru in that NEXT cycle of athletes- Lucasville Valley , Chesapeake, etc.

Post the info you have ... names are good ... specifics if you have them ... i.e. Western Pike has a group I believe from on their JV team that went undefeated on only a loss or 2 ...

Give some good info to start digging thru ... and let see how close I come to you folks who your league much better than I ... thank you guys !!!

[bman]

MSL - Fairfield Union is clear cut favorite with players like Colin Woodside, Lucas Thompson and Evan Conley back. Bloom-Carroll suffered some big losses to graduation, but believe they'll be competitive...Logan Elm will frankly be in a rebuilding season, but has some promising classes coming up including next year's freshmen....Teays Valley has wing Ryan Wolfe back, but loses the rest of its starters and has some questions coming into next season...Circleville should have some decent pieces back, but needs to improve a lot on defense and find a point guard...Amanda should continue to improve, but looks to be a middle-of-the-pack team.

FAC...aka Confederate Five plus Jackson - Miami Trace loses a ton of seniors, but still returns guard Cameron Carter and forward Darby Tyree. Expect to be around .500 or maybe a little better. Court House returns Evan Upthegrove, Richard Burns and Dillon Steward. Coach Bartruff does a nice job with those guys. I'd say they should be competitive, .500 or maybe a little better. Chillicothe would be my preseason league favorite, led by Branden Maughmer, but a potential move to D1 will really hurt come tournament time. We have some posters from FAC country who can probably fill in some information.

A wild card from my area could by Circleville New Hope Christian, which is supposed to be going into OHSAA this upcoming season. It'll be interesting to see if they are put in the Central or Southeast in Division IV. New Hope won the OCSAA championship this past season. New Hope will be an independent.

[pfloyd]

Thanks bman ... that's pretty much how I had the Northwest Territories shaking out ... I wanted some info on those round town boys being their 3rd season under new management I wanted to know if they had some key pieces coming up to put them in the upper third of the rankings this season... what does McClain have this coming year? Any offense at all ?

[bman]

Thanks bman ... that's pretty much how I had the Northwest Territories shaking out ... I wanted some info on those round town boys being their 3rd season under new management I wanted to know if they had some key pieces coming up to put them in the upper third of the rankings this season... what does McClain have this coming year? Any offense at all ?

Circleville should return 6-3 forward Seth Risner, guards Jay Styers and Cameron Banks and guard Jacob Rhymer. They lose Taylor and Burroughs. Circleville often would score mid 50s-mid 60s, enough points to win, but would struggle stringing together stops. They must make big strides on defense to become a winning team.

Don't know a lot about Greenfield, to be honest. I mostly see Trace, Court House and Chillicothe in the SCOL and soon to be the FAC.

[smurray]

Waverly (16-6 regular season) returns 3 of their starters in Senior to be Clayton Howell and Juniors to be Cobe Marquez & Easton Wolfe. All three of those guys will be big playmakers on the football team. The Tigers only lose two to graduation and last word I got was Senior to be Gunnar Robinson will be back on the hardwood after taking off this year. Gunnar was a beast when he played as a sophomore and he's done nothing but get bigger and stronger.
The JV squad went undefeated and the freshman team only lost a couple games.
Waverly should be much improved and battle for the SOC 2.

[pfloyd]

Smurray ... Waverly is definitely in the upper 1/3 of my initial preseason rankings ... thanks for confirming my thoughts !

[pfloyd]

Any surprises in the SOC 1 or 2 for next season?

[93Bulldog]

Athens is simple. Everyone back except Griff.

Subtract Lutz & add Isaiah Butcher.

[Raider6309]

TVC Ohio
1. Vinton county
2. Athens
3. Meigs

Alexander, Nelsonville-york, River valley, and Wellston idk know how much they all return

[mattash]

My guess

FAC- Chillicothe
SVC- Paint Valley
SOC1 Eastern
SOC2 Waverly
OVC- Fairland
TVC-Hocking- Waterford
TVC-Ohio- Athens
MSL - Fairfield Union
PVC- Shenandoah

[EagleNut14]

Rumor has it Perdue is leaving Western Pike which should make Eastern Pike the clear front runner for S.O.C 1.

[pfloyd]

Rumor has it Perdue is leaving Western Pike which should make Eastern Pike the clear front runner for S.O.C 1.

Eastern Pike is definitely in my top 20 on my first draft thanks EagleNut14 ... Clay & East I have dropping significantly- am I wrong in thinking that?

[danicalifornia]

My Super Early SVC Prediction

1. Unioto
2. Paint Valley
3. Zane Trace
4. Piketon
5. Southeastern
6. Westfall
7. Huntington
8. Adena

My Super Early FAC Prediction

1. Chillicothe
2. Washington
3. Jackson
4. Miami Trace
5. Hillsboro
6. Greenfield (although the young Mischal is going to be outstanding)

[EPN]

Pfloyd, in my opinion , u r correct , ports clay will take a huge hit hit next year,they r losing almost everything, and ports east is losing a lot as well, the big question for ports east is whether Blaine Scott plays or not , if he does, they should b decent , if he doesn't , they will struggle in my opinion.
Right now I would have Eastern Pike and Western Pike as the favorites, now if what Eaglenut 14 said is true, and Perdue is not at Western , I would have Eastern as a heavy favorite in the SOC 1 , now a lot can happen between now and then . I am very much looking forward to your preseason rankings.

[Ed Ott]

Heard Oak Hill maybe getting two more transfers. If so they'll contend for the final 4.

[Skiisme]

In the TVC Ohio, I look for VC to be the preseason favorites. Lose Bartoe and Jones from the starting lineup, but return Naylan Yates, Jake Speakman, Bryce Damron, Eli Griffith and Nevan Yayes. Athens will be decent, but without Lutz, don't think they can win the TVC. Not sure what Meigs returns, they had a good team this year.

[EagleNut14]

Pfloyd, in my opinion , u r correct , ports clay will take a huge hit hit next year,they r losing almost everything, and ports east is losing a lot as well, the big question for ports east is whether Blaine Scott plays or not , if he does, they should b decent , if he doesn't , they will struggle in my opinion.
Right now I would have Eastern Pike and Western Pike as the favorites, now if what Eaglenut 14 said is true, and Perdue is not at Western , I would have Eastern as a heavy favorite in the SOC 1 , now a lot can happen between now and then . I am very much looking forward to your preseason rankings.

Nothing set in stone but from what I keep hearing it's sounding like he's transferring back to Piketon since Coach Miller has stepped down out at Western. I have also heard Eastern as well. Guess we shall see!

[tvc_fan]

I honestly believe that Meigs will win the TVC-OHIO this year and make a good tourney run.

I don't think VC will be as good this year without Bartoe or Jones and defenses can focus more on Naylan Yates and Speakman.

Athens loses Lutz, That is huge. Defense will just have to worry about Cozart, and we shut him down last year the 2nd time around.

We lose Musser (12ppg) Kennedy (8ppg) and Mahr (9ppg)
But we return Mattox, Bartrum and Baer and return a great group of bench players and also have a few from JV that will compete for plenty of playing time.

Although it's not a difference in Elite Eight....We could very well be dropping back down to D3.

[danicalifornia]

Meigs is at 204 and the bottom # for D2 was 185 this year, so I doubt that they drop back down.

I think the # will be closer to 195 at the lower end, which means that Fairland will likely be D2.

If Perdue transfers back to Piketon, bump them up to 3rd in my SVC rankings.

[smurray]

Rumor has it Perdue is leaving Western Pike which should make Eastern Pike the clear front runner for S.O.C 1.

That is the word on the Street. Eastern looks like the most logical landing spot.