gallia Academy basketball 2017-2018

[svac83]

Things are really looking up in land of Blue devils. Think it will be a exciting season this year. Let me start with my 3 biggest negatives when it comes to the program at this time.

1. The fan base really needs to learn how to become a factor in a game. It was nice to see the stands as full as they were last year in the gym but the student section and all the fans need to understand what they can do to influence a game.
2. The acoustics of the Gym. My guess it has to do with the auxiliary gym being behind the home stands. It may have to do with the band room being behind the visitors side and that sound dampening wall of band room. Lowering the net behind the bleachers between the auxiliary gym and main gym was a great improvement. But there is still something mot write. 25 fans in visitors side sound like 200 fans. and 600 fans on home side sound like 100.
3. Would be the schedule. you have 14 league games. And 2 games against fairland, south point and portsmouth i think is solid every year but that gives you 8 non league games. this year that is Athens, Meigs, jackson, river valley, point pleasant, washington, River valley and point pleasant. This is a upgrade over last few years and i am ok with playing all the local teams. But think we have to do better then a second game with river valley and point pleasant. last year they were very under prepared for the tournament with schedule they played.

On the court the Blue devils were 15-7 last year. Best season in quite some time. The only real contributor they lost off that team is miles cornwell. His energy and leadership will be missed.

Now from here on out let me preference this by saying i know nothing about the summer or who exactly will be on this team.

Should have 3 seniors. Peck, wiseman should be starters and coach Harrisons son.

Peck has gotten much better of last 2 years at 6' 5" and a body meant to bang under neath he is a force. He had several games of 20 plus points. Problem is he occasionally wants to play defense with his arms and not his legs and picks up a lot of cheap fouls. He is a offensive force but can be a defensive liability. When this team presses peck is great on the point of that press but he can only press for short periods of time. Peck even as good as he is will probably have his minutes cut this year as there is depth at the 4 position.

Wiseman is sort of a difficult player to figure out. I think his greatest strength is as a defender. On offense he is not a great ball handler against the press. Which is sort of odd considering he is probably this teams most dangerous dribble drive guy.

Harrison is a pretty good defender and a streak shooter when he is in game he is a real hustler on the court.

Juniors will be Mcellend, Call, Thomas, Carter, as returners off last year varsity squad. There will be other juniors make this team but i will discuss them later.

Mccellend is the on the court QB. Think for this team to be as good as they can be he needs to shoot a little less and distribute a little more. Not that he is a bad shooter quite the opposite but when he starts chucking it the offense get stagnate. he would be a plus on defensive side.

Call is maybe best defender on this team outside of wiseman and he is very long, and good shooter and can get ball to the hoop.
Thomas is a plug in piece he is virtually wiseman or call you just plug him and and you lose nothing.

Carter played varsity maybe last 8 games of season. He is a good defender great on boards as another 6' 5" player he will be pecks backup but they really play different games carter is very athletic and doesn't need to be set up on offense. Blue devils will be better on defense when he is on floor.

As a sophomore we have loveday who i am sure now is a true 7 footer. Over the summer he received his first college offer and it was from Purdue. I understand a lot of other schools interested in this young man. He has put on some much needed weight. He makes up for a lot of defensive flaws from other players with his height. Biggest problem he has is blue devils play a lot of team with no bigs and he ends up having to guard a 6 foot kid that tries to pull him out. This leaves the Blue devils playing a lot of zone and they are not a great zone team. So for that reason i see this team pressing a lot and if they press as much as they should this may limit pecks playing time.

There are several other kids that will be juniors that are good basketball players that will round out this roster. i am just not sure which one's will make it. My guess would be the other Carter will play. He is a great ball handler and has the ability to just kill teams when he is shooting the 3 well. Davis, and Sipple i Think would make the team both these kids are just solid hard nosed basketball players and hustlers the kind of kid that will get on floor and get dirty for you. There may be another sophomore make the team as Blouir is a player but i see him getting a ton of JV time and only dressing varsity certain games. I am sure i have forgotten some kids. This team is really deep and should be fun to watch.

What i dont understand is how this team has enough possessions and opportunities for this team. I think the biggest mistake that may be made here is trying to get everyone to much playing time and that stop the team from getting in flow. But when i look up and down at this team. i cant imagine Peck averaging less then 12 a game Cant imagine loveday not averaging 12 a game. cant imagine wiseman less then 10 a game. cant imagine call or Mcellend not getting 9 points a game. Cant imagine thomas not averaging like 8 a game. and Carter should get 6 or 8 a game. That is like 70 points a game. i am just not sure how it is going to work out and will be curious to see how this team handles a team that will want to slow them down.

As far as Defense goes maybe this team switches from the 2-3 zone of last year into a more aggressive 1-3-1 match up zone. Think it will be really interesting and i know fairland is really good. But i see no reason why this team shouldn't be very competitive in all 22 games and might even get fairland when they come to Gallia late in the season.

Maybe we will even get Pfloyd out to give us a look.

[trojandave]

Gallia Academy took a big step last season in regaining basketball prominence. Now, with so many key players coming back, it should be a season in which the Blue Devils should take another step forward and improve on last season's record. The OVC will really be strong this year, but GAHS has the talent to compete with anyone in the conference and that includes Fairland. I think it is really important for Loveday to be more of a factor offensively which will make Gallia much more difficult to defend.

Getting to the regionals is a realistic goal I think for Blue Devil basketball.

[Bengalsrule]

Pretty sure Loveday went to oak hill, thats what we hear down in lawrence county anyway. hope not

[The Flash]

Pretty sure Loveday went to oak hill, thats what we hear down in lawrence county anyway. hope not

Also what I heard

[baseball16]

Loveday is not at Oak Hill

Nov 21st foundation game should be a good one in frenchtown. Oak Hill bringing a pretty talented team . Even though it's a foundation game, should still be a dandy

[svac83]

He has marched with Gallia academy band all year and is at school everyday.

[The Flash]

Good to hear. Glad to see him stay put

[svac83]

Loveday would graduate from Gallia Academy if he had his way. My guess is i give that almost zero chance as happening unless he puts off committing to a college until his senior year. He is a great kid who is interested on being a kid as long as possible. He will sit out the first quarter of a least one game this year and maybe as many as 3 or maybe just miss one whole game.... Why because he wants to Deer Hunt and he will miss some practices so he will be treated as rest of team will when he misses a practice. Some people would call this selfish and to a point maybe so. But i know most of the colleges talking to him would like him to play at least one year at a prep school some would like 2 years. So he realizes this may his last year to enjoy this for a while. He also has a few other things he enjoys like band that he would like to do as long as possible before basketball and school consume his life. He is really a great kid. I wish him all the best and will enjoy watching him here as long as he remains a Blue Devil.

[Bengalsrule]

I am sorry for the misinformation. Thats what I and several others had heard. I am glad he is staying at the place he likes and I hope he lives the life of a teenager and has fun and does the things he enjoys. I hope he and the Blue Devils have a great season.

[The Flash]

Seems like a smart kid and a fun one to be around. He’s special and it’s nice he put on some much needed weight. I’ll for sure catch a GA game or two this year to see his development

[Firebreather]

Gonna be 2 great OVC games with Fairland! Looking forward to watching them. I expect The Blue Devils to make a great run at Athens this year!

[donaldtrump]

Gallia won't come close to beating Fairland...My guess is they'll be lucky to split with South Point...Portsmouth and Coal Grove will play with them also......

[svac83]

I am sorry for the misinformation. Thats what I and several others had heard. I am glad he is staying at the place he likes and I hope he lives the life of a teenager and has fun and does the things he enjoys. I hope he and the Blue Devils have a great season.

I understand i heard those rumors also. He really doesn't live that far from Oak hill school district. Has a lot of friends at Oak hill and I think that is how all the rumors started.

[bighead]

Good year for GA !

[bighead]

donald can't believe a word you say !

[danicalifornia]

Maybe I'll be wrong, but I just can't see how they can beat Fairland. The Dragons lost literally nothing and absolutely smoked the Devils last year (27 and 35 points), so even though I'm sure Loveday has made a big jump, I still can't see those games being closer than 10-15 pounts.

That isn't to say that I don't think Gallia makes a return to the Convo. They should be one of the top 4 teams out of the Southeastern Sectional and I would expect a better showing than they had against Waverly in Sectional play this past season. Good luck this season!

[donaldtrump]

Bighead if you'd pull your head out of the lying Clinton's arses long enough to get oxygen to your brain you'd believe in me!!
I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message!!!

[Firebreather]

Donald, we are gonna impeach you! Gallia will play with Fairland, but not beat them. They will easily finish in 2nd place in the conference race. Don't make me go all Pelosi on you!!!!

[svac83]

Maybe I'll be wrong, but I just can't see how they can beat Fairland. The Dragons lost literally nothing and absolutely smoked the Devils last year (27 and 35 points), so even though I'm sure Loveday has made a big jump, I still can't see those games being closer than 10-15 pounts.

That isn't to say that I don't think Gallia makes a return to the Convo. They should be one of the top 4 teams out of the Southeastern Sectional and I would expect a better showing than they had against Waverly in Sectional play this past season. Good luck this season!

I don't really disagree with this in the fact that i think they will beat them i am saying that they will be in all 22 games. i dont think the biggest improvement to this team will be Loveday. I think the biggest difference in this team will Be the improvement in Carter and the fact this team will not be limited to the fact they have to play a certain way. Last year they needed peck to dominate most nights to have a chance. I am saying as a group they will not have to rely on any person each night and they will be much more flexible in there style of play and things they can do. I think that gives them a chance every night. Do i think there as good as fairland no i don't.

Do i think they are now good enough that if they bring there A game they can play with fairland and if they get a few breaks may be able to pull off upset yes. I am not stating they win any more games then they did last year. But they have a much better chance because they are more well rounded.

[bighead]

I've seen some good teams over the years any given night !