Pfloyd's Elite 8 for Southern/SouthEast Ohio - Week #1

[LucasDavenport]

Unioto 66
Nelsonville 53. Final

[noreply66]

... okay, I decided that last night probably wasn't a good time to respond to someone taking a shot at what I try to do - even if it is in my own mind as to what I try to do, as no one pays me, no one says I have to rank teams (all 72) , I COULD sit at home and STILL rank teams 1-72 without watching a single game ! BUT in my little mind in order to 1) be able to rank teams I have to know the teams, 2) to be at all credible I could not in my own mind (as little as it may be) even try to rank teams NOT having seen as many as I can ... anyway - I apologize for responding last night at all I had just gotten back from Washington CH (about an hour and 20 minute drive each way/after doing my fulltime day job) - I should have waited until today to respond ... I just took a look at the finals from last night , wanted to look at all of them to see IF I was waaaaaaaaay off base with my rankings and the game results of last night ... I had 5 lower ranked teams beat higher ranked teams last night :

#29 Adena 75
#19 Fairfield Leesburg 49

#25 Fairland 58
#11 Ironton 51

#43 South Point 65
#16 Chesapeake 58

#44 Lucasville Valley 66
#26 South Webster 60

#13 Portsmouth 54
#41 Coal Grove 66

... it was posted that there were many upsets ? I suppose you could "say" upsets due to the rankings or the "gap" between team rankings ... so I will give THAT to the poster from last night ... on behalf of the committee - these teams are (other than Adena) the furthest away from where I point PFLOYD1 to begin my travels to games - hard to get TO THE RIVER (Chesapeake/Fairland/Ironton/Portsmouth/South Wesbster/Valley/Coal Grove then you throw in a SHAC team ANY SHAC team ... unless these teams are playing in a tournament get-together (ie the Piketon Classic to start the year/ZT Tip Off Classic/the Pike County Holiday tourney/the Beasts of the Southeast in Chesapeake) more than likely I can't get out to see these teams until the Convo - week nights are impossible with my "real job" ... just because I travel to see as many teams as I can see I STILL WANT TO SEE GOOD basketball - so the committee "ain't" traveling to see teams for the sake of just seeing teams ...

Portsmouth losing to Coal Grove ... young PHS team, going to have ups and downs ALL season ... it was on the road at Coal Grove ... from what I have read about the OVC since THE SUMMER was that you could flip a coin between where any of the teams would be at the end of the season after you put down on paper everyone's "OVC to lose" pick Gallia Academy ... 2 through the rest of the OVC were 50/50 toss up games in the league ... most the time you look at high school games and the home team HAS a point total advantage - what you want to give them is up to you ... I figure between 4-8 points depending on where "home" is ... Portsmouth lost by -12 ... I HAVE seen Portsmouth - lots of talent ! a team with speed/quickness ... a team you don't want to see in the post season - Fraulini (jr)/Shipp(soph)/Johnson(fr) THAT trio will be back next year for Coach Collins , add to the mix 2 seniors Latimore & McKinley- both excellent ... PHS is a work in progress which we can say about ALL of the teams - Coach Collins has scorers in Latimore/Fraulini (both can put up 20 points a night) ... Shipp/McKinley will get better and better as the season goes along - they are a work in progress in getting them "set plays" in the paint ... Johnson is the press breaker pg/harasser on the defensive end - not a scorer of the ball - yet ... give the Trojans time to get all of the parts working ... until then the adage that the OVC has one outstanding team - Gallia and a large group of "equally talented/can beat each other on any given night" will hold true ... this one not an upset ...

Valley vs South Webster ... Valley (2-2) ... going into last night - had beaten a quality team in Adena, lost to Piketon in the opening game @ PHS - the Indians played well enough to win that one ... VHS lost to Oak Hill at Oak Hill by 12 ... if they play a team that is missing it's star - enter So.Webster & Blevins - Valley has shown they can beat you AND they did ... no upset in my thinking ...

Chesapeake vs South Point ... the Pointers without Fox !? getting the W vs a young , but good 'peake ball club AT Chesapeake BUT as soon as you can label a team "young" you almost always follow that with "inconsistent" ...I'll give you an upset label on that one just because ...

Fairland vs Ironton ... 2 unproven teams, Ironton the more known commodity - Fairland loses all 5 starters - the committee in the preseason - put the rebuilding label on the Dragons - not the case ! beating a full strength So Webster team (+13), beat Huntington Prep (+24) the lone loss by 2 points at home vs one of the better teams in SEOhio Eastern Pike ... haven't seen either Ironton or Fairland - only know the coaching staff at Fairland Coach Speed/Coach Salyers - the emphasis is on Defense ... they have kids who practiced vs the best of SEOhio for their careers at FHS ... still the Dragons are unproven - they ARE showing to be a very good TEAM that will continue to move up the rankings - probably ranked a little low but not overly so for the "unknown" that they are imo ... Ironton is probably too high - for now ... not an upset in my opinion ...

... my take on the criticism for myself apparently coming across as "me thinking I'm an expert" in my rankings/posts ? hard to be an expert when dealing with 14-18 year old kids playing a game ... I post on what I see, what I get from others - coaches, fellow posters (there are posters on here who I will read religiously - I92, daniC, trojandave, 93bulldog and others for sure - I trust their input, I know they KNOW what they are talking about - but they will back me up on this one - I listen BUT I'm pretty hardheaded - I usually will keep their input in mind and go my own way anyway LOL - but truthfully I trust what I SEE - that's why I hit the highways Tuesday, Friday, Saturday every week for from Nov.30 - the 3 Weeks of the Convo ... IF watching high school hoops all winter, and not being afraid to post my opinions on what I see makes me an expert - so be it ... my intent is not to come across that way ... I do want those who read what I post concerning the teams and what I see concerning the teams to get out a SEE for themselves ! more often than not - IF you get out and watch the teams, including your school or favorite team more often than not you will agree with what I have seen in the teams ... I post what I see and what the napkin stats tell me after I have watched the games ...

... back to last nights "upsets" ... in my "not so expert" opinion 1 upset in 32 games for the night ... I'll take it ... even if I give in to counting all 5 as upsets ? - that would be a typical hoops night Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ... each game night is a chapter of the 2018-19 season written by youngsters playing the game of basketball ... a new chapter is written as we move through the season by all 72 teams each night ... by the time February rolls around each of these 72 teams will have edited their own stories - correcting/adjusting/coming up with a TEAM they all get a chance to send to the Final Chapter - the post season ... the Elite 8 rankings WILL have it's own final edition that summarizes all 72 stories into one post ... if the author is paying attention as I know he does , that Final Edition will be pretty darn accurate as to who ARE the best of the best in Southern and SouthEast Ohio hoops for 2018-19 ...

I sort of feel this early in the season teams are still trying to find themselves and there are not that many upsets.

[Ironman92]

Lucas.... don’t forget your $2 to park.

[goUK]

big upsets in the ovc last night

#41 CG over #14 Portsmouth @ CG
#25 Fair over #12 Ironton @ Fair
#43 SP over #16 Chesapeake @ Ches

Not sure any of these are really upsets. Coal Grove is solid and Portsmouth is going to have some growing pains, they started off hot but was due for a setback.

Fairland is much better than people think. Ironton, eh, they're an average to slightly above average SE Ohio D3 team.

South Point has Fox that will keep the Pointers in most games on the schedule.

Based on the rankings these were upsets. Thats what this whole thread is about.

[LucasDavenport]

Stop by the table and say hello and I will allow you to give me my $2 back. You too Pfloyd!!

The U vs NY game was closer than the final score indicated

[Ironman92]

Stop by the table and say hello and I will allow you to give me my $2 back. You too Pfloyd!!

The U vs NY game was closer than the final score indicated

Will do. I’ll be doing the book at some of the away games

[mlittle]

Stop by the table and say hello and I will allow you to give me my $2 back. You too Pfloyd!!

The U vs NY game was closer than the final score indicated

Will do. I’ll be doing the book at some of the away games

The U led that game at all stops! Game was played within 10 pretty much the whole game. NY has a solid squad. Good win for unioto!

[93Bulldog]

Very important night in the TVC Friday

Athens (2-2),(1-0) hosts Vinton County (1-1),(0-1)
Alexander (3-0),(1-0) hosts Meigs (3-2),(1-0)

Sparty has a great opportunity to impress the committee this weekend. They host a Meigs team fresh off a victory over Marietta on Friday - and will take on what should be a (4-0) Waterford squad Saturday night.

[mlittle]

Stop by the table and say hello and I will allow you to give me my $2 back. You too Pfloyd!!

The U vs NY game was closer than the final score indicated

Will do. I’ll be doing the book at some of the away games

The U led that game at all stops! Game was played within 10 pretty much the whole game. NY has a solid squad. Good win for unioto!

Correction. Tied after one

[mlittle]

... there IS a boyz game going on tonight ! Unioto is hosting Nelsonville York at the U for this Wednesday night ! if anyone has updates please share !

Don’t have the box scores for all the kids but for Unioto Cameron Debord had 17 pts Isaac Little 15. I believe we had 9 players score and a couple other kids close to or at double digits. Cade Mckee being one. For NY Wilburn was their best player tonight. Guessing he ended up in the mid upper teens.

Good win for Unioto

[Pa Trojan]

Portsmouth looks to bounce back hosting South Point on Friday Go Trojans

[Unbiased]

Pfloyd, I just read your posts about the upsets. I agree that the South Point @ Chesapeake was an upset, especially without Fox.The Fox kid is a special player. Coal Grove over Portsmouth, I don’t think that was too crazy. Coal Grove is a tough team and could pick up for W’s than expected. I would like to point out though that though Fairland is looking very tough early with a big win over a talented Ironton team, their one loss was not at home, it was actually at a classic in Portsmouth (closer to Eastern than Fairland). Fairland only goes 6 deep majority of the time as Lambiotte is out. However, The Mondlak kid is shining in his role now that he is out from behind those graduating seniors. They have a legitimate playmaker in Clayton Thomas, the freshman Aiden Porter has appeared to jump in at varsity level just fine, then the other seniors (Chinn and Gartin) and Sophomore Polcyn provide sparks and play their role greatly. I believe even though it’s early and I’ve only seen two games, Fairland is looking to be a tough competitor despite losing their starting 5.

[biggdowgg]

Portsmouth has a freshman or sophomore? That will make a big impact on varsity when he gets back heis nursing a football injury and is expected back early January , Bryant is his name and he can no doubt fit right in the rotation.

Some of the starters are getting their feet wet and will only get better, remember Fraulini is only starter back from last season ,we will take some lumps this year but still be competitive but next year ???


Out starting point guard came straight from junior high,no freshman ball ,no jv ball ,his first game as a freshman was starting point guard for the Portsmouth TROJANS .
This kid is going to be good!

[mrwonderful]

South Point game by no means an upset. SP is type of team that can beat anyone in Conference or be beat by anyone...When they play team ball like they did against Peak they'll be hard to beat...They have all the ingredients of being a good team. Great Coaching. This team practices hard, and plays hard, has Athletic players and a big who's a scorer.... What makes them dangerous is they are not a one man team like everyone thinks...Each player has a role whether it be 3 pt specialist, rebounder, penetrator, defensive specialist with some having multiple roles...Cat quick!!!!! A dangerous predator!!!!!

[pfloyd]

Some BIG games being played Friday night ! :

As 93bulldog posted -

Athens vs Vinton County
Alexander vs Meigs

Chillicothe @ McClain
Washington CH @ Jackson

Morgan vs Sheridan
Western Pike vs Eastern Pike
Paint Valley vs Southeastern
Fairfield Union vs Logan Elm

Fairland vs Coal Grove
Upstart Rock Hill @ Chesapeake
Ironton vs Gallia Academy
Portsmouth vs South Point

North Adams vs Eastern Brown
Whiteoak vs Fairfield Leesburg

... and THAT is ONLY Friday night !!! ...

[peake71]

The Peake plays at Rock Hill this Friday.

[pfloyd]

The Peake plays at Rock Hill this Friday.

I knew that ! peake71 - I'm getting old my friend , can't even read my own writing ...

[93Bulldog]

So where is the tour bus heading to Friday?

[Ironman92]

So where is the tour bus heading to Friday?

Apple town

[pfloyd]

So where is the tour bus heading to Friday?

Apple town

... the Big Apple to see Washington CH take on the Ironmen - my first look at Coach Morrow's TEAM Jackson ... then Saturday night making the short trip to Jim's Gym in Logan to see Coach Huffer & the Cavs play my Purple Boyz of Logan ...