Waverly 19-4 vs Warren 17-6 District Semi Saturday 02/26 1:00pm

[Chieftain Fan]

I’ll go with Warren in a low scoring close game . 51-47 . Either way two good teams .

[Omega]

Given Warren defeated New Philly, the beast of eastern district in D2, this game has to be rated a toss up. As other has said Warren has to dictate tempo and Waverly has got to find production from others than number 4.

[mlittle]

Don’t remember the last time a #8 seed was as good of a team as Warren. Tough draw for the Tigers ! Sounds like the other coaches wanted to try to get at least one of these 2 out of the way. Lol

Happens every year in this district. Remember a 7 seed win the district tournament last year and was only a basket away from making the regional final. I also think a 7 seed won it the year before as well

[jcbigblue13]

Don’t remember the last time a #8 seed was as good of a team as Warren. Tough draw for the Tigers ! Sounds like the other coaches wanted to try to get at least one of these 2 out of the way. Lol

Happens every year in this district. Remember a 7 seed win the district tournament last year and was only a basket away from making the regional final. I also think a 7 seed won it the year before as well

Yep...#7 Logan Elm defeated #8 Warren in 2020 last game at Convo for D2!!!

[91raider97bobcat]

What I see as the format problem, and this happens in the East District too:

When you have all the coaches in a division voting on every team in their division (many times without seeing half or more of them during the regular season), you tend to vote based on what a teams record is at the time of the draw. If you're going to continue that route, the whole process needs moved back a week (that's an OHSAA decision). That should be easy to accomplish since all the voting is online now.

That's part of the issue as well...coaches used to have to sit in that room and face each other come time to vote. They also had the chance to make their case in person, not in a couple of paragraphs on the online form. Did that really change anyone's mind at the time...I don't know.

When you have geographical districts as expansive as the East and the Southeast, it's going to cause problems no matter what. The Southeast District is the only one that uses NCAA bracketing, so that would seem to be the simplest change. It would also line up some of these earlier games so that a Marietta doesn't have to drive three hours to a first round tournament game in Hillsboro or the like.

Personally, I don't have a real issue with the higher seed hosting early rounds -- that's a reward for a good season. But if you're going to keep that in place, you have to go to the "pick your path" route.

[vcgrad]

I agree- need to reduce the travel for a lot of these teams.

[bman]

What I see as the format problem, and this happens in the East District too:

When you have all the coaches in a division voting on every team in their division (many times without seeing half or more of them during the regular season), you tend to vote based on what a teams record is at the time of the draw. If you're going to continue that route, the whole process needs moved back a week (that's an OHSAA decision). That should be easy to accomplish since all the voting is online now.

That's part of the issue as well...coaches used to have to sit in that room and face each other come time to vote. They also had the chance to make their case in person, not in a couple of paragraphs on the online form. Did that really change anyone's mind at the time...I don't know.

When you have geographical districts as expansive as the East and the Southeast, it's going to cause problems no matter what. The Southeast District is the only one that uses NCAA bracketing, so that would seem to be the simplest change. It would also line up some of these earlier games so that a Marietta doesn't have to drive three hours to a first round tournament game in Hillsboro or the like.

Personally, I don't have a real issue with the higher seed hosting early rounds -- that's a reward for a good season. But if you're going to keep that in place, you have to go to the "pick your path" route.

Very good points. It's time for the open bracket.

[bbjunky81]

Such a big matchup for a district semifinal. Very well could be the best two D2 SEO teams out there.

It'll be a battle but I'll go with..... Warren in a 4 point upset.

Rooting and pulling for Waverly though!

[Whs95fan]

Looking forward to this one more and more, just hope we can slow Waverly down and limit our mistakes enough to make it a game.

[pfloyd]

Looking forward to this one more and more, just hope we can slow Waverly down and limit our mistakes enough to make it a game.

... I know that Warren is the underdog in this one BUT I'm also sure that Waverly isn't comfortable having to play Coach Maddox's Warriors ... it wouldn't matter if it were this Saturday in the District Semi's or later in Regional play - I wouldn't want to have to play vs a Coach Maddox team and/or coaching brain trust which has had over a week to prepare ... same can be said the other way! Coach Robertson has had the same amount of time to prepare as well !!! let's face it you get in this rare air and execution becomes the key to moving on ... I'm so ready for Saturday already LOL and it's ONLY Wednesday !!! - the Head Coach above is torturing me LOL ...

[Whs95fan]

Looking forward to this one more and more, just hope we can slow Waverly down and limit our mistakes enough to make it a game.

... I know that Warren is the underdog in this one BUT I'm also sure that Waverly isn't comfortable having to play Coach Maddox's Warriors ... it wouldn't matter if it were this Saturday in the District Semi's or later in Regional play - I wouldn't want to have to play vs a Coach Maddox team and/or coaching brain trust which has had over a week to prepare ... same can be said the other way! Coach Robertson has had the same amount of time to prepare as well !!! let's face it you get in this rare air and execution becomes the key to moving on ... I'm so ready for Saturday already LOL and it's ONLY Wednesday !!! - the Head Coach above is torturing me LOL ...

Killing me that I can't make it Pfloyd but thankfully there will be a livestream lol

[smurray]

[goindians89]

waverly is a team capable of beating almost anyone when they’re hot. i think they come prepared to play in tourney time and shoot warren out of the gym and win by double digits.

[smurray]

waverly is a team capable of beating almost anyone when they’re hot. i think they come prepared to play in tourney time and shoot warren out of the gym and win by double digits.

I sure hope so but the Tigers will need to be 100% FOCUSED and PREPARED. I know Travis scouts as well as anybody around and spends countless hour putting together and working on a game plan. It’s up to the players to be 100% focused on it and prepared to to carry it out. They cannot look at the Warren team of December-January whom Athens played very close. This Warren team is much improved from then. Waverly is very capable of doing what you said but they can come into this game thinking they’ve got it in the bag.

[Ed Ott]

Waverly 59
Warren Local 53

[greygoose]

Will this game be livestreamed and if so where?

[Whs95fan]

Will this game be livestreamed and if so where?

It's literally 4 posts up...

[MasterOfNone]

How deep is Warrens bench?

[Warriors321]

How deep is Warrens bench?

IMO not too deep. Couple kids will come off but not too much offense. More defensive guys.

[MasterOfNone]

How deep is Warrens bench?

IMO not too deep. Couple kids will come off but not too much offense. More defensive guys.

About the same boat as Waverly as far as depth then. So far in big games they have really only played 7 deep. Will be curious to see how they game gets officiated. And if they are blowing the whistles a lot things could get interesting.