2016 Pfloyd's Elite 8 of Southern/SouthEast Ohio - Preseason with Top 8 Previews ...

[pfloyd]

Ukfanatic ... I made a road trip to the House that Hawhee Built a few years ago to watch the first round of the Holiday Classic - is this Pike Co. Holiday Tourney still on for this year ? it would be a great opportunity for me to see Eastern Pike, Western Pike, Piketon and Waverly under the same roof again ...

[Ukfanatic]

Pfloyd. Yes Holiday classic is December 29th and 30th. First night eastern plays western, waverly plays piketon.

[trojandave]

noitall: 6-5 sophomore Collin Boehm is playing for the Trojans. Coach Collins still has some decisions to make regarding the varsity and JV personnel, so I won't publish the rosters just yet.

[FannyPack]

Don't forget Clay Edler from Unioto. He started some last year and plays great defense. He'll help handle the ball for the Tanks

[93Bulldog]

Other teams of note going into the 2016-17 season :

Athens : The bulldogs are under first year varsity head man Coach Mickey Cozart ... Coach Cozart takes over a very good Bulldogs squad led by senior PG Griffin Lutz ... Lutz is arguably the premier PG in SEOhio for the 2016-17 season ... Lutz will be surrounded by returning starters and a handful of AAU experienced players from a very good JV team ... I have the Bulldogs at #9 in the preseason but Coach Cozart will test the waters early on as Athens travels to Fairland to take on the pre-season #1 Dragons on Dec.10 ...

Griffin Lutz PG
Robert Dickleman
Dalton Cozart
Micah Saltzman
NIck Lutz
Logan Maxfield
Justin HInes 6-4 "man in the middle"

Sophomore Eli Chubb ... Keep an eye out for this young man too, Floyd. He was a 6'2 freshman last year on the JV team, handled the PG position quite a bit before injuring his foot and sitting out a bunch of games. But now he has grown to 6'4 - and still had ball handling abilities. The first I noticed about Eli last year was his enormous feet! lol ... My goodness this kid may be 6'10 before its all said and done.

One thing that sets this Athens team apart from the last few years is depth. I like Gerig and Koska too, both played JV last season. Nate Gribble, a very good 6'2 athlete didn't play last year, but is back for his senior year. Trey Martin sat out last year too and has a real nice outside shot. You could honestly see a 10-to-12-deep rotation from Coach Cozart.

[brown22]

... no preseason rundown would be worth a pixel without the Portsmouth Trojans ... and it wouldn't be worth much without it coming from Mr. Trojan himself - trojandave

Portsmouth : #20 is just about right for the Trojans; right now I feel like we might have to fight to get over .500; depth is a serious concern with the 2016 edition of PHS basketball. The starting 5 is good (still lacking size), but quality minutes off the bench could be hard to find for Coach Collins. In this his 8th year with an overall record of 122-48, Coach Collins is faced with his thinnest bench since he took the reigns in 2009-2010. Senior Kendall Reynolds, barring injury, will join the prestigious 1,000 point club early in the campaign. He stands right now with 917 points.

Projected starting 5 for the 2016 Portsmouth Trojans:

Kendall Reynolds 6-3 senior
Mike Malone 5-10 senior
Reese Johnson 6-1 junior
Daniel Jordan 6-2 junior
DJ Eley 5-8 junior

Hearing the Trojans may have got a little bigger Gabe Gambill has left Eastern and went back to the trojans. Should add to their depth and make them a little bigger in the post.

[pfloyd]

... got a fix of hoops today !!! watched the Logan, Athens, Southeastern scrimmage at Jim's Gym in Logan ... quite a few hoops fans getting a glimpse of the 3 squads in their first competitive court action ...

Scrimmages are just that - a chance to go up against someone other than your own team ... 93dog will like to hear that Dinkleman and Henthorne butted heads a few times in the paint ... needed to be calmed down by the refs ... the Athens vs Logan hatred is still strong 93dog !

I didn't take any napkins, had my phone and jotted down a few quarter results - 10 minute quarters ... alternating playing back to back quarters vs each opponent ...

Athens 14
Logan 16

Athens 12
Logan 16

Athens 26
Southeastern 15

Logan 22
Southeastern 9

Athens 6
Logan 21

... the Athens scores are deceiving as Coach Cozart played 10 each quarter, then mixed what I saw as starters with the 2nd group ...

... they were playing on but I had seen what I wanted to see (about an hour and 15 minutes worth) ... some general IMOs from watching today ...

Athens :

Griffin Lutz IS the quickest PG in SEOhio ... quick hands, quick feet ... if I go by what I saw he isn't at 100% ... he went to the floor for a loose ball, had 250 lb Cory Henthorne roll over Lutz's leg (he hobbled off the court but returned later) ...

As 93dog posted Athens WILL GO into their bench with players ... the jury is out as to how deep BUT I will give Coach Cozart a quality group of 8 to choose from ... Athens have scorers in the lineup with Cozart able to hit the 3 ball ... Dinkleman looked like he will be physical in the paint ... AHS played man D and mixed in that AHS zone as well ...

Athens has good size ... the Bulldogs will be athletic ... can pressure and WILL pressure the ball in the 3/4 court & fullcourt especially when they know they have the athletic advantage ... I jotted down when AHS went up against SEHS it was like sharks when there's blood in the water ... GL STILL didn't show me a perimeter game 93dog ! until I see it - I see THAT as a weakness in what remains a complete package (other than the 3 ball) ...

Logan :

New coaches in Rider & Bell ... I was curious to see what the new philosophy was going to be ... from the scrimmage today it would appear the Purple will be a perimeter oriented offense - Bo Myers IS the real deal shooting the 3 ball, but the rest of the starters other than Henthorne in the paint will have the green light as well ... the Bell Bro's, Myers, Landis (6-5 at least), Wes Brooke drilled a couple treys when I was watching, Dixon are all perimeter scorers for the Chieftains ... Landis at 6-5 can handle the ball well for a big man, good hands, good footwork in the paint will get a lot of "off the missed 3 pointer put backs" ... Landis and Henthorne are the size for LHS ... with Henthorne being the wide body - a rock okay a boulder to move on the inside ... he NEEDS to stay out of foul trouble but he of the wide body has excellent footwork and can get to both sides of the rim ...

Defensively the Chiefs will go with man, pressure the ball in the half court ... will pressure/trap in the full court after EVERY shot made ... depth worries me ... Chiefs NEED to be in great shape as they aren't deep off the bench especially with no size to bring off the bench ... looking forward to catching another look at the Purple and white this coming week ...

Southeastern :

The Blue and White entered the gym with boxes of donuts from the bus ride over LOL ... SE is more of a half court oriented team , with some decent size , a couple good perimeter shooters as well ... at this early point only 1 week into practices - SE had trouble handling pressure in the full court or 3/4 court ... I didn't see a "leader" on the floor who wanted the ball in those pressure situations ... SE is a work in progress for sure ...

... 93dog that's what I took away from the scrimmage in Logan today ...

[EPN]

Pfloyd,
I seen it mentioned earlier , but yes 6'4 junior forward Gabe Gambill did transfer back to Portsmouth this week .
Another name to remember for eastern Pike is 6'3 soph forward Cody Weaver , he was one of the first players offf the bench in today's scrimmage, and played extremely well , after watching him today , he is going to b a key player for eastern this year.

[pfloyd]

Thanks EPN for the info ... I am definitely looking forward to seeing the Eagles in action a couple of times this season before the post season ...

[Noitall]

The gambilll kid going to have to sit half the season??

[93Bulldog]

Thanks for rundown floyd.

[pfloyd]

A BIG TIME scrimmage tomorrow Monday 11/14 on the river with my #1 Fairland Dragons hosting #2 Unioto Shermans !!! wow !!! hopefully we will get a rundown of this one from daniC ...

... anyone have a start time for this one Monday evening ???

[pfloyd]

Pfloyd,
I seen it mentioned earlier , but yes 6'4 junior forward Gabe Gambill did transfer back to Portsmouth this week .
Another name to remember for eastern Pike is 6'3 soph forward Cody Weaver , he was one of the first players offf the bench in today's scrimmage, and played extremely well , after watching him today , he is going to b a key player for eastern this year.

... did Gambill transfer back to Portsmouth because he saw he wasn't going to get the PT ? ... my guess is he WOULD have to sit out 11 games or 1/2 the season with the Trojans but we will watch and see what unfolds ... thanks

[pfloyd]

... looking like some traveling this week !

Scrimmages I want to see this week :

Monday 11/14 ... Warren vs River (5:30pm)
Tuesday 11/15 ... Fairfield Union vs DeSales (7pm)
Friday 11/18 ... Vinton County vs Logan Elm (6pm)
Tuesday 11/22 ... Vinton County @ Unioto (7:30pm)

... looking forward to meeting up with some of the best coaches & staffs around ... Coach Maddox & Co. (Warren), Coach Combs & Co.(Vinton Co), Coach Stiverson & Coach Holbert (LE) , Coach Hoops , Coach Blue, Coach Bruce (Unioto) ... Coach Eversole & Coach Helber (FU) ...

[pfloyd]

Pfloyd,
I seen it mentioned earlier , but yes 6'4 junior forward Gabe Gambill did transfer back to Portsmouth this week .
Another name to remember for eastern Pike is 6'3 soph forward Cody Weaver , he was one of the first players offf the bench in today's scrimmage, and played extremely well , after watching him today , he is going to b a key player for eastern this year.

... did Gambill transfer back to Portsmouth because he saw he wasn't going to get the PT ? ... my guess is he WOULD have to sit out 11 games or 1/2 the season with the Trojans but we will watch and see what unfolds ... thanks

... I just got a FB message from biggdowgg ... he says that Gambill will not be sitting out any games as a Trojan - as his family did not change residence from the Portsmouth SD ... looks like instant 6-5 "towers" will help the size challenged Trojans in the paint ...

[tvc_fan]

Darn Meigs dropped to 43 even thought they beat #7 and put #16 out of tournament.

[pfloyd]

Meigs lost a bunch from last season :

Starters - Kaileb Sheets, Colton Lily
Role Players - Tyler Fields, Jaxon Meadows,

Returning Marauders : Christian Mattox , Dillon Mahr, Luke Musser, Jared Kennedy

... Meigs is on the radar with chances early to move up the TreeHugger list ... Warren, Athens, Vinton Co ... all in front of Meigs in the rankings ... that Warren matchup is EARLY on 12/6 @ Meigs ...

[EPN]

Pfloyd,
I am not sure why Gambill decided to go back to Portsmouth , but anyway, he is a Trojan again , I hope things work out well for him.

[tvc_fan]

Meigs lost a bunch from last season :

Starters - Kaileb Sheets, Colton Lily
Role Players - Tyler Fields, Jaxon Meadows,

Returning Marauders : Christian Mattox , Dillon Mahr, Luke Musser, Jared Kennedy

... Meigs is on the radar with chances early to move up the TreeHugger list ... Warren, Athens, Vinton Co ... all in front of Meigs in the rankings ... that Warren matchup is EARLY on 12/6 @ Meigs ...

I like them being projected low actually, it will be hard to top last season and losing Sheets and Lilly definitely hurt a little, but have some surprising players this season. Definitely have better role players this year. Fields averaged 2.8 points a game and Meadows only 2.5 points a game.

Our season will hang on Kennedy improving his 4.5 points a game season. Have to have more production out of our big men...So many lost opportunities on 2nd and 3rd shots from rebounds last year.

Looking forward to get started.

[pfloyd]

... tvc_fan ... part of ranking these teams is looking at the players lost to graduation and trying to figure out how points, boards, defense, leadership are going to be replaced ... I don't lose sight of teams - 3 returning starters - I will be watching 93dog's TVC website from the outset ... especially the Dec. 6th game with Warren ... I'll see Warren in a scrimmage with River tomorrow night at Warren to get a look at what Coach Maddox will be putting on the court ...