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

[pfloyd]

... seems like forever since I posted the Preseason Elite 8 BUT alas the first full week of action has come and gone - as we all know so well once the first ball is tipped off it's a race through the regular season and onto the "Season of Survive and Advance" ... a great start to the 2008-09 campaign as everyone now has at least one game in the books, with either a W or an L posted on their handy dandy pocket schedules ... a couple of losses by teams on the Preseason Elite 8 forcing movement up and down the list ... dominating teams from the past couple of seasons - Chillicothe/Zanesville have shown us that they are human - at least in the early going .... hint for the rest of Southern Ohio and the SEOAL - better get them early before they figure out how to play without their D1 talent from last season , if you wait to long ???? shame on you ... defending state champion Chillicothe continued to win (but showed some chinks in the armor ( for now LOL) while Zanesville lost their first game out of the blocks at Reynoldsburg ... the Piketon Redstreaks lost to a good Zane Trace ball club to go 3-1 in the opening week ... all other top 8 teams held serve staying undefeated on the young season ... let's take a look at how everything shook out on the Elite list ...

Pfloyd's Elite 8 of Southern/Southeastern Ohio - Week 1 ...


1. Chillicothe 1-0 ... Coach Kellough's Cavs took care of "bidness" by knocking off North College Hill in their own tip off classic at the Hat ... Cavs 50 NCH 39 ... CHS lacked the perimeter offense that we have come accustom to as the Cavs were 1/9 from beyond 3 point range BUT they WERE outstanding in other categories - 17/25 from the FT line ... the Blue and White took care of the ball with only 9 TOs on the game vs a very, very quick NCH ball club ... balanced scoring coming from Knights (15), Dawes (13), Turner (12) ... a BIG early season positive for CHS was big time D ... the Cavs forced 25 TO's without committing fouls as NCH went to the line for just 9 FTs on the game (only 8 fouls by the Cavs) ... a possible exploitation area may be perimeter defense as the Cavs gave up 7 threes in their win ... big week for the Cavs as Coach K takes the boyz to the river for 2 away games - Tuesday vs Gallia Academy followed by THE BIG game in the early season at Ironton on Friday the 19th ...

2. Logan Elm 4-0 ... Coach Stiverson's boyz took 4 games in 9 days, an early season back to back stint vs Teays Valley (68-58) and Fairland (67-51) on Friday/Saturday at the Convo ... the Braves have scoring from all over the floor - Congrove/Amann/Blake can get to the rim, while all three are deadly from downtown as well ... anyone of the 3 can put up a 20+ point game on any given night - add to the perimeter game Pritchard/ 6-7 junior transfer Logan Hauserman WILL continue to develop his role in the Coach Stiverson offensive attack - the big man threw down 15 in the Teays Valley "W" Friday night ... don't know about you BUT I've circled 12/27 on my hoops calendar - the Braves travel to Chillicothe to take on the Cavs in a rematch of last seasons post season contest at the Convo where Humpty Hitchens "stole" the win from LE in the last minute of the game - I think the Braves will be ready for this one in a couple weeks ...

3. Ironton 2-0 ... Coach Lafon saw his Tigers hold off Fairland in the season opener (71-65) BUT he has to be smiling after the IHS effort in their last outing vs a good Manchester team resulting in a 91-53 drubbing of MHS ... 5 players in double figures - Green 19, Lamb 13, Wagenger 12, Kochenderfer 10, Schweickart 10 ... newcomers to the LHS lineup Lamb/Morton made their presence felt - Lamb adding 9 Rbs/3 blks to go with his 13 pts ... PG Morton contributed 6 pts/ 5 assts/2 stls ( he had 12 points in the JV contest as well) ... as a team I'town out rebounded MHS 43-20 / forced 16 TOs/ had 9 stls ... seemed that the players that are the perimeter people were the ones taking the perimeter shots while the boyz in the paint did their jobs down low ... this Friday will tell us volumes about the Tigers as Chillicothe comes calling to I'town ... can you say "a statement" game ? I knew that you could ...

4. Oak Hill 3-0 ... the Oaks of Coach Persin took care of business vs 3 teams that they should have picked up W's against - Symmes Valley, South Webster, River Valley ( although the last score is a secret apparently - I can't find it nor can Jottings) ... JD Hale, Ryan Borden, Kyle Ondera, Jesse Slone ... size to control the boards ( ie. vs SV a 55-27 rbs advantage) ... size and quickness to pressure the ball full court - which allowed the Oaks to get by the Jeeps of South Webster after trailing at the half to win going away by 28 points ... OHHS had trouble with the SW speed - we will need to watch this as the season goes into week 2 ...

5. North Adams 3-0 ... Coach Young's Dragons are loaded with names that we have become familiar with over the years during the post season - Unger, Louden, Latham, Rhoades, Nenus, Rothwell throw in Jimison and you have a team with good size of the 6-4 variety ... a good perimeter shooting team (6/10 from trey land in their Convo win over the Peake) ... solid defensively - forcing 18 TOs vs the Peake ( a very disciplined, outstanding team in their own right) ... the varsity experience, tournament experience will make them very tough to hang an "L" on this season - already with solid "W's" over a good WhiteOak ball club, Lynchburg Clay and Chesapeake ... size, depth, experience, AND Kraig Unger will have NA back at the Convo in the 2nd season ...

6. Portsmouth 2-0 ... the Trojans have started to get that swagger back after picking up a couple early season wins - vs Greenfield McClain, vs South Webster ... a team that brings back its top 5 from last season and yet only start 3 of them? big time pg transfer Tory Horne is joined by Zack Link, Jacob Stevens, Corey Allison, and Anthony Williams with Andrew Bendolph, Forrest Johnson, Nate Cadogen coming off the bench for Coach Shoemaker ... a realistic 9 deep with size, quickness ... a coming out year for the Trojans ... defensive pressure for 32 minutes will prove to be the key to the PHS season - on paper the Trojans have the horses to compete for a spot on the Day of Champions in the SEOAL ... my Ouija Board has PHS going 3-0 after the first 2 weeks as the Jackson Ironmen come calling to P'town this Friday night ...

7. Zanesville 0-1 ... I know that the 'ville faithful will be after my head BUT Coach Aronhalt's ZHS squad didn't show the solid play of years past as they dropped their season opener to a mediocre 2-3 Reynoldsburg team ... as expected ZHS was led by Joe Prati 27 pts/ 7 rbs/ 2 three pters , followed by Tanner Gibson's 11 pts/ 3 treys, Raheen Forman 11 pts, Brandon Mills 8 pts and couple of treys ... a few learning curve lumps are expected, an interesting 2nd week for ZHS as they take on Warren Friday at home and rival Newark on the road Saturday in their first back to back weekend play of the season ... we will be watching the box scores/posts on these two games very closely ...

8. Piketon 3-1 ... the Red Streaks of Coach Lisath had one of the busier weeks in Southern Ohio to open the season - taking their opener from an athletic Cincinnati Clark before losing to a good Zane Trace team , finishing up the week with W's over Columbus Mifflin , and an overtime win over Huntington HS ... 3 quality players for PHS in Evan Legg, Jordan Brabson, and all world Cody Smith - all the scoring comes from this trio led by Smith (32 vs Clark in the opener on a bad wing) ... very impressive pg in Legg ... the problems I see for PHS come from the lack of a perimeter scoring threat, and lack of depth at the pg position (Legg is outstanding, but when playing a team that puts 32 minutes of pressure on the ball - he gets winded, no replacement for the youngster equals TOs - vs Clark a total of 25 TOs for PHS in a winning effort) ... good ball club but .......... we'll keep watching PHS , see if they make me eat my words ...


... there you have the first official Elite 8 of the new campaign Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ... lots of teams are positioning themselves to climb into the top 8 should anyone slip up ... those in the wings include :


... Treehugger Wannabees ...

Warren 1-0
Wheelersburg 2-0
Alexander 3-1
Adena 3-0
Vinton County 3-0
Washington CH 3-0
Westfall 3-0
Marietta 2-0
Peebles 2-1
Chesapeake 1-1
Southern 2-0
Waterford 2-0
Logan 1-2
Hillsboro 2-1
Greenfield McClain 1-2
Huntington 2-1
Trimble 2-1
Waverly 2-0
Athens 3-0
Meigs 2-1
South Point 2-1
Valley 3-1
Northwest 2-1
Southeastern 2-2
Zane Trace 1-2
Fairland 1-2
Belpre 0-2


... Teams on the End Table ...

Portsmouth West 2-1
Fairfield Union 1-2
Eastern Pike 1-0
Western Pike 1-1
West Union 0-2
Minford 1-1
Coal Grove 1-2
Ironton St. Joe 2-1 ... losing to CG, wins over Glenwood/Rock Hill
Rock Hill 1-2
Portsmouth East 0-1
Circleville 0-3 ... Coach Evans
Jackson 0-4 ... Coach Jordan


... there you have the ENTIRE list ... I always miss a few teams, I always get a few records wrong BUT they are posted now so that you folks can correct me ... by the end of the season most of the chips (teams) fall where they should based on their records, their schedules ... the list is there for YOU - agree or disagree; just don't throw stones LOL ... teams I've left off the list - I DO HAVE THE POWER TO EDIT MY LISTS lol ... let the beatings begin and good luck to ALL teams Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line going into the week that IS - Week #2 ...

[biggdowgg]

from way out of site of the radar last year, to the 6 spot the first week this year,,I like it,,,but the Trojans still has a lot of work to do.

[Guru]

Pfloyd i'm glad to see the the Indians from Valley have moved up your list from being completely off the radar to start the season.

[biggdowgg]

pfloyd,,East has only pleyed one game, the Notre Dame game was their first.

[oldpgguy]

Ironton St. Joe is 2-1

[bucknut 23]

Peebles is 2-1 with wins over Southeastern Ross and Whiteoak and the loss to Albany Alexander at the Convo.

Thanks for your rankings. They are pretty accurate and also provide for some good discussion on this board.

[pfloyd]

... thanks for the corrections everyone ... sure was easier when I92 was doing the records for all of these teams LOL - hint hint I92 LOL ...

[Ironman92]

Looks pretty good......I agree moving Ironton up as they are loaded and I see a familiar name of Waginger....I'm guessing a younger brother of the guy who led SW to a state titel, Ironton to a state runner up and scored 19 the other night for Western Carolina.

Hillsboro is surprising to me.

I'm not sure Piketon is earning their ranking thus far. It took a 40% shooting from the FT line for Huntington on the road and a 3 at the buzzer for Piketon to get the win....but they did win.


You need to add Leesburg Fairfield who has at least 2 wins....and I'm not sure they've lost....beat Paint Valley by double digits and a typically solid Ripley team by a good bit.

[tropical breeze]

Pfloyd, was at the Z-ville game and I must admit it sure didn't look like a normal Z-ville team. I think I saw a stat (napkin) that they had 17 turnovers in the game. Very young with actual Varsity minutes and they looked very timid and lacked confidence. Must also remember that this was Z-ville's 1st game and Reynoldsburg's 5th, (I'm hoping that had something to do with it). I think they will be very competitive in the SEOAL as they will improve as the year gets underway. Pratti was very good and ended up with 27 points and 7 boards (napkins stats again), and with a grueling out of conference schedule (Nerk, Massllion, Wheeling Park,) they may be right their at the end of the SEOAL. As far as a medocre Reynoldsburg team, they may be 2-3 but that team plays a strong d-1 schedule and would probably be ranked at No 1 in the elite 8 listing. Saw 3 slams and 1 slam off the backboard that was not allowed due to a foul, needless to say very athletic and very quick! So as a Z-ville fan, I absolutely have no problem with where you got'em ranked! Let's see where the season goes from here!

[pfloyd]

... tropical breeze - I have no doubts that Coach Aronhalt will have the 'ville rolling in a few weeks that's why I posted that IF you are going to get a piece of Chilli or your Devils it better happen early on ... I'm not a fan of Reynoldsburg - I sat next to their bench at the Zane Trace Tip Off Classic for 2 years in a row - he is a ____ ... one of those coaches that relies on the talent that comes along rather than his ability to coach the game - relies on his players to be physically better than their opponents - otherwise they lose if it comes down to what is taught to his players by he and his staff ... not impressed with him ...

[pfloyd]

... Coach Stiverson & staff - I appreciate the visit you made up to the cheap seats to say hello and show off those "Logan Purple/Lavender" shirts LOL - good to see Coach Blake added to your staff - one of my favorite LE players he was/is ... I KNOW he brings an attitude to practices and court side that will benefit your team now and down the road in crunch time ... as far as your Braves moving DOWN the list LOL no can do! 4-0 in 9 days!! a back to back in the first week of the season ending at the Convo with nothing but "W's" !!! - your golfer Tim Congrove and the boyz is on the hot seat at #2 with the Chilli game on the horizon ... hope to be in the stands for this one - should be outstanding ...

[93Bulldog]

Great job Pfloyd.

Of course, as your old time nemesis, your 'conservative' counter part, my top 8 would have been a bit different. But im not as close as you are to those teams hanging around the I 270 area ... Chilli, Logan Elm, Logan, etc..etc... Im more or less stuck in the hills of SOUTHEASTERN OHIO ...

I do miss the research of a wider area with more teams ... The year we started the Top 8 was not only a great season on the Huddle, it turned out to be arguably the best District tourney ever at the Convo (Top to bottom D-2 thru D-4) which made our time and effort into Sunday's afternoon rankings even more fun.

BUT ... I have a more important job now with the world of hoops in SEO, and besides, your doing one heck of a job and im glad you continued to keep it alive. I

I might tune in later this season and take a "JAB" at ya and give an official 93Bulldog rebuttle of Pink Floyds Elite 8 ... ... But for now, ive concentrated my efforts into keeping track of ONLY the teams in certain sectionsl - D-2 @ Wellston, D-3 @ Jackson and D-4 @ Athens ... Ive got a huge board set up with all the teams wrote down and every single game they play this year gets marked with a "W" or "L" ... Right now, the D-4 sectional is very surprising. Seems like ALL the teams are winning ... OAK HILL, WATERFORD, TRIMBLE, SOUTHERN, BEAVER EASTERN, IRONTON ST. JOE ... Athens should be a fun sectional to watch unfold.

The D-3 is of course the most intriguing and exciting ... I mean, you have ALEXANDER, IRONTON, CHESAPEAKE, WHEELERSBURG, FAIRLAND, SOUTH POINT, FEDERAL HOCKING, BELPRE ...

OR HERE IS A GREAT STORY LINE FLOYD ... What about the BULLDOGS man? They just beat THREE TEAMS in their sectional! GALLIA, JACKSON and MEIGS ... Talk about setting yourself up for a good seed if they can keep it up. They get VINTON on Friday, that's FOUR teams in their sectional to open the season, that's crazy, nobody else has that kind of arrangment. ATHENS should also have the advantage of having friends on both sides of the fence at the drawing ... Bonds with SEOAL coaches and League afiliation support from the TVC ...

BTW ... WHAT THE HECK HAVING THE 'DOGS DOWN SO FAR? 3-0 MAN!

[tropical breeze]

Pfloyd, Yes, i agree with your accessment of Ryder. He's an ex Maysville player so i'm alittle familar. I think with that talent that's why he's only 2-3, but they have the athlete's. At the game we overheard some of their fans making comments that ya never know which team will show up.

[biggdowgg]

The D-3 is of course the most intriguing and exciting ... I mean, you have ALEXANDER, IRONTON, CHESAPEAKE, WHEELERSBURG, FAIRLAND, SOUTH POINT, FEDERAL HOCKING, BELPRE ...

...WOW, that doesn't look good for my Trojans

some great teams in that mix

[pfloyd]

... 93dog ... you'll have to keep the information rolling on the Waterfords of the world to me - I wasn't overly impressed by WHS at the Convo Saturday - they won BUT I see "L's" in their future ... this past Saturday at the Convo Trojandave, Bucking Red, and I saw some good teams in action ... of course it was just a taste of what to look for in the 3 weeks of the Convo come February and March ... so you're saying you have a Southern/Southeastern Ohio "war room" LOL - outstanding 'dog !!! I'll stick with my collection of "napkin stats" and stacks of legal pads lol ... got stacks to left of me and stacks to the right of me ... last years napkin stats and new piles of this years napkin stats ...

[ItownHosscat]

Looks pretty good......I agree moving Ironton up as they are loaded and I see a familiar name of Waginger....I'm guessing a younger brother of the guy who led SW to a state titel, Ironton to a state runner up and scored 19 the other night for Western Carolina..

Close but no cigar.Tommy Waginger's Dad and Brigham's Dad are brothers.On a side note Ironton St.Joe has a kid by the name of Chad Harvey,his Mom is Brigham and Tommy's Dads sister.

[pfloyd]

... thanks buckeyefan4life - couldn't find a score for that one anywhere ... sometimes posters only say that this team or that team won or lost but never give up any score or information about the game ...

[pfloyd]

... was browsing the hoops forum thread titles - noticed we have some BIG games happening in the Week that IS :

Tuesday the 16th

Marietta (2-0) @ Warren (1-0)
Valley @ the Burg
Waterford @ Belpre


Friday the 19th

Athens @ Vinton County
Chillicothe @ Ironton
Warren @ Zanesville


... other games that could effect the Elite 8 ??? ...

[93Bulldog]

BE SURE TO ADD THE RECORDS (3-0) ATHENS @ (3-0) VINTON COUNTY ... Their floyd ... That totally blows my mind, I would have never guessed in a million years both of those teams would be undefeated when they faced off ....

"The War room" is definitely up and running! lol

Purple "W" for wins and Red L's for losses ... The boards are already starting to take form to how each division is fairing against competition ... The D-4 board is full of Purple, Half of the D-3 is mostly purple, the bottom half all red ...Alexander, ironton, Chesapeake, etc... are taking care of the purple part and Fed Hock, Wellston, Rock Hill and River Valley are rounding the schedule board with lots of red!

* What is interesting is how the other sectionals are stacking up Vs. my local sectionals ... The D-2 with Logan Elm, Chillicothe, etc...etc.... man that is a tough route to the convo, much tougher than the Wellston group.