Unioto 67 Warren 55 final ...

[ToTheTop56]

Mike played varsity. I was referring to the jv team that these seniors and a couple of juniors were a part of.

[enigmaax]

unioto would have won by 20+ if the officiating wasn't so poor. It's amazing you get to this level in tournament play and the officiating is this bad. My 81 yr old dad even commented that this was one of the poorest officiated games he's seen in 30 years. Kudos to the unioto coaches and players for keeping their composure

This is ridiculous. Unioto went to the line almost twice as much as Warren. In fact, Warren had one less rebound and one more turnover than Unioto and Unioto shot slightly better from the field (though not very well - 43%, including 2-14 from the 3-point line). Unioto was 19-29 from the line and Warren was 8-16. That accounts for the point differential and it was an advantage for Unioto. I'm not sure what exactly your problem with the officiating was (I'm not saying it favored Unioto, just saying that to say the refs kept Warren in the game is ludicrous).

The next time someone starts a thread about what is killing the game of basketball, "the fans" should be at the top of the list. I'd like to see just one game that is won/lost on the court without someone crying about officiating.

Warren just ran into a bigger, faster, and deeper team. I was surprised Unioto didn't pull away and win by 20 so I think Maddox did a good coaching job

This is probably the most accurate statement about the game.

However once a gain in the big game Maddox goes away from what got him here. well the men in blue and white got him here. The stats will show he played the bench, wrong Drayer who played lights out in the semis saw limited time, Welch who has proven when left on the floor can score (Portsmouth) and play some heads up D (Logan vs Meigs) got 7 seconds in the first half and his honor moment at the end of the game. Dennis who has practiced 1 day gave a great effort, but when your wheel is flat it's hard to move yet he got minutes.

Overachievers?????? Without Mike Hall, 35-0 in jr high, With out Mike Hall sophomore year, 21-0, then you add a talent like Mike and Arron Maz , Henthorn, Seth Hall, kyler Dennis, Kidder, then Drayer, Cochran,Welch, Mollohan. Awesome group of men/athletes. Really? Overachievers.

Regarding the subs last night, Drayer picked up two quick fouls and it was fairly obvious he was going to have trouble keeping up with Unioto's speed. Heck, normally speed is Warren's advantage and Henthorn/S Hall/Mazurkiewicz had their hands full. They did an admirable job, but Unioto presented problems that they hadn't seen a lot of this season. Drayer isn't an offensive threat either, so I'm not sure there's a valid complaint there. Welch entered the game at a key moment and promptly threw the ball directly to a Unioto player who ran off a layup. Again, Warren was already in some trouble defensively, so if a player isn't going to add anything offensively, there wasn't much of a point. It was a quick hook and you can debate as to whether he should've been given more of a chance, but there is absolutely no reason to believe that the outcome would've been different if any of those bench guys had played more.

The one guy you singled out as playing when he shouldn't (Dennis) is the one guy on the bench who has been proven to provide offense. Warren shot 3-22 from the 3-point line. An offensive spark was desperately needed and they obviously took a chance trying to get Dennis to be that guy. He was clearly the best option, despite the bad wheel. It didn't work out, but to say it was poor coaching is just insane.

A big part of Warren's ability to play as a team all season was because others could compensate for a single player's shortcomings to bleed some minutes from the bench. When starters can control 3 or 4 of the positions on the floor, you can get quality minutes by letting a guy do a few solid things and be carried in other ways by the rest of the team. Last night, Unioto was basically winning a minimum of 4 match-ups virtually all game. Kidder gutted out a fine performance and it is really a testament to him, but I think it was clear he was playing with a lot of heart while being slowed physically otherwise. There just wasn't a good opportunity to hide any weaknesses when you're already having to scrape and claw just to stay in the game with your best lineup on the floor.

It's okay to leave it at, "Unioto was the better team."

As for overachieving, plenty of people would've (or did) pick Portsmouth and Minford over Warren. Logan was a solid match-up and had the Warriors on the ropes at Warren. Fort Frye had the skills and system to give Warren a run. Fairfield Christian was a District Finalist. AP voters still had Athens as the better team after Warren waxed them by 32. Warren won ALL of those games and I doubt anyone would've predicted that at the beginning of the year. Winning at the JV level is one thing. Winning at the varsity level with everyone playing completely new roles is something completely different. Hall has never been THE guy. Kidder barely played last year. Brand new roles as leaders. The other four main rotation guys are smart & work hard, but there's nothing that would indicate any of them could simply take over a game on their own (Dennis will be THE guy soon enough, but just a soph now). Yet, they each had games where they did just that. They were a good team that got VERY good results. When you look at the schedule, they could've reasonably been 14-7 (regular season), not made it out of Sectionals (lower seed and tougher early matchup), and traded places with Portsmouth in the league standings and nobody would have seen it as a failure. Instead, they were 22-3, undefeated league champs, and lost in the District finals to an undefeated team. Saying they overachieved isn't an insult; it is a reflection of how hard they worked to accomplish all that they did.

[bman]

unioto would have won by 20+ if the officiating wasn't so poor. It's amazing you get to this level in tournament play and the officiating is this bad. My 81 yr old dad even commented that this was one of the poorest officiated games he's seen in 30 years. Kudos to the unioto coaches and players for keeping their composure

This is ridiculous. Unioto went to the line almost twice as much as Warren. In fact, Warren had one less rebound and one more turnover than Unioto and Unioto shot slightly better from the field (though not very well - 43%, including 2-14 from the 3-point line). Unioto was 19-29 from the line and Warren was 8-16. That accounts for the point differential and it was an advantage for Unioto. I'm not sure what exactly your problem with the officiating was (I'm not saying it favored Unioto, just saying that to say the refs kept Warren in the game is ludicrous).

The next time someone starts a thread about what is killing the game of basketball, "the fans" should be at the top of the list. I'd like to see just one game that is won/lost on the court without someone crying about officiating.

Warren just ran into a bigger, faster, and deeper team. I was surprised Unioto didn't pull away and win by 20 so I think Maddox did a good coaching job

This is probably the most accurate statement about the game.

However once a gain in the big game Maddox goes away from what got him here. well the men in blue and white got him here. The stats will show he played the bench, wrong Drayer who played lights out in the semis saw limited time, Welch who has proven when left on the floor can score (Portsmouth) and play some heads up D (Logan vs Meigs) got 7 seconds in the first half and his honor moment at the end of the game. Dennis who has practiced 1 day gave a great effort, but when your wheel is flat it's hard to move yet he got minutes.

Overachievers?????? Without Mike Hall, 35-0 in jr high, With out Mike Hall sophomore year, 21-0, then you add a talent like Mike and Arron Maz , Henthorn, Seth Hall, kyler Dennis, Kidder, then Drayer, Cochran,Welch, Mollohan. Awesome group of men/athletes. Really? Overachievers.

Regarding the subs last night, Drayer picked up two quick fouls and it was fairly obvious he was going to have trouble keeping up with Unioto's speed. Heck, normally speed is Warren's advantage and Henthorn/S Hall/Mazurkiewicz had their hands full. They did an admirable job, but Unioto presented problems that they hadn't seen a lot of this season. Drayer isn't an offensive threat either, so I'm not sure there's a valid complaint there. Welch entered the game at a key moment and promptly threw the ball directly to a Unioto player who ran off a layup. Again, Warren was already in some trouble defensively, so if a player isn't going to add anything offensively, there wasn't much of a point. It was a quick hook and you can debate as to whether he should've been given more of a chance, but there is absolutely no reason to believe that the outcome would've been different if any of those bench guys had played more.

The one guy you singled out as playing when he shouldn't (Dennis) is the one guy on the bench who has been proven to provide offense. Warren shot 3-22 from the 3-point line. An offensive spark was desperately needed and they obviously took a chance trying to get Dennis to be that guy. He was clearly the best option, despite the bad wheel. It didn't work out, but to say it was poor coaching is just insane.

A big part of Warren's ability to play as a team all season was because others could compensate for a single player's shortcomings to bleed some minutes from the bench. When starters can control 3 or 4 of the positions on the floor, you can get quality minutes by letting a guy do a few solid things and be carried in other ways by the rest of the team. Last night, Unioto was basically winning a minimum of 4 match-ups virtually all game. Kidder gutted out a fine performance and it is really a testament to him, but I think it was clear he was playing with a lot of heart while being slowed physically otherwise. There just wasn't a good opportunity to hide any weaknesses when you're already having to scrape and claw just to stay in the game with your best lineup on the floor.

It's okay to leave it at, "Unioto was the better team."

As for overachieving, plenty of people would've (or did) pick Portsmouth and Minford over Warren. Logan was a solid match-up and had the Warriors on the ropes at Warren. Fort Frye had the skills and system to give Warren a run. Fairfield Christian was a District Finalist. AP voters still had Athens as the better team after Warren waxed them by 32. Warren won ALL of those games and I doubt anyone would've predicted that at the beginning of the year. Winning at the JV level is one thing. Winning at the varsity level with everyone playing completely new roles is something completely different. Hall has never been THE guy. Kidder barely played last year. Brand new roles as leaders. The other four main rotation guys are smart & work hard, but there's nothing that would indicate any of them could simply take over a game on their own (Dennis will be THE guy soon enough, but just a soph now). Yet, they each had games where they did just that. They were a good team that got VERY good results. When you look at the schedule, they could've reasonably been 14-7 (regular season), not made it out of Sectionals (lower seed and tougher early matchup), and traded places with Portsmouth in the league standings and nobody would have seen it as a failure. Instead, they were 22-3, undefeated league champs, and lost in the District finals to an undefeated team. Saying they overachieved isn't an insult; it is a reflection of how hard they worked to accomplish all that they did.

Very good post. Hit all the points head on. Congrats to Coach Hoops, his staff and players for winning a district title for the U and to Warren on a very good season.