|
Welcome to the second edition of
Trail Trash for 2010. The sectional and district tournaments have flown
by as we move into the regional tournaments.
Looking at the sectional and
district results from around Northwest Ohio, the Swami finished with an
Earle Bruce-like 106-41 (72%) win/loss record. Good but not good
enough. The most disappointing part was the Swami correctly picking
only seven of the fourteen district champions. The Swami was able to
accurately predict the toughest district in Northwest Ohio by taking
Lima Central Catholic in D3 at Elida, but again laid an egg in all the
D2 district tournaments.
Readers of Trail Trash were
spared from any editorials in our first edition, but there are a couple
of items that the Swami would like to mention.
Tournament or playoffs? A
number of the members of the media, primarily the television talking
heads (and I’m not referring to the band that sang Take Me to the River
back in the 70’s), have been referring to the tournament as the
playoffs. The NBA playoffs, the NFL playoffs, and even the State
Football playoffs are all fine. The Swami might be old (clothing,
musical tastes, odor) and somewhat of a traditionalist, but the boys
basketball tournament in Ohio will always be the tournament. I realize
we are talking about semantics here, but calling the tournament the
playoffs is just like Gil Thorp and Marty Moon talking about the
playdowns.
We hear plenty about good
sportsmanship. The OHSAA emphasizes it, but often times there are
situations where good sportsmanship is not exhibited by fans, players,
or coaches. At the D2 district final at Ashland on March 13, Bellevue’s
Cody Ruhlman entered the game with 995 career points. Cody went down
with a knee injury in the first half still three points shy of 1,000.
He returned to the game for the start of the second half but was unable
to continue after re-injuring his knee. With just under a minute left
in the game and Port Clinton leading by nine points, Bellevue coach Mile
Raifsnider called a timeout and conferred with the officials and Port
Clinton coach Troy Diels. Cody reentered the game, and Port Clinton let
him shoot an uncontested layup. Bellevue then allowed Port Clinton to
score on a layup. PC returned the favor and let Cody score another
uncontested layup to go over 1,000 points for his career. Some might
call it a thirty-one minute game with the way things played out. I
would hope people would call it good sportsmanship.
Time to move on. Let’s go to
the picks.
Top of Page
DIVISION
I
Eleven of the sixteen teams
ranked in the final Associated Press poll have reached the regional
tournament. Eight teams (Mentor, Lakewood St. Edward, Cincinnati St.
Xavier, defending state champion Columbus Northland, Cincinnati
Princeton, Cincinnati LaSalle, Lima Senior, Toledo St. John’s) played in
the D1 regional in 2009 while Akron East was a D2 regional qualifier.
St. Xavier and St. Edward’s are making a sixth straight trip to the
regional while Mentor and Princeton are making a third straight trip.
REGIONALS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY: #4 Cincinnati
LaSalle, #9 Cincinnati Moeller, and #12 Cincinnati Princeton are ranked
teams at the Cintas Center. St. Xavier upset Huber Heights Wayne to get
to the regional. Two players who had transferred to Wayne prior to the
beginning of the season were declared ineligible by the OHSAA before to
the district final. Surprisingly, Wayne did not have to forfeit any
games. This regional will be a dogfight.
Semifinals-Moeller over
Princeton, LaSalle over St. Xavier
Final-LaSalle over Moeller
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY: #5
Mentor, #11 Lakewood St. Edward, and #16 Cleveland St. Ignatius are
ranked teams at the Wolstein Center. St. Ignatius eliminated #6 Warren
Harding in a district final. Avon Lake’s district championship marked
the first time the Shoremen had reached a district final. A great
doubleheader at CSU with an Ed’s/Iggy game and Mentor being one of the
most entertaining teams in the state.
Semifinals-Mentor over Avon
Lake; St. Edward over St. Ignatius
Final-St. Edward over Mentor
UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: #13
Massillon Jackson and #14 Toledo St. John’s Jesuit are ranked teams in
the Akron regional. Jackson and the Akron East Orientals will meet in a
semifinal at Akron with St. John’s meeting Lima Senior in a semifinal at
the University of Toledo. The final will be played at the JAR in
Akron. Lima Senior defeated #3 Mansfield Senior in a district final
while Jackson eliminated #8 North Canton Hoover in a district final.
Semifinals-Jackson over Akron
East; St. John’s Jesuit over Lima Senior
Final-Jackson over St. John’s
Jesuit
COLUMBUS FAIRGROUNDS COLISEUM:
#1 Columbus Northland, #2 Gahanna Lincoln, and #15 Dublin Coffman are
ranked teams at the Barn. Northland is also the #1 team in the country
according to USA Today. Gahanna Lincoln’s district title is the first
in school history. Coffman eliminated #10 Upper Arlington in a district
semifinal. Too bad that this regional will not be played at St. John’s
Arena.
Semifinals-Coffman over Gahanna
Lincoln; Northland over Cincinnati Colerain
Final-Northland over Coffman
STATE
For the thirteenth consecutive
year, D1 will close out the State Tournament. The semifinal games will
be played Friday night. Hard to pick against Northland.
Semifinals-Cincinnati LaSalle
over Lakewood St. Edward; Columbus Northland over Massillon Jackson
Final-Columbus Northland over
Cincinnati LaSalle
Top of Page
DIVISION II
Eight of the thirteen teams
ranked in the final Associated Press poll have reached the regional
tournament. Six teams (Carrollton, Circleville Logan Elm, Columbus
Watterson, Dayton Thurgood Marshall, defending state champion Akron St.
Vincent-St. Mary, Columbus DeSales) also advanced to the regional
tournament in 2009. The Trent Arena at Kettering Fairmont High School
replaces Xavier University as a regional site.
REGIONALS
CANTON CIVIC CENTER: #5 Poland
Seminary, #6 Cleveland Benedictine, and #10 Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary
are ranked teams at Canton. SVSM eliminated top ranked Akron Buchtel in
the district final at Stow. Poland is averaging close to ninety points
per game. Cleveland Collinwood last reached the regional tournament in
2004 when the Railroaders were a D1 school.
Semifinals-Benedictine over
Collinwood; SVSM over Poland
Final-Benedictine over SVSM
KETTERING FAIRMONT: #2 Dayton
Dunbar is the only ranked team at Kettering. Despite that fact, this is
a very strong regional. 2009 D2 state runner-up Thurgood Marshall
eliminated #9 Dayton Chaminade-Julienne in a sectional final game.
Dunbar spent the majority of the season at the top of the Associated
Press poll until losing to Dayton Jefferson and Akron Buchtel.
Semifinals-Dunbar over Columbus
Watterson; Thurgood Marshall over Cincinnati Roger Bacon
Final-Dunbar over Thurgood
Marshall
OHIO UNIVERSITY: #3 Columbus
DeSales and #8 Circleville Logan Elm are ranked teams at the Convocation
Center. Both Logan Elm and DeSales reached the D2 state final four in
2009 with DeSales winning the Bowling Green regional. Zanesville
knocked off #13 Dover in a district final.
Semifinals-Zanesville over
Carrollton; DeSales over Logan Elm
Final-DeSales over Zanesville
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY:
#4 Port Clinton and #7 Defiance are ranked teams at Anderson Arena.
Port Clinton’s district championship is the first in school history.
Both Defiance and Celina are members of the Western Buckeye League with
Defiance winning the league title. This is Clearview’s first year as a
D2 school. Clipper coach John Szalay was a starter on Clearview’s
1974 Class “A” state championship team.
Semifinals-Celina over Clearview;
Defiance over Port Clinton
Final-Defiance over Celina
STATE
The D2 semifinals will be the
Thursday evening games with the championship game being played Saturday
afternoon.
Semifinals-Cleveland Benedictine
over Dayton Dunbar; Columbus DeSales over Defiance
Final-Cleveland Benedictine over
Columbus DeSales
Top of Page
DIVISION
III
Only five of the eleven teams
ranked in the final Associated Press poll are playing in regional
tournaments. Two teams (defending state champion Cleveland Central
Catholic and Anna) also advanced to the regional in 2009. This marks
the third consecutive trip to the regional for Anna. Plymouth advanced
to the regional in D4 in both 2008 and 2009. The Trent Arena at
Kettering Fairmont replaces Wilmington College as a regional site.
REGIONALS
OHIO UNIVERSITY: #9 Ironton is
the lone ranked team at the Convocation Center. Ironton eliminated #7
Peebles in a district final at Athens. 2008 state runner-up Garaway is
the only team in the regional that did not play their district games at
the Convo.
Semifinals-Garaway over
Chesapeake; Ironton over Sardinia Eastern
Final-Ironton over Garaway
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY:
#4 Plymouth is the only ranked team at Anderson Arena. Lima Central
Catholic defeated #1 Liberty-Benton in the district semi-final and #10
Ottawa-Glandorf in the district final at Elida. Centerburg knocked off
#8 Cardington-Lincoln in a district semi-final game. Plymouth’s Brooks
Turson topped 2,000 career points in the Big Red’s district final win
over Ontario.
Semifinals-Archbold over
Plymouth; Lima Central Catholic over Centerburg
Final-Lima Central Catholic over
Archbold
CANTON FIELDHOUSE: #3 East
Canton is the lone ranked team at Canton. Cleveland Central Catholic
eliminated #11 Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph in a district final.
The Ironmen have battled injuries throughout the season to key players
but have gotten healthy for the tournament. East Canton along with
Middletown Madison and Plymouth remain unbeaten in D3.
Semifinals-Cleveland Central
Catholic over Orrville; East Canton over Newton Falls
Final-Cleveland Central Catholic
over East Canton
KETTERING FAIRMONT: #2
Middletown Madison and #6 Cincinnati Taft are ranked teams at the Trent
Arena. Anna was the D3 state runner-up in 2008. The girls team from
Middletown Madison is also undefeated and will be playing in the girls
final four in D3. Columbus Bishop Ready was the #4 seed in the Columbus
district, but the top three seeds all went to the side of the bracket
that advanced to the Bowling Green regional.
Semifinals-Anna over Bishop
Ready; Cincinnati Taft over Middletown Madison
Final-Cincinnati Taft over Anna
STATE
D3 will kick off the
eighty-eighth annual Boys State Basketball Tournament on Thursday, March
25. The championship game will be played on Saturday morning.
Semifinals-Lima Central Catholic
over Ironton; Cincinnati Taft over Cleveland Central Catholic
Final-Cincinnati Taft over Lima
Central Catholic
Top of Page
DIVISION
IV
Six of the thirteen teams ranked
in the final Associated Press poll are playing in regional tournaments.
Four teams (Kalida, Lockland, Fort Loramie, Newark Catholic) return
after making trips to the regional tournament in 2009. For Lockland, it
is a sixth consecutive appearance in the regional tournament. Defending
D4 state champion Oak Hill was eliminated by Wheelersburg in a D3
sectional game.
REGIONALS
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY:
#10 Kalida is the only ranked team at BGSU. Kalida eliminated #5
Continental in a district final while Miller City defeated #9 McComb in
a sectional final. Kalida coach Richard Kortokrax has won over 800
games in his long career. Kalida has already faced both Wayne Trace and
Miller City in regular season games. The Wildcats have not yet faced a
tournament opponent who they did not meet during the regular season.
Semifinals-Miller City over
Ottawa Hills; Kalida over Wayne Trace
Final-Kalida over Miller City
COLUMBUS FAIRGROUNDS COLISEUM:
#1 Newark Catholic is the lone ranked team in the Columbus regional.
Manchester defeated #6 Reedsville Eastern in a district semi-final
game. Manchester and Columbus Tree of Life (got to love that name) will
play their semi-final game at Ohio University with Newark Catholic and
Wynford playing their semi-final at the Barn. The regional final will
be played in Columbus.
Semifinals-Manchester over Tree
of Life; Newark Catholic over Wynford
Final-Newark Catholic over
Manchester
CANTON FIELDHOUSE: #2 McDonald
and #4 Shadyside are ranked teams at Canton. Shadyside eliminated #11
Berlin Hiland in a district semi-final. Shadyside’s district
championship is the first in school history. Bedford St. Peter Chanel’s
win in the district final put the Firebirds above the .500 mark for the
first time since their season opener.
Semifinals-Shadyside over
McDonald; St. Peter Chanel over Cortland Maplewood
Final-Shadyside over St. Peter
Chanel
KETTERING FAIRMONT: #7 Dayton
Jefferson and #8 Fort Recovery are ranked teams at Kettering. Fort
Loramie defeated #13 Cincinnati Seven Hills in a district final.
Jefferson’s 13-10 record entering the regional is deceiving as the
Broncos were forced to forfeit five games for using an ineligible
player.
Semifinals-Fort Recovery over
Lockland; Dayton Jefferson over Fort Loramie
Final-Dayton Jefferson over Fort
Recovery
STATE
D4 will play their semifinal
games during the day on Friday with the championship game scheduled for
late Saturday afternoon. D4 is the only division with a new state
champion guaranteed.
Semifinals-Newark Catholic over
Kalida; Dayton Jefferson over Shadyside
Final-Dayton Jefferson over
Newark Catholic
This ends Trail Trash for
another year. As always, we appreciate the support and value your
feedback. Please contact us
HERE with any comments, opinions, or
corrections. We will see you in Columbus if not sooner.
Top of Page
Publisher: Davey1.com
Brackets: Davey1.com
Predictions: The Swami
|
