Pfloyd's Elite 8 of Southern/SouthEast Ohio Week #5

[TheSportsGuy]

South Webster was the better team the other night. It only took a career game from their best player. What does the score look like if he scores at his average and not nearly 40? Kudos to him though, and shame on the East defense. I won't mention several factors that East was facing adversity-wise prior to the game even starting, because there are no excuses.

How can you definitively say that 1 team is better than another off of 1 game? I guess South Point is clearly better than Portsmouth...

This will settle itself in time, but I still believe the top 3-4 teams in the SOC I are better or as good as everyone in the SOC II minus Valley/ Minford.

While East has under impressed outside of their league games so far they have controlled the other top teams in their conference. The weird thing about that those other top league teams have done well out of conference.

East beat Notre Dame by 17 @ ND, look up ND's out of conference wins.
East beat Clay by 14, look at Clays out of conference wins. East beat Eastern by 19, look at Eastern's resume. East beat Western at Western, they have played very respectably outside of the league.

The D-IV tournament will be really good this year.

[EPN]

Eastern pike is every bit as good as Valley and Minford.

[TheSportsGuy]

I think statements like that EPN cost some credibility. No, they are not. On a good night (as they have proved) they can play with Valley, but not over the course of the season.

I think there are about 10-15 really good teams in the district. The next tier has about 20 or so teams capable of beating each other.

It takes a special kind of resolve to go through a season with less than 3 losses. I think that the SOC only has 2 teams capable of that and we're not halfway home. I do feel that a few teams will finish with 4-7 losses, which is pretty good. I think that Valley, Minford, and South Webster are the only true District title contenders in SOC II. I think that Clay, Eastern, East, and Notre Dame are threats in D-IV.

[warrior90]

Warren 101
Beallsville 41

Starters basically played the 1st quarter and off and on thru rest of game with jv and second teamers. On a good note Seth Hall played, on a down note Kyler Dennis was out.

[pfloyd]

warrior90 ... is Kyler Dennis out with an injury ????? wow ... hard to be consistent with a revolving door of injuries to various players especially at the PG/Shooting guard positions ...

[warrior90]

He had a definite limp. figure he could have went if he would have had to, in my opinion. we will have to see if he plays tomorrow.

[EPN]

That doesn't lose any credability at all, look I think valley is a really good team , but they r not a dominant team, roffe is a great player , but their supporting cast is not as good as it has been in the past , Yates , Dunn , Keller , and players like that r not there anymore , those teams were really good , but this year I fully believe Eastern is every bit as talented as valley , and yes valley won at eastern by 1 point , but if they played again I think it would go either way, and I would go into that game not just wanting to compete , but fully expecting to beat them , and the same goes for Minford , Rowe and Kelley r really good players , but eastern is just as talented as Minford , and if we played them I would fully expect to win that game as well.

[LetsGoPSU]

Love the SOC debate, so ahrd to follow the teams from the area I grew up in without it.Good basketball being played in the extreme south......Portsmouth-Fairland tonight, hope its as fun as it sounds Go Trojans!

[ColonelSanders]

Yea SW's kid did have a career game but I really thought SW eased up at the start of the 4th quarter and let East back in the game. Kudos to East. BUT, SW had a chance and should have pushed that lead to 15 points but kept turning the ball over. And those turnovers weren't anything that East was doing defensively. SW kept shooting themselves in the foot. I don't know how many passes that they had that they literally through straight out of bounds. SW IS the better team. However, East IS a good team.

[bbjunky81]

That doesn't lose any credability at all, look I think valley is a really good team , but they r not a dominant team, roffe is a great player , but their supporting cast is not as good as it has been in the past , Yates , Dunn , Keller , and players like that r not there anymore , those teams were really good , but this year I fully believe Eastern is every bit as talented as valley , and yes valley won at eastern by 1 point , but if they played again I think it would go either way, and I would go into that game not just wanting to compete , but fully expecting to beat them , and the same goes for Minford , Rowe and Kelley r really good players , but eastern is just as talented as Minford , and if we played them I would fully expect to win that game as well.

I hate to bring up this debate because it's like kicking a dead horse, but..

You couldn't be more wrong when you say "Eastern is just as talented as Minford." No. Stop that.

I understand Eastern kept it close with Valley. That's great! Valley was also without Romanello (or he was limited at best). They also had way less practice time due to a football run. Nonetheless, good showing for Eastern.

Of Valley, Minford, and Eastern, you do have the best coach. Barrick is terrific and undoubtedly one of the best around. But just as talented? Stop it.

[bbjunky81]

Pfloyd,

With all due respect, you are wrong here. I know you weren't at the game, but it was pretty clear South Webster was the better "team." SEVERAL times South Webster was up 10-12 and on the verge of blowing East out, only to have silly turnovers to let East hang around.

I'm not saying the outcome would have been different in East's box of a gym, however, it was quite evident who the better "team" was.

bbjunky81 - I may be totally wrong with my theory LOL ... that's why I will be watching the results of the East AT Clay and East AT Eastern Pike games very closely ... as I haven't seen South Webster - I couldn't write my "theory" from the slant that South Webster was the BETTER team to start with - didn't mean for it sound like I assumed that EAST was better than South Webster ... I was speaking more in general terms about the EAST ball club - for as good as they are they have an even bigger advantage at home on the smaller court ... while on the road that advantage - their Big able to be a factor at both ends because he can more easily transition from offense to defense or defense to offense - is not as big of a factor ... as you said South Webster may in fact be the better of the 2 teams - especially on that game night vs East @ South Webster ... since there is no game to be played between South Webster @ East my theory will have to stay that - just a theory LOL ...

No hard feelings pfloyd. You do a terrific job with your rankings and are a "Class A" member through and through. Hope to see you soon!

[EPN]

We r going to agree to disagree on this , when eastern played valley romanello did not play , and I understand valley was coming off of football, but eastern played football as well , and those players were coming off their first ever season of varsity football, and being it was their first season it was tough on those players , they were wore down from playing week after week . Eastern also had a player that did not play in that game , that will b eligible to play tonight actually, and eastern lost their starting center (6-6 soph) to a football injury for the season , eastern starting point guard is a freshman , who was playing in his 3rd varsity game , eastern also has another freshman who did not play in that game , that is now playing varsity, and is getting better and better every game , by the end of the season may b looking at the starting lineup .so no excuses for valley.
Eastern didn't just keep it close, they dominated a good portion of that game , valley had a 20-8 lead after 1st quarter, eastern really dominated the 2nd and 3rd quarters of that game and took a 10 point lead in the 3rd quarter , that's a 22 point swing . Valley switched to a zone defense to start the fourth , which really slowed the pace of the game down , and the reason they switched was because they were having a really hard time containing eastern in a man to man defense, it was a good move by coach roffe, as I don't think valley could win that game if they would not have switched to that zone , eastern worked the ball a little too much in that 4th prolly as they was trying to work some clock , eastern got some good shots against the zone , but just missed them , roffe hit a shot with about 30 seconds to give valley its first lead since early in the second quarter, and eastern missed 2 lay ups in the last minute and the front end of a 1-1 free throw , that prolly could have sealed the game for eastern , but they missed and valley came away with the win .
Anyone who watched that game or has watched eastern this year , like I have , and I have watched valley play 3 games now , shouldn't think eastern isn't as talented as valley, because they are , roffe is prolly the best player on the floor ,and he would prolly b the reason I would give valley a slight edge if they were to play again , but the game could go either way , and after roffe , like I said , eastern is every bit as talented as valley , with the exception of roffe, I would say Eastern is prolly more talented than valley at the other positions on the floor , and that is with 2 freshman for eastern , eastern is still getting better and better every game as well , because they r so young , their future has really big time potential .

[RoundBall1]

With all due respect, I can name 3-4 Valley starters that are more talented than just about every player Eastern puts on the floor. Rolfe, as you stated, is the best on the floor is just about every game. Romanello is a freak athlete that can put a stamp on any game if he dials it in. Aaron Linne is overlooked by most, but is more than capable of carrying his load in the scoring department, and plays pesky defense. & last but not least, Blake Howard is one of the most creative finishers in the SOC around the rim & can shoot it from 3, and this isn't even taking into account that he can play defense with the best of them. Valley is deep. These are just a few of the key players on this team. The ability to get the starters a rest & still keep up production from the bench is where Valley gets the edge on a lot of teams.

[brown22]

roundball1 no way have to disagree with u there valley does not have 3to 4 better basketball players than eastern Ethan leist and clay Martin would start on any team in the soc either division and be one of the best players rolfe is more skilled I give valley that but nobody else minford has Rowe a former eagle and Kelley both leist and Martin start on that team so does akia brown,Blaine Scott, and the king boy from clay if we want to go the whole soc1 route. gabe gambill comes bk tonight and rumor is dalton Tomlinson is close to being ready those to bigs with the hale boy who I mite add has being playing great as late so eagles are in good shape.

[EPN]

Roundball1,
I completely disagree and u r not giving eastern players enough credit, Ethan leist would b the best player on the floor after roffe , and it's not close, so stop it with 3-4 players better than anyone eastern puts on the floor, Clay Martin plays with a high motor as well , and could more than hold his own with romanello, and Martin has a 3 point shot as well, Tyler hale is becoming a force on the inside for eastern , who can rebound as well as anyone , and freshman point guard Evan leist is a star in the making , I know u r going to disagree but Evan leist is not that far behind Blake Howard right now , and like I said he is just a freshman , eastern plays 2 seniors, and now brings freshman Michael Miller off the bench and will b getting gabe gamble back tonight .
question for ya, do U think Peebles is as talented as valley and Minford?

[RoundBall1]

I'm not familiar enough with Peebles to answer that. These are all just opinions from what I've seen from the two teams. I'm not claiming to know it all, just what I think. I'm not saying Eastern isn't a good team, especially for their size, but I've been very impressed by the Indians so far this year, getting better as the year goes on.

[RoundBall1]

I do think the Leist kid is an elite defender but he looked like he could improve a lot on the offensive end.

[specialist23]

EPN, it's obvious you are a diehard Eastern fan and no matter what anyone says, you are going to disagree and state your eagles are the best. Let's move on and just root for our teams and let the chips fall where they may. I feel Waverly is better than Eastern as was proven on the court but I am a Waverly fan. I know you will say it was close and Eastern should have or could have won but we all know if Waverly hits there free throws this game is not as close as it was and shouldn't have went into overtime.

[EPN]

Specialist23,
U r correct I am a die hard eastern fan, as others r fans of their schools , just trying to make their point also, I don't think eastern is the best , but I do think eastern is just as good as the top teams in the soc2 , and like I said the talent difference is not that much.
As far as the waverly game goes U r correct , if waverly hits free throws they prolly beat eastern in regulation ,waverly is a good team , and I could see them beating valley and Minford when those teams come to waverly .

[brown22]

EPN, it's obvious you are a diehard Eastern fan and no matter what anyone says, you are going to disagree and state your eagles are the best. Let's move on and just root for our teams and let the chips fall where they may. I feel Waverly is better than Eastern as was proven on the court but I am a Waverly fan. I know you will say it was close and Eastern should have or could have won but we all know if Waverly hits there free throws this game is not as close as it was and shouldn't have went into overtime.

Waverly was better than eastern on that night yes that's what happens when teams don't go out every night and play the game for four quarters they get beat and leave doubt. Waverly does not have the talent eastern does like the buckeyes don't have the talent of the Wildcats but on that one night they caught them slipping and exposed them same as the Waverly, eastern situation does Waverly have ground to think they are better well yeah they won the eagles fault for leaving doubt if they played 10 times eastern wins 8 just too many basketball players eastern may be Waverly best win so I can see them riding on it.