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Portsmouth will have another good team next year, possibly another serious run at the state, providing that the Trojans can find another good ballhandler to make up for the loss of Andrew Bendolph.......right now, Wayne Evans will be the PG, and Zaide Whitley will be the 2, with his scoring and ballhandling responsibilities increased........still, the Trojans need another guard who can handle the basketball, and provide some scoring punch, though ballhandling will be more important........losing Tre Underwood will hurt also, especially on the boards.......I look for the Trojans to be more challenged on the glass next season, though I do think that Dion McKinley will take care of his business.

Despite coming off a Final 4 appearance and having 3 starters back, Portsmouth has some issues to address.......they should be good, but could be VERY GOOD if they can find adequate replacements for the loss of AB and TU.

One aspect of the team that should be better will be the bench.......we have everyone returning from that part of the team.

It will be very had to replace Andrew and Tre, but I feel real good about Wayne running the point, he has already proved that he can do it,and that was without Whitley for the most part.

I also think Mason Jordan can help out on the loss of Tre, esp if he works on the off season and plays summer ball with the other kids.

I have a strong feeling the basketball gods will be sending us another point gueard to help out

or is that wishfull thinking .

either way,,this will be a vey good team with what we have,,they all got plenty of playing time and experience this season

Pure guess....

Chesapeake: PG-P. Hintz (5'7, Sr.), SG-E. Kennedy (6'4, Sr.), Combo-Thompson (6'1, Jr), SF-McMaster (6'5, Sr), F- B. Nobel (6'1, Sr)

trojandave wrote:Portsmouth will have another good team next year, possibly another serious run at the state, providing that the Trojans can find another good ballhandler to make up for the loss of Andrew Bendolph.......right now, Wayne Evans will be the PG, and Zaide Whitley will be the 2, with his scoring and ballhandling responsibilities increased........still, the Trojans need another guard who can handle the basketball, and provide some scoring punch, though ballhandling will be more important........losing Tre Underwood will hurt also, especially on the boards.......I look for the Trojans to be more challenged on the glass next season, though I do think that Dion McKinley will take care of his business.

Despite coming off a Final 4 appearance and having 3 starters back, Portsmouth has some issues to address.......they should be good, but could be VERY GOOD if they can find adequate replacements for the loss of AB and TU.

One aspect of the team that should be better will be the bench.......we have everyone returning from that part of the team.

and they all got a taste of what so few kids get,,,,,,a taste of the great fun and run to the final 4,,hope that makes them hungry enough to work hard over the summer.

biggdowgg: Excellent point about the kids getting to experience the Final 4........with so many kids coming back, I think summer participation will be outstanding.........in fact, I have already seen a number of kids playing on the courts already.

Portsmouth basketball has its tournament credibility back........and now we don't HOPE to win, but EXPECT to win, with a veteran team returning.........that's the way it should be at PHS.......it was that way for many, many decades, and the bar should always be high......the banners in our gym tell a tale of why it should be that way.

TO ACHIEVE, YOU MUST BELIEVE!!

GO TROJANS!!

Let me give it a shot at my early contenders for top 8 next season. Instead of ranking them 1 through 8 however I will put them in tiers of how I think they could shake out. Too hard to call to list all 8 in order.

Tier 1:
Peake - so much coming back from a team that really impressed me last year. Kennedy and McMaster are both very good players.

Tier 2:
Ironton - Love Carter and Fletcher. Can be hurt by teams with talented bigs though or they would be in my tier 1.

Tier 2.5:
Portsmouth - They were the best team in SEO last season at the end. But based on how they played before they got Bendolph lsat year, I find it hard to say that I am totally sold on them continuing that without Bendolph next year. Could easily end up being the best team in SEO next year but they have one question mark that is too big for me to put them ahead of Peake and Ironton.

Chillicothe - London will be the most imposing player in SEO next season and Johnson will be one of the best scorers. I would bet my life on it. Those 2 will be 2 of the best 5 overall players in SEO IMO. Only problem is that there are major question marks at every other position and I just don't see the talent coming up from JV to reload like they have in the past. Tier 1 talent at the top. Tier 4 supporting cast IMO.

Tier 3:
Eastern Brown - good team last year with almost all of the team returning. No studs but a great TEAM.

Waverly - Kretzer is a beast. But he has NO ONE around him and because of this sometimes makes bad decisions and tries to play 1 on 5. He is good. He is not that good. 1 on 5 doesn't work unless you are a future Big Ten(or similar) caliber player. I would not be shocked if they lose a lot of games because teams will throw all their defenders at Kretzer. Hopefully he gets some help because he is a special talent.

I think Piketon loses way too much to sustain the level of play they have been accustomed to the last few seasons. Could challenge for the top 8 but I don't see them being all that great. Admittedly, I don't know enough about who all is coming back for the other teams to make an educated judgement so I won't. If I left any deserving teams off, my apologies. Like I said, I don't know enough about the rest.

I would like to add that Dion Brown will be back for Ironton. At 6'2 Dion will be a force outside, he can guard like Morton and shoot like Carter. It will be great to see him back after injuries in Football had him sidelined last year. He is currently playing AAU ball.

OHbuckeye1 wrote:I would like to add that Dion Brown will be back for Ironton. At 6'2 Dion will be a force outside, he can guard like Morton and shoot like Carter. It will be great to see him back after injuries in Football had him sidelined last year. He is currently playing AAU ball.

Do you happen to know the team he is playing for over the summer?

Im thinking our season is going to be just as fun next year as it was this year..or even better

For Portsmouth, 3 starters (Evans, Whitley, McKinley) with state tournament experience will return.......and they all will be improved in 2011-2012........combine that with what should be a much stronger bench with everyone returning from that group.......it should add up to another very good season for the Trojans.......13 of the 15 kids that dressed for the tournament return.

Probably the most exciting aspect of Portsmouth basketball is that the Trojans should field good teams for the next 5 years, and it wouldn't surprise me if another state appearance could happen within that time frame with what we have coming up.

I don't think the D3 field will be as deep in 2011-2012 as it was this past year........last year, there were 6 teams that had a legitimate shot at a regional title........Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Ironton, Wheelersburg, Peebles, and Piketon........but in 2011-2012 I look for Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Ironton to be the clear frontrunners for a berth in the Final 4.......not surprisingly, those 3 schools have the most players coming back.

IMO in SEO district for 2011-12.
D2-Chillicothe, Waverly
D3-Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Ironton
D4-Southern, Manchester

trojandave wrote:biggdowgg: Excellent point about the kids getting to experience the Final 4........with so many kids coming back, I think summer participation will be outstanding.........in fact, I have already seen a number of kids playing on the courts already.

Portsmouth basketball has its tournament credibility back........and now we don't HOPE to win, but EXPECT to win, with a veteran team returning.........that's the way it should be at PHS.......it was that way for many, many decades, and the bar should always be high......the banners in our gym tell a tale of why it should be that way.

TO ACHIEVE, YOU MUST BELIEVE!!

GO TROJANS!!

I heard about a transfer from Greenup coming to Portsmouth, a 6-8 guy. Anyone else heard about this?

Trojan Man 13: I haven't anything about this.......there were rumors of a possible transfer from Greenup last year, but it didn't materialize.

trojandave wrote:Trojan Man 13: I haven't anything about this.......there were rumors of a possible transfer from Greenup last year, but it didn't materialize.

From what I've heard, Greenup's head coach got fired? Wouldn't that convince someone to transfer to a better school in your area? Especially a team who made it to the Final Four.

I haven't heard anything about a transfer. Just looking at Greenup's roster I don't see any 6'8'' guys. Got a few in the 6'4"-6'6" range, but we all exaggerate, and lots of these boys are still growing.

Don't know much about Greenup's players, but another big is always a welcome addition. Hopefully if this is true he can help fill the enforcer role left by Trey.