2011-2012 SVC top 3 plus "Sleeper"

[JIMMY THE GREEK]

I have a feeling this season will be a real mystery. 10-4 or 9-5 could win the league! My top 3 will be revealed later in this post. My sleeper is "Piketon"......I will tell you why?

[chef_piketon]

One reason for Piketon is The Oven is a tough place for teams to play. Nicest gym in the SVC in The Chef's opinion however there are several gyms in the SVC that are hard to win at.

[Roger Mink]

No disrespect Chef but I would vote Southeastern's gym as the nicest. Our's the most unique! And all of them hard to win at!

Should be an extremely competitive league this year. Lots of experience back for nearly every team. This is going to look like the AFC Central!!

[svcbaseballfan]

I have to agree with the Chef, Piketon's gym is the best IMO. SE is definatly a close second, but the lighting in The Oven makes all the difference. It appears this year is going to be a very balanced league. Should make for some exciting nights.

[Main Man]

I agree with Roger. Southeastern has the nicest gym in the area.

[JIMMY THE GREEK]

Seriously? Who is talking about gyms? Here's my picks:

1. Westfall: only loses two players, well three if you include Zak Smith. The Mustangs will have fire power at the forward position with Derek Robertson and Alek Stonerock and Doug Hardin to the mix and they should be one of the league favorites.

2. Zane Trace: ZT will return Wes Beam, Brandon Cox, Jesson Hill, and Ian Carle, they gave Piketon fits last season and I'm sure Coach Alley will have them ready to get back in the hunt.

3. I almost want to say a tie or toss up between Huntington, Unioto, and Southeastern. Its hard to overlook Dylan Gragg at Huntington (All-Ohio) he will be hard to stop, Brice Vickers will return with a host of youngsters (another Kellough). The question mark will be how to adjust to a new coach (whom was hired late) , new system. Southeastern returns a nice group of players led by Michael Brown in which some games he put up huge numbers. I think the heat will be turned up in Richmondale where expectations are always high. Unioto although losing Brick Davis, and Christian Dunkle will return a nice group of athletes and will be very tough to beat. I look for Andrew Warner to have some big games for coach Hoops. I give the edge to the "U".

Sleeper: Piketon...after losing 4 starters and 5 out of the top 8. It will be hard for the Streaks to play at the amazing level they have played in the last three seasons. The Streaks compiled a SVC record of 47-5 with two Titles and a 2nd place finish in the past three seasons. Gone is Pike County household names Legg, Brush, Vulgamore, Helton, Braniff and in comes the "New Kids". One positive note; Coach Lisath played a lot of underclassmen with his experienced ball club last season, this will give Isaac Brabson, Zak Farmer, Craigen Moore a chance to blossom. I'm told 6'4 soph Jeremy Farmer had a great summer, along with Colten Williams, Tyler Collier and a transfer from arch-rival Waverly. Look for freshman Wyatt Brewster to turn some heads this season. Don't count them out...they know how to win!

Paint Valley lost way too much to compete and Adena is still rebuilding with yet another new coach.

[chef_piketon]

1 - Huntington Township
2 - The U
3 - ZT
Sleeper - Piketon...young talent with Coach L & riding the waves of success. SE and WF will be in the mix. 3 losses will win the league. League will beat up on itself and tournament seedings will be deceiving for SVC schools. Will be an interesting year.

Jimmy: let's go with "News Kids" for this coming years young Streaks. The Chef likes that and we can play off it and have a lot of fun with it this season. The Chef thinks the Streaks are just reloading not rebuilding. Can't wait to see them play because the "New Kids" will make their own mark here in The Village. Those "New Kids" aren't so new as they played huge time in last years 14-0 run to the Gold.

Should be a wide open year in the SVC. Would love to see another District Tournament where we have multiple teams in the finals of it like we did in 2009.

[run-n-gun]

1-Huntington
2-Zane Trace
3-Unioto/Piketon

Sleeper-Paint Valley
I just feel they could breakout, and just find a way to win this season. I consider Piketon still at the top of the SVC, so picking a sleeper was a little more difficult.

And, they really aren't a sleeper, if everybody is picking them to still contend.

[chef_piketon]

The Chef is starting to sense a change in the "air" here in The Village. Occasionally those winds gusts have a hint of winter every now and then. Won't be long until we hear the bouncing of basketballs and the squeaking of shoes here in The Oven. Can't wait. Go Streaks!

[Grinder]

Zane Trace will be my sleeper. I watched them play a couple times, once they looked unbeatable and once they looked really bad. If they play like they are capable I look for them to make some noise.

[nickle back]

Huntington, Southeastern, Unioto, Zane Trace will be in the top half

[bengalfan76]

Huntington, Southeastern, Unioto, Zane Trace will be in the top half

Want to bet? Piketon will finish in top half.

[bman]

piketon, zt, hunt, unioto

[warningtrackpower]

SVC fans, we finished our latest SVC Sports Talk last night. We were talking about the rumor of the SVC expanding in the future...here is a link...http://www.dbkmediaservices.com/wordpre ... alk-101011

[JIMMY THE GREEK]

So...here we are! What is your pre-season picks?

[steadyEd]

1a- Huntington- They have the best big man in the league and the best shooter in the league. Two talented soph's in Hall and Kellough, along with some nice role players. Even with a new coach at the helm for the Huntsmen, I don't see how they would not be favored to win the league. They might start a little slow if they have to put in a new system, but should be rolling by Mid-december. The Huntsmen will be wearing the SVC crown at the end of the year.
1b.- Unioto- IMO The most talented starting 5 in the league! Murray is very quick and can handle, create for others. Andrew Warner may have the biggest upside in the SVC, he is a big kid that can knock it down from outside. Detillion has spent the whole off season in the weight room from what I'm hearing, could be very hard to stop on the interior. If Woods can be that x-factor or the glue guy for Unioto, could be in for a big year. Coach Hoops lost a lot of experience but brings back a wealth of talent, looking to make it two years in a row, being in that race for an SVC title.
2- Piketon- Craigen Moore has a nice amount of experience coming back for the Streaks, he can get up and down the floor, shoot it from the outside. Farmer inside will be a load to handle, he combines a unique skill set of strength and athleticism. I havn't heard about all these transfers Lisath has coming in, but I know that he'll have them ready. They will come together as a team and get up and down. It could be another SVC title heading down to Pike county at the end of the season.
3.- Southeastern- It starts inside for the Panthers, they have Micheal Brown scoring in the paint who is right up there with Gragg from Huntington. The kid gets it done night in and night out. Brown is always racking up fouls on opposing defenders and getting to the FT line. Kellough is a streaky shooter, but when he gets it going, he can shoot from NBA range. SE brings Hall back, having a veteran player running the point is usually a key to a title at any level. Coach Uhrig will have these guys ready and challenging for an SVC title.

4- Zane Trace- They have a lot of players coming back, I'm not sure I see somebody they can go to in a key situation to get a much needed bucket. They have athletes all over the floor from Hill,Cox, Carle and a big man inside(Beam). This team will give the "top" of the league fits every weekend. If they come together and develop, they could challenge for a league title.
5-Westfall- Robertson is a 1st team All SVC type of player and showed it often at the end of the year last year. I'm not sure if Stonerock is playing? They will need his size to compete and he read the game well when I saw him last year. They had a good JV team last year and some guys might come up to help fill spots. This is where I start to see teams that can compete but arn't able to win consistently to win the SVC crown.
6-Adena- They bring everybody back, but they are bringing back everybody off a team that struggled night in and night out. Another coaching change and another system for the Warriors. It looks like a long basketball year for Adena once again.
7- Paint Valley- The Bearcats had a very solid team last year, unfortunately almost all of those players are gone. Coach Wolf will have his guys grinding and battling every night, they are much like Adena, just not enough talent to compete on a nightly basis.


Good Luck to all teams this year!

[ohiostbucks99]

piketon,huntington,zt

sleeper - unioto

[Lightle04]

Seen Zane Trace at Western a week ago. I hope there as good as you all say cause Western tied 1 quarter and won 3 others in the 8 quarter scrimmage.

[teamworkwins]

I wouldn't put to much into the way teams play in scrimmages. Coaches play kids that will not see any varsity time and make multipe substitutions, sometimes 5 at a time. No way Western plays with Trace in a real game, unless they are alot better than last year. Trace should finish in the top 4 teams along with Hunt.,Unioto, and Piketon.

[JIMMY THE GREEK]

Congrats Coach Lisath: http://search.espn.go.com/anna-katherin ... ns/video/6

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/72402 ... io-inmates