Fall sports are now over for the IVC. Time to move on into winter. Most of Malvern lost a week of BB practice do to their successful football run. That may have some affect on them in the 1st week or two.

Other than the by now well known transfers within the conference and Sandy Valley had a lost transfer outside the conference, I have not heard of any major roster changes from last year other than graduation. To my knowledge few significant players have decided to not participate in basketball this season.

My preseason analysis of final standings would be:

Hiland
Garaway
Malvern
Ridgewood
Strasburg
Tuscarawas Central Catholic
Newcomerstown
Sandy Valley
Conotton Valley

Hiland on paper has the physical talent to run the table this year. But basketball is not just physical talent but also mental toughness. If Hiland does not possess the mental toughness they will fall short. They can be beat and by no means are they a shoe in for the conference title.

Garaway and Malvern I could almost flip a coin. I have a gut feeling Honigford's senior year will be his best. He has committed to Ashland University so those pressures are behind him. I think he will excel beyond expectations this year.

hard to believe its time to throw it up and play.........I guess it is Thanksgiving week.....

I guess I'm ready. By mid-January I just about can't stand to sit my butt on a bleacher any more. Despite considerable available gluteal tissue, it begins to feel like I'm on day 6 of a 2 week long, every night revival meeting. But I'm fresh right now.

Hiland needs to address 3 issues:
1) Toughness that MSpark mentioned
2) Team defense (which I heard is already coming along nicely but I'll believe it when I see it)
3) Team chemistry - wasn't good last year and there is a new player that has to be worked into the mix

How those 3 things are addressed will determine their success or lack thereof.

What does Strasburg have coming back? I obviously know about the transfer situation, but there is still a lot of ball to play. The smithies are traveling there for week one so I am curious. Also are scrimmaging TCC on Wednesday, will they be tough this year?

Does Garaway have any decent guard play coming up this year? If they have someone to distribute the ball and break a press...they would be the only one's that I could see giving Hiland any problems.

Shaw for garaway is a very good guard. He really came on as the year progressed last year, and he will be a tough matchup for anybody, hiland included. I expect garaway to be very good.

Mr. Russell;567244 wrote:What does Strasburg have coming back? I obviously know about the transfer situation, but there is still a lot of ball to play. The smithies are traveling there for week one so I am curious. Also are scrimmaging TCC on Wednesday, will they be tough this year?

The core scorers that should be returning for Strasburg.

Hunter Schneiter 5'-9" Jr 13ppg
Drew Keiger 5'-9" Sr 7ppg
Austin Hostetler 6'2" Sr 6ppg

For TCC.

Brandon Sweet 6'-1" Sr 15ppg
Jimmy Fickus "6-3" Sr 12ppg

When does the Times Reporter come out with their preview?

riders1;570296 wrote:When does the Times Reporter come out with their preview?

Usually its the first week of basketball season in the Friday edition. That would be Friday December 3rd for the boys. A week earlier for the girls. They posted the football previews on their website this year. I expect them to do the same for basketball. If they do I'll post a link. They did a great job with the football preview this year.

Malvern rescheduled its first two games due their finish in the football playoffs.

East Canton originally scheduled for Dec 4th will be played on Feb 13th

Hiland originally scheduled for Dec 8th will be played on Jan 12th

Also I spoke with an IVC coach, who expressed that he had not yet confirmed it, but had been told that Kristian Cross had transferred to Malvern. Cross was a standout player for the Carrollton Warriors. He is 6'-4" and averaged around 15ppg and 9 rebounds his sophomore and junior seasons. He transferred to and began the school year at I believe Olmstead Falls.

This could be total BS. But since it was told to an IVC coach I thought I would see if anyone has heard anything about this.

T.C.C. wasn't very good when I saw them on Wednesday.

Are there any Strasburg posters on here?

majorspark;575562 wrote:Also I spoke with an IVC coach, who expressed that he had not yet confirmed it, but had been told that Kristian Cross had transferred to Malvern. Cross was a standout player for the Carrollton Warriors. He is 6'-4" and averaged around 15ppg and 9 rebounds his sophomore and junior seasons. He transferred to and began the school year at I believe Olmstead Falls.

This could be total BS. But since it was told to an IVC coach I thought I would see if anyone has heard anything about this.

hadn't heard that one at all. Would be surprised if it were true, but you never know.

ricola;576327 wrote:hadn't heard that one at all. Would be surprised if it were true, but you never know.

The coach I spoke with had some doubts as well. But he had some detailed information. I only brought it up on this site. The transfer of a former player from Carrollton was brought up on the other site by someone else today as well. Maybe its just a wild rumor. We will have to wait and see.

majorspark;576356 wrote:The coach I spoke with had some doubts as well. But he had some detailed information. I only brought it up on this site. The transfer of a former player from Carrollton was brought up on the other site by someone else today as well. Maybe its just a wild rumor. We will have to wait and see.

Some other guy on the other site wrote the same exact statement, almost word for word? Really?

This is the post from the other site:

I heard from an IVC coach that Kristian Cross, a former stand out at Carrollton has transferred to Malvern. Cross is 6'-4" and averaged 15ppg and 9 rebounds his sophomore and junior seasons. Cross began the year I believe at Olmstead falls where he transferred this summer.

This is the post from above:

Also I spoke with an IVC coach, who expressed that he had not yet confirmed it, but had been told that Kristian Cross had transferred to Malvern. Cross was a standout player for the Carrollton Warriors. He is 6'-4" and averaged around 15ppg and 9 rebounds his sophomore and junior seasons. He transferred to and began the school year at I believe Olmstead Falls.

Junior Samples;577994 wrote:Some other guy on the other site wrote the same exact statement, almost word for word? Really?

Yes really. Word for word because majorspark = majorspark. That is why I don't use different user names on other sites I use. My words are my own and I can copy them word for word and everyone who may frequent the sites knows they are coming from the same person. I don't hide behind different user names. What is your point?

Also you cut out where I mentioned that the Cross transfer was unconfirmed and could be nothing more than a baseless rumor. Maybe your in the know at the Vern. Care to share your knowledge on the matter? Can you confirm or deny it?

I know very little of the situation, but I would say this is completely untrue.

Junior Samples;578579 wrote:So, I'm to believe that two different people wrote these statements? How would you explain the similarities? Was somebody with you when you spoke to this mystery coach?

You don't have to believe two different people wrote these statements. That is why I use the same user name. The same person made the statements on both sites. It was me majorspark. That is how I explain the similarities. majorspark is the same person on this site, jjhuddle, and yappi. I believe you use the same user name on jjhuddle and this site. I attribute the words of Junior Samples on this site to those of Junior Samples on jjhuddle. Do you deny you are the same user? I suspect you hold the same user name as I for the same reason. You want your words attributed to yourself. The same user.

Junior Samples;578579 wrote:Listen, I don't care what stories you make up, or where you post them. I was just questioning the two author theory.

I don't make up stories. It was told to me by an IVC coach. The rumor also came up on the other site as well. That is when I made a comment on that site.

Junior Samples;578579 wrote:I know very little of the situation, but I would say this is completely untrue.

You may be correct that it is untrue. Like I said in my initial post it may be total BS. Like I said I hear it from an IVC coach. He told me it may be BS. That is why these things are thrown out on sites like this. To get the truth. I qualified my post that the whole deal may be false. Is it? I am yet to hear it is.

Junior why did you edit your post? You have nothing to be ashamed of. They were good questions and comments. I answered all your questions as shown above. Why would you delete them?

majorspark;576356 wrote:The coach I spoke with had some doubts as well. But he had some detailed information. I only brought it up on this site. The transfer of a former player from Carrollton was brought up on the other site by someone else today as well. Maybe its just a wild rumor. We will have to wait and see.

Junior, maybe now I see your misinterpretation of my comment. In better words I only "initially" brought it up on this site. Intentions and words are easily misinterpreted on these types of forums.

That's exactly what happened. I realized right after my last post, so I edited. You were too quick. Sorry for the confusion.

Confirmed Saturday that the Malvern transfer rumor is not true. Jr's credibility is intact!

was there ever a doubt!

Hey Ricola, are you going to run the IVC pickem contest this year?

hiland78;582013 wrote:Hey Ricola, are you going to run the IVC pickem contest this year?

^^I don't think there's enough followers/interest on this site to make it interesting. Basically had about 8-10 regulars last year, and I don't even see most of them around anymore. Will do it if there's enough interest.

So, play starts this week with non-conf games. Hiland is at West Holmes..don't know who else everyone else plays. West Holmes was at their lowest level I've seen them in years last year. Would assume they will be considerably improved this year? I know they will be rather young still, and the future perhaps looks brighter than this year, but expect a year under Lindeman (?sp) will show improvement. Anyone see any scrimmages of theirs this year? Don't know what to expect.

300: you got any info?