I can see hillsdale easily winning it with licata, Huffman, and 6'7 Ryan bee.
From there I struggle as I do not believe that Norwayne has the scoring to be at the 1 spot, they will be good, but not league title good. Northwestern has some nice talent arriving wih the noletti kid, but replacing the MVP is tough. Smithville does have some playmakers, but they need sOme others to step up. Rittman did lose a lot if I recall, and not sure what they have returning. Chippewa I agree will improve. As for waynedale, the couple times I saw them last year, it will take more than a coach to make them better. Dalton I believe will be decent, but for the dalton people do any of you think their coach's system limits a kid like Moyer?

As for right now I say hillsdale is the favorite, and this is coming from a Norwayne fan however, if the cats can play good defense all year and get themselves ready after a long football season I could see them At the top. Good luck to all.

I think Dalton's system is good for a kid like Chase, but in our world where stats mean everything when evaluating players then yes it is possible that it hurts him.

Hillsdale
Smithville
Norwayne
Chippewa
Northwestern
Dalton
Rittman
Waynedale

in some ways, this yrs norwayne team reminds me a lot of last yrs dalton team - bunch of average basketball players skill wisewho have great athleticism, making them into a pretty good team.

Well didn't get to see Rittman play tonight... apparently the school forgot to announce on the website the scrimmage was cancelled. Hope to get a good look at them soon. My preseason pick has to be Norwayne. They return a good amount of kids and they are the type who are hard-nosed and do what it takes to win games. IMO it will come down to Norwayne and Smithville for the crown. Bates is one of the best guards in the area and has the type of talent that makes the players around him better.

McFly, you think Hillsdale will win it easily?

Not easily, but their height will cause problems again, and I do think Licata is hands down best player in league. Norwayne has some tough kids, but like I mentioned before we just don't have that go to guy to get a bucket if we need it. I agree on the dalton comparison. Any other top players out there besides Licata, Briggs, Moyer, Bates, and Wallace?

There are probably 3 better all-around basketball players in the league than Licata, he may be the best scorer though. Honestly, I think somebody else is hands down the best player in the league, but we will see on the court.

wallace is no basketball player. I wouldnt consider him in the top 10 in the league

I have great respect for Adam Wallace but I dont even think he's one of the top 3 players on his own team. He is a role player. He plays hard defense and hits the glass. The majority of his points are from putbacks. Norwayne should be very good this year. They will have great size and athleticism. The deep playoff run in football may hurt them though

Mr Russell- who are you thinking? My top 2 are Bates and Licata, in that order

I actually agree with you madman, except I would maybe sandwhich Chase Moyer in there when he is getting his teammates involved, he has a great skill-set and works very hard in the off-season. Him and Licata can both score in bunches really really quickly. I also actually think Nate Davis for Norwayne really has a chance to be a stud, as well as Briggs from Chippewa. Two players I had the pleasure to work with for a couple years, as well as the prior 3 that were named, they are all hard-working and very smart kids. The overall talent in the league may be down, but there are some star individual players. Klotzle for Smithville as well. For the record, I would take Wallace any day on my team just because he works so damn hard and has that pure athleticsm that can cause nightmares for people when he guards them. Huffman will break out this year for Hillsdale, as well as Jenkins for Chippewa. I look for Blake Dennis to have a nice season for Rittman as well, after a tough fall. I like Noletti for Northwestern and Short for Waynedale, as well as Hawkins. Seth Troyer is a hell of a player too. Lots of good players in the league.

I don't really like ranking players because everyone does different things for their teams and stats rarely tell the whole story. I would take all of those players on my squad, along with some I am sure to be forgetting. Maxwell, Berger, Calendar, Pew, Cline, Lanz, Ludeman, Altenberger?, Bee, Hammer....The list goes on and on. I will say this, if you can't make your teammates better, along with yourself, and if you don't play unselfishly, there really is no way you should be considered a top player in the league. Anybody can hoist shots up and lead their team in scoring. It takes a special player to be among league and area leaders in rebounds and assists, play good defense, and score on top of all of that for a winning team.

It definitely should be an exciting season.

I don't know much about Northwestern honestly, but my buddy who was on the team last year thinks they will pretty tough and thinks Coach Alberts has them ready so I believe him.

Seth Troyes has developed a nice skill set for Dalton. He does not have a ton of athleticism but is tough strong and has a good basketball iq. The most skilled players in the league are bates Moyer and Licata imo

Bobcat;975374 wrote:I have great respect for Adam Wallace but I dont even think he's one of the top 3 players on his own team. He is a role player. He plays hard defense and hits the glass. The majority of his points are from putbacks. Norwayne should be very good this year. They will have great size and athleticism. The deep playoff run in football may hurt them though

i agree. i also have alot of respect for wallace but he his not always the smoothest basketball player but his hard work makes up for it.

league seems pretty down this year talent wise compared to last year. Last year there was frizzel, mckean, lint, moore, the rufener boys, dwyer, davis, schickler, fulk, crossen, forbes, and many more. I dont think that the best players in the league this year could even be put into that catagory.

i think the best ones are definitely in the same category as those you listed, there just aren't as many of them as there were last season.

:thumbup:that's a making for a very tight race in wcal

This thread is quiet. Come on everyone.

Smithville was up and down in their scrimmage on Saturday against Coventry and St. Thomas Aquinas. They are definitely still looking for some players to step up and solidify their spots in the rotation.

Still in football mode thru the 3rd of December

riders1;981286 wrote:Still in football mode thru the 3rd of December

agreed, its usually a sad moment for wcal fans to see the pads be put away and knowing a long basketball season awaits.

should start hearing some more chatter as scrimmages get rolling. I just haven't heard much yet

Did Triway and Norwayne end up scrimmaging? It would have been last Friday. With Norwayne in football still, I'm assuming it either was not played at all or, if it was played, very inaccurate depiction of each team.

thePITman;984774 wrote:Did Triway and Norwayne end up scrimmaging? It would have been last Friday. With Norwayne in football still, I'm assuming it either was not played at all or, if it was played, very inaccurate depiction of each team.

Yes they scrimmaged a three way with Norwayne, Triway & East knot, Norwayne was without the football players and their big boy Davis who was resting his back. Norwayne was the best team on the floor.

Saw Smithville scrimmage some alumni this week. The talent is definitely there for them to have a successful season. They just need to develop some consistancy from some of the role players.

moyer has still not been able to practice full go yet for the bulldogs but I think he is going to try next week - with a high ankle sprain, its just hard to tell as they can linger. The bulldogs have actually been playing ok in scrimmages so far without him - outplaying some teams that aren't real good and losing to some good opponents. They have to start a soph without moyer (their bench is all 10th graders as well) so hopefully chase can get up to speed by the time league play starts - it sure would help.

i heard he is questionable against tuslaw,but they did say he 's going to try practice next wk .