4 days until the boys AND coaches hit the hardwood! Lets hear what you have to say about the league and any predictions you have. Mine will come at a later date. Ref meeting starting tonight. GO ZEBRAS!!!!!:laugh:

This should be a fun season for the WCAL. Really looking forward to some great games. Are Dalton and NW the teams to beat? I see them at the top. Waynedale, Norwayne, Smithville and Hillsdale contending. Rittman and Chippewa struggling for a couple league wins.

Here were some comments on Dalton from the football thread:

187xovr;1308242 wrote:I saw the Dalton basketball team play numerous times over the summer. They are a solid team. I would assume they have a good chance of contending in the WCAL this year. It is rare at small schools to be that good in basketball and suffer multiple blowouts on the football field. Their basketball team is huge. I would say they have 4-6 guys that are 6'3" or taller. Those big bodies could make a good offensive line. How many of their top ten basketball players play football? I'm guessing not nearly all of them. Is this group an anomaly, or is Dalton trending towards becoming a basketball first school. If so, what caused this? Dalton has had an incredibly strong WCAL football team for a long time before the last few years. The low numbers in football and beautiful new indoor basketball facility would suggest this might be the case. I don't have any inside information as I just watch the team from a distance, but I was curious as to why this has happened.

1486wd;1308622 wrote:Dawgs should indeed have the biggest team I remember on the hardwood. None huge 6'7 or anything like that but a bunch of guys 6'3, 6'4, 6'5. The defending champs should have great chance to repeat, but I guess we should start a hoops thread to discuss.

I think it will be a solid year for the WCL. Dalton will be picked to finish first, I think Northwestern, Waynedale, Norwayne and Smithville all will be solid. Hillsdale will drop down losing their size and talent the last couple of years and the Chipps will be okay, Rittman will be at the bottom. Good luck to all the teams.

agree with coach quite a bit here. Lot of good teams and quite a bit of balance. My early predictions:
1)Dalton - returns 4 of their top 6 players off a wcl championship season - losing their leading scorer and 3 point specialist. They should be deeper, bigger, and more athletic this year making them the early favorite.
2)Northwetern - they have height, depth, and arguably wayne county's best athlete in Nolleti. Alberts is also the best coach in the league IMO (in a league with a growing number of good coaches like stutz, reibe, west, etc.)
3)Norwayne - i hesitate to put them this high as I have not heard the final word on Harris - if he plays, I keep them here, if not, I drop them a couple spots. They lost an excellent pg, starting center but do return some nice pieces like Berger and harris if he can.
4)Waynedale - had a nice collection of solid underclassmen last year that flashed a lot of potential. Reibe is a good coach coach and I do think they could challenge in the WCAL if things get rolling.
5)SMithville - Bates is one of the top 5 players in the conference and they will need him to play big. I was not that impressed with the underclassmen last year, so it depends on what was done in the off-season. I believe any of these top 5 could concievably win the league.
6).Hillsdale - lost their best player and the jv squad was way below average last year - I just didnt see the horses.
7). Chippewa - they were competitive last season which is more than you can say lately. If memory serves they have some returnees that could move them up the list a little.
8). Sorry Rittman fans - I have not seen or heard anything that gives me a lot of optimism on the Rez.

Here is my list
1 Dalton - deeper than all the rest
2 NW - nice size
3 Waynedale - maybe the deepest team 9-12th grade
4 Norwayne - Does harris play? Won't win the league either way
5 Smithville - Just not enough to go with Bates
6 Hillsdale - Lost a ton
7 Rittman - Athletic but little size
8 Chippewa - Not much

Pre-Season Predictions Before Scrimmages

1. Dalton: I know Moyer had turf toe during football, interested to see if Bowe and Masters improved...I was impressed with both of them last year.

2. Smithville: Sneaky talented, don't sleep on them. Nettleton/Calendar/Pew will need to step it up this year. I think that Tolan Shane will be a big factor on the defensive side of the ball for Smithville.

3. Northwestern: I have them under Smithville since Smithville beat them by 40+ points the last game last year. Not sure how good of a basketball player Noletti is, same thing with Smith. Alberts is a good coach and always near the top of the league.

4. Waynedale: Got to see Brandon Hawkins play a lot this summer, he will have a good year for the Golden Bears and Riebe will keep the rebuild going.

5. Norwayne: I think the will be very competitive but if the rumor that Kaleb Harris will miss the entire basketball season is true, I dont see them in the top four.

6. Hillsdale: They have built a winning program, they will go as Ryan Bee goes this winter.

7. Chippewa: Austin Durbin is one of the best young players in the area, I am interested to see if Chippewa can improve. I like Coach Lucey and think he is doing a good job, let's see if it translates in the W column.

8. Rittman: They will be in a surprising number of games, living and dying by that 3-ball.

GO DAWGS !! :thumbup:

Im going to have to say itll be between Northwestern, Norwayne and Dalton for first place. Northwestern has solid size and are a more expierienced group from last year with Kline Covert Smith and Nolletti. Dalton is Dalton. They are a very solid team and big as well with Masters Moyer Bowe and Metzger . Alot of people will be shocked that i said Norwayne but I actually watched them a few times during the summer. For those wondering who will be replacing there 7 seniors.....They have a solid pass first point guard in Joe Dreher (qb as well) Brady Berger, Jordan Straub, along with key new additions of 6'5 Trent Davis (Nates younger brother) who is very athletic but just needs expierience and a kid who really impressed me alot Justin Prentiss (i believe is how u spell it) who IMO is a more complete player than harris in my opinion and can do alot of damage to a team(wouldnt suprise me if he put up 13-15 a game) Its too hard to make a solid prediction right now but im going with the Huskies

I heard Harris has decided not to play basketball.

the underclassmen for smithville have improved over the off season for sure. smithvilles down fall will be the lack of size/strength in a basketball sense in the post. kurtz can get physically but he isnt a basketball player. i see his role as to get boards and make free throws. pew needs to be able to play strong in the post also. bates needs to be on the perimeter creating for others. smithville will need to be able to make jumpers all season. live and die by it. dalton is my top pick then smithville. looking forward to seeing some good games this year from the county. how many days till tip off?

Paul_1;1318242 wrote:I heard Harris has decided not to play basketball.

I understand he needs a surgical procedure and the choice was between playing the end of the football season and playoffs OR playing basketball. I think he'd play if he could.

That's what I heard too. He is playing through it till after football, then having surgery and skipping hoops so he can play both his senior year is what I was told.

Kaleb has been told by his doctors that there is a high likelyhood that he will reinjure his shoulder if he does not have surgery on it. He has chosen to gut out the rest of football season because he wants to be part of this amazing year and he is being heavily recruited by many big schools. The recovery is something like 4 or 5 months and he wants to be ready for camp season in 2013 which starts in early spring. It kills him to not be able to play hoops but he has to do what's best for his future.

I wish Harris the best in his recovery. Hate to see any kid have to miss time due to injury.

My web site is up and running, so you can find schedules, results, and standings for the WCAL here:
http://d3wooster.pitmanstats.com/league.php?id=79

I entered schedules based on what the schools have submitted to the OHSAA. Please notify me of any additions/corrections. Thanks!

Looking forward to watching the dawgs get underway tonight. They have a high ceiling withe their returning starters, depth and size but success is anything but guaranteed as they have a couple big holes to replace in leading scorer Seth Troyer and 3 point specialist Dane hammer. I don't expect them to replace troyers points with one person and it will be interesting to see what kind of rotation Nate uses tonight.

1486wd;1333627 wrote:Looking forward to watching the dawgs get underway tonight. They have a high ceiling withe their returning starters, depth and size but success is anything but guaranteed as they have a couple big holes to replace in leading scorer Seth Troyer and 3 point specialist Dane hammer. I don't expect them to replace troyers points with one person and it will be interesting to see what kind of rotation Nate uses tonight.

What the heck happened? Lost to our back yard rival? Uncool!

no kidding. It was deja vu. For the second year in a row, they lost to a tuslaw team they were more talented than. I guess look at it this way, last year they then went on to win 20 plus games after that loss, so dont get too worked up about a first game. The bulldogs played very sloppy - 19 to's. Some were caused by tuslaw d which was pretty good - others we just threw the ball off of our teammates legs with no pressure. Tuslaw had a run in the third where they hit 5 or 6 threes and that was really the difference. The mustangs are going to be a little better than I expected but are by no means a great team. The bulldogs have the pieces, but are going to take some time to figure out their offensive flow and I still think they can be quite good.

Tuslaw 44
Dalton 40

Tuslaw led 36-23 after 3 quarters. I was definitely wrong about that one.

Northwestern 64
Triway 61

Northwestern started out hot, up 21-7 after the 1st quarter. Triway had 3 starters with 4 fouls early in the 3rd quarter, which didn't help; but the Titans showed some resolve making it a great game down the stretch, getting within 2 points a few times. This game has always been a good test and measuring stick for both teams, and hopefully the Titans can improve on keeping the opponents off the offensive glass, which was key tonight. Also, Kline was a MONSTER for Northwestern with 20 rebounds.

Dalton was leading early in the 3rd before the mustangs hit 4 or 5 3s. The bulldogs then scored 10 or 11 straight to get with a couple points. Just too many mistakes down the stretch.

Smithville didn't play their best game last night and still won by 30. That is a good sign to me. Some things to fix offensively but I definitely think that they will be a tough match-up this year. They are going to give some teams some real match-up issues with their guard play and athleticsm.

Big game for the Dogs this Friday. Should be a good test on the road at Waynedale. Let's hope the Dogs do what they did last year after losing to Tuslaw.

I am excited to see how the Dalton and Waynedale game turns out tonight. A summary afterwards would be appreciated.

Dogs win a thriller tonight 48-47!