Thoughts on the last year of this league's existance?

I think Eastwood has to be the favorite with Genoa and Elmwood following.

I think it is sad that the Suburban Lakes League is in it's final year. Nothing stays the same forever though, and I would say that the championship runs directly through Eastwood. they have a lot back and are probably looking to claim one last league title before the League becomes history. I would generally agree with the previous poster with regard to who the primary rivals will be. Namely, I think they will be Elmwood and Genoa.

Went to the Elmwood scrimmage at Elmwood this morning with Liberty Center and Bettsville. Elmwood won all 6 quarters.
The royals looked pretty good and love to run. They don't have much size but play good D and shoot fairly well.
Scores were:
Elmwood 21 Bettsville 4
Elmwood 18 Bettsville 16
Elmwood 18 Bettsville 8
Elmwood 20 Liberty Center 14
Elmwood 18 Liberty Center 5
Elmwood 13 Liberty Center 10

I thought next year was the last school year the SLL would be intact??

Either way I see it coming down to Eastwood, Elmwood and Genoa in the upper echelon with only Otsego from the lower 4 having a shot at competing with them, IMO they have the best coach in the league and and the top guard. Woodmore, Lake and Gibsonburg will fight it out for the 5th spot.

There's two more SLL basketball seasons left.

Eastwood has to be the favorite until another team shows they can knock them off the top. Genoa could contend, but if they don't learn to play together on the court they may not even finish 2nd. Elmwood should be very balanced as always and with some luck could be a darkhorse. Otsego has the best PG in the league with Weisenborn, but that's about it. By himself he could grind out some wins this year. Woodmore is said to be good, but it seems by only those on the team so who knows. Gibsonburg has a good coach but lost a lot, and Lake will have a hard time winning games this year. Here is how I think the league may finish out:

Eastwood
Genoa
Elmwood
Otsego-Woodmore
Gibsonburg
Lake

bwcomet89 wrote: There's two more SLL basketball seasons left.

Eastwood has to be the favorite until another team shows they can knock them off the top. Genoa could contend, but if they don't learn to play together on the court they may not even finish 2nd. Elmwood should be very balanced as always and with some luck could be a darkhorse. Otsego has the best PG in the league with Weisenborn, but that's about it. By himself he could grind out some wins this year. Woodmore is said to be good, but it seems by only those on the team so who knows. Gibsonburg has a good coach but lost a lot, and Lake will have a hard time winning games this year. Here is how I think the league may finish out:

Eastwood
Genoa
Elmwood
Otsego-Woodmore
Gibsonburg
Lake

I would concur with the predicted League finishes as submitted by bwcomet89. This is the way I would list them team for team!

I was under the understanding this was the last year of existance for the SLL. I must have been misinformed.

I agree with bwcomet's prediction, except I would switch Gburg and Lake.

Here's my prediction for this year:

1st-Eastwood
2nd-Elmwood
3rd-Genoa
4th-Woodmore
5th-Gibsonburg
6th-Otsego
7th-Lake

Will anyone be doing pick-ems on here?

Should be a better league this year -- teams with size seem to lack guard play and teams without size seemed to be faster and can shoot it.
I'm hearing that Eastwood doesn't really have any backups with any size for Ruch, Juergens and Rolf and they have had some injury issues? Maybe a sophomore that some people thought might be ready but not so? Any reports on their scrimmages since they seem to be the favorite?

If Rolf can add some kind of mid range jumper to his game he's gonna be deadly.

Elmwood scrimmaged Fremont Ross and Fostoria this morning. Won all 3 quarters against Ross rather easily. Tied 2 quarters against Fostoria and lost the last by 1 point. Very good scrimmage. What the Royals lack in size, they make up in effort. And they love to run. If they do all the little things right, they will be very competitive.

BTW...the Royals open at Liberty Benton next saturday. Should be fun.

Opening at Liberty Benton? OUCHHHHHH

Yeah tuff place to win at. Not to mention one of the best players in the state of Ohio. But, still loking forward to it.

I'm starting to believe the Royals may be able to play Eastwood and Genoa straight up, and maybe win enough to be in the SLL title hunt in the final week or two. What does their starting lineup look like now, or maybe the top 7 or 8 contributors?

The starting lineup today was Reid Rothenbuhler, Jay Hannah, Shorty Tyson, Jack Waldock, and Tyler Chamberlain. Nobody over 6'2". They will probably go 9 deep, with TJ. Waldock, Michael Huettner, Kevin Hammer, and Andrew Davis coming off the bench. Should be pretty ballanced, scoring wise. But if I had to pick a leading scorer, it would be Tyson. He can pretty much score from anywhere.

As far as them competing for the SLL crown, that will be very hard to do with their lack of size. But, you never know.

If the royals control the pace of the games in the Eastwood Genoa games I honostly think they will run them out of the gym. If Genoa, Eastwood slow things down to a half court game i just dont see anyone being strong enough for the Royals to hang with Wonnell/Rolf. And that matchup (Wonnell/Rolf) will be a much much better matchup this year than last year!

GCT....You are right. If the Royals get in a half court game with either Eastwood or Genoa, their chances go down big time. I've been to 2 scrimages. They have really looked to run and they've been successful for the most part. I was really impressed with their ability to run on Ross, as athletic as they are. Of coarse that was just a scrimmage with no scouting done. It will come down to being able to play at the pace they want. If they can do that, they have a much better chance.

Went to the Genoa preview night at Waite tonight. Wonnell looked very very good! Played up to his size and did well against every team Genoa faced. Genoa had a scrimmage at home against Carey and Kenton this morning and didnt look very good. Tonight they played TC and Waite and looked quite a bit better. Genoa lost to both those teams but they were up on TC by a few when all but two starters were pulled and then ended up losing because they couldnt get through the full court press without Matt B. Waite jumped on the Comets early but Genoa fought back well and only ended up losing that one by 2. And Waite will be tough for anyone in the CL. Overall, I think that Genoa shows improvement this year and will do well in the SLL.

Eastwood IMO looked HORRIBLE!!!! Guards looked like they had never played basketball before with only one exception and I had no idea who that particular kid was. TC beat Eastwood by a few and Eastwood beat Stritch by quite a bit. Rolf looked great though (obviously).

Eastwood may very well be over-hyped just a little bit as we head into the season. A 3rd place finish for the Eagles would not shock me.

I'm excited for this season to start. Should be a better year then last. I will be at the LB-Elmwood game and Bettsville-Lake game this weekend. I'm covering them for www.ohsn.org I will have a game story, stats, and pictures there the next day.

I look forward to watching a lot of SLL BBall this year.

I was also at the Waite scrimmage. Genoa looks good, but like many have said their only 5 or 6 deep. If they play smart and play together they have a good chance to grab a title. They are without Lester but Wonnell has showed some big time improvements. Like GCTD said, without Matt, Genoa couldnt get the ball past half court. He will be the make or break for the season.

Eastwood looked really bad. Their guards looked like they all were freshman trying to play varsity. I see many teams trying to press them. I dont know who the players out there even were but if those were the starters...Eastwood is REALLY over hyped. Looking forward to see what Elmwood has to offer. If you cant get the ball to Rolf, then the "mvp" wont be a factor.

This is ATown by the way.

Nice to see ya made it over here ATown....I mean TALKisCHEAP.

Genoa is also down Cuevas. He will be a big player for this team!

GCTD64 wrote: Genoa is also down Cuevas. He will be a big player for this team!

Yeah he is pretty good