D2 BGSU REGIONAL

[marchmadness]

Here are the top seeds from each district that look to make it and attempt to get to Columbus.

We all know the Madison District

1-Norwalk

2-Lex

3-Vermilion

4-Mansfield Sr.

5-Clear Fork

Ada District--Probably the weakest in terms of depth

1-Lima Shawnee 17-2-Very good, athletic team that shoots it very well.  Lost to OG and St. Henry on the road.  Best win is Findlay.  Good balance, have a sophomore that can really score, plus some good senior athletes

2-Wauseon 16-3-Ranked #9 in polls- Made it to regionals last year and lost to Lexington-Graduated their 2 best players and are possibly overachieving.  Don't play a real tough schedule...11 of their 19 games have been against D3 and D4 schools

3-Defiance-11-7 Have lost 5 of 6....

4-Wapak-12-7 Have lost 4 of 5

5-Elida 10-9 Have lost 4 of 5

North Ridgeville District--Probably the strongest district

1-Cleveland CC 11-8-Record isn't impressive but the schedule is beyond.  The Ironmen have wins against VASJ, Lake Catholic, Solon, Cleveland Hts, St. Ignatius...losses to SVSM, St Eds, Tol St Johns, Hoban, Warrensville Hts and Benedictine

2-Holy Name 14-4--Down from the last few years but still very respectable

3-Bay Village 14-4-Can really score the ball...have proven themselves in March the last 4 years or so

4-Fairview Park 17-2-Can also really score the ball!

5-Medina Buckeye

Columbus 1

1-Columbus South-Now Tied for 1st in the polls-very athletic team.  Not a ton of size.  Good balance.  Have 5 guys between 14 and 9 ppg

6-Columbus Beechcroft- Made it to this regional last year and lost to Bay Village--Best player 6'7 Na'Elle Simmons

7-Bishop Watterson-Best team since back to back trips to state championship game in 2013 and 2014

9-Bexley

No predictions here.  Wide open.  Last year it looked like easy picking...Beechcroft and Wauseon...1 and 2 in the state if I recall.  And neither won a game.  Gotta love March Madness!

[broccolirob]

Thanks for the great summary, although I’m not sure I agree that the North Ridgeville district is the strongest of the group. No argument with CCC as the likely cream of that crop but using Elyria Catholic as the litmus test, teams 2 through 5 are pretty good but nothing to fear. Without getting too caught up in the transitive property, Vermilion beat EC in a reasonably close game, but Vermilion was the bettter team. EC swept Holy Name and split with Bay. (All 3 are in the Great Lakes Conference.) Fairview beat EC but lost very close games to both Bay and Buckeye.


While it’s close, this year I’d say the top 5 from the Madison district are a notch better than the top 5 from NR. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

[Green Falcon]

Although Wauseon is big for their league they have beat Anthony Wayne and Springfield and lost a close game to Defiance. We'll see their true stature when they face Genoa coming up. There loss to Archbold makes sense since the Blue Streaks are ranked in D3.

[portwalk]

Genoa hasn’t really beaten anyone either. The Stritch Norwalk game tonight would’ve given us an indication however with the weather in the Toledo area probably not gonna happen???

[shelbyrr11]

I wouldn't make Wauseon my first choice, but I wouldn't be shocked if they make noise and sneak into regionals. They have losses to 19-0 Archbold by 6 and 5. Archbold beat OG by 1, and OG lost to Lex by 2. All of those look like it could be a near coin flip if they were replayed, based on scores.

It is really hard to ignore what CCC has managed to do this year. The unscientific hope is they play down to their competition and show vulnerability, ala the 2015 state finals team that lost to Defiance despite having beat SVSM, St. Ed's, and St. Ignatius that year. That would give one of our "true" northwestern teams a shot.

[dude]

Wauseon has only been tested in a couple games. OG was up double digits on Archbold before losing. Genoa has been firm all season to be 17-0. Stritch plays a lot of D4 schools and out of state schools to help their record but saw them lose to a average Marion Local team. Columbus SOuth should be the overall favorite.