Now that the regular season is over for most teams, I can officially say that my MOCAL predictions were pretty much spot on. Not like this is predicting Big 10 basketball or anything, but for one season at least things generally played out as expected. Surprise upsets included Granville over Delaware and Madison over Shekinah. Other than that, most teams didn't really lose to anyone more than a rung below them.
https://www.mocalathletics.com/boysbasketball
Any major surprises in the MSL (any division)?
Looking ahead to the D4 Tournament:
Central 1 - https://officials.myohsaa.org/Admin/Bracket/PublicBracket?TournamentId=2865
1) #8 Delaware Christian vs. #9 Liberty Christian: DCS won both regular season games fairly easily and will host. I'd go with them if I had to guess.
2) #3 Northmor vs. #12 Berne Union: I'm calling Northmor to play Patriot in the District title, so I'd say they roll in both of their first two games.
3) #10 Shekinah Christian vs. #11 Fisher Catholic: Toss up. Shekinah has played well at times but has also put up some absolute duds where they just can't score. FC has been much more competitive recently. I watched their game on YouTube against FCA. Do they always stall like that? They went to a 4-corner stall for minutes at a time. I suppose that would keep any game close, so if Shekinah is content to let them slow it down then it should be a close game that comes down to the wire.
4) #2 Patriot Prep vs. #17 Mechanicsburg: Patriot. They'll cruise to the finals against Northmor, which should be a pretty good game. Hard to get a read on Northmor since they had been D3 for years and don't play many Central schools.
Prediction: Northmor beats Patriot Prep for District Title.
Central 2 - https://officials.myohsaa.org/Admin/Bracket/PublicBracket?TournamentId=2866
Play-In) #13 Granville Christian vs. #14 Madison Christian: Granville has handled Madison both times they played and gets to host, so I'll go with them. But Madison has been better of late so it could go either way.
1) #1 Northside Christian vs. #16 Ridgedale: Northside. Millersport could provide a bit of a test in the Semi-Finals but I think Northside will advance to the finals. Northside really seemed to use their loss to FCA as a wake-up call and seem to be on a mission.
2) #5 Millersport vs. #13 Granville/#14 Madison: Millersport shouldn't have any issues with their opener. I'm sure they're already prepping for Northside.
3) #4 Fairfield Christian vs. #7 Newark Catholic: FCA can't be happy about how this one played out, but I think they still win and will ultimately advance to District Finals.
4) #6 Danville vs. #15 Wellington: Probably the best bottom-3 seed you would have to face, so a tough draw for Danville. I still think the Blue Devils win their Sectional but drop the District Semis.
Prediction: Northside Christian beats Fairfield Christian in a rematch for the District Title.