Highland Boys Basketball 2009-2010

O

On The Money

Active member
Any thoughts on how this season plays out for the Hornets? I am optimistic that the varsity and JV will be improved. I don't think that .500 basketball is realistic goal for this year, but I think the Hornets can win 6 to 8 games this year, and possibly climb over .500 next year. I heard that Coach Harrington has culled out many of the kids who would never have a chance to play at the varsity level. I believe there are only 3 seniors and 5 or 6 juniors in the program, and that he will only keep 19 or 20 kids for JV/Varsity. This is a dramatic change from the past few seasons where we have had 5+ seniors sitting on the bench for the varsity. IMO, this is a step in the right direction to building a competitve program. I am not sure on all these names, but here are the juniors and seniors that I believe are in the program:

Sr. Alex Crider
Sr. Grant Guenther
Sr. Asa Phillips
Jr. John Alexander
Jr. Chris Justick
Jr. Nate Kressin
Jr. Shane Popson
Jr. Drew Kiem
Jr. Taylor Hauser
------------------
Soph. Chad Sedio
Fr. Austin Adams

I think there are 8 other sophomores out there that round out the JV/Varsity group, but I do not know their names. A few of them may be varsity kids, because I think juniors Popson, Kiem, and maybe Hauser are probably JV. There is a scrimmage Saturday. I will update this weekend after I see them play.
 
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Scrimmage went ok for the Hornets. Varsity starters:
1 - John Alexander, Jr.
2- Grant Guenther, Sr.
3- Chad Sedio, Soph.
4 - Asa Phillips, Sr.
5 - Austin Adams, Fr.
Varsity Bench Players - Senior Alex Crider, Junior Chris Justik, Junior Taylor Hauser.

Hornets won some quarters and lost some quarters. Lots of coaching going on. Kids played hard. I thought overall they looked decent. Major flaw for this group is poor shooting. This will be a difficult season, but I believe they are at least headed in the right direction.
 
Scrimmage against Parma and Bay Wednesday. Parma was good, Bay was not. Saw some better shooting as compared to the last scrimmage. They got off to a rough start but settled in and played better in the middle of the scrimmage. Much better against Bay. No line-up changes to speak of.
 
Saw some of the scrimmage at Midview this weekend, including Midview, Highland, and Elyria. Good test for the Hornets as Elyria had size and athletic ability. Hornet varsity won almost every quarter (lost one, maybe two?). JV struggled a bit but competed well. Overall, I like what I see. Hornets showed multiple defenses and offensively handled pressure fairly well with Alexander being extremely difficult to trap. Shooting was better as well.

3 or 4 JV Hornets were given varsity uniforms, so I am guessing he may suit up the juniors and maybe a sophomore to fill out the varisty bench when the real games start. I think this ship is headed in the right direction. Looking forward to the real games here in a few weeks.
 
Nice win for Coach Harrington and the boys on Friday Night. Hornets built a ten point lead in the third quarter, and then fell in love with the three ball allowing North Royalton to take the lead late in the fourth. Needed a put-back from Sedio for the game winner with about 6 seconds to go.

Adams did a decent job defending in the post and getting on the boards. It makes a huge difference to have a big body inside to prevent those 2 and 3 shot possessions from the opponent that killed the Hornets last year. Alexander and Phillips had off nights - and the Hornets still won. That is a good sign. Sedio and Guenther led the scoring. Hornets need to learn to take the ball to the basket when the three point shot goes cold.

Varsity is half way to last year's win total - and the JV has already equalled its win total from last year. Nice start fellas! Keep up the good work.
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
Another pretty nice 1-point win! Sedio carries us the 1st game, Guenther the 2nd game... That is what we need, someone stepping up each night and hitting the shots.

http://sportsink.com/NewsDetail/tabid/259/tblNewsID/698/Default.aspx

Box and 1, eh? That's my favorite junk defense!
Click to expand...

Yes. Harrington is mixing it up a little on D. Mostly man - but he is not afraid to try something different if the matchups are not adventageous. I like what I see. The kids feel like they have a chance, and they are competing every night. That is all you can ask for.

I still think .500 is probably a little too optimistic for this season, but the improvement is there. It is fun to watch at Highland again. Can't wait to see if the improvement continues when these 7th and 8th graders start filtering up. There are some legitimate scorers down there.

Hopefully Highland is done being a doormat in hoops for the foreseeable future. All it took was a little more talent and a new attitude and approach from coaching staff. I wonder what happened to all those posters who were so critical of Highland for making the coaching change? They were all saying John Wooden couldn't win more than 2 games with these kids. Well...they were wrong. Highland certainly doesn't have the best talent in this league, but they don't have doormat talent either. I think we will see the depth of talent improve in the next 4-5 years, and the Hornets should continue to be competitive.
 
Saw we picked up a win over Copley... I was thinking that was a pretty solid win for us, but it looks like they are only 1-8. Still, I'm encouraged with our showing in the SL far. We've kept it close in pretty much every game, Green being the only game that wasn't respectably close... Hopefully we can't build off of the Copley win, and pull some upsets in the 2nd half of SL play.
 
Playing Lakewood tonight. Should be able to get a win and keep the ball rolling from the Copley victory. Lakewood is really down this year. I don't think they have won a game. Hornets are playing more and more zone as the season progresses. This makes sense when you consider they have no depth. The zone slows the game down a little for purposes of fatigue and protects players from foul trouble.
 
8 or 9 wins is starting to look like a real possibility. The Hornets are sitting with 6 right now, and Southview, Copley, and Cloverleaf are all winnable games. It will take an upset or two for a .500 record at this point. But even if they don't quite get there, and 8 or 9 win season is dramatic improvement. Keep up the good work!
 
Hornets lost in OT to Lorain Southview last night. Seems they have been running out of gas down the stretch lately. I realize they are thin on the bench, but in retrospect it may have been wise to force one or two of these other kids into the rotation earlier in the season so the starters are 100% down the stretch. It is probably too late now with the tournament fast approaching.

On a bright note, freshman Austin Adams poured in 22 points and grabbed 15 boards in the loss. Unfortunately, 21 turnovers and missed free throws doomed the Hornets again.
 
Looking Ahead

For 2010-2011, here is what the Hornets have returning....


SR. John Alexander 5'9" - PG starter
SR. Chris Justick 6'1" - F/C
SR. Nate Kressin 6'4" - C
SR. Shane Popson 6'0" - G/F
SR. Drew Kiem 5'9 - PG
SR. Taylor Hauser 6'1" G/F
JR. Chad Sedio 6'2" - F starter
SOPH. Austin Adams 6'5"- C starter

I believe there are two more JV kids that will be juniors next year that have a chance to play varsity ball as well. One is post player and the other is a guard.

I am curious to see if any of the 8th graders moving up are good enough to get minutes with the varsity next year. There are two really good shooters that could possibly help with opponents collapsing on Adams in the post and doubling Alexander when he goes to the basket, but both of them would be considerably overmatched on the defensive end of the floor. At a minimum, we may see those two playing JV ball as freshman.
 
Congrats to the Hornets with their first D1 tournament victory in school history! Highland 55 Valley Forge 37. Game was tied at some point in the second quarter, and Highland was only up by 4 at the half. The Hornets blew the game open in the second half out scoring Valley Forge an amazing 26-12 in the second half.

Next up for the Hornets is an excellent Midpark squad led by 6'9" senior Bryan Theriot. Midpark is 18-2, but they are coming off of a 77-48 beating in their final game at home against Brecksville on senior night. Highland v. Midpark is set for 6:00 pm Saturday @ Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School. Come on out and support the Hornets as they try to pull off a HUGE upset.
 
I expected us to slow it down...

28-17 is definitely slowing it down! Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the score...

I don't think anyone can be upset with this teams performance this year. The program seems headed in the right direction.
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
I expected us to slow it down...

28-17 is definitely slowing it down! Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the score...

I don't think anyone can be upset with this teams performance this year. The program seems headed in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, Midpark slowed it down as much if not more than Highland. Harrington actually allowed Midpark to literally hold the ball for 4 minutes in the fourth quarter with the Hornets down 2. I thought coach Harrington had an excellent plan for that game and gave our team the best chance to win. Looking forward to next year. Hopefully the talent level will increase enough to where we won't need to play so conservatively in round 2 next year to have a chance to win.
 
My current prediction for starters next year:

SR. John Alexander 5'9" - PG
SR. Nate Kressin 6'4" - C
SR. Taylor Hauser 6'1" G/F
JR. Chad Sedio 6'2" - G/F
SOPH. Austin Adams 6'5"- PF
 
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