NEO DI Districts (East)

Considering the fact that one positive test from an opponent can shut down two teams for 10+ days (and possibly out of the tournament), I wondered the value coaches would place on giving up some games at the end of the season to lessen their risk of exposure. To that matter, I think coaches should've taken that into consideration when deciding between taking a bye or not.

Mentor's Arbiter page shows that their last three games of the regular season (dated 2/19, 2/20, and 2/22) as all being cancelled. Smart move. Gives them a week of no opponents before the tournament starts. Would've been even better to take the bye in the first round as well to further avoid risk.

It would really suck for any team, let alone one with a good chance of advancing pretty far in the tournament, to have their season come to an end due to COVID. Does anyone else notice their teams staying in house for the last week or so of the season?
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Considering the fact that one positive test from an opponent can shut down two teams for 10+ days (and possibly out of the tournament), I wondered the value coaches would place on giving up some games at the end of the season to lessen their risk of exposure. To that matter, I think coaches should've taken that into consideration when deciding between taking a bye or not.

Mentor's Arbiter page shows that their last three games of the regular season (dated 2/19, 2/20, and 2/22) as all being cancelled. Smart move. Gives them a week of no opponents before the tournament starts. Would've been even better to take the bye in the first round as well to further avoid risk.

It would really suck for any team, let alone one with a good chance of advancing pretty far in the tournament, to have their season come to an end due to COVID. Does anyone else notice their teams staying in house for the last week or so of the season?
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Looking at the updated schedule for Ed's, the last two games against Lakeside and VASJ have been cancelled.
 
Lorain has canceled the rest of their regular season. not sure yet if they had a positive test or just being safe.
 
EaglePride01 said:
Looking at the updated schedule for Ed's, the last two games against Lakeside and VASJ have been cancelled.
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That makes sense since the only thing that could come out of those games is injury or a COVID shutdown. It looks like between Mentor, Ed's, possibly Lorain (though that sounds like it may already be a COVID situation this early) and Medina, that some of the teams that look like will be in the mix are going to take precautions. Medina will have 12 days off before their sectional final, which would give them enough time if something else pops up between then and the tournament.
 
Most interesting sectional semifinals this week (all on Wednesday):

Copley (15) vs Barberton (17)
Riverside (13) vs Euclid (21)
Hoover (12) vs Lake (20)
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Most interesting sectional semifinals this week (all on Wednesday):

Copley (15) vs Barberton (17)
Riverside (13) vs Euclid (21)
Hoover (12) vs Lake (20)
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I agree with all three. The only one I've seen play multiple times is Euclid (Elyria, Medina, Garfield Heights) and while I say this with very little confidence, they could be this year's GCC bottom feeder to make a run. Last year was Elyria, which only won 1 or 2 league games, losing in a close game in the district semifinals; a couple years ago was a Strongsville team that went 0-14 in GCC play advancing to the district title game and nearly knocking off a Lorain team there that advanced to the state tournament. Euclid is better than either of those teams were, too, and probably not fair to call them a bottom feeder

Euclid is hardly a well-oiled machine, especially on offense where it seems like they do either one of two things: Jack-up 3s (doesn't matter if they are good ones) and then attack the offensive glass, or dribble penetration and again attack the glass. Where they can be dangerous is if those shots are either falling or they are getting offensive rebounds and put-backs. On top of putting points on the board, it then allows them to set up a full-court press which they have the athleticism to give teams fits.

On the other hand, since they crash the glass so hard, teams that are able to limit their second-chance opportunities can run them off the court with easy baskets going the other way. When they do lose, it'll probably be in a blowout, but they may be able to string a couple together in a row before that happens.
 
Euclid beat the brains off of Riverside tonight.

Brush beat Willoughby South by closer than most would expect, though it seems that was more a case of South playing a slow-down game than anything else, at least for the first half.
 
bucksman said:
Euclid beat the brains off of Riverside tonight.

Brush beat Willoughby South by closer than most would expect, though it seems that was more a case of South playing a slow-down game than anything else, at least for the first half.
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I saw that Euclid/Riverside score. Not surprised Euclid won, but I thought Riverside would put up a better fight than that. The 2nd or 3rd place team in the WRC is no match for a GCC team as evidenced tonight. But Riverside has a bright future, two of their top scorers are a freshman and a sophomore.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
I saw that Euclid/Riverside score. Not surprised Euclid won, but I thought Riverside would put up a better fight than that. The 2nd or 3rd place team in the WRC is no match for a GCC team as evidenced tonight. But Riverside has a bright future, two of their top scorers are a freshman and a sophomore.
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I'm also not surprised by Euclid either. Like I said the other day, they are a team that is impossible to figure out. Their range goes all the way from winning the district if they stay hot to losing on Saturday by 30 to GlenOak.

In the past couple of weeks I've watched them take Medina to the wire and put up a solid effort against Garfield Heights (led the entire first half but GH pulled away a bit late). They also beat Brunswick. At the same time, they are three weeks removed from getting ran off the court by 25 against Strongsville (which in a lot of ways is the westside version of Euclid in not knowing what kind of result you will get) and two blowouts to Mentor.

I'm sticking to my prediction the other day, though, that Euclid is either going to stay hot and make a serious run, but whenever it does end, it will be in a spectacular defeat (25 to 30 points), lol.
 
McKinley 79 Akron Kenmore-Garfield 19
University School 56 Akron North 46
Mentor 94 Eastlake North 41
Hudson 40 Stow 32
Mayfield 62 Kenston 58
 
Did Valley Forge and North Royalton get their games cancelled because of positive COVID cases within their programs? If so, that really stinks, especially for North Royalton, who had the talent to go deep into tournament play.

And why are some of the divisional games on Thursday/Friday (Heights, Maple, Orange are playing on those days instead of tonight.)
 
Mr. Red Raider said:
Did Valley Forge and North Royalton get their games cancelled because of positive COVID cases within their programs? If so, that really stinks, especially for North Royalton, who had the talent to go deep into tournament play.

And why are some of the divisional games on Thursday/Friday (Heights, Maple, Orange are playing on those days instead of tonight.)
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That appears to be the case. That is horrible luck for North Royalton.

I was wondering about the B2B games myself. Doesn't seem to make sense.
 
Mr. Red Raider said:
Did Valley Forge and North Royalton get their games cancelled because of positive COVID cases within their programs? If so, that really stinks, especially for North Royalton, who had the talent to go deep into tournament play.

And why are some of the divisional games on Thursday/Friday (Heights, Maple, Orange are playing on those days instead of tonight.)
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I'm going to guess the tournament manager moved the games to those days possibly to allow for participating teams to come out of quarantine. I believe the tournament manager has the ability to move the date of a game as long as it won't interfere with the next round's game. IIRC, Amherst Steele girls played a B2B last weekend.

The girls hoops team at my school was quarantined a week before the tournament due to a player from a recent opponent testing positive. The team's quarantine period went a day beyond the original date of their 1st round game. The tournament manager rescheduled the game, so they were able to play. The alternative would've been to suit up the JV team who did not have to quarantine.
 
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When I looked at the three East brackets, the most intriguing sectional finals this weekend are all in Northeast 2 (McKinley's bracket). Besides McKinley's game with the #33 seed, the other three sectional finals look like toss-ups:

GlenOak (#16) vs Euclid (#21)
Boardman (#9) vs Hoover (#12)
University (#8) vs Green (#14)

How will the Fed fare in these three games on Saturday?
 
GlenOak isn't very good, if Euclid shows up they should win.
Boardman lost to Hoover by 3 in Dec. Hoover is playing well, they win.
Univ and Green imo will be the most interesting game. Only common opponents are Lake and Copley. Green went 1-1 vs. Lake. Univ beat Lake. Green beat Copley and Univ lost to Copley. I'm going with Green, they had a tough schedule and are battle tested.
 
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cardzfan1234 said:
When I looked at the three East brackets, the most intriguing sectional finals this weekend are all in Northeast 2 (McKinley's bracket). Besides McKinley's game with the #33 seed, the other three sectional finals look like toss-ups:

GlenOak (#16) vs Euclid (#21)
Boardman (#9) vs Hoover (#12)
University (#8) vs Green (#14)

How will the Fed fare in these three games on Saturday?
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I can see Euclid advancing fairly easily. Boardman/Hoover is a toss-up, but I'm leaning towards the Spartans. And Green should beat US (and this is a very talented Preppers squad).
 
Northeast District Semifinals (All scheduled for Wednesday at 7PM)

District 1- Brush at Jackson, Hoban at Walsh Jesuit
District 2- Euclid at McKinley, Green at Hoover
District 3- Dover at Mentor , Massillon at Solon
 
Bull GreenDog said:
Northeast District Semifinals (All scheduled for Wednesday at 7PM)

District 1- Brush at Jackson, Hoban at Walsh Jesuit
District 2- Euclid at McKinley, Green at Hoover
District 3- Dover at Mentor , Massillon at Solon
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District 1 has two excellent matchups, both are rematches from close regular season games. Green/Hoover is a conference matchups, and this is a rubber match after the two split their regular season matchups.

My predictions are Brush, Hoban, McKinley, Green, Mentor, and Solon

I still wonder what Chet Mason was thinking in choosing to align with Jackson in a district semifinal rather than placing themselves as the top seeded team on their half of the bracket. Even IF you think you are better than Jackson, it still would've made more sense to put yourself in a better position on the bracket. Ultimately, a Brush district title looks about the same either way. They will have to beat Jackson and either Walsh or Hoban. I guess it doesn't really matter what order you have to do it in. But still, it was a strange move by Brush.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
District 1 has two excellent matchups, both are rematches from close regular season games. Green/Hoover is a conference matchups, and this is a rubber match after the two split their regular season matchups.

My predictions are Brush, Hoban, McKinley, Green, Mentor, and Solon

I still wonder what Chet Mason was thinking in choosing to align with Jackson in a district semifinal rather than placing themselves as the top seeded team on their half of the bracket. Even IF you think you are better than Jackson, it still would've made more sense to put yourself in a better position on the bracket. Ultimately, a Brush district title looks about the same either way. They will have to beat Jackson and either Walsh or Hoban. I guess it doesn't really matter what order you have to do it in. But still, it was a strange move by Brush.
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Let's not forget about District 4, which for all intents and purposes now is an "East" District, where there a two solid matchups: Medina vs. Copley and Shaker Heights vs. Cleveland Heights.

As for Brush, guess we'll never know how it would have unfolded if Brush took the top spot at the bottom of the bracket, but my theory is he was looking at "chalk" and saw Solon being the likely semifinal matchup if he took the spot on the bottom and there was something about that matchup he didn't like (especially since Jackson was still going to be there at the top anyway in the finals). So he went at Jackson, knowing that giving up the home game in the semifinals would mean a home game in the finals with a win. Plus, I'm guessing he knew Walsh was not going to hesitate at taking the top spot on the bottom of the bracket at that point and that Hoban was probably going to do what they did and jump on Walsh. It's a gutsy move going directly at a top seed who already beat you earlier in the year and who is no doubt taking this as a sign of disrespect, but making that move actually gave him a lot of control in setting up who would they would be matched up with (at home) in the final. At this point, there aren't any bad teams remaining so it's probably about matchups.
 
Bull GreenDog said:
Northeast District Semifinals (All scheduled for Wednesday at 7PM)

District 1- Brush at Jackson, Hoban at Walsh Jesuit
District 2- Euclid at McKinley, Green at Hoover
District 3- Dover at Mentor , Massillon at Solon
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My predictions are Jackson, Hoban, McKinley, Green, Mentor, and Solon. By the way does Mentor stream there games so fans can watch it tonight
 
Sean Wilson said:
My predictions are Jackson, Hoban, McKinley, Green, Mentor, and Solon. By the way does Mentor stream there games so fans can watch it tonight
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Mentor requires the paid subscriptions from NFHS Network. And don’t expect any announcers.

Matt Goul tweeted out a list of stream options for the area games tonight. Some are free on YouTube. Others are on NFHS.
 
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