Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC) 2019-2020


Not too many arguments here, but I am partial to Lehman who lead CCHS to the 2011 final 4 and had a solid college career and spent a year overseas playing pro ball.
They have a love affair for Williams who played in a weak TRAC and in two years of college has averaged 4.5 points at a mid-major.

I like Lehman, I like John Floyd, and AJ Granger all more. Still, not a bad squad.
 
Top Team from the inception of the ALL-BLADE team (96').

2013. Best balance across all five position. Solid centers are hard to find.

If the Dieblers had stayed in Fostoria, I might be picking different. A Jr Jon Diebler on the 2006 squad, replacing Dunn or Roberts. Keeping Lightner one of the better pgs on the list and a pre-bad knees Taylor.
 
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Great point.

Looking at that list you can see the Blade's range reduction. Ottawa-Glandorf, Liberty Benton, Findlay. The Pollnitz twins at OG were pretty special.
 
My best team.... Hayes, Buford, Craft, B. Roberts, Miles. I like my defense, the spead of my court and a very high IQ. There are three true centers mentioned but I don't think any of them could keep up with my five, so went with Miles to move the court out further and give me a reliable drive to the basket against any bigs.

If Julius Wells had made a list, I might well put him on my five. He played out of position to make that team go. Showed his offensive skill set in college.
 
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Tough to pick a top 5, but I always liked Grant Maxey's (Scott) game. Scored 1,700+ points at D1 Jackson State. Long, athletic 6'7" and could handle the ball. He was not even listed in the Blade top 5, speaking to the depth of talent when he played.

He probably would have been POY in the SWAC as a senior if he had not gotten slowed down with an injury.

Fresh 8.9 PPG
Soph 14.8 PPG
Jr 16.4 PPG
Sr Injury (2 Games)
Sr 13.2 PPG

He always played so hard.

Some college highlights I found;

 
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His running partner Darrion Griffin could make shots at angles few could, let alone thought to try.

Quite a few really good players not on those Blade lists. Tony Brown remember, just a member of those Bates teams eventually made some pro teams. Chris Poellnitz is probably the fastest big guard I've seen in the league. Over that stretch, Brent Merideth played taller than anyone else his size than I can recall.
 
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His running partner Darrion Griffin could make shots at angles few could, let alone thought to try.

Quite a few really good players not on those Blade lists. Tony Brown remember, just a member of those Bates teams eventually made some pro teams. Chris Poellnitz is probably the fastest big guard I've seen in the league. Over that stretch, Brent Merideth played taller than anyone else his size than I can recall.

Waite kid right? We talking the Scott team that beat the SJ team of Raymond/Hillesland?
 
Oh yeah. But am I wrong, it does seem somewhere around the early part of the millenia we went from famine to feast. There were a couple good players but I don't recall like it has been the last 15 years. I recall having thoughts watching districts it was just locals playing until they got stopped by someone's "tall blondes."

Local games would play, then head to Norwalk and get beaten by some team of tall blondes.

It's the one sport that might have actually gotten stronger after the old TCL broke apart. Mistaken perception?
 
Oh yeah. But am I wrong, it does seem somewhere around the early part of the millenia we went from famine to feast. There were a couple good players but I don't recall like it has been the last 15 years. I recall having thoughts watching districts it was just locals playing until they got stopped by someone's "tall blondes."

Local games would play, then head to Norwalk and get beaten by some team of tall blondes.

It's the one sport that might have actually gotten stronger after the old TCL broke apart. Mistaken perception?
Late 90’s to early 2000’s is when Central Catholic dominated city league play. Haney, Mix, Edison, Minnifield and Helvey were some of the high end college recruits with a slew of D2 college players. Things got better as Waite, Start and then Rogers all took turns dominating and now ND joining the pack of loaded local teams.
 
As great as Natasha Howard was/is, and she was/is great, I always thought Sharice Ulis could have played with the boys. I loved watching her play.

She coaches somewhere now? Owens?
 
Think so. Saw her at the Start game in the corner by their bench. Ulis is related I think to one of the Toledo boy's legacy but I cannot remember which one or who told me that or maybe I had read it. B-Ball in the family.

Whether is was Central, Waite or Start I think a pretty good nucleus was coming out of that northend. Then Deveaux. I think that's where the current Rogers coach was. Don't really know for fact.
76 Wootward
76 Stritch SF
77 TCC SF
78 Northview SF
81 Libbey
87 TCC SF
98 TCC SF
99 TCC SF
01 TCC SF
04 Northview SF
05 Northview SF
08 TCC SF
09 Start lost in F
10 Waite lost in F
11 Start SF
12 ND SF
13 ND SF
14 ND SF
14 Rogers SF
15 ND Lost in F
15 Rogers lost in F
17 ND lost in F
18 Rogers
19 ND SF
19 Rogers
 
Think so. Saw her at the Start game in the corner by their bench. Ulis is related I think to one of the Toledo boy's legacy but I cannot remember which one or who told me that or maybe I had read it. B-Ball in the family.

Whether is was Central, Waite or Start I think a pretty good nucleus was coming out of that northend. Then Deveaux. I think that's where the current Rogers coach was. Don't really know for fact.
76 Wootward
76 Stritch SF
77 TCC SF
78 Northview SF
81 Libbey
87 TCC SF
98 TCC SF
99 TCC SF
01 TCC SF
04 Northview SF
05 Northview SF
08 TCC SF
09 Start lost in F
10 Waite lost in F
11 Start SF
12 ND SF
13 ND SF
14 ND SF
14 Rogers SF
15 ND Lost in F
15 Rogers lost in F
17 ND lost in F
18 Rogers
19 ND SF
19 Rogers

Pretty sure Tyler Ulis (University of Kentucky/NBA) is her cousin.
 
Pretty sure Tyler Ulis (University of Kentucky/NBA) is her cousin.

Tyler Ulis has some Lima roots. He was a student in the Lima Shawnee school system and his mother was a very good
HS player at Lima Senior. His grandmother and I were co-workers in Lima back in the mid 80's.

He was destined for stardom by the time he was a freshman at Lima Shawnee, but the coach at Lima Shawnee at that time had an unwritten rule that he never started a freshman, no matter how good they were. It's my understanding that is the reason he ended up moving to the Chicago area where he became a HS All-American. I believe former Lima Sr. hoops star, Andre Reed also provided considerable influence on Tyler during his early years. While his move to the Chicago area was certainly a loss for Lima Shawnee, in retrospect it gave him better exposure in a much larger recruiting area. I saw him play several times on TV while he was a Kentucky freshman and he was definitely an exciting player to watch.

JB
 
eh, no. I think he got what he (junga) got sending messages to a few hand picked local coaches (Vincent Williams ???) An extremely lazy job and maybe some message board reading. And the coaches just did a few things off the tops of their head. Simple example of someone we rarely mention here but was better than nearly that entire honorable mention, LeSean Howard. One of the highest rated recruits ever out of the area but because the college thing went all over (was part of Hampton's upset of #2 Iowa St in NCAA), he is rarely mentioned here and got no mention there. Same Miles. Both easy to forget. Both would compete with that top ten.

It's not controversial. It's boilerplate. No one is going to major object. They'll just mention some he "forgot."

No, I don't think he did any research. Maybe Toledo's attic. Texted a few coaches... It's just fan boy stuff. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that took any time or showed any knowledge.
 
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eh, no. I think he got what he (junga) got sending messages to a few hand picked local coaches (Vincent Williams ???) An extremely lazy job and maybe some message board reading. And the coaches just did a few things off the tops of their head. Simple example of someone we rarely mention here but was better than nearly that entire honorable mention, LeSean Howard. One of the highest rated recruits ever out of the area but because the college thing went all over (was part of Hampton's upset of #2 Iowa St in NCAA), he is rarely mentioned here and got no mention there. Same Miles. Both easy to forget. Both would compete with that top ten.

It's not controversial. It's boilerplate. No one is going to major object. They'll just mention some he "forgot."

No, I don't think he did any research. Maybe Toledo's attic. Texted a few coaches... It's just fan boy stuff. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that took any time or showed any knowledge.

Good points EIB, after looking closer, you can add N Coleman from SJJ to the forgotten list.
 
and Briggs is an Ohio Stater. Surprised he missed Coleman. Others? By "others," should make an argument they could make that honorable mention list. I use college recruiting as my best argument for Miles and Howard. Both recruited by recent NCAA finalists.

Now for REAL controvery: top five coaches. :D
Williams
Pitsenbarger
Welling
Mauch
Big Earl

Like players, kind of limited to last 50 years or so without digging into old clippings. I mean, Harold Anderson probably won a few games.
 
and Briggs is an Ohio Stater. Surprised he missed Coleman. Others? By "others," should make an argument they could make that honorable mention list. I use college recruiting as my best argument for Miles and Howard. Both recruited by recent NCAA finalists.

Now for REAL controvery: top five coaches. :D
Williams
Pitsenbarger
Welling
Mauch
Big Earl

Like players, kind of limited to last 50 years or so without digging into old clippings. I mean, Harold Anderson probably won a few games.

I cannot ALWAYS be the guy that dogs da Blade.

I thought the top 10 was good but that is easy. I'd like to see Nigel Hayes in the top 10 but I am biased. Unsure who you bounce? Buford?

I did not see he missed Coleman. That is a shame. Coleman was a 4 year starter when the league was stacked (unlike Vince Williams). Coleman held OSU's 3 point record for a minute as well. No slouch.

Then I started thinking about others missed such as Leshaun Howard or Jeshaun Tate. How about Damion Washington? All went on to have D1 success and all were from the same class. Calvin Banks? Jon Amechi? Kevin Baker, Larry Sykes, Floyd Campbell, Denny Amhrein, John Floyd, Keith Triplett, etc....

As you state, it is laziness. They have the archives at their fingertips.

As for coaches you have to include Bunk Adams and LeRoy Bates right? Bruce Smith? I always thought Jim Welling was an excellent coach. What he did at CCHS in a relative short time was super impressive.
 
Now for REAL controvery: top five coaches. :D
Williams
Pitsenbarger
Welling
Mauch
Big Earl

Like players, kind of limited to last 50 years or so without digging into old clippings. I mean, Harold Anderson probably won a few games.

1. Ed/Mouch/Komives
2. Ben Williams
3. Welling
4. Bruce Smith
5. Bobby Nichols
 
I cannot ALWAYS be the guy that dogs da Blade.


As for coaches you have to include Bunk Adams and LeRoy Bates right? Bruce Smith? I always thought Jim Welling was an excellent coach. What he did at CCHS in a relative short time was super impressive.

I wasn't dogging da Blade, I was dogging you. "Great job," smh. Young people.

He filled column. Not sure how it can generate conversation except message boards. Maybe they post those to facebook too. Good catch by cchs83 on Coleman. Shows how easy it is to fade into the background. No wonder all these ex-jocks spend time trying to relive.

Hayes over Vincent? Not a difficult argument to make.

Coaches: One of those off the top of my heads. Spend time, different answer. But off the top of my head, these were coaches who I thought made teams and made players as opposed to being given players.

Coach Williams of course had many top players walk in the door but his record of getting kids to college that weren't really headed there I think unparalleled. And he did it in a public, we taken'em all atmosphere. Big Earl I think underapprecited both as an assistant and head. He created teams that excelled at two schools. Pits twice took a program that was, not a program and turned it into a state power using almost entirely local kids. Wells did it at two different levels. Mouch, true insiders would know best but from the outside, as an Assistant he has contributed to strong programs at two different private schools and I think two different sports.

There are a lot of unheralded coaches doing great jobs. In 20 years we might be talking about Coaches Martin, Wortham and McDonald.
 
For my money Jim Welling is about as good as any high school coach that I've seen in person.

When I think of Big Earl the first thing that springs to mind is watching him get pissed off during a tournament game and call a timeout only to walk down to the water cooler and take a seat for a drink while the guy that was then the Rogers JV coach actually coached the team in the huddle during either a district final or a regional semifinal game. From what I recall seeing it always seemed his best attribute was finding his way into loaded stables.

Some day Wortham is going to be arguable on these lists.
 
My problem with Earl was he was quoted multiple times as blaming players. Weak coaches blame players. It is easy to always coach top talent and good kids. It is how you do when you do not have high end talent and kids with bad attitudes that shows what kind of coach you are.

Wortham's kids seem to work REALLY hard for him and he has not had the 6'6" blue chippers in his tenure yet.
 
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