Toledo Area Athletic Conference 2018-2019

irish_buffalo said:
Lets be honest here. While I believe Coach K to be a very good coach and think Stritch will continue to grow as an option for local players this years team was an anomaly.
Click to expand...

Next year Stritch will be a tough out at the district level while getting a challenge from Evergreen. Picking up a win at the regional level will require some major development of a few of the JV guys and Devyn Jones - 6'5" brother of Lance Jones who played on Libbey's state runner up team with Bufford and at a D2 in West Virgina for college. He has a pretty smooth game, but needs to add some strength.

JV only lost 2 tight games to St. Johns and Central, playing a bunch of 6'1"-6'3"guys who can handle the ball and attack the rim.

They "could" be at the level they were at 3 years ago when the current senior class were sophs. and had 3 tough games to get out of the district, but will not fall off the cliff like a lot of people (not you) are thinking.
 
Last edited:
I was comparing Stritch to a team like Lutheran East who just reloads DI types. Stritch will be good I'm sure but this class was fairly special.
 
Right. Lutheran East is only going to get better the next 2 years...3 guys with D1 offers and 1 senior who didn't play much.

Crazy. Good luck with that.
 
irish_buffalo said:
EIB acknowledged that the OOC schedule is what they could control and they did not go far enough. They have no control over league which is why some flexibility like the newly formed SBC would be nice. We all understand that Stritch beating Northwood by 60 was not good for anyone. The Tennessee tourney was legit and Stritch competed but as EIB mentioned a couple games vs. Whitmer, SF, AW would have helped as well. Lutheran East scheduled Eds, Iggy, Cleveland Heights to name a few.

Lets be honest here. While I believe Coach K to be a very good coach and think Stritch will continue to grow as an option for local players this years team was an anomaly. Aside from Burton you had a Rossford kid whose dad happens to be really good friends with the HC. Anderson was a bonus from what I understand. Went to Stritch for academics and never played organized basketball prior to freshman year. What a find!? The two bigs were a product of Oregon Clay's basketball ineptness. I think Coach K bumped the schedule but I also believe that he did not understand how good the team could be and if asked to do it all over again he'd probably reach out to the higher end locals for OOC match-ups.

Next year they will be good with Holifield and Wilson but losing Burton, Anderson, Finch, and Caryer is going to hurt. Unsure if they ever get back to this kind of talent and height.

Lutheran East should be D-I (as should Harvest Prep). Billingsley, Benson, and Farmer are all legit D-I guys and they have several others that are border line and D2. That is clear recruitment for a school of that size. As long as they can continue to recruit in that manner the rest of D-III, the schools like Coldwater and Archbold, will never have a shot outside of an act of God. It is tough enough getting by East but if you achieve that tall task go play Harvest Prep. And Stritch was the better coached team yesterday by far. With the East talent it should not have been close nor should they have lost by as much as they did to all of the Cleveland area D-I's. Running through a D-III tournament for them is picking low hanging fruit if you ask me.
Click to expand...


Likewise is Cardinal Stritch becoming this? Toledo has always been a good basketball town and I would not be shocked if they become a staple along with the Big 3 private schools in the area, it's very apparent top talent is interested in playing there
 
Unsure if they become a staple anymore than Toledo Christian or MVCD? I believe parents and players alike are realizing it is viable option, especially to those who wish to play varsity sooner. Take Jaidhen Wilson at Stritch for example. Good solid little player with a nice shot. Unsure he is playing varsity at CC, SJ, SF as a soph. Same with the graduating PG Burton. He was a four year varsity player at Stritch. If he is at one of the Big 3 he probably is a varsity guy his junior and senior seasons. The same can be said of several MVCD players.
 
irish_buffalo said:
Unsure if they become a staple anymore than Toledo Christian or MVCD?
Click to expand...

Other than Holifield, Stritch was/is kind of the land of misfit toys with a bunch of under the radar guys who came together and out worked most of their peers who may have been a few steps ahead of them coming into high school.

If you take a look at before and after pics of these kids it is pretty darn funny and a credit to their and the coaches hard work, time and effort.

They have had a ton of depth in the program the last 3 years and will have a lot of depth at the varsity level next year, but have a small (current) freshman class for basketball.

They have benefited from transfers the last couple of years, but not in the lets grab these top AAU guys and make a super team type of way. A bunch of late bloomers with a chip on their shoulder working hard together to prove people wrong.
 
Smalls said:
They have benefited from transfers the last couple of years, but not in the lets grab these top AAU guys and make a super team type of way. A bunch of late bloomers with a chip on their shoulder working hard together to prove people wrong.
Click to expand...

Unlike the Lutheran Easts and Harvest Preps of the world, have any of the transfers to Stritch even played varsity at their previous schools? I'm pretty sure none of the transfers even started at Stritch their first year. Wiggins might be the only one to even get real varsity minutes his first year at Stritch.
 
Trailsendcustom said:
Unlike the Lutheran Easts and Harvest Preps of the world, have any of the transfers to Stritch even played varsity at their previous schools? I'm pretty sure none of the transfers even started at Stritch their first year. Wiggins might be the only one to even get real varsity minutes his first year at Stritch.
Click to expand...

You are correct, most transferred prior to their soph. year at Stritch. Which is really the point I was trying to make.
 
Last edited:
Little Anderson is the 5th and final member of this year's Cardinal Stritch basketball senior class to sign.

Basketball:
Little Anderson Lourdes University
Jordan Burton Notre Dame College
Ashton Caryer Tiffin University
Nolan Finch Bluffton University

Track:
Jack "Crash" Stoiber Mount St Joe (Pole Vault)

Congratulations to all 5.
 
A pole vaulter named "crash" sounds like an insurance risk. At least he's not going to major in motorsports at U of Northwestern Ohio. That would be real bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top