M
What is the rundown on Mentor?
Mentor is an outstanding club. They are led by a point guard who penetrates both directions, finishes well, and can bury the three. Will always have 4 guys on the floor who are capable three-point shooters. Have another bigger player who is an excellent penetrator-finisher. Those two don’t ever come off the floor. Defense is 94-foot man-to-man, and they are strong at not getting beaten off the dribble. Tremendously conditioned team. Extremely well coached (head coach won a state title at his previous school and another at Mentor).Team is exceptional at closing games, largely due to the point guard and good free throw shooting.
Jackson (another excellent, well coached team) gave them a great game in the regional semifinal. I didn’t watch entire game, but from the large part of the second half I saw, Jackson’s size and strength allowed them to alter interior Mentor shots, control the boards, and get some easy interior hoops. Game came down to last minute possession with Mentor shooting one-and-one up 52-50. Player misses the front end but gets loose ball rebound of his miss and his layup gave Mentor a cushion that they extended to a 60-53 victory.
Mentor is a very entertaining team to watch. I consider the offense to be extraordinary, the defense very good, and the rebounding certainly state championship level but maybe the area that another great team can hurt them. I also wonder what would happen if their point guard got in foul trouble, but he is very, very savvy.
All that being said, I was also extremely impressed with Centerville tonight (first time I have seen them since hard fought tournament loss 4 or 5 years ago at Cintas, I believe, during Cumberland’s senior season). Superior effort and outstanding toughness. Another extremely smart and disciplined team. They had to play at state championship level to beat the Moeller juggernaut, and they’ll have to do it again next weekend. This is probably the matchup (from the prior post I’m assuming they meet in the semis) I’m most excited about from the eight semifinal games.