Mentor Basketball 2022

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cardzfan12

Member
Basketball Season is almost here. This is the schedule for the 2022-2023 season

Lake
LakeUniontown
Home • Non-Conference
Fri, 12/2
7:30pm
Medina
Medina
Away • Conference
Sat, 12/3
7:30pm
Rhodes
RhodesCleveland
Home • Non-Conference
Sat, 12/10
1:45pm
Canfield
Canfield
Away • Non-Conference
Fri, 12/16
7:30pm
Solon
Solon
Home • Conference
Preview
Sat, 12/17
6:15pm
Louisville
Louisville
Neutral • Tournament
Preview
Tue, 12/20
7:30pm
Villa Angela-St. Joseph
Villa Angela-St. JosephCleveland
Home • Non-Conference
Preview
Tue, 1/3
7:30pm
Brunswick
Brunswick
Home • Conference
Fri, 1/6
7:30pm
Euclid
Euclid
Away • Conference
Sun, 1/8
5:30pm
St. Ignatius
St. IgnatiusCleveland
Neutral • Non-Conference
Fri, 1/13
7:30pm
Strongsville
Strongsville
Home • Conference
Mon, 1/16
7:30pm
Lake Catholic
Lake CatholicMentor
Away • Non-Conference
Fri, 1/20
7:30pm
Euclid
Euclid
Home • Conference
Sat, 1/21
7:30pm
Cornerstone Christian
Cornerstone ChristianWilloughby
Home • Non-Conference
Fri, 1/27
7:30pm
Solon
Solon
Away • Conference
Sat, 1/28
7:30pm
Lutheran West
Lutheran West Rocky River
Home • Non-Conference
Sat, 2/4
7:30pm
Chaney
ChaneyYoungstown
Home • Non-Conference
Tue, 2/7
7:30pm
Brunswick
Brunswick
Away • Conference
Fri, 2/10
7:30pm
Medina
Medina
Home • Conference
Tue, 2/14
7:00pm
Cardinal Mooney
Cardinal MooneyYoungstown
Home • Non-Conference
Fri, 2/17
7:30pm
Strongsville
Strongsville
Away • Conference
Sat, 2/18
7:30pm
Glenville
GlenvilleCleveland
Home • Non-Conference
 
 
2022-2023 Roster

1 Ryan Calo
PG • So. • 6' 3"

10 Ayo Olulami 6'3
SF • So.

11 Ryan Ioppolo
G • Sr. • 6' 4"

12 Jake Calo
PG, SG • So. • 6' 2" •

21 Kobe Frasure-Azzano
SG • So. • 6' 4" •

22 Braylon Johnson
SG • Jr. • 6' 5" •

23 Matthew Biddell
SG • Jr. • 6' 4"

24 Makel Harrison
PG • Jr. • 6'1


99 Devin Stouffer
SG • Jr. 6'5

33 Connor O'brien
SF • Jr. • 6' 4" •

35 Franjo Wilson
PF • Sr. • 6' 2" •

40 Ian Ioppolo
SG • Jr. • 6' 6"
 
www.cleveland.com

Guarded maturation can push Mentor: Boys basketball preseason camp tour

Get to know the Cardinals as part of cleveland.com’s look at the upcoming high school basketball season with videos and breakdowns during practices and scrimmages.
www.cleveland.com www.cleveland.com

Should be a fun season of Mentor basketball with a mix of experienced starters from last years team with a group of young and talented guys that have played little, if at all, with the varsity team.

Given their talent and the schedule of very winnable games, 18-20 wins this regular season is very much in play.
 
www.news-herald.com

Mentor boys basketball: Veteran Cardinals looking to build off last year’s run

A season after a trip to the state semifinals and 10 seniors graduated, Mentor didn’t know what to expect coming into its 2021-22 campaign.
www.news-herald.com

Here is another extended preview of the team. Only one senior (Ryan Iopollo) looks to get major playing time. The majority of the rotation are sophomores and juniors. This team has big potential, but even bigger in 2023-24. The Calo twins enter the program. Johnson, a 6’5 junior, returns after missing all of last season with an ACL injury.

Friday opens the season at home against Lake from the Federal League.
 
Mentor opens the season surprisingly sky high on Cleveland.com’s preseason poll. They are #2, behind St Ignatius. Matt Goul does his research. He must be pretty high on Mentor’s returning trio plus the new guys.
 
Just checking in on the season. No, Mentor has not met the expectations of their #2 preseason ranking in the Cleveland.com poll. In looking at what talent Mentor has along with a schedule that left a lot to be desired, I fully expected a 19 or 20 win season as I posted above. That looks way too optimistic as the team already has a couple of losses.

The biggest surprise so far is the seeming lack of depth at the top of the varsity rotation. In close games, the team is using seven players a game. The three returning starters from last year (Iopollo’s plus Biddell) never came off the floor for a second against Solon. Krizancic is keeping an incredibly tight rotation.

Toot was a positive surprise in the Solon game. He gives them another guard to use.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Just checking in on the season. No, Mentor has not met the expectations of their #2 preseason ranking in the Cleveland.com poll. In looking at what talent Mentor has along with a schedule that left a lot to be desired, I fully expected a 19 or 20 win season as I posted above. That looks way too optimistic as the team already has a couple of losses.

The biggest surprise so far is the seeming lack of depth at the top of the varsity rotation. In close games, the team is using seven players a game. The three returning starters from last year (Iopollo’s plus Biddell) never came off the floor for a second against Solon. Krizancic is keeping an incredibly tight rotation.

Toot was a positive surprise in the Solon game. He gives them another guard to use.
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No need to panic, the season is young. As for your expectations of 19 or 20 wins, I think that is ludicrous. Mentors history is they get better in the latter part of the season, tournament. They are currently 4-2 & have played, IMO, quality teams & have been hurt with very little bench. One of the reasons is the injuries to Braylon Johnson, 6’5” F junior, who was expected to be a crucial part of the team. The Calos, sophomore twins from Ireland, are adjusting to USA HS basketball, the speed & talent they face, but they will adjust as the season progresses. Also, Mentor starts 2 sophs, 2 juniors & 1 senior, but are performing well & the bench is young as well. Keep the faith, they will get better & will be very competitive as the season grows.
 
I’m not panicking. While it is true they are young, they did bring back three key starters from last years regional semi finalist team. I expected 19-20 wins. Sorry I set the bar so high. But I think it was reasonable, far from ludicrous. Mentor has had two loss seasons against a tougher schedule than this with even less experience (see the 2018-19 season). I thought it was doable. Technically, it still is.

The road loss to Medina was very reasonable. It is probably the second toughest game on paper behind St Ignatius. Louisville was a big surprise.

The team looked pretty good against Solon. Krizancic has his teams playing really well by the end of the season.
 
Obviously we differ in our expections, which is a good thing. Where I disagree with your comments is the emphasis you place on the 3 returning lettermen. I think they are very good, however,to date they lack the mental maturity & toughness you get as a senior & must learn to lead at a younger age. Also, Louisville is a very good team & played great defense against Mentor, taking them out of their game in the 2nd half. That’s where the mental maturity shows. I will bet they will be there by mid season & definitely at tournament time. Keep those comments coming, great & interesting conversations. Always good to get different opinions from loyal basketball fans.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
I’m not panicking. While it is true they are young, they did bring back three key starters from last years regional semi finalist team. I expected 19-20 wins. Sorry I set the bar so high. But I think it was reasonable, far from ludicrous. Mentor has had two loss seasons against a tougher schedule than this with even less experience (see the 2018-19 season). I thought it was doable. Technically, it still is.

The road loss to Medina was very reasonable. It is probably the second toughest game on paper behind St Ignatius. Louisville was a big surprise.

The team looked pretty good against Solon. Krizancic has his teams playing really well by the end of the season.
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Not sure you are doing your research and therefore do not have the correct outlook on the team. Louisville was not a big surprise. Yes that was a nice win for Louisville but that is a very nice team come off a Regional final season and returning all but 1 starter. Don't discount that loss or look at it as a negative to your team. That was a great basketball game by 2 very good teams.

I look forward to watching Mentor make a run this year (and next) as I was very impressed with their team!! Good luck to them the rest of the season!
 
Honestly - I did zero research on Louisville. I didn’t realize they were D2 in basketball. They are completely off my radar. Maybe the win isn’t as bad as I originally thought, but I still think Mentor is better on paper last year and this year.
 
TUSKY97 said:
Not sure you are doing your research and therefore do not have the correct outlook on the team. Louisville was not a big surprise. Yes that was a nice win for Louisville but that is a very nice team come off a Regional final season and returning all but 1 starter. Don't discount that loss or look at it as a negative to your team. That was a great basketball game by 2 very good teams.

I look forward to watching Mentor make a run this year (and next) as I was very impressed with their team!! Good luck to them the rest of the season!
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I agree about Louisville. I think most people from the Cleveland area know about the Fed teams and may have saw the loss to Perry, so Louisville is a bit off the radar. The loss to Perry was a bit surprising, but to me the Fed (and Louisville) are all so close together that those teams will likely cannibalize each other this year.

I think you'll see the same thing in the GCC, where you've already have had Medina beating Mentor; Mentor beating Solon; Brunswick beating Medina; and Strongsville beating Solon ... The GCC's "Perry" is Euclid in being a team that will likely be a lot better than what their final record will indicate, and both will pull a couple upsets (Perry already notched the one against Louisville).
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Honestly - I did zero research on Louisville. I didn’t realize they were D2 in basketball. They are completely off my radar. Maybe the win isn’t as bad as I originally thought, but I still think Mentor is better on paper last year and this year.
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I'm pretty sure Louisville was bumped up to D1 this year.
 
SVillegrad said:
I agree about Louisville. I think most people from the Cleveland area know about the Fed teams and may have saw the loss to Perry, so Louisville is a bit off the radar. The loss to Perry was a bit surprising, but to me the Fed (and Louisville) are all so close together that those teams will likely cannibalize each other this year.

I think you'll see the same thing in the GCC, where you've already have had Medina beating Mentor; Mentor beating Solon; Brunswick beating Medina; and Strongsville beating Solon ... The GCC's "Perry" is Euclid in being a team that will likely be a lot better than what their final record will indicate, and both will pull a couple upsets (Perry already notched the one against Louisville).
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I agree the loss to Perry was rough. It was 1st game of the year and Louisville did not play well. They seem to have hit their stride as of late. Again I have the utmost respect for the Mentor team! They are going to be a handful, They have great guard play with a big man who can play anywhere and beat people off the dribble and finish. I look for them to have a fantastic year and enjoyed watching the game Saturday.
 
It’s so early into the season & already we have seen quite a few losses by teams that were considered as the top teams in the area. I would suggest waiting for the latter part of the season to further evaluate their strengths. I’m sure there will be many surprises. Remember, the cream always rises to the top, stay tuned.
 
A solid win over a pretty good Brunswick team on Tuesday. The Blue Devils have a really nice trio of players that all compliment each other well and can do some different things. I was not able to see the two games over the weekend, including Sunday's 84-47 loss to St Ignatius. I can't remember the last time Mentor got beat that badly. The last one I remember was at Massillon Jackson about five years ago. Sounds like Mentor caught the Cats on one of their nights where they look like a legit state championship contender. Not the kind of lesson you want to learn as a team, but one they can hopefully learn to get better from. This is the kind of opponent you need to beat in order to win big games in March.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
A solid win over a pretty good Brunswick team on Tuesday. The Blue Devils have a really nice trio of players that all compliment each other well and can do some different things. I was not able to see the two games over the weekend, including Sunday's 84-47 loss to St Ignatius. I can't remember the last time Mentor got beat that badly. The last one I remember was at Massillon Jackson about five years ago. Sounds like Mentor caught the Cats on one of their nights where they look like a legit state championship contender. Not the kind of lesson you want to learn as a team, but one they can hopefully learn to get better from. This is the kind of opponent you need to beat in order to win big games in March.
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I agree, Mentor got beat by Iggys in every phase of the game. Tough lesson to learn from, but necessary in order to get better. This years team, IMO, needs to get a lot more physical in order to compete with the better teams, currently they are very soft. In the past, Mentor teams grew up in the system from grade school thru varsity & understood the need to be more physical. This years team, majority of the starting 5 did not experience this & are learning every game. I’m certain they will get there by tournament time.
 
bbfan29 said:
I agree, Mentor got beat by Iggys in every phase of the game. Tough lesson to learn from, but necessary in order to get better. This years team, IMO, needs to get a lot more physical in order to compete with the better teams, currently they are very soft. In the past, Mentor teams grew up in the system from grade school thru varsity & understood the need to be more physical. This years team, majority of the starting 5 did not experience this & are learning every game. I’m certain they will get there by tournament time.
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Good points. I'm not ready to call these kids soft or question their toughness. Those are harder to observe. Maybe it is true, maybe not. Skill and execution are easier to observe. Right now, I don't see the kind of defensive execution that we saw in last year's team as they made their stride in March. I don't see the depth in scoring options either.

The three returning starters from last year have all had expected growth from what I have seen. Biddell is looking like he is becoming that "go to scorer" that every team needs. By his senior year, I could see an All-Ohio season. Ian Iopollo is a potential scoring machine on any night with his ability to score inside and out. Ryan Iopollo has played his role well. The rest of the rotational players and starters are still trying to adjust and figure out how to excel in their roles. I don't think the overall talent and depth is as good as I expected, but I'm sure the mental toughness and even basketball IQ is a factor. So is the fact this team does not contain a bunch of guys that grew up playing together in travel ball, AAU, and middle school.

Going into the season, I circled the St Ignatius game as the only likely loss. Losing that game was not a surprise to me. The margin of victory absolutely was a surprise. Let's see how they respond over the next week against Strongsville on Friday and an MLK game at Lake Catholic.
 
Physical to me means pulling down hard rebounds,going after loose balls, limit to’s, don’t get 3’s blocked from behind (protecting the ball) , playing defense with intensity, etc. It takes time & effort to perform these tasks & it comes with experience in the program. I believe this loss was a great lesson & these kids will rise to the occasion come tournament time.
 
bbfan29 said:
Physical to me means pulling down hard rebounds,going after loose balls, limit to’s, don’t get 3’s blocked from behind (protecting the ball) , playing defense with intensity, etc. It takes time & effort to perform these tasks & it comes with experience in the program. I believe this loss was a great lesson & these kids will rise to the occasion come tournament time.
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Depends on how you define "rise to the occasion" I guess. Could they win a weak district? Sure, but not much more based on the current trajectory. The expectations coming into the season were a possible trip to Columbus. With the extreme limitations at one position, to go along with a lack of any depth, there is only so much Krizancic is going to be able to do.

They do have one kid, if he can finally stay healthy, who could potentially help overall, but that would involve some creative lineups as he is not a direct replacement for the weak spot. Still though, they might stand a better chance of not being overmatched at some point.
 
fbrox said:
And he can always just go out and acquire more talent as needed.
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Can we stop with the Mentor recruits stuff. The only year they ever happened to have significant talent come in from outside was 2020 with Jonah Waag (from Lyndhurst) via VASJ. Besides that almost all their talent has been homegrown by one of the best coaches in the state
 
znewem said:
Depends on how you define "rise to the occasion" I guess. Could they win a weak district? Sure, but not much more based on the current trajectory. The expectations coming into the season were a possible trip to Columbus. With the extreme limitations at one position, to go along with a lack of any depth, there is only so much Krizancic is going to be able to do.

They do have one kid, if he can finally stay healthy, who could potentially help overall, but that would involve some creative lineups as he is not a direct replacement for the weak spot. Still though, they might stand a better chance of not being overmatched at some point.
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I'm assuming the position you speak of is point guard. And the player who could help if he stays healthy is Braylon Johnson. I agree with both of those. The point guard position was first earned by the sophomore Calo brother who came over from Europe. He is a sophomore, new to HS basketball in the states, and new to Krizancic's program. I imagine his junior year could see a significant jump. Ryan Iopollo can take on some of the point guard duties when needed too. Comparing this team to the "great" Mentor basketball teams of the past twenty years, there are some holes. But they are their own team. Let's see how it unfolds over the next 8 weeks or so.

Question - does anyone know if the other Calo twin play in JV games? I only see the 4th quarters of JV games usually and I have never seen him touch the floor. I hope he is getting some reps in the first half of JV games. I expect him to be a part of the rotation during his junior and senior year.
 
I agree with your analysis on this years team. The point guard position has always been the key to their success over the years & the team was built around that position. Unfortunately, although, Calo has the potential to become a very good PG, he needs this year for experience in a system very new to him. Johnson’s injuries both last & this year have really hurt their depth & scoring help. If he gets healthy, IMO, think it will be a game changer for the balance of the season. Also, they need to be much more aggressive defensively & challenge the driving lanes & going after the loose balls with intensity. Hopefully, things will fall in place the latter part of the season.
 
Says facility issue at Lake Catholic forcing the game to be played at Mentor on Monday at 6

mentorathletics.com

Mentor vs Lake Catholic basketball games on Monday 1/16/23

Due to facility issues at Lake Catholic, there has been a schedule change to the basketball games that were scheduled at Lake Catholic on Monday 1/16/23. The girls games will still be held at Lake Catholic high school, but the times have changed: JV at 11:30am and varsity at 1pm. The boys...
mentorathletics.com mentorathletics.com
 
The Calo brothers & Ioppolo brothers fathers are original Mentor grads & played basketball under Coach K. Both fathers wanted their sons to play in the Mentor program because they felt it was best for their high school experience & respected the program’s success under Coach K. Both families moved back to Mentor on their own & were not recruited. What’s so wrong about that?
 
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