Got the schedule today and season starting soon. I know BW looks like the new Big Boy on the block and Southern and Mt Ridge both have some talented returners, but how does everyone else in the area look this year? Alco is dealing with a coaching change and FH with their usual late run in the football playoffs. Anyone have some insight???
Hoops....
- Thread starter Redwhite90
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I don't know if you can even count BW as the Big Boy, they have 2 locals on their roster. Southern will probably be top dog with the exception of BW. Just being honest here if I were a local basketball coach I wouldn't play BW. Just my opinion. BW opens with Hyndman and plays Calvary two times, they could score 200 points in those games if they want.
I attend many local basketball games and outside of BW the top 3 teams in our area are Southern, Ridge and Frankfort. Southern is well coached and always has legitimate talent. Ridge also has a good group of kids that play well together. This past summer frankfort went 10-0 and won the summer league championship. That really doesn’t mean anything but the also have a good group of kids and majority of them are juniors. It will be fun to watch this year for sure.
It will be a long year at Allegany. Heard their JV team got beat by 50 or so
Southern over Tucker County 75 to 57 Friday night. Their next game Dec 14th at ALCO then home opener vs BW on Dec. 18th. Will be interesting to see the gap between BW and perhaps the strongest team this year amongst "non-recruiting" schools.
Wow, never would of thought of that type scoring from Allegany. Did they really lose that much from last years team
Yes they did. They have no speed or size. I feel for coach Irons, He does a good job but just dosent have much to work with. On another note it looks like the Southern girls have fallen on hard times as well
FH boys lose at Mountain Ridge. Winless on the season still. No one cares actually. It shows on the court. Same ole, same ole.
But with area basketball on the downside you would think FH could at least do more than shine another .500 lackluster season. There is so much more to it than just bad talent.
But with area basketball on the downside you would think FH could at least do more than shine another .500 lackluster season. There is so much more to it than just bad talent.
Around our neck of the woods it's all about coaching coaches and working together well..
If you look down the line as well it doesn't bode well for both city schools in the near future, obviously things can change but Mountain Ridge also won the JV and Frosh games by double figures and Southern beat the ALCO JVs 64-26. Southern plays BW next, will be interesting to see how it plays out. But I don't see any other local school challenging Southern this year, MR might give them a good game but everyone else seems pretty down.
The freshman class at Alco is bad at all sports. The 8th grade boys basketball at Braddock are okay.
. Frankfort has a nice team also with some scorers. But you are correct , Mountain Ridge in the past has been the team that played this team the closest. Honestly, this is the deepest and most talented team I've ever seen at Southern in 30 plus years. They have had individual scorers in the past but this team is so well rounded. They lost 1 Senior from last year's team and added a group of Juniors that went 20-0 last year in local JV play. I'm not blind enough to think they are more talented than BW but it will be interesting to see how this team does against BW. The classic team vs assembled team of all-stars matchup. Fun!
If Southern doesn't turn the ball over, they can stay in range. BW turns the ball over themselves with their fast tempo. BW plays a good full court man to man. BW will play a lot of players. It will be interesting to see how they match up
Southern will obviously be the class of the area public schools. I think FH will get a little better as the season goes along seeing as how they've only been practicing as a full team for 2 weeks due to 1/2 their team also being part of the football program
I think Southern is getting to play BW at a good time early in the season. Southern players have a lot of games together under their belts while this BW team is pretty much all new playing together. This will be the only year for this I would imagine as their basketball team will more than likely be together in one way or another year round in the future. Their players will certainly be focused on b-ball and not on 2 or 3 sports as most of the local school athletes participate. If Southern can get the b-ball up court without a turnover against the press and can hit some outside jumpers , they will do well. Their bench is deep enough that fatigue should not be a factor and a packed home gym will also help. If any local team will compete/win this year vs BW... this will be the game.
BW beats Archbishop Carroll 46-42. Sloppy game but they pulled it out, you can see the skill in spurts but then the inexperience shows through at times as well.
BW plays again in DC tomorrow against Hoosac Academy from NY before playing Southern
BW plays again in DC tomorrow against Hoosac Academy from NY before playing Southern
Southern is a good program. Bosley has done a very good job with those kids for years. Frankfort best Grafton today 60-41 to improve to 4-0 on the year and hosts fort hill on Tuesday.
Now that everyone has played at least a few games what are everyone's initial thoughts?
I think things have kind of started out how most thought they would. BW looks good at 5-0 even if their offense has taken a little while click. Southern looks like the class of the area publics and probably 1A West. Mountain Ridge looks solid through two games soundly beating Keyser and holding off FH. Frankfort looks like they'll be pretty good. Allegany and FH will struggle but probably have enough talent to still win some games. Northern, Keyser, Hampshire, and the rest look pretty down so far.
I think things have kind of started out how most thought they would. BW looks good at 5-0 even if their offense has taken a little while click. Southern looks like the class of the area publics and probably 1A West. Mountain Ridge looks solid through two games soundly beating Keyser and holding off FH. Frankfort looks like they'll be pretty good. Allegany and FH will struggle but probably have enough talent to still win some games. Northern, Keyser, Hampshire, and the rest look pretty down so far.
Coach Prete was very complimentary of Southern again today in his interview after the game, basically saying he knows they are extremely well coached and won't beat themselves, he is looking forward to challenge on the road. I didn't get the vibe that it was all coach speak either
I think your analysis is pretty sound and matches what I stated earlier and expected thus far. Northern has a younger team and some talent. They could be a streaky team. One that can get hot on any given night and pull off an upset or two.. especially at home. I have not seen Keyser or Hampshire play so I cannot speak of them. What station is carrying the BW games? I would enjoy listening to them if they broadcast over the internet.
Good analysis. I hope to see a good game Tuesday. I haven't seen Southern, but honestly I don't think they can match up to BW. I don't know if any 1a or 2a schools in the state can. The BW starters or first 8 probably won't play more than a half.
Anyone travelling from the Cumberland area I would get there EARLY. This is Southern's home opener and this is the first chance for their fans that don't travel to see them play. I am sure it will be SRO and if you remember last year's ALCO game they ended up having to turn fans away at the door. Hate to see this happen to someone that has travelled an hour to see the game. Really wish they would play games like this in the new gym at Garrett College. It holds probably 3 times what the Southern gym holds. I understand that would be giving up home advantage but it would allow a much bigger gate. It may also help in the playoffs later on as anyone who has ever played knows sometimes its different shooting in a tight, small gym vs a large open one. Court is same size but that background can make a difference.
Thanks loco09 for the info, I will check them out on WCBC.
Thanks loco09 for the info, I will check them out on WCBC.
I was at this game and BW was really impressive. The tournament was basically all quality squads from around the country and every team had at least one player with a D1 commit. Hoosac was well coached and had good size. The score at the half had BW up 22-20. But in the second half BW came out ready to play. The Olivier kid had like 5 powerful dunks in traffic. I don't think he even played in the 4th quarter. If he did it was only for a minute or so. BW could have probably hung at least 90 on them. The point guard for BW played well too and they gave him the MVP.
I was just thinking after I read this post... many think they should not play any local teams but perhaps there is another by-product of this. Many of the BW players who have not committed will certainly be getting looks from college coaches which in turn leads to the local kids getting more looks even if on the losing end of a lopsided game. Perhaps that coach not interested in recruiting that particular local kid but he knows another coach at a smaller school that just may have some interest. One more set of eyes may just be what someone needs to get a look from a school and lead to a local kid with a chance at an extra education. So yes, I’d keep BW on my schedule for as long as they are willing to stay on it. Sometimes, there is more involved than just wins and losses and bruised egos. Different than in football where player safety comes into play. Just a thought.
Western Maryland is bad, to be the best of the bad isn't saying much. BW is truly head and shoulders above everyone in this area. They would pummel an area all star team. With that said, area teams should jump at the chance of playing this BW team. If I were a coach, and it would be legal, I'd practice with BW anytime I got a chance. Let's be honest, there is no team in the Maryland 1A that is close to being as fast, or as athletic as BW. This isn't football, everyone makes the playoffs, so challenge the kids and get improvement for a State run.
I don't think the starters will play against Allegany, FH or keyser. I think they will play some against Southern which shows how much respect Coach Prete has for Southern basketball.
Bishop Walsh-Hoosac video, the third and fourth quarters are shown in reverse order:
Great crowd and atmosphere, even have a band playing. BW hasnt played in this type of atmosphere yet.
BW up by 16 at half, led by as many as 20. Southern has talent and is scrappy but the talent of BW is showing with Baker and Romabu having big first halfs. Rodeheaver kid is really good for the Rams
