SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

Pfloyd's Elite 8 of Southern/SouthEast Ohio - Preseason

1. Fairland
2. Unioto
3. Vinton County
4. Miami Trace
5. Waterford
6. Fairfield Union
7. Warren
8. Lynchburg Clay


A pre-season glimpse at the Elite 8 at the top :

Fairland : Coach Speed has about ALL of the cards in the deck ... inside/outside game ... speed at both ends of the floor ... size , depth ... I can't find a weakness ... the top 6 in the book are all returning as only juniors this season :

Ty Staton 6-0
Isaiah Howell 6-2
Kollin Van Horn 6-5
Luke Thomas 6-0
Gunner Short 6-2
Darius Stapleton 6-6

Unioto : Coach Hoops & the Shermans don't have an empty cupboard ... the U has MORE than enough returning firepower & experience both on the perimeter and in the paint to make the #2 ranking stand up :

Logan Swackhammer (PG) 6-1
Casey White 6-2
Brandon Kennedy 6-1
Gabe Fisher 6-0
Gavin Ogan 6-5
Peyton Hill 6-5
Nick Adkins 6-5

Vinton County : Coach Combs brings yet another outstanding group to the hardwood in 2016-17 ... imo the most improved player I put the eye test on from the beginning of last season to the end of last season at the Convo was Naylen Yates for the Vikings - last year at only a sophomore Naylen Yates came into his own at the offensive end in the second half of the year ... he has good size for Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line at 6-3 , strong in the paint, a confident mid-range shooter ... a FULL breakout season is in the offing for N.Y. ... add to the mix PG Tristan Bartoe who played drive for drive with Griffin Lutz for Athens in getting to the rim ... he doesn't have Lutz's size BUT in the games I saw last season he had the better outside shot of the 2 ...

Tristan Bartoe PG
Naylan Yates 6-3
Derek Jones
Caleb Montgomery
Bo McIntire
Bryce Damron 6-7
Nevan Yates

Miami Trace : finished 16-8 season last year ... return ALL but 1 off of last seasons squad ... when everything was right MT was/will be as good as anyone in SEOhio period ... Coach Pittser will put a team with sectional & district experience on the floor :

Deandre Pettiford 6-1
Tyrae Pettiford 6-2
Blake Pittser 5-10
Darby Tyree 6-5
Mitchell Creamer 5-9

Role Players -
Cameron Carter 6-0
Skylar McDonald 6-0
Seth Leach 6-4
Jacob Batson 5-10

Waterford : Coach Simms has one of the most talented teams I watched all of last season no matter the division ... the Wildcats will dominate the TVC-Hocking again in 2016-17 ... experience , talent , good D4 size ...

Brice Hilverding
Tyler McCutcheon
Wyatt Lang
Travis Pottmeyer
Cody Harris
Jordan Welch
Issac Huffman
Andrew Theiman
Riley Burns

Fairfield Union : Coach Eversole & Coach Helber lost 3 players from the D2 District qualifier of last season ... the Falcons return Collin Woodside still only a junior Woodside is one of the best bigs in SEOhio hoops at a strong, football buildlike 6-5 ...

Colin Woodside 6-5
Lucas Thompson 6-4
Hayden Price
Camden Mollendick
Jack Wolshire
Justin Wolfe
Ben Miller
Tyler McMannus
Brad Miller
Spencer Conrad
Will Ogg
Austin McCafferty

Warren : Coach Maddox will bring to the court yet another experienced ball club - what's new right - Coach has good size , always good strength while putting perimeter shooters around the outside of the 3 point line ... some have questioned the Warriors being given a spot in the preseason top 8 BUT if anyone knows anything about SEOhio hoops you can't even begin to talk hoops without mentioning the Big Bad Blue under Coach Maddox ...

Kyler Dennis
Cameron Bartmess
Chase Weihl
Austin Barta
Bishop Ford
Bryce Gandee

others of note include Jared Hall, Joshua Huffman, Noah Nichols, Trace Congleton, Thomas Williams

Lynchburg Clay : ... hard to leave Coach Carson's Mustangs out of the top 8 in the preseason rankings ... sectional winner, district winner, regional finals ... LC returns right around 50% of their scoring ... SHAC seopsters pick the Mustangs to remain the top dog West of Rte 23 ...

Key returnees ...

Eric McGlaughlin 6-4
River Mullins 6-1
Joe Giordano 6-3

Brian Lampkin 6-1
AJ Stroop 6-6
Michael Heindel 6-1



Treehugger Wannabes

9. Athens
10. Chillicothe
11. South Webster
12. Eastern Pike
13. Marietta
14. Logan
15. Sheridan
16. Logan Elm
17. Portsmouth Clay
18. Western Pike/Portsmouth East
19. Piketon
20. Portsmouth
21. Circleville
22. Oak Hill
23. Westfall
24. Peebles
25. Eastern Brown
26. South Gallia
27. Ironton
28. Zane Trace
29. Minford
30. Waverly
31. Paint Valley
32. Portsmouth Notre Dame
33.. Washington CH
34. Wheelersburg
35. Belpre/Lucasville Valley
36. North Adams
37. Symmes Valley
38. Wellston
39. Miller
40. Alexander
41. Fairfield Leesburg
42. Adena
43. Meigs
44. Chesapeake
45. Trimble
46. South Point
47. Wahama
48. Greenfield McClain
49. Nelsonville York
50. New Lexington
51. Southern
52. Manchester
53. Hillsboro
54. Jackson
55. Gallia Academy
56. Whiteoak
57. Coal Grove
58. Portsmouth West
59. Reedsville Eastern
60. River Valley / Crooksville

Teams on the End Table

61. West Union
62. St. Joseph
63. New Boston
64. Green
65. Huntington
66. Federal Hocking
67. Southeastern
68. Rock Hill
69. Northwest

After reviewing your list, all I can think of is how good the D2 tournament is going to be! Unioto, VC, Miami Trace, Warren, FFU, Athens, Chillicothe ... wow!

Eastern pike plays Lynchburg Clay Jan,21 in the Dave Young Classic may need to add that to the Ol pocket schedule.

Btw floyd, you keep saying your tracking 71 teams. Its 72 buddy, with Wahama.

93Bulldog wrote:Btw floyd, you keep saying your tracking 71 teams. Its 72 buddy, with Wahama.

... I'm asking for a pay raise

Other teams of note going into the 2016-17 season :

Athens : The bulldogs are under first year varsity head man Coach Mickey Cozart ... Coach Cozart takes over a very good Bulldogs squad led by senior PG Griffin Lutz ... Lutz is arguably the premier PG in SEOhio for the 2016-17 season ... Lutz will be surrounded by returning starters and a handful of AAU experienced players from a very good JV team ... I have the Bulldogs at #9 in the preseason but Coach Cozart will test the waters early on as Athens travels to Fairland to take on the pre-season #1 Dragons on Dec.10 ...

Griffin Lutz PG
Robert Dickleman
Dalton Cozart
Micah Saltzman
NIck Lutz
Logan Maxfield
Justin HInes 6-4 "man in the middle"

Marietta : The Tigers will be returning EVERYONE off of last years team. Marietta WILL BE a handful in SEOhio this season - last years head man Coach Duckworth (not courtside this season a MHS) had the Tigers playing solid defensively ... the Tigers will bring a better perimeter game beyond the 3 point line this season ... lots of experience with 8 seniors returning ...

Turner Hill
Zach Deskins
Trent Dawson
Matt Altenberger
Isaac Danford
Brandon Schump
Travis Moore
Brandon Neville
Danny HIser
Gage Herb

Sheridan : Coach Fisher will have a BIG chunk of last years General squad returning ... experience with 5 seniors and now sophomores Ethan Heller and Grant Heileman ... Sheridan will fit right in to the an already to be a loaded D2 Sectional at Logan ...

Stanley Knox
Dylan Dupler
Max Hickman
Noah Cooperrider
Trent Smith
Ethan Heller
Grant Heileman

Meigs : The Marauders return 3 starters from last years team - Christian Mattox, Luke Muser, Jared Kennedy off the bench last year was Dillon Mahr ... Meigs will be a team for the committee of one to watch early on to see if they should have been ranked higher than the preseason #43 ...

Logan Elm : The Braves of Coach Stiverson & Coach Holbert are starting at the lowest preseason ranking that I can remember #16 ... LE loses 8 seniors from last season BUT they do return senior Ridge Young at PG/SG ... if Ridge Young followers the script of older brother Dillon this senior year will be special ... just as has been the case over the last 2-3 years LE will be forced to hold their opponents below that 50 ppg mark to have a chance for W's ... Defense for ANY Coaches Stiverson/Holbert Braves team is a given I will be looking to see who will help pick up the slack offensively and take some pressure off of Ridge Young ... Justin Boldoser, Caymen Bryant, Colin Clark, Logan Holbert, Seth McDonald, Cody Anderson ... How long will it take for the inexperienced Braves to become varsity veterans ? ...

... more to come ...

Add our big man to your list for Athens Floyd. 6'4 Justin Hines. Was moved up to varsity as a freshman last year later in the season. True big man, loves to play on the block, soft hands, automatic from the charity stripe and had a nice fall on the gridiron this year. Bigger, stronger, faster.

93Bulldog wrote:Add our big man to your list for Athens Floyd. 6'4 Justin Hines. Was moved up to varsity as a freshman last year later in the season. True big man, loves to play on the block, soft hands, automatic from the charity stripe and had a nice fall on the gridiron this year. Bigger, stronger, faster.

... thanks 93dog ! ... looking forward to the personnel "additions" to all of the lineups across SEOhio this year ! great players leave ... it seems a new player steps up to fill the void ... hopefully we get more seopsters adding their "2 cents" to the team rundowns ... danic always has us a great preview of the SVC ... as we move closer to the opening tip I'm sure we will see more and more input from the regulars on SEOPs ...

This summer when Logan scrimmaged Athens was the Lutz kid playing in the scrimmage? I thought he was, but I have no idea what he looks like so I couldn't tell.

... more teams on the radar ...http://www.southeasternohiopreps.com/vi ... f=4&t=4224

Logan : New coaches ... the Purple & White will be led by Coach Rider & Coach Rich Bell ... I have the Chieftains at their highest starting point in many seasons at the #14 spot in the preseason ... Logan will be playing only 7 different SEOhio teams - with LHS finishing out the SEOAL run, looking to move UP Rte 33 to a new league at some point in the near future most games are with the BIGS in Central Ohio ... Desales, Olentangy, Bloom Carroll, New Albany, Hilliard Darby , Lancaster ... Logan will be in the Newark Holiday Tourney - I would think it would be at least 2 games - I don't know the opponents ...

Returning varsity ... Caleb Bell, Caiden Landis, Kory Henthorne, Bo Myers add to the roster Brady Walsh,Coby Bell from last years varsity lineup and you have a great nucleus of players to build on ... size, length, perimeter shooting/scoring ... look for a team that can/will get up and down the court ... I haven't seen a Coach Rider team on the court so I can't make a call on the defensive side BUT all of these players were schooled last season by Coach Kellough - will need to see if all of that "learning of the defensive game" is carried over or pushed aside ... Colton Dixon, Weston Brooks, Landon Little will all get PT as well ...

Eastern Pike : dents the preseason rankings at #12 - a high watermark for the Pike county boys for sure ... Coach Barrick is one of the BEST for a reason! he gets everything out of every player he puts on the floor ... Coach B returns 6 players with Convo experience - Evan Leist ,Tyler Hale, Quenton Alley, Ethan Leist,Clay Martin, Gabe Gambill ... these boys put down 47 of the Eagles 57 points vs Waterford in the Convo last season ...add to the lineup choices good size in 6-4 soph Michael Miller and 6-5 freshman Dalton Tomlison ...

Portsmouth Clay : return ALL but one player from last season ... tournament experience, district Convo trip last season losing to Trimble by 3 points in OT ... Brody Riffe 6-0, Cole Gilliland 6-4, Cameron King PG, Jared Meade 6-3, Nate Hinze 6-2 ... Coach Betten & his Panthers will be challenged in the by Eastern Pike, Western Pike, Portsmouth East and Portsmouth Notre Dame in the SOC ...

Portsmouth East : EVERY player returns for the Tartans (unless we had someone transfer out) ... Akia Brown PG 6-0, Drew Lowe 6-1, Tommy Lambert, Blaine Scott 6-5 (transferred ?) , Kanyan Bruton 6-4, Brady Douthat , Zane Scott, JD Hatcher, Will Shope ... saw a couple of posts that have the Tartans picked #1 in the SOC small school division ...

Pfloyd
A couple other names to remember for eastern pike is 6-4 sophomore Michael miller , he played a decent amount of varsity last year as a freshman , he should b an impact player for the eagles this year , and 6-5 center Dalton Tomlison, who the eagles lost last year to injury is returning , he will b a huge addition this year , he is getting some D1 looks in football .

pfloyd,

Generous ranking for the Jeeps, they have potential but have a lot to prove. This is the year they were expected to really turn the corner, hopefully they will but again - lots to prove!

The #11 Jeeps will face #8 Lynchburg Clay in a scrimmage on November 16th.

pfloyd: Great writeup on your Elite 8, and as you know your list will change as some teams will disappoint while others will surprise. I think it's always more interesting to see teams do better than what they were expected to do. I am hoping my Trojans are one of those teams.

In this century, the SE District has sent a team to the state in 2001(Belpre), 2002(Eastern Brown) 2004(South Webster), 2005(Ironton-D3 State Runnerup), 2006(South Webster--D4 State Champions),2006(Wheelersburg),2007(Wheelersburg), 2008(Chillicothe--D2 State Champions), 2009(Oak Hill--D4 State Champions), 2010(Chesapeake), 2011(Portsmouth), 2012(Portsmouth--D3 State Runnerup), 2013(Ironton), 2013(Warren), and 2015(Lynchburg Clay). The SE D3 division is still looking for its first state championship since the OHSAA went to 4 divisions in 1988. Portsmouth won the very first D2 State Championship that year.

The SE District has had a good run to the state tournament over the last 16 years, with 15 appearances by 11 different schools, with 2003 and 2014 being the only years since 2001 that a SE team hasn't made the trip to the Schott. Can Fairland make that difficult march to the Final 4, will it be another of the Elite 8, or somebody on the outside looking in?

Ah, the best time of the year, put away the candy, ready for some turkey and then the mistletoe, BUT the best of all is SEO Basketball! As an old Trojan I am looking forward to the great posts and info you all post. The rival games, the league games and of course the Pfloyd rankings!
To all in SEO have a Great and injury free season and let is watch our teams and young men and women put forth another outstanding season of basketball!

... more teams on the radar ...


Chillicothe : The Cavaliers return 2 starters from last years team Brandon Maughmer (6-1) and Simon Roderick (6-2) ... Maughmer hailed as one of the top players in the SEOhio District ... add to the mix Seth Barnes (6-2) , Jordan Johnson (5-11) and Hunter Coffland (6-4) ... the Cavs start the preseason at #10 ... I need to see Chillicothe early on in the season as on paper they appear to be a little size challenged - but that's what giving each of the top 25-30 the eye test separates the players from the pretenders ...


Washington CH : CH loses 3 starters from last years squad but will return a lot of senior experience - Jake Patton (6-1), Kory Proby (6-1), Griffin Shaw (6-5), Kenny Upthegrove (6-0), Bryan Wilson (5-11) ... add sophomores Evan Upthegrove (5-10), Richard Burns Jr. (6-3) ...


Wheelersburg : The Pirates may be placed too low in my preseason picks after a 16-6 regular season in 2015-16 ... lots of experience returning for the Burg led by 6-5 Tanner Holden, Tanner Bivens (6-0), Kaden Coleman (6-3) ... the Orange & Black lost the services of 6-6 Austin Lotspeich ( the committee looked at this transfer as a significant loss for WHS on the hardwood hence the lower ranking,probably cost the Burg at least 12 spots in the preseason selection) ... role players who will be asked to step up include Daylor Lewis, Keaton Newsome, Clayton Meadows ... when I think of the Burg I see excellent athletes, tough defensively and a team which will be playing to get to the Convo yet again in March ...

EPN wrote:Pfloyd
A couple other names to remember for eastern pike is 6-4 sophomore Michael miller , he played a decent amount of varsity last year as a freshman , he should b an impact player for the eagles this year , and 6-5 center Dalton Tomlison, who the eagles lost last year to injury is returning , he will b a huge addition this year , he is getting some D1 looks in football .

EPN ... thank you for the additions ! nice size in both Michael Miller (6-4) and (6-5) Dalton Tomlison ... I will be making a few trips to both Pike and Scioto county this winter - too much talent on the small school side to NOT give the eye test to and fairly compare them to the bigger schools in this area ... Eastern & Western Pike, Portsmouth Clay, Portsmouth East and then add Notre Dame to the mix as well ... the committee of one - me , will be making some road trips into the Rte 23 / Rte 52 corridor for sure ...

... on a side note about the Eastern Pike Eagles ... when you have Coach Barrick going into his 2nd year with the Eagles THAT alone will give the EHS an advantage ... In my mind as a fan of high school hoops I HAVE TO SEE the teams coached by THE COACHES I admire Coach Barrick falls among that list for sure ...

... no preseason rundown would be worth a pixel without the Portsmouth Trojans ... and it wouldn't be worth much without it coming from Mr. Trojan himself - trojandave

Portsmouth : #20 is just about right for the Trojans; right now I feel like we might have to fight to get over .500; depth is a serious concern with the 2016 edition of PHS basketball. The starting 5 is good (still lacking size), but quality minutes off the bench could be hard to find for Coach Collins. In this his 8th year with an overall record of 122-48, Coach Collins is faced with his thinnest bench since he took the reigns in 2009-2010. Senior Kendall Reynolds, barring injury, will join the prestigious 1,000 point club early in the campaign. He stands right now with 917 points.

Projected starting 5 for the 2016 Portsmouth Trojans:

Kendall Reynolds 6-3 senior
Mike Malone 5-10 senior
Reese Johnson 6-1 junior
Daniel Jordan 6-2 junior
DJ Eley 5-8 junior

Heard the Trojans have a 6"5. Sophomore that made the team .

Love this time of year and all of the preseason talk. Looking forward to watching some great basketball this season in southern ohio. Don't sleep on Waverly. Much like the football team I think the basketball team will surprise a lot of folks. Athletes all over the gym. Very guard heavy. Will have to play fast, press and score off of turnovers. Nice win at Wheelersburg at the end of the year was a confidence booster. Looking forward to watching some great battles in SOC 1. For the first time I can remember the SOC 1 might be better than the SOC 2 Top to bottom. Eastern Western Clay and East all have a shot. Hoping to catch Chillicothe, Unioto, Portsmouth, Athens, Lynchburg Clay, and the big kid form Paint Valley at least once this season. Hard when you have your own kid playing to see other teams. Hoping to check off a bucket list moment this year and meet Pfloyd. Pfloyd If you make it to Waverly this year Popcorn and a Coke is on me.

No doubt in my mind, these post alone are the best coverage of High School Basketball, not only in the SE District, but the best in the country, I receive more information about hoops in my home District than I receive about, college or NBA hoops. It is a pleasure to have all of you posting, thanks so much much for all that contribute.Pfloyd, you lead the best media coverage in the nation. Thanks to everyone and last but not least GO TROJANS