Random Thoughts: hoops, hoops, hoops!

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

This week’s edition of Random Thoughts centers around sectional predictions, the NWC girls championship race and a school without a sectional title.

How’d I do?

Let’s revisit my predictions for boys basketball sectional pairings.

At the Division II Spencerville district, I said Shawnee would be the No. 1 seed and St. Marys Memorial or Wauseon would be the No. 2 or No. 3 seeds, but I wasn’t sure of the order. As it turns out, Wauseon is the No. 2 seed, followed by the Roughriders.

I said Defiance, Napoleon and Wapakoneta would be the would be the 4-5-6 seeds, but the order was Defiance, Wapakoneta and Napoleon. Close.

I predicted Van Wert to be the No. 7 seed, which turned out to be correct, then my predicted order was Celina, Bryan, Elida and Kenton. That also turned out to be correct.

As predicted, Columbus Grove, Ottoville and Crestview are the No. 1, 2 and 3 seeds at the Division IV Elida district.

I said the Crestview/Lincolnview winner would be the No. 3 seed and I noted that Kalida could end up with the No. 4 seed, which happened. Lincolnview wound up as the No. 5 seed, and Leipsic is the No. 6 seed as predicted.

I was slightly off on Pandora-Gilboa, which wound up as the No. 8 seed instead of No. 7. Cory-Rawson got the No. 7 seed and the remainder of the order was Continental, Miller City, Fort Jennings, Delphos St. John’s and Patrick Henry. I was way off on the Patriots, a team I thought would be the No. 9 or 10 seed.

NWC girls

The Northwest Conference girls basketball title race is coming down to the final night of conference play (Thursday) and here are the scenarios:
If Crestview beats Paulding, the Lady Knights will claim at least a share of the conference championship. If Delphos Jefferson beats Spencerville, the Lady Cats will also claim a co-championship.

If Paulding beats Crestview and Jefferson beats Spencerville, the Lady Cats will be outright champions. If Crestview beats Paulding and Spencerville defeats Jefferson, the Lady Knights will be outright champs.

If Paulding and Spencerville win, then they’ll share a four way championship with Crestview and Jefferson.

Still looking

There is still a school in the state of Ohio that has yet to win a boys basketball sectional title.

It’s Bucyrus High School in Crawford County. The Redmen have not won a sectional title even once in school history. In fairness, for many years Bucyrus was lumped in the same sectional with Willard, a basketball power for many years.

The Redmen are the No. 9 seed in the Division III Shelby district this year and they’ll play No. 11 seed Lakota in the semifinals. If they win, they’ll have to defeat No. 2 seed Western Reserve.

It’ll be tough to break the streak this year, but here’s hoping the school can notch that first sectional sometime in the very near future.

If you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.