Random Thoughts: hoops, NCAA, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

This week’s edition of Random Thoughts centers around an oddity, a tough weekend, two highly regarded basketball invitationals, Black Monday, and the NCAA/Michigan.

Undefeated

An oddity of sorts has occurred – no area boys or girls basketball teams are undefeated at this point in the season. That includes the WBL, NWC, GMC and MAC.

On the other hand, there are no winless boys or girls teams in any of those leagues. Everyone has at least one victory.

Tough weekend

What a tough weekend for the Van Wert Cougars, who fell 46-44 to Wapakoneta in overtime on Friday, then lost on a tip-in at the buzzer on Saturday at Marion Local.

Things don’t get much easier this week with games against Lima Central Catholic, St. Marys Memorial and Bryan. Their records may not stand out, but all three are quality opponents.

Classic in the Country

Best of luck to the Crestview Lady Knights, who will face always-tough Berlin Hiland in the Classic in the Country this Saturday. The two teams will play the eighth and final game of the day at 7:30 p.m.

The game just before that will feature Bath and West Holmes.

All told, the Classic in the Country will feature 23 games in just three days, Friday-Sunday.

Flyin’ to the Hoop

Also this weekend is the 20th annual Flyin’ to the Hoop invitational, featuring 19 games in four days at Kettering Trent Arena.

Lima Sr. is one of the 35 teams scheduled to compete and the Spartans will face Springboro at 1:15 p.m. Monday. Other notable teams are Centerville, Pickerington Central, Richmond Heights, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Compass Prep out of Arizona (No. 2 team in the country) and even a team from Finland.

As always, it should be an interesting invitational.

Black Monday

The Monday after the NFL regular season ends is known as Black Monday. Two head coaches got the axe – Lovie Smith in Houston and Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury. More may be on the way. It’s not bad work if you can get it – get hired, get fired and still collect a huge payday.

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods was axed as well. For Browns fans hoping Kevin Stefanski would be shown the door – that’s not going to happen. You don’t fire the defensive coordinator then the head coach. That’s just not how it works.

National championship game

Did the real national championship game take place on New Year’s Eve, when Ohio St. played Georgia? Based on what happened Monday night, it certainly seems like it.

However, I still would have liked to have seen a rematch between the Buckeyes and Michigan. It just wasn’t meant to be.

One more thing…

Word came down several days ago that the NCAA is investigating Michigan’s football program for alleged recruiting during COVID, practice violations and apparently Jim Harbaugh buying hamburgers for recruits.

I’m not a Michigan fan by any means, but really NCAA? I’ll bet many schools violated recruiting rules during COVID. The same can be said for practice violations. Hamburgers? Come on NCAA – you have other things that need attention, such as the out of control transfer portal, some semblance of rules/guidelines for NIL, targeting and replay. Don’t waste your time with hamburger violations.

As always, if you have comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.