{"id":110399,"date":"2018-12-10T00:06:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T05:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=110399"},"modified":"2018-12-09T21:54:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T02:54:38","slug":"monday-mailbag-december-10-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/12\/10\/monday-mailbag-december-10-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: December 10, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag includes questions about Van Wert basketball, a shot clock, the statewide poll, girls basketball and the Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n

Q: Should we be worried about Van Wert\u2019s basketball team? They seem to be struggling. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: No, I don\u2019t think so. It\u2019s early and there are plenty of games to be played, and I can\u2019t help but wonder if the Cougars are still dealing with football legs. And don\u2019t forget, while the team returns four starters, the other starter missing is Jacoby Kelly, who\u2019s now playing at Heidelberg.<\/em><\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s win came over a Parkway team that hung with Crestview on Saturday night, so that\u2019s a positive. This team has some nice talent and they should be fine.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Cougars do have a tough stretch of games in December: home against Wapakoneta on Friday, then double weekend games against Delphos St. John\u2019s, Wayne Trace, Ottoville and Columbus Grove. As of now, those teams have a combined record of 11-3.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: High school basketball needs a shot clock. Do you agree? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I was just talking about this with someone recently. I\u2019m not in favor of it, but it won\u2019t surprise me if it\u2019s added to the game at some point in the future.<\/em><\/p>\n

Think about this \u2013 a shot clock could considerably widen the gap between top teams and other teams. No shot clock is what can keep many teams that don\u2019t have a stable full of 6-5 kids in certain games.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some of the fun is the strategy that a coach uses to maximize the talent on the team. A shot clock would hamper that strategy.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am interested to know what readers and high school basketball fans think about the idea. You can email sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a> with your thoughts.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: When does the first basketball poll come out and where do you think Crestview will be ranked? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I believe the first Associated Press boys\u2019 basketball poll will come out the first full week in January.<\/em><\/p>\n

As far as Crestview, it depends on what they\u2019re won-loss record is at the time. If the Knights are undefeated, it won\u2019t be surprising to see them ranked somewhere in the top five. That\u2019s certainly not a given though, as some challenges are on the schedule.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Why don\u2019t you pay more attention to girls basketball? All of the attention seems to go to the boys. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll have expanded coverage of local girls\u2019 high school basketball as the season goes along.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Do you see OHSAA splitting up public and catholic schools? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: No. It\u2019s a subject that won\u2019t go away, but don\u2019t look for a change. It\u2019s been voted on by OHSAA members schools more than once and has failed each time, although the gap seems to be closing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember, OHSAA\u2019s Competitive Balance rule was designed to even the playing field between public and private\/parochial schools. This is the second full year of the rule, so it\u2019s early, but early results show it\u2019s working, at least to some degree.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Dwayne Haskins was robbed. He should have won the Heisman Trophy. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: If you\u2019re Ohio State fan, of course he should have won it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, it would have been nice to see him win the award, but I\u2019m not going to lose any sleep over the fact that he didn\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just my opinion, but the Heisman isn\u2019t the award that it used to be. Someone said the other day that it was a popularity contest, but that\u2019s been the case for decades. Schools used to go to great lengths to promote their players for the Heisman.<\/em><\/p>\n

As I noted recently, it usually doesn\u2019t go to the best player anyway. Often times it goes to a quarterback, running back or wide receiver, regardless if they\u2019re the best or not.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you have a question for next week\u2019s Monday Mailbag, simply email it to sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag includes questions about Van Wert basketball, a shot clock, the statewide poll, girls basketball and the Heisman Trophy. Q: Should we be worried about Van Wert\u2019s basketball team? They seem to be struggling. Name withheld upon request A: No, I don\u2019t think so. It\u2019s early and there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 00:15:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}