{"id":112542,"date":"2019-01-28T05:02:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T10:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=112542"},"modified":"2019-01-28T05:03:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T10:03:00","slug":"monday-mailbag-january-28-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/01\/28\/monday-mailbag-january-28-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: January 28, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions about the best basketball team, the State Tournament, weekly basketball polls and an ESPN piece on the Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019ve mentioned before that you\u2019ve covered high school sports for a long time. Which basketball team is the best you\u2019ve covered in person? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: That\u2019s a tough one, because I\u2019ve seen a lot of talented teams. Plus, it\u2019s subjective, but I think I can narrow it down to two or three.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw Lincolnview\u2019s 1996-97 team (27-0) crush Norwalk St. Paul in the Division IV state semfinals and I still believe that Lancer team could have beaten anyone in Divisions IV, III and maybe II that day. Without a doubt that\u2019s the best small school team I\u2019ve seen firsthand.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Sandusky\u2019s 2004-2005 team (27-0) also comes to mind. I saw them four times that season and the Rams put up points by the truckload. Jon Diebler went on to play at Ohio State, Jake Diebler played at Valparaiso and Greg Micheli went on to play quarterback at Mt. Union and won the Gagliardi Trophy, the Division III equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t see Crestview\u2019s 2014 team (29-0) in person but I suspect that squad would make the list. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d probably include Norwalk High School\u2019s 2013-2014 team. The Truckers (29-1) defeated Dayton Thurgood Marshall in the Division II semfinals then beat defending state champion Columbus Bishop Watterson in the championship game. At one point, the team had a 57 game regular season winning streak.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One could argue there were better teams over the years, but those are among the best I\u2019ve seen personally.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Q: Any chance the state boys basketball state tournament will ever leave Columbus? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: Clich\u00e9 time: never say never, but don\u2019t hold your breath. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 1957, it\u2019s been held in Columbus every year except 1986 and 1987, when it was held in held in Dayton.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people (includng myself) wouldn\u2019t mind seeing it move back to St. John Arena, but even that seems to be a stretch.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Scott, are you one of the people who votes in the basketball poll each week? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: No, I don\u2019t cast a ballot in the weekly Associated Press boys and girls polls, but I do provide information to voters who ask. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: As a Browns fan, do you believe the article that appeared on ESPN.com a few days ago? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: You\u2019re referring to the Seth Wickersham\u2019s piece on the organization\u2019s dysfunction. It\u2019s a fairly long and very interesting read.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long story short: Yes, I believe it. I\u2019ve always suspected many of the problems could be traced back to the Haslams, but things might have been worse than most people realized.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been one disaster after another since the team returned in 1999, but it\u2019s been particularly back since the Haslams took ownership in 2012. However, there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel, especially if Jimmy and Dee Haslam let the people they hired do their jobs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a Browns fan, I\u2019d also suggest reading “The Browns Blues” by Terry Pluto. I finished it earlier this month and I consider it to be an excellent look into the team\u2019s problems since 1999.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions about the best basketball team, the State Tournament, weekly basketball polls and an ESPN piece on the Cleveland Browns. Q: You\u2019ve mentioned before that you\u2019ve covered high school sports for a long time. Which basketball team is the best you\u2019ve covered in person? Name withheld […]<\/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-112542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 04:33:32","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\/112542","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=112542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}