{"id":136440,"date":"2020-10-26T03:53:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T08:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=136440"},"modified":"2020-10-26T03:53:31","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T08:53:31","slug":"monday-mailbag-football-and-hoops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/10\/26\/monday-mailbag-football-and-hoops\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: football and hoops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions about Van Wert\u2019s next playoff game, football regional final sites, Ohio State football and the start of high school basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What are Van Wert\u2019s chances against Bellevue on Saturday? Is this a winnable game for the Cougars? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: The Cougars will have their hands full with No. 1 seed Bellevue but I do believe this team is capable of getting a win there. The Redmen don\u2019t make mistakes, so it\u2019ll take Van Wert\u2019s best game of the year to win it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: When will OHSAA announce where football regional final sites will be? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: I\u2019m under the impression that the higher seed will host regional championship games, but if it\u2019s neutral sites are going to be used, the Ohio High School Athletic Association will have to make that announcement soon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: After watching Saturday\u2019s game against Nebraska, am I alone in thinking Ohio State is overrated? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d use the term overrated, but there are a couple of potential trouble spots, at least early on.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense lost a lot of talent to the NFL and really seemed to struggle against the run at times against the Cornhuskers. I\u2019m hoping to see improvement each week.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know it\u2019s just one game, but run blocking by the offensive line is also a concern. The Buckeyes were in third-and-one on more than one occasion and couldn\u2019t covert. That takes me back to two years ago, when Ohio State struggled to consistently run the ball.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s see how the Buckeyes look against Penn State.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Will high school basketball season start on time? I find it hard to believe that it will, given the increase in COVID-19 cases. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: I know the Ohio High School Athletic Association has told schools to prepare for basketball season to start on time, but I think it\u2019s all up in the air right now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t be shocked if there\u2019s a delay but as I\u2019ve said before, I think everyone will need to be very flexible this winter.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a question or comment for the next Monday Mailbag, please 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 Van Wert\u2019s next playoff game, football regional final sites, Ohio State football and the start of high school basketball. Q: What are Van Wert\u2019s chances against Bellevue on Saturday? Is this a winnable game for the Cougars? Name withheld upon request A: The Cougars […]<\/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-136440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 07:30:56","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\/136440","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=136440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}