{"id":177074,"date":"2024-03-19T03:38:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T08:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=177074"},"modified":"2024-03-19T03:38:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T08:38:45","slug":"random-thoughts-boys-state-tourney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/03\/19\/random-thoughts-boys-state-tourney\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: boys state tourney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers completely around the 102nd annual boys basketball state tournament, which begins this Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finale<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the finale of the state boys tournament as we know it. Next year, it won\u2019t be 12 games in three days at one location. Instead, it\u2019ll be state semifinal games at various locations around Ohio, then seven championship games, presumably at UD Arena, over the course of two or three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m still a little sad over the change. To me, it seems so special having all of the games over three days at one venue. But after this weekend, those days will be history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local flare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lima Central Catholic and Ottawa-Glandorf will represent the area, along with Russia. Best of luck to all three of those teams in the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private\/parochial vs. public<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re keeping track, there are 10 public schools and six private\/parochial schools in this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public schools: Berlin-Hiland, Russia, Richmond Heights, Ottawa-Glandorf, Preble Shawnee, Shelby, Maysville, Delaware Hayes, Centerville and Toledo Whitmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The private\/parochial schools: Lima Central Catholic, Harvest Prep, Lutheran East, Ketting Alter, Youngtown Ursuline, and Cleveland St. Ignatius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, I\u2019m not sure the private\/parochial vs. public thing is truly a big deal anymore, simply because almost all public school systems offer open enrollment now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poll champions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just one of the four Associated Press poll champions will play at the state tournament \u2013 Ottawa-Glandorf, in Division III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Cincinnati Moeller (Division I), Rocky River Lutheran West (Division II) and Toledo Christian (Division IV) all lost in their respective regional finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another interesting fact \u2013 all four No. 2 Associated Press teams will play in the state tournament \u2013 Cleveland St. Ignatius (Division I), Shelby (Division II), Lutheran East (Division III) and Russia (Division IV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are zero teams at state that are undefeated. There are just two one-loss teams \u2013 Russia and Delaware Hayes, both 27-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centerville<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centerville had never qualified for state before 2021. Now, the Elks are making their fourth straight appearance. Centerville won the Division I title in 2021, finished as the runner-up in 2022 and lost in the semifinals last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UD Arena<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a great venue for state basketball. It\u2019s literally right off Interstate 75, has plentiful free parking and is a basketball-only arena. I really think the OHSAA hit a home run when moving the tournament there. If you\u2019ve not been there, you may not understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple of knocks \u2013 it\u2019s not centrally located (fine for people in this area, not so much for people in northeast or southeast Ohio) and getting out after games can be a challenge as there\u2019s no traffic control in the lot and it quickly becomes a free-for-all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But overall, to me, St. John Arena and UD Arena are the best spots for state basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above topics, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers completely around the 102nd annual boys basketball state tournament, which begins this Friday. Finale It\u2019s the finale of the state boys tournament as we know it. Next year, it won\u2019t be 12 games in three days at one location. Instead, it\u2019ll be state semifinal games […]<\/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-177074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 03:40:57","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\/177074","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=177074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177075,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177074\/revisions\/177075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}