{"id":189750,"date":"2025-02-17T21:59:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T02:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=189750"},"modified":"2025-02-17T21:59:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T02:59:29","slug":"random-thoughts-hoops-and-garrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/02\/17\/random-thoughts-hoops-and-garrett\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: hoops and Garrett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers around boys and girls tournament basketball, Crestview hoops, a pair of powerhouses and Myles Garrett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we go<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boys sectional tournaments tip off tonight and the Van Wert Cougars will start things off by hosting Kenton in the Division IV semifinals. Best of luck to Van Wert and all local teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girls D-IV district<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to watch some very good girls basketball, you need to go no further than Van Wert High School this Thursday night and again on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougar\u2019s Den will host the Division VI district semifinals that night and the district championship game on Saturday. The four teams there \u2013 Crestview, Allen East, Wayne Trace and Columbus Grove \u2013 have a combined record of 79-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview and Allen East will play the first game at 6 p.m. Thursday. They met in the regular season and the Lady Knights won 69-65 in two overtimes. Wayne Trace is riding an 11-game winning streak and Columbus Grove is outscoring opponents by an average of 60-31 per game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whichever team advances to the regional will truly have earned it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been quite a basketball season at Crestview. The Knights finished the regular season 18-4, while the Lady Knights are currently 21-3. Not many schools around northwest Ohio, or the state for that matter can boast a combined record of 39-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two powerhouses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing is for certain on the boys\u2019 side in Division V \u2013 at least one of two defending state champions will not repeat as such next month. In fact, at least one of them won\u2019t make it to the state semifinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Two time defending Division III state champion Lutheran East and three-time defending Division IV state champion Richmond Heights are both in Division V this year. Assuming that things go as they should, the two teams will meet in the regional finals in Canton. Someone is going home without another state appearance. Of course, it\u2019s possible that either or both could be upset before the regional finals, but I think I have better odds of winning the Mega Millions and the Powerball before that happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, Richmond Heights is trying to become the first team to win four straight state championships. Lutheran East, which features T.J. Crumble, a former Richmond Heights player, doesn\u2019t have a single senior on the team. Anyway, mark 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8, on  your calendar. That\u2019s when the two teams should meet for the regional title at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myles Garrett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Cleveland Browns fan, I don\u2019t know whether to laugh or be upset about this whole Myles Garrett situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The All-Pro defensive end has requested a trade out of Cleveland. He went on a media tour to plead his case and has said he wants to be traded only to a Super Bowl contender. He doesn\u2019t want to wind up with the Titans, Raiders, Giants, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myles \u2013 may I call you Myles? Here\u2019s the thing \u2013 you\u2019re under contract with Cleveland for two more seasons. The team has no obligation to trade you and even less obligation to trade you to a contender. You literally have zero leverage here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll sit out if not traded? Ok. That\u2019s not smart, since you\u2019ll be waiting a prime portion of your career and you won\u2019t be getting paid. By the way, fans are starting to turn on you. Those would be the same fans who defended you during and after the whole helmet to the head of Mason Rudolph incident, the same fans who took your since when you flipped your Porsche going about double the speed limit, the same fans that say \u2018oh that\u2019s just Myles\u2019 when you repeatedly jump offside on third and six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, you have no leverage and the team\u2019s only obligation, should you actually be traded, is to get maximum value for you. The best advice \u2013 fix this and get ready to play in Cleveland this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers around boys and girls tournament basketball, Crestview hoops, a pair of powerhouses and Myles Garrett. Here we go Boys sectional tournaments tip off tonight and the Van Wert Cougars will start things off by hosting Kenton in the Division IV semifinals. Best of luck to […]<\/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-189750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 16:15:34","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\/189750","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=189750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189751,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189750\/revisions\/189751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}