Dayton Top 5 D2
Photo Credit: Todd Acker
Back in March, I did a way too early Top 10 ranking. With the summer leagues and team camps ending, it’s time to show the updated rankings. These rankings take into account several factors. These factors include: Any coaching changes, divisional changes, transfers, summer league results, and individual player improvement.
- Trotwood-Madison– It’s no surprise the Rams are the top team in our rankings. Returning starters Amari Davis (2019) and Myles Belyeu (2018) have had very strong summers. Davis picked up his first offer from Cleveland State University in June while Belyeu has attracted more interest from schools with his improvements from the offseason so far. Justin Stephens (2019) has also been working hard and gives the Rams a Big 3 to help lead them back to Columbus come March.
- Dunbar– The Wolverines always have success, even when they lose pieces from a successful team last year. Caleb McConnell (2018) had a great AAU season and received offers from several schools while DeVon Baker (2018) increased his stock with strong performances with C2K Elite AAU. One of the biggest issues Dunbar will face is having a few more guys step up to help McConnell and Baker with scoring and leadership.
- Urbana– The Hillclimbers have climbed their way to #3 after sitting at #4 in March. The main reason is with Franklin leaving for D1, allowed Urbana to slide on up. Levi Boettcher (2018) has been putting in a lot of work for Advanced Game and has shown great improvement. With Jace Underwood (2018) also returning, Urbana is ready to challenge for the top spot in the CBC.
- Bellefontaine– A new team to D2, the Chieftans were ranked #9 in March in the D1 rankings. This move to D2 is extremely helpful for them. With Jack Clement (2019) returning and putting in work to improve, Bellefontaine truly is a contender and has a great opportunity to make a run come March. Clement along with Spencer George (2018) will try and prove they are the best duo in the CBC come November.
- Alter– You may be wondering how a team that lost 6 of their 8 core guys is ranked 5th in our rankings. I thought the same thing as the Knights were an afterthought back in March. Alter however showed us they still are competitive. Tying for 1st in Fairmont’s summer league in June, the Knights had a strong summer, and Connor Bazelak (2019) had the biggest news. Connor received an offer for the University of Kentucky for football during the offseason and still has lots of interest from other schools as well. His basketball skills are still pretty good as well.
2 other teams to watch
Chaminade-Julienne, Carroll