District Previews: Southeastern Ohio
Prep Hoops is your spot for balanced coverage across all levels of basketball talent. Usually that principle applies to providing content on all levels of college prospects, high-major to D-III. But, it’s tournament time in Ohio and we’re going to pivot our fundamental goal towards teams, giving you brief district previews from Division I to Division IV.
The primary playoff storylines coming out of Southeastern Ohio’s will be the State Championship contenders at the Division II level. However, this part of the state is also home to arguably the deepest Division IV district in Ohio.
Division II
Athens 1 District
Fairland over Fairfield Union
While Fairland enters the postseason as the presumptive favorite to represent SE Ohio in the Division II State Tournament and therefore win this district, the other side of this bracket is interesting. A no. 2 versus no. 3 matchup between Fairfield Union and Gallia Academy will be a hard fought game. We sided with Fairfield Union because they’ve played a tougher schedule and are trending in the right direction.
Athens 2 District
Unioto over Sheridan
Experience matters in the playoffs, so we’ll take Unioto’s seniors over Sheridan’s junior-laden starting lineup. Logan Swackhammer at the point guard position will give Unioto a real shot at reaching Columbus this season.
East 1 District
John Glenn over Indian Valley
Although Indian Valley looked like the team to beat a couple weeks ago, back-to-back losses recently have exposed vulnerabilities that John Glenn should exploit.
East 2 District
Zanesville over Meadowbrook
Zanesville is not only more battle tested than Meadowbrook, they also beat them on Jan. 5 and have a 6’7” freak athlete in Cameron Brooks-Harris.
Division III
East District
Sandy Valley over Union Local
Athens 1 District
Wheelersburg over Piketon
Athens 2 District
Oak Hill over West Union
Division IV
East District
Hannibal River over Hiland
The East District is so loaded that River is the no. 3 seed. Why is that so ridiculous? River was ranked no. 3 in state in last week’s AP Poll. We’ll take them over no. 1 seeded Strasburg-Franklin in the semifinal. On the other side of the bracket, Hiland will have to deal with Mark Mayle and Malvern in the semifinal.
Athens 1 District
Dawson-Bryant over Southern
Athens 2 District
Trimble over Peebles