New Divisions 'official'

Salad76

Well-known member
Of course there will be some adjustments and regions still need to be determined.... but here they are:

 
 
Bay's move to D4 was one of the first things I noticed.

There's some powerful schools that went from D1 to D3 as well, like US, Twinsburg and deSales.
Bay has probably the clearest path of anyone. Historically they have been a cut above anyone else in north in D4. It's now or never for them.

Wyoming also dropped to D4 which is interesting.

The recent D2 powers like Howland, Tipp, Shawnee and some others are looking at this wondering what they did wrong to deserve this D3.

At first glance D2 might come down to St Charles, New Albany, Walsh and Hudson?
 
Andrews Osborne graduates 4. Don't know if all the other international players will return, but they should be a tough opponent in Div. 4 in the NE.
 
At first glance D2 might come down to St Charles, New Albany, Walsh and Hudson?
Glancing through the D2 list, I would tend to agree, not knowing the makeup of all their teams. I would put Walsh as an early favorite this year - they're bringing back nearly their whole starting lineup with most of their key players being juniors this year and they were strong last year, even in D1.
 
Andrews Osborne graduates 4. Don't know if all the other international players will return, but they should be a tough opponent in Div. 4 in the NE.
Based on the AOA model from the past few years, their roster will be a complete overhaul of new international players (with a couple holdovers of local kids who will be down the bench). Look for them to struggle early in the season (as the players learn each other's names ;) ) and then build momentum in October and be back in the mix by playoff time.
 
Andrews Osborne graduates 4. Don't know if all the other international players will return, but they should be a tough opponent in Div. 4 in the NE.
Sign me up for the possible Bay v Andrews Osborne game. That's a D1/D2 game in D4.

That also must clear the way for some D5s to make further runs.
 
D1 - NE 3 regional bids, NW 1 regional bid (central and SW have 6 each).
NE -> St. Ignatius is the favorite in the north and also statewide, as they return essentially everyone from a team that won the state title, despite being their weakest team in a long time. Medina and Brunswick are well positioned to take the other two regional spots. Massillon Jackson and Strongsville would be candidates to play spoiler
NW -> there are only three schools in D1 ... Perrysburg, Findlay, and Whitmer ... given that, let's just put Perrysburg in the sweet 16

D2 - NE 7 bids, NW 1 (central 5 and SW 3)
NW -> Toledo Start, Anthony Wayne, Sylvania Northview, Toledo St. John's, and Toledo St. Francis are the lone schools. The latter four schools will be battling for the spot, and it should be well-contested
NE -> Hoover, Hudson, and Walsh Jesuit are going to be the class of the area with the other four spots likely to be tightly contested

D3 - NE 6 bids, (NW 3, central 2, east 1, southeast 1, SW 3) ... this is the bottom of the old D1 along with the top half-plus of the old D2
NE -> I think it's going to be a very open battle for regional spots in this new division. Maybe US, Revere, and Twinsburg as a top three ... though I think this division is going to have the least gap between the regional advancers and the district semifinalists.

D4 - NE 4 bids (NW 3, central 2, SW 3, east 2, southeast 2) ... this is the back about half of old D2 along with the top portion of old D3
NE -> Bay and Cardinal Mooney look to be the class of this division. If Andrews Osborne does well in the international market like they did last year, they'll be right there with Bay (and Mooney). Going to be an interesting division though, as the old D2 teams will be seeing this as an opportunity for regional advancement with the bigger enrollment schools not standing in their way.

D5 - NE 5 bids (NW 3, central 1, east 1, SE 2, SW 4)
From a statewide perspective, you also have Worthington Christian up in DIV along with AOA, plus four other members of the final OSSCA top 15 for the old D3 at the end of last year. With SCD dropping down, they become the instant clear favorites for the state title.
NE -> AOA is out of the division and Beachwood is out of the division (regional finalist the last two years in old D3). United (with Candrea returning), Warren JFK, and South Range might be the three best teams in the geography for the fall.
 
Unfortunate to see another state tournament get watered down like this. There simply aren’t enough good teams to justify this many divisions. Really cheats the kids out of having a fun tournament experience with lots of competition.
 
Unfortunate to see another state tournament get watered down like this. There simply aren’t enough good teams to justify this many divisions. Really cheats the kids out of having a fun tournament experience with lots of competition.
Or it enhances the tournament for kids playing against schools twice their size that they had no business playing.
 
Or it enhances the tournament for kids playing against schools twice their size that they had no business playing.
This for sure.

The only thing I would like to see now is a small school public division. Still nothing to curb the dominance of privates.
 
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