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2017-18 3A predictions

Easy to be confused with all the rumors and false info out there. The older Mims, Michael, transferred to Xavier his senior year. Techau transferred for his junior and senior years. But they actually never played together. Younger Mims, Matt, enrolled as a freshman at Xavier so he is not a transfer because he never attended Prairie High School. Burger came up through the Catholic school system, not a transfer. So the only two transfers that contributed are the older Mims and Techau. That story you refer to also talked about a kid from CPU (I think it was CPU, but could be wrong) who transferred but rarely saw the floor and didn't contribute much.


Ok, but still that means Mims was at a different school and came to Xavier to play basketball right? And he and Techau were the two stars last year, so the argument still stands (even stronger, I didn't realize it was the two best players).

But if we know there aren't any newbies coming in this year, it's irrelevant in this discussion. I just didn't know.

So then I would still bet on Xavier being the favorite and Mt. Pleasant being right behind them, just looking at last year and all the guys coming back. The rest of the state tournament field lost at ton, so I would guess teams like Glenwood, Heelan, Osky and Wahlert would fill in as the next few teams down.
 
I think there is a fair amount of that from public schools as well. The private schools (namely Xavier, Wahlert, Regina and Assumption) just get looked at more because they are in 3A. I don't think anyone would care as much if they were in 4A, but when there is so much transferring and open-enrolling within the big cities of Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City and Davenport, it's kind of hard to sit there and watch some of these teams beat up on the little 3A towns (or worse in Regina's case).

It would be nice if the state was harsher on these kinds of things, but the IAHSAA doesn't really seem to care as long as they get their money.
I think that is a fair point, the private schools in larger towns have smaller enrollment which puts them in 3A or lower and because they are in larger populated towns, the chances of a decent 4A athlete enrolling would be higher than the 3A schools located in smaller towns. Remember no one cared about Xavier basketball until 4 years ago when they started winning, but now they have found some success and the haters will come out hollering about recruiting.
 
Ok, but still that means Mims was at a different school and came to Xavier to play basketball right? And he and Techau were the two stars last year, so the argument still stands (even stronger, I didn't realize it was the two best players).

But if we know there aren't any newbies coming in this year, it's irrelevant in this discussion. I just didn't know.

So then I would still bet on Xavier being the favorite and Mt. Pleasant being right behind them, just looking at last year and all the guys coming back. The rest of the state tournament field lost at ton, so I would guess teams like Glenwood, Heelan, Osky and Wahlert would fill in as the next few teams down.
I think you are still a little confused since there are two Mims boys. You would have to ask them for sure but I think we can assume they both went to Xavier for basketball. The older one transferred in his senior year, Michael. Matt, the younger one, enrolled his freshman year. He never went to Prairie High School so he couldn't be a transfer. He enrolled as a freshman. There is a slight difference between transferring and enrolling but in this instance I think it is important to be able to distinguish between the two. So out of last years team, Techau was the only transfer.
I do agree that based on paper Xavier would be the favorites this year but it is a long season and teams always get better as the season goes on. It is great that all teams make it to the post season in basketball, makes the end of the season much more exciting.
 
I think that is a fair point, the private schools in larger towns have smaller enrollment which puts them in 3A or lower and because they are in larger populated towns, the chances of a decent 4A athlete enrolling would be higher than the 3A schools located in smaller towns. Remember no one cared about Xavier basketball until 4 years ago when they started winning, but now they have found some success and the haters will come out hollering about recruiting.

Agreed, nobody really pays attention until you start winning. I think Wahlert and Xavier moving down to 3A caught a lot of people's attention. Nobody would care if they were competing in 4A with the other big city schools.


Anyway, we should find out a bit tonight about Xavier and MP.
 
I saw Xavier pulled out the win on the road. Anyone down there to give us a report? Big game for Sartorius. Saw Mims had 12. Was he being double teamed? Looked like Xavier from the box score had some new guys step up and play well. I’m glad the season is finally under way.
 
As far as I know, Xavier doesn’t have any transfers. I know they still have Mims and Schulte in the back court, but everyone else will be guys seeing their first action at the varsity level. May be a learning curve for some guys.

Haven’t heard of any transfers at Wahlert or Assumption either, not sure where you get your information on that.

I know a lot of top teams lost their studs from last year, but there are a good number of teams that didn’t make state but were close that return a good number of guys, mainly Heelan and Glenwood. Did Glenwood get a recruit from Valley? Thought I saw someone mention that above. They could be scary good. Only a few days away from real games. Excited to see how the season plays out in all classes
Bishop Heelan returns top 6 players including all stater leading scorer and rebounder Hazekamp. Brice Reynolds 6"3 guard was injured late last year and kept Crusaders from state tourney averaged 12 pets a game and strong rebounder and defensive player. Jack Beaver is two year starter that can shoot the three. Brendan Roder is 6"6 post player that can shoot. Two good athletes off bench last year add defense and speed all-state baseball player Kasperbauer and all-state football player Schiltz. Like Xavier will not have spotless record due to heavy schedule but this team is locked and loaded.
Glenwood should be really good too with all their top players back and tough near misses in sub state games past 2 years. 3a is loaded this year.
 
I take XAVIER #1 until someone in 3-A takes them out..
Oskaloosa is a top 4 team as is Waverly and Glenwood. West Delaware should be here some place.
Can someone give me some insight on Glenwood and Heelan? Don't know much about the western Iowa teams, must have a lot of guys back if they are ranked that high coming off seasons that they didn't get to state.
Scroll down for insight on Heelan report
EIH's Top 10 for 2017- 18: I haven't put out a ranking for a couple of years, it seems. This is a list of which 3A teams I think will be the best in the state, although some won't be ranked because of difficult schedules and will have a bunch of losses, although it seems every team on the list has beefed up their schedule the last few years. .

1. Mt. Pleasant. I think this is their year. A solid team with desire.
2. CR Xavier- Several really good players. If they finish over .500 in the MVC, watch out.
3. S.C. Heelan- Lots of players back. They've been quiet for a few years. Not this year.
4. Oskaloosa- a lot of people pulling for this team with HEIGHT.
5. Dub. Wahlert- Talent in every upcoming class for about the next ten years.
6. Waverly-Shell Rock- Just a solid, well-coached perennial power.
7. Pella- Are they ever not good?
8. West Delaware- Tall, experienced and athletic.
9. Dav. Assumption- Veteran team that will take their lumps in the MAC; then watch out.
10. Norwalk- Good guards and a pretty tough DM-area schedule.
1. Xavier - until proven otherwise
2. Dub Wahlert
3. Osky
4. Mt. Pleasant
5. Bishop Heelan
6. Dav Assumption
7. Glenwood
8. WSR
9. Norwalk
10. Spirit Lake
 
Osky Only beat Fairfield by 12 earlier this week ...Mt Pleasant destroyed Fairfield last night 73-44 behind another 30 pt game from Sartorius. Report I heard was that Osky has no outside shooters and Fairfield just packed it in a 2-3 zone. That could be there downfall again this year.
 
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Saw some tweets from the CR gazette today that said Xavier dominated Waverly. It was something like 24-3 at half and Waverly didn’t have a field goal. Losinf Phyfe and the other guard to graduation seems to be taking its toll. 30 points for Mims as he outscored the whole Waverly team on his own.

Re: Osky, didn’t MP destroy them last year doing the same thing? They gotta figure out how to get their guards to get the ball inside. You can’t teach 6’11 and 6’9
 
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Well Fatwall, this is an athletics board so I mentioned athletics... I didn't spread false information. Reduced tuition and tuition assistance are ways for Catholic schools to "recruit". Other students in the school are paying full amounts, so even if you want to word it differently those students are receiving scholarships of a sort. That is what was meant by scholarships for Assumption. They don't hand them out like some sort of trophy where everything is free, but they will use the "academic" advantages and "reduced" tuition as a means to draw them in. I went to a private school and received reduced tuition costs, so I know the process. Waterloo used to have it at the private schools also. Columbus isn't doing it much anymore. Waterloo Christian(Walnut Ridge) is just trying to get students. NU High closed in Cedar Falls. Don Bosco is the only school in the area that has good athletics for private schools. They did have a Waterloo East player transfer in who will be eligible after Christmas for basketball, but I think that was his choice. They may have given tuition reduction or may not have. Either way tuition reduction is a form of recruitment/scholarships.

What I am gathering is the Mims and Techau kids were not in the Catholic school system prior to transferring in to Xavier, so the Younger Mims is also a transfer. Whether that was for schooling reasons or basketball reasons isn't my knowledge, but going from Prairie to Xavier isn't a choice a kid makes for friends reasons in Cedar Rapids and since Prairie is pretty good academically it is hard to justify that it was for a better school environment.

If kids were transferring from Wash or Jeff to Xavier I could understand the academics reasoning, otherwise it is only a slight academic advantage to go to Xavier. I would attribute that to the wealth of the school and students being in better family environments that majority of public school students, so they may not gain any academic advantage other than being around more educationally developed students.
 
I get so sick of the posts like the one above. Most transfers in Iowa are 95-5% into the public schools. Nobody talks about all the kids who transfer at various levels into the public schools. Two sure-fire starters for the public schools (young Duax and young Link) transfered away from the Wahlert system this year alone (perfectly acceptable), and the Wahlert varsity has no transfers on their varsity basketball team. All their greatest players, whether it is Pemsl, May, Kunnert, etc. are all local Dubuque kids who went through the Catholic schools. Over the years they have had the least transfers into their system than either of the local public schools, where many kids come in from Chicago area or live with families. Nobody mentions a thing when three Wahlert football players transfered to Hempstead a few years back. If one Hempstead player transfers to Wahlert it's all over the news. Two of Senior's Hall of Fame basketball players were transfers from Wahlert- Blum and Melloy. I remember when City High won the 4A state championship a few years ago with four of the five starters being transfers. What about Iowa City West? Any basketball player in the city worth his salt ends up at West. They just happen to live nearby? Transfers are about the player and his parents choosing where they want to go. I don't know of any local coach in my area who recruits. They are all very fine men. But, they sure as heck aren't going to turn a family away if they want their son to come play for a particular school and will pay their own way.
 
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Well Fatwall, this is an athletics board so I mentioned athletics... I didn't spread false information. Reduced tuition and tuition assistance are ways for Catholic schools to "recruit". Other students in the school are paying full amounts, so even if you want to word it differently those students are receiving scholarships of a sort. That is what was meant by scholarships for Assumption. They don't hand them out like some sort of trophy where everything is free, but they will use the "academic" advantages and "reduced" tuition as a means to draw them in. I went to a private school and received reduced tuition costs, so I know the process. Waterloo used to have it at the private schools also. Columbus isn't doing it much anymore. Waterloo Christian(Walnut Ridge) is just trying to get students. NU High closed in Cedar Falls. Don Bosco is the only school in the area that has good athletics for private schools. They did have a Waterloo East player transfer in who will be eligible after Christmas for basketball, but I think that was his choice. They may have given tuition reduction or may not have. Either way tuition reduction is a form of recruitment/scholarships.

What I am gathering is the Mims and Techau kids were not in the Catholic school system prior to transferring in to Xavier, so the Younger Mims is also a transfer. Whether that was for schooling reasons or basketball reasons isn't my knowledge, but going from Prairie to Xavier isn't a choice a kid makes for friends reasons in Cedar Rapids and since Prairie is pretty good academically it is hard to justify that it was for a better school environment.

If kids were transferring from Wash or Jeff to Xavier I could understand the academics reasoning, otherwise it is only a slight academic advantage to go to Xavier. I would attribute that to the wealth of the school and students being in better family environments that majority of public school students, so they may not gain any academic advantage other than being around more educationally developed students.

Max, it was pertinent for me to mention all students when it comes to private schools because private schools need to somewhat 'recruit' all students to attend, without the students, there is no school. Perhaps I misread your statement but to state private schools only 'recruit' athletes is a false statement. Again, reduced tuition is available to ALL students, not just athletes, so again, to make a blanket statement saying private schools give tuition assistance to athletes may be correct, it is misleading because that type of assistance is available to all players. I too attended a private school and I remember a transfer coming in, I was a freshmen, and I believe the transfer was a junior baseball player. He was supposed to lead us to the promised land, they were receiving tuition assistance with the stipulation he volunteered at his church. He failed in volunteering so they church stopped with the tuition assistance and therefore his family could not afford tuition so he transferred back to his original public school. We cannot say private schools offer tuition assistance to only athletes because that is false, also many times tuition assistance requires some sort of volunteer hours on the recipient's part. Only two, Dowling and Assumption are schools that I have heard repeatedly recruit kids for athletics and I have heard this from graduates from these respective schools. We can't generalize all private schools regarding this topic because of a few schools doing it.
Finally, Techau and the older Mims were transfers into Xavier. The younger Mims is not. In order to be a transfer, one must first enroll in one high school and attend it, and then enroll in another high school. The younger Mims never enrolled at Prairie, therefore he can't be a transfer. By your logic, every freshmen who enrolls as a freshman in high school is a transfer and that is silly. His decision probably had to do with basketball, there was an article in the CR Gazette the other day about how him and Jackson Joens are best buds and they wanted to play ball together. So Mims enrolls in a quality high school with an up and coming basketball program, seems like a win win situation to me. This debate has been going on long before I joined this site and it will continue long after I get bored with this site, but it is unfair to label a kid a transfer when he is not and it is unfair to broadly label all private schools only 'recruiting' athletes because that is false as well. Hope this clears up any confusion.
 
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As someone who is highly involved in high school athletics one of the areas that you are all forgetting is that most of these private schools are located in large metropolitan areas who can draw from a large pool of kids ....and then they are playing in classes where the schools are from rural communities and don’t have the large pool to choose from. That is where the real advantage for the private school is.....

Is there an answer that fits all of this?...I’m not so sure..the only solution would be to make all the private schools play in the largest class or add a multiplier like other states but I’m not sure those are solutions either.
 
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Agree with Bulldog's very good post that that is the situation, not alleged recruiting, etc. The private schools cast a bigger net regarding enrollment, and their participation numbers tend to be larger. Last year at Dubuque's Mazzuchelli Middle School 52 boys were on the four eighth grade basketball teams, even though when they graduated, the best players went to all three Dubuque high schools. That's a lot of basketball players graduating from one school. And the three other local middle schools are all much larger, with similarly large numbers of basketball players. And regarding transfers, in the 400+ schools in Iowa each year there must be a couple thousand transfers, eighth grade through 12th- a very small percentage of whom are athletes.
 
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Fatwall and EastIowaHawk

I mentioned very specific examples of public schools "recruiting" kids to come play, so don't just ignore that in my original post. I know of several kids who were in the Catholic school system and went to public high schools rather than Assumption. They didn't necessarily got for sports or extracurriculars. The parents simply decided they didn't want to pay for private schools tuition after middle school.

As I MENTIONED in regards to the Mims kids is that I don't know the situation, but anytime good athletes from public schools transfer into private schools that will arise. Young Mims being in public school his whole life until high school is a transfer. Just like the kids I alluded to that went from private school and then went to a public high school.

Private schools recruit just as public, but in general you don't see a lot of good private school players transferring to public schools.

Every Quad City area school is recruiting kids to play certain sports except possibly West. They recruit the Illinois side, because it is much easier to make it to State and be noticed in Iowa than it is in Illinois. I can tell you that Assumption won the Baseball Title last season with at least 2 Alleman(Catholic School in Rock Island) kids, who were huge pieces to the team, who went to Assumption when they started high school.

I can also tell you North Scott winning the State Title was with Marlon Stewart and the Seales brothers they were not North Scott kids originally either. Bailey Basala from last year was a Moline kid also.
 
As someone who is highly involved in high school athletics one of the areas that you are all forgetting is that most of these private schools are located in large metropolitan areas who can draw from a large pool of kids ....and then they are playing in classes where the schools are from rural communities and don’t have the large pool to choose from. That is where the real advantage for the private school is.....

Is there an answer that fits all of this?...I’m not so sure..the only solution would be to make all the private schools play in the largest class or add a multiplier like other states but I’m not sure those are solutions either.
Making private schools play in the largest class would not be a solution as many of them are 1-A or 2-A.

As a private school parent I'm open to the multiplier but it doesn't necessarily solve the problem. In Illinois it just resulted in private schools dominating 5A and 6A when previously 6A was dominated by public schools.

The key thing to remember is that as this article says, it's really just a few private schools that dominate in sports, and usually it's just in one or two sports, not every sport. So any proposed solution should not punish the rest of the 60 private schools in Iowa who are either up and down in athletics or generally not dominating (perhaps even barely competitive).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcoo...ol-battle-in-high-school-sports/#4fba5f58705b

http://www.dailyiowegian.com/sports...cle_29b47fbe-7878-11e7-8d69-ff24c32ddb11.html

http://highschoolsports.cleveland.c...nal-fight-between-public-and-private-schools/
 
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As far as private schools "recruiting," note the following from an academic journal article that examined and researched this issue:

Epstein (2008) noted that while recruiting is prohibited in nearly all state athletic associations, "there are still those who use recruiting as an explanation for the disproportionate number of state championships won by private schools and evaluate seemingly benign actions on the part of private schools as deliberate efforts to recruit athletes" (p. 17). While recruiting violations have occurred, many accusations are difficult to prove because they are not blatant violations, especially when attempting to discern between the athletic and academic motives of parents, students, administrators, and coaches. For example, the director of the Delaware Secondary School Athletic Association noted: "Coaches aren’t trying to induce kids to attend a particular school for athletic reasons; those kinds of things aren’t flagrant anymore... Most of it is by word of mouth among the players themselves. In a small state like Delaware, where say in basketball, the kids all play AAU basketball, go to summer camps and so on, those kids know who’s going to have a good team. As of two years ago, we have a statewide school choice program in effect, so a kid can now apply to a school because it has four returning starters and all they need is a point guard. That’s the kind of thing that happens now, and it’s very difficult to control." (Cohen, 1997, para.29)


http://www.jamsport.org/Johnsonetal2015 JAS PDF.pdf
 
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Regarding multipliers, from the same journal article:

The impact of the multiplier on delivering competitive balance, however, indicates limited success. For example, in 2002, a multiplier of 1.35 was ratified in Missouri because 33.2% of state champions and 26.9% of semifinalists were private schools despite only 20.3% of all schools designated as private. Three years after the multiplier was enacted, private schools still won 32.3% of championships and 29% of all semifinals (Epstein, 2008). In this case, "the numbers became even more disproportioned" (Epstein, 2008, p.13). In Tennessee, however, the multiplier has resulted in fewer private school championships (Epstein, 2008), but that might be due to the unique nature of the Tennessee classification system where there are only two divisions that are very different in size (e.g., six classes in Division 1 football vs. two classes in Division 2 football). Thus, the multiplier alone may not be the answer to competitive balance unless it is strategically intertwined with a classification system that allows for the most equitable impact on private schools. For states that believe in multipliers, it appears to be an ongoing battle to find the appropriate number that results in competitive balance. Or, as expressed by James (2013), is a multiplier a copout for good performance? James asks; “Is it possible that success begets success, and that the key challenge in athletics is to build a tradition of success rather than legislating success through a gerrymandered multiplier?” (p. 429).


In addition to the difficulty associated with pinpointing the correct number to ensure competitive balance, a multiplier appears to be a blunt instrument that impacts many private schools that are not athletically successful (James, 2013). This means that a private school with little athletic success would still be subjected to the multiplier, and perhaps be moved to a higher and more competitive class where it would be "legislated into David and Goliath matches it never wanted to play" (Epstein, 2008, p. 8). These issues, in turn, open up state associations to legal action by private schools like the one seen in Illinois where a multiplier of 1.65 was used. Among the issues in the De La Salle v. Illinois High School Association (2005) case were private schools’ right to participate in and host state tournaments, loss of students' educational and personal development associated with participation in interscholastic athletics, equal treatment in general, and loss of potential benefits that accrue from a successful showing in the state tournament. As a result of a settlement agreement, Illinois waived the multiplier for private schools who have not met certain success criteria. Epstein (2008) noted the legal challenges awaiting implementation of multipliers: "As more and more states consider multipliers, the chances of constitutional challenges to the multiplier down the road increase. It is not clear that the most frequently articulated goal of multiplier supporters, to create a system where state high school athletic wins and championships are in proportion to the percentage of students attending public and private schools, is even a legally laudable one." (p. 21)


http://www.jamsport.org/Johnsonetal2015 JAS PDF.pdf
 
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Here is the beef I have with the private/recruiting public/transfer debate.

If an individual open enrolls/transfers from one public to another public, there isn't much of a financial impact to that individual or their family. I'm ignoring the financial impact to the public schools themselves which isn't important for my point.

However, when an individual switches from a public to a private and receives reduced or free tuition (or scholarship - whatever you want to call it), then that bill is getting footed somehow through either fund raising, increased tuition for normal payers, etc. That individual and family is receiving a financial benefit. That benefit is not available to public school transfers, and that benefit likely negatively impacts other families that are paying full tuition to those schools.

Where this seems dubious is, when it's clear there are high-level athletes that somehow make it into a private school and its designated sports team, when there doesn't appear to be a financial means for them to afford it.
 
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Making private schools play in the largest class would not be a solution as many of them are 1-A or 2-A.

As a private school parent I'm open to the multiplier but it doesn't necessarily solve the problem. In Illinois it just resulted in private schools dominating 5A and 6A when previously 6A was dominated by public schools.

The key thing to remember is that as this article says, it's really just a few private schools that dominate in sports, and usually it's just in one or two sports, not every sport. So any proposed solution should not punish the rest of the 60 private schools in Iowa who are either up and down in athletics or generally not dominating (perhaps even barely competitive).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcoo...ol-battle-in-high-school-sports/#4fba5f58705b

http://www.dailyiowegian.com/sports...cle_29b47fbe-7878-11e7-8d69-ff24c32ddb11.html

http://highschoolsports.cleveland.c...nal-fight-between-public-and-private-schools/

I can see the argument the multiplier may not work in all cases because some privates are better in one sport and not another. That doesn't necessarily mean a multiplier can't/wouldn't work.

A possible work around could be to look at rankings using one sport at a time. As a possible example, use the last regular season ranking in their normal class for basketball. If a private is in the top 10 of that class, the multiplier is used and they may be moved up a class for the playoffs.

Xavier as an example, if they are in the top 10 in the last 3A rankings of the regular season for basketball, they could be multiplied up into 4A for the playoffs. It wouldn't impact how good/bad they were for football, wrestling, baseball, etc.
 
I can see the argument the multiplier may not work in all cases because some privates are better in one sport and not another. That doesn't necessarily mean a multiplier can't/wouldn't work.

A possible work around could be to look at rankings using one sport at a time. As a possible example, use the last regular season ranking in their normal class for basketball. If a private is in the top 10 of that class, the multiplier is used and they may be moved up a class for the playoffs.

Xavier as an example, if they are in the top 10 in the last 3A rankings of the regular season for basketball, they could be multiplied up into 4A for the playoffs. It wouldn't impact how good/bad they were for football, wrestling, baseball, etc.
I don't have a problem with that, although again according to these articles I'm not sure it would solve the problem.
 
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I find it funny that the "small town" schools are claiming that nobody ever "transfers in" or "moves in" to their communities to for sports. There are several cases of this happening at the 3-A Level over the years. Matt Uthoff left Independence before his senior season to team up with a very talented West Delaware team that lost in the state finals. Uthoff is now the head coach at West Delaware. Faith Pope left Ottumwa to play for a more talented Mt Pleasant team in 2012-2013. Austin Ash was a CR Jefferson kid that decided to play at Mt Vernon. He is now a walk-on at Iowa. Madison Weekly was a CR Jefferson kid that decided to play at Benton Community and went on to become one of the best womens players in UNI history. Solon was the beneficiary of Ben Weeks leaving Highland and coming to team up with Matt Morrison to win a state title. Then a year after that Ben Bergman left Mt Vernon to play for another very good Solon team.
I dont know all of the details behind all of these moves but in the end i think most of these kids made these moves because they wanted a better chance to compete for state titles.
So go ahead and keep chirping and making excuses about the big bad private schools in the big cities but it happens everywhere!
 
Saw a special on the dynamic duo of Xavier Foster and Cole Henry...these kids are legit, both skilled and athletic. The story said they might be the best duo in Iowa HS basketball since Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott!! Osky looks like they would win games in the CIML with that kind of frontline talent and a solid supporting cast. After the first third of the season, I have Heelan and Osky both way ahead of the rest of 3A. They have balance and star power on their teams that the other teams in 3A seem to lack. Looking forward to seeing things play out over the next two months. Thoughts?
 
Saw a special on the dynamic duo of Xavier Foster and Cole Henry...these kids are legit, both skilled and athletic. The story said they might be the best duo in Iowa HS basketball since Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott!! Osky looks like they would win games in the CIML with that kind of frontline talent and a solid supporting cast. After the first third of the season, I have Heelan and Osky both way ahead of the rest of 3A. They have balance and star power on their teams that the other teams in 3A seem to lack. Looking forward to seeing things play out over the next two months. Thoughts?


Not sure anyone can make much of an argument at this point. Excited to see how their game against Norwalk tomorrow plays out. Osky guards are average at best, which is why they got thrashed by Mt. Pleasant in substate last year. Vaske and Bourne may give them fits tomorrow. If Osky doesn't get to the final this year I have them as definitive #1 next year and would bet my salary that they win it all next year.

But as far as this year, don't rule out Mt. Pleasant or Xavier. Both are led by talented guards in Sartorius and Mims and they play a stronger schedule. MP upped their schedule with several 4A schools to be battle tested by tournament time. Here's my final 8 for State:

Heelan, Osky, Mt. Pleasant, Xavier, Harlan, Spirit Lake, Glenwood, Dub Wahlert

Some of this will depend on how the state separates the districts....
 
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I went to the Iowa city west shootout today… Mount Pleasant beat Iowa city west by 1 who had their full squad...Sartorius took McCaffrey to the hole to win it at the buzzer… They also beat Johnston by 10...And beat Dowling with Sam ingoli and John Wagner and their full squad…Sartorius put 20 on them... Their coach told me they went undefeated this summer...So you may say summer is unimportant but yet they just beat 3 4A schools who had their full squads and finished undefeated for the summer...they will be a force in 3A IMO
Turns out summer was unimportant... I say that as Davenport North beat Dubuque Senior by 2 and lost by 2 to IC West and lost to Waukee by 2 in the summer without the full squad while those teams all had full squads. 2 of those 3 made state and if not for North Scott having a good shooting night and Dubuque Senior an off night that would be 3 for 3.
 
I like both Wahlert and Assumption over Xavier this year of the catholic schools on the eastern side of the state...have a feeling one of these two will be back in Des Moines for the tournament this year. Both return solid pieces, especially Wahlert with their depth. Peters is a budding star for Assumption and with Fitzpatrick running things in the backcourt they will be tough. Xavier doesn't have much beyond Mims and Joens
Mims... That is all they needed. lol
 
Turns out summer was unimportant... I say that as Davenport North beat Dubuque Senior by 2 and lost by 2 to IC West and lost to Waukee by 2 in the summer without the full squad while those teams all had full squads. 2 of those 3 made state and if not for North Scott having a good shooting night and Dubuque Senior an off night that would be 3 for 3.
How do you figure?...MP made it to state and had they not had a starter tear a knee in the 2nd qtr they would have been in the final four?...beat a Good Lin Mar team and were ranked top 5 all year...and it also show that IC West was not as powerful as everyone stated.. pretty much spot on from my point ...I never said they would win it all...too many things have to jell for that to happen...and avoid injuries!
 
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