Intro to Bracketology 103: D-III

<p>Throw all the regular season records out the window, the playoffs are finally here in Ohio! And Prep Hoops has you covered as we preview all of the upcoming action. So how will the Cincinnati area brackets shape up? Who is on upset alert and who has the easiest path to the Regionals? We answer those questions and more as we go over each bracket thoroughly in Intro to Bracketology 101: Division III.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Dayton I (Western Brown H.S.)</u></strong></p> <p>This bracket features the Reading Blue Devils as the highest seeded team coming in as the #3 seed. They must be careful in their first game of the post season as they await the winner of Clermont Northeastern (10)/Cincinnati Country Day (11). Especially against a program like CNE who has that one type of player who can completely take over a game in <strong>F Skylar Schmidt (2021 PHO #27). </strong>Schmidt had four 20 point, 20 rebound games during the regular season and another game of 30 and 20 and Reading has problems against bigger squads.</p> <p>Reading will face the winner of Georgetown (5) and North College Hill (7) in the sectional finals, and this could be a chance for revenge for the Blue Devils. NCH knocked off Reading back in January and have the talent and coaching to make out of this bracket. As matter of fact, I am predicting that they will.</p> <p><strong>Sectional Prediction: NCH over Reading</strong></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong><u>Dayton II (Princeton)</u></strong></p> <p>Deer Park begins there D-III title defense as the 4^th seed, which gets them a 1^st round bye while they await the winner of Williamsburg (12) and Fayetteville-Perry (14). No matter the winner of that contest, expect the Wildcats to advance to the sectional finals were things get a little tougher. Awaiting Coach Gentry’s team will be the winner of Bethel Tate (17)/Seven Hills (8). Seven Hills has two outstanding talents in <strong>G Brice Hill (2019 PHO #70) and F Curtis Harrison (2020 PHO #30)</strong> both who whom can take over game. In a game against Deer Park, it will be who gets the most from the glue guys. In that case, I give the edge to Deer Park.</p> <p><strong>Sectional Prediction: Deer Park over Seven Hills</strong></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong><u>Dayton III (Western Brown)</u></strong></p> <p>CHCA, the overall #2 seed, has an easy opening contest playing the winner of Mariemont (9) and St. Bernard (16). CHCA will then wait comfortably for the winner of a game that could be the best opening round contest of any division, any bracket. 6^th seeded Madeira and 8^th seeded Clark square off for a chance to move on the sectional final. I find it interesting that Clark drew an 8 seed despite besting CHCA for the conference title, but that’s neither here nor there. The Cougars trio of <strong>Sean Ealy (2020), D’Shawnti Hawkins (2019) and Marlin Lyons (2019) </strong>all seemed to take their play to the next level 2^nd half of the regular season. Look for that momentum to ride all the way to a sectional championship.</p> <p><strong>Sectional Prediction: Clark over CHCA</strong></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong><u>Dayton IV (Princeton)</u></strong></p> <p>I could go in-depth like I have with the other brackets about who will win, why they will win and what to expect. But for this bracket we are going to keep it short and simple. The top overall D-III seed Purcell is in the same bracket as the 13^th, 15^th, 18^th and 19^th overall seeds. And while games are not played on paper, we do not expect any hiccups on the Cavaliers way to the sectional title. None at all.</p> <p><strong>Sectional Prediction: Purcell over Finneytown</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>