D3 State Tournament Hypothetical Ending

While D1 and D2 were relatively easy to decide who would advance in a hypothetical tournament, D3 has proven to be the hardest thus far. A case could be made for any of the 8 remaining teams to see themselves playing in Columbus if the tournament had happened. Would strong regular seasons help teams like Warrensville Heights and Stivers? Would Harvest Prep be able to repeat as state champs with their start senior? Would a team like Evergreen or Fairland have enough talent to hang with the more put together teams form across the state? Take a look below as we take a look at D3 and provide our hypothetical tournament ending.   Region 12 Deer Park vs. Stivers   The Wildcats from Deer Park breezed through the District tournament before getting a scare in the Regional Semifinals 57-56 in OT against CHCA. Stivers has had arguably the best two game winning streak in the state at they’ve beaten both Cincinnati Taft and Anna to advance to this Regional Final game. For Deer Park, they are paced in the backcourt by Steve Gentry Jr. (2020) and Tre Munson (2021) but also have a rim protector in the back with [player_tooltip player_id="918999" first="Ani" last="Elliot"]t (2021). When you look at Stivers, they are loaded with guards with seniors [player_tooltip player_id="917451" first="Trevon" last="Ellis"] and Da’Juan Allen and junior [player_tooltip player_id="918997" first="Allen" last="Lattimore"]. While Stivers is a scrappy group all together, they get a team in Deer Park that is similar in style of play and overall athleticism. Stivers will see their Cinderella season run and Deer Park punches their ticket back to Columbus.   Region 9 Warrensville Heights vs. Waterloo   Warrensville Heights advanced with a win against Norwayne 57-50. Waterloo advanced with a 72-47 win against LaBrae. These two teams have different looks due to their records. Waterloo comes in at 24-2 while Warrensville Heights is sitting at 15-12. The Tigers have played a brutal schedule going up against D2 programs which has prepared them for this postseason run. They are led in the backcourt by Omahn Dobbins (2020) and [player_tooltip player_id="918982" first="Ramelle" last="Arnold"] (2021) and bring athleticism to the floor. Waterloo also has a nice upperclassmen backcourt led by Kyle Shockley (2021) and Caleb Francis (2020). The difference in this one will be Warrensville’s size and experience from getting beat up during the year. They will outlast this tough Waterloo group.   Region 11 Harvest Prep vs. Fairland   Harvest Prep beat Zane Trace 58-46 to advance to the Regional Final while Fairland advanced 68-58 with a win against Ridgewood. Harvest Prep has one of the best players in the state in [player_tooltip player_id="800834" first="CJ" last="Anthony"] (2020) who has willed this Warriors team to this point in the season. Of Harvest Prep’s 3 losses, 2 have been out of state and the 1 in state was on January 18th to a D1 team. Fairland comes in with a strong group pacing them in sophomore guard Aiden Porter and juniors Clayton Thomas and Jacob Polcyn. The Dragons will likely bring a similar style of play that Zane Trace played with, however they will not be as prepared for facing a guy like Anthony. This would be a back and forth game with Harvest Prep ultimately finding a way to head back to OSU.   Region 10 Evergreen vs. Ottawa-Glandorf   Evergreen advanced with a 64-54 win against Johnstown-Monroe. Ottawa-Glandorf demolished Colonel Crawford 66-34 to advance as well. Both teams come in with one loss on the year and with different strengths. Evergreen has the senior duo of [player_tooltip player_id="917438" first="Mason" last="Loeffler"] and [player_tooltip player_id="801805" first="Nate" last="Brighton"], meanwhile O-G has the better frontcourt paced by [player_tooltip player_id="711978" first="Ben" last="Westrick"] (2020). Both teams would be quite good, but Ottawa-Glandorf has been so successful this postseason and would use their size to outrebound the Vikings and ultimately take them out of the picture. Titans advance into the State Final Four.   State Semifinals Deer Park vs. Warrensville Heights   This would be quite a back and forth game with both teams having very good guard play. The Wildcats would utilize their multiple guards and their interior threat in Elliott. Warrensville would attack mostly with Dobbins and Arnold. In the end though, Deer Park would have the advantage on the glass and advance to the State Finals.   Harvest Prep vs. Ottawa-Glandorf   This matchup would pit a Harvest Prep team with their senior star in Anthony against an Ottawa-Glandorf team playing some very good basketball. The concern in this one would be the size disadvantage the Warriors would have. O-G runs 3 guy 6’5 or taller while Harvest Prep’s tallest player comes in at 6’4. The Titans would focus their defensive schemes on strong hedges against Anthony and not allow him any open shots. This would ultimately pay off at Ottawa-Glandorf would advance to the State Final, ending [player_tooltip player_id="800834" first="CJ" last="Anthony"]’s high school career.   State Final Deer Park vs. Ottawa-Glandorf   In an expected D3 Final, Deer Park and their athleticism would go up against the interior force that is Ottawa-Glandorf. If [player_tooltip player_id="917423" first="Mark" last="Wise"] (2020) was able to play, this would be an obvious pick in Deer Park’s favor. Without him however, they lack the physical guard on the perimeter that could match the Titans size advantage. Deer Park has struggled against slower paced teams, but Ottawa-Glandorf has shown they can hang with more up-tempo teams (including Lima Senior who they defeated in the regular season). In what some would say is an upset, Ottawa-Glandorf would win a state title 62-56 against Deer Park.