5 Bold Predictions: Central Buckeye Conference

<p>The Central Buckeye Conference had quite a nice run a year ago with Shawnee making the Elite 8 in Division III and Jonathan Alder completed an undefeated regular season. The upcoming season looks to be just as exciting. Take a look at my predictions for the 2021-22 season.</p> <p>1-<strong>Shawnee is bound for another deep run and win the Kenton Trail.</strong></p> <p>The Braves were the most consistent team in the CBC last year in regards to the Dayton area teams competing. This was due to their defensive tenacity and overall talent on the roster. This year they return arguably the top player in junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1201838" first="Zion" last="Crowe"]</strong> along with fellow junior <strong>RJ Griffin</strong> and senior guard <strong>Patrick Fultz</strong>. There is few players in the conference capable of defending Crowe and his 6-foot-4 frame. The Braves should have enough there to not only win the Kenton Trail title, but another Regional run is likely.</p> <p>2- <strong>Indian Lake will struggle to repeat their run.</strong></p> <p>Last year was such a unique year in Division III with so many teams capable of making runs in the Sectional tournament. Indian Lake did just this making a run all the way to the District Finals before falling by 7 to Cincinnati Taft. Gone from that team is Zander Barnes, who was such a leader on the offensive end and hit the shot to beat Brookville during the tournament. Seniors <strong>Caleb Wurster</strong> and <strong>Luke Jackson</strong> both return and now they have this experience they can use to guide them moving forward. But, Division III again could be a wide race come Sectionals. What will the Lakers have this year that separates them from the rest of the pack?</p> <p>3- <strong>Jonathan Alder will not win their division title</strong></p> <p>This was partially discussed above since I feel Shawnee is the favorite this year. But this is still hard to really say. Why? The Pioneers were in the District Finals a year ago and while they lose [player_tooltip player_id="805170" first="Jackson" last="Izzard"], they have two good players returning in seniors <strong>Joey Walker</strong> and <strong>Grant Welsch</strong>. There’s always been a winning culture at Alder as they’ve won the last two Kenton Trail titles and went a combined 18-1 within the conference during that time. Even with this though, I’m big on Crowe and what the Braves were able to do a year ago and feel they can continue into 2021-22 even with the winning tradition in Plain City.</p> <p>4- <strong>Mad River division is a wide open race after #1</strong></p> <p>North Union will be the favorite to win their third straight Mad River division title with 3 of their top 5 back from an undefeated CBC season a year ago. After North Union though, it’s hard to tell who comes in as runner-up. Indian Lake has some experience from a District Runner-Up a year ago. Urbana has some really good talent in junior <strong>Rayvon Rogan</strong> and sophomore <strong>Will Donahue</strong>, but they are young and lose some of their senior backcourt and size. Graham and Benjamin Logan have some back but not nearly as much as North Union does. This could end up being an all-out battle for #2 depending on what talent ends up returning.</p> <p>5- <strong>Junior will win Player of the Year</strong></p> <p>At this point I think it’s a two player race for Player of the Year. Crowe from Shawnee will be one of the best scorers in the conference and will battle with Tecumseh’s <strong>Collin O’Connor</strong> (2023) for the honor. O’Connor was third in scoring and with both guys ahead of him now graduated, he will have a real chance of being a 20+ PPG scorer. </p>