5 Questions: Southwestern Buckeye League

<p>The SWBL will look a little different this year as Preble Shawnee, Dixie, Northridge and Milton-Union all left for various different leagues. The 10 remaining schools still have a ton of talent and will continue to keep the SWBL competitive. Today I look at answering some of the top questions ahead of the 2021-22 season for the league.</p> <p><strong>1- Is the East division the better division?</strong></p> <p>Looking at the new divisions, it appears the best talent and teams made their way in the East division. The theme of the East is experienced as 4 of the 5 teams return their top players. Meanwhile in the West, the majority of the teams watched their top talent graduate. Overall the East could send a team deep in the postseason.</p> <p><strong>2- Can Bellbrook take the next step?</strong></p> <p>The Golden Eagles finished 10-11 a year ago but were 8-4 in the SWBL. This was without their best player <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1045467" first="Gabe" last="Pavlak"]</strong> who missed the season due to injury. Now, Pavlak is back and looked great this offseason. The Eagles also add freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="967138" first="Austin" last="Webb"]</strong> who impressed at Fairmont’s Summer League in June. Seniors <strong>Ashton Ault </strong>and <strong>Caleb Fugate</strong> also return after being central figures for the Golden Eagles a year ago. They have the coaching. They now have the personnel. Is it enough though to beat out Franklin and Oakwood?</p> <p><strong>3- Will Franklin be able to continue their D1 success?</strong></p> <p>The Wildcats found some success last year beating Stebbins in the Sectional tournament before falling to Lebanon 66-59. This year could see some similarities. The Wildcats have the size in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="921761" first="Nate" last="Paarlberg"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="967173" first="Noah" last="Rich"]</strong> that is needed to succeed at the D1 level. Franklin has a real chance to be a top 5 seed again come tournament time. </p> <p><strong>4- Can anyone dethrone Franklin in the East?</strong></p> <p>Beating Franklin in the SWBL is hard to do. The last time they lost an SWBL game was January 2020. The team that has a chance to dethrone them this year is likely Oakwood. The duo of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1082241" first="Keon" last="Wright"]</strong> (2022) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="922599" first="Will" last="Maxwell"]</strong> (2023) is impressive and has a chance to do some special things in the league as a whole. Guard play is what helps teams win and Oakwood has it.</p> <p><strong>5- Who is going to win the West?</strong></p> <p>It’s hard to pick a winner in the West division due to the lack of experience overall leaving. 3 of the 5 schools will have new coaches and will be a little unknown with what is going to happen. Madison brings back a few more pieces than the other schools, but Valley View has <strong>JT Ferguson </strong>(2022) coming back. End of the day, it’s too early to tell who wins.</p>