Southwest Ohio Conference Preview

<p>Hamilton Ross put the Southwest Ohio Conference on their back last year as the Rams were one of the most successful teams in Southwest Ohio. It was only fitting as the rest of the conference struggled when it came to postseason play. 2022 doesn't look much nicer as Ross graduates a ton of talent as does multiple teams across the conference too. This season could be a turning point as Mount Healthy looks to bring new faces in and take back the conference as theirs. Do they have a legitimate chance? Take a look below to find out.</p> <p><em>Edgewood</em>- The Cougars finished 7-14 and were beaten early in the tournament by a good Princeton team. 2 of the top 3 are gone from graduation, but there's optimism of what Edgewood can do this year. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1195118" first="Caleb" last="Allen"]</strong> (Sr) was their leading scorer and top player a season ago and is back for his senior year. He is coming off a solid AAU season this past July. The bigger issue will be what complimentary pieces are going to go with Allen as the Cougars look to continue their success? That will go a long way in determining where Edgewood finishes this year.</p> <p><em>Harrison</em>- The Wildcats struggled mightily as they were beaten multiple times during the season only finishing with 3 wins on the year. While they return <strong>Mason Young </strong>(Sr), this may not be enough for a turned around season. The Wildcats will need more guys to step up as the SOC has enough returning that one player isn't going to save a team. </p> <p><em>Mount Healthy</em>- The bad news is the Owls lose their two leading scorers from last season that combined for over 35 points per game between the two. The good news though is Ty Cass takes over as the new coach for Mount Healthy and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience over with him. Joining him will be senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="809633" first="Robbie" last="Cass"]</strong> as the new PG who transfer over from Aiken. Also returning is <strong>Jaron Kelley</strong> (Sr), one of the conference's best big men last season. Normally a new coach would raise questions of where the team is at, but I think the Owls have to be considered one of he favorites in the SOC as long as they can replace some of the scoring now gone.</p> <p><em>Northwest</em>- Northwest graduates A LOT from a 13-10 team last year. Leading scorer? Gone. Backcourt? Gone. Rim proctector and rebounder? Gone. The one bright side is <strong>Braden Miller</strong> (Jr) returns after a Top 5 finish in FG% last season, but even that is not enough to replicate the experience gone. I think Northwest takes a step back this year and struggles to compete.</p> <p><em>Ross</em>- Talk about a team that could have been...the Rams were undefeated in the SOC, earned the 2-seed in the Sectional tournament in Division II, and fell short to Indian Hill and ended their season early. Not only will replicating a 21-4 record be hard, but try doing it without 5 of your top 6 from the previous season. Ross loses a ton especially in the departures of Sam Nunn and Max Stepaniak. The Rams do bring back <strong>Kellen Reid</strong> (Jr) who was a solid role guy last year among the senior heavy group. 2022 is going to be tough to match and Ross is going to definitely struggle to replicate their previous success in the conference.</p> <p><em>Talawanda</em>- Talawanda didn't have a terrible year finishing 7-16 overall, but similar to many teams in the SOC, will be watching much of their talent from last season graduate. They do return a promising guard in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1571715" first="Jay" last="Reynolds"]</strong> (So) who played exceptionally well as a freshman. He's got teammate <strong>Benjamin Olenick</strong> (Sr) also returning after being a role guy at 6-foot-6 last season. Talawanda on paper doesn't appear to be much of a threat to Mount Healthy in the SOC, but I can see this group finding a way to win some closer games in conference play.</p>