Greater Catholic League (GCL) South Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2022 was a bit of an off year for the GCL South as the league failed to send one of their four member schools to the District Finals. Upsets and youth held the league back for seemingly the first time in several years. The South has always been a tough league to win in and 2022-23 should be no different as several teams reload and look to rebound from the off year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Predicted Finish</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Moeller- Mighty Moe had what some may call a ”down year” last season after graduating a large amount of scholarship talent. Even when the Crusaders lose so much, they still find a way to stay in the hunt as they finished 18-6 on the year. Moeller used several underclassmen which is primarily why they finished in 2nd in the league last year. This season, that talent is more experienced and will be much tougher to defeat. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1222360' first='AJ' last='McBride']</strong> (Jr) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1432033' first='Kingston' last='Land']</strong> (So) are 2 of those guys and have been major parts of Moeller since their freshmen years. The Crusaders have a good senior class returning led by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1225048' first='Donovan' last='Mukes']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1225051' first='Jason' last='Henning']</strong>, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1090159' first='Nick' last='Williams']</strong> along with several other underclassmen. End of the day, the Crusaders should be better than a year ago and now have more depth to win the GCL South and be in contention for a District Title yet again.</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true,"start":2} --> <ol start="2"><li>Elder- The Panthers were the GCL South champions last year after going 6-0 in the league and 20-4 overall. One of the top seeds in the tournament, Elder fell short in the tournament to a Turpin team that beat them during the regular season. Looking to this season, things will look a little different. Offensively the Panthers will be without 2 of their top scorers (Sean Keller and Andrew Harp) from a season ago and return some good pieces, but none that have shown previously they can replace that scoring entirely. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1163451' first='Carson' last='Browne']</strong> (Sr) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1201863' first='Sam' last='Whitmer']</strong> (Sr) both return and should be the leaders for this group from Day 1. Browne brings good length at 6'8 and can be a difficult matchup while Whitmer is a defensive menace that will be tasked with defending Elder's opponent's best guys. After winning the title last year, we are back to teams chasing Moeller in the GCL. The senior leadership helps the Panthers and could give them an advantage in 1 of their Moeller matchups, but defending the GCL South title is going to be much tougher in 2022-23.</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true,"start":3} --> <ol start="3"><li>St. Xavier- The Bombers had a somewhat underachieving season in 2022, only finishing 1 game above .500 and winning only once in the GCL South. In addition, a first round upset loss to Middletown sent the Bombers home very early on. St. X will be without their leading scorer and their starting PG from that team which could make this season challenging. Overall the Bombers have a few other role players back that will at least give St. X experience going into the start of the year. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1219838' first='Luke' last='Eckert']</strong> (Sr) and <strong>Kyle Conner</strong> (Sr) were two of my favorite guys to watch and they now will see much bigger roles with the Bombers. St. X also has a talented sophomore in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1462534' first='Jacob' last='Wassler']</strong> (So) that could see some minutes and fill some of these voided positions. St. X always finds a way to stay tough in games and I'm sure the Bombers will still be a tough matchup throughout the season.</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true,"start":4} --> <ol start="4"><li>LaSalle- The Lancers record looked far worse than what it truly was (4-17) as they were forced to forfeit the first half of the season due to OHSAA sanctions. An OT loss to Loveland ended their season in the first round and now gone are 3 of the top 6 from that team. The Lancers have some seniors returning that know GCL play in <strong>Nick Heffron</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1169529' first='Brady' last='Schneider']</strong> which helps them quite a bit. More importantly, sophomore <strong>Drae Arnold</strong> had glimpses of great play that makes me believe he could see a bigger role that helps LaSalle in league play. Unfortunately, the Lancers did struggle in the South and losing those other 3 players really hurts in terms of returning guys in the league. While I am predicting the Lancers to finish 4th in the league, they can certainly compete with other teams come tournament time and will continue to be a rough team to matchup against.</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list -->