OHSAA Division IV Preseason Watchlist Part 2

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The OHSAA basketball season is less than a month away from tipping off and we're previewing the top teams in each Division. In this article we'll take a look at four teams from Division IV that just missed our top 10 but are on our watchlist among teams who could make the jump into our top 10 with strong early season results.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">CHCA</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last year CHCA was a two headed monster with Luke Sanders and [player_tooltip player_id='2469918' first='Griffin' last='Ridner Richard']. While Sanders is off to Rio Grande, Ridner Richard is back and hoping to lead CHCA to a Miami Valley Conference championship. Ridner Richard finished 8th in the conference in scoring and third in rebounding last season, I'd expect even bigger numbers as a senior from him. Ridner Richard has been busy this year, winning Miami Valley Conference player of the week honors on the gridiron during his 311 passing yard and 4 total touchdown performance in a win over Roger Bacon.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Van Wert</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The WBL always has tough teams and I think Van Wert is going to be near the top of the conference with 2028 forward [player_tooltip player_id='2822502' first='Zach' last='Crummey'] taking a big leap from freshman to sophomore year. The Cougars missed the football playoffs which could allow them to get everybody up to speed earlier in the basketball season than usual when a majority of their roster is competing in the football playoffs till deep into November.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Valley View</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A team that got a lot of hype last season thanks to their 2027 duo of [player_tooltip player_id='2194416' first='Brody' last='Denny'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2458958' first='Ty' last='Fritz'], Valley View went through some up's and some down's which is expected from a young team. Now they have another year of experience and I think 2028 wing guard [player_tooltip player_id='2838579' first='Garrett' last='Brewer'] could be the x-factor for the squad after an impressive summer playing for Midwest Basketball Club MHC. Oakwood is always a tough out but I think Valley View should contend for the SWBL title this winter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kettering Alter</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This was such a tough team to decide on because I do think they have the potential to be one of the better Division IV teams in the state this season. Despite losing RJ Greer (Davidson) and Brady Conner (Mercyhurst) to graduation, there's still plenty of talent on the Knights roster with senior wing forwards [player_tooltip player_id='2386495' first='Naceive' last='Fenton Jr'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2677124' first='Grant' last='Guess'] ready to lead the team. The GCL-Co Ed still could be the Knights to lose with every team in the conference losing key contributing seniors from last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->