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Expansion of the OHSAA boys basketball tournament has been very good to Stark County, but with 87 other counties in Ohio, there are many ways to assess how the new system is going, and will go.
Whether it is coincidence, or cause and effect, it’s a fact that the first time Perry and Louisville reached a state championship boys basketball title game is in the first year the OHSAA expanded the tournament from four divisions to seven.
What’s not to love for Perry and Louisville, who will try to win state championships Friday in Divisions II and III, respectively?
"I think it's great to play teams a little more relative to your size,” Louisville head coach Tom Siegfried said. “We've done so much against teams that are really, really larger than us.”
What Siegfried doesn’t love is not playing all of the final four games in the same city. Fans seem to be more OK with moving the state semifinals all around Ohio than coaches are.
Over time, numerous coaches and school administrators made a weekend of hitting multiple final four games, for many years in Columbus, more recently in Dayton.
Louisville in Division III and Perry in Division II both won 2025 semifinal games in Canton Memorial Field House.
“I'm very happy we won that, because I would've hated for our kids not to have the experience of playing at Ohio State or Dayton,” Siegfried said. “Don't get me wrong, the Field House was electric. That was great.
“But there is something to having all the games in the same facility."
For Perry and Louisville fans, the state semifinals experience arguably was enhanced rather than diluted by expansion.
Under the previous system, all state semifinal and championship games in all four divisions would have been played in University of Dayton Arena across three days.
With seven divisions, the OHSAA saw no way of fitting 14 state semifinals there. Options were weighed; venues around Ohio were used.
Perry’s and Louisville’s happened to be close to home, in the Field House.
Based on the soundtrack and the sea of euphoric faces, extremely few from Perry or Louisville came away from the incredible atmosphere concluding, “It didn’t feel like a ‘state’ game.”
The collection of schools in each division will change each year based on fluctuations in school enrollments.
Lake, for example, is close to the border between Division II and Division III. This year, the Blue Streaks landed in Division III. In some future year, it could be Division II.
Prior to this year, Louisville had never been to a final four. The Leopards made it in the new Division III, but it was a rough path to their spot in Friday’s finals in Dayton.
Even if it’s easier to “get there” with seven divisions, some would argue: “So what? We’ve never been there. We’ll take it however we can get it.”
Lake has come close but has never been to a final four. Head coach Tom McBride, 57, still imagines getting there. The Blue Streaks struggled this year but might have something cooking.
“All three Coblentz boys I coached have sons in the eighth grade,” McBride said. “They’re like their dads. They have a heart for the game and put in the extra time.
“They have some kids around them who enjoy the game. We have 16 eighth-graders playing AAU. From our ninth-grade class moved a few up to JV.
“We might be a year or two away from some really good success, but I think we’re going trend up here toward the end of my career.”
Divisions will be assigned year by year, based on fluctuating enrollments.
“Division III seemed like a juggernaut this year with St V, Hoban, Louisville and Garfield Heights,” McBride said. “We may teeter-totter between II and III.”
The strength of a division always carries a luck-of-the-draw element.
Perry wound up in Division II with a Massillon team seen as a final four threat, one that pounded the Panthers 77-46 on Jan. 24. In the tournament, against a Shaker Heights team that went 7-15 in the regular season, Massillon lost. Rather than a possible rematch against the Tigers, Perry wound up facing Shaker Heights in the regional finals.
Hoover was an even stronger Division II contender than Massillon based on late-in-the-regular-season wins over Louisville and Massillon, but the Vikings fell in the tournament to Green.
It was a break for Perry to face upstart Shaker Heights that far along, but the Panthers more than earned their keep in the state semis against 25-1 North Royalton.
Hoover head coach Mike Bluey weighed in on expansion.
“I didn’t mind it in that it levels the field in terms of student male population,” he said. “I’m in the same boat as a lot of people who dislike kids and families across the state not getting the final four experience. That’s one thing that makes Ohio so special.
“Eliminating that this year was, I thought, a poor decision on the state’s part. Hopefully the conversations that are supposed to be happening to bring that back are true.”
The OHSAA will assess how the first year with a seven-division final four works out. One option being weighed is a Thursday through Sunday schedule in which the seven semifinals will be spread across two arenas in Dayton, with the championship games all played at the University of Dayton.
Perry and Louisville played their state semis in Canton last Sunday and are in finals in Dayton on Friday.
Along the way in the Division I postseason, Federal League co-champion Jackson lost to Medina, which then lost to Federal League co-champion McKinley, which then lost to lost to Cleveland St. Ignatius, which earlier beat GlenOak.
GlenOak head coach Rick Hairston found his way to the Field House on Sunday to watch Ignatius lose a state semifinal to Olentangy Orange. Perry and Louisville played in the Field House later that day.
“The Field House was beautiful,” Hariston said. “After the state got the chance to see that set-up right there ... that took you back. That was an awesome atmosphere, and I’m sure they’ll bring it back next year.”
Joe Bogdan, the Canton City Schools official who sold the OHSAA on using the Field House for state semifinal games, isn’t sure how the seven-division setup will play out in the future.
He takes the same stance going forward as he did before the OHSAA gave the Field House four state semifinal games:
“We’ll do whatever you need us to do.”
Perry head coach Matt Voll loved the way the state semifinals looked at the Field House. He is less adamant about having the entire final four in Dayton than some coaches, although he makes it clear the finals belong in Dayton.
Perry, 14-13, is reminiscent of the 2014 St. Thomas Aquinas team that went 11-11 in the regular season but made it all the way to the Division IV state finals.
The state boys basketball tournament consisted of three divisions for many years, including 1971, when Canton Lehman won the Class AA championship. McKinley reached the Class AAA finals in 1987, the last year for three divisions.
Canton South had numerous strong teams under head coach Red Ash decades ago, but the Wildcats were stuck Class AAA and seldom could get past McKinley at the district level.
It was thought South could reach multiple final fours when the OHSAA expanded to four divisions in 1987, and the Wildcats went to Division II.
They did in fact reach the D2 final four in 1990, but lost in the semis to a super team, Dayton Colonel Crawford. They returned to the final four in 2003, when they encountered LeBron James in the semis.
The point is, there could be an unbeatable beast out there, whatever one’s division.
The Louisville coach, Siegfried, would have been happier expanding from four divisions to just five.
"I personally think it could've been fixed by just making a super Division I,” he said. “That would've been fine, and I think it would've been more logistically sound. It felt like we went from zero to 100 when we could've have maybe just tried five and seen how it went."
There’s no turning back now, it appears. Regardless of where the games wind up, there will be seven divisions and seven state champions in the foreseeable future.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County boys basketball coaches talk OHSAA state final four setup
Continue reading...
Whether it is coincidence, or cause and effect, it’s a fact that the first time Perry and Louisville reached a state championship boys basketball title game is in the first year the OHSAA expanded the tournament from four divisions to seven.
What’s not to love for Perry and Louisville, who will try to win state championships Friday in Divisions II and III, respectively?
"I think it's great to play teams a little more relative to your size,” Louisville head coach Tom Siegfried said. “We've done so much against teams that are really, really larger than us.”
What Siegfried doesn’t love is not playing all of the final four games in the same city. Fans seem to be more OK with moving the state semifinals all around Ohio than coaches are.
Over time, numerous coaches and school administrators made a weekend of hitting multiple final four games, for many years in Columbus, more recently in Dayton.
You must be registered for see images attach
Louisville in Division III and Perry in Division II both won 2025 semifinal games in Canton Memorial Field House.
“I'm very happy we won that, because I would've hated for our kids not to have the experience of playing at Ohio State or Dayton,” Siegfried said. “Don't get me wrong, the Field House was electric. That was great.
“But there is something to having all the games in the same facility."
For Perry and Louisville fans, the state semifinals experience arguably was enhanced rather than diluted by expansion.
Under the previous system, all state semifinal and championship games in all four divisions would have been played in University of Dayton Arena across three days.
You must be registered for see images attach
With seven divisions, the OHSAA saw no way of fitting 14 state semifinals there. Options were weighed; venues around Ohio were used.
Perry’s and Louisville’s happened to be close to home, in the Field House.
Based on the soundtrack and the sea of euphoric faces, extremely few from Perry or Louisville came away from the incredible atmosphere concluding, “It didn’t feel like a ‘state’ game.”
You must be registered for see images attach
The collection of schools in each division will change each year based on fluctuations in school enrollments.
Lake, for example, is close to the border between Division II and Division III. This year, the Blue Streaks landed in Division III. In some future year, it could be Division II.
Prior to this year, Louisville had never been to a final four. The Leopards made it in the new Division III, but it was a rough path to their spot in Friday’s finals in Dayton.
Even if it’s easier to “get there” with seven divisions, some would argue: “So what? We’ve never been there. We’ll take it however we can get it.”
Lake has come close but has never been to a final four. Head coach Tom McBride, 57, still imagines getting there. The Blue Streaks struggled this year but might have something cooking.
“All three Coblentz boys I coached have sons in the eighth grade,” McBride said. “They’re like their dads. They have a heart for the game and put in the extra time.
“They have some kids around them who enjoy the game. We have 16 eighth-graders playing AAU. From our ninth-grade class moved a few up to JV.
“We might be a year or two away from some really good success, but I think we’re going trend up here toward the end of my career.”
You must be registered for see images attach
Divisions will be assigned year by year, based on fluctuating enrollments.
“Division III seemed like a juggernaut this year with St V, Hoban, Louisville and Garfield Heights,” McBride said. “We may teeter-totter between II and III.”
The strength of a division always carries a luck-of-the-draw element.
Perry wound up in Division II with a Massillon team seen as a final four threat, one that pounded the Panthers 77-46 on Jan. 24. In the tournament, against a Shaker Heights team that went 7-15 in the regular season, Massillon lost. Rather than a possible rematch against the Tigers, Perry wound up facing Shaker Heights in the regional finals.
Hoover was an even stronger Division II contender than Massillon based on late-in-the-regular-season wins over Louisville and Massillon, but the Vikings fell in the tournament to Green.
It was a break for Perry to face upstart Shaker Heights that far along, but the Panthers more than earned their keep in the state semis against 25-1 North Royalton.
You must be registered for see images attach
Hoover head coach Mike Bluey weighed in on expansion.
“I didn’t mind it in that it levels the field in terms of student male population,” he said. “I’m in the same boat as a lot of people who dislike kids and families across the state not getting the final four experience. That’s one thing that makes Ohio so special.
“Eliminating that this year was, I thought, a poor decision on the state’s part. Hopefully the conversations that are supposed to be happening to bring that back are true.”
The OHSAA will assess how the first year with a seven-division final four works out. One option being weighed is a Thursday through Sunday schedule in which the seven semifinals will be spread across two arenas in Dayton, with the championship games all played at the University of Dayton.
Perry and Louisville played their state semis in Canton last Sunday and are in finals in Dayton on Friday.
Along the way in the Division I postseason, Federal League co-champion Jackson lost to Medina, which then lost to Federal League co-champion McKinley, which then lost to lost to Cleveland St. Ignatius, which earlier beat GlenOak.
GlenOak head coach Rick Hairston found his way to the Field House on Sunday to watch Ignatius lose a state semifinal to Olentangy Orange. Perry and Louisville played in the Field House later that day.
You must be registered for see images attach
“The Field House was beautiful,” Hariston said. “After the state got the chance to see that set-up right there ... that took you back. That was an awesome atmosphere, and I’m sure they’ll bring it back next year.”
Joe Bogdan, the Canton City Schools official who sold the OHSAA on using the Field House for state semifinal games, isn’t sure how the seven-division setup will play out in the future.
He takes the same stance going forward as he did before the OHSAA gave the Field House four state semifinal games:
“We’ll do whatever you need us to do.”
Perry head coach Matt Voll loved the way the state semifinals looked at the Field House. He is less adamant about having the entire final four in Dayton than some coaches, although he makes it clear the finals belong in Dayton.
You must be registered for see images attach
Perry, 14-13, is reminiscent of the 2014 St. Thomas Aquinas team that went 11-11 in the regular season but made it all the way to the Division IV state finals.
The state boys basketball tournament consisted of three divisions for many years, including 1971, when Canton Lehman won the Class AA championship. McKinley reached the Class AAA finals in 1987, the last year for three divisions.
Canton South had numerous strong teams under head coach Red Ash decades ago, but the Wildcats were stuck Class AAA and seldom could get past McKinley at the district level.
It was thought South could reach multiple final fours when the OHSAA expanded to four divisions in 1987, and the Wildcats went to Division II.
They did in fact reach the D2 final four in 1990, but lost in the semis to a super team, Dayton Colonel Crawford. They returned to the final four in 2003, when they encountered LeBron James in the semis.
The point is, there could be an unbeatable beast out there, whatever one’s division.
The Louisville coach, Siegfried, would have been happier expanding from four divisions to just five.
"I personally think it could've been fixed by just making a super Division I,” he said. “That would've been fine, and I think it would've been more logistically sound. It felt like we went from zero to 100 when we could've have maybe just tried five and seen how it went."
There’s no turning back now, it appears. Regardless of where the games wind up, there will be seven divisions and seven state champions in the foreseeable future.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County boys basketball coaches talk OHSAA state final four setup
Continue reading...
