With many out of league races, boys hoops teams turn to tourney draws

With realistically just one area league race even left to be decided (on paper, anyway), that has left much of the area looking towards the 'second season' at the area sectional draws that will be held Feb. 14.

It doesn't seem likely that Port Clinton will lose it's 2-game lead with five Sandusky Bay Conference games left, Plymouth is up two games with seven left but have already handled every Firelands Conference team by double digits to date while Sandusky, Danbury and Vermilion have no shot at getting back in their respective conference races as well.

Only the Northern Ohio League, which features a showdown tonight between first place Norwalk and a game behind Bellevue, is up in air still as as many as six or even seven teams could still win it.

That leaves the other programs left facing with tournament posturing, and what a mess that appears to be at the moment. Let's take a look at just a few sectional sites that at the moment are complete chaos:

Division I Willard
Teams: Mansfield Senior (11-0), Marion Harding (11-1), Sandusky (5-8), Ashland (4-8), Fremont Ross (2-10).
Outlook: This group is obviously top-heavy. Imagine being Harding and getting a No. 2 seed at 11-1, but that is the reality they face unless Mansfield Senior slips up between now and then. Sandusky and Ashland are essentially neck-and-neck while only Fremont Ross has a clear cut seed: last.

Division II Sandusky
Teams: Port Clinton (12-0), Clyde (8-4), Bellevue (7-4), Norwalk (7-4),  Edison (7-6), Perkins (5-6).
Outlook: Where to begin. We know Port Clinton is locked into the No. 1 spot, but then you have three teams with four losses and three teams with seven wins. Not only will Norwalk-Bellevue tonight go a long way to deciding the NOL title, but this is a huge game in terms of seeding at this site.

Further complicating things, Norwalk beat Clyde, but Edison beat Norwalk while Perkins beat both Norwalk and Edison. And again, imagine being Perkins right now...they could be 7-6 or 6-7 after this weekend and still be staring down the last spot in the group.

Division III Norwalk
Teams: Lakota (8-4), Western Reserve (8-4), Huron (7-5), Margaretta (5-5), Gibsonburg (5-6), Woodmore (3-9).
Outlook: Here we have three teams who realistically right now can make cases to be the top seed, and this may be a sectional that comes down to strength of schedule or a selfish coach (hey, it's true). Even Margaratta is really just a game back of best record in the loss column yet.

I got a feeling this will come down to promotion of their programs, and if you do the math on which conferences have the most/least representation, you can probably at least attempt to figure this one out.

Division IV Port Clinton
Teams: Danbury (7-5), Monroeville (6-6), Fremont St. Joe's (6-6), St. Paul (5-6), Old Fort (3-10), SMCC (2-11).
Outlook: Much like Division II above, good luck figuring this one out at the moment. Is there even a way to even insinuate who should be the No. 1 seed right now? Wow. Yes, Danbury has the best and only winning record, but we know when coming down to strength of schedule the Lakers will always and forever get the snub unless they far and away have the best record.

More mess after that, however, as Monroeville, SJCC and St. Paul all have six losses. Monroeville can claim they beat St. Paul, while St. Paul can claim they beat SJCC. Again, just too close to call right now. Heck, look at SMCC with just a 2-11 record...they can both make a case and still avoid being the final seed in the sectional with Old Fort just a game better, but remember that the schedule toughness is in SMCC's favor.