• Zach Leahy (Rossford) selected #1 overall by the Red Claws
• Mad Cherries trade 4th and 5th Round Picks Seamus Higley and Gehrig Gabrie to the Ducks for their 3rd and 6th Round Picks Andrew Schroeder and Nic Torres late last night
• The first round featured 7 Rookies selected, 4 re-signed players, and 1 returning player selected
• This season’s draft was fixed, as opposed to serpentine in Season 1
• Each team has the right to re-sign up to 2 players from the previous season if both parties agree – there were 11 players re-signed from Season 1
• The player pool was made up of 40 returning players from Season 1 and 56 Rookies

With the addition of these four new teams, the Pro Rec will now be split into two conferences with six teams competing in each conference. The Elite Conference will be home to the Pack, Swift, Nightmare, Force, Red Claws, and the Fighting Citrus. The Premier Conference will consist of the reigning Mages, Mad Cherries, Ducks, Swarm, Bad Eggs, and the Energy.

The regular season will stay at 8 games in 8 weeks with the first 5 weeks being conference games and the last 3 weeks as non-conference games. Non-conference games will count towards a team’s record and seeding just as conference games will.

The post-season will now be structured slightly different with the addition of conferences. Teams will compete in their respective conferences with one team winning the Conference Championship and going to play the opposite Conference Champion in the Pro Rec Finals. The Elite and Premier Conferences will each be seeded 1-6 with the top 2 seeds earning a first round bye-week in the playoffs. Seeds 3-6 will compete to play the top 2 seeds the following week in the Conference Semifinals. The third week of playoffs will feature both the Elite and Premier Conference Finals. Finally, the fourth week will see a new champion crowned in the Pro Rec Finals.

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Hello everybody, I’m back!!! Have you missed me? I am sure everyone has except the Mages. Lets dive in! Week 3, Mages are starting to grow on me but still lack enough talent to win the league, Swift sneak by the new look Nightmare, Pack win a physical battle against the Mad Cherries (even though Josh Williams continues to just run around), and Force beat a Dylan Davisless Swarm.

Mages v Ducks

A good game to start week 5. Ducks came out hot and built a really strong lead, but struggled to keep the lead. Mages continue to win games without a lot of talent on the team. Tyler Layton shooting struggles continue, looks like he really lacks the stamina to play the entire 32 minutes.

I will say there a few bright spots with this team. Ben Cameron and Willie Wiley, both in consideration for individual season awards. Cameron continues to show he is one of the best big men in the league and has been showing some outside touch. Wiley may be the best defender in the league, and out hustles 90% of the league.

Now, the Ducks… Ayers did not look like a top 10 player this past Sunday. They will need him to be if they want to win games and also make a run in the playoffs. Dible continues his strong rookie season and puts himself in the MVP conversation. Depth also seems that it will be an issue for the ducks going forward.

Swift v Nightmare

Swift continue to win games behind playing really good team ball. They have a lot of guys who can score and are not afraid to shoot it. The biggest question mark with the swift is do they have a take over guy when they need a bucket. Jake Schmeltz is one of the best shooters in the league but has not had a takeover game yet. When they need that game, can and will he do it?

Nightmare… Where do I begin??? Still baffled at the trade of Gage Beaber… They are playing better team ball but that doesn’t mean they are a better team. They don’t have one player on the team that can be the guy and they will struggle to win another game not having that. Dom settles continues to shoot even though its not going in. Jacob Faycosh is the only bright spot of this team.

Mad Cherries V Pack

This was clearly the game of the week! A lot of energy on both benches and from the crowd. Pack show they are the best team in the league. Mad Cherries show they have the physicality to beat the Pack. Riley, Williams and Flipse shoot 9 for 39 combined and they still win. Credit to Williams for drafting the depth that he has. My biggest question with the Pack is can they go undefeated and potentially win it all with that kind of shooting from your big 3. Disappointing game from Riley who finished with 9 points on 3 of 18 shooting. Williams does more complaining than scoring at this point…

Cherries started out really slow and got themselves in too big of a hole that they could not dig themselves out of. Cherries also shot the ball terribly, but gave themselves a chance to win. Bennett finished with 24 and 15 but also shot 11 for 26. His biggest downfall will be poor outside shooting. Cole Williams did not play well at all but showed no give up in this game. Beaber finished with 17 and frankly locked up Josh Williams. Cherries have the most talent on paper in the league. We are now 2 weeks post trades, we will see if they can work out the chemistry to win games or will they continue to stink…

Force V Swarm

Force get their first Win! Swarm fight and almost come up with a win without their GM Dylan Davis. Sean Watson makes the case for best shooter in the league. He continued his hot shooting scoring 21 points and making 6 threes. This is coming off a week in which he scored 32 and made a Pro Rec record 9 threes. Hagemyer had 21, 13 and 6 on eight of nine shooting. Surprise of the of the game is Noah Brian with 18 points (6 threes).

Swarm showed a lot of fight with out Davis. Naraly tied the game at the end on a missed game tying shot by Anthony Jones. Adam Bevier looked like the old MVP we have seen. Anthony Jones continues to be the second guy behind Davis. Swarm coming off the strong win over the Cherries are starting to come around as a solid team.

I have said from the beginning that I am not here to be your friend. If you don’t like me change the way you are playing. To those teams and players that are playing well, keep it up! Looking forward to this Sundays games!

Neely Out!

Hello everybody and Happy Easter! I hope you guys took the time off to enjoy your families and rest your bodies. I initially was waiting for the stats to get posted completely and by the time they did, was out of town with family, so I apologize for the delay!

Alright, Week 3. Mad Cherries look really good again (and then make 2 BIG trades), Dible torches the Nightmare (who made zero adjustments the entire game?), Pack NARROWLY stay undefeated against the Swift, and last but not…well maybe least yes… the Mages somehow move to 3-0 (insert crying laughing emoji).

Mad Cherries v Force

Not a bad Game 1 to kickstart the week. Mad Cherries continue to improve each week led by Michael Bennett who has been flat out dominant so far. He recorded the Pro Rec’s first triple-double with 22 PTS, 14 REB, 10 AST, and 3 STL. This guy is a flat out PROBLEM when he gets to his spots and the Force just had no answer. Cole Williams has been looking more and more comfortable every week and Cam Hemphill looks determined to prove he shouldn’t have been a last round pick. PRE-trades, I was really high on this team.

POST-trades, I am even higher. I’m so high right now. On the Mad Cherries that is. So mash up those cherries, stuff ’em in your pipe and let Michael Bennett’s secret sauce lift you to basketball heaven.

Somehow, Bennett managed to get the #1 overall pick Gage Beaber, 2nd round pick AJ Wagner, and Claude Monday for Jacob Faykosh, Jordan Smith, and Jarid Schwiefert! As long as the chemistry is there, this team will be tough to beat.

Nightmare v Ducks

Ducks win in a high-scoring affair with the Nightmare. Jevon Dible simply got whatever he wanted. The Nightmare looked pretty disappointing on defense, letting Dible roam freely and refusing to rebound the basketball. They also just got worse after trading away Beaber. The Nightmare are in for a nightmare of a season.

Ducks GM Matthew Ayers certainly looked better as he apparently was getting doubts that he is a “top tier” player. Overall, the Ducks definitely didn’t look bad. But still, giving up 88 points against a team as bad as the Nightmare is less than desirable. They’ll consistently struggle against the top teams just like we saw against the Pack.

Swift v Pack

An interesting matchup here. A well coached Swift team led by GM Jake Schmeltz against the dominant Pack who were without 1st round pick Mike Flipse and Brayden Moon.

It was an intense game all the way up until the Swift threw in the towel at the end of the game (perhaps a little prematurely). The Pack benefitted from a combined 39 points from Erich Wolfrum and Albert Alli. Khari Riley and Antoine Jackson contributed their usual 20-something points and Josh Williams contributed his usual 7 points (LOL).

The Swift saw good play from Schmeltz, VanDeBussche, and Szabo. Thurman Lawniczak though did shoot an abysmal 3/14 from 3P. If you’re the Swift however, you should feel good about this game. You took the dominant Pack right down to the end, just needed to finish it out. Take note that you CANNOT leave Erich Wolfrum wide open for three, and you can probably count on Albert Alli not having the greatest first half of his life again.

To the rest of the league, this should show you that the Pack are beatable. As their logo says “Strength in the Pack”, this game also showed that there is in fact “Weakness in the Pack”.

Mages v Swarm

Boy, oh boy. A real barn-burner here. Even the commentators struggled to focus on this one.

Swarm, I worry for the rest of your season. I thought you guys had potential at first. But trading away AJ Wagner for Jordan Smith seemed like an impulse decision.

Mages, good job on a very ugly win. I don’t know how you guys are doing it.

Oh wait, I do know. You haven’t had any real competition. Make a trade and I’ll take you seriously. Your roster stinks.

Enjoy the break. I’m excited to see what Week 4 brings!

Neely out.

I’m baaaaaaack. You guys miss me? I see some of you certainly didn’t. Agree or disagree with me, let’s keep this conversation going. I love the engagement and hearing your opinions, even when they’re wrong ;).

Alright, Week 2. Some surprises, some disappointments, some impressive performances. Let’s get into the games.

Force v Mages

Mages eek out a narrow win. Still, I’m simply not impressed with the 2-0 Mages. Twitter seemed to heat up a little over my tweets after finishing Sunday’s games (@neelymars). I thought this was an obvious one, I guess I’ll elaborate.

Before the stats were released, I speculated that you, Mages, had set the record for the most turnovers in a game. You did just that. 29 turnovers. Twenty. Nine. I presume this record isn’t going anywhere for a long time. Unless of course, you break it. This wasn’t against the fiercely aggressive Pack. Hell, the Ducks got PUMMELED by the Pack and coughed it up 17 times. You turned the ball over 29 times against one of the bottom teams in the league, the Force.

Your only bright spot on the team is Ben Cameron, who appears to be too physical and too athletic for much of the league to handle. He had an efficient night (minus 5 turnovers) on 9/14 FG, 17 rebounds (8 offensive), 4 AST, 2 STL, and 2 BLK. Clayton Heineman and Willie Wiley are honorable mentions for their play as 6th & 7th round picks.

The supposed senior Mage, GM Tyler Layton, shot 2/11 FG, 1/8 3P, had 5 TO, and only scored 5 points.

Not impressed.

Swarm v Swift

Despite being out-rebounded, Swift take care of business here. I was impressed with several players from the Swift this game. GM Jake Schmeltz scored 21 PTS on 6/8 FG, 7/8 FT. He seemed to let his guys get comfortable and play ball, but when it came to closing out the game, he knew what he needed to do. Holgate High School’s Dylan Szabo played energetic defense on Dylan Davis the whole game and threw in 10 PTS. Dallas Keifer contributed some crafty buckets as well.

Mad Cherries v Nightmare

The Nightmare continue to struggle and the Mad Cherries have the bounce back game they needed. GM Mike Bennett looked flat out dominant – 33 PTS, 21 REB, 3 STL, 2 BLK, and 1 impressive two-hand slam over Gage Beaber (props to you for going up with him) all on 15/21 shooting.

Mike Bennett is my early pick for MVP (assuming this momentum is carried throughout the season).

#1 overall pick Gage Beaber definitely looked better, much more of what people expected from him. He simply doesn’t have the help he needs for his team to be successful.

Ducks v Pack

Yikes. Pack are tough. Ducks looked mentally abused, perhaps per Josh Williams. Although, Ducks GM returned the abuse in physical form when he leveled Williams, somehow not receiving a technical.

Maybe a positive for the Ducks is that they did make a trade after an absolute beatdown. Maybe this is what they need to emotionally reset from the onslaught. I’m not sold this trade made a ton of sense for them however. Ducks receive #5 overall pick Dave Dehart and Dylan Semler. Swarm receive 2nd Round Pick AJ Wagner and Josh Grissom. This feels like a brash decision from Ayers after pitifully putting up 12 points in a 30 point blowout. We’ll see.

As far as the Pack, they are putting the league on notice. I can’t tell if that notice is that they are ready to win a championship or that they may have a GM vacancy at the end of the season. 7 PPG Williams, really?

Some of you looked a little better this week. I’m proud. Emphasis on SOME.

Neely out.

Basketball is back. Eight teams. Sixty-four players. One Pro Rec Championship.

This past Sunday saw the return of plenty of talented (at times) basketball players from Northwest Ohio. I will attempt to break down last week’s draft, this week’s games, the teams, and give you my unfiltered opinions and predictions.

But first, allow me to introduce myself. I am Neely Mars, the Pro Rec’s first official beat writer. Fans – I hope that I can engage you on a weekly basis with an in-depth analysis of not only what takes place on the court, but off the court in the Pro Rec as well. Players – I am not here to be your friend. I’m also not here to not be your friend. I call it how I see it, plain and simple. If you’re playing like hot trash, don’t worry, I’ll let you know. On the other hand, if you’re absolutely dominating your competition, I won’t be shy in dishing out some praise. So, let’s get into it.

The Draft

Nightmare: Grade – D+. They took the right pick first with Gage Beaber. After that, plenty of mistakes.

Mad Cherries: Grade – C. Drafting Cole Williams second overall seemed like a good idea (Tall athletic forward with college experience) and it still might be, but GM Mike Bennett didn’t draft the right guys around them in the following rounds.

Ducks: Grade – B. Jevon Dible proved Week 1 why he deserved to go #3 and made a case for why he could’ve went higher. The Ducks second round pick was another solid one with Patrick Henry’s AJ Wagner, giving the Ducks a solid top 3 in Ayers, Dible, and Wagner.

Force: Grade – C-. GM Sean Watson took a familiar face Round 1 with Julian Hagemyer. I haven’t seen too much from Hagemyer but he has a lot of upside with his size and athleticism. The Force’s later round picks weren’t strong enough to make them a contender however.

Swarm: Grade – C+. The Swarm took Dave Dehart with the #5 pick. Solid. And then Adam Bevier in the second round giving them a top 3 of Dylan Davis, Dehart, and Bevier. Three solid players individually, but age and lack of speed is definitely going to hurt them in this young league.

Mages: Grade – D-. The worst draft I saw. Every player was taken at least a round too high and no pick possesses the athleticism needed in this league. If Jarvis Hines can become the equivalent of prime Rajon Rondo, then MAYBE the Mages surprise me.

Pack: Grade – A. Solid draft overall from a first time GM in Josh Williams. Taking Mike Flipse and Khari Riley gives the Pack a tough and athletic top 3. Add to that sharpshooter Erich Wolfrum, physical Antoine Jackson, Moon, Ali, and Reyes. I don’t see a lot of weak spots with this team. Clear favorite to me.

Swift: Grade – B. GM Jake Schmeltz, known for a high basketball IQ, somehow always gets his teams to be competitive no matter who is on it. I think this was a solid draft for the Swift. If they can form some consistent cohesion among this group, they will be contenders.

Week 1

Gage Beaber. The number one draft pick from the first season. The pick of the litter. There’s already chatter around the league that the Nightmare may have drafted the runt of said litter. He did have a pretty underwhelming debut on Sunday (12pts, 3reb, 2ast, 5/17 FG). While certainly he didn’t put up #1 overall pick type numbers, I’m still high on Beaber. He’s a sturdy guard with solid ball handling, great vision, and is a bulldog going to the rim. I’ll chalk this one up to Covid rust.

Mages take down the Mad Cherries. I was surprised by this one. Mostly, I’m disappointed in GM Mike Bennett’s lack of coaching late game. #2 overall pick Cole Williams also didn’t live up to the hype whatsoever.

Ducks looked decent in their win over the Swarm. That’s right, just decent. Dible looks like he might be MVP caliber, but Wagner and Ayers didn’t produce much scoring wise. Swarm only lost by 7 despite playing without their second round pick Adam Bevier and getting heavy minutes from later round picks Xavier Francis and Diarre Hamilton. Ducks should have ran away with this one in my opinion. Decent.

Week 1’s in the books. Drink some water, watch some film, and for the love of God, shake the rust off before Week 2.

Neely out.