I wasn't sure which of the 3 guys to post this to. The Reynoldsburg Raiders were thrust into the national spotlight this week as Barstool, ESPN and others picked up on an ugly video of a Raider punching a Hilliard Bradley guard in the crotch. When I first saw the story and clicked on it I hoped and prayed it wasn't one of ours and thankfully it was not. It was a freshman guard, Mekhi Roddy, who committed the offense. Considering he is getting playing time in the playoffs on a team with 4 D1 commits, I have to assume this kid has high hopes for his future and this certainly won't help. Watch the video if you haven't, it is a pretty bad look.

Amidst the noise and drama, I have seen some ramblings of the whole team being problematic all season. I am not sure how accurate that is, I know when a team is very dominant the opposing parents love to get all up in arms over the smallest things sometimes.

Reynoldsburg did not do great against Bradley but escaped with a 57-51 win. They play Ajay Sheldon's Dublin Coffman (who pulled off 2 upsets to get here) tonight in what is effectively the sweet 16 of the D1 tourney. If they survive, I plan to attend Saturday night's regional final against either UA or Ben Roderick's Olentangy Liberty.

If they survive thru Saturday they will be in the final 4 next weekend (site TBD).

That was my first thought and fear as well. Glad it wasn't one of our guys. I have no clue what the kid was thinking. Saw he was suspended for the rest of the playoffs as he should be.

I told my son that Roddy is the next Reynoldsburg player I wouldn't mind see heading down Rt. 33 to Athens in a few years after we saw Reynoldsburg visit Newark a couple of weeks ago. He was seeing more and more time in varsity games as the season progressed and played a big part in the comeback win at Newark with big plays in the 4th quarter.

Update: 2-seed Reynoldsburg beat Dublin Coffman 60-54 tonight and plays in the regional final Saturday v. the winner of the #9 Upper Arlington v. #3 Olentangy Liberty game currently being played.

Wow, just returned from the game. Reynoldsburg wins 98-91 in double OT. I should have brought a notepad to take notes, I am sure I have forgotten half my observations.

Really good active and exciting game. Liberty carried a 6 point lead into the half, but Reynoldsburg had a huge 3rd quarter and carried a small lead most the 4th quarter. Then Liberty hit a game tying 3 with about 10 seconds to go. They went to Nwokolo (Toledo commit) who air balled a fadeaway.

The 1st OT was insane. Liberty abruptly pulled to a 6 point lead WITH an and 1 opportunity with only 80 seconds to go. Then it went something like:

Missed FT
Quick transition bucket by Fisher
Inbound forced turnover by Griffin
Bowens quick bucket (assisted by Griffin)
Liberty sideline turnover forced by Bowens
Bowens dunk to tie (assist by Fisher)

And just like that it was tied. Teams exchanged misses and went to 2nd OT. That 1st OT will forever be a scar on the brains of all Liberty players and coaches. When the And 1 hit, it really felt like it was over.

In the 2nd OT McKinney drew 2 fouls and hit 3 of 4 at the line, and Fisher made a couple buckets and Reynoldsburg got out to an 8 point lead and didn't break from there.

As for the individual players, extremely small sample size alert, all show great potential and ability. Nwokolo was good tonight...And the 5th starter (Sr Damon Griffin) is solid too (but short). I would say those 2 led the way in the 1st half while our 3 didn't really get going. The 2nd half and OT was a different story, and our 3 guys really put the team on their backs. Especially Fisher/Bowens in the 1st OT. In a lot of ways all 4 MAC commits are pretty interchangeable, athletic off guard small forwards around 6'5" that can both shoot the 3 and get in the paint.

I didn't see any concerning behavior, they all seemed to act with class. Extra shout out to Bowens. At the 6 point deficit in the 1st OT when it really felt like the game as over, Reynolsburg looked dead and coming out a timeout, he was firing everybody up. He did the same when he fouled out in the 2nd OT.

Is there any chance Reynoldsburg gets a game in the Convo?

DI was there two years ago and no one from Columbus bothered to make the trip and no locals cared. It was sent to the Convo because ODU continually couldn’t handle the demand. Now the Cow Palace is back on line.

Our boys are very active and looks like they can score. Toby is gonna be good for UT. Anyway we can get #4 from Liberty? Dude pulled up and hit every 3 it looked like

Reynoldsburg faces Lakota West at Noon Sunday at Wright State. Ted Thompson will surely be in attendance to give us the full report.

St Ignatius and Olentangy Orange are playing the other Semi in Canton.

Maybe it was the way the video was edited, but I loved the way the refs let them play.

Also, seemed like a lot of empty seats for a D-1 regional final in both schools backyard.

You've not obviously been in St. John for a hot minute, and maybe they have 6 other events athletic events going on campus the same day, and do not have the staff to cover it all. And maybe they do not want any events that make them no money. In short, OSU has made it clear they will host two events, and both are good money makers that align with their schedule. wrestling and track (but track has even had to take a hike lately).

I mean, the OHSAA could demand that OSU open their facilities. I am sure that would work really well.

Don't feel too bad, Andrew, as you're in good company.

Not only were you a recent target of BTC's sarcastic replies, but so were:

* Excat21 in "Ruffle the commish's feathers" thread
* Tymaster in "BG's Loeffeler to NFL" thread
* M.D.W.S.T in the same thread
* Bobcat1996 in the same thread
* colobobcat66 in "2025 MAC schedule announcement" thread
* and the entire BA community in "Miami to get new arena" thread

Edit: I missed the reply to Ruck in "2025 Results" thread on the baseball page

Look out and take cover, BTC is on a roll.

It is hard to pick a favorite / most ridiculous but I actually think the baseball one is my pick. I didn't even remotely predict any level of success for the season, just said the starting pitching was good but they really need to start winning games and he belittles the fact I showed some positivity. And the ultimate irony is he loves belittling people for being negative too.

He's such a dirtbag.

No worries, I’m just being optimistic