TAAC OOC Schedules – Part 3

What do the schedules tell us?

Part 3 - Schedule commentary

The first thing that stands out to me is the difficulty of Toledo Christian’s OOC schedule. TC is the only TAAC team to play two Division I schools (Clay and Anthony Wayne), a tough out-of-town team from Buffalo NY, D-II Eastwood and two D-III schools (Evergreen and Swanton). This philosophy has to pay dividends come playoff time. Play strong competition, and you’ll become stronger.

If school size alone (vs. quality of opponent regardless of Division) determines schedule strength, TC has the hardest OCC schedule by far. But several TAAC teams play more than a plain vanilla schedule.
MV is the only other TAAC squad with a definite D-1 game on their schedule in Toledo Central Catholic. MV dropped games against two D-IV independent schools this year (Miami Valley in Dayton and Ann Arbor Greenhills), picking up Central and D-III Liberty Center from the NWOAL.

EC will have a game against D-I or equivalent competition in their Warrior Classic. The Hosts will face either Bowsher (which I believe will contend for the City League title) or the Bedford, Michigan Mules in the tournament.

I also like Ottawa Hills’ OOC schedule. On the BBC Wikipedia page, it notes that Pettisville has won eight straight boys basketball titles; that will be a good challenge for OH. Overall, the Bears face five division III foes as well as historically strong D-IV New Riegel.

Danbury plays strong competition close to home with Sandusky Bay Conference opponents Oak Harbor, Margaretta and Sandusky St. Mary’s.

Cardinal Stritch plays five D-III teams in the NWOAL and SLL, staying close to home to play Genoa.

Other notes:

Gibsonburg is getting a jump start on its TAAC membership, facing Ottawa Hills, Northwood and Danbury. Gibsonburg will be a great addition to Conference play and will provide a closer league opponent for Danbury.

We’ll get the best idea of how the TAAC stands among their D-IV peers against the Midland Athletic League with 14 games against 8 different teams. The TAAC also mixes it up frequently with the mostly D-II and III NWOAL, playing 11 games against 4 different teams.

I will be officially be looking to crown the winner of the I-280 championship (I just invented this right now), Northwood vs. Lake.

The final post in this series will come after the preseason polls are released and I get a rough gauge of perceived schedule strength.