Breaking down the DI tournament brackets, Copley edition

The OHSAA boy’s basketball state tournament brackets were released this weekend. here is a breakdown of the Copley district bracket some insight throughout. I'll break down Division II and III, as well as the girls, over the next few days.

Division I Copley District
All games at Copley High School

Top tier games:

Firestone Vs. Nordonia, 6:30 p.m., March 1
-- The winner gets Akron East; 6:30, March 4.

Green Vs. Wadsworth; 8 p.m., March 1
-- Winner gets Barberton; 8 p.m., March 4

Best game: Green and Wadsworth have split its match ups this season. The Grizzlies won by 15 at Wadsworth. The Bulldogs claimed a two-point win at Green. Who gets the rubber match?

Prediction: Last year it was a fantastic Cinderella-type run for Barberton. While Ken Rector will have his players prepared this year, The Magic lack the talent they had last year to make another such run. East is loaded with talent and should escape this part of the bracket.

Bottom tier games:

Garfield vs. Cuyahoga Falls, 7 p.m., March 2
-- Winner plays Twinsburg; 6:30 p.m. March 6

Stow vs. Ellet, 6:30 p.m., March 3

Kent Roosevelt vs. Hudson, 8 p.m., March 3

Best game: The underachievers (Kent Roosevelt) vs. the overachievers (Hudson).

Roosevelt has some of the better talent I have seen this season. It has size -- with Bowling Green recruit Cameron Black, Marcus Wright and Collin Kane – and it has some quality guard potential with Zach Brett, who is a very good shooter, and Rich Graves. I just don’t know if it knows how to use the talent.

On the other hand, Hudson doesn’t have much, other than its ability to outwork and out hustle opponents. Richie Piekarski is a winner who wills this team to succeed. They can, and often do, get hot shooting. It will have to. Piekarski is their tallest player at 6-foot-1, but runs the point.

Prediction: A hard one to pick. Roosevelt could run away with it if it plays smart and to its potential. Twinsburg and Stow should not be taken lightly.