Basketball season for 2013/2014 should provide another exciting year. What should we expect from Sacred Heart? Remember, please be constructive.

Last year Sacred Heart started out the year on fire winning it's first 11 games, which included being crowned Champions of the Nike tournament of Champions in Arizona. Only problem is we lost Raven Merriweather, one of our star players, due to a knee injury.

 

Most of the players from last year's team returns this year with the exception of starter Matula and role player Long. If this core group stays healthy, SHA will be a serious contender for the 7th region and the Sweet 16. Star Seniors Daijai Ruffin (Middle Tenn State) and Raven Merriweather (Bellarmine), and senior Baisas return with a talented back court of juniors Johnson and Samsel.

 

This team also has a good group of upcoming sophomores that should provide much needed depth. Expect to see a very quick and fast Valkyrie team this year as size is their only Achilles heal. They should have a good rotation of 9-10 girls this year baring any injuries.

SHA and Elizabethtown have a scrimmage lined up on Nov 16th. I know you can't predict much about the season from a scrimmage because the coaches are trying to look at various lineups, but it will be interesting to see how this shakes out. There will be plenty of talent on the floor on both sides of the ball.

The scrimmage from this summer showed several good match-ups...:thumb:

SHA is a much different team with the return of Raven Merriweather, so I think we will be a bit more competitive than we were in the summer. This scrimmage should give both teams a barometer on how far along they are for the upcoming season.

 

I've received reports that Merriweather is back to playing at the level she was last year before the knee injury. This should be a good test for both squads.

After having two scrimmages under their belt, SHA seems to have things going in the right direction. Raven Merriweather looked really good in both of the scrimmages and seems to be back were she left off last year before the ACL injury. Raven coming back at this level takes some of the heat off of Ruffin who is just a beast when taking the ball to the basket. It appears that they have 9-10 players that will see the floor this year with the center position being the most inexperienced with two sophomores getting the PT.

 

SHA should be tough to press because all of the starters can handle the ball well. Their speed and quickness on defense at the 1 and 2 should pose problems for many other opponents with Merriweather and Ruffin helping from the 3 and 4 position. On offense the Valkries have multiple players that can shoot the ball from the outside which might make up for their lack of size underneath the basket.

 

Like most teams if SHA stays healthy they should be in a position to make it to the sweet 16. This should come down to SHA, Eastern, Manual, and Ballard for the 7th region crown.

Very solid team. The most impressive thing to me about SHA was their drive and determination. More than one player on the team had a very focused and business like attitude about them. Very scary team.