The Dublin Scioto Irish Boys Basketball Team will be looking to continue to build off of their late season charge from the 2004-05 campaign. The team finished with a 14-9 overall record, which included an upset tournament win over highly seeded Gahanna to capture the Irish's 7th sectional championship in 10 years. Many youngsters gained valuable varsity experience last year but the team will be anchored by 6'7 senior and 4 year letterman Clark Crum. Clark led the Irish with 16 ppg/6 rpg last season and is expected to rewrite the record books in many offensive areas, including being a projected 1000 point scorer before it is all said and done.

Other returning varsity players include junior Austin O'Connell 6'3, who was a starter by the end of the year, junior Kelly Winter 6'1 who backed up at the point, senior Jake Doherty 6'5 and junior Michael Eubank 6'1 who both split time between varsity and jv. Also looking to make an impact off last year's 15-5 JV team is 6'1 junior Kevin Lolli, 6'1 junior Spenser Mooney and 6'0 sophomore Ben Ashwill. New players wearing the green & silver uni will be 5'10 senior Jordan Thomas, 5'8 senior Jamel Scott, along with transfers Chris McLain, a 6'5 senior and Blair Gorniak, a 6'1 sophomore.

The fate of this year's Irish roundball version will be determined by whether others step up offensively to feed off the defensive attention Crum will command from opponents. Last year, Scioto struggled most offensively in games when teams dove hard in the post and at the same time, the perimeter went cold. While the Green & White have always been solid defensively and expect to be so again, somebody needs to accept the "stopper" role that has been a constant staple of Bisutti-led teams.

These will be key issues for the Irish to contend with OCC Cardinal favorites Grove City and Pickerington Central. The rest of the OCC Cardinal is solid as Olentangy returns the core of their backcourt, Westerville Central returns everyone, and Chillicothe has renewed energy with their coaching change. As always, fans can expect a lot of excitement and close games in the league race as March madness rolls in.