The house was packed for the I-Wireless Invitational here in Cincinnati, and
certainly the people came to see the defending state champion Moeller Crusaders.
Well, the people got what they came to see. Moeller is better than they were
last year. Despite reports that Josh Duncan would not play and that Moeller had
not played as good as they’d wanted to in the preseason, Moeller put on a show
and looked more than ready to defend their state title.
I’ve covered Moeller extensively over the last two years, but did not see
them all preseason. Friday night, they looked better than ever. Moeller is super
deep, tall, and talented. The only new starter is junior Patrick Watt, the
others 6’3 Bubba Walther, 6’9 Andrew Brackman, 6’8 Ryan Childress, and 6’8 Josh
Duncan all started in Shottenstein the night they won the state championship.
That leaves ultra talented junior 6’8 Tyler Dierkers (who’s a starter in my
mind) to spell any one of the 6’8-6’9 wing forwards, and a contingent of
talented guards to spell Watt and my man Bubba Walther. Akron got an absolute
steal in Bubba Walther. On this night Bubba did it all, he scored, passed, but
most of all LED. He is the leader of this team, make no mistake about it. His
21-point effort was spectacular. The superstars did their part as well. Duncan
played and didn’t look injured at all, he scored 12 and Brackman was well
Brackman chipping in 10. Lakota West could not answer the challenge. Moeller
wins 68-40.