Yes, basketball season has arrived. Our annual high school preview will be released Tuesday.

There are a few things different with this year's preview, which I want to address; two in particular:

1) Teams will be organized by Division. With all the conferences these days -- 10, plus independents, for the 29 area teams -- we decided to change the format and organize teams by the four Divisions. This is more of a direct shot at the schools, if I can be critical, because there's just way too many conferences and not enough local teams.

This year, we tie the Divisions together with a road to regionals theme. If you know me, you know I put an emphasis on conference play with many stories -- particularly in the preview. This year, it's more about how teams stack up in their postseason district. If the schools get their act together and consolidate league affiliations, we'll go back. Unless that happens, I hope everyone likes this new format. It beats having only two or three area teams grouped together because they play so many out-of-area schools.

2) Wrestling is absent from this preview. It's strictly a basketball preview. Mathematics worked in this, too, and I don't want wrestling to get pushed to the back of this special section as it usually is. The section, for the last two years, has been broken into two parts. It makes sense for those two parts to be boys and girls basketball.

Now, if you like wrestling -- and wrestling around here is as good as it gets -- keep an eye out for the daily sports section later this week. We will run a series of previews, starting with Division I on Thanksgiving, Division II Friday and Division III Saturday. I hope everyone who follows wrestling will enjoy this. More information can be included, and it can be presented in cleaner format; not being crammed with basketball.

This year's Avon football team was built for a run with all the seniors it had at key positions. Now, where do the Eagles go next year?

They will have to replace their quarterback, running back, receivers, key linemen, among others. We could in fact see a team that better resembles the one we saw in three playoff games: a stout defense that can move the ball just enough to win games. Offensively, fullback Zak Wearsch could become a key feature back, and the defense looks like it has potential: especially up front.

In the West Shore Conference, Midview would be my early pick, but you have to wonder if this gives the Eagles' program momentum with the way Avon is growing.

November is my favorite month. Yes, it's my birthday, but the best present of all is having football and basketball playing at the same time.

This year could be one of those years football carries over into basketball season. Remember teams having to postpone their schedules because the football teams did so well in the playoffs? I'm sure Avon does, and the Eagles will likely be doing it for the first time since 1996. The '96 Eagles were so good in football, their boys basketball team picture wasn't even taken in time for the annual previews.

I'll let that be my judgment in whether the '08 Eagles are better than the '96 Eagles.

As for everyone else, it's business as usual. For a few, like North Ridgeville, Admiral King and Southview, it's business on high alert. All three teams have a ton of talent and experience back, and if they're going to make a big run at conference or postseason championships, this is their year.

Basketball seems to run in spurts with successful teams, and I think this is the end of a spurt. Last year, Elyria and Vermilion ended a long drought of big schools getting to regionals. This year, the Division I and II schools have a good chance of doing it again.

More basketball will consume my mind and many others' minds as November draws on. Until then, it's a good time to know what's coming, but, more importantly, enjoy the football runs of Avon and Norwalk St. Paul.

Yes, I said greatness in the headline. It's a word that shouldn't be thrown around loosely, and I don't think I've ever refered to something as great in a story or column.

But, when it comes to softball in this area, greatness is synonymous with the sport. A question Tim Alcorn brought up Monday night on a WEOL broadcast was the state of Lorain County football, and why it’s not on par with other areas in Ohio. That question could be asked in many area sports, but not softball.

In softball, Lorain County – and the Canton-Akron area – is where the talent lives. Keystone’s Kara Dill is the epitome of great softball.

She’s about to sign with Kentucky next week, adding herself to the long list of Division I college softball players from the county that keeps growing. The ironic thing is Dill isn’t just a pitcher, which is the draw about softball. Dill is a better middle infielder and hitter, two aspects that don’t get the same love as pitching.

So, congratulations go out to Dill and adding herself to the list of greatness that is Lorain County softball. And, the next time wonder about the state of Lorain County in football and basketball, allow it to produce a greater appreciation for softball – a sport the area can pound its collective chest about.

Lorain County football is up, but it still has a long way to go. For the first time in a long time, Lorain County was better than Erie and Huron counties -- a comparison many at the Journal draw upon. What does that really mean? Not much.

After reading a few discussion boards and sitting back and soaking in Friday's night's regional quarterfinal games, it's obvious strength of schedule is part of the problem. But, that strength of schedule also comes from within.

By that, I mean all teams need to improve, and not just the top-tier teams with their schedules. They can only do so much.

Take Avon, which plays Defiance Saturday night, for example. If the Eagles win, you can look at their Week 1 game at Aurora and say you saw then this team had the poise to win in the playoffs. If they lose, you can look at their West Shore Conference schedule, in which they scored more than 40 points every game, and say that conference was a detriment to their chances.

Schools like Ottawa-Glandorf, which beat up on Clearview Friday, don't just go out and schedule the best competition for the first three weeks. Their competition within the conference, from the teams they know and see every year, is strong.

In the office, we had this discussion one time with schools around Lima and basketball. In areas like that, the kids just seem to be more dedicated to the sport. I'd argue it's the more rural areas, or perhaps less distractions. Another is stability.

Avon Lake is the class of the area, and Dave Dlugosz has been there for a few decades. St. Paul makes the playoffs consistently, as does Huron. Both of their coaches have long-standing tenures. Amherst, which has a strong program, has gone through three coaches this decade. Avon is on its third coach since the last time it went 10-0 12 years ago.

The coaching situations aren't neccessarily the fault of the coaches. Take Clearview, for example. The Clippers' last two coaches, Matt Wilson and Mike Collier, have taken their teams to the playoffs. But, the Clippers went through three other coaches after Tom Hoch died in 1997 and before Wilson became coach.

The inconsistency isn't the coaches' faults. It sure isn't the athletes' faults, and believe me, they're just as talented as the kids in Lima or at Ottawa-Glandorf. The fault is with the administration. Oberlin's fall to multiple winless seasons came because a school board member wanted a new coach, and that set the program back by what seemed like light years before Dave McFarland took over.

Many of these coaching changes have come because of agendas with school board members. Look how much better Admiral King has been in the last three years -- it's because Mark Campo has been able to stay. Let the athletic directors do their jobs and oversee the athletic programs. If other administrators worry about what they need to -- which is putting their school systems in a position to succeed academically -- then athletics will take care of themselves.