Moeller basketball team ranked No. 23 nationally this preseason by USA Today

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The Moeller basketball team is ranked No. 23 in the USA Today Super 25 preseason poll.

“In all honesty, we’re proud of it,” Moeller basketball coach Carl Kremer told WCPO Tuesday afternoon. “I think over the years having a lot of great teams it signifies that there is some national respect for what we do so it’s great.”

Kremer said he would address the national ranking with his team at practice Tuesday afternoon but not dwell on the spotlight.

“In terms of this year it’s really just part of the noise that you have to block out and you have to get to work on the process and those are things that you think about afterward,” Kremer said.

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Moeller, which has won back-to-back Division I state titles, opens the season Nov. 29 against Lutheran East High School (5:45 p.m.) in the Ohio Valley Hoops Classic at Mason High School.

Moeller (29-0 in 2018-19), which has a 49-game winning streak, made its third consecutive state final this past season. The Crusaders are 84-4 since the state runner-up season of 2016-17.

Moeller became the first area large school to win back-to-back Ohio High School Athletic Association state boys’ basketball titles since Elder in 1973 and ’74.

Moeller became the first Division I boys’ basketball team since Zanesville (26-0) in 1995 to go undefeated for the entire season. The Crusaders became the first D-I boys’ team to win back-to-back titles since Canton McKinley in 2005 and ’06.

Moeller features several standouts including junior 6-foot-9 forward Logan Duncomb, senior 6-4 guard Max Land, junior 6-4 guard Will McCracken, junior 6-4 forward Alex Williams, junior 6-6 guard Aidan Noyes and senior 6-2 guard Michael Currin.

“There will be a lot of pressure on this team and a lot of expectations,” Kremer said. “And we have to handle that. And one way to handle it is just to lock in every day into what are you doing and really try to just to pull out all the noise and all that stuff. ...Our whole goal is to be the best we can be in March."