WHEELING – Football is winding down as only a few local prep teams are still standing. Meanwhile, basketball is heating up.

This past Wednesday marked the first day seniors could officially ink college hoop scholarship offers. It also shed the light on a bumper crop of basketball talent in the OVAC.

In my 37 years of covering local sports, this year’s collection of roundball talent rates with some of the best. Division I scholarships don’t come down the Ohio Valley pike too often.

This year is the exception.

No less than four local hoopsters accepted D-I offers while a few more landed D-II scholarships. Moreover, a few other standouts have not cast their collegiate lots.

When Ohio State takes a dip into the Ohio Valley talent pool it lands a gem. The Lady Buckeyes did just that when they signed River’s Jensen Caretti.

The 6 ft. 1 guard received offers from virtually every major school not named UConn. She has scripted a prep career which places her on the list of all-time greats with Ashley Battle, Stephanie Petho, Liz Repella and Kacie Vavrek to name just a few.

Bridgeport ace Caitlyn Kroll also rates with the all-time valley best. The Lady Bulldog guard signed with Division I St. Francis (Pa.) She has scored more than 1,500 points while leading Bridgeport to three sparkling regular seasons.

WVU’s Bob Huggins recruits with the best of them. He secured an OVAC star in Wheeling Central’s Chase Harler. The 6 ft. 2 guard is the total package, possessing an outstanding shooting range, adept ballhandling skills and tremendous leaping ability. He will finish near the top of the OVAC scoring list come March.

The Friendly City produced another D-I package in Phil Bledsoe. The Wheeling Park post inked with Marshall. He is a 6 ft. 6 tower of power in the paint for coach Michael Jebbia.

Two Division I hoop recruits from Wheeling in one year is impressive.

The four local D-I recruits are followed by a host of OVAC D-II signees.

Preston Boswell is a big-time talent who opted to stay close to home. The Magnolia standout signed with Wheeling Jesuit University, following in his dad’s footsteps.

Boswell is a 6 ft. 2 point guard who averaged 27 points a game in helping lead the Blue Eagles to the West Virginia Class A title last winter. He will make an instant impact at Jesuit.

Thomas Cole is another prime-time hoopster who opted for a Division I football scholarship after being courted by a host of college roundball coaches. The multi-talented 6 ft. 5 Brooke Bruin is a tight end recruit for Akron University. Cole has been a three-year standout on the Bruins’ hoop squad.

College recruiters found plenty of talent on OVAC girls’ rosters.

The prime talent doesn’t stop with Caretti and Kroll.Alli DeLaney has meant a great deal to Union Local the past three years. The athletic wing, whose mom was a star at UL in the early 1990s, has inked with Division II Notre Dame College, near Cleveland.

Weirton Madonna’s Monica Bragg, meanwhile, has accepted a scholarship to continue her hoops career at West Liberty University. The 5-10 forward has topped the 1,000-point mark.

St. John Central’s Marissa Rose and Linsly’s Morgan Brunner are both stellar seniors who have not chosen their college lots. Rose has scored 1,163 points for the Lady Irish while Brunner has also eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau. Both will be playing at the next level come this time next year.

There are a host of other talented female senior hoopsters who were overlooked by Division II ivory hunters for some reason. That list includes Wheeling Central’s Lindsey Baker, River’s Brielle Williams, St. John’s Lindsey Froehlich and St. Clairsville’s Anna DeFilippo.

The class of still unsigned college-caliber senior boys is topped by the Union Local tandem of 6 ft. 5 sharpshooter Trenton Tipton and point-guard dandy Kaleb McDiffitt and Martins Ferry’s 6-9 post

Emilio Appolloni.

BUBBA’S BITS

URBAN MEYER has coached 51 games at The Ohio State University. The Buckeyes have won 48 of them. He has never lost a game in November with the Scarlet & Gray.

BELIEVE IT or not, girls’ prep basketball season opens this Friday. That will also be the day The Times Leader girls’ hoop preview hits the streets.

Kapral may be reached at bkapral@

timesleaderonline.com