Holiday Basketball Tournament Preview:  Crown Point may hand Munster first season loss at Highland Holiday Tournament

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Dec. 27, 2002   -  Semifinals - 6:00 p.m.,
Saturday   Dec. 28,  2002  -   3rd place game - 6:00 p.m.

CROWN POINT (5-2) vs. Munster (7-0)
Highland (2-3) vs. Kankakee Valley (1-5)

HIGHLAND  -  If this is the final Highland Holiday Tournament  (CP must drop out because of the new double round-robin DAC scheduling scheme), it may not be missed. This tourney has problems because Highland and Munster are in it, they already meet in Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) play and would never schedule each other in the first round.

That means Crown Point plays Munster and those two schools already schedule each other. Memo to anybody connected with a tournament: To schedule teams that already meet every year is just not an event.

Crown Point and Munster will be a nice game and it would be even nicer if they hadn't played twice last year or if they had any type of rivalry whatsoever.

Munster (7-0) vs. Crown Point (5-2)

Here's a match of very versatile teams. Munster can control the perimeter with the 6-3 to 6-4 trio of John Jamicich, Dustin Bothwell and Josh Martin, who all can play guards and forward.

Crown Point can counter with 6-7 Chris Thomas, who, at this level, can play any position except the point. CP shooter Brian Sparks is very similar to Bothwell and Jamicich and Chad Pruzin is the equal of Munster's Martin.

This game will be won inside where 6-7 Jim Phelan and 6-3 Adam Del Rio battle Thomas and CP's 6-4 leading rebounder Kyle Robbins.
Munster did a strong job defensively against a Lake Central team that CP couldn't stop in an 86-85 loss.

CP's losses are by five points to East Chicago (4-3) and by one to LC (5-2) so they aren't very far from being undefeated themselves.  If you'd look for a weakness, CP isn't that strong physically and Munster isn't that quick. 

Crown Point has 51 three-point goals in seven games and they need a good showing here after an early season schedule of uneven strength.  Munster has played well but CP matches up with them.
I don't think anybody Munster has can guard Chris Thomas (21.7 ppg.) in an up-tempo game and Munster won't slow it down.  Crown Point's defense has been poor at times but, outside of Jamicich, the Mustangs are not a great shooting team.

The Bulldogs split with Munster last year so don't be surprised if Crown Point hands Munster their first loss on this night.

Kankakee Valley (2-4) at Highland (2-3)

Kankakee Valley got a big boost in a 62-58 overtime upset of rival Boone Grove last Friday night but the Kougars have been allowing over 70 points per game.  On the other hand, Highland is very inexperienced and they also give up 60-70 points a game. Who knows who wins this one?  But Highland has a better chance to beat Crown Point than they do Munster, who smoked them 66-37 on Nov. 29.