NW Indiana Girls Basketball: 2009-2010 Week-11 Poll

2009-2010 Renegade Girls Basketball

Week-11 Poll

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

(02-17-2010)

MERRILLVILLE, IN (02-20-2010) Most polls end when the regular season ends because if they continued, they'd be proven wrong. Rarely was that more the case than this year.

The top-ranked team in the top-ranked conference almost certainly has to be the top team. It's not brain surgery. Merrillville's second win of the year over Northwest Crossroads Conference champion Hobart (19-3) didn't say as much about Hobart as it did about Merrillville (22-1). But the long, snow-delayed (some downstate sectionals had not been completed Wednesday night) suggested that the season-long concern about NW Indiana in 2010 is true. It isn't one of our better years.

When you look at the powers in the four classes, unless its 4A Merrillville or 1A Oregon-Davis, it's hard to see NW Indiana teams hanging with them. And no one will be surprised if all NW Indiana teams are eliminated before the semistate tournament.

If there is to be a local semistate team it would be Oregon-Davis, which has narrow losses to Class 1A two-time defending regional champion Blackhawk in each of the last two Caston regionals.

Can Merrillville defeat Elkhart Memorial or Clay in the 4A regional? It's possible. The Pirates DON'T have balanced scoring, which in the post season is especially a good thing. Teams have to know where the ball should go when they need points.

Griffith and Gavit have a lot to overcome. Gavit hasn't defeated any quality teams so they probably fall to near-.500 Plymouth (13-10) and, while Griffith should give 2A No. 10 Benton Central (20-4) a strong game in the 3A Rensselaer Regional, the Panthers will be hard-pressed to win twice in the same day. Griffith's controlled, defensive style could pull an upset here.

In the 2A bracket, the largest underdog is Hanover Central but there's drama there. HC (13-9) draws Westview (13-9), a team of apparently equal talent. If Hanover wins, they'd face Garrett, a team that has bombed them the last two seasons 69-38 and 76-41 at the regional level. HC very much wants that game. They'd be a 20-point underdog, but I believe they want another shot at Garrett.

The big upset state-wide (although it wasn't that big) was undefeated, top-ranked Norwell (21-1) falling to 3A power (FW) Elmhurst (73-56). It wasn't that big a shock because Elmhurst is the defending state champ and one of their four losses is to Ben Davis, a team that beats everybody.

Sarah Palin will be on Meet the Press before a Northwest Indiana team wins a state girls basketball title. In 1A, Rivet (23-0) is undefeated and Canterbury has been very strong. Oregon-Davis could get to the final game. Kouts (20-3) is not an elite team from a state-wide standpoint. Like most in Northwest Indiana, for whatever reasons, they just don't play a tough enough schedule.

In 2A, 2009 state runner-up Oak Hill (24-2) has a 6-foot-4, four-year starter at center and a four-year starting point guard. Winchester is 23-0 and four-time defending state champ Heritage Christian (14-9) is still alive after playing a 'state finals' schedule. In 3A, Elmhurst has defeated 3A No. 1 Norwell (21-1), 2A No.2 Oak Hill (24-2), 1A No. 2 Canterbury (21-2), 4A No. 9 Clay (21-4) and 2A No.12 Bishop Luers (15-7). And they're going to lose to Gavit?

In 4A, No. 1 Ben Davis has won 54 games in a row. Seriously. 54 in a row. No one has come within 10 points of Ben Davis. The only way the Giants lose the state title is if nobody tells them that the finals have been moved to Fort Wayne this year.

1. (4A) MERRILLVILLE (22-1)
2009 (10-11), 2008 (17-5), 2007 (16-6), 2006 (19-3), 2005 (12-10)

MERRILLVILLE: Merrillville was commanding in sectional play, the highlight being a 22-point victory over Northwest Crossroads Conference champ Hobart (19-3). The Pirates also defeated Michigan City (15-8) and Valparaiso (13-10) to prove they were the best team in the Duneland Conference, a league they won with a 13-1 record. Merrillville, which has been No. 1 in this poll all season, won three road games in four days, an NBA-like schedule. Bryonna Davis scored 37 against Michigan City while Raveen Murray scored 33 on Valparaiso in a 60-55 sectional final game win. I'll say it again. It's better to have two dominant scorers than it is to have five girls who score 10 a game. You are highly unlikely to win with championships with balanced scoring. You need one or two players who create one-on-one overmatches and Merrillville has that. But I wonder how they handle Elkhart Memorial's two powerful six foot leading scorers Jada Buggs (14.5 ppg.) and Akyah Taylor (16.9 ppg.) when they get to Saturday's Valparaiso regional final game.

2. (4A) Hobart (19-3)
2009 (15-6), 2008 (12-9), 2007 (7-14), 2006 (11-11), 2005 (13-10)

HOBART: Some will say that the Brickies' 64-42 loss to Merrillville at the 4A Valpo sectional meant they weren't as good as advertised. Not really. The truth is, that game just proved Merrillville was very good. DAC teams are consistently underrated locally because they play each other all the time and it doesn't indicate their true strength and weaknesses. All you need to know about Hobart is that they return 11 juniors including all five starters. What they need to do is to totally forget about their regular season record. Hobart has 14 non-conference games and they need to get on the phone. Call up a half dozen of your regular non-conference foes and tell them you'll see them in two years. Then call Elkhart Memorial. Call Ben Davis. Call Fort Wayne Elmhurst. Call Benton Central. See if they will play you. One game at THEIR gym. Call Penn. Call Warsaw. But do not play the same schedule you played this year or you will end up with the same result you had this year. Hobart has the players. They need a 'state finals' schedule. Hobart played a good schedule this year. They need a great schedule. Next year. Two years from now will be too late.

3. (4A) Lake Central (15-7)
2009 (12-10), 2008 (9-13), 2007 (7-14), 2006 (11-10)

ST. JOHN: The Indians bombed Gary West Side 56-42 and then lost to Munster at Munster in a sectional final upset 44-37. LC is the only NW Indiana team that topped Merrillville (22-1) and they had an eight-game winning streak at the end. But with that said, this team is headed towards rebuilding. Five of the top seven players are seniors including four starters led by 6-foot-6 Andrea Kras. LC will be good next year, but they won't have any eight-game winning streaks. Not in the DAC. Still, 4A Sectional One seems wide open for the next year or two. Munster will be favored, but there's no dominant team. LC may be under .500, but a sectional title contender in 2011.

4. (4A) Valparaiso (13-10)
2009 (13-8), 2008 (13-10), 2007 (8-14), 2006 (13-8), 2005 (21-2), 2004 (23-3)

VALPARAISO: Valpo is in the same boat as Lake Central. They gave all they had in a 60-55 loss to Merrillville in the Valparaiso Sectional championship. The Vikings played well much of the year and they went exactly as far as they should have in coach Jeanette Gray's first season. Valpo has good players coming and they'll be a much faster (although smaller) team by the 2011 playoffs. 5-foot-10 Arianna Paul (8.8 pg.) will be a very good team leader. Take away the three losses to Merrillville (22-1) and then judge the Valpo season.

5. (3A) Andrean (14-6)
2009 (12-9), 2008 (8-12), 2007 (18-5), 2006 (15-8)

MERRILLVILLE: I don't know how this team lost 45-33 to Kankakee Valley (13-9) in the sectional quarterfinals. But this is a lot like LC's loss at Munster in the 4A Munster Sectional. When you open the playoffs against the host team, you are ALWAYS in trouble. Like Boone Grove did against Winamac, Andrean couldn't throw the ball in the ocean. What hurts is that KV got stomped by 18 points the next night. Natasha Zurek will lead the 59ers in the 2011 playoffs and there's still good size in Kelsie Plesac and Brittany Andersen. They're going to need some new guards to challenge Hobart in league play. This team proved that playing a tough schedule is no guarantee of post-season success. The 59ers had a very good year that was gone too soon.

8. (4A) Gary West Side (17-5)
2009 (17-7), 2008 (18-5), 2007 (16-6), 2006 (16-7), 2005 (23-5), 2004 (20-4)

GARY: The Cougars had a better season than they deserved. They won twice in overtime and scored a big win over Benton Central. But I didn't think this team had as much talent as the usual West Side teams and they finished with the usual West Side record. Well over .500. I'm not sure what's coming here. Guard Antoinette Taylor returns for the 2011 season, but I don't know what's coming up. I suspect they're losing players to Bowman Academy. The 2011 4A Sectional One is wide open, but West Side has a lot of building to do. Still, 2010's 17-5 was a better record than the players indicated they'd have.

6. (4A) Michigan City (14-7)
2009 (21-4), 2008 (20-6), 2007 (22-2), 2006 (14-11)

MICHIGAN CITY: Take away the three losses to Merrillville (22-1) and the loss to Clay (21-4) and this was a pretty good year. But next year will be better. The Wolves will eventually rise back to the top of the DAC with freshmen Tony Murphy (9.6 ppg.) and Jemeka Collins (5.0 ppg.), two of four freshmen who played significant roles this season. 5-foot-10 Angelique Moore (11.8 pg.) will be back for her senior season, but the underclassmen here will be from the new, blue wave of MC basketball. The Wolves will be hard-pressed to overcome Merrillville and Hobart at the sectional next season. But you'd better beat Michigan City in 2011 because after that it will become very difficult.

7. (1A) Oregon-Davis (21-4)
2009 (22-3), 2008 (24-1), 2007 (25-3), 2006 (14-8), 2005 (11-11), 2004 (7-14)

HAMLET: Oregon-Davis got 33 points from Gabrielle (Gabi) Minix (22.1 ppg.) and they're into the regional against Tri-County (17-6). O-D's record is very impressive. They lost to 4A Elkhart Memorial (23-2) and South Bend Clay (21-4). Minix, a Division I player going to Marquette, feeds the wings who drop the three-pointers from the sky. Trouble is, they have to win twice in one day and the second game is going to be tough for them against Canterbury (23-1), which has more of a post game. O-D is reportedly a tougher defensive team than they were the past couple of years and they have one of the state's best players in Minix. But playing the second game of the day with the smaller, shorter team, is not a blueprint for victory.

10. (2A) Boone Grove (23-2)
2009 (16-7), 2008 (16-7), 2007 (18-5), 2006 (14-11), 2005 (21-6)

PORTER TOWNSHIP: Probably the biggest disappointment in the post-season was Boone losing by 17 to Winamac. The Wolves froze up and scored nine first half points. Boone had a complete team and they'd run the table 12-0 against Porter County Conference teams. The regular season loss was by one point. You can't do much better than that. But the Boone schedule has always been questionable. The team is better and the girls enjoy playing more if they can travel and play in other parts of the state. Boone does not do that but I think they will once the South County tournament disbands after the next season. How they never played Oregon-Davis the last four years is beyond me. Boone is 72-21 over the last four years, but they should trade that success for a couple of tough games against Michigan City or Plymouth. The Wolves return a solid team for the 2011 playoffs including 5-foot-11 forward Brittany Shaffer (8.7 ppg,) and 5-foot-3 lead guard Emily Bobrowski (8.7 ppg,) along with senior to be Brittany Dewell (7.8 ppg.). Center Claudia Cooper should move into a starting role. But 2A is getting stronger. North Judson returns the entire roster next season. Winamac returns three starters. Boone's window of opportunity is closing. They have to play tougher teams and pay the cost to be the boss.

9. (3A) Griffith (17-5)
2009 (16-7), 2008 (17-5), 2007 (15-7), 2006 (14-8), 2005 (15-8), 2004 (13-9)

GRIFFITH: Griffith has lost to Hobart (19-3) twice, Gavit (20-1), Gary West Side (17-5) and Andrean (14-6) and it paid off for them when they won two sectional games easily and they'll carry an eight-game winning steak into a regional showdown with Benton Central (20-4). The Panthers lost twice in overtime and two other times to the Brickies, but that should make them ready for the regional weekend in Rensselaer. The final judgement has not been made here. The Panthers' defensive average (34.3) is misleading, but Griffith is suited to play twice in one day for the same reason. They play at a slow pace. Griffith has won 13 or more for eight years in a row and its time they break through the regional barrier. But just because you deserve to win, doesn't mean you will. Just ask Peyton Manning.

On the outside looking in...

(3A) Gavit (21-1)
2009 (11-10), 2008 (9-14), 2007 (4-17), 2006 (4-16)

HAMMOND: Gavit coasted to the sectional title, playing bad teams. They won the final 77-25 over Lew Wallace (8-13). Big win? Maybe. Gavit has played Clark (0-21) twice, Morton (4-17) twice, Hammond (6-10) twice and Marquette (1-20), Noll (5-16) and Lake Station (4-16). This brings up several questions. When you've played 4 dogs and a pony, what can you do when you suddenly face thoroughbreds? You slow the game which, with Gavit drawing Plymouth (13-10), will not be a problem. Plymouth averages 39 points a game and they allow 37. They play a very slow-paced game. Gavit can hang with them and if Griffith upsets Benton Central in the other Rensselaer Class 2A regional semifinal, Gavit has already defeated Griffith (albeit in overtime) this year. If Gavit is healthy, they may luck out here. It's unlikely, but not impossible.