2006 IHSAA Boys Basketball Tourney Class 2A North Judson Regional Bracket Sectional Overview A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (3-2-2006)

NORTH JUDSON (3-2-2006) The North Judson regional bracket changed when Judson was eliminated by Winamac (3-18) on opening night.  That makes 2A in the north the most unpredictable regional bracket in the 96th Indiana state tournament.  Nobody here is great, but the win by Winamac (3-18) indicates you might want to hesitate before writing anybody off here either.

No. 10 Rochester has played a tough schedule, but No. 3 North Montgomery (17-3) has not.  Wheeler and Boone Grove are not ranked because each has faced several 4A schools and paid the price.  North Montgomery has played just two 4As and one was Zionsville (4-17).  Another low-rider is John Glenn, which had a 12-game win streak and was the favorite here at midseason, but has now lost three of their last four.

Class 2A is probably the best bracket of the Indiana state tournament.  Class 4A has the monster schools with 4,000 students, while Class 1A has a lot of holes.  There's a lot of teams that really can't play.  Class 3A is skewed by all the private schools like Andrean, Brebuef, Bishop Chatard, Bishop Luers, and Mater Dei, although not as much as on the girls side.

Class 2A has few private schools and the small town traditional Indiana flavor, but you can't luck by like you can in 1A.  You typically get some great match ups and you can't avoid them this year.

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96th Indiana State Tournament

(2A)  BOONE GROVE SECTIONAL 33  (CST)
2-28-6:  Wheeler 61, Hammond Noll 43
3-3-6 (F) Boone Grove [16-5] vs. Lake Station [1-19]
3-3-6 (F) Hanover Central [7-13] vs. Wheeler [18-5]
3-4-6 (S) Championship (7:30) CST

(2A) JIMTOWN SECTIONAL 34  (EST)
2-28-6: Fairfield 55, LaVille 37
2-28-6: Jimtown 34, Bremen 31
3-3-6 (F) Fairfield [13-8] vs. Jimtown [12-9]
3-3-6 (F) John Glenn [15-6] vs. Westview [10-9]
3-4-6 (S) Championship (7:30) EST

(2A) RENSSELAER SECTIONAL 35  (EST)
2-28-6: Winamac 41, North Judson 40
3-3-6 (F) Rochester [15-5] vs. Rensselaer [10-10]
3-3-6 (F) North Newton [12-8] vs. Winamac [3-18]
3-4-6 (S) Championship (7:30) EST

(2A) FOUNTAIN CENTRAL SECTIONAL 36  (EST)
2-28-6: Clinton Central 56, Fountain Central 47
2-28-6:  Sheridan 54, Delphi 41
3-3-6 (F) Clinton Central [8-13] vs. Sheridan [5-16]
3-3-6 (F) Seeger [1-19] vs. North Montgomery [17-3]
3-4-6 (S) 3-4-6 (S) Championship (7:30) EST

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VEEDERSBURG (3-3-2006) The thrill is gone here as the host team bought the farm on opening night.  But there was no favorite here other than No. 3 North Montgomery, which got 23 points and nine rebounds from  6-foot-7 center Kevin Kyle in the regular season finale, a 77-40 win over Greencastle.  The other heavy duty man for the Chargers is  a newcomer, 6-foot-3 freshman wing DJ Byrd, who scored 25 against Greencastle.

I don't see who beats NM here, although Sheridan is led by football star freshman Nick Zachary, who scored 23 in the win over Delphi Tuesday.  Clinton Central junior guard Jordan Tucker hit 20 in CC's win over Fountain Central.  Sheridan had a 10-game losing streak at mid-season, but they won 2 of their last 3, including a 60-56 win over Clinton Central.

Seeger lost the season opener 59-41 to North Montgomery on opening night in November and the size of the Chargers is still too much for them.  Sheridan is the only team here with any size to challenge North Montgomery, which is 5-0 against 2As and 8-2 against 3A teams.  With a bye and home court, no one is truthfully picking anyone but North Montgomery to win their second consecutive sectional title.

 

ELKHART (3-3-2006) Jimtown squeaked by Bremen 34-31, but they are playing with 6-2 guard Brian DeShone  (14 ppg.) carrying a dislocated kneecap.  DeShone scored seven points and he may get better as the week goes on.  Fairfied has 6-5 junior Ben Werner and 6-4 soph Andy Curry  who combined for 27 in the 55-37 win over Laville.

Glenn has no one bigger than 6-foot-3, but they are the defending regional champion.  6-foot-2 Jared Thompson  (13.3 ppg.) and 6-1 Dylan Morris (12.4) lead a balanced attack.  Three of the Falcons played on last years' sectional and regional winners.  Westview has lost three of their last four, although two are to 4A schools.  Westview beat Jimtown by 12 earlier this year, but that's not who they're playing here.  Westview has no one taller than 6-3 and I just don't see them beating Glenn.

That lines up Jimtown and Glenn and I'll take an upset here.  If DeShone does not re-injure his knee, the Jimmies come out of here with a narrow victory.

 

RENSSELAER (3-3-2006)  6-foot-4 forward Luke Smith can score from 20-30 points a game and, with Judson out, I don't know who stops him here.  Rensselaer is a physical team on their home floor and an upset of Rochester wouldn't be surprising.  These two teams did not meet during the regular season.  North Newton lost to Rensselaer by 33 and you don't make that up.  I think Winamac's win was a fluke.  The record shows they have lost too much by too large a margin to win three straight here.  So it comes down to the winner of Rochester-Rensselaer and I'm thinking Rensselaer at home pulls a major upset here.

 

PORTER TOWNSHIP (3-3-2006) If you've noticed, I've picked all three home teams so far and it will be hard not to do that here.  Boone Grove got a bye and a semifinal against Lake Station (1-19), a team that hasn't won a sectional since World War II.  Wheeler got through round one and they have one more hurdle, a Hanover Central team they have beaten 12 times in a row.

The Bearcats are well balanced with good shooters and lead guard Lamar Micou surrounding 6-6 center Nate Kasper.  They had trouble with Hanover Central in a  47-40 Holiday Tournament game and they will have more problems here.  HC closed the season with two wins over lesser teams, but they have a 50-50 chance to pull a major upset here.  The key is foul-prone guard Mark Myszkowski --  can he stay on the floor and lead the Cats?  Myszkowski is not one to crack under pressure and he's a top foul shooter.

Wheeler is the only team here that can beat Boone Grove.  But they have no history of success at Boone.  I think they'll look past HC and pay for it.  HC gets a giant upset here.

But Boone Grove has every advantage here as the defending sectional champion and the host.  It should be Boone winning the seventh 2A sectional title in the nine years of class basketball.

 

NORTH JUDSON (2A) REGIONAL

 

NORTH JUDSON  (3-11-2006) If it's Jimtown vs. Boone Grove and Rensselaer against North Montgomery, there again is no obvious winner.  The Jimmies and Boone both play patient styles and they have good size.  I don't see a lot of teams beating Boone at their game.  Boone has a lot of depth and Jimtown has injury problems.  Take Boone in a low scoring game.  North Montgomery's height will cause major problems for Rensselaer, which has been up and down all season.

Boone Grove against North Montgomery would come down to how well Boone can control NM's 6-7 center Kevin Kyle.  It will be somewhat of a repeat of their match with Wheeler and Nate Kasper.  This Boone Grove team can go to the bench for strong boys who can push the center away from the basket.  The Chargers just have not played  the schedule Boone Grove has and there is no substitute for that.  This is putting a lot of pressure on Boone, but they should win this.  They are playing in familiar places.  They have the depth.  They have shooters and, once the get past Wheeler, I don't think they can see the type of full court pressure that would shut them down.

Boone Grove in 2006 wins the school's first boys basketball regional title.

BOONE GROVE  49, North Montgomery 44