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2004-2005 Boys BasketballIHSAA - Class 1A, 4A Northern Semistate PreviewsA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(3-16-2005) |
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2004-2005 Boys BasketballIHSAA - Class 1A, 4A Northern Semistate PreviewsA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(3-16-2005) |
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1A
Lafayette Semistate
No. 2 Lapel (23-3) vs. No. 9 (Fort
Wayne) Blackhawk (17-8)
LAFAYETTE – It's hard to believe that Lapel defeated both No.1 Tri-Central and tourney favorite Lafayette Catholic last week at the regional level. It isn't hard to believe that BlackHawk was far too strong for upset kings Morgan Township and West Central at the Triton regional. Lapel is led by 5-11 guard Jason Holsinger (22.6 points), a Division I player, who scored 22 in the 46-44 upset of Lafayette Catholic. Blackhawk is the much bigger team physically with 6-5 Phil Kelpin, who scored 23 in the 63-48 rout of West Central and 6-7 Adam Tein. 6-2 guard Brian Heger screed 21 in that game.
Blackhawk outrebounded West Central 41-28 and that would appear to be Lapel's problem because the Bulldogs have no one taller than 6-3. But Lafayette catholic had two 6-6 players and Lapel beat them anyway. Tri-Central had a 6-9 center and a 6-5 forward. they outrebounded Lapel 32-21 and it did not matter.
Lapel, which is a distant northeast suburb of Indianapolis in Madison County, will clearly spread the floor and slow the game and allow Holsinger to try to win it. Coaches tend to exaggerate a lot but Lafayette Catholic's coach Chad Dunwoody called Holsinger the best Class A player in the state. Holisinger scored 32 in the 79-63 upset of undefeated Tri-Central, hitting eight three-point goals.
Blackhawk should win, but there's something about Lapel. Over 5,000 fans watched the title game in Frankfort and 2,500 were from Lapel, which won the sectional for the first time in 62 years.
Lapel's crowd will dwarf the Blackhawks followers in Lafayette on Saturday and that should mean a lot. Also, with a guard leading the way, Lapel's chances of coming from behind seem better than Blackhawk's.
But with an entire week to design a defense to stop one player, I think that Blackhawk, which has played a tougher schedule, can rise to the occasion here.
Holsinger may be good, but he's not better than the players Blackhawk saw when they played half the Summit Athletic Conference this year.
Lapel has lost only (twice) to 4A Madison County neighbor Pendleton Heights and once to superpower Muncie Central, who will be in the same building Saturday to play Gary West Side.
But no one has come within 10 points of Blackhawk in the playoffs. Lapel is starting to sound like 2004 Waldron, which went 27-0, but I like the bigger, stronger team on a neutral floor.
I thought Blackhawk would be here playing Tri-Central or Lafayette Catholic, but I have picked the 'Blackhawks' to be here since the pairings came out and there's no reason to back off now.
Once you go 'Black', you can never go back.
4A Lafayette Semistate
No. 11 Gary West Side (23-4) vs. No. 5 Muncie Central (26-1)
LAFAYETTE – Two of the giants of Indiana basketball meet, perhaps for the first time ever, as 2002 state champion West Side comes down I-65 to take on the godfathers of Indiana basketball, eight-time state champ Muncie Central.
The NW Indiana hype machine is pumping up the 'Side' and young coach John Boyd, but the Cougars play their toughest games out of state and last week's victories over two-time Elkhart Sectional champ Concord 66-55 and DAC co-champion Valparaiso 57-43 while impressive, did not give you the impression that West Side is ready to skip the finals and jump straight to the NBA.
The Cougars' 6-8 star Jamil Tucker cannot go 0-for-10 from the field like he did against Valparaiso or West Side's season will be over Saturday. George Kelly smoked Valpo's sagging defense, by hitting 20 points, including three three-pointers. But Kelly won't do that again. He averages about four points a game.
The Side was 17 of 25 from the foul line against Valpo, a big plus. They have 12-man depth, something that sent Valpo packing but won't be as effective in a one-game-in-a-week scenario.
Muncie Central is a monster. They have lost only 64-60 in overtime to Pike (23-3), the state's No.3 4A team.
They crushed a powerful and athletic Fort Wayne North (16-6) team 80-52 last week and smoked out Kokomo 68-39 just for fun on the same day. The Bearcats problem may be focus, especially if they get an early lead. Central is so dominant (16 wins by 10 or more) they may start thinking about the ultimate 'Superpower Summit' -- a match between Central, which has won 19 games in a row, and defending state champion Lawrence North, which is just leveling everybody in the southern half of the 4A bracket.
In NW Indiana, West Side brags a lot. But traditionally, Muncie Central eats West Sides for lunch. One of the nation's greatest basketball traditions and the true keepers of the flame for the storied tradition of Indiana basketball, Central has brought 54 sectional titles and 23 regional championships back to their home base in Indiana's timeless Delaware County.
They've played basketball at Muncie Central since World War I and this is one of their better teams with 10 returning letterman and four returning starters off last year's 20-4 squad. Muncie has already eliminated No. 5 Anderson and No. 9 Richmond.
Four seniors start with 6-6, 230-pound Southern Illinois Division I recruit Jordan Miller (18 ppg., 10 rebounds) in the pivot for a three guard attack including 5-11 defensive specialist Josiah Miller, 5-11 long range shooter Ty Riddle and 6-2 1,000-point scorer and floor leader Alex Daniel (13.2 points, 4.8 assists, 2.4 steals).
Daniel is a very interesting case. A former all-conference quarterback, Daniel gave up football (Muncie was in the top-10 in football) his senior season with the expressed desire to lead his team to the state title in basketball.
As the best teams do, Muncie Central is pointing for the state finals and anything less is failure. They aren't shy about speaking of putting up that ninth state title banner in the local papers.
This may work in West Side's favor because, if Saturday's showdown stays close, Muncie may choke worse than Notre Dame in a must-win game. The Cougars have to put a bigger player (6-5 David Bell or 6-4 DeShawn Wright) on Daniel to try to force him to give up his dribble far from the basket. The Cougars don't want the 6-8 Tucker guarding Jordan Armstrong (although he could be the help/double team defender) because Tucker can't foul out. But West Side has size all over the floor if they don't need too much help on Armstrong.
West Side's press has been very effective and they can't back off it here, even against an experienced three-guard attack. The Cougars can force Muncie turnovers and they'll need them because the Bearcats average 67 points a game.
West Side's weakness is that they don't really have a true center and that will hurt them here. I'd run an extra player at Armstrong as soon as he touches the ball to try to wear him down. The Cougars have to be careful not to back off Riddle, described as the North Central Conference's premier outside shooter. But the 'Side' can afford to foul and be physical because they've got a lot of extra players on the side.
On offense, Tucker (17 ppg.) may be matched up with the 5-11 Miller, daring the West Side junior to try to win it all by himself. Tucker must take that challenge and wear Miller out like a cheap pair of shoes. Tucker has to come up big in a big game. Muncie Central has no match for him and could get hurt on the boards.
This second game played in mid-afternoon, could fill the 7,000-seat Crawley center in West Lafayette and be an instant classic even though both teams are probably whistling past the graveyard.
Muncie Central's center is 6-6 and West Side has no center. Neither is equipped to handle defending state champion Lawrence North and 7-foot Greg Oden.
But this one is worth the price of admission. West Side is having a great basketball season, with the girls winning regional and semistate titles, but nobody ever made a movie about Gary West Side.
(The team Hickory beats in the movie Hoosiers is a South Bend Central, a thinly veiled version of Muncie Central, the team Milan beat in 1951)
Central was 30-of-50 against Fort Wayne North, an athletic inner-city team like Gary West Side. The Cougars average 72 points a game but they did not play well offensively at the regional level.
With seven Muncie Central seniors experienced at the semistate level, it is illogical to pick Gary West Side. The Cougars defended a team without a point guard (Valpo), a team without a center (Concord) and three teams that had struggled in big games all year (LC, Munster and Highland). None of those five resemble Muncie Central.
Gary teams have a tendency to break down at this point because the us-against-the-world mindset that permeates the town gets them out of their game when the calls don't go their way.
West Side can win, but not if they whine. Central has earned the right to go get whipped by Lawrence North. West Side's year is 2006.
Muncie Central 63, Gary West Side 53