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2008-2009 Boys BasketballWeek-1, Top-10 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(12-01-2008) |
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2008-2009 Boys BasketballWeek-1, Top-10 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(12-01-2008) |
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MERRILLVILLE (11-30-2008) - While it has become politically correct to say that football has somehow become more popular (even though 50-100 schools don't play football), the basketball season again ushers in Indiana's trademark sport.
While football starts too soon (in mid-August) and ends too late, basketball is the bridge which takes the Hoosier high school sports world from the fall to the spring. While everybody pretends they don't, there is no one involved in high school football who is not almost totally exhausted by the time the season finally ends on Thanksgiving weekend. The basketball season actually is a little shorter than it could be. The 20-game regular season is a product of another era, but with the tournaments and now the wave of boy-girl double-headers, basketball is an event-driven sport while football just drones on with most schools playing the exact same schedule they did in the last century.
In
basketball, really small schools can win. Even over big schools.
There cannot be a situation like Waldron, which went 27-0 and won the 2004 title
or Oregon-Davis, which won both the 2006 state titles in football and
basketball. Class 1A football teams are limited. Ask 3-time state
football champ Sheridan what happened when they lost by 5 TDs to West Lafayette
this year. O-D regularly beats 3A schools.
In basketball, fans can watch the games. They play on Tuesday, Friday and
Saturday. Even players can be fans. Football players, fans and
coaches sometimes don't know what they're talking about (some really believe
that Lowell football could beat Valparaiso) because they only see their own
games. That's all you can see when all the games are played on Friday
night.
In basketball, you don't need numbers to turn things around. You need one
player. You need a lead guard. A REAL lead guard. Not like the
Bulls' Derrick Rose, who can take three steps and dunk while his team loses. A
PASSER. Anyone who can dribble with both hands and beat one defender makes your
basketball team competitive at ANY level. There is no such position in
football. The next great star of Indiana football is sitting on the couch
watching TV this weekend trying to convince his buddies that Kyle Orton is an
all-pro quarterback. The next great star of Indiana basketball is out in his
driveway right now, by himself, practicing.
In basketball, you can make your team better all by yourself. In football, you cannot. You can get stronger and faster, but until you practice with your teammates, your team won't improve. In basketball, you can grab a ball, find a place to bounce it (your mom says, 'Go outside') and make your team better right now by becoming a better dribbler. It's that simple.
Finally, football hates girls. It makes them dress up in colorful skirts and sweaters and jump up and down. It makes them bring the water bottles out to the boys. Basketball has come into the 21st century. You can watch your sister play. You can play even if you aren't your father's son.
And basketball is about to get a lot better. Unless the IHSAA denies schools the right to determine their own destiny (there are disturbing quotes from Blake (George Bush "I make my own laws") Rees who says he'll decide how much of a majority is a real majority on the class reduction vote), basketball may go to three playoff classes, which will improve the game significantly. If there are only 24 regionals, six semistates, and only three state championship games, more fans can watch the big games. Again, you simply can't watch more than one football game a week no matter how much you want to.
The most intrigue comes up in NW Indiana this basketball season due to the admission of 1A charter school Bowman Academy to the IHSAA playoffs. Before the Eagles get there, though, there is a very interesting matchup with 2A state champ Bishop Luers on Dec. 5. Bowman also faces Gary West Side and Lew Wallace at the Gary Holiday tournament. The other drama also features Gary. Wirt high is closing after this year and there may be only two Gary schools offering athletics in 2009. That means this could be the final year of basketball for former superpower Gary Roosevelt.
The Duneland Athletic Conference is stronger at the bottom than they are at the top. The last place team in the DAC will have a very bad record, but they'd be able to hang with everyone but prohibitive favorite Munster in the Northwest Crossroads Conference.
Wheeler is a big favorite in the Greater South Shore Conference, but the real fun will be in the Porter County Conference where South Central, with 6-foot-9 all-state candidate Jake Kitchell (17 ppg.), Hanover Central with returning league scoring leader Jordan Rizo (18 ppg.) and Boone Grove, with seven returning varsity players and four returning starters, could all win either the league or tournament championships.
Let the games begin. Games that can be decided in overtime by teams actually playing the game. Not by that pathetic four plays from the 10-yard-line like that low-rent fall sport does. Can you imagine basketball games being decided by a layup drill? Or a 3-on-3 drill. Football? Please. They call that a sport?
1.
(4A)
Merrillville (0-0)
2008
(16-5),
2007
(13-9),
2006 (17-4),
2005
(18-4),
2004
(9-12)
MERRILLVILLE: The Pirates return more than anyone else in Northwest Indiana with four big front court players in 6-foot-8 Jonathan Nwannunu (9.1 ppg), 6-foot-6 Ryan Smith (7.3 rebounds per game) and 6-foot-5 swingmen Dolapo Macarthy and Darious Stevens. The Pirates have little experience at guard, but that traditionally is never a problem for them. Reportedly they do have some talent at guard, although coach Jim East would never say that in advance. Merrillville will probably use some half court pressure and they have the size and athleticism to make things hard on most lead guards in the DAC. The DAC is a down tempo half court league and that's going to suit the Pirates just fine. One thing is for sure. Coach East will tell everyone he has nothing and will ridicule local media for rating his team highly. And at the end of the season he will ridicule local media for underrating his team.
2.
(4A)
Gary
West
Side (0-0)
2008
(18-5),
2007
(14-7),
2006
(7-14),
2005
(19-5),
2004
(12-7)
GARY: The Cougars have NW Indiana's top backcourt in 6-foot-3 Xavier Jones and 6-foot-4 DeShawn Clay (16.5 ppg.) and those two will make them tough to beat. For the second consecutive season, the Cougars will lack size, but 6-foot-5 Baile Barnet may develop. The Cougars play Lake Central, Portage, Lowell, Munster and Andrean so they'll get a lot of chances to test themselves in the region along with their city showdowns with Lew Wallace and Bowman Academy. But you can't just talk about how good you are in Gary, you have to eventually beat West Side.
3.
(4A)
Munster
(1-0)
2008
(16-6),
2007
(21-4), 2006
(20-4),
2005
(16-8),
2004
(20-2)
MUNSTER: Munster returns four starters from last season including senior guard Krste Ruiz (11 .6 ppg.) and soph forward Brian Stolarz (8.9 ppg.) who was the team MVP last year. Munster's record is 93-24 over the last five years and they intimidate some of the teams in the Northwest Crossroads Conference. The Mustangs do not have a lot of athletic ability compared to the other top teams, but they control the pace of the game and rarely waste possessions. Munster plays Lew Wallace, West Side, Merrillville and Valparaiso so they'll know where they stand very quickly. A 81-46 opening night win over Hanover Central was a good start. The Mustangs always have to keep in mind that their sectional is significantly tougher than their league is. They can't be fooled by what they did over the summer or what they do in the Northwest Crossroads Conference.
4.
Valparaiso
(1-0)
2008
(11-14),
2007
(23-3),
2006
(21-3),
22-3
(2005)
VALAPRAISO: There are two local teams that had losing records last season that many are high on for this year. Valparaiso is one of them. They have 6-foot-8 senior Hayden Humes (12.1 ppg.) in the middle and good-shooters like Andy Martin around him. Valpo will lack a little in the front court in a season where the DAC is very tall and the Vikes also have just two seniors. But the Vikings are also going to bother everybody with their slow down style of play. No one is going to rush them and no one is going to run them off the floor. Valparaiso's big advantage is that they play a style nobody else likes to play.
5.
Lake
Central
(0-0)
2008
(9-12),
2007
(13-9),
2006
(7-14),
2005
(11-10)
ST. JOHN: You have to have big people in the DAC and the Indians have a top center in 6-foot-8 Eric Summers (13.5 ppg.). Wing guard Zak Felton is solid and I like Kyle Kaluza and Keith Thompson in the backcourt. There is talk of good depth here, but time will tell on that one. LC takes on South Bend Clay in the 'Region Rumble' and that should be a showcase for them. This is an experienced team and this is their time. I'm surprised anybody survives the 14-game DAC, but LC is one of the teams that could win their sectional.
6.
Lew
Wallace
(1-0)
2008
(13-11), 2007
(5-17),
2006
(4-17),
2005
(5-17)
GARY: Nobody is a better promoter of their team than LW's Renaldo Thomas, but I'm trying to stay off the bandwagon. This team has size, speed and experience led by 6-foot-5 senior Damion McGee (17.4 ppg.). Senior center Sean Tarver is more of a forward, but he's also 6-foot-7. The Hornets have a lot of depth and no one is more enthusiastic than Thomas. But this was an awful shooting team last year. Maybe they're better now. But in the season opening win over Carver, LW was 21-of-43 from the line. That's no good. They did have a winning record last year. They also need to stop playing Chicago teams (there's 6 on the schedule) and play some of the 3A schools they could face in the playoffs. No teams will be more fun to watch if you can find them.
7.
(2A)
BOONE
GROVE
(0-1)
2008
(12-10),
2007
(11-12),
2006
(18-6), 2005
(19-7)
PORTER TOWNSHIP: Boone Grove returns seven players off last year's varsity, including four starters. The Wolves have balance with three-year varsity guard Michael Eleftheri, leading scorer Wayland Roach (12.7 ppg.) and outside threats in 6-foot-5 Ryan Reynolds and 6-1 Greg Wilkins. There is size on the bench in 6-foot-6 Danny Bock and 6-foot-5 Jacob Wright. Senior guard Ben Vasquez adds more depth. Boone plays half of the DAC (they were 0-4 against the DAC last year) as well as arch rival Wheeler. I still don't know how they lost to Culver in the sectional last year and I still don't know why they're in the Culver Sectional. Boone lost the season opener to Valparaiso 76-41 but they should lose to Valparaiso.
8.
(2A)
Wheeler
(0-0)
2008
(16-6),
2007
(17-6),
2006
(19-6), 2005
(16-5)
UNION TOWNSHIP: Wheeler has two all-area players in 6-foot-5 Peter Todorovic and 6-foot-5 Andrew Rudakis (18.4 ppg.), who are matchup problems for all teams. Three other senior guards will try to keep teams from double-teaming the big kids, but the Bearcats want to trap everybody with halfcourt pressure. Spencer Blaney is the point guard and he'll be the pressure focus of everybody else's defense. The Bearcats' schedule isn't good. They need to play Lew Wallace or West Chicago. Many of the teams they play cannot beat them. Wheeler will play 1A power Rockville (23-4) at Valparaiso University on New Year's Day.
9.
(4A)
LaPorte
(0-1)
2008
(8-13), (9-13),
2006
(12-13),
2005
(8-14),
2004
(21-4)
LaPORTE: The Slicers usually win by shooting the ball and they have a shooting team with 6-foot-4 three-year starter Rich Leslie (14 ppg.) and his clone, 6-foot-2 Dustin DeMuth (12 ppg.) the football quarterback. They have four starters returning, including senior guards Terry Beane (8 ppg.) and Josh Knickerbocker (7 ppg.). This is what I mean about the bottom half of the DAC. LaPorte could play with anyone in this region. LaPorte lost only 68-65 to South Bend Riley in the opener and the Slicers had four boys score in double figures. What LaPorte doesn't have is anybody with any experience over 6-foot-4. Everybody in their league is big. The Slicers do not have the size to finish in the top half of the DAC.
10.
(4A)
CROWN
POINT
(0-0)
2008
(17-7), (12-9),
2006
(9-13),
2005
(13-9)
CROWN POINT: CP lost all five starters from last season, but it's very misleading to say they lost everything. Guard Michael Lipton was probably the best athlete on the team last year and he did start and score 23 against Michigan City in a sectional game last year. Guard CJ Mantel did come off the bench for CP last year. Sophomore Michael (Spike) Albrecht could have played on the varsity last season, but they didn't need a lead guard. He is not a scorer but Albrecht is a natural lead guard who will make it hard to press CP. The DAC is a big boys league this season and CP has 6-foot-9 senior Nate Akers and 6-foot-9 sophomore backup Jared Smoot ready to share the job. At forward, 6-foot-5 Chris Lakich and 6-foot-3 Nick Pusara have a lot of potential. CP has seven seniors and all of them figure to play a role. This won't be a losing team.