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2015 Boys Basketball"Magnificent 7," Week-1 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith12-02-2014 |
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2015 Boys Basketball"Magnificent 7," Week-1 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith12-02-2014 |
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| Munster has won 135 varsity boys basketball games in the last six seasons. |
MUNSTER
(12-02-2014)
We're seeing a lot of schedule change as what will be the 2015 boys basketball
season begins.
With a handful of new schools playing and the end of the Duneland Conference's
double round robin, it's good to see old teams facing new opponents.
Maybe one or two of these schools played varsity basketball last season, but the new names I see are Hammond Science and Tech, Charter School of the Dunes and the South Bend Career Academy. Gary's Lighthouse CPA and (Gary) 21st Century are now eligible for state tournament play.
No longer in action is Lew Wallace, which closed, with more than one player moving to Gary Roosevelt, which may itself close soon. Also on a lot of schedules is the Midwest Prep Academy, a prep school in Merrillville that is not an IHSAA school, but will play local teams. They began the season with a 76-60 win over Westville last Friday.
The most significant new game I see on the schedule is the Saturday, Jan. 24 first time meeting of Bowman Academy and Crown Point. For years Gary schools have complained that none of the suburban schools would play them, much less go to Gary to do it.
Crown Point, which also plays (with Chesterton) in the Noblesville Holiday
tournament Dec. 29-30, has shot holes in that theory again.
It was always a somewhat bogus charge. Lowell has played Gary West Side home and
home for 11 years now. Crown Point and Merrillville played Roosevelt for decades
before the Duneland Conference double round robin.
The real story here is two-fold. 1.) Gary schools want the fans of the 'rich
suburban' schools to come and buy tickets. Whether that happens or not will be
interesting to see. When Gary schools play Chicago area schools, no visitors come
to the games.
2.) The suburban schools (read: largely white kids) don't want to have crowd
control problems with Gary schools (largely black kids). It's not that it's more
likely. It's that when there are problems, it quickly becomes a racial issue and
not just an issue of misbehaving kids. Nobody trusts anybody to be fair and
honorable.
The CP game at Bowman (and I'm assuming a rematch in 2016) is a big deal because
the mere fact that the game is even scheduled suggests that these two schools,
at least, are beyond that thinking.
All of this could have been avoided were it not for the almost decade long
disaster of the DAC double round robin that forced big schools to gut their
schedules to play 70% of their games against the same seven schools.
I still can't believe that a group of people got into a room and thought that was
a good idea.
Among the tournaments this season, Lake Central, Munster and Merrillville all go
to the eight-team Carroll Invitational Jan. 2-3. Portage and Valparaiso travel
all the way to the Ohio state line for the 16-team Richmond Invitational Jan.
2-3.
Lowell and Kankakee Valley travel east to the Caston Shootout Dec. 31 to Jan .3.
Andrean plays Midwest Prep Academy, the Merrillville-based school, on Jan. 13
and Gary West Side plays Midwest Prep on Jan. 6.
Different faces in different places. It looks like a good year.
1. (4A) Munster (2-0)
MUNSTER: Munster returns lead guard Drew Hackett (18.2 ppg.) and an all-senior starting lineup. 6-foot-6 Nikola Mandich and 6-foot-5 Mike Madura add size, while junior Luke Hackett (both Hacketts are the sons of coach Mike Hackett) adds backup strength. Munster has the best record in NW Indiana over the last five years and this will be a big year. They've added Bowman Academy and Crown Point to the schedule and, beginning with a 63-44 win over Bishop Noll on Nov. 27, the wild horses are ready to ride again.
MICHIGAN CITY: The defending Class 1A state champs may be even stronger with 6-foot-8 G/F Ryan Fazekas (14.4 ppg.), who scored 34 in the state championship game win over Barr-Reeve. Starting guard Braxton Miller and 6-foot-4 forwards Michael Smallwood, and TyShaun Smallwood, all return. The Blazers are a mismatch for everybody in the small school Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) so they've added 4A Concord and Fort Wayne's Bishop Luers. MQ lost 88-77 to East Chicago in the season opener, but it wasn't EC's first game so that might be deceptive. Why this team does not play Bowman Academy is a story I do not know. But Marquette will play in the tradition-rich 16-team 'Big Dipper' tournament at Rich South high school in Richton Park, Illinois. MQ has a state title rematch with Barr-Reeve Dec. 6 at a tournament at Southport high school in Indianapolis. If Marquette tops Barr-Reeve (which was 26-2 last season), they will be No.1 in Class A all season.
EAST CHICAGO: The Cardinals were eliminated by Lake Central in the sectional
semifinals, but nobody has more returning than EC.
Top guard Hyron Edwards (20.6 ppg., 3.5 apg.) and forward Damion Jefferson (15.1
ppg. 7.1 rpg.), both Division I college prospects, could make the Cards a state
contender if two sophomore starters, Jermaine Cousinard and Keishawn Lewis, hold
up their end.
ECs independent schedule will see them face Bowman, North Central Bishop Noll,
Gary West Side, Munster, Marquette, Lake Central, Crown Point and powerhouse
Simeon from Chicago.
They take on all comers and with Edwards, who scored o25 in the season opener
against Dunbar, they should.
No one has higher expectations than this team annually and this is a year
they've pointed to. EC, which topped 1A champ Marquette 88-77 last week, can go
0-20, but this is the year they must win the sectional.
They might not have the players to win it for a few years after 2015.
CROWN POINT: The Bulldogs should be strong with lead guard Blake Bonin, 6-foot-5 top shooter Grant Gelon, 6-foot-6 center Nick Jeffirs (14.5 ppg.) and all-purpose guard Josh Berquist. CP has four 6-foot-4 players on the bench and 6-foot-3 guard vets Thayne Bukowski and Sasha Stefanovic. This team seems ready to rumble and they had better be. The Bulldogs have added (Lafayette) Jefferson, Bowman Academy and the Noblesville Holiday Tournament to the schedule. Arch rivals Lake Central and Merrillville will be tough and CP visits state-rated Munster on Dec. 19. The season opener with Andrean was rescheduled for Dec. 12.
GARY: The closing of Lew Wallace has given Roosevelt an unexpected boost as
three LW varsity players now play for the Velt. Roosevelt topped Bowman Academy
Friday night (11-28-2014) to announce that they need to be considered.
The Panthers have size with 6-foot-8 Josh Fallas and 6-foot-7 junior Tevin Faris,
who averaged 21 points a game last season. Senior guard Antoniio Poole
transferred in from Hammond and 6-foot-3 junior DeShawn McIntee, a LW transfer,
should start.
The Panthers did lose to Midwest Prep, but it's going to be hard to judge games
against that team.
The schedule is not state-class, but it does include Michigan City, Griffith and
Chesterton. This sounds a lot like the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lots of good
players. Give them 3 months to get it all settled.
GRIFFITH: Anthony and Trerell Murphy, two 6-foot-5 forwards, give the Panthers hope they can challenge Munster in the Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC). Calumet guard Anthony Harris, a 6-foot-4 senior, averaged 18 a game but he won't need to do all that for the Panthers. Here's a team that hasn't done anything in years and that's the problem when they face a Munster team that wins big EVERY year. Griffith could see 1A No. 4 Covington in the Highland Holiday Tournament. The Panthers are in the same sectional with Bowman and Gary Roosevelt, so they will either be good enough for a long playoff run or it'll be a one game post-season.
GARY: Hard to know where to rank Bowman, which lost all starters from last season including 6-foot-5 junior Davon Dillard (17.5 ppg.). But the Eagles will have 6-foot-8 Avery Edwards and 6-foot-7 Robert Howard. 6-foot-4 junior Chris Porter transferred in when Lew Wallace closed. The new lead guard is 5-foot-7 Martin Schiele. Bowman's schedule is an adventure. The Eagles play Chesterton, Lake Central and now Crown Point from the DAC. Bowman plays city rival Roosevelt for the first time in years. If the schedule I'm seeing is accurate, Bowman has three road trips to Ohio, one to Milwaukee and another to Detroit. The Eagles also play tradition-rich Chicago schools Morgan Park and Whitney Young and Indianapolis powers Tech and Cathedral. The Eagles opened with a 20-point loss to Gary Roosevelt so they have some improving to do.