2004-2005 Boys Basketball  Week-2 Renegade Poll A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (12-2-2004)

(12-2-2004) No real surprises in week one. Lake Central's win over Gary West Side last Saturday (11-27-4) must be taken in the context of the fact that West Side played Lew Wallace earlier that same day. The 'Region Rumble' at the Hammond Civic Center on Saturday Dec. 3 has some interesting matchups with Gary Roosevelt taking on 3A No. 7 Pendleton Heights (3-0) at 1:15, 4A No. 8 Richmond (2-0) playing Highland at 5 p.m. and 3A No. 3 Washington (1-0) facing East Chicago at 7:15.

These are good matchups, although Highland and Roosevelt seem a little overmatched. To be fair, Roosevelt was picked to play here before all-stater Tyrone Appleton transferred to prep school.

But the quest must start now. Lawrence North may have the nation's number one team. They clearly have the state's No.1 player in 7-1 junior Greg Oden. North is playing No. 9 Snider in Fort Wayne's War Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 11 so they WILL travel. East Chicago and E'Twan Moore would play them. EC is an independent and could schedule whoever they want. Oden would fill the Civic Center.

That matchup saves the 'Rumble', which has not drawn the crowds that the concept should draw. I would also suggest that the 'Rumble' be made into a tournament with four boys and four girls teams. Semifinal games at 10 a.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. With title games at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. People do not get into the 'Classic' format where there is no winner. People want a four-game tournament with one winner like the Hall-of-Fame tournament in late December. Championship games draw crowds. “Classics' don't have that drama.

1.) East Chicago (2-1)

EAST CHICAGO – The Cardinals smoked out Michigan City 80-58 and Roosevelt 70-54 before losing 67-65 to Gary West Side. The positive news is that senior guard David Connor, who it was said might not play until midseason, was on the floor and averaging 6.0 per game. Sophomore forward E'Twan Moore (24.6 ppg.) scored 24 against West Side but the Cards lost when Connor, a skilled ball-handler fouled out in the late going. 6-3 senior Efrem Simmons (12.3) has scored in double figures in every game. The Cardinals were 49-of-80 (61.2) from the line in three games and that's not really good enough.

2.) Merrillville (0-0)

MERRILLVILLE – The Pirates had a postponement and they don't start playing until Friday, Dec.3 against highly-regarded Chesterton. They have the region's best lead guard in 5-10 Josh Mayo (16.1 points, 3.1 assists) and he'll join 6-3 junior Greg Hill (8.0 ppg.) and 6-4 senior Jimmy Reitz up front with 5-11 Dennis Howell (3.9 points) and 5-9 Tristan Dawson in the backcourt.

Merrillville' strong program always makes a certain amount of talent available and this year is no exception. 6-4 senior forward Dwayne Mormon, 6-6 sophomore Mike Stokes, 6-3 senior Aaron Marcus and 5-10 baseball star Darryl Evans are all good athletes. Merrillville hosts the sectional and might again be the favorite but you have to win the third meeting with DAC rivals in this sectional and the Pirates might not be that good. Here's another team that could be great, but they could lose on opening night because the Trojans have already played twice.

3.) Chesterton (1-1)

CHESTERTON – Wait a minute. Forget the 82-53 win over Morton AND the 75-71 overtime loss to all-stater Antonio Dye and Mishawaka. Chesterton had that game won when Dye hit a 3-point shot to tie the game.

Did 6-3, 205-pound freshman Zack Novak (19.5 pg.) really score 27 points against a very athletic Mishawaka team? I said it last week. Chesterton has as much talent on one team as they've had in at least 15 years. 6-4 senior Casey Martin (14.0 ppg.) and 5-9 senior guard Matt Maple are solid athletes. 6-11 Evan Schmidt who apparently did not play (he was not listen in any box score) is a key as a sophomore but 6-5 senior Chris Allison can also do the job in the paint.

But obviously, you've got to watch Zack Novak. For a freshman to score 27 against 4A No. 20 Mishawaka (2-0) qualifies him as an impact player.

4.) Crown Point (1-0)

CROWN POINT – The Bulldogs came out of the gate fast and led 31-5 at injury-riddled Griffith (1-1) Saturday on the way to a 66-36 win.

CP has a 10-man attack with interchangable parts and everyone is going to have trouble with their press-and-quick pass attack. The inside combo of 6-5 Brian Maloney and 6-4 Ryan Brown combined for 18 points in the opener. 6-2 twins Sam and Seth Henderson combined for 18 more. The Bulldogs sank 16 of 21 from the line. They've got five DAC games this month and they'll find out very quickly if they can do what it appears they can do.

5.) Gary West Side (2-1)

GARY – West Side coach John Boyd again scheduled two games in two locations in the same day last Friday and the Cougars beat Lew Wallace 110-74 and lost to Lake Central 74-73. 6-7 Jamil Tucker (15.6) was held to 10 by EC but 6-4 guard DeShawn Wright (23.0) scored 29 to boost West Side to the title of the EC Turkey Classic.

The Cougars appear to have a very explosive offense and you can write off that loss to LC after Wallace wore them out by letting the Cougars score 110 points. The Cougars made 66 of 99 free throws (66.7%) a strong percentage on an awful lot of shots. the Side needs to keep those refs all season.

6.) Valparaiso (2-0)

VALPARAISO – Valpo hasn't looked great but they have defeated Boone Grove and Hobart in the early going. 29 of 36 from the foul line (80.6%) helps. Senior Jon Moon (14.5 ppg.) and 6-5 junior Scott Martin (11.5 ppg.) appear to be able to give the Vikings needed scoring. The Vikings were 16 of 17 from 3-point range in the 41-37 win over Hobart but that might be a fluke with an inexperienced team. Again, don't be fooled that Valpo's new starters are unknown factors. It's not like the presidency or announcer of the Cubs. You can't just be related to somebody or luck your way into the job. You actually have to earn it. More so at this school than others, you just don't play varsity as a freshman or as a sophomore.

7.) Lake Central (1-0)

ST. JOHN – You can't start better than a 74-73 win over a talent-laden West Side team. Senior Jon Maida scored 14 to lead the victory. 6-5 guard Brett Summers had 11 and senior point guard David Hoffmaster had 19.

But there is no overconfidence at LC this week.

LC probably doesn't beat West Side if the Cougars don't play another game earlier that day. Also, LC has seven brutal games in December with Valpo (2-0), Crown Point (1-0), East Chicago (2-1), Chesterton (1-1), Merrillville (0-0), Munster (1-0) and Portage (2-0). If LC is still standing at all after this month, they have a good team.

8.) LaPorte (1-0)

LaPORTE – LaPorte had a postponement with South Bend Riley so they haven't played yet. That's good because several boys have injuries. 5-10 soph guard Airrence Shark (5-11) is coming off a 1,000-yard season in football and he needed the extra time to get well. 6-8 senior center Josh Corey has the size you need in the DAC this year. There is a lot of depth here and they'll have to be. Senior guard Troy Tonagel (8.0 ppg,) is out until January with a broken wrist.

Teams with returning guards cannot be ignored, even if one of them isn't returning until after the holidays. They start at Crown Point and there's no way of knowing if they're ready or not.

9.) Portage (2-0)

PORTAGE – 6-2 Buster Battreal (17.5 ppg.) scored 20 in a 49-41 win over Highland. Senior guard Anthony Leal (11.0) score din double figures in both wins. 6-4 center Jake Bryan (9.5 ppg.) scored 12 points and nine rebounds in the win over Highland. 5-9 guard Milt Rivera (8.6 ppg.) is injured and not playing but 6-3 junior Josh Stanley scored 10 against Calumet.

Portage may pull some surprises in the next three weeks against Michigan City, Valparaiso and LaPorte.

10.) Andrean (0-0)

MERRILLVILLE – Happy days are here again at Andrean after they won the state 3A football title last week. It's unlikely that 6-0 guards Tommy Finn and Jake Kocal will have enough practices to play Saturday (Sept. 4) at Bishop Noll. But the front line of 6-7 Luke Harangody and 6-7 Chris Kaba will be ready along with 6-3 wing Frank Provenzano (13.6 ppg. last year). Obviously, this team could lose some games early. But they're 3A state football champs so who cares? At least, for now.

OUTSIDERS...

Outsider No. 1 - Boone Grove (0-1)

PORTER TOWNSHIP - Boone Grove is the favorite in the Porter County Conference with 6-4 forward Danny Borys (17.3 ppg.), 6-4 junior center Jon Shurr and 6-3 guard Will Mitchell (7.1 ppg.)

creating matchup problems in most games. Schurr will allow Borys to face the basket and shoot over smaller defenders. Jake Pivarnik, a sophomore guard, should develop into a double figure scorer although Valpo held him to eight on opening night.

6-1 senior Joe Faron has experience at lead guard. Nobody better get hurt on this team because I don't know about the rest of these players. The best thing Boone does is open the season with Valparaiso. Very quickly there are no illusions about how good they are. The Wolves lost the opener 61-48 at Valparaiso. Borys scored 21 with 11 rebounds and the Wolves hit 19 of 24 (79.1%) from the line. They'll be fine.

Outsider No. 2 - Munster (1-0)

MUNSTER - Munster had 10 days off after a season-opening win. But 6-8 center Scott Rutkowski is off to a good start with 11 points in the opener and the sophomore class includes 5-10 guard Steve Luptak (12 vs. Clark) and 6-4 soph Joe Wingis. In the season-opening 80-36 win over Clark, the Mustangs made 14 of 17 from the line. Munster appears to have a lot of potential but they opened with Clark so it's hard to tell. The Mustangs need to win at Hammond Saturday night.

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Revised: December 06, 2004 .