2005-2006 Boys Basketball  Week-4, Top-10 Poll A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (1-2-2006)

VALPARAISO (1-2-2006)  The top two continued to separate themselves from everybody else in NW Indiana as the holidays came to an end.  Valparaiso (8-0) got 17 points from guard Kyle West, who came off the injured list in a 65-42 win over Chesterton.  If Merrillville can't stop the VHS boys Tuesday night (1-3-2006) then it may be a while before anyone does.  Munster is clearly No. 2 now at 10-0 after escaping against Merrillville 49-45.  But the Mustangs' schedule gets easier as the dark months (January-February) wear on.  Happily, Valparaiso and Munster meet on Saturday night, Jan. 28 in Valparaiso.  Unhappily, Munster will probably lose before then.  The Mustangs play Andrean and East Chicago back-to-back this weekend.

Outside NW Indiana, for those who have Andrean in the state finals, Plymouth (7-1), the 3A regional host, has won seven in a row.  In a match up of unbeatens in the Northern Indiana Conference Tournament, Penn (8-0) turned off the offense of Mishawaka (9-1) in a 50-41 title game battle.  In the 16-team Marion County championships down in Indianapolis, the giants will be walking when Pike (8-1) and North Central (7-1) take their shot at superpower Lawrence North (8-0).  First up would appear to be a quarterfinal match up of three-time state champion Pike and Lawrence North at Perry Meridian on Jan. 12.  North Central, with the nation's No. 1 junior in 6-3 guard Eric Gordon (25.3 ppg.), could not meet North, with the nation's top senior in 7-1 center Greg Oden, until the final on Jan. 14 at Southport.

To give you an idea of what it's like in Indianapolis, Lawrence North will have to play BOTH 4A No. 4 Pike and 4A No. 6 North Central again after the Marion County tourney and could see BOTH of them at the regional level in March as well.  Lawrence North has already beaten Chicago power Proviso East (13-1) and Ohio top-10 (Dayton) Dunbar and they have yet to play 4A No. 2 Bloomington South (8-1).  It is unlikely that North can travel this minefield undefeated but if they do, the question of who the greatest Indiana high school team of all time will again come up.

1.) 4A Valparaiso (8-0)

22-3 (2005), 22-3 (2004), 17-4 (2003)

VALPARAISO - Valparaiso was very strong in a 23-point rout of a good Chesterton team. Senior guard Kyle west hit five three-point goals as the Trojans struggled to score against the tall, mobile perimeter.  Chesterton has a decent team but it was 25-8 after one quarter.  Everybody but West Side coach John Boyd says that the 6-8 wing players Rob Hummel and Scott Martin make Valpo one of the most unique teams in NW Indiana history. West's return as a 3-point threat allows Valpo to play some of the Chicago Bulls' triangle offense with Martin or Hummel on the weak side to prevent help on defense.  That noise you hear late at night is 4A coaches staying up late trying to crack this wide wingspan defense and tall, quick offense.  Barring injury or illness, only Merrillville and Munster would appear capable of stopping a 20-0 run in a down year in the Duneland Athletic Conference.

2.) 4A Munster (10-0)

16-8 (2005), 20-2 (2004), 21-2 (2003)

MUNSTER -   Munster did what they had to do to survive against Merrillville slowing the pace and taking the 49-45 win.  The Mustangs were just 7-of-13 from the line, usually a source of strength.  Munster guard Michael Bizoukas scored 13, but he was the steadying influence against Merrillville's quicker defenders.  Mustang hopes rise and fall with Bizoukas who has to beat his defender and draw a double team.

Munster's offense has slowed lately, under 55 points in each of the last four Mustang games.  But we are nowhere near the state tournament and the ponies need to ride against Andrean and East Chicago this weekend just for fun.  Munster doesn't travel out of Lake County like they need to but they do play every good team in the NW Indiana.

3.) 4A East Chicago (6-3)

13-8 (2005), 13-10 (2004), 18-6 (2003)

EAST CHICAGO - EC got smoked by north central down in Indianapolis 73-52 but they are playing the non-NW Indiana schedule that Valparaiso wishes they could play (14 DAC games handcuff them this year).  The Cardinals will not see anyone like NC star Eric Gordon in Northwest Indiana and they won't miss the thrill.  The Cardinals have the offense to be a major player at the East Chicago sectional in March but they need to find defensive stoppers.  This team, with senior transfer David Bell is not what they will be in eight weeks but this isn't a strong year and we're hurting for excellence.

4.) 3A Andrean (9-3)

21-3 (2005), 15-7 (2004), 11-12 (2003)

MERRILLVILLE -  Andrean lost for the third time in four games a 75-66 defeat on the road at Brebeuf in Indianapolis.  The 59ers are an inexperienced squad that needs as many tough foes as they can find to get ready for the inevitable, a winner-take-all regional game at Plymouth in March.  6-8 senior Luke Harangody was at 20.9 points and 12.0 rebounds per game after 10 games but the 59ers have no other double figure scorers and they need one or two.  Chris Kaba made 32 of his first 38 foul shots.  The 59ers lost the LAC title game to Munster last month and they get a rematch Friday night at Andrean.  I don't know how much speed this team has and whether anyone can shut down a good scorer.

5.) 4A Merrillville (5-2)

18-4 (2005), 9-12 (2004), 15-11 (2003) 

MERRILLVILLE - The Pirates struggled through a close lose at Munster and a too-close 71-62 win at home to .500 Crown Point (4-4).  There's just no way that Merrillville can give up 27 field goals against a sophomore-dominated and short-handed Bulldog team.  The Pirates 17 of 21 from the line saved them along with a 29-15 fourth quarter.  Merrillville has lost just twice to CP in 18 years.  Darryl Evans scored a career-high 23 points against CP for the Pirates, who have lost only to Munster (10-0) and Andean (9-3).  The DAC's second best team takes on the DAC's best team Tuesday night (1-3-2005) to see if anything has changed in those characterizations.

6.) 4A Gary West Side (4-4)

19-5 (2005), 12-7 (2004), 7-12 (2003)  23-4 (2002)

GARY -  As much as they have struggled, it is ridiculous for local newspapers not to rate Gary West Side in the Top-10.  The Cougars won the Gary Holiday tournament with a victory over White's Creek, Tennessee. Senior wing Jamil Tucker scored 30. Again, polls are not supposed to be knee-jerk reactions to wins and losses. They are supposed to be thinking judgements of who is better. West Side is better than Clark and every player on Clark would tell you that.  The same is true of Morton or Hobart.  Watch for the newspapers to rediscover Gary West Side in January, sheepishly slide them back into the polls and pretend they never had Hebron rated ahead of them.

7.) 4A Highland (7-2)

16-8 (2005), 16-7 (2004), 16-10 (2003)

HIGHLAND -  Highland had a 16-day layoff after  losing to East Chicago 69-66 in a game where they gave up 26 field goals.  The Trojans have a fine leader in Andrew Helmer, but they lack a lot of size for the sectional they are headed for.  With over two weeks off, who knows what this team has.  You do know they have won two games in overtime and they may not be as good as this record indicates. Nobody really thinks Highland is better than Gary West Side.

8.) 4A Chesterton (4-4)

9-12 (2005), 13-8 (2004), 16-6 (2003)

CHESTERTON -  Here's another example of where most local polls are as weak as Chicago Bears second stringers.  Chesterton has lost four so they're bad, right? Hold on.  The losses are to Mishawaka (8-1), Merrillville (5-2), Valparaiso (8-0), and in overtime to Munster (10-0).  6-5 sophomore forward Zack Novak 918 ppg.) made 26 of his first 28 foul shots and guard Curt Bradford was 16 of his first 33 from three-point range.  There's no true lead guard here and that shows up at times.  But the Trojans have four games in a row they can win starting with LaPorte (3-7) on Tuesday night.

9.) 2A Wheeler (7-3)

16-5 (2005),  20-5 (2004),  21-3 (2003)

VALPARAISO - Wheeler lost the Wheeler invitational title game 61-56 to a Hobart team they defeated before.  The Bearcats have struggled in their own tournament in recent years, losing to Hammond in 2004. Hobart trailed Wheeler 36-24 at the half and came back to win despite six three-point goals by Wheeler's Zach Green.  Despite the split with Hobart, I'd say the Brickies are the better team.  Guard Lamar Micou averaged 4.6 assists a game after eight starts.

10.) 4A Lake Central (2-6)

11-10 (2005), 14-6 (2004), 14-8 (2003)

ST. JOHN -  I still insists that LC is a top-10 team. The Indians beat Portage 67-59 to end the calendar year. I'll say it again. The losses are to Gary West Side, Chesterton, Munster, Valparaiso, East Chicago and Merrillville, six teams that are above them in this poll.  You cant rate bad teams in the top-10 just because good teams play tough schedules.  LC is a top-10 team. You're just going to have to trust me on this one.

On the outside looking in...

11.) 2A Boone Grove (5-1)

19-7 (2005), 13-9 (2004), 11-12 (2003)

PORTER TOWNSHIP - NW Indiana's perennial small school power is back on the block even with two players (including 6-3 ace defender Will Mitchell) on suspension for the first 10 games.  6-3 Bryce Palleson scored 24 in a 44-43 win over Morgan Township, but Boone also turned back Hebron (5-2) on the Hawks' home floor in the South County tournament.  The Morgan game should not have been that close as Boone was 11 of 22 from the line.  Boone is not a top-10 team right now and they don't figure to sweep the double rival weekend against Hanover Central and Wheeler this (Jan. 6-7) weekend.  But the Wolves figure to rise in this poll in the weeks to come.

12.) 4A Hobart (5-3)

10-11  (2005),10-11  (2004), 9-13 (2003)

HOBART - The Brickies have not had a winning season since 1997, but they have an outside shot this year after an upset win at the Wheeler sectional.  The Brickies, led by football stars Michael Brown and Richard Mitchell, have a tough road ahead with Munster, Merrillville, Highland and Chesterton ahead.  Mitchell had 14 as the Brickies rallied from 12 down to beat Wheeler last Thursday, but I'm not sure Hobart is better than Wheeler.  Still, this team plays a top schedule and has the chance to improve in the next two months.  If you look at the remaining games, you see 10-10 staring you in the face.  That would look good to Hobart.

13.) 3A Clark (4-1)

8-13  (2005),12-9  (2004), 6-14 (2003)

HAMMOND -  The Pioneers have not played in two weeks, which has allowed them some 'face' time in local polls.  But the schedule has been softer than the Northwestern football defense.  Clark has beaten Whiting (0-7), Calumet (1-7), Kankakee Valley (3-4) and Joliet Baptist.  They are no closer to being a top-10 team than the Black Hawks are to the Stanley Cup.  But when you look at the schedule (no Andrean, No Merrillville, No Crown Point, No Gary Roosevelt, No East Chicago), Clark should have a big winning season.  But can they beat Morton (5-2)?  That's the question.  Probably not.  That's the answer.

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Revised: January 04, 2006 .