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2008-2009 Boys BasketballWeek-5, Top-10 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(01-07-2009) |
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2008-2009 Boys BasketballWeek-5, Top-10 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(01-07-2009) |
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VALPARAISO (01-07-2009) I don't know if there's a solid front runner in Northwest Indiana and this looks like a prime year in other parts of the state. Many Northwest Indiana folks have already given 1A No. 2 Bowman Academy the state championship, but the bracket path shows 1A No. 1 Triton a sure bet to meet Bowman at the regional, which I think, is still at Triton.
The Trojans have three players who average 15 points per game or more, but this is not the same team that went 25-2 and won the 2008 state 1A title. Four of those five starters graduated. Still, Bowman will have to play Triton in March at Triton, a place where more than one Northwest Indiana team has fallen in the post-season.
Class 2A is very strong this year. Top-rated Tipton (8-1) is the tallest 2A teams I have seen since class sports began. 6-foot-9 senior Derek Elston is signed to play at Indiana University and he has to look up to 7-foot junior Ethan Jacobs. Senior Luke Overdorf is only 6-foot-8, but 6-foot-4 Kyle Coleman is a double figure scorer. NW Indiana teams like Boone Grove and Wheeler have good size, but not like Tipton.
Third-ranked Bluffton, which would
meet Tipton in regional play (and
could see a NW Indiana team at the
semistate) has 6-foot-7 senior Brock
Woodward averaging 15 a game and
6-foot-10 freshman Keith Cochran.
Class 4A is full of monsters like
Warsaw (7-0) and North Central (9-0),
but Class 3A is unusually light this
season. Perennial power and
regional host Plymouth is 4-4. South
Bend St. Joseph's is 4-5. The door
appears to be wide open for a Class
3A champion out of Lake County (Lew
Wallace, Wirt, Hammond) to make a
surprise run.
We are awaiting pairings for the
late-January parade of small school
tournaments: The 8-team Greater
South Shore Conference (GSSC) the
week of Jan. 20-24 at Calumet; the
8-team Bi-County Tournament at
LaVille beginning Jan. 20 and the
tradition-rich 8-team Porter County
Conference (PCC) tournament which, I
believe, has moved to Hebron this
season.
Until then, this is the dead
part of the season. The holidays are
over. It's cold. The Bulls and Pacers
are sub-.500, Indiana's going to
finish last in the Big-10 and the
Colts and Bears won't be in the Super
Bowl.
When I've got to watch Regis Philbin and 'Super Password' for excitement, it's been a slow season.
1. (4A) Valparaiso (8-1)
VALPARAISO: The Vikings lost 51-50 to Chesterton for their first defeat of the season to end the calendar year. They allowed 40 points a game over the first month and didn't have a bad defensive game. Senior Hayden Humes (14.3 ppg.) is formidable, but the Vikings have only two seniors so they're not going to be anywhere near perfect under pressure. The Vikings have held six foes to 45 points or less and the one point loss to a sectional rival won't hurt them. From this point on, most everybody in the DAC and 4A Sectional 2, is locked into the same schedule.
2. (4A) Gary West Side (6-2)
2008 (18-5), 2007 (14-7), 2006 (7-14), 2005 (19-5), 2004 (12-7)
GARY: Two solid wins by West Side over Marshall and Lew Wallace in the Gary Holiday Tournament keep the Cougars in a strong position. I can't judge the Chicago teams (Fenger and Foreman) who they've lost to. Holiday tourney MVP Xavier Jones scored 22 with seven rebounds and three steals against LW. I still don't think they have the size to do much in the state tourney and there's no one left on the schedule who can confront them with quality post players. West Side at Munster on Feb.12 is growing as a season highlight. The Cougars' guard-oriented attack is well-matched to play against Munster.
3. (4A) Munster (7-0)
2008 (16-6), 2007 (21-4), 2006 (20-4), 2005 (16-8), 2004 (20-2)
MUNSTER: Munster rolled over Mooresville 60-48 on New Year's Day, but that wasn't the match up it had been hoped to be after Mooresville started the season 0-3. The 56-55 win over Lake Central (3-4) probably says more about LC than it does about the Mustangs. Valpo (7-1) at Munster (7-0) on Jan. 31 is also looking like a showcase game in the NW Indiana basketball season. The Mustangs have a few games like Highland (0-5) and Clark (2-6) on the schedule but they finish with Lew Wallace (7-4) as finals' test. Here's a team that has to be patient because they may not be tested that often.
4. (4A) Merrillville (6-3)
2008 (16-5), 2007 (13-9), 2006 (17-4), 2005 (18-4), 2004 (9-12)
MERRILLVILLE: The Pirates won a big one at CP (5-3) when Brandon Clark sank four three-pointers and Ryan Smith grabbed 10 rebounds. Merrillville has lost 50-48 to Lake Central and 58-55 to LaPorte. The Pirates weren't great, but they held CP to 30% shooting. Merrillville then lost 54-40 to Valpo in the first of what may be three meetings. Obviously, they could easily be undefeated. But their guards need to play in more close games before anyone can say how they'll do in March.
5. (4A) Lake Central (4-4)
2008 (9-12), 2007 (13-9), 2006 (7-14), 2005 (11-10)
ST. JOHN: Look at the schedule. I appreciate this is high for a team with a losing record, but strength of schedule DOES matter. The 50-48 win over Merrillville showed what they could do. They were a 'last shot' away from beating Gary West Side. LC went to OT against Valparaiso. Four early losses by less than 10 points. Look at the schedule!! With 6-foot-8 Eric Summers, forward Zak Felton and guard Kyle Kaluza, nobody's going to blow this team out. Look at the schedule. The best seems yet to come here.
6. (4A) East Chicago (4-3)
2008 (20-4), 2007 (23-3), 2006 (19-5), 2005 (13-8)
EAST CHICAGO: East Chicago is getting a lot of credit for games they lost here. Warren Central (5-3), Munster (7-0) and North Central (9-0) have all beaten the Cardinals, but they've been competitive. EC led 22-14 at the quarter on North Central, but they could not control the pace of the game and got run down. The Cardinals don't seem to play much defense, but neither do a lot of the high-powered teams they'll face. EC has two months to figure out how to do better than the 65-48 loss to Munster. This isn't a great team yet, but there's still time.
7. (3A) Lew Wallace (7-4)
2008 (13-11), 2007 (5-17), 2006 (4-17), 2005 (5-17)
GARY: There's a lot of explosiveness here, but LW keeps losing the close ones, largely due to awful foul shooting. The 63-56 loss to city rival West Side in the Gary Holiday Tournament championship game was a 'clean' loss. LW didn't give it away. They just got beat. Wallace played only four Indiana teams in their first 11 foes. All four losses are by 10 points or less but the schedule is so varied, it's hard to say if they could be 11-0 or not. LW also plays at one speed and if they get cycled down from that velocity, they're in trouble. In 3A, they're a threat to get all the way to the regional. But they need to show something against Munster on Feb. 27.
8. (2A) BOONE GROVE (5-1)
2008 (12-10), 2007 (11-12), 2006 (18-6), 2005 (19-7)
PORTER TOWNSHIP: This isn't a surprise. After an opening loss, Boone won five in a row to end December. The first three wins may not have been much but a 25-point victory over Kouts and a 16-point win over Morgan Township took the South County Tourney. This should be a higher scoring team than it is. They are young (7 juniors), but they have enough experience. This is a very, very difficult year in Class 2A, perhaps the toughest since class sports began in 1997. Boone is nowhere near good enough to get to the state finals right now. Winchester, Bishop Luers and Tipton are just dynamic teams with all-staters and all could confront Boone or someone like them at the semistate. But Boone has time to get up near the elite and they have (potentially) one of their best squads.
9. (4A) Chesterton (5-3)
2008 (19-3), (15-7), 2006 (14-9), 2005 (9-12)
CHESTERTON: I'm surprised to see them here, but the Trojans had a 4-game winning streak and a win over rival Valparaiso to end December. Rookie center Mitch McGary (14.3 ppg.) has been effective and, at 6-foot-9, he gives Chesterton what they need in a very tall league. Tommy Pellar (17.1 ppg.) has shown he can be the top scorer Chesterton needs and they're working on depth. This is an impressive rise after a 1-2 start, but as there are in Crown Point, there are still doubts about the next two months here.
10. (1A) Bowman Academy (5-1)
2008 (7-7)
GARY: Bowman, which is only in its second year of existence as a varsity basketball franchise, lost to 2A superpower Bishop Luers 91-72, but they won at 4A Huntington North and that tells you all you need to know. The Eagles have beaten two Indianapolis schools and they swept the 'Winter Classic' at West Central over the weekend. This is a team that has no seniors, but they do have 6-foot-5 freshman DeJuan Marreo to back up Cylk Johnson and TyRae Robinson, two potential all-area players. Robinson scored 24 in the win over Indianapolis Northwest and Marreo added 10 rebounds. They were bothered by the slowdown at sub-.500 West Central and they play few NW Indiana teams, so it's hard to realistically rate them higher than this.
On the outside looking in...
(1A) South Central (4-1)
2008 (13-10), 2007 (10-11), 2006 (15-7), 2005 (5-16)
UNION MILLS: This team should be 5-0, a one-point road loss to Kouts was a surprise. 6-foot-8 junior Jake Kitchell (24.2 ppg.) has been joined by 6-foot-4 guard John Fagan (13.4 ppg.). 6-foot-6 senior Jack Kammrath (9.4 ppg.) will be asked to get into double figures as teams double and triple-team Kitchell. Soph Matt Walker (12.3) is a 6-foot guard who has only played three of the first five games, but he had 20 in an unexpected 71-52 blowout of Hanover Central on Dec. 20. There is size on the bench, too. Kitchell has a 6-foot-5 sophomore younger brother on the varsity. There are six varsity sophomores. This is still a team on the rise. There are two collisions ahead -- with Boone Grove in the Porter County Conference tournament and with undefeated Triton (6-0), which was 25-2 last season, in the Triton 1A Sectional.
(4A) CROWN POINT (5-4)
2008 (17-7), (12-9), 2006 (9-13), 2005 (13-9)
CROWN POINT: CP lost 49-48 to Merrillville (6-2) and 55-50 to Portage in the first really close games they've played this season. Rookie guard Michael Albrecht passed out seven assists against the Pirates and 6-foot-4 guard Brady Schuster (10.3 ppg.) has been a surprise addition to top scorers Michael Lipton (12.0 ppg.) and center Nate Akers (10.3 ppg.). This team has not shot well yet: just 41% from the field and 62% from the line. The Bulldogs are going to need to be better than that. CP has not put together a consistent offense and basketball is still an offensive game. This is an all-new team and they're on the '15-game plan'. Check back with them in another month.