2004-2005 Boys Basketball  Week-7 Renegade Poll A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (1-11-2005)

Editor's Note: Technical problems delayed the posting of the boys and girls Top-10 polls until this weekend (Jan. 15). -DW

(1-11-2005) This is the night time. The absolute dead part of the boys basketball season. The holidays are over and the state tournament is nowhere in sight. It's like starting a long drive at midnight. You know the dawn is out there, but you've got a long drive before you get there. There are pretenders at this point. Teams that aren't that good and don't know it. You'll hear from them for a little while longer and then they'll disappear until the next good night. The big dogs are out there. Eyes open. Shining. But they haven't started to move yet. It's not time for the big dogs to start walking yet. Too many pretenders. Too much noise.

Down in Indianapolis, superpowers Arlington, Pike and Lawrence North are getting ready. Mishawaka (10-0) has already beaten Gary Roosevelt, Chesterton and everybody else. They won the Northern Indiana Conference title. Snider took the Summit Athletic Conference title in Fort Wayne. State top scorer Kyle Benge has 3A No. 7 Plymouth (9-1) riding high but they may be the pretender. Top-ranked Bellmont has been No. 1 all season. Defending state champ Jimtown has amazingly returned to the 2A No. 1 spot and someone from Northwest Indiana will get a chance to take them out in March.

Class 1A is a southern Indiana thing but there must be a showdown between Kouts and Morgan Township before the winner gets Fort Wayne Blackhawk (6-3). No. 2 Caston is 10-0, but Caston is one of those Indiana places that time forgot. I don't even know if you can get to Indianapolis from Caston.

The big dog is still in the pen. Tri-Central (8-0), led by 6-9 Kurt Cunningham, 6-5 Eulise Barney, 6-2 senior guard Dusty Driggs (as far as I can tell, his real name) and 6-1 junior guard Grayson Flitter (even I can't make these names up), who averages 20 points a game. 

Tri-County hit 150 three-point baskets last year and finished 22-4, losing in the semistate. They have an almost impossible collection of players for a school their size. The phrase once-in-a-generation team is suggested here. Tri-County (not Tri-Central) is located in Sharpsville in Tipton County, about 50 miles north of Indianapolis. Remember Waldron, which went 27-0 last year? Tri-County may be the Waldron of 2005. You're going to hear more about them.

1.) Merrillville (7-2)

MERRILLVILLE – The newspapers and radio stations are saying Andrean, but I would guess that if you asked players at Andrean, they would tell you that Merrillville is the best team they faced. And the honest ones would say that Merrillville has a better team than they do.

Andrean (8-1) beat Merrillville 64-61 in overtime on Dec. 11 and the Pirates have not lost since, scoring 55 or more on everybody. 6-1 guard Josh Mayo (15.1 ppg.) scored 22 in a 65-56 win over Portage last week. The Pirates blew out Highland in a game much less competitive than the 56-45 final score. 6-3 Greg Hill broke a slump with 17 points.

The Pirates have bested Valpo (8-2) and Chesterton (7-5) and both losses are in overtime. If you're paying attention, here is the top team.

2.) East Chicago (6-4)

EAST CHICAGO – EC tipped Munster 56-53 Saturday (Jan. 8) in a game that probably spoke more to Munster than it did to EC. The Cardinals are still reaping benefits from the independent schedule and taking on all comers. Here's another team that will fall out of other rankings because of the the simple-minded, won-rise, lose-fall logic. Remember that EC lost 72-60 to 4A No. 1 Arlington, to North Central Conference for Marion, 67-65 to West Side and 52-42 in overtime to to 3A No. 4 Washington (9-2).

Soph E'Twan Moore (21 ppg.) is the leading scorer but all comment on how quick EC is and how difficult that is to control. EC hosts Merrillville Saturday night (Jan. 15) in a nice matchup. The rematch with West Side is Jan. 27 and the season-ender with Andrean is in the distance.

3.) Valparaiso (8-2)

VALPARAISO – Valpo completed the first half of the season with 64-57 win over Michigan City as 6-5 Scott Martin (13.7 ppg.) scored 19. Senior Jon Moon (15.2 ppg.) was 6-of-6 from the line. For the third consecutive game, the VHS offense had a significant dry spell but this time, they'd already built up a nice lead. I would suspect that depth and confidence at the guard line is the reason for the 'bad quarters'.

Valpo's 6-6 'twins', Martin and Rob Hummel (7.5 ppg.) are a significant factor and the Vikings are improving from the perimeter around 6-8 senior center Jon Hanselman (8.9 ppg.). This is a very young team and, if the long season doesn't wear them out, they have a high ceiling this year.

4.) Gary West Side (7-3)

GARY – I don't believe Gary west Side played last week but sometimes, it's hard to tell about the Gary schools. West Side should still be 9-3 when they play at East Chicago on Jan. 27. West Side is big enough and has enough depth to attack teams defensively better than they do. This team should be 'foul trouble proof' because of all the quality players.

There simply aren't many tests left on the West Side schedule. One will be the game with Munster on Feb. 9. But you wished they played Merrillville. They do too.

5.) Andrean (9-2)

MERRILLVILLE – Andrean beat Munster for the second time this year, but that may say more about Munster than it does about Andrean. The 59ers then lost to Roosevelt (5-6) 66-64 Wednesday night (Jan. 12) in a preview of the March Sectional. The first half of the season has gone very well for a team that started late due to the football state title and the 59ers are still without forward Frank Provenzano. Andrean allows over 55 points a game, though, and that cannot go on. 55 points will win a playoff game. The 59ers sometimes lose control of the game on the perimeter.

I'm not nearly as impressed by wins over Highland and Munster as Lake County, which annually overrates those two teams. But, truth be told, it's a weak year in 3A in this area. Andrean, which has the benefit of 6-7 Luke Harangody (22 ppg.), has to realize that eventually he will be stopped and they have to develop other significant and consistent options. There are much better teams than the teams they're playing.

6.) Munster (7-4)

MUNSTER - Munster lost 68-64 and 56-53 but losing to Andrean and East Chicago is good for you. This is an all-new team and 7-4 in 11 games (they'll play 22) is a good halfway mark. The Mustangs trailed EC by 11 and rallied to tie but they aren't as good as EC.

It's time to pick up some wins against some of the softer LAC teams and build up the won-loss record.

Munster isn't ready to beat the Andreans and East Chicagos yet. Everybody keeps talking about the last two seasons, when they won 20 games before losing at the sectional. But if you could replace your entire team and come back with all new boys and never lose, then everybody would have a winning record every year. Munster's four losses are all by 10 points or less. They are having a very good season.

The Mustangs are not where they were the last two years when they were overrated, but with a solid nonconference slate, Munster NOW has a realistic view of how good they are. The latter is better than the former.

7.) Crown Point (4-5)

CROWN POINT – CP went scoreless the last five minutes and lost to Chesterton 45-36, another game they should have won. This team should be winning these close games and they are aware of it.

There have been personnel changes south of the starting lineups and you should see much more offensive production soon because the shots are there. Losing 55-35 to Valparaiso and 45-36 to Chesterton are bad losses because this senior-dominated team should NEVER be held to 36 points. There must be confidence problems here.

Look for the inside play of Ryan Brown to continue to create shots for the shooters. There's a lot of time left. Nobody wins anything in January.

8.) Chesterton (6-5)

CHESTERTON – Chesterton beat Crown Point by nine and Hobart by 12 to edge over the .500 mark. The Trojans have lost to LC (5-7), Merrillville (7-2), LaPorte (6-3), Munster (7-4) and Mishawaka (10-0) which is why they should still be highly regarded.

Freshman Zack Novak (13.3 ppg.) is doing a good job but a revival from Casey Martin (10.1 ppg.) appears to be in the making. Martin scored 14 in Tuesday night's 63-51 win over the Brickies. Nobody's going anywhere with a freshman as the leading scorer so there needs to be a little more production elsewhere.

The Trojans lost 7-foot Evan Schmidt until February with an ankle injury. Chesterton can improve a lot in the second half of the year because the older players will work better with Novak who, I'm sure, they'd never even seen before this fall.

9.) LaPorte (6-5)

LaPORTE – LaPorte lost their first home game in 2 seasons, 49-38 to Lake Central. The Slicers made just 4-of-30 three-point baskets, an incredible number and a sign of the times. 25 years ago, no coach would let his team miss 26 of 30 shots. But with the three-point shot, it's a style that is based on percentages (33% from 3-point range wins) and you can't abandon it in mid-game.

LaPorte may be having problems getting any scoring or at least a presence in the low post to help the shooters. The Slicers simply also may not have the shooting talent they had in past years. It's still early and this is a somewhat new mix of players. They're on the 15-game plan and we've only played 11.

10.) Lake Central (6-5)

ST. JOHN – LC's 49-38 win over LaPorte was balanced by a 49-44 loss at Highland (7-4). LC can't be held under 50 points with the often naive players they have. But Tuesday night basketball in January is about as exciting as a Clay Aiken music marathon on PBS.

LC is one of the surest things in northwest Indiana. You know what they have and what they don't. Strong rebounding teams will trouble them and so will quick teams. But LC is a senior-dominated team which will play well when the time comes.

OUTSIDERS...

Outsider No. 1 - Boone Grove (7-1)

PORTER TOWNSHIP - Boone smoked out Hanover Central and Wheeler in a double-header weekend to run their win streak to 7 games. 6-4 forward Danny Borys (21.3 ppg.) is getting scoring aid from 6-3 senior Will Mitchell (7.5 ppg.) who scored 18 in the win over Wheeler, 58-45. The Wolves sank 16 of 20 from the line against Wheeler. It will be interesting to see what Boone can do at Portage Saturday (Jan. 15).

Outsider No. 2 - Kouts (8-1)

KOUTS - The 'Pony Express' continues with balanced scoring, winning 62-58 at North Judson on Jan. 6 and 67-54 against Oregon-Davis on Jan. 8.

The 'Gang of Four,' John Lauer (15.1 ppg.), Jake Schoon (13.7 ppg.) Jake Birky (9.6 ppg.) and point guard Johnny Selman (13.8 ppg.) still controls the game and the Mustangs overcame 25 from Judson's 6-5 Adam Richie (15 ppg.). Foul shooting (157-215, 73.1%) continues to be very good. This team is easily overlooked locally because of where they play (and because they aren't Highland or Munster), but Kouts is not ranked 8^th (Class 1A) state wide by accident.

Outsider No. 3 - Hobart (6-4)

HOBART - The four-game win streak that ended with a 63-51 loss Tuesday night (Jan. 11) to Chesterton was Hobart's longest in eight years. Michael Brown hit five more three-point baskets in the 60-57 win over Gavit and the 12-point loss to Chesterton. He has 25 for the year. Football star Richard Mitchell scored 20 against Gavit.

The Brickies have not won more than 11 games since 1994 and that is the next goal. Quietly, Hobart comes out of the darkness in another sport and it's all because of the move from the big school DAC to the mid-size school LAC. It's funny how everybody thinks your players are better when you stop playing teams you can't beat.

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Revised: January 15, 2005 .