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2006-2007 Boys BasketballWeek-4, Top-10 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(12-21-2006) |
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2006-2007 Boys BasketballWeek-4, Top-10 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(12-21-2006) |
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VALPARAISO (12-21-2006) - The holiday tournament season opened this week with the small school Mid-Winter Classic at Lacrosse and the annual South County tourney at Kouts. The holiday tournament concept pits two opposing forces against each other. One: Lots of kids home from college want to reconnect with the high school so they come to the holiday tourneys. Parents have more time to watch their boys play. Two: There is little incentive for kids to want to play basketball during Christmas break. There's a lot of other things going on. When tournament games are played in the morning or mid-afternoon, they are played in front of empty gyms. That's just a bad idea.
I like the Wheeler co-ed Holiday concept with two days of play beginning at 2:00 p.m. and ending with an 8:00 p.m. game. A 2:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. game works during the holidays because people have other things to do. An 8:00 p.m. holiday game is late, though, and I wouldn't go if I didn't have to. They might want to slide the whole program up an hour and send everybody home by 9:00 p.m.
Those who run tourneys might want to lean harder on promotion. Send out dates and times and a preview to the newspapers. They'll rewrite it and use it. Trust me. Either that, or the writer who covers the tournament will have complete information. In two-day tournaments, the organizers need to send results to daily papers so they can promote the next days' games.
At last report, all four teams in the Hall-of-Fame tournament at New Castle on Dec. 29 are unbeaten. Valparaiso (6-0) faces Cathedral (5-0) in one semifinal. Host New Castle (7-0) takes on Vincennes Lincoln (5-0). Lincoln does have to play Bloomington South (5-1) Friday night and all these teams have at least one more game before the Hall-of-Fame. But that stacks up as an elite tournament, even if it is 200 miles from Northwest Indiana and nobody up here can see it.
NUMBERS GAME: Freshman Jake Kitchell (12.5 ppg.) of South Central made 23 of his first 24 free throws. He is already 6-foot-7. Kankakee Valley senior guard Danny Lewellen was averaging 28 points a game after eight games. Undefeated Oregon-Davis (7-0) has six senior ballplayers 6 foot or taller. Understand that Oregon-Davis only has 200 students and half of them are girls. LaPorte center Colby Kus is 26 of 30 (86.6%) from the foul line.
1.
(4A) Valparaiso (7-0)
2006 (21-3), 2005 (22-3), 2004 (22-3)
VALPARAISO -
Valpo has to guard against coasting, led by 6-foot-8 all-staters Scott Martin
(19.5 ppg.) and Rob Hummell (16.3 ppg.). Guard Marcus Biggs (6.1 ppg.) and
wings Kevin Mayne (9.2 ppg.) and Nate Windsor (5.8 ppg.) are playing the roles
they need to play. 7-foot senior Evan Schmidt has not played a significant
role but that may come when Valpo takes on teams with tall post players. That
could come Friday. The Vikings have to have an answer for the spread
attack that Merrillville will certainly throw at them Friday night and they'll
be challenged by two 6-foot-7 forwards. I think they welcome this. The
season has been too easy so far.
2. (4A) East Chicago
(5-1)
2006 (19-5), 2005 (13-8), 2004 (13-10)
EAST CHICAGO - I don't know if everyone is aware that East Chicago could face top-ranked North Central (7-0) with 6-4 All-America guard Eric Gordon (26 ppg.) next week in the finals of the North Central Tournament in Indianapolis. North Central plays Bowling Green in the Dec. 28 semifinals while EC takes on Hamilton, Ohio. The North Central - East Chicago championship game would be 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p., CST) on Friday, Dec 29. East Chicago played without guard E'Twan Moore when they beat Highland 48-35 on Monday. Moore (22 ppg.) may have been sitting out to get ready for the North Central tourney and they'll need him to be healthy next week. They won't get a chance to play North Central without him.
3. (4A) Chesterton (5-1)
2006 (14-9), 2005 (9-12), 2004 (13-8)
CHESTERTON - The Trojans have run off to a 6-1 start, but they haven't played Valparaiso (6-0) yet and that game comes up on Dec. 27 after an 11-day holiday break. When you look back at the 60-57 overtime loss to Munster, Chesterton should be undefeated. Zach Novak (24 ppg.) is the best offensive player in the DAC and he's getting help inside from 6-foot-7 Jack Haupt (10.7 ppg.) and guard Mark Babcock (8.7 ppg.). Do they have a chance against Valparaiso? They don't match up very well. The Trojans don't have the quick guard or the big physical post player who could hurt Valpo. But Chesterton will have a six-game winning streak and 11 days of thinking about it to give it a try.
4. (4A) Munster (8-1)
2006 (20-4), 2005 (16-8), 2004 (20-2)
MUNSTER - Munster followed up the LAC championship win with a 57-52 win over neighbor Lake Central Tuesday (12-19-2006) night. Guard Michael Bizoukas scored 31 points. And, while I know Calumet did beat Munster, that was without Bizoukas (he was injured) and I don't know if it really counts. The No. 1 rule of high school basketball is that the team with the best lead guard wins. Bizoukas had eight assists as Munster beat Hammond 63-62 for the LAC title Saturday (12-16-6). To be honest, I thought the wild horses had a very soft path to the LAC tournament title, only having to beat Lake Station (1-5), Hobart (3-3), Andrean (4-4) and Hammond (5-5). How can you win a 16-team tournament and never see someone with a winning record? Bogus seeding that gave Andrean a No. 4 seed (in a 16-team tourney) when they were winless. That's how. But Munster is back on track and they get nine days off before a Dec. 29 game with run-and-gun Kankakee Valley. They will play 22 games (due to their LAC run) and the game Jan. 6 with East Chicago will tell some tales. Remember, the team with the best lead guard wins.
5. (4A) Merrillville
(3-3)
2006 (17-4), 2005 (18-4), 2004 (9-12)
MERRILLVILLE - The Pirates have lost three games by a combined total of eight points, so the 3-3 record is very deceptive. The 49-40 win over Lake Central may have been costly if guard Mario Stapeleton suffered a separated shoulder as was reported. This could easily be a 6-0 team and their match up with Valparaiso would gain state-wide notice. The Pirates have a chance against Valparaiso because they are quick in the back court and have tall posts. Plus, Merrillville coach Jim East is certain to haul out the four corners attack to spread the Vikes and attack their weakest defender. Merrillville has defeated Valparaiso in each of the past two seasons. Don't think both sides don't know that. The Pirates are young and they might choke up in the big game. But if Valpo runs into foul trouble, there is a significant upset possibility brewing Friday (12-22-2006) night.
6. (4A) Gary West Side
(3-3)
2006 (7-14), 2005 (19-5), 2004 (12-7)
GARY - Gary West Side has defeated three consecutive Chicago schools including Farragut, a perennial power. But this team is basically starting the season over after a 16-day holiday break. The Cougars face a brutal schedule with East Chicago, Munster, Hammond and Lawrence North after the first of the year. I believe they have far too much offensive ability for most teams in NW Indiana, but they haven't played in so long that I don't know anything about anything here. Defensively, we'll also have to wait until they can get out on the floor again. 16 days is an unbelievable amount of time off during an athletic season.
7. (3A) Calumet (4-1)
2006 (4-19), 2005 (4-17), 2004 (2-20)
GARY - Calumet lost in double overtime 72-67 to Andrean, but that should not discourage them. The first quarter of the season has gone better than they could have hoped. The Warriors are one defensive stop away from being 5-0. You might want to get a ticket for the run-and-gun shootout Friday night when Clark (5-2) matches their 67 points per game offense against Calumet's 72 points a game attack. One note: Calumet plays Indianapolis Howe (5-1) in the semifinals of the Benton Central tournament on Dec. 30. Check this out. Howe averages 84 points a game and no one has held them under 70 points. This team will quickly become the story of the year. Calumet will lose their share, but they don't test your skill and size as much as they test your stamina and depth.
8. (4A) LaPorte (5-2)
2006 (12-13), 2005 (8-14), 2004 (21-4)
LaPORTE - LaPorte is off to a strong start with losses only to Merrillville (3-3) and Valparaiso (6-0), arguably the two top DAC teams. It's a young team. Senior center Colby Kus (11.8 ppg.), a 6-6 senior, has been very effective as has been 6-1 shooting guard Austin Kesling (14.4 ppg.). The Slicers have another good shooting team and they'll play the schedule to test their skills. LaPorte figures to see Warren Central (4-1) in the title game of the first LaPorte Invitational on Dec. 28.
9. (3A) Gary Roosevelt (3-1)
2006 (11-12), 2005 (10-11), 2004 (11-13)
GARY - Here's another team that's lost in space. As far as I can tell, they are in the middle of a 17-day break before the Gary Holiday Tournament when they'll battle West Side. I have absolutely no idea how they'll come out of this and they probably don't either. The Panthers had a game postponed on Dec. 9th to create this giant schedule gap, but the Gary teams can't get suburban teams on the schedule so they sometimes can't get anybody. What would be wrong with Crown Point renewing the old 'CP Classic' baseball concept where two suburban teams like CP and Munster take on two city teams like Gary Roosevelt and West Side?
10. (4A) Lake Central (2-4)
2006 (7-14), 2005 (11-10), 2004 (17-6)
ST. JOHN - I cannot take them off the board. Three of the losses are by 10 points or less and the other one was to Valparaiso. LC has lost to Valpo (6-0), Chesterton (6-1), Merrillville (3-3) and LaPorte (5-2). The problem here is that LC always reads this way. You give them credit because of the tough schedule they play, but as a 3,000-kid school, they always play an elite schedule. LC needs some wins. It's early in the season, but their schedule will not get easier at any point. LC plays superpowers East Chicago and Valparaiso back-to-back in February. I'm seeing a sub.-500 record here, but a good team.
On the outside looking in...
11. (2A) BOONE GROVE (2-3)
2006 (18-6), 2005 (19-7), 2004 (13-9)
PORTER TOWNSHIP - I can't totally explain what's wrong here, but the first quarter of the season has not gone well. Boone got outscored 26-8 in the fourth quarter of a loss at LaCrosse and they were just plain dusted 60-42 by Morgan Township Thursday (12-21-2006) night. Top shooters Bryce Palleson and Jake Pivarnik are off and the 'D' is surprisingly weak. I still think they have a strong team, but they're going to have to find that team on the practice floor, because it isn't showing up at games.
12. (2A) Wheeler (5-1)
2006 (19-6), 2005 (16-5), 2004 (20-5)
UNION TOWNSHIP - Hammond handed Wheeler a first loss 64-55 last week in the LAC tournament, but 6-foot-7 Nate Kasper (25 ppg.) and 6-foot-3 wing shooter Derek Highlan (13.6 ppg.) have proven difficult to stop. Hammond was the first tough team the Bearcats had faced this season, so we don't know much about them. Look for a Wheeler-Hammond rematch in next week's Wheeler Holiday tournament.
13. (4A) CROWN POINT (2-4)
2006 (9-13), 2005 (13-9), 2004 (6-16)
CROWN POINT - Crown Point beat Michigan City by 16 and Griffith by 33 to get on the board after four consecutive losses. Guard Kyle Hanaway has been a consistent performer, leading the offense, while Stephen Albrecht (14 ppg.) and Zach Cecich (15 ppg.) have been a consistent inside-outside duo. The schedule gets very tough after Friday's home game with Portage (2-5). CP has East Chicago and Valparaiso back-to-back next month. The Bulldogs get no Christmas break. Let's hope they're ready because the games come in quick succession now.