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eHere is a early look at Indiana's top freshmen for the 2006-07 season. . In alpha Order. This is not a complete list. If you think I am missing someone please let me know (with a vailid reason) at hkilander@hssp.cc


Doug Acker 6-1 Concord
Nick Alfke 6-4 South Vermillion
Thomas Anderson 6-5 TH North
Zach Apollos 6-4 Knightstown
William Barksdale 5-7 Ben Davis
Jordan Beaver 6-5 Huntington North
Jesse Berry 5-11 Lafayette Jefferson
Amir Blackshear 6-0 Perry Meridian
Julian Boatner 5-11 Bloomington North
Marc Bowers 6-0 Rochester
Steve Brooks 6-5 Harding
Leland Brown 6-2 Noblesville
Jackson Buzea 5-8 Griffith
Russ Byrd 6-5 FW Blackhawk
Chase Caldwell 5-9 Valparaiso
Ryan Caldwell 6-3 Evansville North
Travis Carroll 6-7 Danville
Chris Chaffee 5-8 Penn
Corey Christner 6-0 Maconaquah
Billy Clark 6-1 Andrean
Kegan Clark 6-0 Jeffersonville
Mike Cobun 6-0 Northfield
Kendall Coleman 5-11 Hammond High
Henry Davis 6-3 East Chicago
Michael Deines 6-1 Noblesville
Demonte Dinkins 5-10 Portage
Jazz Drane 5-9 Perry Meridian
Adam Dubuque 6-0 Southwood
Jake Evanich 6-2 Griffith
Dominique Ferguson 6-9 Lawrence North
Dominique Futch 5-8 Pike
Quincy Gooden 6-6 Harding
Donnie Hale 6-6 New Albany
Purvis Hall 6-3 FW Elmhurst
Andre Hampton 6-3 Ind. Washington
Adam Harmon 5-10 Michigan City
Chase Harris 6-1 Southern Wells
Demetrius Harris 6-3 East Chicago
Mike Harris 6-1 East Chicago
Kendall Harwell 5-10 Hammond High
Chrishawn Hopkins 6-0 Manual
Alec Houpt 6-3 Chesterton
P.J. Hubert 6-1 Southport
Zach Hufferd 6-2 Connersville
Kofi Hughes 6-0 Lawrence North
Jack Isenbarger 6-1 Zionsville
Aaron Jackson 6-3 Hanover Central
Steffen Jackson 6-4 FW South
Evan Jameyfield 6-3 Highland
John Jarvis 5-10 TH South
Al Jennings 5-8 Homestead
Derek Johnson 5-9 Mooresville
Greg Johnson 5-7 FW South
Terone Johnson 6-2 North Central
Xavier Jones 6-3 Gary West
Cylk Joseph 6-1 Gary Bowman
Elliott Kampen 6-2 Yorktown
Michael Kibiloski 6-5 Elkhart Memorial
Jake Kitchell 6-6 South Central Un Mills
Robert Kitzinger 6-0 Carmel
Adam Knies 6-6 Jasper
Evan Kroot 5-11 Brebeuf
Hank LaRue 5-11 Evansville Mater Dei
Cortez Lee 5-9 Mishawaka
Rich Leslie 6-2 LaPorte
Dyjuan Lewis 6-3 Pike
Remy Lewis 5-9 Chesterton
Zach Livovich 6-5 Valparaiso
Randall Lowe 5-10 Tri-West
Blake Lueders 6-5 Zionsville
Garrett Mack 6-5 Center Grove
Kameran Madison 5-7 Gary Bowman
Jan Maehlen 6-10 Lawrence North
Jordan Manuel 6-8 Indianapolis Howe
Andy Martin 5-10 Valparaiso
Jordy Martin 6-1 New Albany
Justin Martin 6-6 Lawrence North
Ray McCallum 6-0 Bloomington North
Dylan McDaniel 6-6 New Albany
Trip McFall 6-3 North Central
Charles McGrady 6-6 Anderson Highland
Greg Miller 6-4 North Miami
Kendell Miller 6-2 Roncalli
Ty Miller 6-2 Greensburg
Erick Mitchell 6-1 FW Elmhurst
Donte Nelson 5-6 Portage
Billy Newton 6-3 Shakamak
Peter Nicksic 6-4 Andrean
Patrick Oetting 6-5 FW Concordia
Alex Payne 6-0 Carmel
Desmond Powers 6-4 Homestead
Matt Price 6-1 Penn
Alex Prittie 6-5 Lebanon
Andrew Radakas 6-3 Wheeler
Ben Raichel 6-1 Austin
Roddy Richardson 5-8 Lafayette Jefferson
Wes Rigney 6-5 Caston
Ronald Ross 6-6 Indy Washington
Trey Salinas 5-10 Angola
Terry Sargent 5-5 Howe
DeWayne Scales 6-3 Hammond Gavit
Jake Sirk 5-10 Lakeland
Jake Skirvin 6-0 Southport
Daniel Smith 6-2 SB Clay
Collin Southwood 6-5 Heritage Hills
Brandon Stace 6-3 Marion
James Stamper 5-10 Columbus North
Darius Stevens 6-6 Gary West Side
Kameron Stevens 5-4 SB Clay
Jake Stone 5-10 Westview
Latroy Taylor 6-0 Gary Wallace
DeShaun Thomas 6-8 FW Luers
Keith Thompson 5-11 Lake Central
Phil Titus 5-9 Ben Davis
Antonio Tolliver 6-6 Ind. Washington
Dan Turner 6-4 Mt Vernon
Jacob Van Arsdel 6-5 Harrison (Lafayette)
George VanVliet 6-0 Chatard
Dawan Vanzant 6-3 Gary Wallace
Cody Vest 6-5 Owen Valley
Brandon Washington 6-1 Arlington
Taylor Wayer 5-10 Chatard
Jordan Weidner 6-1 Franklin Central
Chris Welker 6-5 Martinsville
Evan White 6-5 FW Elmhurst
Kennis White 6-2 SB Washington
Ty Winchester 6-1 Austin
Zach Yeagy 5-11 Alexandria
Logan Young 6-1 Delta
Wes Zimmerman 6-3 Peru
December 21st, 2005 Here is the list of top freshmen for Indiana. If you feel anyone is left out please feel free to email me at hkilander@hssp.cc

A big thanks to everyone who emailed me additions
Donnie Abrams 6-8 Sullivan
Troy Amos 6-2 FW Luers
John Arak 5-11 Park Tudor
Patrick Bade 6-6 Franklin Central
Terry Beane 5-7 LaPorte
Kelsey Barlow 6-6 Cathedral
Lawrence Barnett 5-10 FW Luers
Michael Barton 6-7 North Central
Alonzo Bass 5-8 Lawrence North
Javon Beard 6-0 Kokomo
Blake Beasley 6-3 Decatur Central
Levi Bess 5-8 Tipton
Cody Binkley 5-10 Knox
Jake Birch 5-10 Eastern Green
Kevin Black 5-8 Perry Meridian
David Blackwell 6-2 Bloomington South
Evan Blinn 6-3 Norwell
Kevin Bloom 6-2 East Noble
Landon Booker 5-8 Sb Adams
Matt Bower 6-0 Bloomington South
Artie Brown 5-10 Evansville North
Javon Brown 6-3 Warren Central
Kendall Brown 5-9 Evansville Harrison
Ryan Buchhaas 6-3 North Vermillion
Patrick Bullington 6-0 Scottsburg
Austin Burton 5-0 Tri Central
Greg Byers Coventant Christian
DJ Byrd 6-5 North Montgomery
Joe Calderone 6-5 Mishawaka
Brad Cameron 6-3 SB Clay
Louie Carpenter 5-10 Northridge
Skyler Case 5-7 Delta
George Cheesebourough 5-5 Warren Central
Adam Christner 5-8 Westview
Aaron Ciesielski 6-3 Portage
DeShawn Clay 6-4 Gary West Side
Sean Connor 5-11 Scecina
Tremel Cooley 5-10 East Chicago
Casey Coons 5-9 Franklin Central
Chaz Cooper 6-3 Bloomington South
JD Cosby 5-9 Brownsburg
Miguel Covorrubias 6-0 East Chicago
Mike Covington 6-2 Ben Davis
Marshall Crawford 6-3 Northridge
Griffen Dalhlstrom 6-3 North Putnam
Ron Dandridge 5-10 Elkhart Central
Geoffery Davis 6-3 Lawrence Central
Terry Davisson 6-6 Rensselaer
Sean Day 6-5 FW Luers
Nick DiMarco 5-7 Boone Grove
Jason Doeheman 6-1 FW Concordia
Damon Ellison 6-4 North Central
Derek Elston 6-6 Tipton
Austin Erby 5-9 SB Clay
Marcus Etnier 5-10 Bloomington SOuth
George Ezell 6-2 Calumet
Zane Fakes 6-2 Plainfield
Zak Felton 6-3 Lake Central
Roland Finch 5-10 New Albany
Robert Fitzsimmons 6-1 Elkhart Memorial
Jarrett Fleming 6-5 SB Washington
Taylor Fox 5-10 Winamac
Tony Fox 6-0 Martinsville
Jovon Freshwater 5-4 Marion
Skylar Furney 6-3 Muncie South
Joe Gill 6-5 Munster
Mike Goodwin 5-9 FW Luers
Evan Gordon 6-1 North Central
Bruce Grimm 6-0 Triton
Seth Gullett 6-3 Leo
Connor Guthrie 5-8 Cascade
Jarrett Hamilton 5-5 Cathedral
Tyquan Hammock 6-1 FW Luers
Jared Hawkins 5-10 Center Grove
Ed Hazelett 6-9 Warren Central
Austin Hefley 6-6 Angola
Jarell Henry 5-10 SB Washington
Tyrone Henson 6-5 Manual
Dabney Hicks 5-10 Gary Wallace
Stephen Honn 6-3 Blue River Valley
Patrick Hopkins 6-5 Kokomo
Duron Houston 6-3 Hammond
Matt Hudson 6-2 Michigan City
Jordan Hulls 5-10 Bloomington South
Hayden Humes 6-5 Valparaiso
Carl Jackson 6-0 Pike
Marcus Jackson 6-5 Lawrence North
Bobby James 6-2 Hobart
Cody Johnson 6-5 FW Snider
Jay Johnson 5-10 Gary Wirt
George Jones 6-2 SB Clay
Kyree Jones 6-0 Bloomington South
Justin Jordan 5-08 FW North
Matt Julkes 6-2 East Chicago
Patrick Kennedy 5-10 Chatard
Jordan Kiel 6-2 Seymour
Matthew King 6-1 Rockville
Kyle Koehne 6-6 Cathedral
Ryan Kohn 6-3 Concord
Kaden Krull 6-6 Whitko
Austin Kubit 6-5 New Prairie
Tommy Kurth 6-0 Penn
Tyrie Larkin 5-9 Concord
Devin Leas 5-10 S. Wells
Mike Lipton 5-11 Crown Point
Steve Loveless 6-3 Franklin
Connor Lowe 5-6 Carmel
Lavarius Macon 6-2 Elkhart Memorial
Zach Mally 6-6 Westfield
Kyle Mangold 5-11 Evansville Central
Matt Marsh 5-10 FW Elmhurst
Jeff McClure 5-10 Brebeuf
Damion McGee 6-6 Gary Wallace
Mitch Meador 6-3 Whiteland
Jordan Meinen 6-3 Westfield
Blake Metcalf 6-6 Plainfield
Jeremy McGrew 6-1 Norwell
Tim Moore 6-0 Gary Wallace
Jake Mulinix 6-4 Bloomington North
Clark Mussman 6-3 Portage
Jordan Myers 6-4 Ev.Reitz
Morgan Newton 6-3 Pike
Dominic Nicholson 6-7 Warren Central
Adam Norton 6-1 Andrean
Jon Nwannunu 6-6 Merrillville
Kitt O'Brien 6-6 Cass
Jordan Ogle 6-0 Columbus East
Luke Overdorf 6-7 Western
Kreig Oxley 5-10 Tecumseh
Antoine Payne 5-11 SB Adams
Ethan Peabody 6-4 McCutcheon
Errick Peck 6-5 Cathedral
Tommy Peller 6-0 Chesterton
Mason Plumlee 6-7 Warsaw
Lamont Prosser 6-8 FW South
Trevor Pulver 5-8 Central Noble
Alex Radivan 6-1 Andrean
Bo Ray 5-7 Harding
Chris Read 6-6 Lawrence North
Nate Rigdon 6-2 Danville
Josh Riggs 6-7 Westfield
Joe Rippe 6-1 Carmel
Steve Roberts 6-4 Anderson Highland
Jeff Robinson 6-6 Lawrence North
Emilio Rodriguez 6-8 Lake Central
Colt Ryan 6-3 Batesville
Logan Saddler 5-10 Boonville
Graham Saiko 6-0 Castle
Zechariah Sanders 6-0 Northwestern
Bobby Santarossa 6-3 Bloomington North
Dillon Sayman 6-8 Rushville
Jauwan Scaife 6-3 Muncie Central
Drew Schauss Centerville
Taylor Schoen 6-2 Benton Central
Braden Schuster 6-3 Perry Meridian
JR Sims 6-1 FW Snider
Bryce Small 5-9 Vincennes
David Smith 6-4 Zionsville
Larry Smith 6-3 Lawrence North
Ryan Smith 6-6 Merrillville
Brad Sneary 6-3 FW Snider
Corey Snep 5-10 Whitko
Kyle Speckman 6-2 Lawrence Central
JD Stephens 6-0 Hauser
Andre Stevens 5-10 FW South
Ross Stichter 5-8 Wawasee
Tommy Strine 6-4 Lakewood Park
Eric Summers 6-7 Lake Central
Mark Sutter 6-3 Elkhart Central
Shawn Tarver 6-6 Gary Wallace
Jonathan Taylor 6-0 Gary Wallace
Troy Taylor 6-0 Anderson
Aaron Terry 6-7 Lake Central
Skyler Titus 6-2 NorthWood
Stephen Van Treese 6-8 Lawrence North
Jourdan Vann 5-8 SB Washington
Zeph Vaughn 6-9 Rising Sun
Bryce Walker 5-11 East Chicago Central
Julian Walker 6-0 Southport
Ross Walthall 6-6 Cathedral
Jaquil Washington 6-4 Merrillville
Ricky Washington 5-11 Bloomington SOuth
Luke Wheeler 5-8 Portage
Austin Whitted 6-4 Columbus East
Dillon Wiley 5-8 Zionsville
Wesley White 5-8 Western
Ramsey Wright 5-11 Evansville Central
David Yoder 6-3 Concord



eHere is a early look at Indiana's top freshmen for the 2004-05 season. . In alpha Order. This is not a complete list. If you think I am missing someone please let me know (with a vailid reason) at hkilander@hssp.cc


Zach Adams 5-8 Tell City
Drew Aff 6-1 West Vigo
Collin Agan 6-3 Salem le
Lawrence Alexander 6-5 Andrean
DeAndre Allen 6-2 Gary Wirt
Cory Barnett 6-6 Rochester
Trent Beane 5-10 Bloomington North
Justin Bonds 6-0 Lawrence Central
Travis Brandenburg 6-3 Rensselaer
Jordan Brewer 6-5 Pike
Brennan Burks 6-4 Greencastle
Garrett Butcher 6-3 Edgewood
Gerald Campbell 6-5 Gary West Side
Trevon Childs 5-10 TH SOuth
Ryan Chionere 6-3 Mish. Marian
Jason Chorba 6-1 Bishop Noll
Zach Colclasure 6-0 Bellmont
Denver Combs 6-0 North Judson
Muhammed Conteh 6-7 Blommington South
Peter Coomer 5-11 Martinsville
Robert Cusic 5-9 Lowell
Randy Davis 5-10 Plymouth
Frankie DeLaparrra 6-3 Ind. Washington
Jordan Delks 6-1 Rossville
Toby Deters 6-5 East Central
TJ Dillon 5-9 Wabash
Noah Doss 6-1 Evansville North
Nathan Douglas 6-2 Cathedral
Stuart Douglas 6-0 Hamilton Heights
Brent Eaton 6-5 Northridge
Matt Edmonds 6-3 East Noble
Sean Espisito 6-1 Cathedral
Derrick Evans 6-0 FW South
Jacob Everett 6-3 Triton
Pat Ferrell 6-5 Brebeuf
Jeremy Flores 5-9 East Chicago
Greg Foster 5-8 Ind. Tech
Antoine French 6-3 Bishop Noll
Keith Galbreath 6-0 Manual
Damion Garrett 6-5 Reitz
Josh Gorrell 6-1 Woodlan
Kyle Hackemack 6-5 Flyd Central
Artis Hailey 5-11 Hammond
Will Hamilton 6-0 Broad Ripple
Aaron Heinzman 6-2 Hamilton Heights
Eric Hester 5-8 Gary Wirt
Dan Hill 5-8 Gary West
Braden Hobbs 6-0 New Albany
Houston Hobbs 5-9 Reitz
Matt Hodges 5-10 Tipton
Chad Hoffer 6-1 Tippecanoe Vallye
James Hollowell 6-5 North Central
Jared Holmes 6-2 Pike
Anthony Hurd 6-0 Ind. Washington
jed Huscher 6-4 Angola
DeMark Jenkins 6-4 Gary West
Dorian Jenkins 6-1 Arlington
Eddie Jones 6-8 FW South
Logan Jones 6-0 Madison
Emerson Kampen 6-8 Yorktown
Stephan Kelley 5-11 DeKalb
Drew Kidd 5-7 Boone Grove
Chris Kolger 6-4 Richmond
Tyler Koss 6-5 Wheeler
Robert Lane 6-5 FW Wayne
Jordan Lewis 5-9 Chesteron
Roderick Lewis 6-4 Lafayette CC
Jon Lickliter 5-9 North Central
Jon Littig 6-3 Morton
Cameron Loepker 6-7 Lafayette CC
Julius Mays 6-1 Marion
Troy McIntyre 6-3 Triton
Tyson McKinney 6-0 Anderson
David McMahon 6-0 Cathedral
Derek Miles 6-3 Avon
Jake Milkin 6-0 Anderson Highland
Tyshawn Miller 6-1 SB Clay
Keyon Milner 6-3 Ind. Tech
Anthony Miniuk 6-1 Gavit
Ron Mitchem 6-2 SB Riley
Daniel Moore 5-10 Carmel
Zack Novak 6-3 Chesterton
Walter Offutt 6-3 Warren Central
Anthony Oden 6-9 Lawrence North
Alex Ooley 5-11 Borden
Cordell Passley 6-3 Pike
Drew Pearson 6-0 Western Boone
Jon Peckinpaugh 6-3 Muncie Central
Billy Powers 6-0 Cathedral
Tyler Price 6-2 Evansville Memorial
Travis Ritter 5-9 Wabash
Chris Roberson 5-11 Elkhart Central
Josh Rowe 5-9 Lew Wallace
Shane Salyer 6-3 Tippecanoe Valley
Zavier Sanders 6-5 Northwestern
Calvin Saulman 6-2 Corydon Kyle Schilling 6-6 Triton Central
Kawann Short 6-4 East Chicago
Austin Sims 6-2 Benton Central
Vincent Starkley 5-9 Hammond
Chase Stigal 6-3 New Castle
Larry Stone 5-9 Ind. Howe
Marcus Sturghiss 5-11 Ben Davis
Chris Toler 6-8 North Central
Tim Toler 6-6 Ben Davis
Andrew Tullis 6-7 Prairie Heights
Bryce Underwood 6-1 Harding
Stephen Ward 5-9 Michigan City
Howard Watts 6-4 Gary Wirt
Jordan Weatherford 6-5 Lawrence Central
Caleb Weber 6-4 McCutcheon
Aaron Weeden 6-0 Arlington
Jamison Wheeler 5-9 Plainfield
Evan White 5-11 Harding
Corey Wickware 6-0 Southport
Jeff Williams 5-11 Lawrence North
Jesse Wright 6-2 Bloomington North
Tyler Zeller 6-7 Washington


December 29th
Here is a early look at Indiana's top freshmen. In alpha Order. This is not a complete list. If you think I am missing someone please let me know (with a vailid reason) at hkiland@netnitco.net
Ty Adams 6-6 Brebeuf
Keaton Aldridge 6-1 Broad Ripple
John Ashworth 6-3 Franklin Central
Mark Babcock 5-10 Chesterton
Keenan Barlow 6-4 Cathedral
Kory Barnett 6-4 Rochester
TJ Baumet 6-3 Brownsburg
Chad Becker 6-2 Shenandoah
Justin Beneditti 6-3 Providence
JJ Biscoe 6-6 Gary West
Mike Bizoukas 5-9 Munster
Nate Blank 6-3 TH North
Ben Blue 6-1 Northrdige
David Boarden 6-3 Andrean
Ben Botts 6-1 Muncie Central
Ryan Bridges 6-1 Griffith
Dante Brown 6-1 East Chicago
TJ Burnett 5-10 Ben Davis
D'Aire Burt 6-3 Hammond
James Cameron 5-10 SB Adams
Aaron Carter 6-2 Perry Central
Artis Chambers 6-4 FW Snider
Brandon Cloyd 6-1 Yorktown
Phillip Collins 6-1 Pike
Dan Crisman 6-1 Munster
Brian DeShone 6-1 Jimtown
Taylor Dial 5-10 Speedway
Keenan Ellis 6-9 Cathedral
Matt Ernest 6-2 Crown Point
Bryan Faultisch 6-3 Plymouth
John Freeman 6-3 Arlington
Tommy Freeman 6-1 Delta
Dairese Gary 5-10 Concord
Ben Gomes 5-11 Ben Davis
Eric Gordon 6-3 North Central
James Grant 6-2 Gary Roosevelt
Zach Hahn 5-10 New Castle
Juston Hairston 6-4 FW Snider
Craig Heinz 6-3 Vincennes Lincoln
Drew Horrmann 6-2 Lawrence Central
Joe Hughes 6-5 Cathedral
Marcell Johnson 6-4 Gary Wirt
Marcus Johnson 6-3 East Chicago
Eshunte Jones 6-4 FW North
Jacob Jones 6-0 Bedford
Andrew Justin 6-7 Tech
Nate Kasper 6-7 Portage
Tyler Kitchel 6-1 Center GRove
Tyler Kleinschmidt 5-11 Chatard
Caleb Laidig 6-0 Penn
Jordan Lambert 5-11 Seymour
Ryan Laswell 6-2 Madison
Joe Leach 6-2 Wawasee
Lamar Lee 5-11 McCutcheon
Scott Martin 6-3 Valpo
Zach Martin 6-2 Michigan City
Joe McClintock 6-4 SB St. Joe's
Ryan McDaniel 6-1 Brebeuf
Cardell McFarland Ev. Bosse
Gary McGhee 6-6 Anderson
Kyle Miller 6-1 Lawrence Central
Andy Mock 5-9 Wawasee
E'Twuan Moore 6-3 East Chicago
Kyle Moore 6-0 Warsaw
Matt Neilbel 5-11 Seymour
Adam Nelson 5-10 Tipp. Vallye
Dan Palombizio 6-1 MC MArquette
Chris Parris 6-5 Muncie Central
Ryan Poxon 5-9 Lafayette Jeff
Andy Priem 6-2 Northrdige
Justin Proctor 5-10 Gary West
Josh Raspopovich 6-3 Merrillville
Kyle Ray 6-1 Indian Creek
Antwan Rogers 5-10 Warren Central
Jim Ross 6-8 Mishawaka
Mike Rowe 6-2 Gary Wallace
Anthony Sain 6-3 Gary Rosoevelt
Chase Saylor 6-6 Chesterton
Drew Schmidt 6-1 New Albany
Evan Schmidt 6-9 Chesterton
Airrence Shark 5-10 LaPorte
Steven Shepherd 6-1 Broad Ripple
Errol Sherrod 5-9 Calumet
Taylor Shively 5-10 Columbia City
Dakota Smith 5-10 DeKalb
DeWann Squires 5-11 Arlington
Ryan Sterling 6-4 Cathedral
Richard Talley 6-7 Gary Roosevelt
Zach Taylor 6-4 Carroll (FW)
Jeff Teague 5-11 Pike
Steven Thomas 6-1 Cathedral
Zach Troyer 6-4 Northwood
Scott Trueblood 6-0 Bedford
Brandon Underwood 5-9 FW Elmhurst
Hatchen Upshaw 6-3 Gary Wallace
Willis Uzell 6-4 Pike
Jeff Vervynckt 6-3 New Prairie
Ricardo Villa 5-6 Hammond Clark
Shawn Walter 6-1 Knox
Ben Werner 6-5 Fairfield
Josh White 5-11 Merrillville
Josh Whitechair 6-1 Alexandria
Damian Windham 6-3 Lawrence North
Joe Wingis 6-4 Munster
Brandon Wood 6-0 Kokomo
Jason Wright 6-1 Penn
Evan Youngquist 6-4 SB Clay
Dennis Zeigler 6-6 Pike


December 17th
I am back!!! After a long hiatus due to a job change. I have finally arranged time to update everyone. I will start off with the pairings for one of the top tourneys in Illinois at Proviso West.
The tourney will be Dec 26., 27, 29 and 30th
First round pairings
Dec 26th
9:00- Fenwick vs Whitney Young
10:30- Homewood Flossmoor vs Fenger
12:15- Farragut vs Glenbrook North
1:45- Schaaumburg vs New Trier
3:45- Hillcrest vs Leyden
5:15 - Julian vs Proviso West
7:00- Proviso East vs Evanston
8:30- Von Steuben vs Kenwood

Top Players include: Julian Wright 6-8 JR Homewood, Cyrus Tate 6-8 SR Homewood, Vincent Humphrey 6-4 SR Fenwick, Sterling Williams 6-6 Young, Ollie Bailey 6-7 SR Farragut, Chris Singletary 6-3 SO Farragut, Jon Scheyer 6-3 So Glenbrook North, Jake Pancratz 6-0 SR Schaumburg, Maurice Acker 5-7 jr Hillcrest, Brandon Ewing 6-2 JR Julian, Nick Brown 6-6 SR Proviso East, Phillip Perry 6-2 JR Proviso East, Gordon Watt 6-6 SR Evanston, Angel Santiago 6-1 JR Von Steuben, Demetrius Evans SR 6-6 Von Steuben, Ryne Hamblet 6-6 SR Von Steuben, Josh Hudson 6-8 SR Von Steuben.

Other big Illinois Tourneys are at: Pontiac, Carbondale, Bloomington-Normal, Elgin, York, Chicago Public, Lincoln Way and Rich South.
I will have more info in the next couple of days on the particulars of these Tournaments.

July 1st
Congrats to Indiana Football Coach Gerry DiNardo on quite possibly the biggest day in IU football in a longtime. The Hoosiers landed verbals from Lafayette Jeff record setting QB Mike Vlahogeorge, Merrillville RB Brandon Mosley and former Kokomo standout DL A.J. Lindsay, currently of Joliet JC. Coach DiNardo's state wide barnstorming tour has paid dividends for the Hoosiers staff.
June 9th
After a brief hiatus due to a move and some other time committments I am back to posting on this website. Last night The East Chicago Summer league started back up. The league run by Bob Miles is now up to 12 teams. In last night's opener Lake Central defeated East Chicago. THe taller Indians dominated in the paint with plenty of size. 6-10 Andrew (Il) move in Sean Vandermeer showed some ability as the lanky lefty hit a three and some nice perimter skills. Lake Central also has 6-7 Kevin Parkinson returning. The Indians with Brett Summers, David Hoffmaster, John Maida and Justin Doffin also back could be a solid crew in 03-04. The Cardinals of EC were a last second fill in for Wirt who had bus trouble and arrived late. The Cardinals will have to rely on quickness with limited size returning. Long range shooter Tremaine Cooley and junior lefty Kyum Gillis took the majority of the shots. The hard working trio of Rohmaad Davis, Ken Glass and Nick Reese will have to supply inside scoring. All three are about 6-2, 6-3 and will be overmatched from a height perspective. 6-3 senior wing Melvin Brown and his 6-2 sophomore brother Chris Brown were not at the game. The youngest Brown 6-1 freshmen Donte Brown was as was fellow frosh E-Twuan Moore. These two outstanding talents will apparently play varsity as freshmen.
Game two saw Munster hang on over a dtermined Hammond High bunch. Yes Pete Trgovich Jr. did play for Munster. The lanky senior to be looked good with some running shots in the lane and a variety of moves. That is the good news for Munster, the bad news is Dustin Bothwell was taken to the hospital for X rays early after falling on his leg early in the contest. Bothwell hopefully is ok. With Josh Martin, Trgovich and Bothwell the Mustangs will have a three prong attack second to none next season. Sophomores Nick Stoalrz, Jeff Marinier, Scott Rutkowski and Aric Van Weelden will be keys for the Stangs.
Game three saw Griffith battle over Lowell. Look for Griffith's 6-0 senior to be PG Shawn Mathis to develop into a good player in 2003-2004.
Game four saw Highland come back to defeat West Side by three. The Trojans who surprised many last year also could be good again this upcoming year. Look for 6-8 senior to be Kevin Thomas to keep improving. Last season he started the year on the JV, this year he could be big time. The wide body Thomas dominated vs West Side. The Trojans won this game even without Gary Simkus and Kris Boyd. Highland is another team with a strong sophomore class with Andy Helmer, Ryan Drake and Derek Moser all solid players. The Cougars used plenty of players including 6-9 sophomore Jermil Tucker a move in from California. The lanky Tucker who is all of 6-9 has definite skills indicated by his one handed dunk in traffic on a fast break and several near misses on three point attempts, but Tucker must learn the competiveness of Indiana High School Basketball. 6-7 senior Sean Smith did more ballhandling than last year and can be a great high low post combo with Tucker. The Cougars have great depth with Darrin Weaver, Robert Hall, David Bell, Willie Trimble, George Kelly, Robert Wright and DeShawn Wright all legitimate players for the Cougars. Flashy 6-5 senior Jorie Peters was not with the Cougars.

Other teams who will compete at East Chicago are Roosevelt, Wallace, Wirt and Gavit. Action will be on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.


May 10th
Here is a list courtesy of Dan Laffee of some big Illinois Summer events
May 10 Flash Flanigans Workout (Pekin, IL)
May 10 Rock Valley College Shootout (HS Teams)
May 16-18 Brownsburg, Indiana (AAU Teams)
May 16-18 Windy City Classic (AAU Teams)
May 16-18 Eagles Invitational (Fontbonne College Clayton, MO) (AAU TEAMS)
May 23-25 Memorial Day (Bloomington, IN) (AAU teams)
June 4 Daily Gazzette Allstar Game at Sauk Valley-
June 13,14,15 Peoria Richwoods Shootout-
June 14? Stevenson Shoot-out-
June 21 Sycamore Shoot-out-
July 2-3 Jacksonville (IL) Shootout Class "AA"
July 5-6 Jacksonville (IL) Shootout Class "A"
July 9-10 Morris (IL) Shootout (High School teams)
July 10-12 Kentucky Hoopfest (AAU Teams) Louisville, KY
July 11-13 Crystal Lake (IL) Shootout (HS Teams)
July 11-13 Hinsdale South
Rock Valley Summer League- Games will be played Mondays, and Wednesdays from June 9 through July 16
Quad City Shoot-out- July 18,19,20 at Davenport North



April 26th
Congrats to former Indiana preps Rex Grossman and Eugene Wilson on being drafted into the NFL. Grossman will have a legit shot at being a star with the beloved Bears. Rex has proven time after time that he is a winner and capable of overcoming any challenge. I am not sure why did the Bears pass on Wilson. Eugene Wilson will become a pro bowl player in New England.
Former Michigan City Wolve Steve Farmer has signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

April 16th
All conference SICA teams
SICA Central
Bremen: Jarvis Walker
Eisenhower: Chris Hobson, Montez Lewis
Hillcrest: Shelby Jordon, Jerel McNeal, Donovan O’Neil, David Townsend
T. F. North: Gregg Charles, Brandon Wilson
Tinley Park: Moony Atrich, Jymel Bracy

SICA East
Bloom: Kevin Howard, Jonathon Austin
Homewood-Flossmoor: Excell Hardy, Cyrus Tate, Julian Wright
Thornridge: Jermaine Versher, Ronald Coleman
Thornton: Robert Bush
Thornwood: Eric Gray, Maurice Montgomery

SICA North
Argo: Robert Jackson, Sheman Benton
Bolingbrook: Dan Buchanan
Oak Lawn: Dan Hackstock
Reavis: Ian Jones, Rich Lanham
Richards: Sean Lewis, Keith Marshall
Romeoville: Anthony Simmons, Will Walker

SICA South
Bradley: Kyle Arthur, Josh Larocque
Crete-Monee: Orlando Montgomery
Kankakee: Dontario Brooks, Chris Wallace
Rich Central: Jimmie Miles, Brandon Long, Mike Martin
Rich East: Josh Smith
Rich South: Eric Epps, Kenny Gordon

SICA West
Andrew: Kevin Lowe
Joliet: Jeremy Fears Bryn Stewart
Lincoln-Way East: Chris McCormick, Greg Gerritsen, Ken McCormick
Lockport: Chis Hulka
Sandburg: Jim Hoffmann, Brandon Lee
Stagg: Chris Marsik


April 15th

Catholic League All Conference selections
Bishop McNamara: Micah Kerstein
Brother Rice: Bobby Frasor, Steve Woerheide
De La Salle: Charles Cambell
Fenwick: Jason Okrzesik, Vince Humphries
Gordon Tech: Titus Redmond
Hales Franciscan: Nate Minnoy, Jarrod Haynes, Blake Craft
Leo: Al Downing, Frank Clair
Loyola: Colin Falls, Mike Brennan
Mount Carmel: Casanova Brown
Providence Catholic: Michael Lindsey
St. Francis De Sales: Ray Johnson
St. Ignatius: Coley LeClaire, Max Kaplan
St. Laurence: Marcus Stevenson, Mike Steigerwald, John Gencius, Rami Faris
St. Rita: Jerrah Young, Michael Rembert, Rashay Russell


April 6th
Gary Wallace football and basketballer Donte Williams is headed to Northern Iowa to play football. The 6-6, 230 senior is a tight end defensive end.


April 2nd
Thursday April 10th at Crane High School there will be a Public League All star game below are the rosters.
South
KENNETH JOHNSON PG 5'9" 160 CORLISS
GABRIEL TAYLOR PG 5'7" 168 CURIE
JASON MACLIN G/F 6'4" 190 KENWOOD
KEVIN GRAY F/C 6'6" 195 DU SABLE
TERRELL CARPENTER PG 6'1" 178 HARLAN
DEANDRE WATKINS G 5'11" LINDBLOM
GRAYLON SMITH F 6'3" 170 ROBESON
WILLISIN PRICE C 6'7" BOGAN
DONALD REESE G 6'2" AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
KEVIN BOND G/F 6'3" 178 MORGAN PARK
JONATHAN PHILLIPS F 6'4" SOUTH SHORE
OTHYUS JEFFERS G/F 6'4" 185 HUBBARD

North
HERBERT WINFIELD G 6'1" 160 MANLEY
ANDRE KNOX G/F 6'1" 165 WHITNEY YOUNG
MICHAEL SHANNON G 6'4" 180 MATHER
JAMAL TIDWELL PG 5'11" 165 CRANE
TRAMMELL GILOT G/F 6'2" 200 CRANE
TEMI SOYEBO PG 6'1" 170 VON STEUBEN
EARVIN SPILLER G/F 5'11" 160 FOREMAN
AARON POOLE F 6'5" MARSHALL
DOUGLAS JOHNSON G 6'1" 190 LANE TECH
DENNARD MONTAGUE F 6'6" 185 FARRAGUT
ANDRAIS THORNTON F/C 6'7" 205 STEINMETZ
DEWITT SCOTT G/F 6'3" 160 WHITNEY YOUNG


MARCH 26th
Courtesy of Dan Laffee here are the Chicago Public League All Conference teams
Public League ALL-SECTION PICKS
Red-Central
Curie: Eric Borg, Cliff Manning, Gabriel Taylor, Mario Brandon
Gage Park: John Marlow
Harper: Charles Myles, Quincy Mills
Hubbard: Othyus Jeffers, Maurice Jackson, Reggie Bates, Corey Currie
Robeson: Jermy Pargo, Greyland Smith, Bryan Thonpson
Tlden: Marlon Johnson

Red-East
Dunbar: Terrence Foster, Kenneth Brown
Du Sable: Celvin Gray, Lawrence Lockridge
Hyde Park: Stephon Hannah, Stepano Jones, Johnny Harris, Romell Owens
Kenwood: Jason MacKlin, Kendall Patterson
Phillips: Terrance Foster
Vocational: Bryant Dority, Quintin Casells
Washington: Courtney Horton, Jason Foster

Red-North
Lane: Jason Opoka, Nate Hudson, Jamal Mondane
Mather: Mike Shamon, David Padilla, Amir Resic
Schurz: Keith Miller
Senn: Ola Atoyteb, Chris Norman
Taft: John Holloway
Von Steuben: Angel Santiago, Ryne Hamblet, Demetruis Evans, Temi Soyebo

Red-Northwest
Lincoln Park: Royce Parran, Navarro Thompson, Jason Moore, Michael Henderson
Prosser: Jason Moore, Kevin Chester
Steinmetz: Andreis Thornton
Westinghouse: Jamarcus Ellis, Byron Booker
Whitney Young: Anthony Harris, DeWitt Scott, Andre Knox, Dwayane Curtis

Red-South
Carver: Henry Lee Cooper
Fenger: Jeremiah Bryant
Harlan: Lamont McCall, Terrell Carpenter
Julian: Brandon Ewing, J. J. Watson, T. J. Gray, Luther Andrew
Morgan Park: Kevin Bond, Raphael Scott
Simeon: DaShawn Walker, Calvin Brock, Jonathan Chatman, Reginald Robinson

Red-West
Austin: Thomas Nelson, Marlon Williams
Collins: T. J. Williams
Crane: Lorenzo Thompson, Florentino Valencia, Tremel Gilot, Carl Marshall, Jamale Tidwell
Farragut: Ollie Bailey, Chris Singletary, Dennard Montague
Manley: J. R. Winfield, Otis Terry, Jermaine Thomas
Marshall: Aaron Poole

Blue-Central
Best Practice: Darryl Mitchell
Hancock: Christian Ramirz
Hope: Dwayne Tompkins, David Phillips
Kennedy: Dionte Robsinson
Lindblom: Deandre Watkins, Antonio Hardwick, Deshawn Berry, Gary Lott

Blue-East
Bowen: Deshawn Moore
Dyett: Calvin Banks
Englewood: Lemuel Carter
Hirsch: Carlos Collins
Phillips: Dawaun Benton
South Shore: Jonathan Phillips, David Clark, Anthony Clark, Corey Campbell

Blue-Northwest
Bronzeville: Sante Tyes, Perry Commendore
Clemente: Jonathan Melecio
Jones: Colby Beach, Tristan Knight
Kelvyn Park: Enrique Cruz
Payton: Norman Buford
Wells: Vincent Jackson

Blue-South
Aqricultural Science: Donald Reese Jr., Mervin Adkins, Cameron Shanklin, Damon Jones, Michael Haywood
Bogan: Aramis Brown, Deverek Gee, Wilson Price, Eddie Wells
Brooks: Ivan Danzy
Corliss: Kenneth Johnson, James Scales, Jason Est, Jeff Clark

Blue-West
ACT Charter: LeShawn Kelly
Flower: Lamont Fisher, Tristan Hallowell
Juarez: Gabriel Enrique
Spalding: Anthony Johnson, Rueben Heath
Perspectives: Herald Watson


MARCH 24th
An interesting prospect for the April NFL draft is former Michigan City standout Steve Farmer. The 6-4 230 pound Farmer has played the last two seasons at Tennessee State University. It has been a roller coaster ride for Farmer. After deciding to sit out his senior season (at Michigan City) of football to concentrate on Basketball, the only offer Farmer had was to be a invited walk on at UIC. After seeing decent time as a frosh Farmer then went to Joliet JC where he caught the football bug. Farmer then went to Tennessee State. Hopefully Steve Farmer will make it at the NFl level


MARCH 18th
With most of the favorites (West Aurora, Crane Proviso East) already being knocked out of the Illinois Class AA State playoffs, The Elite Eight should be wide open.
Fridays Matchups
12- Evanston vs Belleville West
1:45- Von Steuben vs Peoria Central
6:30- Downers Grove South vs Thornwood
8:15- Johnsburg vs Glenbrook North
Top Players:
Evanston- QuoVadis Harper 6-6 SR, Jonathan Blakely 6-6 SR, Mike McKinney 6-3 SR
Belleville West- JB Jones 6-2 JR, Robbie Kaiser 5-11 SR, Dumaka Turner 5-11 SR, Sean McPeak 6-4 JR
Von Steuben- Angel Santiago 6-1 SO, Demetrius Evans 6-6 JR, Ryne Hamblet 6-6 JR
Peoria Central- Shaun Livingston 6-6 JR, Dan Ruffin 5-8 SR, Brandon Lee 6-0 JR, DeAndre Miranda 6-6 SO
Downers Grove South- Bryan Mullins 5-10 SO, Brendan Mullins 6-1 SR
Thornwood- Eric Gray 6-0 SR, Geramie Allison 5-9 SR
Johnsburg- John Smith 6-10 SR, Adam Vesley, Shane Neiss
Glenbrook North- Eytan Azaria 6-6 SR, Jon Scheyer 6-4 FR


MARCH 15th
Merrillville wins Michigan City Regional 69-68!!
Merrillvile wins the regional in overtime vs. SB Riley. With Merriville trailing by two points Freshmen Greg Hill had a tip in with .01 seconds left and was fouled and converted the free throw to send Merrillville to Lafayette.
The Pirates sophomore guard Josh Mayo was outstanding scoring 33 points. The Pirates trailed by 7 points with .37 seconds left in regulation only to put it into overtime on a Dezmone Jackson tip in at the buzzer of regulation.
Riley played most of the night without junior star guard Markus Shelton who injured his ankle towards the end of regulation of the Wildcats win over Elkhart Central
In the morning games Riley held off Elkhart Central 76-73 in overtime to defeat the Blazers for the third time this season. Elkhart Central Sophomore Derek Drews and Shelton of Riley matched bucket for bucket. Riley trailed by as many as 10 ealry in the fourt quarter
Game two saw Merrillville escape East Chicago 57-53. This game was much closer than the score. With 22 seconds left East Chicago missed a shot trailing by one and was called for a foul and one of the Cardinals slapped the ball and was called for a technical. Merrillville then pulled away. The technical should have never been called. Sometimes the officials should realize that the fans don't come out to see them. This was totally bogus. Let the kids decide the game. This was a way too good of game to have some refs ego decide a game. Overall a great day of basektball at Michigan City.


MARCH 13thFormer Lawrence Central standout Ray Jackson has signed with the Cinncinati Bengals. The running back, who was a standout basketball and footballer for the Bears, started his college career at Michigan before transferring to the University of Cinncinati.
New Albany RB-LB Brian Wood will be a preferred walk on at Purdue. Teammate WR Warren English Malone is headed to Indiana State.


MARCH 12thPairings for the Illinois Class AA for Friday March 14th
@ Evanston- Niles West vs Evanston
@ Proviso West- Proviso East vs Hubbard
@ Carbondale- Troy vs Charleston
@ Salem- Belleville Althoff vs Belleville West
@ Brother Rice- Brother Rice vs Julian
@ Young- Von Steuben vs Young
@ Normal- Peoria Central vs Limestone
@ Springfield East- Lincoln vs Decatur MacArthur
@ East Aurora- Downers Grove South vs Naperville North
@ Elgin- Batavia vs West Chicago
@ Lincoln Way East- Thornwood vs Rich Central
@ Joliet - Providence vs St Laurence
@ DeKalb- Rock Island vs Moline
@ Rock Valley- Johnsburg vs Rockford Boylan
@ Loyola- Hoffmann Estates vs Glenbrook North
@ Waukegan- Zion Benton vs Libertyville


March 11th
Taking a look at the Michigan City Regional.
Game one SB Riley (21-3) vs Elkhart Central (20-4)
Game Two Merrillville (13-10) vs East Chicago (18-5)
This regional could be very exciting. The favorite at least on paper is SB Riley. Coach Mark Johnson's Wildcats are 21-3. The first year coach who came over from now defunct LaSalle is 3-0 vs the other teams in the sectional having beat Elkhart Central twice 76-74 and 92-88 as well as defeating East Chicago 81-72.
The Wildcats have plenty of size led by 6-8 Brandon Dixon and 6-5 Brandon Prince. No other team in this sectional has that kind of size. Other Wildcat stalwarts are Vysynt Vann, Andy Harris and Marcus Shelton have played well all year. The old saying is it is hardest to defeat a team you already beat earlier in the season. How about a team you beat twice by a total of 6 points.
Elkhart Central is playing great basketball led by 6-5 sophomore Derek Drews son of the coach. The younger Drews will be big time sooner than later. Stuart Mayes, Jerimy Robinson and Herbert Furlow are other Blazer standouts. This game should go down to the final seconds.
Game two sees East Chicago playing Merrillville. The Cardinals defeated the Pirates earlier 48-41 less than 3 weeks ago.
The Cardinals were fortunate to survive the tough Gary West Sectional by escaping both Munster and Lake Central before defeating a upstart Lowell squad in the championship. Coach Bob Miles team has fought through injuries and early suspensions to finally have their best five together come tourney time. 6-4 senior Rodney Wash may be the state's most overlooked player. Joining Wash up front have been three year starter Willie Frazier (6-5) and 6-4 junior Melvin Brown, who came back to East Chicago after two years at Bishop Noll. The key for the Cardinals in the regional will be the backcourt production of Donte Edwards and Tremaine Cooley. If these two play to their potential the Cards could be celebrating on Saturday night.
Merrillville Coach Jim East and his Pirates are in the underdog role. After compiling just a 10-10 regular season the Pirates revenged regular season losses to both Valparaiso and Chesterton before overcoming a huge deficit to down Crown Point in the championship. The Pirates are led by 6-4 junior Lavell Cook one of the state's top junior prospects. Sophomore Guard Josh Mayo is back at full strength after missing several weeks with a wrist injury. Senior Geoff Lalic has battled all year in the paint. East also unleashed freshmen Greg Hill in the sectional. Look for a nice crowd over at Michigan City on Saturday.


March 8th
For the second year in a row Merrillville Coach Jim East unleashed a freshmen come tournament time. Last Season the long time Pirate skipper brought up Josh Mayo who made a huge impact in last years sectional. This time with Merrillville down 17 at the half against Crown Point, East put in 6-3 freshmen Greg Hill who promptly led the Pirates to a huge second half by scoring 15 points vs. the Bulldogs en route to a 70-56 sectional championship win.


March 7th
ROOSEVLT BENCH HELPS PANTHERS WIN OVER GRIFFITH!!!
Gary Roosevelt held off Griffith 59-56 at the Calumet Fieldhouse in front of over 6,000 fans. Senior guard Larry Upshaw coming off the bench led the "Velt with 18 including several big shots after Griffith spurts. The star for the "velt was 6-4 senior Geoff Grant who scored 11 second half points subbing for Naquan Jackson, who had foul trouble. Time after time Grant took the ball right to Kenny Harris . Griffith after trailing by 13 early came out firing in the 3rd quarter with Cliff Wilson (22 points) absolutely catching fire from three point range. Harris ened his controversial high school career with 16 points, with just five after the intermission. Roosevelt will take on a Andrean team who defeated Wirt 70-61 in the opener. The 59ers played Roosevelt tough earlier in the year. This one should be another dandy at the Calumet Fieldhouse.


If you are going to tonights Roosevelt-Griffith matchup make sure you arrive early as tickets are going fast and furious. This should be a great game. Can Kenny Harris finally beat Roosevelt. The key is can Griffith get the duo of Jamaal Nash and Naquan Jackson into foul trouble that they have been proned to throughout the season. If you are looking for a surprise tonight look at 6-6, 350 pound "velt senior Quintin Allen. The beefy footballer could be big banging in the paint against Harris. What kind of Gimmick does Griffith coach Gabor have up his sleeve. We shall see.


March 5th
Saint Joseph's College has announced the signings of 13 in state football products. Coach Tom Riva and his staff have done and outstanding job recruiting the state of Indiana. The list:
Tad DeWitt LB Moooersville
Scott Luesse LB Rensselaer
Greggory Smith Causey OL-DL FW Luers
Matt Mooney OL Pendleton Heights
Charles Scott TE Carmel
Julius Taylor TE TH North
Corrie Gregory WR Evansville North
Matt Crick RB Whiteland
John Weaver RB Harding
Zac Williamson DB Elkhart Central
Lavarr Brown DE Perry Merdian
Steve Bunton LB Martinsville
Tyler Mose LB Delphi


March 4
East Chicago beats Munster 39-38. The Cardinals slowed down and knocked out the Mustangs. Yes I said slowed down the Mustangs. The Cardinals deliberate pace worked as they built as high as a 11 point lead. Munster came storming back but could never get the lead. Tremaine Cooley led the Cards with 11 and Rodney Wash added 10. The big story though was free throw shooting by the Cards as Donte Edwards and Melvin Brown coverted 4 straight free throws off one and ones in the final minute before Edwards missed one with 22 seconds left. Munster came down and Josh Martin's layup missed and tipped out to center court and East Chicago advances to take on a Lake Central team that spanked West Side 60-39. Munster eneds a great season at 22-2. Congratulations to coach Mike Hackett on a terrific season. He is truly a great coach and person


March 3rd
All-conference team
Mid-Suburban League East
Buffalo Grove -- John Clancy (Sr.), Brett Gerken (Sr.), Adam Stuart (Sr.)
Elk Grove -- Keith Johnson (Jr.), Jonathan Murphy (Sr.).
Hersey -- Jay Brizzolara (Sr.), Ryan Dwyer (Sr.).
Prospect -- Craig Anderson (Sr.).
Rolling Meadows -- Kyle Schmid (Jr.)
Wheeling -- Marcus Lee (Sr.).
Player of the Year -- Jonathan Murphy (EG).
Coach of the Year -- Ryan O'Connor (BG).
Mid-Suburban League West
Barrington -- Jason Richards (Jr.)
Conant -- Mike Hlavacek (Sr.), Keith Peterson (Sr.), Gary Wiggins (Sr.).
Fremd -- Matt Monaghan (Jr.).
Hoffman Estates -- Bryan Mead (Jr.), Jonny Reibel (Jr.).
Palatine -- Chris Curtin (Sr.), Grant Surprenant (So.).
Schaumburg -- Jim Kalcsits (Sr.), Zach Pancratz (Jr.), Craig Reichel (Jr.).
Co-Players of the Year -- Zach Pancratz (Sch), Craig Reichel (Sch).
Coach of the Year -- Bob Williams (Sch).


FEBRUARY 27th
My friend from Illinois Dan Laffee reports that Northwestern freshman Jimmy Maley has left the Wildcats. Maley hit 5 three point field goals vs Kansas State but has seen limited big ten time.
Next week I will have some of the pairings for the Illinois Class 2A tournament


FEBRUARY 25th
Here is a look at the class 3A tournament
3AAt HAMMOND CIVIC CENTER
Tuesday
Noll (11-9) vs Morton (10-8)
Highland (13-7) vs Clark (5-11)
Friday
Hammond (7-12) vs Gavit (1-17)

Favorite: Highland
Right There: Morton, Noll
Darkhorse: Hammond
Best Draw: Hammond

Players to Watch: NOLL: Gary Patterson, Vince Johnson, Sam Watts MORTON: Adam Keilman, Terrence Murphy, Devin Harper HIGHLAND : Gary Simkus, Kris Boyd, Joey Peres CLARK: Steve Polak, Marc Murzyn Marcus Wheeler, HAMMOND: Jawann Turner, Keonte Aaron GAVIT: Antonio McNeal, Von Emigh

ANALYSIS: Should be pretty wide open. Highland and Coach McCallister have overachieved. Noll PG Gary Patterson has had a good year despite the loss of Kenny Harris and Melvin Brown to transfer. Three of the schools have new coaches. Watch out for Hammond High, the Wildcats may explode with Turner and Aaron to go with a great draw.


At CALUMET
Tuesday
Wirt (8-8) vs Mann (5-12)
Calumet (3-15) vs Andrean (9-10)
Friday
Roosevelt (18-1) vs Griffith (16-3)

Favorite: Roosevelt
Right There: Griffith
Darkhorse: Wirt, Andrean
Best Draw: Wirt, Andrean

Players to Watch: ROOSEVELT_ Naquan Jackson, Larry Upshaw, Tyrone Appleton, Jamaal Nash, GRIFFITH: Kenny Harris, Cliff Wilson, Nate Fentress, ANDREAN: Pete Trgovich Jr., David Carson WIRT: Jonathon Johnson, Robert Eldridge, Isaac Johnson MANN: Doug Mills, Howard Hardy CALUMET: Eddie Pusateri
ANALYSIS: For the second straight year Roosevelt and Griffith matchup. The difference this time is Griffith has Kenny Harris. It should be a great game. Wirt and Andrean should also matchup on Friday. The winner could surprise on Saturday.


At PLYMOUTH
Tuesday
Plymouth (6-13) vs Knox (15-4)
Whitko (11-8) vs Culver Military (4-13)
Friday
Kankakee Valley (3-16) vs Tippecanoe Valley (18-1)

Favorite: Tippecanoe Valley
Right There: Knox
Darkhorse: Plymouth
Best Draw: Tippecanoe Valley

Players to Watch: PLYMOUTH : Ryan Clinton, Ryan Benge, KNOX: Tyler Moore, Cole Herr, CULVER MILITARY: Bub Sheppard, Chris Schumerth, WHITKO: John Woods, Brad Walpole, Alex Frantz, TIPPECANOE VALLEY: Trey Eaton, Ross Stutzman KANKAKEE VALLEY: Calvin Hamstra

ANALYSIS: When was the last time Plymouth wasn’t the favorite. The Pilgrims are young but don’t count them out. Tippecanoe Valley’s Trey Eaton is one of the state’s top scorers. A Look out for Culver Military’s Bub Sheppard..


At FRANKFORT
Tuesday
Twin Lakes (12-7) vs Benton Central (11-6)
Frankfort (12-7) vs Western (14-4)
Friday
Northwestern (5-14) vs West Lafayette (6-12)

Favorite: Western
Right There: Frankfort, Twin Lakes
Darkhorse: Benton Central
Best Draw: NONE

Players to Watch: FRANKFORT: Brandon Crone, John Cunningham, TWIN LAKES: Dewey Brown, Jordan Adams, BENTON CENTRAL: Brock Dawson, Kris Weigle, Brett Butler WESTERN: Alan Davidson, Josh Nelson, NORTHWESTERN : Craig Schuck, Trent Parkinson, WEST LAFAYETTE: Jim Anderson, Scott Curry

ANALYSIS: Defending champ Benton Central has it work cut out to repeat. Indiana’s Mr. Basketball could be decided by this sectional as Brandon Crone with a big performance could make a strong bid for top honors. Twin lakes’ versatile Dewey Brown could be huge.


At NORTHWOOD
Tuesday
Northwood (12-6) vs Mishawaka Marian (6-11)
New Prairie (13-6) vs SB ST. Joe’s (4-17)
Friday
Northridge (10-9) vs winner game 1

Favorite: NorthWood
Right There: New Prairie
Darkhorse: Northridge
Best Draw: Northridge

Players to Watch: NORTHWOOD: Ryan Bradley, Ron Lightfoot, MARIAN: Jason Smigeielski, Ryan Creachbaum, NEW PRAIRIE: Jason Williamson, Brendan Gaff ST. JOE”S Chris Knaub, Matt Weldy, NORTHRIDGE: Matt Crawford, Eric Eaton

ANALYSIS:No favorite on paper though some good teams. NorthWood plays the sectionals toughest sectional while Northridge has the best draw. .


At LEO
Tuesday
Concordia (14-4) vs West Noble (5-13)
Angola (10-7) vs Dwenger (14-7)
Friday
Leo (8-11) vs Lakeland (13-5)

Favorite: Concordia
Right There: Dwenger
Darkhorse: Lakeland
Best Draw: Lakeland

Players to Watch: CONCORDIA: Deon White, Ryan Pressley, Jon Lapsley, DWENGER: Steve Zent, Mike Steinau, LAKELAND: Evan Long, Adam James, ANGOLA: Tyler Hartman, Tyler Poor, LEO: Ben Kellenberger, Steve Clark, WEST NOBLE: Mike Kneppner, Brad Edwards

ANALYSIS: Concordia has a boat load of size. Dwenger surprised many by winning the summit holiday tournament. Lakeland senior Evan Long can score with the best of them.


At NEW HAVEN
Tuesday
Elmhurst (15-5) vs Wayne (6-12)
Harding (12-5) vs Luers (2-15)
Friday
New Haven (7-11) vs Heritage (6-12)

Favorite: Harding
Right There: Elmhurst
Darkhorse: Wayne
Best Draw: NONE

Players to Watch: ELMHURST: James Hardy, Joe Poindexter, HARDING: AJ Gooden, Geoff King, Jason Thomas, WAYNE : Sylvester Mayes, LUERS: Mitch Hazzlett, Eric Smith, NEW HAVEN: Andrew Nelson, Blake Childs, HERITAGE: Adam Buuck, Josh Gerardot

ANALYSIS: Two time state finalist Harding will be challenges just to get out of this sectional. The Elmhurst Trojans have two big time prospects in Hardy and Poindexter. Wayne has the state’s most talented player in Mayes


At BLACKFORD
Tuesday
Maconaquah (11-8) vs Norwell (5-13)
Bellmont (10-8) vs Jay County (10-9)
Friday
Blackford (2-16) vs Peru (2-16)

Favorite: Bellmont
Right There: Maconaquah
Darkhorse: Jay County
Best Draw: Peru, Blackford

Players to Watch: MACONAQUAH: Micah Quick, Dwayne Humes, BELLMONT: Adam Arnold, Sean Cook, NORWELL: Ben Ballinger, Jason Schortgen, JAY COUNTY: Ben Reinhart, Cam Hummel, BLACKFORD: Jerrid Nickols, PERU: Beau Beard, Antwan Wooten

ANALYSIS: How about two teams with only two wins getting the byes. Maconaquah has surprised many with no returning lettermen. Jay County could be factor with their tough schedule..


At YORKTOWN
Tuesday
Elwood (4-14) vs Pendleton Heights (13-7)
Yorktown (17-3) vs Delta (7-11)
Friday
Alexandria (10-9) vs Mt Vernon (9-8)

Favorite: Yorktown
Right There: Pendleton Heights
Darkhorse: Delta
Best Draw: Alexandria

Players to Watch: YORKTOWN: Pete Campbell, Austin Steele, Pendleton Heights: Dustin Ritz, Keith Atkinson, DELTA: Adam Burcham, Antwuan Amerson, ALEXANDRIA: Mike Kettery, Landon Carroll, MT VERNON: Matt Preusz, ELWOOD: Eli Henson, Josh Vinson

ANALYSIS: Defending state champion Delta will have a uphill battle top repeat. Three teams (Delta, Yorktown and Alexandria have played for state titles.


At LEBANON
Tuesday
Tipton (7-11) vs Hamilton Heights (13-6)
Lebanon (14-6) vs Zionsville (8-11)
Friday
Crawfordsville (7-11) vs Westfield (2-15)

Favorite: Lebanon
Right There: Hamilton Heights
Darkhorse: Tipton, Zionsville
Best Draw: NONE

Players to Watch: LEBANON: Wayne Denger, Casey Noland, HAMILTON HEIGHTS: Bill Bowen, Doug Hartley, TIPTON: Brandon Henry, Landon Morris, ZIONSVILLE: Ryan Stephens, Chad Danz, Nick Payne, CRAWFORDSVILLE: Rich Fuller, WESTFIELD: Shane Smoot, Willy Wells

ANALYSIS: Lebanon’s record is deceiving the Tigers are a state title contender. Hamilton Heights is led by the coach’s son Billy Bowen. Zionsville and new coach Dave Ferrell has plenty of size.br>

At GREENFIELD CENTRAL
Tuesday
New Palestine (13-5) vs Roncalli (11-6)
Chatard (14-2) vs Brebeuf (9-9)
Friday
Beech Grove (10-7) vs Greenfield Central (12-6)

Favorite: Chatard
Right There: Brebeuf
Darkhorse: Everyone else
Best Draw: Beech Grove, Greenfield

Players to Watch: CHATARD: Dan Cage, Mike Dury, Ryan Baker BREBEUF: Sonny Troutman, Jordan Carter, BEECH GROVE: Matt Clemens, Anthony Beckham, GRENNFIELD: Wes Carmony, Josiah Sears, Mark Galbraith, NEW PALESTINE: Kent Raymond, Andy Zellers RONCALLI: Jeff Manley, Stephen Schott

ANALYSIS: The hardest sectional in 3A. All 6 teams are.500 or above. Chatard and Brebeuf game should be great opening round matchup. Last game went to overtime. Look for the winner here to go a long way..


At SHELBYVILLE
Tuesday
Greensburg (12-6) vs Rushville (4-15)
Shelbyville (13-5) vs Franklin County (2-16)
Friday
Whiteland (7-12) vs South Dearborn (6-12)

Favorite: Shelbyville
Right There: Greensburg
Darkhorse: Whiteland
Best Draw: Shelbyville

Players to Watch: SHELBYVILLE: Cody Fair, Wyatt Ash, GREENSBURG: Robert Barker, Ben Giesting, WHITELAND: Nathan Perdue, Matt Crick, RUSHVILLE: Eric Green, Kyle Munson, SOUTH DEARBORN: Ty Fuchs, Ryan Meyer, FRANKLIN COUNTY Zach Broerman

ANALYSIS: This should be a two horse race between host Shelbyville and Greensburg. Xavier signee Robert Barker leads Greensburg. Shelbyville has a deep team.


At MADISON
Tuesday
North Harrison (16-3) vs Silver Creek (9-9)
Corydon Central (13-6) vs Scottsburg (14-5)
Friday
Providence (9-10) vs Madison (10-10)

Favorite: North Harrison
Right There: Scottsburg
Darkhorse: Corydon
Best Draw: Madison and Providence

Players to Watch: NORTH HARRISON: Blake Snodgrass, Chad Miller, SCOTTSBURG: Joe Humes, Dan Watson, Brian Roberts, CORYDON: Kyle Savely, Nevin Dunaway, PROVIDENCE: Tyler Adkinson, Jeff Lovan, MADISON: Lou Rohfling, Gary Mouser, SILVER CREEK: Josh Lanham, Geoff Miller

ANALYSIS: Another balanced sectional. Look for the high scoring duo of Miller and Snodgrass of North Harrison to be prevalent.


At GREENCASTLE
Tuesday
Greencastle (9-10) vs Edgewood (6-12)
Danville (14-4) vs Owen Valley (9-10)
Friday
West Vigo (3-16) vs Brown County (10-9)

Favorite: Danville
Right There: NONE
Darkhorse: Owen Valley, Brown County, Greencastle
Best Draw: Brown County

Players to Watch: DANVILLE: Mark Creviston, Mark Murphy, OWEN VALLEY: Darrin Line, Bryan Arnold, BROWN COUNTY: Cole Smith, Brett Miller, Craig Hoskins, EDGEWOOD: Jarrod Brothers, Chris Moynihan, GREENCASTLE: Andre Skates, John Sibbitt, Eric English, WEST VIGO: Chris Lawson, Pat Dillard

ANALYSIS: Danville is the prohibitive favorite with the best record and hardest schedule. Greencastle, Owen Valley and Brown County may be able to challenge.


At WASHINGTON
Tuesday
Washington (15-3) vs Pike Central (5-14)
Princeton (9-11) vs Vincennes Lincoln (15-6)
Friday
Jasper (11-8) vs Sullivan (10-8)

Favorite: Washington
Right There: Vincennes
Darkhorse: Jasper
Best Draw: Jasper

Players to Watch: WASHINGTON: Luke Zeller, Jeff Richardson, VINCENNES: Zach Halter, Curtis Painter, JASPER: Ben Schmidt, Chris Schmidt, SULLIVAN: Jeff Moore, Kyle Lane, PIKE CENTRAL: Andrew Houtsch, Chris Collins , PRINCETON: Darrius Jackson, Josh Chavis

ANALYSIS: College coaches from coast to coast have been to Washington to check out 6-11 sophomore Luke Zeller. The Hatchets have a huge front line. Rivals Jasper and Vincennes make this an exciting sectional.


At BOONVILLE
Tuesday
Gibson Southern (18-2) vs Mt Vernon (10-10)
Bosse (3-15) vs Boonville (5-14)
Friday
Memorial (8-11) vs Heritage Hills (15-4)

Favorite: Gibson Southern
Right There: Heritage Hills
Darkhorse: Memorial
Best Draw: Heritage Hills

Players to Watch: GIBSON SOUTHERN : Eric Campbell, Clint Campbell, Ryan Karaff, HERITAGE HILLS: Dusty Neighbors, Troy Cox, MEMORIAL: Dave Haire, Matt Brinkmann, MT VERNON: Jace Redman, Josh Redman, BOONVILLE: Zach Collins, BOSSE: Eli McNary, Lance Buse

ANALYSIS: Gibson Southern has a experienced deep group. Veteran Coach Marty Echelbarger has plenty of quickness at Heritage Hills. Both memorial and Bosse play tough schedules in the Southern Indiana Conference.


February 24th
With the tournament draw today. The first thing you notice is some of the indredible first round matcups especially in class 4A: East Chicago vs Munster, Valpo Vs Merrillville, LaPorte vs Riley, Muncie South Vs New Castle, Pike vs North Central, Arlington vs Cathedral, Harrison vs Reitz. In 3A how about Roosevelt vs Griffith and Chatard vs Brebeuf. Is it time for seeding??? I will start a class by class look at the sectionals. Here is class 4A:
Sectional previews
4A

At GARY WEST SIDE
Tuesday
Lake Central (11-7) vs Gary West Side (5-11)
East Chicago (14-5) vs Munster (20-1)
Friday
Lowell (10-10) vs Wallace (8-9)

Favorite: Munster
Right There: East Chicago
Darkhorse: Lake Central
Best Draw: Wallace

Players to Watch: EAST CHICAGO: Rodney Wash, Donte Edwards , Willie Frazier, Tremaine Cooley , Melvin Brown MUNSTER: John Jamicich , Nate Burchfield , Josh Martin , Dustin Bothwell , Jim Phelan GARY WEST SIDE : Sean Smith , Jory Peters , Robert Hall , Jon Moore , GARY WALLACE: Jason Rhodes, Marcus Rhodes, Donte Williams, LAKE CENTRAL: Adam Summers, Adam Dobrzienicki, LOWELL: James Jeffries, Justin Bales, Matt Roberts

ANALYSIS: This as usual could be a dog fight. Defending champion West Side defeated Munster in the opener a year ago. Munster is the favorite with Mike Hackett’s squad breaking the school win record. Depth and backcourt speed will be keys for Munster. East Chicago could be huge as the Cards seem to be playing well. Senior Rodney Wash has had a breakthrough year for the Cards. Point guard play is a concern. West Side’s 5-11 record is deceiving as the Cougars played much of the year without talented 6-5 Jory Peters. 6-7 junior Sean Smith is steady as can be. The rest of the Cougar lineup will be the decide how far the Cougars will go. Lake Central has surprised many this year with a 11-7 record as of the draw. Coach Jim Black’s team has the most depth in the sectional. When Jason and Marcus Rhodes of Lew Wallace are hot look out, the Hornets can play with anybody. None of the teams facing each other in the first round have played each other.


At VALPARAISO
Tuesday
Valpo (16-3) vs Merrillville (9-10)
Portage (7-12) vs Chesterton (14-5)
Friday
Crown Point (9-10) vs Hobart (5-13)

Favorite: Valparaiso
Right There: Chesterton
Darkhorse: Merrillville
Best Draw: Crown Point

Players to Watch: VALPARAISO: Brian McMillan, Mike Hills, Jason Renn, CHESTERTON: Tom Radtke, Mike Yagelski, Erik Babcock, MERRILLVILLE: Lavell Cook, Josh Mayo, Igor Ristevski CROWN POINT: Chris Thomas, Brian Sparks, Chad Pruzin, PORTAGE: Dan Paulsen, Kyle Autrtey, Buster Battreall HOBART: Bryan Fuller, Matt Glover

ANALYSIS: This could be as wide open a sectional as any. Chesterton is looking for its first sectional title since 1987. The Trojans and coach Tom Peller have to sectionals best front line. Valparaiso has again compiled a great record and have a nice inside outside combo in McMillan and Hills. Don’t ever count out Merrillville as coach Jim East’s Freshmen surprise in the sectional last year was Mayo, could Greg Hill be this year. The Crown Point Bulldogs have struggled since 6-5 banger Kyle Robbins went out with a season ending concussion. 6-7 forward Chris Thomas may be the best player in the sectional. Valpo defeated Merrillville 61-59 on February 7th.


At MICHIGAN CITY
Tuesday
Washington (5-12) vs Adams (15-5)
LaPorte (14-5) vs Riley (17-3)
Friday
Clay (10-10) vs Michigan City (7-11)

Favorite: Riley
Right There: LaPorte, Adams
Darkhorse: Michigan City, Clay
Best Draw: Clay

Players to Watch: RILEY: Brandon Dixon, Vynsynt Vann, Brandon Prince, ADAMS: Kenny Love, Lee Booker, Ryan Werntz LAPORTE: Eric Gerding, Andy Tanklsey. Joel Tonagel, Todd Dermody MICHIGAN CITY: Jon Jones, David Kelly, Jon Novak CLAY: Ryan Mann, Graham Nelson WASHINGTON: Anthony Grundy

ANALYSIS: Riley would have to be considered the favorite with big guy Brandon Dixon and a host of athletes. LaPorte under first year coach Tom Wells started off slow but have rebounded well and are red hot entering the tournament. Adams may have the sectional’s best athlete in Kenny Love. The Michigan City Wolves are starting to turn it around and are the host school. Don’t count out Joe Huppenthal’s Clay Colonials who may have played the state’s toughest schedule. Defending champion Washington is one of four schools in this sectional with a new coach in Chad Johnston. The tow favorite who square off on Tuesday opened the season with Riley pasting the Slicers 98-80.


At ELKHART CENTRAL
Tuesday
Elkhart Central (17-3) vs Elkhart Memorial (2-16)
Concord (16-3) vs Penn (12-7)
Friday
Goshen (13-5) vs Mishawaka (8-12)

Favorite: Elkhart Central
Right There: Concord, Goshen
Darkhorse: Penn
Best Draw: Goshen

Players to Watch: ELKHART CENTRAL: Derek Drews, Jerimy Robinson, Stuart Mayes CONCORD: Adrian Conrad, LeVon Parker GOSHEN: Andrew Hershberger, Matt Lewallen, PENN: Josh DeLoddere, Adam Cramer, Tyler Brown MISHAWAKA: Tony Mauro, Nate DeVreese ELKHART MEMORIAL: Derek Blosser, Trent Osborn

ANALYSIS: High Scoring Derek Drews son of Elkhart Central coach Mike Drews has emerged as one of the state’s top juniors. The Blazers have plenty of quickness. Goshen is led by four year starter and Western Michigan bound Andrew Hershberger. Concord has surprised many with a small quick lineup. Don’t; ever count out Penn and veteran coach Dean Foster. Defending champion Memorial has struggled mightily with a young team.

At WARSAW
Tuesday
Carroll (8-10) vs Wawasee (14-5)
Warsaw (12-6) vs Columbia City (17-1)
Friday
East Noble (6-12) vs DeKalb (19-1)

Favorite: DeKalb
Right There: Columbia City
Darkhorse: Warsaw, Wawasee
Best Draw: DeKalb

Players to Watch: DEKALB: Adam Liddell, Alex Kock, Matt Knapp, COLUMBIA CITY: Marcus Moore, Doug Sheckler, Scott Moore, CARROLL: Seth Lochmueller, Lowell Grissom EAST NOBLE: Jeff Wedding, Eric Troyer, Matt Shook WARSAW: Ryan DeGeeter, William Knepper, WAWASEE: Clint Custer, Kory Lantz

ANALYSIS: A potential rematch of DeKalb and Columbia City could be big as Columbia City handed DeKalb its lone loss. DeKalb has ahuge front line led by Purdue recruit Adam Liddell and Alex Kock. Columbia City’s backcourt features the Junior twin combo of Marcus and Scott Moore. Warsaw and first year coach Doug Ogle has plenty of experienced football players looking to keep the Tiger tradition. Carroll has had a lot of success in the tournament the past few years and have a nice duo in Seth Lochmueller and Lowell Grissom. Wawasee could make hay as well with plenty of frontcourt size.

At HUNTINGTON NORTH
Tuesday
South (12-5) vs Homestead (11-8)
Snider (12-6) vs Huntington North (7-11)North (6-11) vs Northrop (8-10)

Favorite: FW South
Right There: FW Snider
Darkhorse: Homestead
Best Draw: Northrop

Players to Watch: FW SOUTH: Marty Kizer, Durrell Hayes, Bernard Pollard, SNIDER: Marcus Johnson, Pete Roberts, Ryan Sims, NORTHROP: Will Lerwis, Josh Gaines, Marcus Nellems, HOMESTEAD: Erich Martin, Kevin Mitchell, James Haifley FW NORTH: Roberto Fortes, Slewyn Lymon, HUNTINGTON NORTH: Thad Frame, Sam Ryan, Austin Kline

ANALYSIS: Defending champion Homestead’s record is deceiving as Erich martin can score in bunches. Coach Ryan Bond at South Side has a quick deep talented team who will press you for 32 minutes. Snider has a great freshmen class that has played beyond their years. How will they respond to a sectional atmosphere. Super Frosh Marcus Johnson is incredible, but the Lebron James comparisons are unfair now. Northrop in led by Tenn-Martin Signee Will Lewis in the paint. Don’t count out host Huntington North as Coach Eric Foister is a savvy tourney coach.


At LAFAYETTE JEFFERSON
Tuesday
Kokomo (15-4) vs Logansport (4-14)
Harrison (11-7) vs Marion (2-17)
Friday
Jefferson (15-4) vs McCutcheon (9-9)

Favorite: Jefferson
Right There: Kokomo, Harrison
Darkhorse: McCutcheon
Best Draw: Jefferson

Players to Watch: JEFFERSON: Peyton Stovall, Dustin Keller, HARRISON: Jared Wynn, Pete Minchella KOKOMO: Matt Bell, Adam Martin , Jake Quest MCCUTCHEON: Clayton Richard, Kelly Martin < Bart Hunsicker LOGANSPORT: Nick Hipsher, Ryan Long

ANALYSIS: The host Bronchos should be the favorites with Ball State signees Peyton Stovall and Purdue football recruit Dustin Keller. Kokomo coach Mike Wade has a tremendous leader in Matt Bell. Harrison has the most size of any team in the sectional. McCutcheon’s footballers led by Clayton Richard are anxious for tourney play. Who would ever think Marion would be 2-17 and playing mostly freshmen


At NEW CASTLE
Tuesday
Anderson Highland (8-11) vs Richmond (9-10)
Muncie Central (12-7) vs Anderson (8-12)
Friday
Muncie South (15-3) vs New Castle (16-3)

Favorite: New Castle
Right There: Muncie Central, Muncie South
Darkhorse: Anderson, Richmond
Best Draw: NONE

Players to Watch: NEW CASTLE: Anthony Turner, Ben Smith, MUNCIE CENTRAL: Kendrick Miller, Alex Daniel , Josiah Miller, MUNCIE SOUTH: Andre Amerson, Linne Balfour, ANDERSON: DJ Menifee, Terrence Roberts, ANDERSON HIGHLAND: Corey Johnson, Andre Echols RICHMOND: Dominic James, Joe White, Dustin Campbell

ANALYSIS: The host Trojans have an exciting duo in Vincennes bound Turner and Smith. The Bearcats have a deep and talented squad led by sophomores. Muncie South has limited size but plenty of quickness. Both Anderson teams are also contenders. Look out for Richmond with potentially the sectionals best player in Sophomore guard Dominic James. Muncie South will try to revenge a 6 point loss to New Castle in the opener on Friday.


At NOBLESVILLE
Tuesday
Pike (20-0) vs North Central 14-4)
Broad Ripple (3-13) vs Carmel (11-7)
Friday
Hamilton SE (17-2) vs Noblesille (13-7)
Favorite: Pike
Right There: North Central, Hamilton SE
Darkhorse: Noblesville
Best Draw: Carmel

Players to Watch: PIKE: Robert Vaden, Justin Cage, Darren Yates, Courtney Lee, David Barlow, Parnell Smith, NORTH CENTRAL: Anthony Passley. Julien Mills, AJ Ratliff HAMILTON SE: Eric Osborn, Joe Reitz, CARMEL: Josh McRoberts, John Washburn, Craig Swoope, NOBLESVILLE: Jared Boser, Justin Skipper, BROAD RIPPLE: George Hill
ANALYSIS: The bad news for five of the teams in this sectional is that Pike is here. At this point there is no indication that the Red Devils will be challenged. North Central has two of the state’s top juniors in Passley and Ratliff. Hamilton SE and coach Brian Satterfield may be the state’s biggest surprise at 17-2. Carmel sophomore Josh McRoberts (6-9) can be dominant. Tournament tested Nobelsville and veteran coach Dave McCullough always has a trick or tow up his sleeve


At ARLINGTON
Tuesday
Warren Central (14-6) vs Lawrence Central (3-14)
Lawrence North (17-1) vs Connersville (12-6)
Friday
Arlington (12-7) vs Cathedral (15-4)

Favorite: Lawrence North
Right There: Cathedral, Arlington
Darkhorse: Warren Central, Connersville
Best Draw: Warren Central

Players to Watch: LAWRENCE NORTH: Greg Oden, Chaz Spicer, Brandon McDonald, Mike Conley, CATHEDRAL: Zach Decatur, Chuck Flynn, Phil Kealing, Tommy Corbett ARLINGTON: Fitzgerald Batteast, Ryan Gold, Deonta Vaughn, Jamar Thomas WARREN CENTRAL: Kenny Page, Courntey Nunn, Luke Todor CONNERSVILLE: Zach Henderson, Zach Gessell LAWRENCE CENTRAL: Marlon Dabney, Darrin Granger

ANALYSIS: With only one senior on their roster Lawrence North is thought to be a year away. Don’t tell them that as the deep Wildcats led by outstanding freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley have lost only once. Cathedral was counted for dead when Robert Vaden left for Pike. The Irish have a big strong front line and a heady PG in Zach Decatur. The old saying ios it is hard to beat a team twice. How about three times that is the task Scott Hicks and Cathedral have vs Arlington. The Irish beat the Knights twice in five day in January. Knight Coach Larry Nicks and opponents have seen super soph Fitzgerald Batteast explode onto the scene. Warren Central junior guard Kenny Page can play with anybody.

At BEN DAVIS
Tuesday
Tech ( 7-11) vs Ben Davis (10-8)
Avon (9-10) vs Northwest (12-6)
Friday
Decatur Central (2-16) vs Brownsburg (14-6)

Favorite: Ben Davis
Right There: Brownsburg
Darkhorse: Northwest
Best Draw: Brownsburg

Players to Watch: BEN DAVIS: Stanley Burrell, Brian Faires, AVON: Jeff Gabonay, Adam Pence, BROWNSBURG: Nate Hainje, Sammy Dotlich, NORTHWEST: Cornelius Bambo, Mike Durrett TECH: Tyrone Anderson, Jamaal Little DECATUR CENTRAL: Coby Reuter

ANALYSIS: Ben Davis has the best player in Burrell. The Giants and first year coach Scott White has a deep bench of football players use to winning. Brownsburg is led by Nate Hainje and also has a terrific sophomore class. New Northwest coach Victor Bush has some talented athletes as well.


At PERRY MERIDIAN
Tuesday
Center Grove (9-9) vs Greenwood (10-7)
Manual (2-15) vs Southport (6-12)
Friday
Franklin Central (8-9) vs Perrry Meridian (18-4)

Favorite: Perry Meridian
Right There: No one
Darkhorse: Center Grove, Franklin Central, Greenwood
Best Draw: NONE

Players to Watch: PERRY MERIDIAN: Austin Montgomery, Justin Petty, Brandon Ray CENTER GROVE: Jordan Coffey, Kurt Peters FRANKLIN CENTRAL: Derek James, Donald Washington GREENWOOD: Terry Ratliff, Matt Pittman, Adam Swain MANUAL: Rafael White, Michael Woodson, SOUTHPORT: Brad Howell, Herbert Terry

ANALYSIS: Can Perry Meridian avoid the upset with the outstanding trio of Montgomery, Petty and Ray it sure looks that way. Center Grove has some size led by Coffey. Greenwood puylled off the upset last year and look to do it again. Derek James on of Mark James leads Franklin Central.

At TERRE HAUTE NORTH
Tuesday
TH South (11-9) vs Northview (18-2)
Mooresville (6-13) vs Martinsville (14-5)
Friday
TH North (12-7) vs Plainfield (16-4-

Favorite: Northview
Right There: Plainfield, Martinsville
Darkhorse: TH North, TH South
Best Draw: Martinsville

Players to Watch: NORTHVIEW: Logan Whitman, Zach Keyes TH SOUTH: Evan Harruff, Jeremy Lock, TH NORTH: Luke Blank Steve Jeffers, Ethan Tyler MARTINSVILLE: Casey Schwab, Tim Dearlove PLAINFIELD: Wes Criswell, Jasper Tanner, Matt Paetz MOORESVILLE: Dave Yaraschefski, Josh Jones

ANALYSIS: As balances a sectional as there is in 4A, with 5 of 6 teams have winning records. Northview has the record have they played the competition. TH North coach Jim Jones and TRH South Coach Pat Rady have been around forever and their experience should be accounted for. Martinsville has a young and tall team. Plainfield has its best team in a few years


At COLUMBUS NORTH
Tuesday
Columbus East (16-3) vs East Central (14-4)
Bloomington South (11-8) vs Franklin (2-17)
Friday
Bloomington North (17-2) vs Columbus North (6-13)

Favorite: Bloomington North
Right There: Columbus East
Darkhorse: Bloomington South, East Central
Best Draw: Bloomington North

Players to Watch: BLOOMINGTON NORTH: Errek Suhr, Mike Davis Jr, Anthony Lindsey, COLUMBUS EAST: Mike Wohlford, jeff Prebeck, BLOOMINGTON SOUTH: Grant Gibson (injured), Clay Crick, Drew Adams, COLUMBUS NORTH: Jared Stout, Evan Burton, EAST CENTRAL: TJ Brown, Brandon Kaiser, FRANKLIN COMMUNITY: Tom Kegley
ANALYSIS: This should be North’ to lose. The Cougars are led by Suhr, who will be a walk on at IU and Mike Davis Jr., Veteran coach Steve Brunes has Columbus East looking for a long tourney run. South has a lot of shooter for veteran coach JR Holmes.

At SEYMOUR
Tuesday
Seymour (12-7) vs New Albany (11-8)
Bedford (12-7) vs Jennings County (8-10)
Friday
Jeffersonville (15-5) vs Floyd Central (4-14)

Favorite: Jeffersonville
Right There: New Albany
Darkhorse: Seymour, Bedford
Best Draw: Jeffersonville

Players to Watch: JEFFERSONVILLE: Matt Pait, Robbie Grinestaff NEW ALBANY: Mitch Brown, Victor Cousins, Ryan Wheeler, SEYMOUR: Jon Pierce, Jack Schneider, JENNINGS COUNTY: Greg Kreutzjans, Baron Kent, BEDFORD: Jerod Speer, Tyler Kalber, Jeremy Burch FLOYD CENTRAL: Robby Gray, Derek Summers, Cameron O’Neal
ANALYSIS: Long time rivals New Albany and Jeffersonville will fight it out with Seymour and Bedford also looking on. Jeff PG Matt Pait is a solid leader. New Albany has a group of athletes who are mostly football players. Bedford Big man Tyler Kalber (6-9)could be a big factor in who wins this.

At CASTLE
Tuesday
Castle (9-8) vs Central (11-7)
Harrison (16-2) vs Reitz (17-3)
Friday
North (4-14) vs Winner game one
Favorite: Harrison
Right There: Reitz
Darkhorse: Castle, Central
Best Draw: NONE

Players to Watch: HARRISON: Kente Hart, Melvin Hall, Jon Lee, REITZ: Kyle Anslinger, Andy Kissell CASTLE: JT Scholl, Chris Hale, CENTRAL: Joe Schuler, Riley O’Neal NORTH: Jeff Stinson, DeAngelo RoachANALYSIS: Many feel that Tuesday first round matchup between Harrison and Reitz will be the championship. Both of Harrison’s losses have been to Reitz (by 7 and by 9 points). Harrison has tons of speed, while Reitz counters with plenty of shooting. Castle and a physical central team may also contend.

FEBRUARY 22nd and 23rd
Can Pike go undefeated?? That is one of the big questions facing Indiana High School Basketball as the Tournament draw comes out on Monday. First the Red Devils will have to host Lawrence North (17-1) on Tuesday it should be great prelude to an exciting tournament.
My early picks for state championship games
4A- DeKalb vs Pike
3A- Gary Roosevelt vs Chatard
2A- Wheeler vs Forest Park
1A- Kouts vs South Central (Elizabeth)
This week I will have a class by class breakdown of each class sectional


FEBRUARY 21st
Munster (18-1) and Griffith (16-2) square off for the second time tonight. The Panthers nipped the Mustangs on January 31st 53-46. Tonights game will be at the Calumet fieldhouse. Plent of fans are expected to fill the 5,000 seat fieldhouse. This one should be a dandy and help both teams prepare for the tournament.

FOOTBALL NOTES:Twin Lakes OL Troy Harker is leaning torwards being a preferred walk on at Indiana. Teammate Dewey Brown is waiting unitl after basketball season.

Munster LB Adam Del Rio has accepted a preferred walk on spot at Indiana. RB Steve Smith is going to concentrate on academics in college. TE Jim Phelan is taking a look at football and basketball options after basketball season ends.

Scecina's Joey Grant and Jeff McGuiness are either going to be walk on at IU or Ball State, or accept A small school offer.

Portage QB Adam Hasiak is deciding between Wabash and DePauw. DE Frank Knez is looking at St Francis and Wabash. OL Eric Smith is leaning to Wabash.

Oak Hill's trio of FB-LB Trey Boswell (leaning to Anderson), HB-FS Kirk Winger (Anderson or Taylor) and OL-DL Ryan Hovermale (leaning to Lake Forest (IL)) are close to decisions.


FEBRUARY 19th
FOOTBALL RECRUITING TIDBITS
Warren Central OL Mike Clevenger looks like he is going to Indiana Univesity as a preferred walk on but is still weighing his options according to Warren Central Head Coach Kevin Wright.

Lawrence Central DB Brandon Golder is leaning to Purdue as a preferred walk on.

Cathedral QB Zach Decatur is visiting Dayton this weekend.

Mammoth OL Adam Gibson of Decatur Central is going to Wisconsin as a preferred walk on. Teammate Carlton Summler is looking at junior colleges as well as Indiana State.

Anderson Highland RB Corey Johnson is weighing a football offer from St. Francis as well as a preferred walk on for football at Purdue. Johnson is also awaiting word from the Naval Academy for basketball.

Anderson teammates RB Justin Wilkerson and DJ Menifee are looking at Indiana State. Wilkerson also is looking at Joliet JC, Harper JC and Erie (PA) JC.

Hamilton SE OL Ryan Barclay is deciding between walking on at Ball State or Indiana as well as looking at the University of Indianapolis and Wabash.

New Albany WR Warren English Malone is visting Indiana State soon. Teammate WR Victor Cousins is leaning to Rochester (MN) JC.

Park Tudor OL JP Day has committed to Brown in the Ivy league. Teammate Patrick Oldham is deciding between walking on at Indiana or going to Wabash.

South Spencer FB-LB Dusty Young is looking at Georgetwon (KY), St.Francis, Dayton and Indiana State.

Chesterton FB-LB Nick Johnson is looking at St Joe's, St Francis, Wabash and Hillsdale. Kicker Steve Joyce is leaning to Valparaiso University. CB David Novotney is looking at the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy. OL-DL Mark Fekete is sifting through Manchester, Anderson and St. Joe's.

Delta FB-LB Aaron Kerkhof has committed to VMI. Teammate DB Antwaun Amerson is looking at Hillsdale, Findley and the University of Indianapolis.

Columbus East TE Kurt Engleking is looking at Junior Colleges as is K David Smith. WR-DB Kevin Abner will either walk on at Ball State or look at the D3 level.

Columbus North K Drew Robbins will walk on at Indiana. OL-DL Matt Wren and OL-DL Jason Addis are looking at St Francis. QB Evan Kleinhenz may walk on at BYU.

Lake Central WR-DB Geoff Walker is deciding between Wabash, DePauw, St Joe's, Tri-State, and Valparaiso.

Speedway TB-OLB Jonathan Powers is headed to Anderson University, while teammate WR-DB Rob Linville is going to St. Francis. QB Chris West and FB-LB Nick Taphorn are still looking, with West also weighing basketball opportunities.

Plymouth LB Kevin Einsphar is headed to Carthage.

FEBRUARY 18th
The Lake Athletic Conference Tournament resumes tonight with four games in the winners bracket.
HIGHLAND (11-6) at NOLL (10-8)
This one should be the best of the night. Highland defeated the Warriors 51-48 back on Janury 24th. The Trojans are one of the area's biggest surprises. Coach Doug McCallister's team has improved greatly since tha start of the season. The improvement began with 6-8 junior Kevin Thomas and 6-3 freshmen Andy Helmer and Derek Moser moving up from the Junior Varsity. Junior Kris Boyd is capbale of putting up big scoring nights.
Noll despite the loss of Kenny Harris and Melvin Brown have been competitive very night. Junior PG Gary Patterson has led this team all year. Vince Johnson is a quick 6-4 junior.
MUNSTER (17-1) at MORTON (10-7)
This game could be closer than people realize. Morton is a decent basketball team just ask Griffith.
The Mustangs have been solid all year long. With big Guy Jim Phelan improving every minute the "Stangs" are going to be tough.
The Governors despite the season ending loss of Darion Reed have been good. Senior Shooting guard Adam Keilman can light it up. 6-5 junior Terrance Murphy has been a pleasant surprise for the Governors.
GAVIT (1-16) at GRIFFITH (14-2)
This one should be ugly from the start. The Gladiators have struggled all year with injuries and player defections.
The Panthers though hope to use their bench personnel a lot before a potential remathc with Munster on Friday.
WHITING (6-9) at LOWELL (9-8)
Lowell won this earlier matchup 62-55. Junior James Jeffries is a nice leaper for the Red Devils.
Whiting is led by Vinnie Donovan . This could be a exciting contest.

The Semi finals will be Thursday at Calumet with the Championship on Friday.


FEBRUARY 16th
Sorry for the lack of updates this weekend. I was on a family obligation and was unable to access the internet. I will update on Monday. By the way the folks in Cincinnati should learn about this wonderful new invention called the snowplow.

FEBRUARY 13th
Top ranked and undefeated Pike will receive its biggest challenge to date as they travel to Bloomington tonight to take on the North Cougars. The Red Devils ranked 3rd nationally have blown through their competition thus far. Coach Larry Bullingotn's Pike squad (17-0) is outscoring its opponents by a whopping 27 points per game. The closest contest was a 6 point win over Perry Meridian in the County Tourney. The Cougars (15-1) of coach Tom McKinney have lost just to Muncie Central and have outscored their oppeonent by an average of 19 points per game.
Pike is led this season by 6-6 junior Robert Vaden the talented forward is averaging over 15 points for this talented Red Devil squad. Other key Pike players are Jusitn Cage, David Barlow, Parnell Smith, Courtney Lee and Darren Yates. This Pike team is so talented that Smith doesn't even start.
Bloomington North may not have a big gun this season such as a Jared Jeffries ort Sean May. What The Cougars do have is balance led by seniors Mike Davis Jr. and Errek Suhr. Junior PG Anthony Lindsey and Bil Duany coming off an injury that has cost him the last year and a half will have to be huge tonight if Bloomington North is to pull off the upset. If you are going get their early I am sure it will be standing room only.


FEBRUARY 11th
In front of a few select people on Tuesday West Side defeated Wallace 69-67 at West Side. With the girls sectionals going on only about 100 people made it out to this thriller. 6-5 Junior Jorie Peters hit the game winning three at the buzzer. There were 3 baskets in the final 20 seconds without the clock stopping. First 6-7 junior Sean Smith converted a layup with 20 seconds left. Wallace came back down and fed 6-6 senior Donte Williams who gave Wallace the brief lead with 8 seconds. West Side super quick sophomore Robert Hall then fed Peters on the right wing for the game winning three. Smith led the Cougars with 19. Peters and Hall added 19 and 11. Wallace was led by 6-1 senior Jason Rhodes with 18. 6-2 junior Preston Dunham addded 17 including 15 in the second half. Dunham reminded me of Brandon Richardson tonight with his outside shot. If Dunham plays like this come sectional time they could be a factor. Lew Wallace super soph Marcus Rhodes struggled with fouls and had only 3 points.

West Side (69)
Smith 19, Peters 17, Hall 11, Kelly 9, Pullen 5, Moore 3, Buggs 3, Bell 2, D.Wright 0, R. Wright 0, Nelson 0, Smith 0, Jones 0; 69
Wallace (67)
J.Rhodes 18, Dunham 17, Williams 15, Jackson 8, Lumpkin 4, M. Rhodes 3, Powell 2, Boone 0, Taylor 0, Bess 0, Hollis 0, Polk 0, Flournoy 0, Harris 0; 67


FEBRUARY 10th
Heritage Christian completed an incredible tournaround in less than 2 weeks. On January 25th Cathedral defeated the Eagles 74-37 in the Indianapolis City Tournament. This past Saturday Heritage Christian defeated the Irish 67-35 as Todd Abernethy had 33 points inlcuding 19-24 from the line. The Irish shot just 15-57 from the field. Cathedral PG Zach Decatur missed the ballgame. I have seen teams split games but not by these margins. Heritage Christian pulled off a 69 point turnaround. This is why the game's are played on the court.
FEBRUARY 9th
St. Francis has added the following football players in addition to the previous mentioned.

Derrick Alderman RB Richmond
Anthony Freimanis DL Danville
Brandon Holley DL Homestead
Chris Jones DE North Central (Farmersburg)
Mark McGoun QB Brownsburg
Scott Osborn OL-DL Indy Northwest
Jon Rodgers DL Indy Northwest
Cliff Stallings LB Homestead
Chad Taylor OL Madison
Bo Thompson WR Ben Davis
John Williams LB Southmont
Reggie Williams DE Indy Northwest
Matt Wren OL Columbus NOrth


FEBRUARY 7th
Chesterton defeats Merrillville 63-60. The Trojans overcame a 15 point deficit after 3 quarters to beat the Pirtaes. Merrillville suddenly in the 4th quarter had no clue how to break a press and was throwing the ball off the rafters. Merrillville's 6-17 free throw shooting sure didn't help. Chesterton who improved to 12-2 was led by 6-2 junior Matt Campbell with 22 including 12-13 from the line. 6-9 senior Tom Radtke , who committed to Army, was solid with 12 points. The real sleeper is 6-4 senior Mike Yagelski with 17 points. The athletic forward is a solid D2 prospect from the forward spot. Yagelski will be a huge contributor at the college level in the right situation.
The Pirates were led by sharp shooting senior Igor Risevski with 17. The 6-2 senior had 13 of those in the first quarter. Igor is a very effective spot up shooter. The Pirates welcomed back super soph Josh Mayo. The lightning quick and talented Mayo had 12 points and for some reason did not have the ball in his hands late. The key to Merrillville is 6-4 junior Lavell Cook (12 points). The spidery junior needs to play under control. Cook has to lead the state in charge calls. Merrillville has to regroup after throwing this game away. This win for Chesterton and first year coach Tom Peller, a former Merrillville assistant, has to be the biggest since winning the sectional in 1987. The Trojans now have to be considered a favorite at the sectional that includes Merrillville, Valpo, Portage, Crown Point and Hobart.


FEBRUARY 6TH
My look at the top 220 Football players in Illinois next year

Illinois class of 2004

Quarterbacks
Cedric Criss 6-1 205 Eisenhower
Britt Davis 6-3 170 Riv. Brookfield
Joe Ganz 6-2 200 Stagg
John Gier 5-9 160 Grant
Joe Grubsic 6-1 175 Marian Catholic
Tim Hannagan 6-1 180 Rich East
Chris Jansen 6-3 180 Libertyville
Chris Kudbya 6-2 190 Elk Grove
Don Larkin 6-0 170 Oak Forest
Ross Larson 6-3 200 Lincoln Way Cen
Sean Lewis 6-7 200 Richards
Dusty Napoleon 6-2 180 New Trier
Mike Neuhaus 6-4 200 Shepard
Dan Nicholson 6-3 190 Brother Rice
Marcus Randle El 6-0 180 Thornton
Todd Schultz 6-2 190 Palatine
Trent Steckle 6-3 200 Crystal Lake South
Karlos Whitaker 6-1 190 North Chicago
Vashon Winton 6-2 175 Simeon

Running Backs
Jamail Bradley 5-9 170 Schaumburg
Justin Bobo 6-1 190 TF North
John Bubeck 5-11 180 Nequa Valley
Carnall Byrd 5-10 200 Elk Grove
Matt Caffey 6-0 200 Romeoville
Torris Childs 5-9 200 Zion Benton
Pedro Cunniingham 5-10 170 Westinghouse
Dave Dobertsyn 6-1 180 Andrew
Steve Embry 6-1 185 Harper
Kevin Fontana 5-11 180 Libertyville
TJ Griffin 5-11 210 Wheaton North
Anthony Higgins 5-9 170 Fenton
Aaron Kirchoff 6-0 200 Barrington
Jeremiah Marks 6-0 190 Glenbard West
Walter Mendenhall 6-1 190 Niles West
Erick Newman 5-11 180 Downers Grove South
Chris Rodriquez 5-10 170 Marian Catholic
Brad Scaduto 5-10 170 Oak Lawn
Evan Shy 6-0 180 Conant
Jaime Sullivan 5-10 165 Senn
Averill Sutchar 6-1 190 Bartlett
Timothy Taylor (FB) 6-2 240 Harper
Jamil Walker 6-2 200 Fremd
Leon Wiggins 5-9 180 Conant

Wide Receivers
Mike Albian 6-1 175 Montini
Mark Bennett 5-11 170 Providence
Joe Bonodonna 5-9 150 Stevenson
Ryan Cibulka 6-3 180 Lake Park
Steve Clanton 6-0 170 Morton
Johnny Collier 6-0 170 Westinghouse
Bryant Creamer 6-2 180 Simeon
Mike Doxie 5-9 160 Lisle
Thomas Dwyer 6-2 165 Brother Rice
Jordan Eversley 6-2 180 Morgan Park
Jeremy Fears 6-3 200 Joliet Township
PJ Giesi 6-1 180 Fremd
Emmanuel Little 6-3 180 Farragut
Fabian Martin 5-10 170 Prosser
Alex Perkowski 6-0 170 Hinsdale Central
Don Pirkle 6-2 170 Lincoln Way East
Kevin Sabbs 6-4 200 Robeson
Jack Simmons 6-6 200 Carmel
Eric Taylor 6-2 190 Carver
Greg Turner 6-1 180 Addison Driscoll
Noah Wiza 6-2 180 Riverside Brookfield
Ryan Wudtke 6-5 190 Elk Grove

Tight Ends
Peter Basso 6-4 220 Naperville North
Dan Bland 6-2 200 Providence
Brock Collins 6-4 220 Prosepct
Jim Jadron 6-4 225 Joliet Catholic
Kevin Jarvis 6-2 200 Mt. Carmel
Brandon Johnson 6-3 220 Marshall
Dave Johnson 6-4 210 Fremd
Chris Miller 6-3 200 Carmel
Jonathon Patton 6-6 240 Hubbard
Eric Royyer 6-3 220 Stagg

Offensive Linemen
Tony Arroyo 6-3 240 Whitney Young
Phil Babich 6-5 220 Shepard
Dan Barmantje 6-3 260 Rolling Meadows
Alex Baro 6-3 240 Lincoln Way East
Trevor Bendling 6-4 270 Fenton
Anthony Bertoletti 6-4 250 Sandburg
Jeremy Breath 6-3 330 Joliet Township
Jeff Burdorf 6-5 300 Naperville Central
Wesley Butler 6-3 250 Crete-Monee
Drew Cairo-Gross 6-3 270 Carmel
Jameel Clark 6-1 220 Glenbard East
Michael Clements 6-2 240 Fremd
Dan Doering 6-6 235 Barrington
Dane Fraedrich 6-5 250 Sycamore
Xavier Fulton 6-5 250 Homewood Flossmoor
Jeremy Gaughan 6-2 250 Providence
Brian Guimon 6-8 300 York
Adam Hansen 6-3 250 Lincoln Way Central
Alex Jan 6-5 250 Riverside Brookfield
Jermaine Jones 6-4 240 Whitney Young
Jim Kulovitz 6-3 230 Joliet Catholic
Dave Lindquist 6-4 250 Highland Park
Dan MacAntee 6-2 290 Providence
Erik Madsen 6-4 240 Joliet Catholic
Joe Malik 6-2 250 Naperville Central
Mike Mazzone 6-4 250 Addison Trail
Tim McFall 6-4 250 Rolling Meadows
Arnoldas Narmanatas 6-5 340 Hinsdale South
Mike O’Malley 6-4 325 Wheeling
Tim Paulsen 6-3 235 Maine West
Joe Pereiro 6-4 270 Sandburg
Pat Phalen 6-4 290 Wheaton North
Darius Powell 6-5 250 Hillcrest
Terrance Robinson 6-3 280 Fenger
Alex Rucks 6-6 280 Stevenson
Jeff Schneider 6-3 250 TF South
Myron Shephard 6-2 270 Harper
Kyle Smith 6-3 230 Plainfield South
Sean Staffield 6-4 260 Oswego
Mark Steffen 6-2 270 Barrington
Austin Strawn 6-3 250 Cary-Grove
Frank Tomasello 6-0 240 Addison Trail

Defensive Linemen
Chris Baugh 6-3 250 St Rita
Kenneth Campbell 6-2 260 Marshall
Don Durbin 6-2 250 Maine South
Nick Fairbanks 6-3 225 West Chicago
John Gavoni 6-3 220 Lincoln Way Central
Matt Gibson 6-3 280 Romeoville
Andy Gonzalez 6-1 260 Glenbard East
Henry Grabowski 6-4 230 Downers Grove North
Ahkyla Griffith 6-4 270 Thornton
Jamil Harris 6-5 240 Thornton
Mitchell Hayes 6-4 250 Homewood Flossmoor
Tom Heatherly 6-0 180 Lisle
Steve Hertzog 6-3 230 Lincoln Way East
Tim Jamison 6-5 230 Thornton
Drew Levy 6-4 240 Hinsdale Central
Roland Martin 6-6 340 Harper
Joe McClearen 6-3 210 Wheaton North
James Morgan 6-3 210 Julian
David O’Rourke 6-3 200 Downers Grove North
Mike Powers 6-2 200 Grant
Darrel Reid 6-2 330 Buffalo Grove
Ryan Tuggle 6-6 250 Bartlett
Derek Walker 6-4 300 Glenbard East
Marquis Walton 6-1 275 Mt Carmel
James Watson 6-2 210 Naperville North

Linebackers
Mike Aikins 6-2 200 Glenbard East
Eric Andino 6-4 220 Buffalo Grove
Chris Ashe 6-1 220 Naperville Central
Brandon Coleman 6-1 220 Rich South
Sam Carson 6-2 220 Downers Grove South
Pat Chmura 6-4 200 Vernon Hills
Derek Coleman 5-10 210 Glenbard West
Kevin Courldis 6-1 220 Stevenson
Trevor Douyon 6-3 200 Rich Central
Tom Edwards 6-2 200 Downers Grove North
Larry English 6-3 230 Marmion
Andy Goldberg 6-3 225 Deerfield
Tyler Hill 6-1 200 Naperville North
Jeff Janus 6-1 190 Lake Zurich
David Johnson 6-0 190 Bremen
David Johns 6-0 200 Jacobs
Jack Kane 6-2 200 Willowbrook
Dave Kaplan 6-0 210 TF South
Dan Kauffman 6-3 220 Elk Grove
Keith Kleist 6-3 200 Rolling Meadows
Brian Kulkczak 6-2 210 Providence
Ryan Kunce 6-1 220 Lockport
Mike Labelle 6-2 210 Wheaton Warrenville South
Brian Lagiglia 6-2 200 Lockport
Ronnie Lindahl 6-0 200 Lake Park
Byron Miles 6-0 220 Morgan Park
Kevin Mulligan 6-2 210 Immaculate Conception
Chris Patterson 6-3 230 Hubbard
Dustin Ruby 6-1 220 Sycamore
Russ Shell 6-3 200 TF South
Marcus Sole 6-1 180 Bloom Township
Steve Swanson 6-1 200 Reavis
James Tranchietta 5-11 180 Addison Driscoll
Russ Weil 6-2 220 Minooka
Charlie Welke 6-3 210 Lincoln Way Central
Adam Werner 6-1 210 Shepard
Jesse Weygand 6-1 200 Crystal Lake South
George Whitten 6-2 180 Prospect
Kyle Williams 6-2 220 Bolingbrook

Defensive Backs
Kwame Agyeman 6-0 190 Lake Park
Andres Andrews 5-10 170 Palatine
Mike Bailen 5-9 170 Highland Park
Marquis Ball 6-1 170 Leo
Kevin Benoit 6-3 175 Glenbrook North
Matt Breen 5-11 170 Montini
Matt Brocki 5-9 200 Warren
Alex Brown 5-10 170 Evanston
Bobby Buchanan 6-0 175 Joliet Catholic
Andre Butler 6-0 190 Thornwood
John Case 5-10 185 Benet Academy
Chris Cryder 6-0 180 Morris
Andrew Forshee 5-10 165 Grayslake
Ryan Fowler 6-1 180 Lake Zurich
Jeff Franklin 5-11 170 Hubbard
Darren Gafford 6-0 200 Westinghouse
Garrett Hibbler 6-2 180 Elgin
Rey Lefuente 5-8 160 Warren
Nathan Lyles 6-0 190 Hubbard
Martel Mabry 6-3 200 Bolingbrook
Leslie Majors 5-10 170 Thornwood
Scooter McIntosh 6-2 180 McHenry
Joe Pauley 6-1 175 Niles Notre Dame
Nick Passarelli 6-0 180 Naperville Central
Brian Piszczor 6-1 170 Providence
Sergio Rivera Thompson 5-10 160 Evanston
Benjamin Rush 5-11 170 Harper
Jorge Sanchez 5-11 170 Bowen
Ryan Scott 6-2 175 York
Ashton Smiley 6-0 180 Richards
Dustin Summers 5-10 165 Providence
Dustin Szczepaniak 6-1 180 Downers Grove South
Sinque Turner 5-10 170 Simeon
Kyle Vock 6-3 200 Wheaton North
James Ward 6-3 175 DeLaSalle
Andy Wenman 5-11 170 Vernon Hills
Karmi Williams 6-1 190 Dunbar
Ken Williams 6-2 180 Plainfield


FEBRUARY 5th
A look at today's football signings

NOTRE DAME
Jeff Samardzjia WR Valpo
Carl Gioia K Valpo (Walk on)

PURDUE
Bernard Pollard DB FW South
Cole Seifrig WR Heritage Hills
Stanford Keglar LB Pike
Ryan Noblet OL Cathedral
Dustin Keller WR Lafayette Jeff
Rafael Price WR River Forest
Pat Oxley OL FW Dwenger
Jason Renn QB Valpo (Walk on)
Jake Standeford WR Monrovia (Walk on)

INDIANA
Ryan Skelton WR Center Grove
Joel Stubblefield DT Pendleton Hts
Jon Sandberg DT North White
Chris Mangiero OL Bloomington South
Nick Sexton TE Bloomington North
Jake Powers LB Danville
Todd Barnard DB Ben Davis
Ben Wyss OL FW Luers
Landon Story DB S. Wells (Walk on)
Nick Luce DT Vincennes (Walk on)

BALL STATE
Temidayo McCarthy DL Merrillville
Dustin Brown OL FW North
Lorenzo Wims DL FW Snider
Casey Gillin QB Indian Creek
Seth Rainey RB Mt. Vernon
Mike Dorulla DB Valpo
Scott Bradtmiller OL FW Northrop
Cortland Booker LB West Lafayette

INDIANA STATE
Collin Godby OL Hamilton Hts
Brandon Logan LB FW Snider
Bryan McCulley RB Pike
Matt Messmer FB Jasper
Josh O'Brien LB FRanklin Central
Zach Odle DB Franklin Central
Ben Schmidt QB-DB Jasper
Chris Schmidt WR-DB Jasper
Prenny Stokes DL McCutcheon
Bruce Williams DB Ben Davis
Matt Winger OL McCutcheon

SAINT FRANCIS
# Full list released Friday February 7th
Adam Blakey FB Ben Davis
John Coggins OL Valpo
Rich Gregory OL Ben Davis
Dan Knepper DE FW Dwenger
Brian Kurz LB FW Luers
Jhormy Martinez RB FW Luers
Andy McHenry OL Valpo
Vincent Price DE Warren Central
Zach Rainey WR Ben Davis
Dale Sharpe OL Warren Central
Ryan Smith QB FW Northrop
John Wolf OL-DL Franklin Central

UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
Mitch Brown QB New Albany
Kevin Deitel WR Center Grove
Marcus Nalley RB Roncalli
Brent Surface DT Michigan City

BUTLER
Nick Windsor LB Valpo
Matt Murphy LB Danville

OTHER SIGNEES
Clayton Richard QB McCutcheon- Michigan
Mike Macellari DE SB Clay- Stanford
Steve Wiggins OL FW Wayne (JUCO)- Ohio University
Jovan Witherspoon WR FW Luers (JUCO)- Central Michigan
Otis Shannon RB Cathedral (JUCO)- Western Kentucky
Kelly Martin WR McCutcheon- Western Michigan
Rob Caldwell LB Andrean- Navy
Joe Schuler LB Evansville Central- Kentucky
Kevin Mitchell DB Homestead - Illinois
Sean O'Drobinak TE Crown Point- Bowling Green
Elliott Hood OL Franklin Central- Vanderbilt
Jenkins Reese LB Warren Central- Bowling Green
Tyree Pollard TE Warren Central- Toledo
Justin Tharp OL Indian Creek- Toledo
Mike Raffaeli OL Lawrence North- Central Michigan
John Masters OL Carmel- Michigan State
Jared Evans OL Ben Davis- Miami (OH)
Bryan Mattison DL Penn -Iowa
Chris Douglas DL Warren Central- Joliet JC
Ryan McManaway K Heritage Hills- Holy Cross
Adrian Demko WR Valpo- Columbia
Jon Polston QB Ben Davis- Air Force
Mike Richardson DE Ben Davis- Tenn State
Mark Baurnfiend DT Penn- Hillsdale
Tony West RB Penn- Western Kentucky
Anthony Kirkland DT Gary West- Illinois State
Matt Crick RB Whiteland - St Joe's
John Weaver RB Harding- St Joe's

OTHERS WHO LOOK TO SIGN
Ray Everhart RB Castle- Kentucky, JUCO
Jawann Turner WR-DB Hammond- Purdue, Wisconsin, ??
Mike Clevenger OL Warren Central- INDY, IU, Kentucky
Anthony Freimanis DL Danville
Brett Goins QB Andrean- Wabash, Purdue walk on
Brian Wood RB New Albany
Warren English Malone WR New Albany
Sean Bird WR FW Luers
Troy Harker OL Twin Lakes
Dewey Brown DB Twin Lakes
Tyler Harmon RB Perry Meridian- St Joe's, Indy
Adam Gibson OL Decatur Central- Wisconsin ??
Bo Thompson WR Ben Davis
Chris Holle OL McCutcheon
Jason Spillbeller OL Bloomington South
Donte Williams TE Gary Wallace
Jaymar Johnson WR Gary Wirt
Quintin Allen OL Gary Roosevelt
Louis Urbancic TE Brownsburg
Dustin Huff QB Martinsville
Darion Reed WR Hammond Morton
Willie Frazier WR East Chicago
Michael Durrett LB Indy Nothwest
Zach Decatur QB Cathedral


FEBRUARY 4th
Roosevelt hits century mark!!!
Gary Roosevelt defeated Hammond High tonight 100-66. The game was much closer as the "Velt" broke it open outscoring Hammond High 34-15 in the fourth quarter. The guard duo of Robert Jenkins (25 points) and Larry Upshaw (23 points) was outstanding. Naquan Jackson had 17 and Tyrone Appleton added 13 for Roosevelt who is undefeated in Indiana.
Leading the way for Hammond High was Jawann Turner with 34 points. The 6-1 senior was outstanding including two slam dunks. Turner also hit a couple of threes and was 10-16 from the line. After the game Turner informed me that if his SAT scores come back he will be signing a big ten football scholarship tomorrow. 6-6 Senior Keonte Aaron also played well despite sitting out more than half the game with foul trouble. This Wildcat team can be a factor in the Hammond Sectional.
Roosvelt (100)
Jenkins 25, Upshaw 23, Jackson 17, Appleton 13, Nash 7, G.Grant 4, Harris 4, Mckinley 3, Emerson 2, D. Grant 2, Allen 0
Hammond High 66
Turner 34, Aaron 14, Meeks 11, Moore 3, Taylor 3, Simmons 1, Herring 0, Heuss 0, Lampkins 0, Covington 0, Daniels 0


The JUCO Football site off of INSIDERS.COM is reporting that former FW Luers All state football and basketball star Jovan Witherspoon has committed to Central Michigan to play football. It would be the 4th stop for Witherspoon. The talented receiver started at Notre Dame, but left for Northwestern during fall practice. After seeing limited playing time at Northwestern (12 receptions for 93 yards and 1 touchdown) Witherspoon enrolled at Harper JC in Palatine, Illinois. The Central Michigan Chippewas are coached by former Michigan Assistant Mike DeBord. Hopefully Jovan has found a home at Central Michigan. He will have two years of eligibility.

FEBRUARY 3rd
KENNY HARRIS wins vs. IHSAA!!! WJOB Radio in Hammond is reporting that Lake County Judge Bill Pete has ruled in favor of Harris and Griffith. For those of you who live in the region check out AM 1230 WJOB Radio at 7:00 as the Region Sports Network's Chris Ramirez and Chris Lannin interview the lawyers for Harris. Also check out the TIMES online as Jeff Carroll has the story at www.thetimesonline.com. Jeff has done a wonderful job covering this story. Kudos to Jeff and the staff of the TIMES for their coverage of high school sports.


Taking a final look at the class of 2004 football recruits with tight ends and linebackers.
At tight end FW Northrop’s Josh Gaines (6-3, 240) didn’t have great stats, but is a great athlete playing tight end and linebacker. Gaines is also a excellent basketball player. The play of Corey Benton (6-5, 220) of Cathedral brings back memories of former Irish TE Rylan Hainje , who was recruited coast to coast for football before deciding to play basketball at Butler. Benton is very talented as well standing out on both sides of the ball. Harding has another standout performer in Marques Thornton (6-2, 245). The versatile Thornton can play a variety of positions.

At linebacker speedy Chris Graham (6-0, 220) of Warren Central leads the way. The Broad Ripple transfer had over 150 tackles last season. For good measure Graham’s twin brother Christian is also a top receiver prospect. Two time state champion Chatard’s defense was led by linebacker Derek DiSalvo (6-2, 210), who recorded over 130 tackles.
Another state champion LB Nate Ashworth (6-2, 230) of Roncalli is also a big prospect. Versatile Jimmy Ladd (6-3, 230) of Center Grove is another one to watch. Last season Ladd was more of a threat on offense rushing for over 1300 yards. He also was a standout on defense.


Tight Ends
Corey Benton 6-5 220 Cathedral
Justin Brown 6-5 230 Mitchell
Josi Faust 6-6 220 Cass
Josh Gaines 6-3 240 FW Northrop
Troy Johnson 6-3 210 Shelbyville
David Koronkiewicz 6-4 220 Goshen
Jason Kwiecinski 6-5 235 SB Washington
Matt Peacock 6-5 210 North Putnam
Seth Pickett 6-5 220 Hamilton Heights
Joe Reitz 6-6 220 Hamilton SE
Marques Thornton 6-2 245 Harding
Steve Vaught 6-3 220 Portage


Linebackers
Nate Ashworth 6-2 230 Roncalli
Michael Byrd 6-1 210 Ben Davis
Dane Corrick 6-2 210 Jeffersonville
Derek DiSalvo 6-2 210 Chatard
Chris Graham 6-0 220 Warren Central
Greg Horn 6-1 220 Plainfield
Aaron Jurek 6-2 230 Carmel
Jimmy Ladd 6-3 230 Center Grove
Craig Mansfield 6-1 220 Lafayette Jeff
Chris Marzotto 6-2 225 Lowell
Blake Maurer 6-0 200 Ev. Mater Dei
Adam O’Neill 5-11 175 SB Clay
Courtney Pearson 6-2 200 FW South
Scott Reider 6-1 220 LaPorte


FEBRUARY 1ST
Taking a look at top linemen for next season>
Linemen
It is in the trenches where the state’s top prospect of the class of 2004 plays. Chatard DE-TE Ryan Baker (6-7, 235) had over 25 tackles for a loss in leading Chatard to their second straight state championship. Baker could play either TE or DE in college. Other top offensive line propects include Chad Baldwin (6-6, 270) or Yorktown, Jamarcus Green (6-5, 270) of FW Snider, Andy Campbell (6-5, 260) of Warren Central, Brian Hilts (6-6, 250) of FW Dwenger , Sean Edmundson (6-5, 260) of Center Grove, Spencer West (6-3, 180) of Chesterton and Matt Moses (6-4, 260) of Columbus North.
On the defensive side look for Jordan Grimes (6-4, 280)of Plainfield and Nick Sexton (6-4, 220) of Roncalli to be top linemen.
Offensive Lineman
Kyle Autrey 6-3 270 Portage
Chad Baldwin 6-6 270 Yorktown
Andy Campbell 6-5 260 Warren Central
Aaron Cavazos 6-4 290 Griffith
Sean Edmundson 6-5 260 Center Grove
Jacob Fawley 6-4 240 Penn
Joe Freeman 6-3 270 Hamilton Heights
Kyle Graff 6-6 250 Laf. Jefferson
Jamarcus Green 6-5 270 FW Snider
Matt Hicks 6-3 220 FW Concordia
Brian Hilts 6-6 250 FW Dwenger
Matt Johnson 6-3 270 Valparaiso
Brandon Lee 6-4 260 New Albany
Curt Marmaduke 6-2 270 Browsnburg
Austin Martin 6-2 270 Hamilton SE
Joe McPhearson 6-6 260 Frankton
Andre Meeks 6-4 280 Hammond
Luke Mehringer 6-3 240 Jasper
Matt Moses 6-4 260 Columbus North
Russ Muir 6-5 260 Noblesville
Jameyus Richardson 6-2 270 Gary Wallace
Justin Richey 6-4 235 Seymour
Chris Robinson 6-4 250 Pike
Olamude Sanuth 6-4 270 Hammond Morton
Chris Snodgrass 6-4 260 Center Grove
Jake Stanley 6-4 270 Alexandria
Dave Stroud 6-7 285 Jennings County
Mark Tucker 6-2 310 TH South
Spencer West 6-3 280 Chesterton

Defensive Lineman
Benny Baines 6-2 210 Warren Central
Ryan Baker 6-6 235 Chatard
Steve Clark 6-6 240 Leo
Jordan Grimes 6-4 280 Plainfield
Christian Hall 6-5 250 Clinton Central
Trent Harris 6-3 240 Merrillville
Craig Henderson 6-3 300 Warren Central
Brandt Hollander 6-4 220 North Central
Anthony Johnson 6-3 240 Michigan City
Joe Piowoszkin 6-3 220 Center Grove
Dave Roeckel 6-5 270 Cloverdale
Nick Sexton 6-4 220 Roncalli
Shelby Smith 6-3 240 West Vigo
Casey Sponseller 6-2 220 Penn
Tim Taylor 6-5 330 Gary Wirt
Kyle Thomas 6-4 230 Bloom. North
Deon White 6-4 200 Fw Concordia
Mario White 6-5 210 FW South


JANUARY 31st
Taking a further look at next year's top football recruits
Defensive Backs
Several talented defensive backs in the class of 2004 will be recruited for various positions. Last season Notre Dame recruit Jeff Samardzija of Valparaiso received the majority of the headlines. Dan Paulsen (6-2, 180) of Portage had just as an outstanding year. The athletic Paulsen had 10 interceptions while also catching 57 passes for 734 yards. Versatile Devin Moore (6-1, 180) of Ritter played just about very position for the Cardinals. Moore rushed for over 1,000 yards caught passes for over 500 yards , returned two kicks for scores and also had 3 interceptions. Danville’s Clay Hamblen (6-0, 170) is another versatile kid. Hamblen had 11 interceptions and also rushed for 900 plus yards. Two defensive backs in Evansville to watch are Zach Barrett (6-5, 210) of Reitz and Kendall O’Donnell (6-2, 180) of Evansville North>

Defensive Backs
Uriah Austin 6-0 180 Hammond Morton
Zach Barrett 6-5 210 Evansville Reitz
Nathan Bieszka 5-8 170 Plymouth
Brandon Bryant 5-11 160 Harding
Craig Connell 6-1 165 North White
Gus Davenport 5-9 165 Ben Davis
Chris Deery 5-10 160 Scecina
Jason Egts 5-9 170 FW Luers
Lee Evans 5-10 170 Eastbrook
Scott Flagla 6-3 185 Mishawaka
Clay Hamblen 6-0 170 Danville
RJ Hartsfield 5-10 170 Salem
Justin Henley 5-11 180 Lowell
Kenny Jackson 6-1 180 Gary Wallace
David Link 6-0 190 Elkhart Memorial
Joe Montoleone 6-3 180 Portage
Devin Moore 6-1 180 Ritter
Josh Norris 6-3 190 Bloom. North
Courtney Nunn 6-1 180 Warren Central
Kendall O’Donnell 6-2 180 Evansville North
Dan Paulsen 6-2 180 Portage
Parker Roth 6-1 180 Winamac
Brett Wingardner 6-3 190 Pioneer
Andy Zimmer 6-1 200 Calumet


JANUARY 30th
In a game closer than the score East Chicago defeated West Side 66-58. The Cardinals came back from a 10-2 deficit to beat the best 4-9 team in America. The Cardinals were led by Warrior 6-4 senior Rodney Wash with 19 points and at least 12 rebounds. Wash may very well be the state's most underrated player. Rodney is a tirless worker who follows intructions and works his rear end off!! Tremaine Cooley the Cardinals junior guard had an off night shooting from the field, but added 12 points for the Cards, who hit an unbelievable 35 of 50 free throws. Donte Edwards and Willie Frazier came off the bench to add 12 and 11 points each.
By far the best player on the floor was 6-5 Cougar junior Jorie Peters. The long armed true point guard had 25 points. Peters playing in only his third game of the year is as talented as any. If he was a little more assertive he easily could of scored more. Speedy Sophomore Robert Hall (5-11) had 15 points. The Cougars big guy Sean Smith (6-7) was hampered by foul trouble and ended with 12 points. The Cougars need more production from the forward spots. Senior Jonathon Moore (6-6), coming off an injury, had 5 points and needs more touches. A possible sleeper for the Cougars is high flying junior newcomer Willie Trimble (6-2). This kid can flat out get up. The Cougars may be struggling now. They may very well make a run come sectional time, if they don't wait unitl next year with Peters, Smith and Hall among others joining quite possibly the best Jayvee player around in Merrillville transfer Darrin Weaver (6-4). The talented shooting guard was granted limited eligibility for this season. When the sectional comes around look for both of these talented teams to contend.


For those of you who want more basketball coverage just be patient. Remember a lot of the kids you see on the basketball court also excel on the gridiron. I will be at tonight's big game at East Chicago as the Cardinals take on West Side. It should be a dandy as both teams should be back at full strength. Hopefully some veterans Cards learned a lesson as a seemingly overmatched team almost upset Gary Roosevelt.
The Cougars should be tough now that Jorie Peters is back as well as Jonathon Moore is back from an injury. Should be a dandy tonight.

Taking a look at Wide Receivers for next season
Wide Receivers
If you are college football recruiter and you need some receivers head over to Fort Wayne where four of the state’s best reside. Jon Lapsley (6-4, 190) helped lead a Concordia revival in football catching 75 passes for 1405 yards and 12 tds. The lanky standout is also a top basketball player. Harding standout Reggie Smith (6-1, 175) caught 51 passes for 890 yards and 14 tds in 2002. Last season Snider coach Russ Isaacs moved Justin Wynn to receiver. The move was beneficial for both sides as Wynn had a great year catching 36 passes for 577 yards and 7 tds. . LaPorte has an outstanding prospect in Jerome Vann (6-4, 180). Last season Vann caught 27 passes. At River Forest Coach Tim Gault has had the right Price. Ricky Price (6-3, 190) that is catching passes for him. Price is the younger brother of Rafael Price, now at Purdue. The North Central Conference is known more for basketball but in 2003 recruiter should keep an eye on Lemmie Sanders (6-2, 185) of Marion and Louis Johnson (6-2, 175) of Muncie Central.

Wide Receivers
Kevin Bush 6-4 200 Homestead
Josh Clancy 5-10 160 Greenwood
Christian Graham 6-3 180 Warren Central
Jarron Hale 6-1 175 Hagerstown
Kent Harrington 6-3 200 Anderson
Louis Johnson 6-2 175 Muncie Central
Jon Lapsley 6-4 190 FW Concordia
Sammie Lee 6-1 180 Broad Ripple
Mike Lentz 6-5 190 Eastside
Nick Payne 6-4 200 Zionsville
Ricky Price 6-3 190 River Forest
Justin Russell 5-11 180 Lafayette Jeff.
Lemmie Sanders 6-2 185 Marion
Dan Schultz 5-11 180 Lafayette Jeff.
Reggie Smith 6-1 175 Harding
Nick Stockwell 6-0 170 Andrean
Sam Truitt 6-2 180 East Central
Jerome Vann 6-4 180 LaPorte
Tyrus Walker 6-2 185 FW Northrop
Kyle Wimberly 6-5 190 Warren Central
Justin Wynn 6-4 190 FW Snider


JANUARY 29th
The Indianapolis Star is reporting that twins Ben and Chris Schmidt of Jasper are heading to Indiana State. Look for both to be standouts in Terre Haute.

The STAR also has Lawrence North standout lineman Mike Rafaelliheaded to Central Michigan.

Roncalli record setting RB Marcus Nalley was leaning heavily to the University of Indianapolis. A big time program has shown some fresh interest. We will keep you informed.
Lineman Brent Surface of Michigan City will wait unitl after wrestling season to make a college decision. Surface could go for football or wrestling.

Today we take a look at RB's for next seson

Running Backs
If anybody would rank the best high school backfields in America for 2003 Warren Central would have to be considered for top billing. Warrior returnees combined for over 3600 yards last season. Mark Bonds (6-0, 220) will enter his third year as a starter. Though banged up late in the year Bonds still managed to run for 1170 yards and 16 touchdowns. As a sophomore Bonds rushed for almost 1500 yards. Warrior fullback Aaron Lacey (5-10, 205) ran for 1361 yards and 16 touchdowns of his own. The Warriors third halfback Stephen Willis (5-11, 190) fell just short of their coveted 1,000 yard mark, running for 984 yards and 6 touchdowns. For good measure QB Desmond Tardy ran for 891 yards of his own. Look for college recruiter to hang out at Warren Central looking at this quartet of Warriors.
When Jermell Whorton (5-9, 190) was a sophomore at Cathedral the comparisons to Otis Shannon were natural. Whorton though moved to Ben Davis and last season was unbelievable in leading the Giants to the state Championship. Whorton, who also plays point guard in basketball, rushed for over 1760 yards and 28 touchdowns.
For years Concordia was not a factor in Fort Wayne Football. A terrific group of skill players changed that last year. Leading the charge is explosive RB Bryan Payton (5-10, 190). In leading the Cadets to the semi state Payton ran for 1769 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Basketball is king at Floyd Central, but RB Tyler Gholston (5-10, 170) is looking to change that. The speedy Gholston ran for 1316 yards last season.
Two kids who could blossom as old type fullbacks at the college level are Dave Swenson (6-2, 235) of Crown Point and Jermaine Guynn (6-2, 230) of Cathedral.
Speedy Brandon Mosley (5-11, 190) of Merrillville and Craig Jenkins (6-0, 190) both have big time potential.
Dwenger’s Zach Till (6-1, 190) put up great numbers as a junior rushing for 1486 yards.
Jack Kosinski (6-0, 200) , who transferred from Lake Central Griffith prior to last season, is a threat every time he touches the ball. Kosinski compiled over 2000 yards of total yardage.

Blake Allen 5-11 160 Springs Valley
Brett Bach 5-11 180 Highland
Charles Bailey 6-1 190 FW Northrop
Nathan Bieszka 5-8 170 Plymouth
Mark Bonds 6-0 220 Warren Central
Jeremy Brown 6-1 180 TH North
Pierre Bush 5-9 170 North Central
Scott Cassell 5-11 200 West Vigo
Brett Claxton 5-10 220 Shelbyville
Brett Dawson 6-0 175 Vincennes
Bart Early 5-8 160 Chatard
Andre Echols 6-3 240 And. Highland
Tyler Gholston 5-10 170 Floyd Central
Josh Green 5-8 175 Tipton
Jermaine Guynn 6-2 230 Cathedral
Clay Hamblen 6-0 170 Danville
RJ Hartsfield 5-8 160 Salem
Jesse Hayes 5-9 170 Knightstown
Justin Henley 5-10 180 Lowell
Julius Hollis 6-0 180 Gary Wallace
Kevin Hostetler 5-9 150 North Miami
Craig Jenkins 6-0 190 Lawrence North
Joe Johnson 5-11 180 Providence
Jack Kosinski 6-0 200 Griffith
Aaron Lacey 5-10 205 Warren Central
David Link 5-11 185 Elk. Memorial
Brian Moore 6-2 220 Park Tudor
Brandon Mosley 5-11 190 Merrillville
Brad Noble 5-11 175 East Central
Andy Patten 6-0 180 Wheeler
Andre Payne 5-11 180 And. Highland
Bryan Payton 5-10 190 FW Concordia
Ramon Pierce 6-0 180 Alexandria
Tyler Roberts 5-8 165 New Prairie
Kevin Shaw 5-10 190 Center Grove
Dave Swenson (FB) 6-2 235 Crown Point
Zach Till 6-1 190 FW Dwenger
Uriah Austin 5-10 180 Hammond Morton
Tyler White 5-7 155 Paoli
Jermell Whorton 5-9 190 Ben Davis
Stephen Willis 5-11 190 Warren Central
Antwan Wooten 6-0 180 Peru


JANUARY 28th
Starting today we will take a position by position look at the top football prospects for next season.

Quarterbacks
Indiana has long been known as a basketball state. In football Indiana should be known as a quarterback state. Bob Griese, Mark Hermann, Jeff George and Rick Mirer are just a few of the former Indiana prep QB’s to make it big time. Take a look at the famed Southeastern Conference last season. James Banks of Ben Davis (Tennessee), Jay Cutler of Heritage Hills (Vanderbilt), Matt Mauck of Jasper (LSU) and Rex Grossman of Bloomington South (Florida) all started games last season in this famed football mecca. This past season Clayton Richard of McCutcheon garnered recruiting attention from coast to coast before casting his lot with the Michigan Wolverines.
This upcoming season will feature some more talented QB’s looking to make their mark. The two QB’s who figure to get the most attention are Curtis Painter(6-5, 200) of Vincennes Lincoln and Mike Vlahogeorge (6-4, 220) of Lafayette Jefferson.
Painter, who also is a double digit basketball scorer, threw for 2,080 yards and 22 touchdowns while only throwing 7 interceptions, For good measure Painter also scrambled for over 500 yards rushing. Indiana University fans sure hope Painter makes the short trek to Bloomington. Coach Gerry DiNardo will have to hold off national recruiters though.
At Lafayette Jefferson Vlahogeorge will have to rest his arm after attempting 520 passes last season. The bad news for opponents is Vlahogeorge completed 281 passes for 4,259 yards and 37 touchdowns. The yardage is the second best passing season in Indiana prep history. Look for the Boilers to try and hold off national programs from making a run at this hometown product.
Four year starter Anthony Lindsey (6-1, 180) has helped lead the football revival at Bloomington North. Lindsey will be a four year starter in football and two year in basketball. This talented athlete, who threw for 2106 yards and 25 touchdowns, will have his pick of sports for college.
Broad Ripple coach Keith Burke hopes Rob Thomas (6-1, 170) makes his senior season his best. If Thomas does that speaks volumes for this four year starter, who already has thrown for over 5000 career yards. Last season Thomas threw for 2,007 yards and 13 touchdowns while also rushing for over 700 yards.
Last season Warren Central had an incredible season. Losing only to Ben Davis in the regional. The Warriors, who figure to be the favorite in class 5A to bring home the championship in 2003, will be led again by versatile Desmond Tardy (6-1, 180). Last season Tardy did it both on the ground (891 yards rushing) and in the air (594 yards). His 30 completions included 11 touchdowns.
Franklin Central coach Lance Scheib caught passes from Jeff George at both Warren Central and at Purdue. So Scheib knows a little about quarterback play. Trevor Toon (6-4, 180) threw for 1625 yards and 17 touchdowns last season for the Flashes.
The best news for John Hart when he took the Evansville Reitz job was he was able to bring his QB son with him. Nick Hart (6-3, 220) threw for almost 1500 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.

Quarterbacks who will garner recruiting attention in 2003
Kevin Brandy 6-2 170 LaPorte
Kris Boyd 6-0 170 Highland
TJ Brown 6-2 190 East Central
Wally Cirafesi 6-2 200 Munster
Matt Cowan 5-11 170 Crown Point
Keon Davis 6-2 190 Anderson
Lee Evans 5-10 175 Eastbrook
Garrett Fisher 6-2 175 Hagerstown
Nick Hart 6-3 220 Evansville Reitz
Craig Horman 6-3 200 Lawrence Central
Cory Julian 5-11 160 Tecumseh
Trennen Kidder 6-3 170 Eastside
Chris Klakamp 6-3 180 Seymour
Anthony Lindsey 6-1 180 Bloom. North
Joe McDonnell 6-0 165 SB St. Joe’s
Mark Nicolet 6-3 200 Zionsville
Scott Overby 6-1 175 Westfield
Curtis Painter 6-5 200 Vincennes
Jason Schortgen 6-0 200 Norwell
TJ Siple 6-0 165 Tri-West
Desmond Tardy 6-1 180 Warren Central
Robert Thomas 6-1 170 Broad Ripple
Chase Thurston 5-9 160 Yorktown
Trevor Toon 6-4 180 Franklin Central
Mike Vlahogeorge 6-4 220 Laf. Jefferson
Jeff Wedding 6-3 190 East Noble
Logan Whitman 6-2 180 Northview


JANUARY 27th
Lafayette Jefferson record setting WR Dustin Keller has switched his committment from Toledo to Purdue. Keller is the second Indiana prep to de-committ from Toledo with Jake Powers (IU) also doing so. This could also help Purdue with one of the state's top two junior QB's Mike Vlahogeorge. The record setting Vlahogeorge joins Vincennes Lincoln's Curtis Painter as highly regarded Indiana signalcallers for next season.

Morton WR Darion Reed is visiting Saginaw Valley State next weekend. QB Adam Keilman also had they offer to visit, but would like to pursue basketball offers.

Danville DT Anthony Freimanis was caught in the crosshairs of two coaching changes at Ball State and Louisville. Freimamnis is now gaining interst from Central Michigan and Ball State. Teammate Mark Murphy(LB) is headed to Butler.

No one works harder in helping his players enter college than Mark Hoffman at Valparaiso. WR Jeff Samardzija (Notre Dame) and DB Mike Dorulla (Ball State) made pre-season choices. Record setting kicker Carl Gioia is headed to Notre Dame as a preferred walk on with the possibility of a scholarship should one open. Gioia will have a golden opportunity of replacing Nick Setta after next season. Four year starting QB Jason Renn is headed to West Lafayette and Purdue also as a preferred walk on. Renn if he doesn't get a opportunity at QB could also be moved to another spot. LB Nick Windsor is headed to Butler while WR Adrian Demko is Ivy league bound to Columbia. Other Vikings who figure to make college choices soon include John Coggins, Andy McHenry, Ben Potts, Matt Coburn and Chance Garbison. Kudos to Coach Hoffman and his staff for a great run with this group as well as his hard work placing his kids at the college level.

Martinsville QB Dustin Huff is entertaining interest from Indianapolis, Hanover, Franklin, St. Joe's, Wabash and DePauw. RB Jon-Erik Bennett is looking at St. Francis, Georgetown(KY), St. Joe's and Franklin. DE Ryan Smiley and LB Steve Bunton are looking at DePauw, St. Joe's and Franklin.

JANUARY 26th
Wheeler wins it last ever Porter County Conference Tourney defeating Hanover Central 98-67. Senior standout Todd Schafer led the Bearcats with 36 points. Wheeler moves next season into the Lake Athletic Conference.

On Friday night Lawrence North avenged its only loss of the season by defeating North Central 69-53. Just ten days earlier North Central nipped the Wildcats 69-63 in the Marion County Tourney. The Freshmen duo of Greg Oden (6-11) and Michael Conley (6-0) led the Wildcats with 17 and 15 points respectively. Despite only having only one senior on their roster 6-8 Chaz Spicer the Wildcats have attained a 11-1 mark. The Junior class has sharp shooting Joe Ash (6-2), forwards Stephan Routt (6-6), Melvin Hitchens (6-4) and PG Anthony Sargeant (6-0). A solid sophomore class contributes Brandon McPhearson, Brandon Coffer, Donald Cloutier, and Warren Wallace. This team has played above a lot of expectations thus far. We will now see what kind of road warriors they are as 7 of their last 8 games are on the road. Mark down Febraury 25th on your calendar as Lawrence North travels to Pike.

Don't count out North Central (10-4) yet as their losses have been to LN, Perry Meridian, Ben Davis and 3A power Chatard. Seniors Skip Mills (Ball State) and Byron Malone (IUPUFW) lead the Panthers. Coach Doug Mitchell has two of the state's top juniors in AJ Ratliff (6-2) and Anthony Passley (6-4). Look for both of these two players to be playing in the big ten conference in two years. Both are big time. The key to North Central could be the continued development of 6-7 junior George Tandy. This team is still going to be a huge factor in class 4A.
In a great game in on Saturday Bloomington North held off Perry Meridian in double overtime 71-62. The game featured a battle of two of the state's top unsigned players in Austin Montgomery (6-7) of Perry Meridian and Mike Davis Jr. of Bloomington North. Davis led the Cougar charge with 26 points, while Montgomery led Perry with 28 points. The younger Davis played at Perry Meridian as a sophomore. The big news for Bloomington North may be the return of Bil Duany. The 6-6 junior has missed the last year and a half with injuries. If the younger bother of Duany Duany (Wisconsin) and Kueth Duany(Syracuse) can make a full recovery North could challenge for a 4A title.
An up and coming freshman is Lawrence Central's Darrin Granger, who scored 22 points in the Bears one point loss to Franklin Central.


JANUARY 25th
For those of you who think Hoosier Hysteria is gone, you obviously were not at the Semi-Finals of the 80th Porter County Conference Tournament this morning at Boone Grove High School in front of a standing room only crowd. Game 1 saw Class 2A power Wheeler defeat Class 1A #1 ranked Kouts 63-59. The second game was even more exciting as Hanover Central nipped Morgan Twp 60-59.
Wheeler came back from a 19 point second quarter deficit. Kouts came out storming leading 23-9 after one quarter. Ricky Hise had 19 points in the first half. Hise is a very fundamentally sound shooter. Wheeeler cut the 19 point deficit to 48-45 after three quarters. The Bearcats Junior guard Cordale Micou then took the game over scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter. Micou is a definite D1 possibility. The slim lefty is a true point guard with extremely long arms and a touch out to 25 feet. Micou was the difference in this game with 17 points. 6-7 senior Matt McDonald ,playing in only his 2nd game of the year after transferring from Andrean, dominated the paint in the second half on his way to 15 points. Todd Schafer struggled with his outside shot in the first half , but hit a couple of threes in the 3rd quarter and ended with 17 points as well as coming up with a couple of big defensive steals. As good a high school player as Schafer is he is only the third best college prospect on his team behind McDonald and MiCou. Wheeler improves to 9-2.
Kouts (13-1), who suffered their first loss of the season, was led by Hise with 24. Seniors Nick Bielinski (6-2), Joe Hayes (5-10) and Adam Pendwoski (6-0) are also capable of playing college basketball at some level. The Mustangs dominated the first half with great ball movement against the zone. Some teams I have seen lately should watch a tape of Kouts to learn what true ball movement is. The Mustangs though did seem to tire down the stretch by having to handle full court pressure form Wheeler. These two teams will square off again February 1st at Wheeler.
Game two saw upstart Hanover Central keep clawing away at Morgan Towwnship and pull off the 60-59 win. Senior Aleks Case hit a three pointer with 2.9 seconds left for the win. The Wildcats are led by by first year head coach Dave Uran. My early coach of the year honors in NW Indiana would have be given to Uran. This is a team that was 0-20 just a few short years ago. The full time local detective is taking advantage of a new IHSAA rule allowing lay coaches. Uran was the captain of the only Hanover Central team to win a sectional in 1986. Flashy junior PG Jeff Johnson patterns his game after Jason Williams of the Grizzlies (minus the tattoos). Johnson is fun kid to watch. The Wildcats have a deep and talented bench. Seniors Jon Radosevich (6-0) and Eddie Roberts (6-4) also may be able to pursue college basketball at some level. The Wildcats have a deep and talented bench (Brandon Hegg, Jeremy Spencer and Greg Shroka among others.
Morgan Township ((7-6) is led by the coaches son Matty Bush who is fundamentally sound and is a nice shooter. Senior Cory Molchan (6-0), junior Joel Phillips (6-1) and senior PG Brooks Bucher (5-7) also are Cherokee starters. The player with the most potential is high jumping Nate McGinley (6-5). The sophomore can get up with anybody. He came close 2 or 3 times to hitting his head on the rim going after putbacks. If this kid can develop some perimter skills and grow another inch or two he could be a solid prospect.
Check out tonights championship game at 7:30 at Boone Grove High School


A special thanks out to everyone who helped me out with the rosters. I now have every roster in the state except Howe Military, Morton Memorial and new school Restoration.

Last night Roosevelt defeated East Chicago 62-61 as Robert Jenkins hit his second game winning shot this season to sink the Cardinals. The bigger news is the stand Coach Miles of East Chicago took against 5 of his players, who simply disobeyed his orders. The 5 took part in a all night sleep over at the school even after Coach Miles told them not to. The players obviously didn't take his orders seriously. I applaud coach Miles for his stand. The Cardinals who did played outhsustled Roosevelt in every facet of the game. For the second time this season the best player on the floor in this matchup was 6-4 Cardinal senior Rodney Wash. The hard working senior dominated the boards and only missed two shots on the way to 26 points. This young man will be an asset to any college. Junior guard Tremaine Cooley played outstanding for the Cardinals throwing in 18 points inlcuding 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch. Sophomores Harley Taylor, Kyum Gillis, Efrem Simmons, Jamie Stewart and freshman Chris Brown all gave the Crads some clutch play vs. the "Velt". Rohmadd Davis, Marcus Bailey and Ken Glass also helped as well.
As for Roosevelt to be quite honest this team needs to mature if they are going to make a title run. The talent is in place for it to happen they just need to grow up. Is there need for technicals fouls and dirty looks to officials every time the whistle sounds against them. Tyrone Appleton had a super defensive game and also had 12 points. Robert Jenkins shot the ball well all night on his way to 15 points. The duo of Naquan Jackson (16 points) and Jamaal Nash (11 points) dominate when they want to. The Sky can be the limt for the "VELT". As for East Chicago coach Miles probably isn't into moral victories, but if there ever a time to buy into that this would be the time. Some veteran Cardinals learned a lesson and some younger ones learned how to play on the big stage, Both teams may benefit by this game. Just remember there is no "I" in team.


JANUARY 24th
Two longtime parochial rivals seperated my about a mile and a half hooked up in the quarter finals of the Indianapolis City Tourney. Cathedral (10-1) pulled off a mild upset defeating class 3A #1 ranked Chatard(9-1) 60-45. People wrote off the Irish with their move up to 4A a couple of years ago and the subsequent move of Robert Vaden and Desmond Gadis to Pike. Remember this teams only loss is to Pike. The "Guts" of this Irish squad is supplied by Zach Decatur. The feisty PG, who will probably play football in college, contributions aren't usely reflected in the box score. Make no mistake about it Decatur is a winner and incredible competitor. The Irish fellow seniors Tommy Corbett(6-6), Phil Kealing (6-7) and Dustin Norton (6-1) are experienced hands for former Cathedral and Notre Dame standout Scott Hicks. These three should all get a chance to play college basketball at some level. A undefeated jayvee team saw juniors Chuck Flynn (6-5), Corey Benton (6-5), Nick Maynard (6-6) and Charles Williams (6-0)move into the spotlight this season. Give Coach Hicks and this team a lot of credit they could have went and pouted about all the tough teams in 4A in Marion County and also about losing Vaden and Gadis, but they have not. A few of these kids futures in college may be on the gridiron, but don't forget 1998 when a group of footballers led the Irish to the 3A state championship. Don't count this team out just yet. To me Cathedral has been the surprise team in the state this season. The Irish will play Heritage Christian on Saturday at Tech in the semi finals of the city Tourney.
Pairings for the Indianapolis City Tourney
All games are held at Tech High School (1500 E.Michigan St)
Friday Jan. 24
6- Broad Ripple vs. Manual
8- Arlington vs. Northwest
Saturday Jan. 25
6 Cathedral vs Heritage Christian
8- Friday's winners
Monday Jan. 27
7:30 Championshhip

For Chatard one loss certainly doesn't make a season. The Trojans are still my pick to make it to Conseco fieldhouse in Class 3A. They also don't have to wait long for a revenge matchup with the Irish as they host Cathedral Febraury 4th. Dan Cage, their 6-6 senior headed to St. Bonaventure is one of the state's best. The senior guard duo of Jammal Wade (5-11) and Marques Preslely(5-9) is solid. Like Cathedral the Trojans also use many football players to its advantage. Ryan Baker a 6-7 junior may be the state's most highly recruited football player next year, but he also gives Coach Dan Archer plenty of size, defense and toughness. Last season Mike Dury did not play basketball. The 6-5 senior, who quarterbacked the Trojans to the class 3A state championship, could have easily taken his baseball scholarship to Notre Dame and stayed away. Dury is back after contributing a lot as a sophomore. The Trojans sophomore class of Greg Cage (6-6), Joans Coleman (6-4) and Dray Mason (5-10) also are heavy contributors for the Trojans.


JANUARY 23rd PM
More football recruiting news. Monrovia WR Jake Standeford has passed up several scholarship opportunities to walk on at Purdue. Standeford will join his older brother in West Lafayette.

Warren Central had a fantastic season and now their seniors are reaping the benefits. Earlier TE Tyree Pollard pledged to Toledo, while LB Jenkins Reese has cast his lot with Bowling Green. DT Chris Douglas has accepted a scholarship to Junior College power Joliet JC. OL Mike Clevenger has interest ranging from IU, Kentucky to the University of Indianapolis. OT Drew Paff and DE Vincent Price are deciding between Indiana State and the University of Indianapolis. T Dale Sharpe is leaning to St. Francis. Recruiters will again target Warren Central next year as LB Chris Graham, QB Desmond Tardy, RB Stephen Willis, WR Kyle Wimberly, OL Andrew Campbell, RB Mark Bonds, RB Aaron Lacey, WR-DB Christain Graham and DB Courtney Nunn will be on any recruiters radar. I will take a position by position look at next year's top players soon


JANUARY 23rd AM
With the February 5th football signing date approaching lets take a look at several of the state’s top players.
Franklin Central Coach Lance Scheib informs us that DE Josh O’Brien is headed to Indiana State to be a Sycamore. Josh’s twin brother Jake O’Brien is giving up football to concentrate on a wrestling career at Purdue.

The FW Snider duo of DE Lorenzo Wims and LB Brandon Logan have offers on the table from Indiana State. Wims also is weighing an offer from Ball State according to coach Russ Isaacs. RB Aaron Lane is also receiving serious interest from St. Francis.

Warsaw all state QB Ryan DeGeeter has also decided to give up the pigskin. DeGeeter has been offered a baseball scholarship by Indiana State. he will also take visits to IU, Purdue, and Ball State for baseball. Warsaw Coach Phil Jensen reports that DT William Knepper is weighing offers from St. Francis and St. Joe’s while also looking at an invited walk on invite from Indiana. Fellow Tigers Jake Engler and Zach Smith also have aspirations of playing at the college level.

Whiteland coach Ken Sears gives us the low down on his college prospects. Matt Crick one of the state’s top rushers along with Danny Sears, Ryan Purkiser, Lance LaBonte and Josh Plummer all are looking at Hanover, Wabash, Franklin, Earlham and Thomas More.

Lawrence Central standout TB Josh Wheat is considering St Joe’s, Dayton, Millikian and Thomas More. Teammate DB Brandon Golderis looking at Purdue, Ball State and Washington State. Butler is hot pursuit of another Bear Matt Kite

Perry Meridian star RB Tyler Harmon is still sorting through numerous D1AA and D11 opportunities as are the Twin Lakes Duo of OL Troy Harker and DB Dewey Brown

Cathedral QB Zach Decatur is looking at Dayton, where Cathedral Head Coach Jim O’Hara was a quarterback, or may pursue walk on opportunities at IU or Purdue. OL Jacob Jordan is also sifting through his college options.

Class 5A state champion Ben Davis and coach Dick Dullaghan have already seen three standouts commit to D1 Schools in T Jared Evans (Miami(OH)), TE Brian Faires (Indiana) and DB Todd Bernard (Indiana). Coach Dullaghan informs us of many other Giant prospects. QB Jon Polston is going on an official visit to the Air Force Academy. The top notch student may very well end up there. Giant DB Bruce Williams is deciding between an Indiana State offer and Western Kentucky. FB Adam Blakey is looking at Jackson State and St. Francis. Another Giant who had a great year was Mike Richardson . The speedy DE will move to either LB or DB at Tennessee State where he has committed. Talented WR’s Bo Thompson and Zach Rainey will end up at either Indianapolis or St. Francis. A special thanks to coach Dullaghan for this info. The Longtime Ben Davis coach is hanging it up after the coming season. Coach Dullaghan has and will continue to be a great ambassador for Indiana High School Football.

Decatur Central Coach Tim Able lets us know that his mammoth tackle Adam Gibson is hoping to follow his brother Aaron’s shoes and follow him to Wisconsin to be a Badger. Aaron Gibson was a standout at Decatur Central and Wisconsin before being drafted in the first round by the Detroit Lions. Aaron is currently trying to resurrect his career with the Chicago Bears

The Brownsburg trio of TE Louis Urbancic, K Brandon Anweiler and QB Mark McGoun also will play at the college level. Anweiler is headed to Indiana State while McGoun and Urbancic are still weighing offers according to coach Mike Godan

St. Francis University would love to have the FW Luers trio of Jhormy Martinez, Brian Kurtz and Ben Wyss. Their recruiting is still open with Wyss also receiving interest from IU, Ball State. Akron and Columbia.

JANUARY 22nd
Former Cathedral standout and Mr. Football Otis Shannon has enrolled at Western Kentucky. Shannon sat out this past season. As a freshman at Harper(IL) JC Shannon was a JUCO All American. Western Kentucky, the D1AA national champion, is coached by Jack Harbaugh father of former Colts QB Jim Harbaugh. Former Cathedral standout Dave Elson is the defensive coordinator for the Hilltoppers. Another former Cathedral standout Rufus Sanders was the starting TE for the national champions. Good luck to Otis at Western Kentucky!! A special thanks to JD Hamilton and Chris Kaufman as they do a wonderful job of promoting sports at Cathedral.


Is the IHSAA losing its power. It sure seems so after now Arlington senior Ryan Gold received a temporary restraining order against the IHSAA. First Kenny Harris challenges the IHSAA and now Gold. The IHSAA also had the case of girls basketball player Rachel Brockman overturned by the case review board. These transfers may or may not be for athletic reasons, but it sure seems as though the IHSAA is ruling on probable cause. When the IHSAA came to Hammond to state their case they used the terms it "seems" to be or it "appears" or even "perhaps". These are terms that sure don't convict people in a court of law. These cases could very well set a precedent in how the IHSAA determines eligibility. I personally think they should have five people picked off the street as soon as a transfer is made. Let both the IHSAA and the transfer make their case in front of these five people and let the "defacto" jury decide. For years the IHSAA has played judge, jury and executioner in many cases. You could find something not "perfect" in just about every transfer that happens. The IHSAA need to be accountable to someone. It was thought that the Case Review Board would be this. It hasn't really worked that way. So far the Case Review Board has basically served as an appeal judge. If something is not done you are going to see more and more kids challenging the IHSAA rulings.

JANUARY 21st
Roosevelt defeats Mann 68-42 at Mann on Tuesday. The "Velt" struggled mightily in the first half leading only 22-20. Led by Naquan Jackson's nine third quarter points including a tomahawk slam dunk in traffic pulled away. Larry Upshaw, Tyrone Appleton and Jamaal Nash all had 10 for the Panthers. Mann was led by Matthew Carterand Raymond Daniels with 10 each. The best news for Mann though is the impending return of junior guard Marcus White(6-0). The talented White who averaged close to 20 points per game as a frosh in about 6 or 7 games, has been sidelined by academics the last year and a half. White will make his debut either friday at Wirt or against Andrean on Tuesday according to Mann personnel. White could very well be the most talented guard in Gary and one of the state's top if he can keep his academics in order.

Taking a look at former Indiana Preps playing pro ball. If you know of any I am missing please let me know at hkiland@netnitco.net
NBA
Alan Henderson-Brebeuf- Indiana-Hawks
Glenn Robinson-Roosevelt-Purdue-Hawks
Zach Randolph-Marion-Michigan State-Blazers
Brad Miller-East Noble-Purdue-Pacers
Bryce Drew-Valparaiso-Valpo University-Hornets<
Bonzi Wells-Muncie Central-Ball State-Blazers
Eric Montross-Lawrence North-N.Carolina-Raptors
Lee Naillon-SB Clay-TCU-Knicks
Shawn Kemp-Concord-Magic
Walter McCarty- Ev. Harrison-Kentucky-Celtics
Jared Jeffries-Bloom. North-IU-Wizards
Calbert Cheaney-Ev. Harrison-IU-Jazz
Rick Fox-Warsaw-N. Carolina-Lakers
NBDL
Darrell Johns-Kokomo-Chicago St-Roanoke
Luke Recker-DeKalb-IU (IOWA)-Asheville
Sean Daugherty-Vincennes-Wisconsin-Columbus
#Lonnie Jones-Wallace-Ball State-Fayetteville
##Bobby Smith-East Chicago-Robert Morris
# Released at own request to rehab injury
## released in training camp.
CBA
Jemeil Rich-Roosevelt-SMU-Steelheads
Courtney James-Ben Davis-Minnesota-Dakota
Cam Stephens-FW South-Charlotte-Great Lakes
Carson Cunningham-Andrean-Purdue-Rockford
##Marcus Wilson-SB Riley-Evansville-Steelheads
## released in training camp.
XBA
Otis Frazier-Wallace-Chadron St- Black Hills(SD)
Brian Taylor-Michigan City-Black Hills (SB)
OVERSEAS
Chandler Thompson-Muncie Central-Ball St.-Italy
Rylan Hainje-Cathedral-Butler-France
Jim Havrilla-Portage-WMU-Greece
Quadre Lollis-West Side-Montana St.-Germany
Jeff Massey-Elkhart-Xavier-France
William Fontleroy-Roosevelt-SW Missouri-France
Len Matela-Andrean-Bowling Green-Germany
Chris Woods-E. Chicago- Weber State-Switzerland
TJ Lux-Merrillville-N. Illinois-France
John Allison- New Palestine-Purdue- France
Chad Austin-Richmond-Purdue-Greece
Paris Bryant-Jeffersonville-Wyoming-Spain
Brandon Brantley-Andrean-Purdue-Italy
Matt Nover-Chesterton-IU-Portugal
Damon Frierson-Ben Davis-Miami(OH)-Bosnia
Sherron Wilkerson-Jeffersonville-IU-Life College-Sweden
Derrick Davenport- Lawrence North-TCU-Turkey
Brian Evans-TH South-Indiana-Italy
David Hinton-Castle-Boston College-Australia
Some others that may or may not be still playing overseas. Last known team found underneath name. These include:
Jerome Harmon-Wallace-Louisville
France(2001)
Tony Harris-EC Roosevelt-New Orleans
Brazil (2002)
Mark Atkins- Gary West- Missouris
Steelheads (2002)
Greg McQuay-West Side-Purdue
Finland (2002)
Byron Wilson-Wallace-Utah
Spain (2002)
Henry Williams-Ben Davis- Charlotte
Italy (2002)
Rodney Smith-Pike-Purdue
Pacers Summer Camp (2002)
Jaraan Cornell-SB Clay-Purdue
Steelheads (2001)
Michael Lewis-Jasper-IU
USBL (2001)
John Brugos- Crown Point-Purdue
Greece (2001)
Greg Graham- Warren Central-IU
Indiana-ABA- (2002)
Charles Macon- Michigan City- CMU
Mansfield- UPBL (2003)
Ken Barlow-Cathedral-Notre Dame
Italy (2001)
Jamaal Davis- Merrillville-Cinn.
Team Nike (2002)
Tellis Frank- Wallace-W. Kentucky
Italy (2002)
Lamont Roland-New Albany- LSU
VASDA All Stars (2002)
Steve Turner- North Central- Ball State
Belgium (2001)
Jay Edwards- Marion-Indiana
Argentina (2002)
Steve Hart-TH South-IU-ISU
China (2001)
Charlie Wills-Angola-Wisconsin
Marathon Oli (2002)
Cedric Moodie-SB Washington-BSU-Indianapolis
USBL (2002)
Chris Artis-Andrean-Valparaiso
Australia(2002)
Duany Duany- Bloomington North-Wisconsin
Indianapolis- ABA (2002)


JANUARY 20th
Danville LB Jake Powers who about a week ago committed to Toledo has changed his committment to the Indiana Hoosiers. Internet scuttlebutt also has Center Grove WR-DB Ryan Skelton headed to Bloomington. If so nice catches for the Hoosier Staff.


Notre Dame adds two more football committments as LB Dwight Stephenson Jr
and C John Sullivan
have verballed to the Irish. I will check today on a couple of Indiana kids rumored to have verballed to Gerry Dinardo and the Indiana Hoosiers. I will have plenty more as signing day comes upon us.


JANUARY 18th
Pike and Perry Meridian will square off for the Marion County Championship tonight at Southport High School (7:30). Pike blasted Warren Central 85-56 while Perry Meridian escaped in overtime against North Central 69-66. Pike(12-0) defeated Perry Meridian (11-2) last Friday 75-56. It will be interesting if Perry Meridian can stay closer. Take a minute and think could this be the best Pike team of all time. Quite possibly yes. 6-6 senior Parnell Smith a 3 year starter is now 6th man. Smith has D1 offers on the table and doesn't even start. The Red Devils have gotten even deeper with 6-7 junior Mike McCoy and Desmond Gadis making their initial appearances of the season on Friday after missing time due to academics. Perry Meridan has a nice trio of Austin Montgomery, Justin Petty and newcomer Brandon Ray a move in from Center Grove.


Taking a look at former Indiana prep stars who have moved out of state to play collegiately at the D1 level.
Jackson Atoyebi-Culver Milt.-Elon- 4.9pp, 2.1rp
Greg Babcock-Penn- Wisc. GB- 10.6pp, 7.1rp
Serge Babo-Arlington-Marshall-redshirting
Matt Backs-Marion-Elon- 2.9pp, 1.9rp
Carlton Baker- E.Chicago-San Jose St-16.4pp, 6.3rp
Adam Ballinger-Bluffton- Mich. St-6.3pp, 3.6rp
Marques Bennett-Brebeuf-Dayton-redshirting
Tyler Best-Laf CC-Charlotte-0.7pp, 0.5rp
Clark Bone-Wirt-Chicago St. - 6.7pp, 3.6rp
Brody Boyd-Union Dugger-Iowa-8.8pp, 1.7rp
Jermaine Boyette-Hammond-Weber St- 20.8pp, 2.4rp
Braden Buschman-Mississinewa-Wrigh St.-5.4pp, 3.0rp
Eric Bush-Anderson-UAB- 6.6pp, 2.6 rp
Brandon Cameron- Gary West- Penn State- 1.0 pp 0.5 rp
Rodney Carney-Ind. Northwest-Memphis- 9.1pp, 5.5rp
Jason Carter-Mann-Hawaii- 5.6pp, 0.8rp
Nathan Carter-Mann- Chicago St.-1.7pp, 2.7rp
Will Caudle-Warren Cent.-Xavier-4.3pp, 2.3rp
Keith Christmas-Gary West- Middle Tenn- Redshirting
Brennon Clemmons-Ind. Northwest-Nebraska-3.5pp, 2.6rp
Vytas Danelius-Park Tudor-Wake Forest-12.1pp, 7.8rp
Patrick Danley-Gary West-Weber State-5.9pp, 4.8rp
Jermaine Dearman-Warren Central-S.Ill- 13.6pp, 6.5rp
Steve Drabyn-LaPorte-Bellmont-11.9pp, 1.7rp
Kueth Duany-Bloom. North- Syracuse-12.9pp, 4.0rp
Dedrick Finn-Castle-Xavier-5.5pp, 2.1rp
Jason Gardner-North Central-Arizona- 13.6pp, 3.2rp
Josh Gomes-Frankfort Chri. E.Ill- 1.1pp, 0.4rp
Gavin Groninger- Plainfield-Michigan- 2.4pp, 1.2rp
John Hamilton-Greenfield-Weber State_ 13.0pp, 2.6rp
Kyle Hankins- Bloom. South- Morehead St- 8.4pp, 1.3rp
Chris Hill-Lawrence North- Michigan St.-14.9pp, 3.2rp
Aaron Hogg -Warren Central-Wichita St-13.4pp, 6.4rp
Vernard Hollins-FW North-Wright St.-19.4pp, 5.8rp
Jon Holmes- Bloom. South- UNC- 0.5pp, 0.8rp
Chris Hunter- Gary West- Michigan - 4.9 pp, 3.7 rp
Marcus Jefferson-E. Chicago-Iowa St.- 7.6pp, 3.8rp
Justin Johnson-Merrillville-St.Louis- Redshirting
Andrejs Kregers-Lawrence North-Ohio- Redshirting
Adam Mark-Bremen-Bellmont-18.3pp, 65.rp
Sean May-Bloom. North-UNC- 12.1pp, 8.6rp
Bryson McKenzie-Gary West-N.Illinois-0.4pp, 0.7rp
Andy Means-Lawrence North-Duke- 0.2pp, 0.1rp
Greg Morgan-Broad Ripple-Tenn. Tech-9.4pp, 5.5rp
John Morningstar-Concord-Miami(OH)-redshirting
Bryant Northern-Jeffersonville-5.6pp, 1.5rp
Nick Otis-LaPorte-Bellmont-4.9pp, 1.7rp
Andre Owens-Perry Meridian-Houston-13.3pp, 4.8rp
Shane Power-Andrean-Mississippi St- Redshirting
Lonnie Randolph- Merrilville- Drake-6.8pp, 2.4rp
Bryan Reed-TH North-Miami(OH)- 2.4pp, 2.3rp
Nathan Richie-Lake Central-Drake- 0.4pp, 0.4rp
Corey Ryan-Northeastern-Bowling Green-8.7pp, 3.5rp
Adam Schaper- KV-Iowa St.- 0.7pp, 0.1rp
Blake Schoen-Benton Central-S.Illinois-2.7pp, 2.2rp
Angelo Smith-Lawrence North-Xavier-1.8pp, 1.5rp
Grant Sterley-Cathedral-Wofford-5.0pp, 3.8rp
Jan Thompson-DeKalb-E.Illinois- 3.0pp, 3.7rp
Ricky Wright- E.Chicago- Villanova- 12.3 pp, 8.3 rp


JANUARY 17th
Kenny Harris decision will come down next Friday January 24th according to Chris Ramirez of The "Region Sports Network". The attorneys for both parties met today in Hammond in front of Judge Pete. The injuction will be ruled upon next Friday. Both Jeff Carroll of the TIMES and Ramirez have done a great job of covering this story.


JANUARY 17th
I have almost completed the roster database on this website. I now have over 370 of 390 basketball playing schools within the state of Indiana. If you have any of the following please e-mail me at hkiland@netnitco.net : Austin, Benton Central, Eastern (Greentown), Eminence, Heritage Christian, Howe Military, Lakewood Park, Lanesville, Marion Lakeview Christian, New Harmony, North Central (Farm), North Miami, North Vermillion, Shelbyville, Shenandoah, South Adams, South Newton, South Putnam, Washington Catholic, White's. A special thanks to all who helped me with this project.


January 16th
HUGE DAY FOR NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL. Coach Tyrone Willingham has landed Buffalo Grove (IL) DB Tom Zbikowski and New Jersey TE Greg Olsen. Both players are rated among the nation's elite prospects.

Former Missouri and Chicago Whitney Young basketball standout Najeeb Echols will enroll at Illinois State. Echols will be eligible second semester next year.

January 15th
The South Bend Tribune is reporting that SB Clay Lineman Mike Macellari has cast his lot with the Stanford Cardinal. If that is indeed the case congratulations to Head Coach Buddy Teevens and assistant Peter McCarty, two of the classiest people in college football.


January 14th
Roosevelt edges West Side 64-58. I had the opportunity to check out this great rivalry tonight. I was going to go to Indianapolis for the County Tourney but could not due to some unforeseen circumstances was unable to attend. Hopefully I will be able to check it out this weekend. The Panthers held off a late West Side charge to win. The "Velt" was led by Larry Upshaw and Naquan Jackson with 17 each. Sophomore Guard Tyrone Appleton did a great job of running the offense and had 13 points. Jamal Nash had 10 point before fouling out. The Cougars despite having as many as six players off their early season roster not available simply outhustled the Panthers all night. Coach John Boyd and the Cougars played very well. 6-7 Junior Sean Smith led them with 16. The lanky big man owned the paint when young guards got him the ball. Boyd has a quick trio of guards in Robert Hall, Kevin Glover and Van Pullen. 6-2 Senior Chris Buggs is a excellent spot up shooter and had 3 three pointers. Sophomore George Kelly (6-2) played outstanding for the Cougars tonight showing a wide array of moves on his way to 15 points. Keep an eye on Kelly. Anybody who counts out these Cougars could be bit hard as they showed a lot of promise tonight. Just wait until Boyd and company get back Jory Peters and Jonathon Moore, this team could very well be a contender for the sectional that they host.
The "Velt on the other hand played with little emotion and need to step it up. Bench play, which has at times been a strength, and post defense, which has never been a strength, were lacking tonight. The Panthers needed a mid 3rd Quarter Techinical Foul on Assistant coach Winston Garland, the former NBA player, to really get it going. The Panthers went on a 10-0 run after West Side missed both technical foul shots. On a good note Roosevelt was 23-28 from the line inlcuding 15-16 in the first half. The sky is the limit for Roosevelt as they are the only ones who can stop them.Scoring
Roosevelt 64
Jackson 17, Upshaw 17, Appleton 13, Nash 10, Jenkisn 5, G. Grant 2
West Side 58
Smith 16, Kelly 15, Buggs 9, Pullen 6, Hall 5, Glover 5,

January 14th


Marion County Tourney
North Central 63 Franklin Central 58
Ball State signee Skip Mills led the Panthers with 21 while Derek James son of the coach led Franklin Central with 24.
Lawrence North 80 Decatur Central 34
Blacned scoring for LN as Sophomore Brandon McPhearson led the Wildcats with 13 and underrated Anthony Sargent added 11.
Perry Meridian 62 Ben Davis 50
The game of the night saw Austin Montgomery dump in 26 points to led Perry Meridian over Ben Davis. Stanley Burrell led the Giants with 18.
Southport 63 Beech Grove 58
Senior guard Brad Howell pumped in 24 to lead Southport>
Warren Central 61 Brebeuf 57
Despite 26 point sfrom Sonny Troutman Warren held off Brebeuf. Kenny page had 17 and Courntey Nunn 13 for Warren.
Speedway 72 Park Tudor 60
Adam Gonzalez led the Sparkplugs with 19.
Pike 63 Roncalli 47
Roncalli played Pike tough. Robert Vaden led Pike with 16 and Justin Cgae threw in 13.
Jeff Mnaley led Roncalli with 18.
Lawrence Central 71 Lutheran 31
Freshman Darrin Granger had 10 to lead the Bears.
Tonight's schedule
at Perry Meridian
6- North Central(9-2) vs Lawrence North (10-0)
7:45- Perry Meridian (9-2) vs Southport (3-6)
at Pike
6- Warren Central (7-3) vs Speedway (5-5)
7:45 Pike (10-0) vs Lawwrence central (3-7)# Scores from Indianapolsi Star

January 12th
Carmel offensive lineman John Masters has given a verbal committment to new Michigan State Head coach John L. Smith.
Former Arizona and Chicago Crane Star Will Bynum has apparently decided to transfer to Georgia Tech and not Oklahoma State as previously reported.

January 11th
Marion County Preview
Top Players
Ben Davis
Stanley Burrell 6-3 SR
James Thompkins 6-5 SR
Brebeuf
Sonny Troutman 6-5 SR
Chris Page 5-11 SR
Derrick Puckett 6-2 SO
Decatur Central
Carlton Summler 6-2 SR
Franklin Central
Derek James 5-10 JR
Donald Washington 6-2 SO
Lawrence Central Bears
Marlon Dabney 5-11 SR
Xavier Weatherford 6-1 SO
Sabastian Moore 5-10 SO
Lawrence North
Greg Oden 6-11 FR
Mike Conley 5-10 FR
Anthony Sargent 6-0 JR
Steffan Routt 6-6 JR
Chaz Spicer 6-8 SR
Lutheran
Jacob Yantiss 6-0 SR
Peter Burkhart 5-11 SR
North Central
Anthony Passley 6-4 JR
Skip Mills 6-3 SR
AJ Ratliff 6-2 JR
Jason Malone 6-4 JR
Park Tudor
Nick Trimpe 5-10 JR
Mason Stahl 5-11 SR
Lance Ladendorf 6-5 SO
Perry Meridian
Austin Montgomery 6-5 SR
Justin Petty 6-7 SR
Brandon Ray 6-4 JR
Pike
David Barlow 6-1 SR
Justin Cage 6-6 SR
Courtney Lee 6-3 JR
Parnell Smith 6-6 SR
Robert Vaden 6-6 JR
Daren Yates 6-4 SR
Roncalli
Jeff Manley 6-3 SR
Justin Argesta 5-10 SR
Stephen Schott 6-5 JR
Southport
Brad Howell 6-1 SR
Zach Elrod 6-2 SR
Desmond Terry 5-8 SR
Speedway
Chris West 6-2 SR
Aaron Pedigo 6-3 SR
Ryan Neat 6-4 JR
Warren Central
Kenny Page 5-10 JR
Courtney Nunn 6-2 JR


January 10th
Pairings for the 84th Annual Marion County Tournament January 13, 14, 17, 18
## Records as of Thursday Janaury 9th
Schedule for January 13th
at Lawrence North
Game 1-6:00 Franklin Central (1-8) vs North Central (8-1)
Game 2-7:45 Speedway(4-4) vs Lawrence North(9-0)
at Beech Grove
Game 3-6:00 Perry Meridian(8-1) vs Ben Davis(5-3)
Game 4-7:45 Southport(1-5) vs Beech Grove(6-2)
at Speedway
Game 5-6:00 Warren Central(5-3) vs Brebeuf(5-4)
Game 6- 7:45 Park Tudor(4-3) vs Speedway(4-4)
at Lutheran
Game 7- 6:00 Pike(8-0) vs Roncalli(4-3)
Game 8- 7:45 Lawrence Central(2-6) vs Lutheran(2-3)
Schedule for January 14th
Game 9- 6:00 Winner game 1 vs winner game 2 at Perry Meridian-Ben Davis winner
Game 10- 7:45 Winner game 3 vs winner game 4 at Perry Meridian or Ben Davis winner
Game 11- 6:00 winner game 5 vs winner of game 6 at Pike or Roncalli winner
Game 12- 7:45 winner game 7 vs winnr game 8 at Pike-Roncalli winner
Schedule for January 17th
at Southport
6:00 winner game 9 vs winner game 10
7:45 winner game 11 vs winner game 12
Schedule for January 18th
at Southport
7:30 Championship
I will have a team by team preview by Monday


January 10th
The East Chicago Lady Cardinals rally from 10 down to defeat Gary West Side 45-43 in front of about 3,000 screaming fans. East Chicago trailed virtually the whole game. West Side led 13-9 after one quarter. The Cougars went into the lockeroom up 22-20 at the half and opened it up to 35-28 after three. A fast furious rally by Central finally gave them the lead at 41-40 with 2:18 left. The lead see sawed several times. East Chicago survived despite only hitting 4 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals were led by 6-1 sophomore center Jernita Moore who scored 14 points inlcuding 8 in the fourth quarter. Moore struggled all game until picking up her fourth foul late in the 3rd quarter. Moore then played more aggressive as did the rest of East Chicago's team. Super freshman Dee Dee Jerningan was fantastic handling the ball, rebounding and playing defense. Jernigan finished with 10 points. Other Cards who played really well were Latoya Scott, Lani Edmonds and India Reeves. West Side was led by Ashley Gates who had 11 inlcuding three 3 pointers. Belinda Drake had 10 points all in the first half. It seemed West Side played not to lose down the stretch while East Chicago played with nothing to lose. These two teams are sure to lock horns at the East Chicago Sectional. This was a great game with a great atmosphere.
Box Score
East Chicago 45
Jernigan 4 0-4 10, Rodgers 1 0-0 2, Edmonds 2 4-4 9, Scott 0 2-4 3, Watts 2 0-0 4, Sanders 0 0-0 0, Moore 6 2-2 14, Reeves 2 0-4 4, Upshaw 0 0-0 0. FG 18, 3 three point FG (Jernigan 2, Edmonds), FT 8-18
West Side 43
Drake 2 5-5 10, Grayer 1 3-4 5, Davies 2 4-5 8, Gates 4 0-0 11, Hamblin 2 2-4 6, Rhenwrick 0 1-2 1, Cheairs 1 0-0 2, Robinson 0 0-0 0. FG 12, 4 three point FG (Gates 3, Drake), FT 15-20


January 9th-
The Region will have one of its biggest regular season Girls games in years tonight as Gary West Side hosts the Lady Cardinals of East Chicago. The Lady Cardinals are undefeated at 10-0 while West Side comes in at 11-2. East Chicago is led by the dynamic freshmen duo of DD Jernigan and Kelly Watts in the backcourt. Seniors Latoya Scott, Lani Edmonds, and Kentrice Sanders are also big for the Lady Cards. West Side is led by their only senior 6-3 Southern Illinois signee Benrettra Grayer. The Cougars also have an outstanding sophomore class with Ashley Gates, Michelle Hamblin, Ashley Cheairs and Candace Matthews. Juniors Belinda Drake and Shante Robinson are also key. This game can be heard on the Region Sports Network AM 1230 WJOB in Hammond with Mike Bozich doing the play by play and myself doing the color. Get out to West Side it should be a dandy.


January 8th
Danville RB-LB Jake Powershas committed to attend Toledo. Powers picked Toledo over Purdue and Indiana.


January 7th
I have now posted over 100 Suburban Chicago Rosters on the bottom of the rosters page. I will continue adding those. I special thanks to Dan Laffee for his endless amount of information.


January 6th
Taking a look at the top underclassmen at the Chicago Public League Tourney.
Underclassmen in alpha order
Brandon Alexander (6-6) JR Simeon
Rail thin leaper who goes to the goal hard. Needs weight but is not lacking in ability.
Ollie Bailey (6-8) JR Farragut
Has been known for quite some time. After being a role player, now is the time for Ollie to be the man at Farragut. Already has the big time body. Must play with consistency all the time. Big time ability, is well suited for the physical play in the Big Ten.
Mario Brandon (6-6) JR Curie
Longarmed leaper who attacks glass hard. Decent outside shot
Calvin Brock (6-5) JR Simeon
His stock has improved more than anyone. Reminds of former East Chicago Standout Carlton Baker. Just doesn't have as much flare for the dramatic.
Sherron Collins (5-10) FR Crane
With all the fine point guards here. The one with the most potential is Collins. Is as pure a point guard as I have seen. The real deal.
Jimmie Covington (6-5) SO Morgan Park
Wide body inside player with post moves. Was not intimidated vs. high profile Crane kids.
Lorenzo Ecford (6-8) JR Julian
Newcomer who has had some big early season games. Needs weight but is definately a battler in the paint.
Jamarcus Ellis (6-5) JR Westinghouse
Lefty wing who has been banged up with wrist injuries. Forced to do a lot of ball handling due to inconsistent guard play at Westinghouse. A mix between Stacey Augmon and Clabert Cheaney. Big, big time abilty.
Demetrius Evans (6-6) JR Von Steuben
High flying forward back after missing last season due to academics. This kid can flat out get up. Needs more shooting and ballhandling skills.
Brandon Ewing (6-1) SO Julian
Made varsity debut last season. Has grown at least 2 inches and 30 pounds. A pure shooter with long arms. Well known on the summer circuit.
Ryne Hamblet (6-5) JR Von Steuben
Another top underclassmen for Von Steuben. Struggled with fouls when I saw him. May end up being better player in college than high school.
Otis Hudson (6-8) SO Marshall
Huge prospect bulit like an NFL defensive lineman. Looks indentical to former King star Rashard Griffith in the face. Immovable down low. Needs more post up skills.
Jonte Johnson (6-6) JR Curie
Transferred in from Gary Wirt last season . Just now playing has not seen court time in over a year. High flying athlete with big time ability.
Emmanuel Little (6-2) JR Farragut
Lanky player who can really score. Hit 12 of 13 free throws vs. Julian.
DeAngleo McIntosh (6-5) FR Julian
Lanky frosh who runs really well and very adapt at putbacks.
Ashford Oliver (6-3) JR Curie
Lanky athlete who can jump out of the gym. Doesn't get a ton of playing time due to Curie's depth. May be their best athlete and that says volumes.
Jeremy Pargo (6-2) SO Robeson
Brother of Laker Jannero Pargo. Struggled in first half of game I saw. Was unstoppable in 2nd half. A pure point guard with a tremendous upside.
Kevin Sabbs (6-4) JR Robeson
Did not know of him until now. Aggressive shooter-leaper with Pargo forms a nice one two punch.
Angel Santiago (6-1) SO Von Steuben
Flashy point guard who had incredible freshmen season and also gained a lot of notoriety over the summer. started the season off slow as team struggled with chemistry. Team Has come back to finish 3rd at both Proviso West and Chicago Public League. Santiago is a terrific ballhandler who handles the ball like it is on a yoyo. Angel has a great pull up jumper. Has court saavy is way beyond his years. If he keeps progressing should be one of nation's top guards in time
Raphael Scott (6-2) SO Morgan Park
Scoring machine for Mustangs. Will be one to watch.
Chris Singeltary (6-2)FR Farragut
Extremely physical point guard. Plays way above his age. Overpowers most opponents. Plays with a lot of emotion.
DeAndre Thomas (6-7) SO Westinghouse
Powerful post player who has a tendency to get in foul trouble. Unstoppbale with ball down low.
JJ Watson (6-6) JR Julian
Small forward prospect who has a real passion for the uptempo game. A streaky shooter. Was banged up here.


January 5th
Taking a look back at the Chicago Public League Tournament and the top 30 or so senior prospects. Tommorrow I will preview the underlcassmen. I must apologize to Hyde Park and Washington as they were the only 2 of 16 teams I did not see play at least once.
Seniors in Alpha order
Reggie Bates (6-5) Hubbard
May be one of the best pure shooters around (will shoot from anyhwere past half court). Can also jump well.
Kevin Bond (6-3) Morgan Park
Excellent shooter with big time range. Looks to score from everywhere.
Byron Booker (6-8) Westinghouse
Long armed sleeper who played very little as a junior. Scored just about every basket on dunks from either alley oop passes or missed shots. Needs more weight. Could be ideal red shirt candidtate.
Eric Borg (5-10) Curie
Floor general who sees the court well. Has excellent playmaking skills. Did a great job of controlling the tempo. Has a nice shot up to 23 feet.
Tshaka Brown (5-6) Morgan Park
Dimunitive point guard with great court vision and sense of the game. Pesty defender.
Johnathan Chatman (6-2) Simeon
Nice shooter plays in one of the public leagues best structured offenses. Can light it up from long range
Edward Finner (6-6) Julian
Warrior under the glass who does it primarily by hustle and great court sense.
Tremel Gilot (6-2) Crane
High flying performer who really thrives in uptempo game. Deadly shot from the corner. Could be a big timer after JUCO.
Mitchell Goforth (6-8) Thornridge
Big lefty struggled with the uptempo atmosphere. Not is all his fault as shot happy teammates rarely looked for him. Coming off injury, would like to see him down the road.
Chris Gonzalez (6-6) Thornridge
Too me he was the surprise of the tournament. Had scouts scurring for notebooks the opening game. Left handed shooter with big time jumping ability. Can play inside or outside.
TJ Gray (5-6) Julian
Undersized point guard who moved north from Champaign. Is the ideal playmaker with great quickness and court vision. Made clutch play after clutch play all tournament.
Michael Henderson (6-4) Lincoln Park
Blue Collar tireless worker who plays as hard as any down low.
Sherman Henderson (6-5) Lincoln Park
One of the most impressive athletes here. Is spectacular in the open court. Plays inside and outside.
Maurice Jackson (6-5) Hubbard
Extremely long armed post player who has at least a wing span of a 6-9 player. A bit skinny but could be a solid player with more perimeter skills.
Othyus Jeffers (6-5) Hubbard
Has already received D1 offers. Very versatile performer who was is a great defender and athlete. Forced to play down low for Hubbard.
Cliff Manning (6-6) Curie
Underrated leaper who played as well as anyone in the paint. Looks as though he has perimeter skills but needs to play down low for his team to be successful
Carl Marshall (5-11) Crane
Lefty point guard seemed to be in the coaches dog house. Has D1 offers on the table. Great transition performer. Has big time range.
Dennard Montague (6-5) Farragut
The long armed shooter missed the opening game of the tournament but came back to play in the semi finals. Is a nice shooter who excels in the transition game.
Royce Parran (5-10) Lincoln Park
Fearless point guard who attacks the goal hard with a whole assortment of scoop shots. May only weigh 130 or so pounds but has the heart of a Lion
Aaron Poole (6-6) Marshall
First year senior not even on the roster. Extremely athletic kid who can run like a gazelle and is very aggressive, just needs more experience.
Marcus Richardson (5-11) Thornridge
After being named MVP at the Pekin tournament struggled with inconsistent play at Curie. Solid PG with great quickness and is a excellent defender.
Reginald Robinson (6-2) Simeon
Point guard who seems equally adapt at using either hand and has a real feel for the game. Seems to always be in the right spot.
Gabriel Taylor (5-7) Curie
Another small guard. May be the best ball on ball defender in the tournament. An opposing point guard nightmare. Built like a mac truck. Also football prospect.
Lorenzo Thompson (6-8) Crane
Committed to DePaul. Dominated when he wanted. Has definite perimeter skills that sometimes he wants to show off a little to much. Could be a big time player at DePaul.
Jamale Tidwell (5-11) Crane
Would be a star on three fourths of teams, but must play secondary role. Can play either guard spot. Seemed to be most consistent Crane performer.
Florentino Valencia (6-6) Crane
Charasmatic performer who loves to play to the crowd. Has perimeter skills needs more consistency to play big time. Once reported that he had committed to Auburn. That is apparently not the case.
DeShawn Walker (6-6) Simeon
Is Chicagoland's most underrated player. Consistently was the best player on the court. Some questioned his perimeter skills. Showed great open court and one on one skills when matching up vs. Crane. Has range up to 20 feet. Shows great judgement on the court.


January 4th
Crane comes back to win Public League Tourney. The Cougars, Chicagoland's # 1 ranked team according to the Chicago Sun Times,came back to defeat Curie 62-59 in the championship game. Curie led by as many as 14 points in the first half. Freshman Sherron Collins was huge for Crane scoring 17 points. The point guard made a huge steal and layup with under a minute left and then sank 2 free throws to clinch the title. Collins is not as flashy as Crane Graduate Will Bynum, who incidently is now leaving Arizona, but may end up being the better player. The sky is the limit for Mr. Collins. 6-8 senior Lorenzo Thompson, who is committed to DePaul, had 11. If I had to give Lorenzo one piece of advice it would be to lose the one handed running push shot. The show boating Florentino Valencia had 17 points for Crane. Senior Guard Carl Marshall was in the coaches doghouse but is a great talent. Highflying Tremel Gilot definately needs JUCO but look for him at a D1 in two years. Senior guard Jamale Tidwell is severly overlooked because of his surrounding talent, but is the most consistent Crane player. Curie and coach Mike Oliver should be commended for having a great tournament. The Condors have no superstars, but do have plenty of depth and kids with college potential. Springy 6-6 senior Cliff Manning had 18 points to lead Curie. Point Guard Eric Borg is solid at the point with great court vision. Off guard Gabriel Taylor is a solid athlete despite being only 5-7. Junior Forwards Mario Brandon and Jonte Johnson are both athletic leapers who if they work at their perimeter skills could be big time. Juniors Anthony Lewis (6-3), Ashford Oliver (6-3) and Mekiel Posey (6-1) are super shooters and athletes. Curie will be a factor come tourney time both this year and next. Congratulations to the Chicago Public League Administration for putting on a class tourney. Some suburban and Indiana schools should take note.


January 2nd
CHICAGO PUBLIC LEAGUE TOURNEY
In the first winners bracket game of the day Julian edged Farragut 79-69 in overtime. This may have been the ugliest game I have ever seen. The two teams combined for 83 free throws. A furious Julian rally saw them score the final 6 points of regulation to put it into overtime. Ollie Bailey the 6-8 junior forward for Farragut used his Dennis Rodman like body to throw in 20 points to lead Farragut. Bailey though was just 9 of 20 from the charity stripe. Freshman guard Chris Sinegeltary battled foul trouble to chip in 14 and junior forward Emmanuel Little had 15 points 13 of which were from the line. The most impressive player in this game was 5-6 senior point guard TJ Gray of Julian. The lightning bug played big all day. Gray will be an outstanding player at the lower level. Junior JJ Watson (6-6) and sophomore Brandon Ewing both threw in 11 points each. Julian won this game on hustle alone.
Game two saw the second upset of the day as Curie defeated defending state champion Westinghouse 81-68. Curie used a solid bench and good shooting to derail the Warriors. Once again the star of the show was the shortest man on the court as Curie 5-7 PG Gabriel Taylor was a great floor leader and scored 16 to lead the upset. I was told Taylor will probably play football in collge, but would like to try both. Curie coach Mike Oliver went 12 deep on his bench. Westinghouse needs more consistent guard play to play at this level.
Game 3 saw the third upset of the day as Lincoln Park defeated Pekin tourney champion Thornridge 78-73. Former Simeon player, Young assistant and Univesity of Houston assistant Cyrus McGinnis did a wonderful job in coaching the Lions. Point guard Royce Parron all 5-10 130 lbs soaking wet had a phenomenal game slashing to the goal and in transition leading Lincoln Park with 29 points. 6-5 Senior Sherman Henderson is a terrific athlete down low and had 19 points. Jason Moore and Michael Henderson added 11 and 10 repectively. The Thornridge guards continued to fire away virtually ignoring their inside game.
The final game of the night was the one everybody was waiting for. Undefeated Crane held off an aggressive Simeon team 74-67 in a game much closer than the score. The best player on the court was Simeon's 6-6 senior DeShawn Walker. The smooth Walker (22 points) has the complete package and outplayed his highly rated counterparts from Crane. An upcoming star in the junior ranks is 6-5 junior Calvin Brock a sharp shooting high flying athlete for Simeon. Keep an eye on this kid. The senior trio of Jonathan Chatman (6-2), Percy Hilliard (5-10) and Reginald Robinson (6-2) all played well for coach Bob Hambric who despite his not so personable attititude with media is a great coach. Junior Brandon Alexander (6-6) came off the bench and reminds me of the Duany brothers from Bloomington, Indiana. The Crane duo of Lorenzo Thompson (15 points) and Florentino Valencia (16 points) get a lot of headlines but it was the guard play of Jamale Tidwell and freshman Sherron Collins that pulled this one out. Crane has to grow up if they are going to go far in the tournament.
Tomorrows pairings, friday January 3rd
Consolation bracket
4- Robeson vs Von Steuben
5:30- Hubbard vs. Hyde Park
Semi Finals
7- Julian vs Curie
8:45- Lincoln Park vs Crane


Janury 1st
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL. A special thanks to Dan Laffee as I have posted over 50 public league rosters below check at the very bottom of this page.

December 31st
Whitney Young remained undefeated (9-0) by handing Hillcrest its first loss of the season 66-53 to capture the Proviso West Tournament Title. Young's 6-8 senior Dwayne Curtis, who has signed with Auburn, was MVP after putting up 19 points and 15 boards. Curtis, who missed the early portion of the season to concentrate on his academics despite being eligible, was unstoppable for Whitney Young.
One of the Midwest top unsigned guards is Anthony Harris (6-2). The senior is solid at both the point or two guard. Somebody will get a big steal late here. Seniors DeWitt Scott (Maryland Eastern Shore) and Andre Knox (Loyola) give Young a potent lineup. Hillcrest was led by 6-2 senior Shelby Jordan with 14 despie missing his first 10 shots. Jordan earlier led Hillcrest to wins over Evanston, Farragut and Proviso East.
In the consolation or as some coaches put it the constupation game Proviso East dunked Homewood Flossmoor 79-58. The Pirates took out their frustration on the Vikings by having double digit dunks. All Everything guard Shannon Brown (Michigan State) led the way with 24. 6-1 sophomore Phillip Perry had 16. Illinois State signee Ronnie Carlwell (6-10) had 10 as did 6-5 junior Nick Brown. Nebraska signee Charles Richardson does a great job running the Pirate offense. Proviso East at least in this game was the best team I have seen this year. Former Westinghouse coach Roy Condotti has a bright squad for the future. 6-7 junior Cyrus Tate is a tough lefty who can play inside or outside and threw in 25 vs. Proviso East. Fellow big man Julian Wright(6-7, SO) only had 8 points but threw down the nights most impressive slam. Sophomore guards Excel Hardy and Freddie Barnes will give Homewood a powerhouse squad for the next couple of seasons.


December 30th
The Chicago Public League Tournament started today at Curie High School (4959 South Archer) with eight opening round games. I had the opportunity to check out six of them while also sneeking with Dan Laffee to the Consolation and Championship games at Proviso West. The action at Curie opened this morning with Farragut holding off Von Steuben 54-51. The score was tied with 0.9 seconds left when Farragut's outstanding freshman point guard Chris Singeltary was fouled he converted 1-2 and then 2 more when a Von Steuben assistant was given a technical. Farragut was led by 6-7 Junior Ollie Bailey who dominated the second half in the paint after a lackluster opening half. Bailey scored 15 points and roughly 15 rebounds. The freshman point guard Singeltary is a point guard with saavy way beyond his years. Chris's game is similar to former Michigan Star Rumeal Robinson. Farragut played without thee big guys Dennard Montague (6-6, SR), Johnny Logan (6-5, SO) and Juan Dacosta (6-8, SR). Von Steuben playing one of the toughest schedules around fell to 3-6 but later beat Proviso West 55-50 at the Proviso West Tourney in a consolation bracket game. Star point guard Angel Santiago (6-1, SO) is lightning quick but must play under control. He had 11 vs Farragut and 15 vs Proviso West. 6-5 Juniors Demetrius Evans and Ryne Hamlet can both jump out of the gym but must gain more perimeter skills for the next level.
In game two at Curie, Julian pasted Marshall 83-55 as Julian had a balanced attack with Edward Finner a 6-6 Senior leading the way with 21 points. Finner is a warrior in the paint. Senior point guard TJ Gray had 17 with three 3's coming in the first half. Sophomore standout Brandon Ewing (6-1) had 12 points and has physically grown quite a bit since last year. Junior JJ Watson (6-5) seemed to be off his game but is an outstanding shooter. Marshall who is 1-8 was led by senior leaper Aaron Poole (6-5)who was not even on the roster but joined the team late. Poole had 20 points and goes to the goal as hard as anyone. Sophomore big man Otis Hudson had 8 points. Hudson physcially looks like a smaller version of former King Star Rashard Griffith. If he learns to finish a little better and gets a better supporting cast he could be big time.
Game 3 saw Curie pound an outmanned Dyett squad 95-38. Curie had 13 of 14 players dent the scoring column. Leading them off the bench in his first game in a Curie uniform was Gary Wirt transfer Jonte Johnson. The 6-5 junior had a couple of crowd pleasing dunks off an alley oop and a missed shot. The Condors 6-6 senior Cliff Manning is a terrific leaper and defender who could be a big time player. Point guard Eric Borg (5-10, SR) is a steady leader. Curie is a very deep team who could contend.
Game 4 saw Westinghouse hold off Robeson 60-50. The Warriors under new coach Quitman Dillard are again deep and talented. The Warriors motto on their shirts state it to the point" The names may change but the progam is still the same". 6-5 Junior star Jamarcus Ellis (4 points) was hampered by foul trouble and still seems a little tenative due to a wrist injury suffered earlier in the season. Westinghouse center Byron Booker (6-8) is greatly improved over last season when he seldom left the bench. The pencil thin Booker had 5 slam dunks and could be a major college prospect redshirt candidtate. 6-7 sophomore DeAndre Thomas is immovable down low. 6-3 junior Shawn Smith shows a good inside-outside game. The Warriors are going to need more consistency in their guard play. Robeson and coach Charles Redmond played very hard. 6-4 junior forward Kevin Sabbs had a big night with 15 points. Sabb is a good leaper and 3 point shooter. Sophomore point guard Jeremy Pargo (6-2, SO), whose brother Jannero is a member of the Lakers, struggled going scoreless in the first half but came out strong in the second half with 13 points. Pargo is a a big time player in a couple of years.
Game 5 saw Thornridge come from behind to defeat Hubbard 59-52. 6-6 senior Chris Gonzalez came off the Falcon bench and showed a nice left handed shot and ballhandling skills. Gonzalex is a definite sleeper. 5-11 senior Dion Coopwood hit some big threes down the stretch. 6-8 senior Mitchell Goforth struggled with fouls, but could be nice collegiate player. Hubbard has some outstanding athletes led by Othyus Jeffers. The 6-4 senior is forced to play down low but is a great athlete. 6-5 senior Maurcie Jackson has a wing span of a 6-10 player and is a great leaper. Senior Reggie Bates (6-5) is a spot up shooter who can score in bunches. Guard play must improve for Hubbard to be competitive in this environment.
Dan Laffee and I then left for the Consolation and Championship games at Proviso West. The Consolation game saw Proviso East down Homewood Flossmoor 79-58. In the championship game with 2 undefeeated squads locking horns Whitney Young pounded Hillcrest 66-53 to capture the prestigous Proviso West Title. I will have more on these two games tomorrow.
We were able to get back to to Curie to see undefeated Crane hold off a scare from Morgan Park 77-66 in a game much closer than the final. High flying 6-2 senior Tremel Gilot led Crane with 30 points. Gilot is a big time JUCO prospect. 6-8 Depaul Committment Lorenzo Thompson had 19. Thompson has nice perimeter skills, but may need to shed some baby fat to be effective. 6-6 senior Florentino Valencia had 12 points and is a great open court performer. Depending on who you talk to he may be headed to Auburn. Point Guard Carl Marshall sat out for disciplinary reasons. Despie coming in with a 3-8 record Morgan Park cut it to 2 with less than a minute left. 6-3 senior Kevin Bond and 6-0 sophomore Raphael Scott are both excellent shooters. Sophomore big man Jimmie Covington had 10 points and didn't seem intimidated by the Crane big guys.
Simeon defeated Hyde Park 69-43 and Lincoln Park demolished Washington 89-66 while we were at Proviso West. A special thanks to Dan Laffee for playing host to me. The tourney continues on Janaury 2nd at Curie
Pairings for January 2nd
LOSERS BRACKET
9- Von Steuben vs. Marshall
10:30- Robeson vs. Dyett
12- Hubbard vs. Washington
1:30 Hyde Park vs. Morgan Park
WINNERS BRACKET
4:00 Farragut vs Julian
5:30 Curie vs. Westinghouse
7:00 Thornridge vs. Lincoln Park
8:45 Crane vs. Simeon


December 29th
Pairings for final round of Proviso West Tourney
12:00 Proviso West vs Von Steuben 7th place
1:30 New Trier vs Lyons- 5th place
6:00 Homewood Flossmoor vs Proviso East- 3rd place
7:30 Young vs Hillcrest- Championship


December 28th
Roosevelt defeeats Wallace 84-67 to capture the Gary Holiday tournament. The game was much closer that the score as Waalce led by 4 in the third quarter. THe "velt was led by Jamaal Nash with 18, Naquan Jackson with 17, Tyrone appleton had 16 and Larry Upshaw added 11. Wallce was led by Marcus Rhodes with 20 (16 in the first half) and Jason Rhodes with 18. Both Rhodes were given techincals by what looked to be an overzealous official. Roosevelt received a big contibution off the bench and i do mean "BIG" when 6-5 300 plus pund footballer Quintin Allen saw his first action of the season. The agile Allen had 7 points and 6 rebounds and showed a passion for the game. Football recruiters should take note of Mr. Allen. A good sign for Roosevelt is they are far from peaking and are still undefeated. I will have updtates from Proviso West and the Chicago Public Tourney in the next week.


December 28th
Cathedral offensive lineman Ryan Noblet has changed his college committment from Kentucky to Purdue. Noblet had committed to the Wildcats in August but when Wildcat coach Guy Morris bolted to Baylor Noblet opened up his recruiting. Will Evansville Central LB Joe Schuler keep his committment to Kentucky.

December 26th
Wallace 79 Wirt 71
Lew Wallace held off Wirt tonight in the opening game of the Gary Holiday Tournament. Jason Rhodes led Wallace with 27 and brother Marcus added 19 and Kenny Jackson added 15 for Wallace. The Hornets led by 70-44 at the end of three before getting outscored 27-9 in the fourth. Freshman Isaac Johnson led Wirt with 19 while brother Jonathon had 18 and Robert Eldridge threw in 11. Wallace is now 6-5 while Wirt falls to 5-4. Tomorrow Mann plays Wallace at 6:00 then West Side and Roosevelt lock horns after about 8:00.Is it legal for the team that drew the bye to be filming the game for scouting puproses?? Just wondering. A big thanks to Andy Wielgus for this report.
December 26th


Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas. With the holiday season there is plenty of Hoop tournaments. One that is going to be a dandy this year is the Summit. The action gets underway on Thursday the 27th with Dwenger and North locking horns at 10:45, Luers and Wayne hook up at 4:00 and Harding and Snider get together at 7:30. On Saturday the 28th South and Norhrop play at 10:45 , then Concordia vs the winner of game 1 at 4:00 and then Elmhurst takes on the winner of game 2 at 7:30. The semifinals are set for Monday at 12:30 and 2:15 with the championship at 8:30. There are plenty of players to keep an eye on inlcuding Sylvester Mayes 6-1 SR (Wayne), James Hardy 6-5 JR (Elmhurst), Joe Poindexter 6-2 SR (Elmhurst), Pete Roberts 6-3 SR (Snider), Marty Kizer 6-0 SR (South), Cameron Kizer 6-2 SR (South), Ryan Pressley 6-5 SR (Concordia), Deon White 6-4 JR (Concordia), Marcus Johnson 6-4 FR (Snider), Jody Folks 5-9 SR (North), Geno Parker 6-2 JR (Snider), Will Lewis 6-7 SR (Northrop), AJ Gooden 6-3 SR (Harding) and Geoffrey King 5-11 SR (Harding). It should be an outstanding tournament with all the action at Wayne High School located at 9100 Winchester Road.


December 23rd
Here are the pairings for the Chicago Public League Tournament that has been moved from Chicago State University to Curie High School at 4959 South Archer. Here are the first round pairings for the Public League Tournament at CURIE
For Monday December 30, 2002 then January 2,3,4

Von Steuben v Farragut 9
Key Players
VON STEUBEN PANTHERS: Angel Santiago (6-1, SO), Demetrius Evans (6-5, JR), Ryne Hamblet (6-5, JR)
FARRAGUT ADMIRALS: Ollie Bailey (6-7, JR), Dennard Montague (6-6, SR), Emmanuel Little (6-5, JR), Chris Singeltary (6-4, FR), Johnny Logan (6-6, SO)

Julian v Marshall 10:30
Key Players
JULIAN JAGUARS: Brandon Ewing (6-1, SO), Lorenzo Eckford (6-8, JR), JJ Watson (6-6, JR)
MARSHALL COMMANDOES: Otis Hudson (6-7, SO), Dion Toney (6-4, SR)

Kenwood v Curie 12
Key Players
KENWOOD BRONCOS: Jason Maclin (6-4, SR), Amin Ali (5-10, SR)
CURIE CONDORS: Cliff Manning (6-6, SR), Jonte Johnson (6-6, JR), Mario Brandon (6-5, JR), Eric Borg (5-10, SR)

Westinghouse v Robeson 1:30
Key Players
WESTINGHOUSE WARRIORS: JaMarcus Ellis (6-5, JR), DeAndre Thomas (6-7, SO), Byron Booker (6-8, SR)
ROBESON RAIDERS: Jeremy Pargo (6-2, SO), George Jackson 6-5, SO)

Thornridge v Hubbard 4
Key Players
THORNRIDGE FALCONS: Mitchell Goforth (6-8, SR), Marcus Richardson (5-10, SR)
HUBBARD GREYHOUNDS: Othyus Jeffers (6-5, SR), Maurice Jacksaon (6-5, SR)

Lincoln Park v Washington 5:30
Key Players
LINCOLN PARK : Mike Henderson (6-5, SR), Jason Moore (6-2, SR)
WASHINGTON MINUTEMEN: Courtney Horton (6-2, JR), Aaron Grant (6-1, JR)

Simeon v Hyde Park 7
Key Players
SIMEON WOLVERINES: DeShawn Walker (6-6, SR), Reggie Robinson (6-2, SR), Jon Chapman 6-2, SR)
HYDE PARK INDIANS: Stephano Jones (6-6, SR), Romell Owens (5-10, SR), Stephon Hannah (5-11, JR)

Crane v Morgan Park 8:45
Key Players
CRANE COUGARS: Lorenzo Thompson (6-8, SR), Florentino Valencia (6-6, SR), Carl Marshall (6-0), Tremell Gilot (6-3, SR), Jamale Tidwell (5-10, SR), Sharron Collins (5-11, FR)
MORGAN PARK MUSTANGS: Raphael Scott (6-3, SO), Kevin Bond (6-4, SR)


December 21st
Three more Indiana football preps have made verbal committments. Ben Davis TE Brian Faires has chosen to play for the Indiana Hoosiers. McCutcheon WR Kelly Martin is headed to Kalamazoo to play for Gary Darnell and the Western Michigan Broncos. Lafayette Jeff WR Dustin Keller is headed to Toledo.
Purdue coach Joe Tiller has done a great job in the state of Michigan landing 3 of the top 10 prospects in Michigan. DE Doug Van Dyke, TE Garrett Bushong and DE Chris Patrick have all committed to come to West Lafayette. Tiller obiviously took advantage of the Michigan State coaching fiasco.
Congratulations to Brady Hoke for becoming the new top dog at Ball State. Hoke is a former Ball State player who has been an assistant at Michigan and played high school ball in Ohio. Hoke will need to convince prior committments Casey Gillin, Mike Dorulla, Temidayo McCarthy, Sean O'Drobinak, Dustin Brown and Seth Rainey to stay with their Cardinal committments.
Some other Indiana preps who may ink D1 scholarships in early February are SB Clay lineman Mike Macellari who will choose between Purdue and Stanford. Castle RB Ray Everhart is leaning to Kentucky. Ben Davis DB Todd Barnard is leaning to joining the Hoosiers as is teammate OL Jared Evans . Hammond WR-DB Jawann Turner may land at either Purdue or Wisconsin. OL Mike Clevenger (Warren Central), LB Rob Caldwell (Andrean), RB Jake Powers (Danville), K Carl Gioia (Valpo), QB Mitch Brown (New Albany), DB Ryan Skelton (Center Grove), DL Anthony Freimanis (Danville), QB Brett Goins (Andrean), QB Jason Renn (Valpo), DL Brent Surface (Michigan City), WR Jake Standeford (Monrovia), OL John Masters (Carmel), LB Brandon Logan (FW Snider), LB Cortlan Booker (West Lafayette), QB Ben Schmidt (Jasper), WR-DB Chris Schmidt (Jasper), RB Marcus Nalley (Roncalli), LB Jake O'Brien (Franklin Central), DL Josh O'Brien (Franklin Central), LB Michael Durrett (Indianapolis Northwest), DE Lorenzo Wims (FW Snider) and QB Ryan DeGeeter (Warsaw) are among many of the state's other top college prospects.


December 20th
About twenty more players have been added to the Freshmen list.

For years Merrillville coach Jim East has been the hunted. This year The long time Pirate skipper can put on his Purple sport jacket and go out and be a hunter with his Pirates not receiving much pre-season publicity. The Pirates are led by 6-3 Junior Lavell Cook. The multi talented Cook is a great open court player who needs more perimeter skills for the nexte level. East is hoping to groom sophomore guars Josh Mayo and Dennis Howell in the line as former standout Lonnie Randolph and James Borom. Both Mayo and Howell have that potential down the line. Speedy Chris Harris is a great defender. Senior sharpshooter Igor Risevski should make a small college happy with his pin point outside shot. Senior Big men Geoff Lalic and David Coughlin are nice bangers inside. Look for Calumet transfer Dezmone Jackson to contribute more as he gets use to the system. Sophomores Jimmy Reitz and Anthony Dennis also are big contributors. The Pirates will be there come tourney time.


December 19th
My friend Dan Laffee who I met when I was with a previous organization is the most knowledgeable and informed Illinois High School Basketball fan ever. His information could have made the Illinois Basketball Guide incredible but it sat in a box unused. We will cetainly use his incredible insight into Illinois High School Basketball. Today we have the Holiday tournament schedule. Dan has sent me the pairings for most of these. If you like the pairings please e-mail me hkiland@netnitco.net and I will be glad to send them to you.

Boys Basketball Holiday Tournament Dates
Chicago Public League December 30, January 2,3,4
Board of Education at Chicago State
Bloomington December 26,27,28,30
Centralia December 26,27,28
Collins TBA
Dekalb December 21,23,26,27,28
Durand December 21,23,26,27,28
East Aurora December 26,27,28
Elgin December 23,26,27,28
Fairbury December 26,27,28
Glenbard West December 23,26, 27,28
Hampshire December 26,27,28
Jacobs December 20,21,23,26,27,28
Kankakee December 26,27,28
Lemont December 26,27,28,30
Lincoln-Way December 26,27,28,30 Round Table
Luther North December 26,27,28,30
Luther South December 14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,23
Marengo December 23,26,27
Macomb Western Illinois
Northside College Prep
Pekin December 26,27,28
Plano December 26,27,28
Pontiac December 26,27,28
Proviso West December 26,27,28, 30
Rich South December 26,27,28,30 Big Dipper
York December 26,27,28,30 Jack Tosh Classic
Waubonsie Valley December 20,21,23,27,28
Wheeling December 23,26,27,28


December 18
Roosevelt escapes Andrean 67-65. Andrean had the final possesion with 17 seconds left but freshmen Nick Ullman, who scored 7 points and showed a lot of potential, was unable to get off a shot The "Velt struggled including shooting horribly at the line down the stretch. Larry Upshaw (20 Points) played his best game I have seen in a while. Jamaal Nash added 15 points despite being in foul trouble. Speaking of foul trouble 6-6 senior Naquan Jackson struggled all night and scored only 5 points. 6-4 Andrean transfer Geoff Grant played really well for Roosevelt off the bench scoring 7 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The "Velt must play with more consistency if they are going to remain top dog. Andrean meanwhile showed some potential. The coach's son Pete Trgovich Jr. seemed to be in rythym with the rest of the team and pumped in 15 points to lead Andrean. Drew Baron the 6-10 59er battled hard all night and had 12. The most improved Andrean player may be David Carson. The 6-6 Junior seems to have lost some baby fat and showed some nice post moves early on. Unfornately for big Dave his teammates did not look for him as much as the game wore on. Ullman the freshmen came off the bench and was not intimidated by the "Velt". The 59ers played very hard and will keep improving.


December 17
Kenneth Harris the 6-11 transfer from Noll to Griffith won both on and off the court (For Now). Harris, who received a courted injunction blocking the previous IHSAA rulings, started the ballgame scoring 18 points and 11 rebounds against Hebron. Harris was 9-12 from the field in just under three quarters as he did not get off the bench in the fourth as Griffith was up by thirty. The Valpraiso recruit looked winded and a bit fatigued off and on throughout the game as Griffith won big. This soap opera is far from over as the injunction is for 10 days and will be challenged again by the IHSAA on December 26th. WHAT A MESS!!!


WJOB RADIO is reporting that Kenny Harris received a temporary restraining order against the IHSAA and will play tonight at home vs Hebron. Apparently a group of Region lawyers got it approved today.


December 17th
Penn DE Bryan Mattison, the son of Notre Dame defensive coach Greg Mattison, has verbally committed to Iowa over Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Notre Dame.


December 17th
With a lot of debate about who some of the state's top freshmen are I compiled an alphabetical list of the top 120 or so. If you think anybody deserving is left off please e-mail me at hkiland@netnitco.net


Mark Adams 5-7 Plymouth
Melvin Baird 6-2 Brebeuf
David Bell 6-5 Gary West Side
Jake Bennett 6-0 Castle
George Bess 6-4 Gary Wallace
Curt Bradford 5-9 Chesterton
Kyle Brasher 6-0 Evansville Bosse
CJ Breeden 6-3 Edgewood
Robby Brewer 6-5 DeKalb
Kyle Brey 6-1 Penn
Derrick Briggs 6-7 Cathedral
Chris Brown 6-3 East Chicago
Jordan Brown 6-2 Bloomington South
Tyler Brown 6-3 Penn
Craig Bryant 6-4 New Albany
Reggie Caldwell 6-3 Gary Roosevelt
Ben Chappell 6-2 Bloomington South
Jordan Cheatham 5-9 Pike
Evan Checkeye 5-11 Greenwood
Jed Coate 5-9 Kokomo
Kevin Cobb 6-2 Gary Roosevelt
Jared Comer 6-4 Scottsburg
Mark Comparato 5-7 Brebeuf
Michael Conley 5-10 Lawrence North
Michael Conrad 6-0 Wawasee
Josh Davis 6-5 Ritter
Shane Drudge 6-6 Tippecanoe Valley
Vaughn Duggins 6-1 Pendelton Heights
Mark Dunn 6-6 Indian Creek
Robert Dutton 6-1 Hammond Morton
AJ Edds 6-3 Greenwood
Robert England 5-10 New Palestine
Luke Etchison 6-7 Frankton
Darryl Evans 6-2 Merrillville
Patrick Faris 6-0 Plainfield
Jerell Fields 6-2 Gary Roosevelt
Grayson Flittner 6-3 Tri-Central
Andre Flournoy 6-0 Gary Wallace
Josh Fulton 6-4 Mishawaka
Anthony Furlin 6-0 Hamilton SE
Ryan Gambill 5-10 Union (Dugger)
Matt Garling 6-3 Winamac
Phillip Garnett 6-1 Maconaquah
Matt Gates 6-0 Pioneer
Trevion Geyton 6-0 Kokomo
Jason Gilmore 6-4 TH North
DeShawn Gordon 6-3 Gary Mann
Darin Granger 6-0 Lawrence Central
Nicholas Hailey 5-7 Tech
Chase Haltom 5-10 Cloverdale
Luke Harangody 6-5 Andrean
Kendall Harvey 6-3 Warren Central
Andre Hayes 6-0 Gary Mann
Andy Helmer 6-3 Highland
Brian Hetrick 6-2 FW Snider
Travis Hicks 6-2 Mississinewa
Greg Hill 6-3 Merrillville
Cole Holmstrom 5-8 Bloomington South
Kyle Holsinger 6-1 Lapel
Cory Howerd 6-2 Fort Wayne Luers
Jonathan Jamerson 5-10 SB Washington
Matt Jansen 6-1 Crown Point
Steven Jeffers 6-6 TH North
Isaac Johnson 5-7 Gary Wirt
Kyle Johnson 6-0 East Noble
Marques Johnson 6-4 FW Snider
Terrell Johnson 6-2 Muncie South
Cody Jones 6-6 Churubusco
Evar Jones 5-8 Marion
Jeremiah Jones 5-2 East Chicago
TJ Jones 6-6 Marion
Tyrone Jones 5-7 SB Adams
Ryan Karr 6-1 White River Valley
Tristan Kelly 6-0 Michigan City
Wayne Keyleen 5-10 Indianapolis Northwest
Chris Kidd 6-0 Richmond
Matt Kobli 6-2 Whiting
Chris Kramer 6-1 Huntington North
Tyler Kubsch 6-3 SB St. Joe’s
Travis Lamar 6-5 Evansville Harrison
Erick Lark 6-3 Calumet
Grant Leindecker 6-0 Homestead
Ray Lewis 5-9 Richmond
Ryne Lightfoot 6-1 NorthWood
Darnell Lindsey 6-2 Indianapolis Northwest
Andre London 6-2 Hammond Morton
Jeff Marinier 6-1 Munster
Kyle McCammon 5-10 Cloverdale
Matt McCullar 6-4 Mississinewa
Brandon McDonald 6-3 Lawrence North
David McIntosh 6-5 Milan
Antonio McNeal 6-0 Hammond Gavit
Will Mitchell 6-3 Boone Grove
Justin Nelson 6-0 Gary West Side
Greg Oden 6-11 Lawrence North
Andy Overpeck 6-3 Goshen
Billy Pettiford 6-5 Marion
Matt Piety 6-2 Franklin Central
Nick Poehler 5-8 Marion
Andy Polak 6-2 Hammond Clark
Scott Poulsen 6-5 Castle
Travis Preston 6-2 Columbia City
Morgan Randall 6-4 Park Tudor
Michael Reed 5-10 Columbus East
Mitchell Reinholt 6-4 Warsaw
Adam Richie 6-3 North Judson
Jake Robinson 6-2 Avon
Lance Robinson 6-2 Danville
Nick Rodgers 6-0 Noblesville
Jordan Root 6-2 Bloomington South
Scott Rutkowski 6-7 Munster
Ben Schafer 6-5 Madison Shawe
Luke Schmidt 6-3 Jasper
Ryan Schooler 6-0 Hammond Noll
Michael Scott Evansville Bosse
Bo Sexson 5-10 Cathedral
Danny Shinkle 6-0 Perry Meridian
Ryan Sims 6-1 FW Snider
Cameron Smith 6-2 Noblesville
David Smith 6-2 Warren Central
DaSheen Smith 5-10 Arlington
Joe Smith 5-9 Pioneer
Luke Smith 6-2 Rochester
Travis Smith 5-10 TH South
Josh Stanley 6-3 Portage
Saxson Stiller 6-2 LaPorte
Nick Stolarz 6-5 Munster
Herbert Terry 6-6 Southport
Mark Titus 6-3 Brownsburg
Cameron Troyer 5-9 Northridge
Nick Ullmann 5-11 Andrean
Anthony Vaden 5-9 Warren Central
Aric Van Weelden 5-11 Munster
John Wall 6-0 Huntington North
Tyler Waller 6-2 South Vermillion
Calvin Wash 6-0 East Chicago
Antwain Weeden 6-0 Arlington
Brock Welch 5-7 Elkhart Central
Norman Wells 6-3 Madison
Eric Werskey 6-2 Seymour
Kyle West 5-10 Valparaiso
Quental Weston 5-10 SB Washington
Curtis White 6-2 Pike
Kevin White 6-0 Gary Wirt
Derek Whitmire 5-8 Plymouth
Clark Williams 6-4 Scecina
Devin Williams 6-2 Pike
Tony Willis 5-9 SB Riley
Collin Young 6-4 FW Snider
Robert Wright 6-5 Gary West Side

December 16th
Homestead senior RB-DB Kevin Mitchell has verbally committed to play football for coach Ron Turner and the Fighting Illini. Verbal commitments in Indiana are as follows:

Clayton Richard QB McCutcheon Michigan
Jeff Samardzijia WR Valparaiso Notre Dame
Kevin Mitchell DB Homestead Illinois
Bernard Pollard DB FW South Purdue
Bryan Mattison DE Penn Iowa
Casey Gillin QB Indian Creek Ball State
Joe Schuler LB Evansville Central Kentucky
Ryan Noblet OL Cathedral Kentucky
Temidayo McCarthy DL Merrillville Ball State
Mike Dorulla DB Valpraiso Ball State
Sean O'Drobinak TE Crown Point Ball State
Seth Rainey RB Mt Vernon Ball State
Elliott Hood OL Franklin Central Vanderbilt
Nick Sexton RW Bloomington North Indiana
Joel Stubblefield DL Pendleton Heights Indiana
Jon Sandberg DL North White Indiana
Chris Mangierio DL Bloomington South Indiana
Justin Tharp OL Indian Creek Toledo
Cole Siefrig WR Heritage Hills Purdue
Stanford Keglar LB Pike Purdue
Tyree Pollard TE Warren Central Toledo
Dustin Brown DL FW Wayne Ball State
Brian Faires TE Ben Davis Indiana
Kelly Martin WR McCutcheon Western Michigan
Dustin Keller WR Lafayette Jefferson Toledo

December 14th
East Chicago 60 Crown Point 55. The Cardinals won despite only four players hitting the score book. Rodney Wash had 17, Melvin Brown 15, Willie Frazier 15 and Dante Edwards added 13. For Crown Point they were led by Chris Thomas with 19 and Brian Sparks with 17. Keys to the game were Edwards pumping in a pair of three's in the 3rd quarter as East Chicago outscored CP 19-12. In the fourth quarter Melvin Brown was 5 of 6 from the line. EC was 11-16 from the line. CP was 6-6 from the line.

December 14th
A big ballgame tonight in the region is Crown Point hosting the East Chicago Central Cardinals. The Cards have struggled out of the gate record wise but look out the Cards as they are about to bust out. Some early season games with missing players may account for their 2-3 record. The best Card at this point is 6-4 senior Rodney Wash. The high flying Wash has finely started to assert enough to show the great ptoential that he has. Wash outplayed the highly acclaimed Roosevelt duo of Naquan Jackson and Jamaal Nash in the Turkey Tourney. Rodney Wash can be big time in a few years. Before getting injured 5-11 junior Tremaine Cooley was playing outstanding for Coach Bob Miles. The ultra quick Cooley thrives in the transtion game and is a great spot up shooter. 6-4 senior Willie Frazier is now in his 3rd year as starter. The football quarterback is an outstanding leaper and athlete. Frazier if he decides to could be a top baksetball prospect, but he may be leaning towards continuing his career on the gridiron. 6-2 senior Dante Edwards is the mystery man in the early going for the Cards. After watching him in the East Chicago Summer league I looked for him to have a Corey Stokes type senior season. Edwards missed the Turkey tourney, but recently came back and is trying to get back into the mix. The key to the Cards season could very well lie in Mr. Edwards hands. The sky is the limit for him as he is a super athlete. 6-4 junior Melvin Brown came back to East Chicago after riding cady to Kenny Harris at Bishop Noll for a few years. Brown is another tremendous athlete who was the most impressive Cardinal in a scrimmage vs Chesterton. If Brown continues to mature he has a game very similar to former Cardinal and current Iowa State player Marcus Jefferson. The biggest problem for the Cards in the early going has been at point guard 5-10 senior Jamaal Garrett and 5-9 sophomore Harley Taylor have been sharing the spot to this point. If 5-10 sophomore David Conner, who was a part time starter as a freshmen, makes it back this season the Cards could be dangerous. 6-0 Sophomore Kyum Gillis is a super shooting lefty who can score. Ervin Key is a 6-4 senior also comes over from Noll. Key could be a decent JUCO player. Juniors Ken Glass 6-2, Romhaad Davis 6-2 and Nick Reese are more talented athletes. Seniors Marcus Bailey (6-2) and Eric Daniels (6-2) are new to the program. Sophomore could also help at some point. A super freshmen class, led by Chris Brown and Jeremiah Jones, gives Miles even more talent. If this team can get in sync look out come tournament time.

The Crown Point Bulldogs are another region team looking to take a bite out of opponents. Coach Tom Johnson is a master tactition who seems to get a ton out of his talent. This go around Johnson has some serious talent led by 6-7 senior Chris Thomas. The lanky Thomas, who is high school version of Keith Van Horn, could be the Bulldogs first D1 signee since John Brugos went to Purdue in 1986. Thomas is an emerging talent. The player in the area who could emerge as an outstanding prospect is 6-3 senior Brian Sparks. The lefty, whose brother Scott was a standout for Crown Point and Purdue Calumet in the early 90's, is a super leaper and shooter. Sparks pumped in 28 points in a big win over Griffith last night. The glue to the Bulldog attack is 5-11 senior Chad Pruzin. The point guard has an outstanding concept of the offense that coach Johnson employs. 6-6 senior banger Kyle Robbins gives the "Dogs" defense and rebounding. Aaron Miller (6-0, JR) and Mike Harris (5-10, SR) are great role players. Seniors Joel Heavner (6-3) and Jimmy Little (6-6) give CP depth in the paint. A strong sophomore class includes Chachi Albrecht (5-9), Jordan Ham (5-9) and Ryan Brown (6-3). The game at Crown Point tonight should be a dandy.


December 13th
Went and checked out the Muster Mustangs on Friday. Coach Mike Hackett has to be considered one of the state's top coaches. Hackett was a former player at Michigan City Elston and Franklin College. Hackett was then top assistant for Jim East at Merrillville for a number of years. Hackett's 2002-2003 edition of the Mustangs should be a solid contender come tourney time. Senior sharp shooter John Jamicich is one of the areas top long distance snipers. He is a definite college prospect for someone who is looking for a super shooter. Hackett's two other senior starters are big guys Jim Phelan and Nate Burchfield. The 6-7 Phelan has improved two folded from a year ago. Phelan has added a nice touch fom 15 feet in. Big Jim should have his choice of football or basketball at the next level. Burchfield at 6-6 is a nice banger who can put up big numbers when needed. Nate will make a nice player at the D2 or D3 level. Junior guards Josh Martin and Dustin Bothwell are both very underrated in recruiting circles. Martin at 6-3 is a true point guard who has great court saavy and runs the "Stang" offense to perfection. Bothwell is a super spot up shooter and great defender at 6-4. The biggest question mark for this team if there is any is the bench. Coach Hackett only played seven kids against Hammond High. 6-3 senior Adam Del Rio is a football player who bangs inside. Alex Pilawski a 6-3 senior is a kid who would start on most teams but could be a nice lower level college player. The rest of the Munster bench includes Nick Giannakis (6-0, SR), Matt Jillson (6-0, JR), Bart Banach (6-2, JR), Jason Grunewald (6-0, JR) and Warren Santner (6-6, SR). After watching the Munster jayvee the future is solid with 4 of the top 6 six jayvee players being freshmen. 6-6 sophomore Joey Piatek has seen both varsity and jayvee action. He will be the man next year. Freshmen Nick Stolarz (6-5), Scott Rutkowski (6-7), Aric Van Weelden (6-0) and Jeff Marinier (6-1) are all solid players. Watch out for Munster come tournamnet time as they play great defense and are as fundamentally sound as any team around.


December 12th PM
There was a lot of debate whether ESPN should televise the Lebron James game on Thursday vs Oak Hill. As a fan I was anixous to see Lebron James play. I think he has ubelievable potential and will be a star. The problem with the telecast was the mental midgets that ESPN had broadcasting it. Neither Dick Vitale nor Bill Walton mentioned another St. Vincent player until 1:36 left in the 3rd quarter when football All American Sian Cotton received a hard foul. Surely James is a great player but believe it or not this team had some other fine players. Who was #24 he seemed to be a heck of a player as well. The kids and families I feel sorry for are the kids who were fired up to play on national televison for probably the only time in their life and they don't even get their name mentioned. Vitale should just stand and front of a mirror and yap. His act has grown very old. As for Walton I think he sniffed a little to much glue when he was at UCLA. If ESPN had covered this right it could have been nice. I think they should try a high school game of the week and promote the whole teams just leave Vitale and Walton somehwere else. They can self promote themselves at some other venue.


December 12th
Wirt coach Omar Vazquez is known as one tough guy. The longtime Wirt coach has survived by having a no nonsense approach. This season is no exception, despite losing many kids ( Kyle Washington, Montreith Metcalf, Jonte Johnson - Chicago Curie, Nick Tate- Minnesota among others) the longtime Wirt coach worries about who is here not who could have been. This season 5-11 Jonathon Johnson and 6-1 Jaymar Johnson lead a solid Wirt squad. Jonathon should be looked at as a solid prospect while Jaymar may be leaning to football. Freshmen guards Isaac Johnson and Kevin White have given the Troopers good minutes early in the season. Sophomore Robert Eldridge is an extremely underrated player who is also a standout footballer. In the paint big Larry McGee and Darnell Walker provide defense and rebounding. Calumet move in Jarrohd Johnson may also help out after seeing varsity time as a frosh at Calumet. Josh Nichols, Chris Jeter and Jay Johnson round out the Trooper roster. Marcus Johnson a 5-10 senior hopefully will contribute before all is said and done. Look for the Troopers to surprise some people due to the disciplined approach of Vazquez.


December 11th PM
Roosevelt defeated Wallace tonight 95-71 at Bo Mallard Gym. All five "Velt starters were in double figures led by Naquan Jackson with 19 with 11 in the first quarter. Jamaal Nash was two blocks away from a triple double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 8 blocks. Also in double digits were Larry Upshaw 18, Tyrone Appleton 18 and Robert Jenkins 13. Wallace was led by Marcus Rhodes with 21 with 15 in the fourth quarter. Jason Rhodes added 12.


December 11th AM
I had a chance to talk to new Hammond High coach Larry Moore yesterday. The former St. Francis DeSales coach and Clark coach the past two seasons will turn the Wildcats around. His team is off to a slow start according to Moore because some seniors need to mature and learn how to play all facets of the game. Any Wildcat conversation starts with Wildcat super scorer Jawann Turner. The flashy 6-0 senior is a four year starter and a top football prospect. If Turner's test scores come back he will be suiting up for a big ten football program in the fall. Turner also could walk on to the basketball program. Keonte Aaron a 6-6 senior is a outstanding JUCO prospect who can jump through the roof and run. Keonte just needs a little more perimeter game. Fellow seniors Mitchell Daniels (5-8), Andrew Huess (6-0), Percy Herring (6-2) and Darnell Jones (5-8)also have college capabilities. Daniels a transfer from East Chicago is Turner's cousin and a JUCO prospect in football and basketball. Huess is a terrific shooter. Herring is a good transition game player, while Jones is new to the program. Two transfers will fill prominent roles for the Wildcats before the season is over. Sophomore big man Jermaine Brooks (6-7) migrates south from the Chicago Public League and Harper High School. Junior De'Mario Simmons (5-11) comes over form Bloom Township. Simmons already made an impact on the football field. Junior guards Brian Harrington (5-9) and Isaiah Covington along with big man Andre Meeks (6-2) were varsity contributors late last season. Four sophomores round out the Wildcats roster in Thomas Hyde (6-0), Demetrius Daniels (5-10), Jere Taylor (5-6) and Chris Moore (5-10). Sophomore big man Ernesto Munoz (6-9) returns to the junior varsity. Munoz could become a prospect with Moore's outstanding teaching. Moore coached Former I.U. and NBA player Eric Anderson at DeSales. It is nice to see the Wildcat roster with legitimate heights. Remember when Tyray Pearson was listed at 6-2. This Wildcat squad could be very dangerous in class 3A.

December 10th-
Lew Wallace coach John Hoover informed me that Jamil Harris who helped lead the Hornets to the 1996 semi state championship game is now looking to play college ball. The 6-5 Harris averaged close to 20ppg as a junior before getting involved in a transfer dispute. Harris is now in the workforce and according to Hoover matured greatly. Jamil Harris could be a real steal for a JUCO. For more info contact Hoover at Wallace at (219)980-6305

Lew Wallace Hornets preview-Wallace- The Hornets full throttle offense will feature super 6-3 soph Marcus Rhodes, who will fire it up from anyhwhere. 6-1 senior brother Jason Rhodes is off to a solid start as weel. He to has to be considered a solid juco propsect. 6-6 senior football recruit Donte Williams is again solid in the paint. Junior guards Kenny Jackson and Julius Hollis add quikcness in the backcourt. 6-0 junior Terrell Bess is back after spending his sophomore year at Calumet. The longarmed Bess and his 6-3 freshman brother George Bess will be big Hornet contributors. Seniors Tom Powell (6-0), Preston Dunham (6-3), Kevin Boone (6-4), Jimmie Robinson (6-2) and DeAngelo Johnson (6-2) are solid. Though Boone and Robinson are not yet eligible. A strong junior class has Terry Polk (6-3) and Joe Lumpkin (6-1). A few sophomores who bring size are Chris Taylor (6-4), Ken Christopher (6-5) and Georgia move in Jeffrey Schafer (6-8)

December 9 PM-
The IHSAA has denied the appeal of Griffith 6-11 transfer Kenneth Harris. The Valpo recruit will now have to state his case in front of the case review board.
December 9 PM
Taking a look at the 2002-03 3A # One ranked Gary Roosevelt Panthers Roosevelt- Coach Ron Broome has three key components back in 6-7 senior Naquan Jackson, 6-5 senior Jamal Nash and 6-1 senior Larry Upshaw. Jackson is a super scorer who is a great spot up shooter and scorer. Several Division One schools have offered Jackson. Nash is a super long armed leaper with good ball handling skills and thrives in the transition game. Upshaw is one of the rare four year starters for the "Velt. This season look for him to play more shooting guard for the Velt. With former NBA standout Winston Garland now on staff look for Upshaw to benefit form Garland's knowledge and saavy. Last season the Velt freshmen team was undefeated. Late in the season 6-3 Tyrone Appleton was moved up to the varsity, look for this outstanding one on one talent to put up some big numbers. Sophomore Robert Jenkins is an imressive playmaker and shooter. Senior sixth man Anson Harris brings quickness and ballhandling to the backcourt. Sophomore guard LaCelle McKinley is an impressive speedy lefty who will split time with the varsity andf jayvee. Andrean transfer Geoff Grant showed he will bring some rebounding and much needed interior defense to the "Velt. Others who will play both are sophomores Dwayne Momon (6-3), Nathan Gordon (6-2) and Eric Rowe (5-8). Sophomore Michael Rankin (6-6) may also help out later in the year. Other Panther contributors are6-2 senior Henry Emerson, 6-0 junior Duane Grant, 6-1 junior Antwon Jones, 6-0 junior Wiley McGee and 5-8 junior Chris Chumley They also are awaiting IHSAA ruling on Wirt transfer Montreith Metcalf a 6-2 junior. Some big games for the "Velt are Dec 11 at home vs. Waalce, Dec 14 at Illinois State Champ Westinghouse, The Gary Holiday Tourney January 2-4, Jan 14 at West Side, Jan 24 at Home vs. East Chicago and Feb 21 vs Chris Thomas and Crown Point. Look at the bottom for the 2002-2003 Panther Roster

December 9, 2002 AM

The state's top ranked football player McCutcheon QB Clayton Richard will announce this afternoon his intentions to become a Michigan Wolverine. The 6-5 lefty picked the Wolverines over Purdue, UCLA, Indiana and Colorado. Richard is also expected to be a top baseball draft pick come June.

I would like to welcome everyone to Kilander's Korner. First off I would like to thank Reg for giving me this opportunity to participate on his site. I have been the managing editor of the Indiana Football and Basketball Guides for the last 7 years. Over that time I have met many great coaches, players and fans. I hope I can add that to this site. I will have info on Indiana basketball and football as well as Illinois football and basketball. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at hkiland@netnitco.net