Other years the season leaves us with clear-cut champs.

The 2009-10 season in the Deep South provided a no-brainer in 1A and a toss-up in 2A.

The toss-up came in the form of two players on the same team that led that program back to Peoria – a place that this school knows how to get to.

David Wiegmann and Garrett Gaffner are senior forwards that produced all season long in leading the Breese Central Cougars to the Final Four of Class 2A in Peoria. In fact they have been producing since they first put on Purple and White uniforms four years ago.

Both of these players topped 1,000-points in their stellar careers.

Wiegmann – a 6-foot-7 senior – led the team with 18.8 points a game and 5.4 rebounds for Coach Stan Eagleson’s Cougars – champions of the West Frankfort 2A Super-Sectional and fourth place finishers in the state finals. He finished as the all-time leading scorer for the Breese Central program with 1,643-points.

Gaffner – a 6-foot-5 senior forward – added 12.1 points a contest and a team-best 7.8 boards for the 30-5 team. His final point total was exactly 1,300.

ABV begs the question - how do you separate these two outstanding individuals when you give out this postseason award? The answer is you don’t.

Both of these fine individuals deserve this honor.

For the 2009-10 ABV 2A “Player of the Year’ award I added the prefix “Co” to the title.

"Garrett was our team leader on the floor just because of all of the things that he can do," said Breese Central head coach Stan Eagleson. "He could distribute the ball, score and rebound and also defend. David was a leader in the way that he always pushed himself to make himself better. He always showed up and worked hard in practice.

As for the 1A pick – Justin Matyi spent a lot of time in the past four years of his prep career carrying the bulk of the scoring load for Sesser-Valier and his 2009-10 postseason run of points speaks volumes for a player who brings nothing flashing to the floor. But a quick look at the stats at the end of each game and you see nearly a double-double in points and rebounds.

Matyi – a 6-foot-4 senior forward and four-year varsity starter – averaged 20.1 points a game while grabbing 8.5 rebounds a game this past winter.

His career totals are eye-popping. Matyi wasn't far from the 2,000-point club as he finished with 1,938. He also hauled down 869 rebounds and he hit 61.1 percent of his field goals for a four-year run.

"Everything we did this year revolved around him (Matyi) and getting him the ball," said Sesser-Valier head coach Chip Basso. "More times than not if we could get him the ball inside he was going to get us points. His numbers were gaudy but when you consider that most teams double-teamed him nearly every night that shows you what a great basketball player he really was for us. He gets his points with such a nice touch around the basket."

He came up big in the postseason this year – leading his team to Peoria after being just a two-seed in the 1A Crab Orchard Regional.

He scored 31-points in a lopsided win over Crab Orchard in the regional semifinals and had perhaps the best game of his career with 42-points in a sectional title win over state-ranked Mounds Meridian.

Matyi produced 29-points and 15-rebounds in a semifinal win over Madison to get his club to the championship game.

The ABV Class 1A “Player of the Year” for the 2009-10 is Justin Matyi.

Now when it comes to picking the top coach each season you could name many without much argument as they all bring much to the table.

But this season the job that Chip Basso did at Sesser-Valier was outstanding.

During a second half stretch in which they lost three games in a row at the tough Benton Invitational Tournament and then their second loss of the season to Black Diamond Conference rival Trico made it four straight – S-V didn’t look like any sort of the threat to reach Peoria.

The Red Devils looked like they were done after a 63-41 embarrassing loss to Woodlawn on their home floor back on February 2 that wasn’t as close as the final score was. Add another loss to rival Waltonville ten days later and this team would likely exit the state tournament without making much noise.

However something happened during that final month of the season that got the Sesser-Valier wagon rolling toward the best finish in the school’s basketball history.

Coach Basso deserves the credit for getting these seniors back on the right track late in the year.

The ABV Preseason 1A choice to reach Peoria did just that.

Although there were several other coaches who deserve recognition – Coach Basso gets the 1A hardware here.

Another head coach in the Deep South that flies under the radar each year is Coach Daryl Murphy at Murphysboro.

Outside the Ohio Division of the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference – he isn’t a household name.

But this season he got his young club rolling at the beginning and didn’t let up until Breese Central finally beat his team in the West Frankfort Super-Sectional.

Coach Murphy had just one senior on the squad that finished 29-3 and won two of its three tournaments.

They ran the table to win both their own Murphysboro Thanksgiving Tournament and then stepped in to the Columbia/Freeburg Holiday Tournament and won all five of its games.

A controversial last second loss to Madison at the Massac County “Superman Classic” back in January probably kept the Red Devils from winning their tournament championship.

Coach Murphy’s club also ran the table winning all 10-games in the Ohio Division for the outright title.

The ABV 2A “Coach of the Year” is Coach Daryl Murphy of Murphysboro.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
As with the previous year's - the ABV lists will be scrutanized. But as always I stand by my selections. Most importantly these awards are about the kids. If you - as a fan - have a comment that is disparaging to the ones chosen then send it to me. Don't post it on some message board and embarrass some young man. If you have a complaint send it to me.
Like Harry Truman said - "The Buck Stops Here."
There is always someone left off of this team that I will hear about and you could probably make a case for them to be on the list. I believe 60 players in each class - 1A and 2A - is enough.
This is the setup.
Breese Central and Sesser-Valier get three players each on the lists.
Those teams got the job done in the postseason. No other team got more than two players listed.
Each list consists of a 15-Player First Team; 15-Player Second Team and 30-Player Special Mention.
Names are listed in alphabetical order. I'm sure there will be one or two of them with misspelled names or the wrong heights or class. I can fix those later.
I hope you enjoy.
Jack.