03/13/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – At the end of last season I wrote that I was no longer going to put together an all-south team, mainly because of the time in which it takes to put it together and that I had (have) a new full-time career job that consumes most of my time.

However after several coaches asked me about this season I came up with a compromise.

My idea was to just do the all-south team as one team of both 1A and 2A players in my area plus the usual Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Team of the Year awards.

No long honorable or special mention lists where in season's past I went overboard with pretty much everyone on it.

Those lists should remain with the all-conference teams for each league.

The Player of the Year awards are always a bit difficult to choose.

Many of the players on this sheet are worthy of the top spot.

But the two I chose for this season are well deserving.

For the 2A POY I went with a player who will play baseball at the next level but could've found a college hardwood home had he decided to do so.

Cameron Ande, a 6-foot-3 senior guard/forward for Harrisburg, is the A Baseline View 2A “Player of the Year” for 2023-24.

This scoring machine reminds me of a player from years ago in southern Illinois named Derek Winans, who played at Shawnee.

Just by looking at Winans back then on the sidelines one wouldn't think he was the best player in southern Illinois.

Until someone threw him the ball.

I use the same analogy when describing Ande.

He is one of the few players you will see at the 2A level who can get a score anytime his team needs one.

Ande put up great career numbers with the Bulldogs and this season was special despite not having the supporting cast that some other all-south players had.

The senior scored 827-points in 33-games (25.1 points a game) and his final two games were 31-point efforts in a win over Anna-Jonesboro and a season ending loss to eventual regional winner Massac County.

In 29-games as a junior he scored 622-points (21.4 p.p.g.) and for his career he ended up with 1,815-points.

He netted 1,449-points in 62-games in his final two prep seasons, which is 23.4-points a game.

Ande hit 31.4 percent of his 3-point shots and 49.7 percent overall in 2023-24, usually against the other team's best defender and sometimes against double-teams and gimmick defenses.

He was an 80.1 percent free throw shooter and led the team with 44-steals on defense and 6.8 rebounds a game.

Ande handed out 2.3 assists a contest and set a school-record with 50-points against Johnston City and also produced multiple games over 30-points.

Although he was an exceptional basketball player, baseball is his future as a hard hitting shortstop has verbally committed to play at Rend Lake College next year.

I'm sure if he wanted to play both, the basketball program could find him a uniform.

(CONTINUED)

The toughest award on this list to pick was the 1A POY.

For the first time since ABV began doing post-season awards, a sophomore had the kind of year that stood out among a strong contingent of underclassmen.

Webber Township 6-3 sophomore Nathaniel Marlow was impressive in his second season.

Marlow is sitting at 1,220-points so far in his career and averaged 23.2 points a game this season in leading his squad to a school-record 30-4 mark and a second-consecutive regional championship.

He scored 788-points this winter as he played in all 34-contests for the Trojans.

In a 56-44 loss to Arcola in the sectional semifinals at Effingham St. Anthony, Marlow scored 23-points in the defeat.

Webber Township won the Wayne City Holiday Tournament and the Midland Trail Conference Tournament this season and the regional championship came with a victory over Altamont on the Indians' home floor, 57-45.

Speaking of Arcola, a tremendous job of coaching came from Greg Gisinger this season.

This mentor led the Purple Riders to a regional championship with the biggest upset in the 1A state tournament.

Arcola was a decided underdog but came up big with a 57-52 overtime triumph over then state-ranked number-one Effingham St. Anthony.

The win produced the program's first regional championship since 2016 and they were a win away from a sectional championship, a title they haven't won since 1963.

The team sputtered along early in the campaign but they got things together late in the season and shocked the 1A world with the regional title win at Bethany Okaw Valley.

The Purple Riders added a win over Webber Township before losing to Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran in the sectional final.

Coach Ron Winemiller at Benton put together a game-plan this season and it paid off.

He added some tough as shoe leather games to the schedule and it made his squad better.

The Rangers only defeats during the regular season came to 3A Olney Richland County at the Pinckneyville Duster Thomas Classic and a pair of losses on the road to Kentucky powerhouse program's George Rogers Clark and Pleasure Ridge Park.

The trip to Kentucky was a turning point for Benton where the team and coach believed they could make a run.

After the Kentucky defeats, Benton won 18-straight games to reach the state championship game where they lost to Chicago Wendell Phillips.

Coach Winemiller is the 2023-24 A Baseline View 2A “Coach of the Year.”

The “Team's of the Year” both finished their seasons on the final day.

Benton and Mounds Meridian each reached the championship games in 1A and 2A.

Although neither won championships, they represented southern Illinois well.

Meridian played a tough non-conference schedule as they faced 19-teams who had 18 or more wins.

The seven teams the Bobcats' played in the state tournament were a combined 170-75, including 36-3 West Central in the title game.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: One could make a case for every player on the first team's to be the POY's in both 1A and 2A. However, as always, I stands by the choices. Also there are probably some quality players not in my ABV All-South lists.

C'est la vie!

Next winter will be my 26th season covering boy's high school basketball. Thank you all for frequenting my website and reading my articles for the past 25. I hope everyone has a good summer. See you in the fall for A Sideline View football season.
Jack