CAHOKIA CONFERENCE

MISSISSIPPI DIVISION

Projected Order Of Finish 1. Breese Central 2. Red Bud 3. Wesclin 4. Columbia 5. Carlyle 6. Freeburg

KASKASKIA DIVISION

Projected Order Of Finish 1. Lebanon 2. New Athens 3. Marissa-Coulterville 4. Steeleville 5. Valmeyer 6. Dupo

BY JACK BULLOCK As the 2009-10 season gets set to begin in the Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division – the folks in Clinton County that call Breese Central their high school home must be beside themselves in excitement and anticipation. Perhaps giddy. With four starters back from an Elite Eight team that fell just short of a trip to Peoria – Coach Stan Eagleson’s squad should be thinking about the next rung of the ladder. An experienced quick group of Musketeers down at Red Bud could be a handful to anyone on their schedule this season. This coach has the bulk of his squad back from a 20-win season. Another Clinton Co. club just to the west of Breese should be thinking about at least a two-year run of success with a young but experienced club coming back. Columbia – in spite of some graduation losses – has its act together under a good coach who has this program going places. Things could be better in Carlyle and Freeburg as both of those programs have struggled of late. However both have good coaching staffs and it will just be a matter of time before the winning returns. In the Kaskaskia Division of the CC – Lebanon hasn’t relinquished its stranglehold on the title having won all three since the split. New Athens might have the best player on this side of the league and could be the team that finally ends the Greyhounds’ reign. Steeleville might end up being the surprise team on this side with some good kids back under a new coach. Marissa-Coulterville has a new coach as well from the same high school as the last one came from. In fact - Hamilton County has produced a lot of head coaches in this state and Dirk Miller is the latest in the line. Life is about the same at Dupo and Valmeyer as each have struggled numerically in enrollments and rosters. However both programs keep working hard, which is a sign of good leadership. As for 2009-10 ABV projects that Breese Central will be the talk of the Deep South and for Lebanon to keep the title for another year after strong challenges. MISSISSIPPI DIVISION 1. BREESE CENTRAL The Cougars should be ready for the run. Coaches, staff and players saw this building up and now the time is here. With most of the team back for this coach after an outstanding run last season which included an overtime win over Nashville to win the regional and then a pair of wins over Columbia and Greenville in the sectional – Peoria or Bust might be the best way to describe the feeling in this community when discussing the chances of the Cougars making it back to Carver Arena for the fourth time since 2003. In fact Coach Eagleson and his program have been on a quite a roll – winning five sectional titles in the past seven seasons with three consecutive appearances at Peoria from 2003-05. As for this season’s team – the four starters that return from the 30-3 team that lost to Massac County 62-59 at the SIU 2A Supersectional are good enough to at least repeat that Elite Eight trip. But something tells ABV the basketball bar will be set higher than that. Two 6-foot-6 seniors are back and ready to go for the Cougars. Garrett Gaffner and David Wiegmann have been starters since their sophomore seasons and each brings to the floor impressive attributes. Wiegmann edged his teammate in scoring honors last season by just a hair with a 17.4 p.p.g. mark. His six rebounds a contest was second to Gaffner’s seven. Gaffner brought home 16.2 points a game and also averaged 2.4 assists. They were both ABV All-South First Team selections. Just having those to power forwards in the lineup would make Breese Central a contender. But Coach Eagleson has some solid players in the backcourt as well with Keaton Scheer – a 6-foot-4 junior swingman – back for another season after adding 6.4 points a game. The big surprise – at least to many – was the mature play of 6-foot-5 freshman Brandon Book who heads into his sophomore season off of an outstanding rookie year in which he tossed home 8.3 points a night while grabbing 5.1 rebounds. Book and Scheer are both versatile and can play any of the positions on the floor – either facing the basket or underneath it. Those four returning players are the best quartet in the South and that would make the Cougars the favorites. However Coach Eagleson has a couple of other good players with one of them – 5-foot-11 sophomore Nick Grapperhaus – set to start in the backcourt. Grapperhaus played in 29 of the Cougar contests last season and will likely help orchestrate the offense that is capable of putting up some big numbers. Every one of the five mentioned can do many things on the floor and this will definitely be the most difficult team in the South to defend. ”Gaffner and Wiegmann return for their senior seasons and will be our team leaders with Book and Scheer as returning starters,” said Coach Eagleson. “Book is our best outside shooter and Scheer can play any position and will play point guard at times for us. Depth will be a key for us this season.” The bench will be very important to this teams success this season – especially should any foul problems occur. He mentioned four possible players that could be called upon in the early part of the campaign to see if they have what it takes to compete at the varsity level. Six-foot-two senior Cody Finan is one of the kids back. Three of the players are underclassmen – 6-foot junior Blake Norrensberns, 5-foot-11 junior Brandon Rakers and Alex Timmermann – a 6-foot-1 junior. Both Wiegmann and Gaffner should pass the 1,000-point totals early in the season and Coach Eagleson should be able to reach 500 coaching victories sometime before Christmas as he sits at 492-wins with a mark off 423-233 in his 23 years at Central. ”Our conference is always tough because all of the teams are well coached and they all have athletes that can compete,” added Coach Eagleson. OUTLOOK – The Cougars have the right stuff to make a run at Peoria. They will host a regional this season that will – unless the IHSA makes some changes – consist of the same group of tough teams it had last season. They have inside and outside threats offensively and the defense should get better before the season get through. Not many teams are going to be able to match up with them because of their combination of size and quickness. If this coach gets anything positive from his reserves this season and they can avoid the injury bug – the Cougars have a chance at the first state tournament championship in the boy’s basketball programs history. They are the ABV pick to win the West Frankfort 2A Supersectional to represent the South at the state finals. 2. RED BUD While the top team on this list has an outstanding frontcourt – head coach Dave Gillingham will have a pesky guard oriented club at Red Bud that will be a nuisance to all who wonder onto the court with them in 2009-10. Following a 20-10 season in which the Musketeers finished strong in winning 13 of their last 17 contests – Red Bud lost two senior starters but has back three starters and a wealth of experience from a team that was eliminated by Pinckneyville in the first round of the 2A Regional at Pinckneyville. Gone are Chance Albertson and Tim Conway (15.5 combined points per game) which represented most of the teams’ rebounds with each grabbing over four a game. Coach Gillingham has his point guard back – 5-foot-10 junior Adam Kunkel – whom this coach calls a “playmaker” who comes up big late in games. Kunkel led the Musketeers in scoring at 15.4 p.p.g. last season while also playing the point on offense. He also was the point man on the zone press that this coach incorporated into his system last winter. That defensive change created over 300 steals by the club and Kunkel had 39 of them. Speaking of steals – 6-foot-1 senior Stefan Gregson pilfered 57 errant passes last winter on the defensive end and scored 8.7 points while pulling down four rebounds a night. Gregson is one of the team leaders for Red Bud and is the best free throw shooter back for Coach Gillingham after hitting 79 percent. Five-foot-ten senior guard Kory Liefer also returns for Red Bud after finishing second in scoring for the Musketeers as a junior. Liefer averaged 10.2 points a game and added two assists per contest. Those three are the most experience of the group and they will need some backing this season in tackling a tough schedule of games in and out of the Cahokia. Coach Gillingham also mention Jake Hoffman – a 6-foot-2 junior - who has some experience and added 4.9 points a game for RB. Six-foot-one senior Rhett Ringering showed some promise this summer and should be in the running for time this season after seeing action in 20 games as a junior. Jordan Bush – a 5-foot-10 junior – has skills and should be part of the picture for Red Bud. Throw in the names Kollin Liefer – a 5-foot-10 junior guard – along with Tyler Magruder who is a 5-foot-8 junior. ”Hopefully we can build on the momentum we had going at the end of last season but we are really going to miss those three seniors. Rebounding is always a concern with our lack of size especially with the loss of Conway and Albertson. Those two along with Dan Schrader were great leaders and defensive players plus we will miss their presence in practice,” said Coach Gillingham – who is 51-40 at Red Bud. “We should have very balanced scoring as we might have four or five kids lead us in scoring at different times. I honestly believe we can be a pretty good team if we get as excited about an assist as we do about making a basket. Defensively I think this bunch can be solid if they work at it and take pride in getting stops. We have piled up a lot of wins in the last 15 years but we want to climb to the next level in the postseason and get there consistently.” OUTLOOK – This coach has the right attitude and hopefully his kids will continue to understand the system in place. They are small but quick and will have to use everything in the bag of tricks to compete in this conference and in the tough tournaments that they play in. The will play up-tempo and they have enough bench to play that way all 32 minutes. If they continue to create turnovers and can turn those into points – another 20-win season can happen in 2009-10. Defense and rebounds will key any of their potential accomplishments. 3. WESCLIN Head coach Brent Brede has had some good post players come through his program since he took over – including ABV “Player of the Year” Sean Rakers from 2008. But he has a youngster in his program now that might end up being the best. Six-foot-seven junior Phil Kunz has many gifts and they were on display last season as the very young Warriors finished 12-17 and 5-5 in the conference. Their season ended at the hands of Breese Central, 66-51 at the Carlyle Regional. Kunz put up fantastic numbers for a sophomore in his first season in the starting lineup with 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 29 games. He also shot the ball very well in hitting nearly half of his shots (49.2 percent) while managing to knock down a few 3-points. Six-foot-three junior guard Chad Klein also played in all 29 games last season as a sophomore and added 6.9 points a game and 4.2 rebounds. Kyle Emig – a 6-foot-4 junior forward – returns from the starting unit after contributing 8.1 points and 5.5 rebounds. Both totals were second to Kunz on the Wesclin stat sheet for the season. A fourth starter expected from Coach Brede is Alex Wilken – a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard. Wilken added 6.6 p.p.g. and 1.8 r.p.g. and just over two assists per game. According to this coach he will have no seniors on the team so the fifth starter and reserves will come from some untested kids. OUTLOOK – They will be very young but there is a certain amount of excitement in seeing good young teams blossom into state tournament contenders. This group might be just a year away from something very enjoyable. Wesclin rode the wave of a very good post player two seasons ago to the Supersectional. ABV could see the same thing happening here in 2010-11. As for this season a strong finish in the Mississippi Division would be a very good launching pad into a potential postseason run next year. 4. COLUMBIA Head coach Mark Sandstrom sent away a group of seniors that won a great deal of contests for the Eagles in the past three seasons. Gone from the group were a pair of ABV All-South performers – Tory Arzola (11.4 p.p.g.) and Brad Buettner (15.1 p.p.g.) were both deserving of first team selections as these two played in back-to-back sectional title games and won 51 games in two seasons. Brian Winters (11.3 p.p.g.) and DJ Gallagher (2.6 p.p.g) were also senior starters and part of this tremendous run along with classmates Drew Pansing and Joel Herrmann – both reserves and part of the success story. “Our team will enter a season without a lot of experience for the first time in two years as we only have two seniors playing this year where the last two years we had six,” said Coach Sandstrom who is 80-44 at Columbia and 164-72 overall. “The last couple of years we won a lot of close games due to our experience, so this will be something we have to combat early in the season.” He will have to rebuild a bit for the first time since his arrival at the school but he has some good athletes to work with. Tanner Hall is a 6-foot-2 senior guard who played in all 32 of the Columbia varsity games last season – including the club’s 50-26 loss to Breese Central in the Vandalia 2A Sectional - which closed the book on a 27-5 season. They also finished in second place in the league at 8-2. One of the players from last season battled some injuries and appears mended heading into the 2009-10 season. Taylor O’Connor – a 6-foot-5 junior – injured his back in January and didn’t return until the sectional. He played in just half of the Eagles games last winter but managed to average 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds. When healthy O’Connor is a good player around the basket and those offensive numbers from last season should double this year. Columbia will have a new point guard running the offense this season as Coach Sandstrom will hand over the keys to Bryce Bastien – a 5-foot-11 junior - who got into 15 contests as a sophomore but won’t have to swing a mop around this year. He will likely get better as the season goes on when he gains experience and has a better understanding of the offense - according to this coach. Look for 6-foot-2 junior guard Wilson Babb to get a shot at the shooting guard spot in the starting lineup. Babb added a couple of points a game last season off the bench. Billy Haag – a 6-foot-5 senior – grew three inches since last season and is in line for some minutes in the Eagles’ frontcourt. Two other players from last season’s roster – 6-foot-1 junior Brady Luther and 6-foot junior Kyle Hundsdorfer – could work their way into important varsity PT as could a handful of other underclassmen. “I think we have a lot of the pieces of the puzzle to put ourselves in position to be a very competitive team by January if we stay healthy and work hard,” said Coach Sandstrom. “We have a great group of kids that have high expectations and will battle every night.” OUTLOOK – Most of the coaches in this league feel like they are playing for second place behind Breese Central but any of the teams mentioned so far could end up making a serious challenge. This is a tough league and four of these teams (including Central) could end up 20-game winners. Columbia has a solid program that will rebuild quickly. O’Connor and Hall have experience and the other kids have gotten into some games and saw enough minutes that will make this transition more than just starting over. This coach will get everything he can out of this talent and don’t be surprised to see 20-wins next to their name in the ABV final standings. 5. CARLYLE Even in programs that are used to winning – sometimes “the worm turns.” In the case of Carlyle the times are bleak right now but don’t look for this to be a long-term situation. Head coach Andy Palmer saw his club succumb to a lot of really good teams on a tough schedule in 2008-09 as the Indians slumped to 6-25 – including just 1-9 in the Mississippi Division. They did pick up a postseason win with a victory over Freeburg in the regional but lost to Nashville the next game to end the campaign with single-digit wins Just a single starter returns from the team that lost to Nashville in the first round of the Carlyle 2A Regional. Three double-figure point producers are gone – Bryan Meyer, Josh Rosol and Tony Schaeffer – who combined for 34 points a game last winter. Jordan Smith – a 5-foot-11 sophomore – started some contests as a freshman and survived to tell the tale. In fact he was a bright spot with 4.3 points a game and 1.9 rebounds a game – modest numbers that could improve sharply in his second season. Coach Palmer mentioned seven additional players who earned the “C” on the jacket last season. Zack Huels – a 5-foot-9 senior guard – played in 29 games with a 2.9 p.p.g. average. Five-foot-eight junior Jared Linton, 6-foot-1 senior Bryn Rueter, 5-foot-11 senior Scott Huels, 5-foot-11 senior Brock Dickerson, 5-foot-11 sophomore Jordan Ledbetter and 5-foot-11 junior Joe McGee all played about the same amount of games a hit a shot or two here and there. Perhaps more points will come from this group as their minutes increase in 2009-10. Coach Palmer added the names of a pair of newcomers – 6-foot-1 senior Charles Cannon and 6-foot-1 sophomore Hunter Hartung. “We will be very inexperienced and with our lack of size we may have difficulty defending in the halfcourt,” said Coach Palmer – who is 297-136 in 13 seasons as a head coach at Pope County, Century and Carlyle. “Rebounding is going to be a major concern and we will have to shoot the ball well and score in transition to be competitive.” OUTLOOK – This team may not look like it can compete in this league but they will battle. In the past 28 boy’s basketball seasons at this school Carlyle failed to win at least 10 games just four times. The Indians may see year number five happen in 2009-10. Even though they lack some size and experience – they will manage a few victories and will build toward seasons to come. It is difficult to go through rebuilding when you play in this sort of conference and with non-conference games against some tough teams. Carlyle will come to play each night. This coach will have it no other way and some good things will happen with the hard work that they will put in. 6. FREEBURG After finishing 8-21 overall and 2-8 in the Mississippi – the Midgets will look to get better this season with a single starter back but also five returning letterwinners for a club that lost to Carlyle in the Regional last February. Head coach Donovan McMillian has one returning starter and five additional players with some know-how that hope to see if they can get a few extra “W’s” this season. Coach McMillian has Conner Halloran – a 6-foot senior guard – returning and that is good news considering this fourth-year leader was the lone double-digit scorer (11.2 p.p.g.) for the Midgets. Part of the problem this season is that scorers ranked 2-thru-5 were seniors last winter and are now gone. Neil Kramper, Jake Sciuto, Mike Hendrick and Fred Ferguson took all those points with them down the isle. Coach McMillian will turn to two players with the most experience of his 2009-10 roster to fill spots. Six-foot-two senior Robert Brown averaged 1.3 points a game in his 26 varsity matches last season. Senior Dustin Kimball – at 6-foot-5 – is the tallest of the Freeburg players. He is another of the returnees that averaged just under a bucket a game. Seniors’ Chad Hill, Andrew Becker and James Starnes combined to play in just 16 games as juniors and should get more minutes by default in 2009-10 as it is there turn to step to the plate. Coach Mac mentioned five other players so ABV will oblige. Five-foot-eleven junior Andy Koeller will join 6-foot-1 classmate Joe Kapp (didn’t he play in Super Bowl IV?), 5-foot-8 junior Austin Stahlstatz and 6-foot-2 junior Nick Koesterer. Sophomore Miles Money – at 5-foot-9 – should also have a chance here. ”This year will be a rebuilding year for us as we will be a club with very little varsity experience,” said Coach McMillian. “But we will have strong leadership with a lot of hard workers. These characteristics will hopefully carry over onto the basketball court and should help us in the win column.” OUTLOOK – Freeburg and Carlyle will battle for the bottom spot here. Both are in the same floating vessel when it comes to being competitive this season. If Freeburg is going to improve this year then its young personnel will need to get better soon. KASKASKIA DIVISION 1. LEBANON “Now I've been smoking for so long, You know I'm here to stay Got you in a stranglehold baby, You best get out of the way.” Ted Nugent. ABV uses that phrase to describe the way that Lebanon has treated its conference mates the past three seasons in the Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division. Snap. Head coach Chad Cruthis has won 29-of-30 of their division games since this league expanded and split in 2006-07. The grip on this division could slip a bit this season as the Greyhounds lost some good players to graduation last spring while some other teams in the conference look to be improved. They dropped a 60-53 decision to Bunker Hill in the regional semifinals on their home floor to end the season. Lebanon finished 17-13 overall and 10-0 in the division thanks in part to the play of seniors Jeremy Moore, Wyatt Essenpries and Darren Bush. Moore was the “top pistol” with a “smoking” 13.8 average in points while 5.6 rebounds a game. Both topped the “Hounds of the Basket-villes.” Bush (11.2 p.p.g.) and Essenpries (8.1 p.p.g.) also bolted from the kennel leaving points to be scored and rebounds to be found from some new ones. This coach will turn to one player who would have been a huge help last season if he had played. Jamarr Lewis – Lebanon’s 5-foot-10 senior point guard – broke his leg the day before the season started last November and his junior season was lost. At times the team looked lost without him in 2008-09 and Coach Cruthis hopes that his presence on the hardwood this season will solidify the offense that struggled with turnovers last year. Two other seniors that played a year ago are back for Lebanon. Six-foot guard Ryan Essenpries returns after participating in 28 of the 30 games last winter and should start. Essenpries helped out a little offensively as a junior (2.6 p.p.g.) and should add scoring to his list of tasks. Michael Clark – a 5-foot-10 senior guard – also returns after scoring 6.7 points a game. Three additional juniors will be a part of the strategy for this coach. Nathan Thornton – a 6-foot forward – threw in 6.6 points a game and was second in rebounding behind Moore with five boards a night. Tyler Sonsoucie is a 6-foot-2 junior who will be in the frontcourt. Sonsoucie brings in six points and five rebounds from 2008-09. Coach Cruthis also mentioned Taylor Johnson – a 6-foot-2 forward – who helped out last season. One sophomore – 6-foot-1 forward Tommy Pilackas – also made the preseason questionnaire after playing nearly exclusively on the junior varsity last season as a freshman. Any combination of these kids could be in the opening night line up when the Greyhounds host the Lebanon/McKendree Thanksgiving event. ‘”We will be athletic and should be able to play eight or nine players each night,” said Coach Cruthis – a former ABV “Coach of the Year” who prepped at Piasa Southwestern in the late 1980’s. “We must become more solid on defense and come to play every night. We don’t always show up to put teams away that we should and that has to change. We won’t have a player over 6-foot-2 so we will need to play fast-paced basketball. We should be balanced offensively with eight players being able to average 5-10 points a game, which will make us tough to stop. However defense will determine if we win 12 games or 20. Lewis and Thornton could be two of the best players in our conference.” OUTLOOK – Lebanon has won a lot of these division games by being simply more athletic than the rest. This is – and has been – a dangerous way of basketball living. Look for this group to strive to be more consistent. Rebounding for a team this small is critical to its success. They will be pushed for the first time in this league by some teams that appear to be improved. Staying unbeaten in the conference for yet another year will be a tough chore. Their non-league games look strong again so 20-wins will be a huge achievement if it comes to fruition. 2. NEW ATHENS Perhaps the best player in the division will be wearing the Purple and Gold this season for head coach Marc Derwort. Coming off of a season in which scored 12 points and pulled down 7.8 rebounds on average – 6-foot-4 junior Vince Kiefer can get even better. That is a scary thought for those who will line up against him in 2009-10. With the departure of the other two Yellow Jackets that averaged double-figures last season (Ryan White 15.5 p.p.g., Ben Junge 13.7 p.p.g.) look for Kiefer to increase his shot attempts and made baskets. He was all-conference last season in the Cahokia and ABV Second Team 1A. Look for this one to be even better as a junior as he will eventually approach some milestones – which includes membership in the 1,000-point club. Coach Derwort – a prep standout in his own right many moons ago at Gibault Catholic – has three other players listed with experience at the varsity level that he hopes will continue the Yellow Jackets’ upswing in victories. New Athens’ 19-8 won-loss mark from a year ago was a welcomed sight considering past difficulties winning games in this part of Illinois. They finished second to Woodlawn at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament and were runners up (at 8-2) to Lebanon in the conference. Trico took them out of the 1A Chester Regional in the semifinals last February. With Kiefer leading the way – NA may move Lebanon “out of the way” and take the conference this season. Two other seniors – Tyler Womack and Cody Gaubatz – should keep defenses honest and away from double-teaming Kiefer. The 6-foot-3 Womack averaged 7.1 p.p.g. last season while handling 4.6 rebounds. Gaubatz is a 6-foot-4 senior who played in every game last season and added 6.6 points per outing. A fourth potential starter for the Jackets is Adam Ingles – a 6-foot-1 sophomore that got a mention from Coach Derwort. Also in the conversation are four kids that this coach says, “have made strides and improved in the off-season.” Five-foot-six senior guard Bobby Poe, 5-foot-10 sophomore Brendan Stolte, 5-foot-11 junior Chris Weber and 5-foot-10 sophomore Zach Bickel could all help out in some way this season. “I’m looking forward to this season. After losing 30 points of offense per game from last season – we will be a much different team,” said Coach Derwort – who spent several years as an assistant at Freeburg before taking over at New Athens. “We have a dedicated group of returning players and several hungry underclassmen ready to break into the starting lineup. Kiefer and Womack have played significant roles for us in the past two seasons and both have improved over the summer.” OUTLOOK – This might be the year that someone finally takes Lebanon down. If one of the teams in this division is capable of beating the Greyhounds a game or two this winter it is New Athens. Kiefer is a good one and his support group looks to be very cooperative which will make for some good teamwork to achieve team oriented goals. Like most schools this size they will need to improve defensively and cut back on the turnovers. The schedule out of conference has improved – or gotten worse – however you want to perceive the increase in quality opposition. The two games against Lebanon on December 18 and February 5 should decide this division title. 3. MARISSA-COULTERVILLE A new coach has taken over the program with Dirk Miller stepping up to run the program after Andy Johnson skipped town to take over as athletic director at Teutopolis. Miller was an assistant for the past three seasons. Marissa-Coulterville returns a veteran group that Coach Johnson “threw to the wolves” last season in a basketball way – letting the youngsters learn on the varsity floor. That learning experience should bode well for an improved club that was removed from the state tournament last season by Steeleville 78-66 at the Chester 1A Regional. The Meteors have three senior starters that logged some extensive court time last winter. Michael Lloyd – a 6-foot-2 senior – was the top scorer and lone double-digit point man on the 10-19 team in 2008-09 that finished 4-6 in the KD. He was also second on the team with 4.5 rebounds per contest. Six-foot-three senior Casey Pitchford swapped places with Lloyd in two stats – he was second in scoring with 7.6 points a game while leading in rebounding with 4.8. When a team’s top rebounder averages less than five – glass play is a must for the improvement of the team especially on the defensive end. The other senior who started as a junior is Dave Parkinson – a 6-foot guard - who added points (5.8) and rebounds (2.5) to the cause. Miller considers Parkinson as one of the team leaders. One other senior expected to see action is Cody Mahan – a 5-foot-9 guard – whom Miller believes will help out greatly after having a good summer. Those four upperclassmen will have to be leaders. Up from the JV ranks will be some kids that will compete for the fifth starting assignment along with varsity “ticks of the clock.” Six-foot junior Kyle Sinn got into some varsity games as a soph and should be welcomed into varsity play full-time as an offensive threat from outside. “Our goal is to be one of the more competitive teams in the area. We’d like to be one of the stronger teams in the conference and compete for a regional title,” said Coach Miller – a McLeansboro native who is the latest coaching prodigy to come out of that program that has produced many great basketball minds. “All of this depends on our senior leadership and whether or not they want it bad enough. It should be a fun year. We look to mix it up offensively and defensively.” Two sophomores – 5-foot-10 guard Joey Smith and 5-foot-9 guard Logan Tabor – will help out in running the offensive show. Depth up front should come from a trio of unproven kids. Six-foot-two junior forward Joey Martin, 6-foot-2 junior forward Kevin Galle and 6-foot-2 freshman Austin Place should find a place on the bench near this first year varsity head coach. “Our seniors will be vital to our success, along with young guys that love basketball and want to get better,” added Miller. “These kids will do whatever it takes to be successful on the basketball court. We want to translate the success we’ve had on the baseball field to the basketball court, and I think that started with the work we put in this summer.” OUTLOOK – This squad will be improved this season, as the experience from last winter should pay dividends. Teams that get tossed into varsity action - as underclassmen - tend to excel the following season after paying their respective dues. This group looks to be balanced but as an undersized club they will need to be very aggressive on the boards. ABV projects and above .500 finish and perhaps a share of the division crown should the top two stumble. 4. STEELEVILLE The Warriors sent away some good kids to graduation last season and now has a new head coach as – like Marissa-Coulterville – an assistant moves up. Gerald Mumbower takes over a club that went 10-22 overall and 6-4 in the Kaskaskia Division – which was good enough for third place behind Lebanon and New Athens. Unfortunately for this mentor a couple of very good players and athletes left the program after graduation. Peter Zobel – a 6-foot-5 senior forward – and 6-foot senior guard Jason Becker are missing from the lineup that lost to Okawville in the semifinals of the Chester 1A Regional. Zobel topped the Warriors in scoring and rebounding while Becker’s 11.8 points a night was third on the team. Those two combined for over 10 rebounds a contest in 2008-09. Zobel missed a big part of the season last winter due to injury but when he was in the lineup the Warriors were a much better club. Those two - along with classmate Calen Lalis - are long gone. The new starting unit will have some kids that have varsity legs under them from last year. Look for Colin Smith and Andrew Pokrzywinski to keep their starting assignments. Smith – a 6-foot-1 junior guard – averaged 11.9 points a game as a sophomore. That total was second to Zobel on average and his 368 points for the season was first. Even at 6-1 he was the best in rebounding – “cleaning the glass” at 7.6 per game. He also managed to dish out 2.6 assists per game for Steeleville. That assist total was second on the team behind his backcourt counterpart Pokrzywinski. Pokrzywinski is a 5-foot-10 junior who averaged a robust 4.2 assists per game while throwing down seven points a game on average. Those two appear to have the leadership skills needed to help the rest of the reserves develop. Three other players expected to reserve starting spots for themselves are Josh Dierks (4.1 p.p.g., 1.6 r.p.g, 1.7 a.p.g.) – a 5-foot-6 senior – 5-foot-10 junior Nick Potter – and 6-foot-3 junior Corie Reel. Potter and Dierks played some extensive varsity minutes last season while Reel was a JV player for the most part. All three should help out as the Warriors season begins early with an annual game with Sparta on the 24th followed by five games at the Trico Invitational Tournament the following week. This coach looks like he is going to use a lot of kids (five juniors, one sophomore and one freshman) and he listed several in the preview. Six-foot-two junior Torrey Gerberding, 5-foot-10 junior Joey Wittenbrink, 5-foot-10 junior Kris Beshears, 5-foot-11 Jeremy Wilson and 5-foot-10 Keith Hamilton round out that class. Look for 5-foot-10 sophomore Jacob Combs and 6-foot freshman Darrin Winkleman to also end up somewhere in the proceedings. “We will be very young with only one senior on the roster,” said Mumbower – who has been an assistant at Steeleville and also the head coach of the women’s program at Rend Lake previously. “We return no all-conference players and only about 24 pts per game so scoring will be at a premium.” OUTLOOK – This will be another scrappy bunch of kids – sort of a tradition at Steeleville over the years. They will be out manned on some nights but this has happened before. They picked up a few good wins last season – most notably against Trico – and the Warriors should figure predominately in the Cahokia KD race. A good season would be a finish right around the .500 mark. 5. VALMEYER Head coach Nathan McSchooler has some kids back from his 5-19 club that was 2-8 in the Kaskaskia Division. His top three point producers return from the team that bowed out to New Athens 66-58 at the Chester Regional. Michael Wuelling is a 6-foot-2 junior who notched 14.5 points a game for the Pirates last winter. That total is one of the top averages returning in the division of the conference. He also grabbed 3.4 rebounds a game. Kyle Kipping – a 6-foot-1 senior – averaged 7.7 points a game for the Bucs last season while ripping up the glass for 10.2 rebounds in 23 games. Five-foot-ten senior Eric Brellinger added 4.4 points, 1.9 boards. Two sophomores got in about half of the games last season and showed up on the stat sheet with a few points. Five-foot-eleven guard Joe Heavner and 5-foot-9 guard Aaron Crossin will likely work their way into the scorebook again. Tom Hildreth – a 5-foot-10 junior – also put up some numbers (2.8 p.p.g.) in 2008-09. ”Mike Wuelling could hit 1,000-career points by the end of the season,” explained Coach McSchooler. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year however our underclassmen saw a lot of varsity action.” OUTLOOK – Predicting more than single-digit wins here would be a bit foolhardy but look for the Pirates to be more competitive with the rest of the division. Wuelling will need a lot of classmates and teammates to help out if they are going to hold off Dupo for a spot in the basement. 6. DUPO Head coach Matt Carpenter mentioned five returning players that he expects to start when the season begins at the Metro-East Lutheran Thanksgiving Tournament on Monday. The Tigers finished the season 3-25 and 0-10 in 2008-09 and this program needs a shot in the arm. Hopefully the returning kids can get the ball rolling in the right direction. Kaleb Anderson is a 6-foot senior who averaged 9.2 points a game for Dupo while rebounding at a five a night. Six-foot junior Caleb Tatum was the top scorer and rebounder with 9.9 and 6.3 totals respectively. Alex Pollard played in 19 contests last season as a sophomore and this 5-foot-9 junior guard scored 3.4 points per trip to the floor. At four points and just under three rebounds a contest – 5-foot-8 senior Matt Ragsdale will be needed again this winter. So will Kevin Steinhauer – a 6-foot senior – who didn’t show up on the totals at all in 2008-09 but is listed on the questionnaire filled out by Coach Carpenter. “Our conference is always good and this season the division looks more wide open,” said Carpenter. “I think that we have the talent to compete with anyone on our schedule. It all depends on how the boys take to their roles and gel as a team.” OUTLOOK – They are in a similar situation as Valmeyer as in there simply isn’t enough athletes to keep the talent pool at a high level. However some hard work will help gather a win or two this season and perhaps some improvement will come eventually.