BY JACK BULLOCK The portion of the Cahokia Conference called the Kaskaskia Division turned out to be a great idea for the small schools held over from the previous league and the two new entities. Last season Lebanon took advantage of its newfound home by running the table in the Division to capture the title. Having taken it on the chin for many years from those Cahokia Conference large schools – the Greyhounds found a level more to its liking. Coach Chad Cruthis did such a fine job with those ‘hounds’ that he was awarded the 2006-07 Jacksonville Supersectional Area "Coach of the Year." The Kaskaskia Division sports some talented small schools in 2007-08 featuring the Coach Andy Johnson-led Marissa-Coulterville Meteors. M-C has nearly everyone returning from a squad that finished with a winning record – something unheard of in the last decade at this school. Although graduation took some good ones from the program - look for Lebanon to be ‘nosing’ around the top spot in this division. New Athens and Steeleville break in new mentors this season - neither of which have been head coaches before. However Marc Derwort (New Athens) and Carl Zumbahlen (Steeleville) have plenty of basketball knowledge so both programs will be in capable hands. Speaking of quality coaches - Dupo and Valmeyer each have good ones. Matt Carpenter and Nathan McSchooler crack the proverbial ‘whip’ with the Tigers and Pirates respectively. Both have rebuilding to do at each school but each will work hard at their respective crafts. The overall outlook appears to be bright in the skies for a Marissa-Coulterville club that looks very special for a 1A school. Lebanon will be on the Meteors' trail with those two conference games as pivotal contests. 1. MARISSA-COULTERVILLE Coach Andy Johnson has weathered a lot of storms since taking over the Meteors’ program eleven seasons ago. At the beginning of last season M-C was a school that had just four boy’s basketball regional titles (none since 1983) and without a winning season since 1994-95. Although the regional crown remained elusive - Johnson has helped turn things around in this tiny town (and recent coop) in Southwestern Illinois by building a winner. The Meteors soared past all expectations a year ago with an 18-10 record (8-2 in the KD). They brought home the big trophy at the Chester Invitational Tournament while surprising some with a fourth place finish at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament. Johnson – a McLeansboro native – has a Meteor club this winter that could orbit the Kaskaskia Division without a hint of record turbulence in 2007-08. Seven of the teams’ top eight scorers from last season return as a veteran group. Only one starter – Ian Steele – graduated from the team that lost to Metro-East Lutheran, 55-45, at the Marissa Class A Regional. The rest of the crew that comes back to the sidelines for M-C are tested and ready for a big season in 2007-08. Three double-digit scorers return for this head coach. Craig Place – a 6-foot-3 athletic forward – racked up 13.4 points as a ‘sharp-shooting’ junior last season. He added 3.8 assists and three rebounds a night. Place placed long-range bombs in the basket at a 39 percent clip for the year – tops on a very good shooting club. Six-foot-one senior Jordan Wagner is another player in the South that plays bigger than his listed height. Wagner averaged 12.1 points a game for Coach Johnson to go with 3.5 rebounds. In the backcourt you have to love it when a coach’s son is handling some of the offensive decisions. Cale Wine is a 6-foot-3 senior guard who is the son of former Coulterville head coach Scott Wine. Wine manufactured 11.5 points a game in 2006-07 - which was third on the team. He added 2.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game. He is also the one opponents didn’t want to foul last season. Wine topped the Meteors with 78 percent success rate from the charity stripe. Wagner and Place – if they continue at the same scoring pace as last season – will both top the 1,000-point level at the school. Wine - with a colossal scoring campaign – could join them. If all three of these players hit that plateau – this will be a very good season for those wearing Orange and Black. When you talk about veteran teams – Marissa-Coulterville will also throw out some other kids that have played a lot of varsity basketball. As a matter of fact of Coach Andy Johnson’s top seven players – four of them got in all 28-games as junior’s. The other one on that list is 6-foot-2 senior Ricky Weber (3.4 p.p.g.). A sixth player – 6-foot-1 senior Andrew Vasquez - missed just one game as a junior and averaged 5.2 p.p.g. This is a solid group as is but Coach Johnson has a couple of other players he won’t hesitate to use at any given time. Six-foot-three junior Peter Pannier (2.5 p.p.g.) and 6-foot-3 senior Ryan Weber (1.0 p.p.g.) are both in the picture for M-C. “We should be very solid 1-thru-7 as we will play at least those seven players,” said Coach Johnson. “We will bring a lot of experience to the floor this year and we plan for that to pay good dividends for this team. We are all looking forward to a fun season.” OUTLOOK – If you see Coach Johnson sporting sunglasses this season it will because his Meteors’ future looks extremely bright. The main three – Wine, Wagner and Place – are as good a trio as you will find at the Class 1A level in this part of the state. Several of the kids grew an inch in height in the off-season and getting stronger is a big key. All signposts point to 20-wins and ABV can find no real flaws in the total package here. They will run into some bigger teams but they should be athletic enough to hold their own. They are one of a handful of Peoria sleepers in the Southwestern part of the state. 2. LEBANON Head coach Chad Cruthis sent away one of the best players in the school’s history at graduation last June. Chris Williams – a 6-foot-5 forward – averaged a grand 15.7 points and 11.6 rebounds a game for the 19-12 Greyhounds. He earned a lot of honors last season – including a spot on the ABV Jacksonville Supersectional Area First Team. He is currently playing hoops at Tyler (TX.) Junior College. Nearly six points a game also left via graduation with Keith Harris – a 5-foot-8 point guard. Then before the season started an important player from last season transferred to nearby O’Fallon. John Pilackas – a 6-foot-3 senior – left for Panther-land while leaving a huge scoring loss (9.2 p.p.g., 3.5 r.p.g.). Pilackas was going to be the top-returning player for Coach C. But there are plenty of kids left to help keep Lebanon above .500. Plenty as in 11 players all ready to see playing time – according to Coach Cruthis. Blake Wood is a 6-foot-2 senior that scored 9.7 points a game while averaging eight rebounds. He is a strong kid with skills around the basket that can also shoot from behind the arc. Wood hit 43 percent of his 3-pointers last season and 48 percent overall. Six-foot-two senior Jordan Woods will be in the starting lineup after tossing in 3.7 p.p.g. as a junior. He is a bit inexperienced have entered just 21 of the 31 games last season – playing behind a good group. Finishing off the senior group returning anyone of these four kids could be in the starting lineup. Five-foot-nine Brett Schubert averaged 5.7 points a game – second best on the returning list in scoring. Blake Zurliene is a 5-foot-10 senior who was in 29 contests in 2006-07 with 3.2 points each night to show for it. Senior Christian Ogden – a 5-foot-11 player – barely got his feet wet last season in the varsity waters. He – like the other seniors – will have a chance to prove himself this season. One kid transferred in from Belleville Althoff that might help out immediately. Chad Jones is a 6-foot-3 senior that will add some needed size. Coach Cruthis mentioned three juniors that will want a piece of the varsity action. Five-foot-ten Jeremy Moore, 5-foot-11 Wyatt Essenpreis and 5-foot-8 Darren Bush should all be part of a deep rotation. Moore will probably start after a good junior season (5.2 p.p.g., 2.6 r.p.g.) while averaging exactly one assist a night in his 29 games played. Essenpreis got in about half of the games and produced when asked (1.9 p.p.g., 1.5 r.p.g.). Bush has similar numbers (1.8 p.p.g.) so look for all three to be important. With Wood and Moore – Lebanon has a pretty go ‘one-two’ scoring punch. “I believe that we can be better this year than last year,” said Coach Cruthis – a Piasa Southwestern grad entering his sixth season at Lebanon with a 66-74 mark. “What we lack in size will be made up with speed and 3-point shooting. I believe I have 6-or-7 kids who are legitimate 3-point shooting threats and very quick. Our style may not always be pretty to watch but it will cause problems for the other teams. As long as the players buy into it - this should be a fun year to coach good kids.” OUTLOOK – Coach C is optimistic about this group and it indeed could be a fun season. They will have to deal with Marissa-Coulterville and a very demanding non-conference slate of games. They will miss Pilackas but the group that remains should be focused on the big prize. This coach has a good chance of getting over the .500 mark for his career with this group. Although a bit undersized – Lebanon should use its athletic ability to thwart most of the big teams in front of them. From what ABV sees – Cruthis will put the run back into these Greyhounds in 2007-08. 3. STEELEVILLE Head coach Carl Zumbahlen takes over the Warriors program after Matt Laur left for a college assistant coaching job this past summer. Steeleville had a few bright spots last season but as a whole it is hard to spin an 11-20 mark into something it is not. This coach has been an assistant at this school for three previous seasons and now the program is his to rule. He must first realize that Jacob Wente – a 6-foot-4 forward and ABV Honorable Mention pick for the Carbondale Supersectional Area - has left the building after graduating in the spring. Wente was by far the top Warrior who wore the Blue and White in 2006-07 with 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds a game. Both of those figures were the best that Steeleville had to offer. Josh Uchtman, Pete Williams and E.J. Bergfeld were also part of the graduation ceremonies. Trico took down Steeleville, 67-50, at the Trico Class A Regional last February. However this is another year and the holdovers should be improved. Three of the kids back started games last year. Jason Becker - who averaged 8.7 p.p.g. – is a 5-foot-11 junior guard who – according to Zumbahlen - is a smart player with leadership skills. Another backcourt player is 5-foot-10 senior Brandon Smith (7.4 p.p.g.) and 6-foot-3 senior forward Chris Morris (5.2 p.p.g.) shores up the Steeleville frontcourt. The list of returning letterwinners also features Grant Jeremiah – a 6-foot-1 senior who is a guard/forward type. Six-foot-four senior Brant Hall will add some size to the Warriors lineup when he is called upon. According to Coach Z – Hall and Jeremiah have shown improvement and are now ready for more important roles. Perhaps the biggest factor coming into the season is a transfer from nearby Christ Our Savior Lutheran. Six-foot-three junior Peter Zobel was a starter for a pretty good COSL squad from last season. Playing for his father Jim Zobel at the private school – this youngster averaged 7.7 points and 4.9 rebounds as a sophomore. He also dished out 2.8 assists a game for the Soldiers that went 14-12 in 2006-07. Those numbers should dramatically improve this season. It appears the top candidate for the point guard position for Steeleville is 5-foot-7 sophomore Josh Diercks. Diercks got into 24 of the Warriors’ varsity tilts and should be experience enough to take over the reigns of the offense. “All three of our starters that are back bring in previous seasons of varsity experience and leadership to our team, which is very evident on the floor,” said Coach Zumbahlen – and Eastern Illinois University grad. “Diercks will have an opportunity to play big minutes this season at the point. He gained valuable experience at the varsity level last year as a freshman.” OUTLOOK – The Warriors seem to be a solid choice for the third spot here in the KD. Zobel coming in gives them an added offensive weapon to go with additional size in the frontcourt. Guard play is key to all teams and the Warriors backcourt must continue improvement. Diercks will get better with age and the three returning starters must lead by example. Getting to the .500 mark might be a bit difficult to accomplish but a winning record in this conference is more of a possibility. 4. NEW ATHENS Coach Marc Derwort is a familiar name to the Metro-East area coaching fraternity. Having played for and starred at Waterloo Gibault as a prep and then playing at McKendree College – Derwort has been involved with some quality coaches. He has spent sometime (nine seasons) as an assistant coach at Freeburg before taking over at New Athens after head coach Eric Hager stepped down last spring. Derwort inherits some talent to work with from a 10-16 2006-07 squad that fell to Waterloo Gibault, 43-34, at last season’s Marissa Class A Regional. Three senior starters from last season are missing from the program. Nicholas Parker topped all of the Yellow Jackets with 15.3 points per game to go with an even eight rebounds per. Brad Jansen was second to Parker with 10.2 p.p.g. and 4.2 r.p.g. Andy Kehrer, Bryce Davis, Brad Dontigney and Dan Patti followed suit down the isle. But this coach will know what to do with the remaining players. The Yellow Jackets – in trying to turn things around – will begin with 6-foot-2 senior guard Jeremy Crider who tossed home nine points a contest. Another returning player with experience is 6-foot-3 junior Ben Junge. This kid added a few points to the mix but he will have to deliver more of the goods this season as a junior. The same might be said for 6-foot-6 and 275 lbs. senior Brian Meketa. This one’s size will come in handy in games with larger opponents. Both Junge and Meketa were near two points a game on average during the 2006-07 campaign. When Coach Derwort looks on down the roster for players he will find some additional experience. Six-foot-three sophomore Tyler Womack, 5-foot-11 senior Spencer Littiken and 6-foot-2 senior Zach Roddy have opportunity and motive to get into the NA lineup. Ditto for 6-foot-1 senior Cory Womack. Add 5-foot-11 sophomore Cody Gaubautz to the list along with fellow sophomore’s 6-foot-1 Seth Causey and 5-foot-8 Brandon Huffman. Three incoming freshman are on the Coach Derwort list. Chris Webber – a 5-foot-10 first year player – will join 6-foot-2 Vince Kiefer and 5-foot-5 Cody LaPoint on the Yellow Jackets’ roster. “After losing three starters, six seniors and about 33 p.p.g, this year will depend on how well we can handle adversity,” said Coach Derwort – a starter on the Waterloo Gibault 1991 Carbondale Supersectional team that lost to McLeansboro. “We have limited varsity experience, but I have been very pleased with the work ethic of our kids and their commitment to the program during the off-season. Since we are a fairly young team, our four seniors must play a huge leadership role if we are to have any success.” OUTLOOK – This head coach knows how to win games because of his experience from his ‘elbow rubbing’ with some of the top coaches in the Metro-East area. New Athens has never been a juggernaut in basketball and don’t expect a big turnaround this season. But the feeling here is this coach might bring to the table a bit of an attitude for these kids to grasp. Winning is sometimes more about attitude than substance. But you can’t win without some of each. A fourth place finish and a brief flirtation with the .500 mark is the ABV projection. 5. VALMEYER The Pirates have no where to go but up following a 2-24 season in which they won just a single conference game (52-49 over Steeleville) before giving host Marissa-Coulterville a tussle before falling 60-52 in the Class A Regional quarterfinals. Coach Nathan McSchooler has the perfect name to teach these youngsters about winning hoops. This coach does have some experience back. Top scorer from 2006-07 John Wuelling is a 6-foot-2 senior who averaged 12.1 points a game for the Pirates. Wuelling was also Valmeyer’s top rebounder (6.6 r.p.g.) and playmaker (3.2 a.p.g.) When looking for potential starters the Pirates roster is a short list to choose from. Defensive stopper Aaron Rusteberg is a 6-foot junior who added a couple of points a game. Five-foot-10 junior Taylor Hildreth also returns from last season. Ben James – a 6-foot-3 junior who averaged 1.6 p.p.g. - got into a lot of varsity games as a sophomore and should be one of the starters. ”We will be young this year. We have an athletic group of freshman but their inexperience will hurt us some,” said Coach McSchooler. “We have goals for our overall and conference record to get to .500 this year, which will be tough to do. As long as the kids work hard they can accomplish these goals. Wuelling will be the key if he can stay healthy he will lead the team. Rusteberg and Hildreth will be the glue for our defense and rebounding and the freshman will contribute as much as they can.” Those freshmen seem to be the key to the season and the next three for the Pirates. Coach McSchooler lists Mike Wuelling – a 6-foot freshman ballhandler as his starting point guard. He is the younger brother of John and should learn on the fly this season. Cousin Ben Wuelling – a 5-foot-10 guard - should also get some starts and playing time as the season opens. Mark McClelland – a 5-foot-10 freshman – is also in consideration. OUTLOOK – Improvement can be made if this group steps up in a big way. More wins are projected here but reaching .500 will take a stretch of the imagination in all likelihood. This coach has his work cut out with a limited number of returning players back and a freshman group that is green. Seven or eight wins will be considered a step into a future direction. But the next three seasons could be very special. Stay tuned. 6. DUPO With some scoring returning in two returning starters along with six total letterwinners – the Tigers have a chance to move up the Kaskaskia Division ladder. Dupo finished 7-21 in 2006-07 – bowing out of the state tournament at the regional level to Roxana at the Columbia Class A Regional. Coach Matt Carpenter lost six seniors but this returning group looks to be improved this winter. Nathan Stahl is a 5-foot-8 senior guard who dropped 10.7 p.p.g. on the opposition in 2006-07. Six-foot junior Kyle Baker added 2.6 points a game last season. Brandon Aldridge – a 5-foot-9 junior – got in some games last season. Dupo doesn’t have much size but they have one player – 6-foot-2 junior Chris Pruitt – averaged four points a game last winter. Coach Carpenter also mentioned as a potential starters sophomore Kaleb Anderson and senior Daniel Davenport. “We’ll be a young team with little experience,” said Coach Carpenter. “Hopefully the two returning starters will step up and lead the team while the rest of the team will fill roles and follow along.” Four other players last season were worthy of varsity uniforms and it is uncertain if any of these kids are on the squad as the season begins. Five-foot-ten junior Steve Cooley, 5-foot-9 junior Aaron Kollack 2009, 5-foot-7 sophomore Matt Ragsdale and 5-foot-7 junior David Wilkerson could all be suited up this season. OUTLOOK – They lack size and experience but this team could surprise a few along the way. Other than the top two – none of the three Kaskaskia teams look invincible on paper. The Tigers play in the Metro-East Lutheran Thanksgiving Tournament to begin the season. This event will show Carpenter what he will have to work with in 2007-08.

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