Egyptian Illini Conference 2007-08 Preview

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St. Elmo has the horses to 'wire-to-wire' EIC
Eagles shouldn't be headed; mad scramble for second should ensue

EGYPTIAN ILLINI
CONFERENCE
Projected Order Of Finish
1. ST. ELMO
2. BROWNSTOWN
3. MULBERRY GROVE
4. COWDEN-HERRICK
5. BEECHER CITY
6. ODIN
7. PATOKA
8. RAMSEY

BY JACK BULLOCK
As with each year of the ABV Preview Guide – the National Trail Conference preview contains EIC schools Beecher City, Brownstown, Cowden-Herrick and St. Elmo while the Midland Trail Conference preview features Odin.
The three members of the Egyptian Illini who play conference games exclusively in this league are Mulberry Grove, Patoka and Ramsey.
This league looks like a ‘whitewash’ with St. Elmo swinging a very broad brush.
The Eagles finished second to an overachieving Beecher City team last season but don’t look for Coach Greg Feezel’s club to be headed here.
Colton Booher and Company begin the season with much to prove and it will start with this league.
They should win all seven league contests and should get 20-wins as a whole.
As for the EIC only schools – Mulberry Grove sent away all five starters including a 1,000-point scorer in Aaron Kendall.
Patoka head coach Joe Eddy likes his group he has now much more than the last group that went through the motions wearing Green and Gold.
Ramsey lost the school’s all-time leading scorer in Derek Gibson to graduation and must rebuild.
Cowden-Herrick, Beecher City, Odin and Brownstown can be placed anywhere on this list behind St. Elmo.
3. MULBERRY GROVE
Even though the Aces sent away four good ones to graduation including Kendall – look for head coach Ryan Bauer to rebuild after his first season at the helm got him a 14-15 mark while going 4-3 in the EIC.
Ruben Betts was another strong starter from that club that lost to Breese Central, 33-14, at the Greenville Class A Regional. M-G did win a regional game for the first time in many years by beating Staunton, 42-40. For a school that has never won a boy’s basketball regional and only one district title (1939) any success in the postseason is a bonus.
Coach Bauer has a new group of kids to work with who he thinks can be as good as the seniors that have left.
Six-foot-two junior guard Jason Kendall returns after finishing fifth on the scoring list behind the four graduated seniors. He averaged 4.9 points and 1.2 rebounds a game for Mulberry Grove as a sophomore.
Jason Clanton – a 6-foot-2 senior guard – also saw considerable time on the floor last winter with 3.2 p.p.g. and two r.p.g.
Senior Trevor Nickel – a 6-foot-2 guard – anted up a couple of point and rebounds a game during his junior season.
Five-foot-ten junior Jacob Tompkins is another guard in this backcourt-slanted team.
Six-foot-three junior Bobby Coates (1.4 p.p.g.) should be in there somewhere.
After those five starters look for reserves to come from juniors.
Mitchell Lewis – a 5-foot-9 junior guard – and 6-foot-3 junior forward Ethan Neathery.
“Even though we lost five starters to graduation we have a solid group coming up and I’m looking forward to working with them,” said Coach Bauer.
OUTLOOK – These Aces have a chance to finish as high as second in this league and have a schedule that could produce some additional wins. They have four starters all standing 6-foot-2, which is better than average size for a Class 1A team. With a couple of extra victories Mulberry Grove will break past the .500 barrier.
7. PATOKA
Coach Joe Eddy lost three seniors to graduation from 2006-07 with a lot of scoring and rebounding.
Top scorer Jordan Potter along with classmates Marcus Carroll and Rio Hames are gone from a 7-19 team that was disappointing team to watch. The season ended without as much as a whimper with a regional loss to Bunker Hill.
But some good came from that run with the emergence of what Coach Eddy feels is a squad with a good attitude that features hard workers.
Derek Black finished second to Potter on the Patoka scoring list with 10.6 as a sophomore. He will be more of the offensive focal point as a junior. Black was a 3-point qualifier at the state finals last March so he has ‘the eye’.
This season look for several kids to get a chance to represent the Warriors and join Black in the lineup.
Tyson Murray got into 25 Patoka varsity games last season and this 6-foot-3 senior forward added 4.2 points per outing to the totals.
Another senior was Clay Cain – who played in over half of the games.
In just six varsity games as a freshman – 6-foot guard Drew Baldridge averaged 4.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and just below three assists per game.
Baldridge missed most of the season on the DL.
Those numbers earned him more playing time in 2007-08.
Five-foot-ten junior Dane Murfin and 5-foot-9 junior Jeremy Whisler each played a lot in the second half of the campaign. Both are returning guards that will have a chance to start.
Wyatt Jenkins – a 5-foot-10 junior forward – averaged a bit more than a point a contest last season as a reserve.
Five-foot-seven lefty Luke Murfin also emerged late last season for Patoka.
“This team is working harder than any past team I have coached here,” said Coach Eddy – a Ramsey and Greenville College grad. “They know playing time is up for grabs. This team has a lot of unknown elements and if we want to compete some young guys are going to need to step up. Effort and defense are our keys for success. We have plenty of backcourt players but Murray and Jenkins can play in the paint.”
OUTLOOK – Coach Eddy can put away the Excedrin bottle this season as most of his headaches from the past three seasons have disappeared. The Warriors will be undersized but will try to use quickness and hustle to overcome their obvious shortcomings. Attitude is sometimes a big factor in building success and Eddy likes the manner his youngsters have displayed so far. Even if the won/loss record is near the same as a season ago – the atmosphere surrounding the team will be better.
8. RAMSEY
It is difficult to get fired up about Ramsey basketball in the present after a very down cycle of seasons.
The Rams are a combined 10-43 in the past two years bowing out early each time in regional play.
Derek Gibson – who is the school’s all-time leading scorer – has graduated along with T.J. Pryor, Dustin Murdach, Wes Kircher and Rich Adams.
Gibson is the school’s all-time leading gunslinger and took 19.9 points per game as a senior with him out of the building.
This is really bad news considering that his points per game total was nearly half of the Rams team scoring average for the 2006-07 season.
The total missing from last winter from those seniors is 36.9 of the 48.4 points scored.
Head coach Nick Casey has work to do with a young team with things to learn.
Back for his junior year after starting as a sophomore is Joey Keppler – a 5-foot-7 guard.
Keppler averaged 6.5 points and 2.5 rebounds from his point guard slot.
He had nearly 40 more assists than any other Ram player last season with 91 (3.9 a.p.g.).
Although he was a bright spot – this group as a whole made far too many mistakes that showed up in the stat sheet.
Chris Fields is a 6-foot-2 senior forward who entered 21 contests as a junior with 1.4 points per game to show for his labors.
After those two it will be a total tryout situation for Coach Casey to name the starting unit.
Throw the name Cody Kircher into the hat for a start. His 1.3 points per game average is on par with the rest of the returning players.
Dustin Johnson sneaked into five games as a junior and this 5-foot-8 guard will need to work hard like the rest of the team to improve.
Five-foot-nine senior Cody Meachum and 6-foot senior Kevin Otto are in the same boat. Both have a shot at starting.
Kyle Cook is another junior guard standing 5-foot-7. As it looks Keppler and Fields are locks and the rest could all be part of a rotation.
OUTLOOK – Even with a proven scorer the past three seasons the Rams couldn’t put enough together at either end of the floor to get to double-digit wins or to escape the bottom of the EIC. Ramsey committed an average of 21 turnovers a game and 522 total last year and that is simply unacceptable as a basketball team. Guard play is important and Keppler is in his third season as a varsity guard. If this group can whittle down the mistakes maybe an extra win or two will be found on the Rams schedule in 2007-08.