GREATER EGYPTIAN CONFERENCE

BY JACK BULLOCK Fans of the Greater Egyptian Conference will have an interesting race to the finish to keep an eye on. Correspondence with the coaches involved in this league have differing opinions – which usually means the title is up for grabs. If you took a consensus of all of the coaches three of the clubs standout – Carrier Mills, Norris City-Omaha-Enfield and Hardin County. Each has a healthy dose of returning expertise. Coach Mark Motsinger would like to repeat the 2007-08 season with another conference crown for his Carrier Mills club. In fact it would be four-in-a-row for the Wildcats should Carrier Mills capture the title in 2008-09. Four starters will be back wearing Purple from a 20-9 club that racked up a 13-1 league mark. NCOE mentor Doug Miller lost his best scorer to graduation but has nearly all of the other points returning. The Fighting Cardinals had a strong season in 2007-08 – reaching a regional title game in a loss to host Sesser-Valier. It could be said with reason that the best player in the whole league will be playing for Coach Robert Bell down at Hardin County. Those three clubs could each be in first place during a season in which each conference club plays each other twice. Thompsonville has four returning starters back after playing pretty well in their first season ever in the GEC. Coach John Robinson will have those Tigers “getting after it” once again in 2008-09. Although there might be a bit of a drop to the next four - the ones below those four won’t be far behind. Pope County and Galatia has starters returning while Crab Orchard and Gallatin County has youngsters that could be a factor before the season ends. As for the ABV pick here – each of the top three listed here are not only threats in this league but should all have regional title aspirations in February. 1. CARRIER MILLS By just a Wildcat whisker – Coach Motsinger’s ‘Cats get the edge. The four returning starters are good ones and the reserves should provide relief. Only graduated senior Caleb Motsinger – an ABV Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional All-South Honorable Mention pick – is missing from the starting lineup of a squad that lost to NCOE, 44-37, in the semifinals at Sesser-Valier last February in the regional. The remaining group has experience top to bottom. The four expected to keep their starting positions include the top two scorers who were both double-digit producers in points. Six-foot-five senior frontcourt player Luke Morgan will look to improve on an 11 p.p.g. average. He was second behind Motsinger in rebounding with 9.2 snags a game. He was a allow part of a crew that defended pretty well. Morgan played stronger than his slender frame and along with Motsinger last season formed a pretty solid crew around the basket. Dallas Beeding – a 6-foot-3 senior guard/forward – edged Morgan in scoring with an 11.1 average while helping out on the boards to the tune of 4.3 per evening. Beeding can player either out in the court or in the lane – which makes him a tough one to defend. The backcourt also looks to be an advantage to the Wildcats in this conference with returning starters Ryan Nichols and Wyatt Kirkland. Nichols – a 5-foot-11 senior guard – has been in the varsity mix since his sophomore season and he averaged 8.8 points a game as a junior. Kirkland – who has a first name of a gunslinger – showed last season he could pull the trigger from the outside. The 6-foot senior guard supplied offensive help with 7.8 points a game. The fifth starter should be determined in the first two weeks of practice as the ‘Cats prepare for the Vienna Thanksgiving Class to open the season. Junior Jordan Miller – a 5-foot-6 guard – responded last season with quality minutes off the CM bench and could be in the backcourt on opening night. Miller showed up on the scoring with 1.5 p.p.g. in limited time. Coach Motsinger – who has a 502-172 mark in coaching 23 years overall coaching – listed some others that he expects to compete for playing time. D.J. Campbell – a 6-foot-3 senior – along with 6-foot junior Chase Craig could end up with some well-deserved minutes. Campbell was ineligible last season but is back for his senior go-around. He might be the most important Wildcat if he can step up and help with rebounding and defense in replacing the role that Motsinger played last winter. Jordan Jackson is a 6-foot-2 junior forward and Dillan Harrison is a 6-foot sophomore. Both could be called on for contributions. “The loss of a few key seniors, especially Caleb (Motsinger) in the paint, will be hard to overcome,” said Coach Motsinger. “However we have four starters back and I believe we should be in the hunt for a fourth consecutive GEC title.” OUTLOOK – Yes they will be in the hunt for the title because of the experience back and also the amount of athletes ready to take the court. This coach has been able to put together a pretty good run in this league and that shouldn’t end this season. The others in the conference will take aim at the Wildcats this season and - since they all play each other twice – there are plenty of opportunities. ABV sees the scoring as better than average and the defense and rebounding should be as good as normal. How well the bench plays when called upon will likely determine whether or not they can hold off NCOE or Hardin County. 2. NORRIS CITY-OMAHA-ENFIELD The Fighting Cardinals came out of the blocks last season scrappy and survived a mid-season lull to turn in an overall high grade in both the league and all-around. Coach Doug Miller’s club won the Grayville Thanksgiving Tourney to open the season and then played Class 2A Eldorado tough at the Eagles holiday tourney before falling in the fourth quarter of a tightly contested quarterfinal game. They also beat a good Century team in the opening round – a team that two days later won the consolation title at the EHT. These Cards played like a team expecting to win – an attitude that had been missing the previous few seasons when NCOE was in the Mid-South Conference. The return to the GEC was – at least for a year – a good wake-up call. Coach Miller did lose a good one – Jessie Flannigan – to graduation. The 5-foot-8 senior and three-year starter trumped all Cards with 13.9 points a night last winter and he, too, was ABV Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional All-South Honorable Mention. The fact that he was the lone senior on that 18-11 company should help the other’s confidence heading into 2008-09. As long as familiarity doesn’t breed contempt – these Birds should be one of the top small schools in the Deep South and certainly a menace in this league. NCOE will return a frontcourt that could be very potent with 6-foot-2 senior Nicholas Mitchell and 6-foot-6 senior Zach Halfacre. Mitchell is the top-returning scorer for NCOE with 9.8 points per game. This forward plays like a player 6-foot-5 as he can do a lot of things offensively. He also led the club in rebounds with 7.2 per contest. Halfacre averaged 8.1 points and four rebounds and took up a lot of space around the hoop. Those two should keep the frontcourt sound. Another scorer returning for the Cardinals is 5-foot-10 senior guard Levi Hart. Hart was also the top shooter on the club from 2007-08 in connecting on 57.8 percent of his shots from the floor. His 9.4 p.p.g. could rise this season if he continues to shoot well. With Flannigan gone everyone on the club will get more shot attempts. The rest of the spots are up for competition between five players – according to Coach Miller. Cody Etienne – a 5-foot-10 junior – is on that list after putting in 6.7 points a game. Five-foot-nine junior guard Jordan Weiss (six p.p.g.) and 5-foot-11 junior Seth Short (two p.p.g.) will be part of the NCOE minutes. One other junior – 5-foot-11 Kyle Brown – got a mention from this coach as a player to watch. “Losing Jesse (Flannigan) to graduation will hurt us on offense. We have to hope for a team-effort to fill the scoring Jesse gave us,” said Coach Miller – a McLeansboro native who played for the Foxes 1991 state finals team. “For us to be successful we will need to play hard every game and make fewer mistakes then our opponents.” OUTLOOK – They will be right up there with Carrier Mills this season. Although they are not as athletic as some teams they will make up for a lot of their shortcomings with hard work. Getting used to Flannigan not being out there may take a few weeks of practice but with Hart, Mitchell and Halfacre getting the job done on both ends of the court the Cardinals will be alright. With some of the other teams in the league perhaps taking a step back – NCOE could make a push for 20-wins overall. The two games with CM could turn into three in the league tournament title game. 3. HARDIN COUNTY The difference this season for the Cougars and last when preparation is concerned will be the beginning of the season. Last winter Hardin County started slow before making a mid-season push to get into the championship chase in the GEC. They took down both NCOE and Carrier Mills in the conference tournament to win that title. The third ABV Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional All-South Honorable Mention choice from the GEC returning from last season is Travis Cowsert - 6-foot-1 senior – who averaged 13.8 points and 4.1 rebounds as a junior guard. He also handled the ball well – distributing three assists for the Cougars. Cowsert has a shot at 1,000-points with a strong senior season. He will join two other starters in the Hardin County lineup that finished 12-13 before losing to Waltonville at the Crab Orchard Class 1A Regional last February. The other two are good ones – Catlin Vaughn and Ryan Davis. Vaughn averaged 10 points a game as junior while Davis was at nine points per night. Vaughn is a 6-foot-3 senior swingman who can play all over the floor. The 6-foot junior Davis will join Cowsert in a potent Cougar backcourt line or he could be important as a small forward. As for the other two positions in the starting five – Coach Bell will turn to another guard in 5-foot-11 senior Taylor Joiner who was a five points a game/three assists point guard from last winter. Cowsert, Davis and Joiner will provide a lot of outside firepower. The fifth starter (by his name alone) was born to play basketball. Jimmy Chitwood – a 6-foot senior guard – was on the JV squad last season and has worked his way into the Cougars’ opening night lineup. When Hardin County starts the season at the Vienna Thanksgiving Classic on Tuesday night – the announcer will probably double-check to see if this is the right name. Any fans of the movie “Hoosiers” will get have a Coke and a smile. As for the reserves – Coach Bell has tabbed Mitchell Konrad who is a 6-foot-2 senior center for minutes off the seats. Six-foot-three senior center Will Soward and 6-foot junior forward Dylan Davis should both see playing time. “We will rely heavily on our seniors this season and Travis Cowsert is our leader,” said Coach Bell who should improve on a 40-41 career mark in three seasons as a varsity head coach. “Cowsert has worked very hard to get stronger. The rest of the seniors will see a lot of big minutes. Both Ryan and Dylan Davis will see plenty of court time. We feel like if we can continue to get better defensively and take care of the ball on the offensive end then we can be competitive.” OUTLOOK – This team showed what they are capable of doing with a big run in January and February of last season. The Cougars lost a good one (Michael Vaughn) to graduation and his points and rebounds (15.8 p.p.g., 10.7 r.p.g.) will be tough to duplicate. However the top eight players back should all step forward this season. Cowsert is perhaps the best player in this league and will lead this group to a lot of success. They showed last season in the GEC Tourney that they could beat NCOE and Carrier Mills. This season will be all about continuing the success. 4. THOMPSONVILLE The Tigers also bring back a lot to the table in 2008-09. Coach John Robinson will turn to four returning starters from a 16-14 club that finished 7-7 in their first season in the Greater Egyptian Conference. The first thing to mention is that 6-foot-6 center Seth Sickmeyer graduated last spring which will leave a big hole to fill in the middle of the Thompsonville paint. Kyle Householder and David Gaither were the other seniors gone from that team that lost to Galatia, 72-53 at the Sesser-Valier 1A Regional. However Thompsonville has six seniors that this coach mentioned returning and five of them have first names that begin with the letter “J.” Jake Nielson – a 5-foot-9 senior guard – produced 14.3 points a game last season for the Tigers. He is also a deadeye from the foul line shooting over 75 percent for his career. Expected to join him in the Thompsonville backcourt is another senior and his twin brother – Jordan Nielsen who is also 5-foot-9. Jordan did most of his sweating last season as a JV player but will get more minutes in the A-Games this winter. Another guard who should start is Jordan Browning – a 6-foot-1 senior. Browning has been a three-year varsity player for Coach Robinson and can play up front as well. He topped the Tigers with 5.4 rebounding average in 2007-08. Another vet who has been around the Thompsonville basketball block is Josh Fisher – a 6-foot-3 senior forward. He was second on the club in rebounding last season and with Sickmeyer gone he will be needed even more this season. Look for Jesse Williams – a 5-foot-6 senior guard – to play an important role for the varsity this season after leading the JV in scoring as a junior (7.7 p.p.g.) last year. Coach Robinson also mentioned Ethan Kerley and this 6-foot-2 senior led all JV players with 6.5 r.p.g. The bench will come from unproven underclassmen. “We will have a veteran ballclub with these six seniors but the key to any success we might have will depend on how our seniors lead and have all six of them step up,” said Coach Robinson – who is 117-81 in his previous nine seasons at Thompsonville. “I have a lot of confidence in this group and if we play to our potential we can be competitive.” OUTLOOK – Coach Robinson will bring a team to the floor that will play hard. The Tigers don’t look as deep as the three mentioned in front of them here. However the six seniors match up well and they will have ample opportunity to prove themselves against some good competition with games at the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament being a strong early season test. The guards (Browning, Nielson and Nielson) will trigger any major success for them this season. 5. POPE COUNTY This pick might raise an eyebrow but the Pirates have some talent returning and they are maybe looking at turning some recent tough losses into victories in the 2008-09 season. Pope County has a new skipper at the helm with David Roberts stepping into the head coaching position in place of Ryan Fritch. Roberts has some experienced players back that survived a 6-18 campaign which ended in the first round of the Crab Orchard 1A Regional with a heart-stopping 58-53 loss to Goreville. Coach Roberts did see some good ones leave the program after finishing school. Aaron Webb, Gage Jackson, Lucas Gurley and Casey Rose were seniors on last winters’ Pirates and are gone. Out the door went 23.6 points a game (Webb averaged 13). Replacing these kids will be a new group of players that have some minutes under their belts. It helps when the top scorer returns and that would be Gusten Wallace – a 5-foot-11 senior guard – who dropped home 17.1 p.p.g. as a junior guard. Second on the returning scoring list is Ethan Billington who plays in the frontcourt. Billington is a 6-foot-2 senior forward who averaged 9.3 points per contest. The power forward/center position gave the Pirates 7.7 points and a team-best 5.4 rebounds a game with Brett Butler handling the duties. The 6-foot-4 senior could put up even larger digits all around this season. The bad news is that is pretty much the total of the varsity stats that return for Coach Roberts from last season. He will have to pick two other starters from junior varsity ranks with little in the way of experience. Coach Roberts mentioned 6-foot-2 senior Trevor Thompson, 5-foot-11 junior Kyle Benard, and two 6-foot-1 sophomores – Jacob Dunning and Stephen Simmons. Benard played in the most games (18) of any of this group. “This is a senior laden group and we look to be competitive in this conference,” said Coach Roberts. OUTLOOK – Pope County should be very competitive in this league with the three seniors back. How much help that trio gets from the unproven ones will determine the standings spot the Pirates reach. They have kids that can score and a bit of size up the middle. Coach Roberts will need his team to steal a few on the road this season to reach .500. That number is within reach. 6. GALATIA The Bearcats sent away top scorer Robbie Engle – another ABV Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional All-South Honorable Mention selection – from last season’s club that finished 14-12, 8-6 in the GEC. Brian Gurley – the clubs’ second leading scorer – also graduated. Josh Moore was another senior on the club last season that is gone. Three kids that played a lot of varsity ball last season are back for their senior seasons. Ryan Augustyniak is a 6-foot-4 senior forward for the Bearcats. Another 6-foot-4 senior Dalton Pickering should also be in the starting lineup as well as 6-foot junior Joey Collum. Pickering and Augustyniak will form a good frontcourt for Galatia. New head coach Bob Bedford has some good guards to choose from for backcourt minutes. Every coach likes to have a point guard and the Bearcats have one in 5-foot-9 junior Denton Reed. Reed steps up from the JV squad last season and will be an important part of the team this season. Five-foot-eleven senior guard Andrew Wallace returns to the lineup and will log a lot of minutes. Three other players – 5-foot-11 senior Ryan Moore, 6-foot junior Kobe Watson and 5-foot-9 sophomore Cody Tennison are part of the game-plan. “Our transition game should be a big part of what we do. We will try to push the ball up the floor,” said Coach Bedford – who was an assistant at Gallatin County for the previous four seasons before taking over at Galatia. “Three of our kids are making the transition from JV to Varsity and I’m excited to see them move up and to see how they handle extended varsity playing time. Augustyniak, Moore and Pickering all played football (Eldorado coop) this year and that should help with the physical post play.” OUTLOOK – The Bearcats have to replace a four-year starter in Engle but the kids that return look solid. They could finish anywhere from third to sixth here in the GEC. They have the size up front and this coach is very high on his new point guard (Reed) to blossom this season. Galatia should win more games than they lose and be a factor in all of the tournaments. 7. CRAB ORCHARD The Trojans lost just three seniors but a bunch of scoring from last season. Those points lost were from one graduated senior – 6-foot-2 forward David Brainard – an ABV Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional All-South Honorable Mention choice. Brainard’s 16.3 p.p.g. topped the Trojans who were 12-16 overall, 5-8 in the league. Coach Jon Brown will return several players that he will use without hesitation. The next five players ranked behind Brainard in scoring from 2007-08 are all back. A.J. Hutchins averaged a robust 15.5 p.p.g. as a junior and if this 5-foot-11 senior can repeat his shooting prowess this season the Trojans are going to win a lot of games. The same can be said for Adam Perry – a 5-foot-11 junior post player who plays a bit bigger than what it shows on the height chart. Perry notched 14.2 points a game while pulling down 7.2 rebounds per Trojan game. Another stat was that he banged with some of the bigger kids in the paint but didn’t foul out of any Crab Orchard games. Look for Perry to continue his strong play. Next on the hit parade is Tyler Fauver – a 5-foot-11 senior – with a 5.7 p.p.g. average as a junior forward. Six-foot junior Lorence Killian (3.2 p.p.g.) is also part of the Trojans’ core group. Coach Brown called Killian the teams’ “most improved player” from a year ago. Two sophomores could have an impact in the early going of the season. Five-foot-ten junior forward Brandon Boester and – each got in a double-digit amount of varsity games as freshman. A senior who didn’t play last season is back in the fold. Five-foot-eleven forward Ryan Anderson will be back suited up. A pair of freshman could step right into the lineup. One of them is a 5-foot-8 point guard Drew Johnson. The other is 6-foot-3 freshman Ben Kissing – younger brother of former Trojan standouts Ray and Tommy. If this one can put up the numbers that the older brothers did – Crab Orchard’s fortunes will be that much better this season and the next three. Any of these youngsters could wind up in the starting lineup early this season. “We have a definite lack of size,” said Coach Brown – who is 182-167 in 13 seasons at Crab Orchard. “We are young and hard working and this group will improve. We will have a lot of kids competing for playing time.” OUTLOOK – ABV has never seen a Crab Orchard team that couldn’t shoot the 3-point shot and it is a safe bet that this group will continue the tradition from long range. But the biggest factor will be whether or not they can defend and rebound well enough to compete. That is the biggest question mark heading into 2008-09. Coach Brown has always been able to get the best out of his young kids this year shouldn’t be any different. 8. GALLATIN COUNTY Big changes happened in the off-season down at the Junction. Coach Chris Fromm stepped away from coaching and moved into administration. Coach Robert “Radar” Patton is back coaching the boy’s after a run at coaching girl’s basketball at the school. And more importantly a new athletic director was hire that will make an immediate impact in all sports at Gallatin County. Ken Crawford – who has over 600 boy’s basketball coaching wins in his career – just couldn’t stay retired and headed home to take over as AD. His importance will show up in the next few seasons. However this basketball program will certainly be better than last season, won’t it? The Hawks soared way under the radar last season – winning just a single contest out of 25 games played. Coach Patton will need to jumpstart this program in a hurry. There is some talent there and this coach will work with the kids to help them get better. One of the holdovers from last season is 6-foot-5 senior Shawn Steele. Steele was one of the starters last season. Two other returning starters are Quinton Drone – a 6-foot-2 senior – and 5-foot-11 junior Jared Hunt. Patton calls Hunt “a very good player.” He added that Hunt, Drone and Steele “have really improved.” Two of the JV players last season that could slide into the starting lineup are 6-foot-1 senior Alex Casteel and 6-foot junior Anthony Charleton. One transfer from Hardin County – a 5-foot-10 junior Brody Lowery – will likely get a chance as will 5-foot-5 senior Drake Russell who didn’t play last season. “Our kids have been working very hard and have been very dedicated in the off-season,” said Coach Patton. “The are very motivated to get things going to turn this program around. I think that we will be in every game and will give 110 percent each time out.” OUTLOOK – Coach Patton is optimistic about the Hawks chances to turn things around. They have some athletes and skilled players. Turning around programs usually take time. Losing is a contagious bug that sometimes takes time to be rid of the system. Look for this coach (with some good sound advice from this AD) to get this program to do a 180. The success won’t come overnight but it will happen sooner than later. Don’t be surprised if several wins come about this season in this conference.