SOUTH EGYPTIAN CONFERENCE

BY JACK BULLOCK With the departure of Vienna to its new home in the Black Diamond Conference – the South Egyptian Conference is now back to eight teams as its membership. The Eagles have flown the coop and several of the SEC clubs can now look at some different scheduling options. Each of the remaining schools are Class 1A and the idea of an South Egyptian/Greater Egyptian Shootout will begin this February at Shawnee Community College. Not only did Vienna leave but also missing this season from the league is Brett Thompson – the 6-foot-11 center that toward over this conference for four seasons. Thompson is now at St. Louis University and I doubt any of the remaining teams will shed any tears not seeing Number 41 in orange and blue this winter. Another college bound player gone is Marland Johnson – the ABV Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional All-South “Player of the Year.” Johnson is at Three Rivers Community College in Missouri where he is majoring in Criminal Justice. But this is a new year and the conference race looks a big more open. Meridian, Vienna and Goreville have been the predominant teams the past few seasons but there could be some different results this season. Many of the programs look have some good ones back that will help close some of the gap. Meridian has probably the best guard duo in the SEC in Jones and Pilgram. Goreville sent away some good ones but several fine players are back. Century has seven returning players with experience while Shawnee returns them all. Egyptian has three starters back as does Dongola. Joppa has back its top two scorers while Cobden has returning seniors who are also experienced. 1. MERIDIAN Coach Jeff Mandrell had to be scratching his head after last season’s 78-76 overtime loss to host Trico in the regional title game. The Bobcats were a heavy favorite to reach Peoria from the Carbondale Supersectional but saw their season close at 25-4. Gone from that team is the afore mentioned Marland Johnson along with fellow seniors Malcolm Larry, Ralph Smith and Richard Brownlee. Turning the page to this new chapter – fans of this program can look for a more backcourt dominated Bobcat bunch this season since the top player in the deepest part of the South in 1A will start for Coach Mandrell. Isaiah Jones returns and he brings a whole bunch of scoring back (and potentially even more points) from last season’s SEC Tourney champs. The 6-foot-2 junior Jones tossed in 15 points and hauled down five rebounds a game a season ago. ABV projects even more points this season. Jones will have to carry most of the load for Meridian this season. Randle Hyte – a 6-foot senior guard – returns along with Edreco Amos who is a 5-foot-11 junior guard. With no one named Marland to throw the ball to – Jones, Hyte and Amos will have to do a bit more this season. ABV believes Jones can raise his game up even higher. The lone size in the Bobcat lineup is 6-foot-5 senior Mathew Jackson. Add the name Devante McClung to the lineup. McClung is a 6-foot-3 senior forward. Coach Mandrell will - for a change – not have a really tall lineup. Two other returning players are guards. This team won’t be as deep as usual but they will be athletic again – perhaps the most athletic in the conference. OUTLOOK – This team doesn’t appear to have nearly the bench strength that that is usually has which makes Meridian vulnerable. Especially against the sort of strong schedule that this program takes on each season. Coach Mandrell will lean heavily on Jones for scoring, leadership and pretty much everything else. The backcourt play at Meridian should determine who wins the SEC title. 2. CENTURY Head coach Tyson Bormann has put together a very good program in a short time at Century and they have bulked up the schedule to fit the bill. Even though three really good players hit the bricks last spring (Ethan Stringer, Josh Cheek and Kody Reichert graduated) the Centurions look like a real threat to Meridian for the SEC crown in 2008-09. Coach Bormann saw his team finish at 17-12 in 2007-08 (4-4 in the SEC). The Centurions biggest coup was at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament where they ran wild over the consolation bracket. Century toppled Pope County, Carrier Mills and Anna-Jonesboro to take home the consolation title. Each of the wins was by double-digits including a 66-52 win over A-J in the title contest. All indications point toward another good season. The reason for the anticipation is simple. Quality players returning that contributed mightily to the success last season. Six-foot-one junior Chris Baker – the top-returning scorer at 14.8 p.p.g. – is back for two more seasons. Chris led the team in rebounds (9.1) and assists (three) per game as a sophomore guard. If you like that last name there is another Baker for opponents to deal with. James Baker is a 6-foot-4 senior who chipped home 11.2 points a game as a junior. Those two showed in the season past that they know what it takes to win. For size in the middle the Centurions feature 6-foot-7 senior Urbane Dunlap who averaged 6.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and four blocked shots per outing. He would have been the best in the paint defender in the league last season had it not been for two guys named Thompson and Johnson. Coach Bormann listed four other letter winners – all underclassmen - whom this coach must choose to fill in the other two spots in the lineup. Jared Clemons is listed as a 5-foot-11 junior. Jacob Wyatt is a 6-foot-1 junior who will get a shot at playing along with Trevor Pullet – a 5-foot-11 junior. Sophomore Josh Wright – a 6-foot guard – will also get a look. ”Most of the offense will be expected to come from Chris and James,” said Coach Bormann – a Massac County grad who is familiar with winning basketball games. “Defensively we will have the size to match up with most anyone we will meet. We need a big season from Urbane Dunlap. We will be inexperienced at point guard.” OUTLOOK – This team might not be as good overall as his last two clubs (18-11 in 2006-07 and 17-12 last winter) but they might not need to be. With Vienna gone and Meridian losing a bunch of talent – the Centurions could creep past the Bobcats to take the regular season title. It is a given that this schedule will be tougher. Beginning with the Murphysboro Thanksgiving event where they will likely travel to some huge schools to play – Century will have its hands full. However they will be a better club because of the tough challenge. They could be a real player when the postseason rolls around and may get some needed respect when the EHT is seeded. If a point guard emerges from one of the underclassmen – this club will be a dangerous postseason foe. 3. GOREVILLE The Blackcats lost a ton of points and talent to graduation from last season’s 15-14 team that lost to Waltonville in the title game at the Crab Orchard Class 1A Regional. Gone are Tyler Sopczak, Kenton Parmley, Taylor Allred, Jonathan Lingle and Andrew Rowe. They took with them a lot of points, rebounds, assists and floor burns with them to graduation. But rest assured that head coach Todd Tripp (83-30 in four seasons at Goreville) won’t miss a beat with this new group coming back. The returning ones that were factored into last season’s third place SEC team will bring their lunch pales and hardhats. The seniors – three of them – have experience. Drew Trovillion – a 6-foot-5 forward – averaged 6.8 points a game last season for the Blackcats and was listed first by Tripp. Trovillion also grabbed 4.1 rebounds a night – second on the club to Sopczak last winter. The other to classmates are 6-foot guard Cyle Harner and 6-foot-5 Casey Rautenstrauch. Both of these kids averaged 1.5 points a game last season. It is the junior class that will be the dynamic in the success or failure this season. Brandon Potocki – a 6-foot-3 junior – brings back the best scoring average on the squad from 2007-08. Potocki scored at a 9.3 points per game clip and averaged 3.7 boards. Martin Powell and Tyler Shadowens are two other juniors mentioned. Powell is a 6-foot-2 forward while Shadowens is a 5-foot-10 guard. Shad averaged 3.4 points and 1.8 points a game as a sophomore. None of those numbers are going to scare anyone. But looking at this coaches’ track record – the Blackcats will still get in your grill each night and the points will show up. ”We have more size than we have had in a while this year,” said Tripp – who with one good season will get his overall record (104-119) “Back in Black.” “We need our guards to step up!” OUTLOOK – Hard working teams like this one will find ways to make their own luck. Coach Tripp likes his basketball up-tempo and 84 feet. Don’t look for any of that to change this season. Depth may be a question mark early as he may have to dip into his underclass a bit more than he would like. The Harrisburg Invitational Tournament is a new one for this program and Coach Tripp will know in a hurry what additional work will need to be done. I never count this program out of any championship hunt in the SEC; regular season or the tournament. I won’t do that this year, either. 4. DONGOLA Head coach Brad Norman has one of the top players in the SEC returning for his senior season with a shot at getting to 1,000-points. Allen Sadler – a two-year starter coming into his senior season – is back in the Demons’ lineup. Sadler is a 6-foot guard who totaled 16.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists a game for Dongola last winter. Chayse Swink is a 6-foot senior guard for Coach Norman. Swink also had impressive numbers as he ended his season last February with 11.2 points per game to go with 5.5 rebounds. He also dished out three assists per contest. The other returning starter for Dongola is Timmy Williams – a 6-foot-3 junior. Williams added 7.3 points and 4.5 boards a game. Coach Norman will have to come up with the fourth and fifth starters and one of them will be a player who didn’t suit up as a junior. Six-foot-two senior Cody Palmer who play organized basketball for the first time. Coach Norman believes that despite his inexperience this one will help the Demons out in the frontcourt. Look for Shane Baker- a 6-foot junior guard and 5-foot-9 junior guard Chris Cohin to get playing time in the backcourt this season. This team had a great season in 2006-07 going 18-7 and winning a regional game at Trico before falling to the host Pioneers. Dongola had not won a regional game in six years before topping Cobden, 68-59. “We did lose some key players to graduation, but I believe we have some solid young players that will fill those spots,” said Coach Norman – who is 33-18 overall as a head coach at his alma mater. “We have great leadership with Chayse Swink and Allen Sadler. They have been playing varsity for four years, and I look for them to lead us throughout the season. We added Graves County, Cairo and the Chester Tournament to our schedule. This year we will have to work harder to be as competitive as last year, but I see absolutely no reason why we can’t contend.” OUTLOOK – The Demons seem to be on the right track in getting a much-needed winning season in 2007-08. Winning can become quite contagious and with three returning starters back it won’t a stretch to see Dongola playing even better this season. With Sadler and Swink both being scoring threats – the Demons should end up in the top tier of the SEC. 5. SHAWNEE Coach Corey Barker has something going on over in Wolf Lake as he has held together a young group of kids that took some loses in stride this past season. These players have matured into a threat in the South Egyptian Conference for the 2008-09 campaign. And all of them are back! The Redskins finished 2-21 last season (2-6 in the SEC) but 11 of the losses were by 10 points or less. Coach Barker believes his kids will win those close games this season. His two senior starters are veterans with one of them having played varsity since he was a freshman. Six-foot senior guard Clay Murphy averaged a team-high 17.6 points a game as a junior. He had a season-high 30 points against defensive minded Goreville last January. Murphy has been around a long time with this program and this could be a year where the ‘Skins get above .500 and challenge for a spot near the top of this conference. Cody McAlister is a 6-foot senior forward who was second on the Shawnee list with 10.8 points a night. Barker has three juniors that were starters as sophomores last winter. Six-foot-one junior forward Tyler Davis (10.7 p.p.g.) along with Kyle Griggs – a 6-foot point guard (1.5 p.p.g.) and Kyle Stevens (3.9 p.p.g.) will return to their starting roles. Stevens didn’t play early in the season but earned his way into the starting rotation. Two other kids played a lot last season – 5-foot-9 sophomore Ty McMahon and 5-foot-10 sophomore Aaron Lambdin. Coach Barker mentioned three players who didn’t play last season that are going to suit up this winter. Tyler Spurlock – a 6-foot-3 center – 5-foot-11 junior Tyler Glidewell and 6-foot-2 senior Austin Carver will help with depth. “I am really looking forward to this season coming off of last season,” said Barker – who is 15-35 in two years as the Redskins head coach. “We are hoping to rebound with a good season. I look for our two senior starters (Murphy and McAlister) to lead our team with Davis and Griggs stepping into leadership roles also. We will have more depth this season, which should give us a lot of options as the season progresses. We look to be very competitive in our conference and hope to build on our experiences from last season.” OUTLOOK – This team should win a lot more than two games this winter. Only a clear lack of size is a drawback as the season begins. They get an extra week of practice as they prepare for a much improved Trico Pioneer Invitational Tournament that begins December 1. Murphy should reach 1,000-points for his career this season and he has scoring help with McAlister and Griggs. If they can find a way to out hustle opponents for rebounds and can defend a bit better – Shawnee could end up with more wins than losses in 2008-09. 6. EGYPTIAN Losing its two top scorers from a season ago – the Pharaohs enter the 2008-09 season with some points to replace. Gone from the Red and Blue are Zed Woodson (17.3 p.p.g.) and Darius Ballentine (11.3 p.p.g.) from a team that finished 16-11 overall and 3-4 in the South Egyptian. But everyone else is back for head coach Matt Mandrell whose team fell to Century in the first round at the Trico 1A Regional. Three of the kids back are starters. Brady Buckley is a 6-foot-1 senior forward who tossed in 9.4 points a night year. Six-foot-three junior center Matt Petermichael added seven points per contest while classmate Lamont Toots – a 6-foot guard marked the book at 5.4 p.p.g. Rayshaun Woodson – a 6-foot-2 guard – averaged 3.4 points. Coach Mandrell listed 6-foot-1 senior center Charlie Holman – Tim Ward who is a 6-foot junior forward and Shelton Pender who is a 5-foot-11 guard as player that should help. ”We lost two good players from last year’s team but we have a lot of players that have two or more years with varsity experience,” said Coach Mandrell. “We hope to be competitive with the teams on our schedule. Hopefully we can build on our 16-11 season.” OUTLOOK – The loss of Woodson and Ballentine will hurt the most during an early brutal stretch in which the Pharaohs will travel to Christopher and Trico for back-to-back tournaments (eight games in 12 days) against some good teams. If this club can manage to win a few of these games then perhaps the rest of the schedule will be a bit more kind. The four main point producers that return will have to get even better offensively if Egyptian is going to get close to their fine won-loss mark from 2007-08. 7. COBDEN Five seniors return for the Appleknockers that spent minutes on varsity floor for the 7-18 club that finished next to last in the South Egyptian Conference. Three of them were starters on a club that won more games than the previous season improving on a 4-21 2006-07 mark. But lets take a look at what is missing first. Three seniors that were team leaders last season have departed via “cap and gown.” Five-foot-eleven senior point guard Joe Davidson had good numbers with 8.8 points and 3.4 assists a game. Top scorer 5-foot-10 senior guard Dustin Newberry led the Appleknockers with 9.5 p.p.g to go with 4.9 r.p.g. Six-foot-one senior Ty Quertermous dropped an average of 7.7 points per game on opponents. All three of those kids leave big shoes to fill in Cobden. But head coach Jeff Shillinger has some familiar names on the roster this season to step forward. Six-foot-one senior Ryan Brumleve is the top gun back for Cobden after having a good junior season with 8.6 points a game to go with 5.4 rebounds. Six-foot-two junior guard Lonnie Clark scored eight points a game to go with his 3.2 rebounds. He also dished out a few assists (1.5 a.p.g.). Another senior that Coach Shillinger mention was Cody Gulledge – a 6-foot-1 post player – who added 2.6 p.p.g. in 22 games as a junior. Two other seniors will be part of the battle for court time. Scott Nance – a 6-foot forward – and 6-foot-2 senior forward Devon Sadler (an Anna-Jonesboro transfer) will be part of the competition. Two strong suited juniors look promising as Steve Draper and Alex Sweitzer step up into starting roles. Draper added 4.4 points per night to the scoring as a sophomore while Sweitzer netted 1.7 per. That is a solid five to open the season with. Cobden has a pair of sophomores that should be part of the minutes shared. Six-foot-four frontcourt player Bo Gearhart made it into nine of the Appleknockers’ contests as a freshman last winter. Robby Lehr – a 6-foot guard – moved up to play in the last three varsity games for Cobden. “Our seniors will be looked upon for leadership and we are expecting some underclassmen to contribute,” said Coach Shillinger who is 11-32 in two seasons at Cobden. “Brumleve, Clark, and Gulledge will have to be on top of their game both offensively and defensively. We expect Draper and Sweitzer to come in off the bench and do good things. Sophomores expecting to see a lot of varsity action include Bo Gearhart and Roby Lehr. 8. JOPPA With a 10-15 record last season the Rangers will look for improvement with five players back who all averaged over six points a game. Scoring shouldn’t be a problem for Coach Don Canada’s club in 2008-09. Defensively might be another story. The Rangers gave up a lot of points in 2007-08 including 78 points to Zeigler-Royalton (78-36) in their first round loss at the Crab Orchard 1A Regional. But some points and rebounds return for Joppa. Five-foot-eight senior Andrew Leonard returns with his 17.0 p.p.g. and three r.p.g average. On down this list is a good one in the paint – 6-foot-2 senior center Mike Nagy. Nagy’s averages were identical – 10 points and 10 rebounds a game according to Coach Canada. Five-foot-ten senior forward Ethan Wilke scored six points and averaged nine boards. The fifth player on the list with significant varsity stats is Brian Miller – a 5-foot-10 junior guard who chipped home six points and three rebounds. The coach listed several players he expects to help out this season. All of them are underclassmen and they all stand 5-foot-10 to 5-foot-8. Andy Lewis and Cody Shelby are juniors while Tucker Harris, Carson Godfry, Jake Wolfe and Ricky Sharp are sophomores. All will likely get a shot at playing minutes in Coach Canada’s scheme. OUTLOOK – The Rangers have plenty of players up and down the roster and some offensive punch. But the bottom line in this scoring friendly conference is how well can you defend. Leonard and Nagy will have to continue scoring and leading the troops. They will have to get better in guarding people to get over .500. The Rangers managed just one SEC win last season and defense and rebounding will be tantamount if they are to improve in this conference.