Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference - Mississippi Division

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Pinckneyville has high hopes, big goals
Du Quoin, Nashville will be big hurdles; Sparta, A-J, Chester round out the pack

SIRR
Mississppi Divsion
Projected Order of Finish
1. PINCKNEYVILLE
2. DU QUOIN
3. NASHVILLE
4. SPARTA
5. ANNA-JONESBORO
6. CHESTER

BY JACK BULLOCK
The Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference has owned the Carbondale Supersectional in the past ten seasons but - with the change to four-classes and a certain geography shift - that dominance could be challenged this season and beyond.
Since March of 1994 – the SIRR has represented the Deep South at the Class A State Finals 11 times in 14 tires.
Nashville (2) and Pinckneyville (1) have gone to Peoria in the past three seasons.
But with unknown distances of travel ahead – teams from the Deep South may find themselves hundreds of miles away playing a game just to get to the Final Four.
So when talking about the Mississippi Division one must begin with Pinckneyville and Nashville - two fine programs.
The Panthers probably feel it is their turn this season after great expectations from a year ago came tumbling down due - for the most part – to the Nashville Hornets.
These state-ranked rivals hooked up three times last season with head coach Darin Lee’s squad getting the best of the Panthers each time – including a 52-43 Herrin Class A Sectional title game win.
The Lucas O’Rear led Hornets were unbeaten and ranked number one in the state but failed to win a state crown after falling to Teutopolis in the state quarterfinals.
Pinckneyville – who in their last trip to Peoria brought home fourth place honors in 2006 – have a better squad on paper this season than Nashville.
But many – including ABV – thought that same thing at the beginning of the 2006-07 campaign and it turned out to be just the opposite.
As for this season the Panthers have one of the top guards in the state returning while the Hornets will rebuild around their lone returning starter.
But before these two powers begin thinking that this will once again be a two-horse race in the Mississippi Division they should take notice of a pretty good team forming in a different town in Perry County.
Mike Crews has an athletic bunch returning at Du Quoin that could turn the tables on those two in a hurry this winter.
Sparta and Chester will once again break in new coaches while Anna-Jonesboro’s fortunes have slipped a bit in the past two seasons.
As for projections in the SIRR Miss – the top two will probably stay the same but the gap between them and the next one on the list has closed considerably.
In fact ABV believes the Indians will slide in between those powers in the final Mississippi Division standings.
1. PINCKNEYVILLE
The Panthers picked a bad year (2006-07) to have one of their better teams in the storied history of this school.
Losing three games to a rival in a season is tough.
Losing three games to a rival after being ranked as high as number two in the state is even tougher.
But there is a new day in Pinckneyville and with the returning talent back wearing Columbia and Blue – the Panthers are the ABV Class 2A favorite (again) to go to Peoria in the first season of four-class basketball. But they aren’t the overwhelming pick as they have been previously.
In spite of graduation losses that took away five seniors and a trio of starters along with the retirement of head coach Dick Corn – Pinckneyville reloads with a strong club for new head coach Bob Waggoner.
Kyle Cassity is a 6-foot-5 guard who can do it all on both ends of the floor.
He is the Panthers top defensive stopper. He can handle and shoot the ball well. He received a lot of awards from last season that included a spot on the ABV Carbondale Supersectional Area First Team. Mark down more praise in 2007-08.
Joining him on the return list are nine senior classmates – making this club as veteran a bunch (Varsity and JV play included) as there is in the state.
The starting unit will likely feature Hayden Hicks – a 6-foot-2 senior lefty guard.
Ryan Rushing was also a starter some of the time as a junior and this 6-foot-1 senior will be back in the backcourt for Coach Waggoner.
Collin Woodside is also a backcourt player and he will also be in the primetime mix. Woodside is a 6-foot-1 guard and if this coach wants to go small and quick – these four will be on the floor.
Add the name Brandon Hardin to the list of backcourt players. Hardin is 5-foot-11 and a senior.
When looking for size the names Miles Priebe and Eric Malinski pop off the page.
Both are 6-foot-5 seniors but very inexperienced when it comes to varsity playing time.
Waggoner also mentioned one other senior – 5-foot-9 Nick Logan – as one that will likely see some playing time.
OUTLOOK – Not seeing longtime head coach Dick Corn on the sidelines will take some getting used to. But Coach Waggoner knows his stuff and the transition into the new era will be a smooth one rest assured. This season – with all these seniors in uniform – should produce no excuses. They will be favored to get to state and rightfully so. Cassity is the best defender to wear the Panther garb since Tim Bauersachs led this school to its last state championship in 2001. If Cassity can handle the enormous responsibility of being a team leader and top player – and the untested big kids come through under pressure - Pinckneyville can add another state finals trip to the legacy.
2. DU QUOIN
With four starters expected back and a host of returning experience from the bench the Du Quoin Indians will be one of the newsmakers in the Deep South.
Coach Mike Crews – once these kids get into basketball shape after the annual extended football season – will have the athletes to give Pinckneyville and Nashville fits.
This Tribe (14-13 overall, 3-6 in the Mississippi) should improve on last season’s lessons.
With just a single starter missing – 5-foot-11 guard Ridge Thompson – ABV Honorable Mention Carbondale Supersectional Area – look for DQ to be A-OK in 2007-08.
Most of the previous editions of Indian basketball have been cumbersome with large football playing bodies filling the uni’s.
But this group – at least the staring backcourt – is fast enough to make things interesting in the SIRR.
Scottie Anders is a 5-foot-11 senior guard that has started games since his freshman season. His eight points and four assists a game qualify him to continue running things from the backcourt.
The first kid off the bench for Du Quoin last season will get to hear his name announced in the starting line up in 2007-08.
Trey Thompson has the right first name for a basketball player who can drill home long-range shots. The 6-foot-3 senior scored 14.7 points a game off the Indians bench as a junior and could hit the 3-point shot better than the rest of the Indians.
Anders and Thompson together should keep DQ in games but up front is where the real story will be told.
A pair of dinged up senior forwards should be ready early in the season if not a few weeks into the campaign.
A.J. Hill – the quarterback on the successful Indians football team – has a thumb injury that should be well by the time his team takes on a good field at the annual Tip-Off Classic that begins November 26 at Du Quoin.
Hill scored at a 7.5 p.p.g. rate as a junior while ‘yanking’ down six rebounds per contest.
The other potential forward is Dalton Morgan – a 6-foot-3 senior with nine points per game on his resume from the previous year.
His football shoulder injury might keep him out of the first couple of weeks of the season but shouldn’t curtail him from having a stellar 2007-08.
As for a fifth starter – Du Quoin has a 6-foot-6 player by the name of Evan Booker who ripped down seven rebounds as junior while adding six points to the figures.
Two other Du Quoin players have varsity experience off the bench from last season.
Six-foot-four Matt Gossett (two points a game in varsity play) was the top scorer on the Tribe’s SIRR Mississippi JV champs that finished 15-1.
Seth Flint is a 6-foot-4 junior forward who recently moved back from Princeton (IN.) and is a college prospect in football and baseball.
Beyond those eight you can call the rest talented and untested.
OUTLOOK – The fact that all of these kids played football will probably make the beginning of the season slow. But once this engine builds up some basketball steam it could be a great winter to be a Du Quoin Indians’ Hoop fan. Anders, Morgan, Hill, Thompson and Booker are vets and the younger kids (most notably Gossett) have skills. Although ABV isn’t sure about a big move in the standings – the schedule of games will get these Indians ready for the postseason. A healthy Du Quoin team will be right there in the SIRR Mississippi. As it looks they will have plenty of chances to show what they've got.
3. NASHVILLE
Put down the shovel and do it now.
No one should look at throwing any dirt on top of the Nashville Hornets’ basketball program.
Sure head coach Darin Lee graduated a lot of talent including two-time ABV Carbondale Supersectional Area ‘Player of the Year’ Lucas O’Rear.
Ryan Keller, Matt Engele, Patrick Weathers, Brandon Reckmann and Blaine Morris are also missing as graduated seniors from a 33-1 club that lost a ‘heart crushing’ decision to T-Town last March at Peoria.
O’Rear was not only the POY as a junior and a senior – he also played in four-consecutive sectional title games.
Mike Duff at Eldorado played in three-straight during his teams’ three consecutive trips to Champaign between 1975 and 1977 but a quick search of the records found no one else who played in four.
Most people will expect a huge drop off in the Hornets future but not ABV.
In 1999-2000 this coach had a similar situation.
Coming off of an upset in the Nashville Class A Regional title game to Breese Central and the loss of all five starters to graduation – Coach Lee built his returning club around a key reserve in sixth man Robert Lea.
Nashville flew under the radar all the way to the Elite Eight.
We can fast forward to 2007-08 as this coach will turn to the one returning player with experience.
Tommy Pelczynski is a 6-foot-5 guard/forward who chipped in 6.4 points a game for the Hornets as a junior last winter.
Coach Lee has five other seniors who waited patiently for a shot at playing.
As for the rest of the seniors look for Nick Harre – a 6-foot guard – 6-foot-1 forward Michael Moeller, 6-foot-4 forward Daniel Carson, 6-foot-3 forward Jordan Snead and 5-foot-11 guard Ryan Spenner to compete for the other four starting assignments.
These five seniors combined for just 2.8 points a game for the varsity in 2006-07.
Nashville has two juniors and a sophomore that will be a part of the Hornets’ squad.
The juniors are 6-foot guard David Conner and 5-foot-10 guard Devin Maschhoff and the one sophomore is Greg Guest – a 5-foot-11 guard.
None of these three made it on the stat sheet from last season.
While some will think this will be a down year – the optimism will still be there for this program with the same goals in mind. Win the conference, win twenty games, and make it to Peoria.
Brash goals but with merit and attainable – ABV has learned over the years not to overlook this system.
“Our scoring attack will feature Tommy Pelczynski and we will need to continue our usually strong man-to-man defense to be one of the elite teams in the South,” said Coach Lee – whose record of 379-115 (.767) in 16 years at Nashville and overall mark of 418-130 (.762) in his 18 years speaks and stands on its own. “Our rebounding must improve if we are going to reach any of our goals.”
OUTLOOK – Ok, for the last time, put down the shovel. Nashville will be in the thick of things in this conference, will challenge the 20-win mark and will be one of the tough outs in the postseason. Pelczynski could score 20 points or more a game this season depending on how Coach Lee wants to play it. Nashville will always be able to defend and this coach could have something up his sleeve this season. Does anyone recall the “X” offense? ABV remembers well.
4. SPARTA
Another season, another new basketball coach.
After head coach Ed Belva stepped away from this system following the 2005-06 season – Sparta has used two coaches in two years starting with Donavan McMillian - who left for Freeburg after last season - and now Greg Bass.
Bass was a very good basketball player in his prep days at Salem (Three-time North Egypt Conference pick) and he appears ready for a Bulldog group that will need guidance.
He will start with an inexperienced group after seven of the top eight players have left via graduation and one transfer.
Josh Dolmage was the top scorer while Travis Thurau was second on the squad.
Thurau got the ABV Honorable Mention nod over Dolmage a season ago.
Lee Peck, Tyler Thompson, Dane Walter and Dane Williams graduated while expected starter Caleb Barnett – a 6-foot-6 senior – left the state moving to Wichita (KS.).
Enough with the gloom – the Bulldogs do have some athletes back to learn from this coach.
Six-foot-four senior Shane Peck returns for his final prep try with just 3.7 points a game from last season.
But when crunching the numbers – Peck is the top returning scoring threat.
Coach Bass listed three other returning players that he will look for in the early practice sessions to take charge.
Dartanus White played in eight games as a freshman and that experience bodes well for what could be a starting assignment as a sophomore.
Junior Clay Peck – a 5-foot-10 guard – and 6-foot-1 sophomore Blake Shelton.
When it comes to who else will get playing time – that decision has yet to be made.
Suitors for playing time could consist of 5-foot-10 senior guard Byron Smith, 5-foot-8 senior guard Ethan Lesperance, 5-foot-9 junior guard Jake Hargis and 6-foot-2 junior forward Zack Kempfer.
With new coaches coming in sometimes the slate is wiped clean and everyone gets a shot.
This could be one of those situations.
“We are a very young and untested team but we have some talent here,” said Coach Bass who is in his first season as a head coach after five seasons in the Centralia system as freshman coach and assistant head coach. “One the kids become accustomed to the new system we can hopefully put together a strong performance on a nightly basis. It will be tough because of our conference being one of the strongest in the South.”
OUTLOOK – This coach might want to stick around a while here. Sparta has always had plenty of good athletes and they - on occasion – jump up and bite the big Dawgs in this conference when least expected. This might be one of those learning years where Sparta dips below .500.
5. ANNA-JONESBORO
At A-J extended trips into the football playoffs are turning into a habit. Which obviously means a late start to basketball practice each winter.
This happened again this season as the Wildcats gridiron bunch made it into the second week of the playoffs before seeing the season end.
As with most Class 2A schools – the kids play both sports. At least most do.
Head coach Brian Matzenbacher has just a trio of players back with varsity time spent,
One of the top Wildcats back is J.R Woodward - a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard - who is the lone returning starter.
Two letterwinners are seniors – 5-foot-11 forward Aaron Wright and 5-foot-10 guard Caleb Crabtree.
Three returning letterwinners are juniors.
Lucas Partridge is a 6-foot guard while classmates in the hunt include 5-foot-8 guard Cody Wheaton and 5-foot-11 forward Cody Hubble.
“We will be very inexperienced with only three players on the roster with varsity experience,” said Matzenbacher.
OUTLOOK – From the beginning of the season until the end the Woodward kid will be the Wildcats best player. How far he can take them will determine how much A-J can get back to winning after a horrendous season in which they lost 16 consecutive contests before being victorious in a game in the regional tournament. I don’t see them leapfrogging anyone other that perhaps Chester in this field.
6. CHESTER
Just when you thought that this Yellow Jackets’ program was heading upward the unthinkable happened.
Or maybe it is just typical of how things are done down on the river?
Head coach John Blair got Chester playing well last season – especially at the end of the season.
These kids accomplished a great deal – winning two conference games and then an opening round regional triumph over Woodlawn down at Sparta.
They won nine games for the first time in years and picked up two SIRR Mississippi victories. They had some nice players in place for this coach to continue to improve.
Then Coach Blair was fired out of the blue.
This school had themselves a real basketball coach that was producing success and then it was out the door.
Now they will start over with a veteran coach of 14 years taking on his first head-coaching job at the high school level.
Mike Billingsly is a Robinson native with an extensive background in college, high school and junior high levels.
He takes the reigns of a program that went 9-16 last season before losing to Nashville in the semifinals of the Sparta Class A Regional.
The top player returning for the Jackets is 5-foot-10 senior guard Chris Kern. Kern topped the squad last season as a junior with 11.2 points and nearly three assists a game.
Coach Billingsly has some additional kids to work with which include Clint Bert – a 6-foot-3 senior forward – and 5-foot-11 junior forward Steve Wallace. Both earn letters last season.
Senior Chase Willison – a 6-foot-1 senior – did most of his work at the JV level in 2006-07.
Chester lost nine seniors to graduation and one transfer – Justin Blair.
So the Yellow Jackets will take on a new look this season with the rest of the lineup coming from freshman and sophomores through trials and tribulations.
“I feel we have a good group of smart and athletic young men who should make some noise in the conference if they buy into the philosophy of paying hard, playing smart and playing together every night, no matter who the opponent is,” said Coach Billingsly – who while at Robinson played on back-to-back regional champions. “With a lack of overall size, making hustle plays on both ends of the floor will be crucial to the success of our team. We will play a little more up-tempo than Chester has in the recent years, and rely on good, sound defense to get us stops each time down. With strong commitment we could have a very respectable season in what I feel is a very good conference. Time will tell who is willing to step up and lead his team in the right direction.”
OUTLOOK – It took ABV aback when the Blair firing was made public. This coach in two years had brought some respectability back to the Chester situation. But like most programs over the years that lack a winning attitude top to bottom – it is one-step forward then two steps back. Maybe the school board and others will take a liking to this coach and let him do his thing. With Kern back running the offense perhaps Chester can at least match the win total from a year ago.