Moments of jubilation for one team, excruciating mental agony for the other.

For Carterville sophomore Max Lustenberger, the thrill of the moment will live in .....

But the next rung on the ladder this postseason was much easier to climb when the Spartans took the floor Tuesday night at the 1A Trico Sectional.

03/03/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – Taking advantage of a situation is part of the essence of sports in general.

And for the Lawrenceville Indians, a classification drop has put this program in a spot where they could make a serious run to the state finals for the first time since the reached the Elite Eight in 1996.

03/02/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – The 1A sectional being held at Trico this week has some interesting match ups with four teams who all received votes in the final small school boy's basketball poll by the Associated Press.

Waltonville has perhaps the best resume of the group heading to Campbell Hill this week.

Although they have won 24-straight contests since a December defeat against Carterville, they struggled in a win over 1A Webber Township to close the regular season, in which they needed a last second shot to win, and they nearly had .....

In front of a huge crowd the hosts made the most of their opportunity.

Sparta withstood a Woodlawn rally in the fourth quarter and held on for a 55-47 .....

Like a pesky little brother, the Christopher Bearcats were bothersome in the first two quarters to the state-ranked and top-seeded Spartans.

02/23/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – Old timers will remember singer Andy Williams and his famous Christmas song “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

ABV begs to differ.

The Blackcats and head coach Todd Tripp had already clinched the Black Diamond Conference West Division championship and were voted the top-seed in their 1A sub-sectional that feeds into the Cobden Regional.

You would have to turn back the calendar to February 8, 2025; a 62-56 triumph over Cobden, to find the last victory.

02/20/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARTERVILLE - For a team that entered the 2025-26 basketball season with a lot of question marks and expectations, the answers provided this regular season proved to be correct in the final exam.

The Carterville Lions put together a sparkling regular season finale on Friday night ...

02/19/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER - Coach Eric Stallman and his Christopher Bearcats checked all of the boxes in their convincing Senior Night win Thursday night.

They took care of a home conference and regular season finale, beat their long-time Franklin County rival and tuned up for the postseason while getting a bunch of players some PT.

But head coach Stote Reeder wasn't overjoyed by the performance of his crew in the middle two quarters of his team's 28th victory.

Needing just a win over Lebanon to clinch the outright championship of the Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division, Coach Conrad Widdersheim and his deep roster were way too much for the Greyhounds.

It now seems like everyone and their brother have had a say in what is going in southern Illinois hoops but now it is time to get serious.

Today the coaches will send in their seedings for the sub-sectionals and the IHSA .....

One of the additions was to play at the East Alton-Wood River Shootout against .....

With bad weather throwing a big monkey wrench into everything, the teams can get back to conference games and tuning up for the only important part of the process – the state tournament.

02/02/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
ULLIN - Ironically on the trip home from Monday night's game between Mounds Meridian and Century a classic rock song played on a local radio station that has a key lyric in it that describes both the outcome of an important South Egyptian Conference game and also the overall league dominance in boy's basketball by the Bobcats in the history of this league.

01/30/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG – Hardin County head coach Rodney Lane doesn't really like playing any sort of zone defense but Saturday, with some first half foul trouble he reluctantly switched from his usual man-to-man and it allowed Norris City-Omaha-Enfield to score the final eight-points of the first half.

This scoring run closed the Fighting Cardinals' deficit to just 30-28 at the break.

01/30/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
ROBINSON - Friday night's championship game of the 54th annual Little Illini Conference Tournament for Lawrenceville and their fan base was like a movie that starts out confusing and slow but gets better the further along you go.

The Indians finally shifted into gear at the end of the second quarter as the plot of the film quickly turned into an exciting finish.

A couple of the tournaments will have to wait for championships to be decided at future dates.

That's where Nashville senior Maddox Ritzel heated up the basketball nets.

But in the end, the Mules just couldn't quite reach the mountain top.

Coach Sweitzer and his team made sure of that spot in the finale by blistering South Egyptian Conference rival Dongola on Thursday night.

No tie-breakers, no coin flips, no Czechoslovakian judges' decisions.

Just win your games and you get to display the hardware.

Invitationals and conference tournaments abound in the next 14 days.

Most of the events feature not so stellar first round match ups in either brackets ....

01/17/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
LOUISVILLE - After a couple of tough losses the previous week on the road (Webber Township, Altamont) Woodlawn Cardinals were looking to get back on track.

They found a good spot to rally the troops.

Clay County.

01/13/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
OKAWVILLE - The defense that Waltonville threw at host Okawville on Tuesday night had very few, if any, flaws to it.

While the offense didn't light up the scoreboard, the other end of the floor was more like a brick wall.

The problem for Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran is that Sparta was much better at it.

In 1A it it much more interesting than 2A.

It can be said without question, this isn't a good group of 2A teams.

Coach Stote Reeder was slightly concerned heading into the matchup but his anxiety was eased in the first few moments of the contest.

01/09/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
FAIRFIELD - The Lawrenceville Indians, in their Friday night road contest at Fairfield, were like your favorite rock band in concert.

They saved their best songs for last and by the time they finished, there was no need for an encore.

01/08/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
ULLIN - None of the of the statistics from Thursday night's battle of South Egyptian Conference rivals Century and Dongola would win any awards.

However one statistic stood out in the Centurions' 60-33 victory at home over the Demons.

01/06/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - It has become increasingly difficult to come up with new words to describe the impact that Webber Township senior standout Nathaniel Marlow has had on not only his team but southern Illinois high school basketball.

He proves night-after-night who the best 1A player in the Deep South is.

01/03/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
TUSCOLA – The Casey-Westfield versus Tuscola matchup on Saturday afternoon was an important game with the complexity of potential postseason seedings and, on paper, it had the makings of big time classic battle between highly ranked 1A teams.

It turned out to be a one-sided contest.

To say I'm tired is an understatement after hitting four holiday tournaments this week, which includes working at the real job.

Many, not all, of you know that I also do an actual full-time job in Carbondale and .....

12/30/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE - It's not supposed to be easy to win tournament championships and Tuesday night's title game victory by the Woodlawn Cardinals at the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic was anything but.
In what looked like might be a cake walk for Woodlawn turned out to be a nail-biter by the end.

12/29/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - Taking control early and taking advantage of every opportunity this week, the Carterville Lions are the champions of the 61st annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

After putting together three wins over Carmi-White County, Edwards County and Fairfield, Coach Shane Hawkins' club saved its best performance for the finale.

12/27/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARLINVILLE - When Staunton started out their championship semifinal game against Litchfield on Saturday night, some early shots (including lay ups) were not going in.

The fact of the matter is that Coach Ty Laux's club missed 11 of their field goal attempts in the opening stanza.

It wouldn't be a true statement.

The Musketeers held there own for most of the first two and a half quarters of the final.

12/22/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
JUNCTION – In his post-game interview following his team's win on Monday night, head coach Matt Lawyer said the often used phrase when it comes to organized sports.

“It's better to win ugly than to lose pretty.”

That is exactly how things played out during his Gallatin County Hawks ......

12/20/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
ST. ELMO – The players for the Cumberland Pirates know that when it comes to 3-point shots, green means go.

Head coach Justin Roedl doesn't have a stop sign when it comes to his guards launching shots from long-range and Saturday night in the title game of the 65th annual St. Elmo Holiday Tournament, this was a fact.

However senior scoring machine Nathaniel Marlow was having “none of that.”

The 6-3 guard lit up his rivals with an onslaught of shots from all over the court .....

The Warriors struggles finding the basket were real, especially in the first half.

Outscoring the Wildcats in the middle two quarters to break away, Cairo led 67-48 heading into the final eight minutes and looked to coast home.

The Lions threw a brick wall at Thompsonville in the final game of the opening day, forcing 18-turnovers, which turned out to be the same amount of points they .....

12/11/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
TAMMS - Although they have a much different look than they did last year, the Meridian Bobcats are still the top dogs in the South Egyptian Conference.

Despite struggles in the early going of the 2025-26 season going into their conference opener on Thursday night, there is a quick way of getting well for this program.

12/06/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
DUQUOIN - For the Sparta Bulldogs, pressure is the name of the game.

It showed this week at the DuQuoin “Tip-Off Classic.”

Coach Jordan Beckley had his team cranking up the heat on opponents and the Herrin Tigers were the ones that got burned on Saturday.

But, as in many facets of life like sports, it doesn't always have to be.

The Lions jumped out to an early lead and pulled away late for a 71-48 victory .....

But Cobden failed to walk through the open door.

The Hornets defense forced 15 turnovers, eight in the first half, and senior forward/guard Maddox Ritzel took care a bunch of the offense in a 67-59 victory.

11/27/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who frequent my website and follow me on social media. With my preview being finished and the 27th season of A Baseline View having commenced this week, I have a few minutes today to address an important topic that keeps rearing its ugly head each year with even more frequency.

The elephant in the room.

If you're surfing the web on social media sites (Facebook, X, etc) and you see any of my photos, writings, or any other content from my website, rest assured that the person, or persons, operating that page or blog DO NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO USE MY CONTENT.

What they're doing is STEALING. There is no other word for it. These vermin are too lazy to go out and do the work themselves so they search around and take things that don't belong to them so they can somehow feel important.

They steal from me and other organizations.

I have people who I work with in legit media who let me know when they see my stuff on other sites because I don't have time to look around to see who is taking my intellectual properties.

When this happens I take action. I call them out on it.

I'm sure as fans you have seen some of their pages, full of “congratulations” posts and graphics lifted from other publications.

It's not news. It is just BS.

The premise is that they're “doing it for the kids.”

The truth is they're doing it for themselves.

If they really cared about the kids, they would get out there and do the work.

They would purchase a camera, buy a domain name and build a website.

They would pay to have it hosted and they would, more importantly, pay their dues like the rest of us who do it right way.

Even more importantly they would set an example for the student athletes that taking things that don't belong to you is WRONG.

There are a few local papers who have asked me permission to use my work in some of their publications and I say YES because we work together.

They give me credit but they always ask first.

If a school, coach, player, or parent would like a full version of a photo I have posted on my website, if you ask for it, it is free.

As long as it doesn't end up in on one of the pretenders' social media pages, I'm okay with that.

If a player has an X account or Facebook page and they want a nice photo or something you can print up and hang on your wall, hit me up and I will help you out.

But I will not tolerate people stilling my work for their own profits on their own social media pages.

That type of person has zero credibility.

I don't know if it was poor parenting or poor education, but they should have been taught right from wrong and that taking things that don't belong to you will get you in trouble.

The worse part about it is that many fans, mostly parents, seem to have no issues with them stealing from people like me as long as their kids get highlighted on the web.

Again, wrong.

I threw one of these clowns under the bus a few weeks ago when I discovered that he not only took one of my photos without my permission but he did the same thing to some other news outlets.

He actually, in one of his posts, told the world that he was taking photos from people and said “If I posted one of them without giving you credit please let me know and I will credit you.”

It's the equivalent of stealing my wallet and then admitting that you picked my pocket.

“Yes, it was your wallet.”

He was a guy up north and after called him out on his BS he shut his Facebook page down.

The worst part about all of it is that he/they don't believe what they're doing is wrong.

Either way, one down, many more to go.

The sad thing is that myself and my friends in journalism should never have to be watchdogs in policing the web.

We should never have to worry about posted content being stolen.

Yet here we are.

The first thing was that they can win without top-gun Nathaniel Marlow .....

11/25/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
NORRIS CITY – It was quite the battle between arguably the best to teams in the Greater Egyptian Conference teams on Tuesday night in the season opener for both Norris City-Omaha-Enfield and Hardin County.

Each team had a bad quarter with Hardin County (second) and NCOE (third) allowing the Cardinals to get ahead before the Cougars rallied.

The Patoka/Odin mentor and Patoka graduate, who took over this season for long time mentor Joe Eddy, saw his team put things together with a big third quarter and held off the host Christopher Bearcats late in the game to advance to Wednesday night's ....

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - This is the part of the preview that ABV refers to as “Programs Without Partners.”

A mixture of teams that are either full-time independents or are part of conferences in which not all of the schools responded to the annual preview questionnaire.

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Last winter three of the teams in the South Central Conference finished with overall .500 plus records and two of the clubs; champion Staunton and runner-up Greenville, made it to the 20-win mark.

For the Bulldogs and head coach Ty Laux, it was a special season with a regional championship for the first time since 1993.

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - When you look back one season in the Little Illini Conference, there are few things to factor into the 2025-26.

Casey-Westfield and Marshall shared the conference regular season championship, with each team finishing 6-1.

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - In the Cahokia Conference last season, if you look at all three divisions of this long-standing league, you will find that only two of the 18 teams won postseason plaques.

Both Breese Central and Okawville took home regional championships.

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - If one were to compare the ravages of war to in a basketball sense, the battles of high school basketball in the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference are very similar.

The top teams in both the Mississippi and Ohio Division of this now 33 year old .....

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - In five of the last six seasons of boy's basketball in the Black Diamond Conference West Division, the Goreville Blackcats took home top honors.

Coach Todd Tripp and Company have rolled up an impressive run of championships, including regional championships and a pair of sectional titles.

11/22/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - The finish of the 2024-25 National Trail Conference season wasn't completed until the next to last day of the state tournament.

Because Effingham St. Anthony made it to the state finals in Class 1A, finishing fourth.

11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - The Egyptian Illini Conference, as most fans in the area know, is a unique set up with three of the members also belonging to other conferences.

St. Elmo/Brownstown and CHBC are also in the National Trail, Patoka/Odin is in the Midland Trail and Martinsville also belongs to the Little Okaw Valley.

Other than a brief run by Cobden during the covid19 season in 2020-21, the Bobcats have owned this league.

11/22/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - The 2025-26 Greater Egyptian Conference will have one noticeable absence with the season begins.

Long-time and successful coach Jon Brown won't be storming up and down the sidelines for Crab Orchard.

11/22/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - When you go to a game this season in the Midland Trail Conference, you will need to pick up one of the rosters they hand out because there have been a slew of changes for the teams set to compete in 2025-26.

Apparently the transfer portal (joking) was wide open in this part of the Deep South.