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.

Lawrenceville finished third at 5-2 but took home the LIC Tournament championship.

That is a pretty brief summary of what happened in the league during the regular season.

But in the postseason, only Lawrenceville made any noise.

The Indians won their second regional title in three seasons, with the most recent one with first year head coach Tad Shick.

Lawrenceville won the 2A Paris championship with a 57-41 win over the host Tigers.

Warrensburg-Latham ended the season for the Tribe (24-8) with a 47-43 win at the Tolono Unity Sectional.

This season the Indians have dropped down into 1A for the first time and, with the talent returning, they should be one of the Deep South threats to get to the state finals.

Head coach Tom Brannan and his Casey-Westfield club made it to a regional final but dropped a heartbreaking decision to Tuscola, 57-54 at Chrisman, ending the campaign at 21-8.

In one of those geography anomalies with tournament seeding, Marshall went south to Fairfield for a regional and they lost in the semifinals to the host Mules while Lawrenceville went north.

Coach Logan Eitel and his Lions finished 17-12 overall in his second season coaching his old high school.

Paris head coach Chase Brinkley's sixth season at the school produced his first winning season (18-15) and a trip to a regional title game.

The Tigers last won a regional title in 2013-14, where they advanced to a super-sectional.

Olney Richland County will have a new head coach as Rob Flanagan retired and is now an assistant under his nephew at Woodlawn.

Andy Thomann, a familiar last name in this county, takes over with some talent returning from a 14-15 club that didn't last long in the 3A Carbondale Regional, losing to Marion.

For the first time in many seasons, the Tigers will now be classified as 2A having dropped in enrollment to below the cutoff.

A very young Robinson squad last winter under head coach Randy Bishop went through some on the job training and took some defeats in stride (5-25, 1-6), losing to Cumberland at Paris to finish the season.

Bishop believes this will help his squad in the long run and he expects improvement in 2025-26.

After a difficult start to the basketball season last winter, Mt. Carmel head basketball coach Justin Carpenter resigned and assistant coach Sione Militoni finished out the year.

The new head coach is Kyle Buss and he inherits a club that finished dead last in the LIC (0-7) and just 9-22 overall.

Newton mentor Troy Bierman saw his team make a quick exit from the Paris Regional, losing to Oblong/Palestine/Hutsonville in the first round.

The Eagles didn't put everything together last winter, finishing 10-19, 3-4.

There is plenty of talent roaming the halls of the LIC schools to make the race to the top interesting.

His Casey-Westfield Warriors were in control, leading the other Warriors 44-33 heading into the final eight minutes in the title tilt at Chrisman.

However Tuscola turned things with a 24-10 final eight minutes, eliminating Casey-Westfield, 57-54.

It was the second-consecutive season they dropped a regional final to Tuscola.

You have to go back three seasons to see the last C-W regional championship club and Coach Brannan is hoping that his 2025-26 squad will have what it takes to cut down some postseason nets.

MIA from last season are seniors starters guard Ryan Richards, guard Hayden Parcel, forward Jackson Maulding and reserve guard Pedro Barros-Costa who have moved on.

Parcell was the top scorer for the Warriors last season (20.3 p.p.g.) and garnered an ABV 1A first team selection as well as all-LIC.

They were major cogs of a 21-8 team that ended up tied for first in the Little Illini Conference.

Coach Brannan, who sports over 600-wins in his career will turn to three returning starters and some reserves that have experience as they march into the season looking for more success.

Nolan Clement, a 6-1 senior guard and football quarterback, returns after posting 7.1 points and 4.2 assists a game as a junior.

Six-four senior Luke Karras added 5.3 points and just over seven rebounds each night.

Karras and Clement are both football standouts with Karras taking home all-state football honors and the A Sideline View 1A “Player of the Year.”

Unfortunately the status of Karras, as of this writing, is in limbo after the football season because of a shoulder injury.

Casey-Westfield will have some other kids stepping up with Leighton Jones, a 6-2 senior who is the top returning scorer with just over eight points a night.

Daryn Hupp, a 6-foot senior, a 5-10 senior guard Jackson Julius along with 6-2 senior forward Fred Thomas will give Coach Brannan depth, options and decisions to be made.

Six-three junior guard Jackson High and 6-3 junior forward Will Moore are in the roster blend.

Everyone mentioned earned the “C-W” on the jacket last season.

The Warriors opened last season with eight-consecutive victories, including the championship of the Cumberland Thanksgiving Tournament.

Other highlights were a third place finish at the LIC tournament and regular season wins over Tuscola, Olney Richland County and Lawrenceville.

The heartbreaking finish to the regional title game will provide incentive heading to this season.

“We're going to have a strong defensive minded team this season,” said Coach Brannan, who has 16 LIC championships while at Marshall and Casey-Westfield. “We have experience and athleticism to compete for championships this year.”

If things go as planned this season for Marshall and head coach Logan Eitel, the Lions won't be sharing the top spot in the Little Illini Conference.

They will hog the championship for themselves.

In his previous two seasons running the program, Coach Eitel took over a club that went just 2-25 in 2022-23 and made significant progress.

A 14-16 finish followed by last winter's 17-12 run his been a very good beginning for this coach who is trying to flip the script and get back to how things were when he and his brother were kicking butt in leading the Lions to the state finals back 2008-09.

As for this season, Marshall looks to be on track and they could make a major step forward with six experienced seniors returning.

One of the goals is to add more wins to the overall record and 20-wins always has a nice ring to it.

Although some good seniors left in the spring, perhaps this will be the “Year of the Lion” in the LIC.

Brantley Delp and Trey Scott were seniors on the club a year ago that provided points and leadership for Marshall and will be missed like most graduated seniors.

Nevertheless, Coach Eitel has some experienced kids returning.

The top returning scorer is Payton McGuire, a 6-3 senior guard, who netted a team-best 16.1 points a game. He was also a contributor in other offensive categories with almost five assists and five rebounds per ballgame.

According to Coach Eitel, McGuire is the “glue” for Marshall and he could end up in the top five all-time in the school's history in several categories and will reach 1K in points early this season.

“Our goal is for a 20-win season, and, as I mentioned earlier, we want to be fighting for conference and regional championships. Last year we said our goal was to be competing night-in, night-out and playing in a way that made our community proud. We think we are back on track to building that kind of program again in Marshall. Last year was about raising our standard, but this year will be about maintaining our standard. We’re excited to see what this collection of talent can do this season. We’re excited to once again be playing Marshall basketball,” said Coach Eitel.

Six-four senior forward Garrett Pugh popped home 11.1 points and hauled down a team-leading 9.1 rebounds.

Liam Kiem, a 6-1 senior forward, adds size and strength to the frontcourt for Marshall.

Five-ten Tucker Osborn, 6-2 Bryce Griguhn and 6-5 Bryer Janson all logged into varsity minutes last season and more minutes will come their way in 2025-26.

Coach Eitel is looking for depth on his bench and it looks like he will have some reserve minutes spread between four underclassmen.

Six-one junior Reed Ramey was mentioned as was 5-10 junior Cage Stuckey, a transfer from Robinson.

Zach Jones, a 6-5 sophomore, and 6-4 freshman Tommy Sheehy will end up seeing early season action.

“Whether it’s rebounding, athleticism, or excellent positional awareness, they all bring something different to the floor, and it will be nice to have those options. Last year we had our first winning season since 2020-2021 and our first LIC regular season championship since 2010. There’s a lot to be proud of from last season and a great foundation to build off for this season. We expect again to be in the fight at the top half of the LIC. We would love for these seniors to add a regional championship to their resume,” said Coach Eitel.

No one in southern Illinois is happier with the new IHSA classifications for boy's basketball than Coach Tad Shick at Lawrenceville.

The Indians, after beating the heads against the wall in 2A against larger teams in the past, will now face schools closer to their own size.

This Lawrence County school enrollment dipped to just 291, nine kids below the 2A cutoff, and will now face a postseason in which they have a legitimate shot at getting back to the state finals for the first time since the 1995-96 season in the old two-class system.

Last season the Indians added their 35th boy's basketball regional championship with the win over Paris.

A tough loss to Warrensburg-Latham spoiled the party and closed the Tribe's 38th season with over 20-victories.

Lawrenceville beat some good teams last season, topping Teutopolis, Crawfordsville (IN.), Carlisle County (KY.) and Arcola while splitting contests with Casey-Westfield.

As one of the two smallest schools in the conference (along with C-W) the Indians' league slate and good competition in their other regular season contests will get them ready for important games in February and hopefully March.

Coach Shick did lose a couple of important senior starters, Maddox Pargin and Parker Hardiman, to graduation.

But the ones coming back should not be overlooked and they will get a severe test right off the bat when they host half of the annual Lawrence County Capital Classic the two days after Thanksgiving.

First team ABV 2A first team all-south selection and first team all-LIC Zander Cessna returns for Lawrenceville.

Cessna runs the show for the Tribe and last season led a balanced offensive attack with 12.1 points and 2.8 assists a contest.

Six-three senior guard/forward Jayden Goff also returns (10.1 p.p.g./7.7 r.p.g.) from a quality junior year.

Noah Wilson, a 6-3 senior forward, also cashed in a bunch of chips in netting 11.6 points and 5.5 rebounds as a junior.

Emery Ivers is a 6-2 senior forward and was a part-time starter last winter while 6-4 senior forward Jacek Mickiewicz was one of the first ones off of the bench for Lawrenceville in 2024-25.

Coach Shick will have the luxury of having a couple of other seniors ready for important playing time.

Five-eight point guard Aiden Winningham and 5-10 guard Hunter Gray appeared in double-digit games as juniors and will be more prominent this season.

A couple of juniors; 6-1 Blayton Gossett and 6-1 Isaac Vennard, could also be of help off the pine.

Added all up, the Indians have a lot to look forward to in 2025-26.

“We will have a lot of experience returning. We bring back 75 percent of our scoring and five of our top six rebounders from last years 24-win squad. Cessna runs our offense, can score the ball and is extremely competitive. Goff and Wilson are both incredibly athletic and are playing around the rim. They really bought into the conditioning and weight program this summer and are looking to play after high school. Ivers and Mickiewicz are both strong and athletic players that can get out and run and love to crash the offense glass. If we can bring a tougher mindset on defense and increase our physicality we should have a successful season,” said Coach Shick, who enters his second season as the head coach.

While one era ended in the spring, a new era begins this winter for Olney Richland County boy's basketball.

With the retirement of long-time head basketball coach Rob Flanagan there is a new coach to lead the Tigers' program in 2025-26.

Andrew Thomann is in charge now of a program that was stuck in the rut called 3A postseason basketball.

They have now dropped back down to 2A, a place that size wise they always belonged.

Richland County was always one of the smallest of the 3A teams in the state and it made for some tough regionals to get out of.

Flanagan left behind 477 of his 598 coaching victories at the school but last season wasn't one of the school's best.

The Tigers lost their final six games, including a season ending defeat to Marion in the first round of the 3A postseason.

Two good seniors graduated, Rex Hallam and Arjay Keller, but the rest return for the new coach and system in place.

Hallam runs track at Illinois State University and Keller is at Olney Central College continuing to play basketball.

Keller was the top Tiger in scoring with 15.8 points a game and Hallam was second at 13.4.

When the season begins, 6-8 senior center Casey Thomann returns for his fourth and final prep year as a starter.

His sport and school of choice for the next level has already been decided.

Thomann will head to the University of Illinois to play football as he is a blue chip offensive lineman recruit.

He is also pretty good on the basketball court and his size will continue to be tough for defenses to deal with as he should continue to produce numbers like last season (12.8 p.p.g./6.3 r.p.g.) as a senior.

He could reach 1K in career points and 500 rebounds by the end of the season.

Another of the returning Tiger starters is 6-7 junior Reid Brown, who contributed six-points a game as a sophomore off the bench.

Reed Klingler, a 6-foot senior guard, played in all 29 of the Tigers' games a junior.

Coach Thomann has three other seniors and couple of juniors on his radar for minutes and starting spots.

Six-two senior Owen Kocher also got playing time in most of the varsity games last winter as did 6-1 Carsyn Ameter.

As if Richland County didn't need more size in the lineup, 6-6 senior Brody Thomas will also supply some length to the frontcourt.

The juniors on the list are 6-1 Carter Seaman and 5-11 Ayden Germack.

They will also be counted on for minutes.

They are also one of the teams that begins the season with four games in 36-hours at the Lawrence County Capital Classic so everyone wearing a uniform better get off the bus ready.

“This team is very deep and extremely athletic. We have size, speed, and strength along with 10-12 guys that could all compete for varsity minutes. A large portion of the team also plays football and the Tigers are hoping to make a late season run this fall. It could be a slow start for hoops, but look for this group to gel and be a force in the conference and post-season by February,” said Coach Thomann.

Following a three season run of 59-wins, the Newton Eagles showed the signs of an inexperienced squad last season when they lost some tough games to fall to below .500 and out of the regional on the first night.

Coach Troy Bierman and his crew lost six of their games by single digits, including the 56-51 loss to OPH in the regional.

Graduation took three seniors but the rest return to try to turn things around.

Nick Bierman, Drew Earnest and Elias Weber were on the club last season but have moved on.

However the top three scorers for the Eagles are back.

Kody Bergbower, a 6-foot senior guard, topped the Newton scoring chart with 15.2 points a game last year.

Six-three junior guard Hayden Mulvey finished at 12.8 points per outing.

Senior guard 6-1 Lance Volk added almost eight-points a game.

Another starter back from a year ago is 6-3 junior forward Jacob Oldham

One of the missing pieces to the Newton puzzle a season ago returns.

Drake Wolf, a 6-1 senior guard, missed all of 2024-25 with a broken foot that happened a week before the season started.

He will likely start and be a contributing factor for the Eagles this season.

Coach Bierman will turn to some underclassmen to fill in the blanks.

Sophomore guards 5-10 Chance Mulvey and 6-foot Eli Wolf should provide backcourt assistance and 6-foot junior forward Parker Harris will help out up front.

“We were young and inexperienced last year, and it showed in our lack of consistency and inability to close out games. Our guys are eager to prove themselves. We had a good summer. The players were committed to improving and taking the next step, learning from their experiences of last year,” said Coach Bierman, who is went over 100-wins last year, his seventh season at the helm.

Head coach Randy Bishop didn't have what you would call a dream season in 2024-25 in his first run at Robinson.

Unless you refer to it as a nightmare.

Bishop took the job after Coach Mack Thompson moved on to Effingham and the Maroons tasted the bitter pill of injuries and inexperience.

It showed on the scoreboard and the won-loss columns.

Robinson managed just five wins as they opened the campaign with eight-consecutive losses and, at one point, sat at 1-18.

But things got a bit better late in the season, which is a good sign for the future.

They went 4-6 in their final 10 regular season games before a narrow regional lost ended the year.

Coach Bishop has some kids returning that have potential to be much improved.

Two are starters from a year ago.

Six-seven junior center Cruz Dunlap and 6-1 junior guard Isacc Hardeman were part of the learning experience.

One of the players returning missed a bunch of last winter's schedule with an injury but he is back.

Six-six junior Evan Gilmore (concussion issues) did not play as a sophomore but he returns for the winter.

More size on the floor will come from 6-6 senior forward Andrew Sparks.

The backcourt will also have 5-9 junior guard Gunner Holt and 5-8 senior guard Grayson Brown.

Another one on the injury shelf from a year ago, 6-3 senior Mason Arnone, is also back.

Two other seniors mentioned; 6-2 forward Brandon Turner and 5-6 senior guard Trevor Popodopolus will help out.

Coach Bishop also has 6-2 sophomore forward Jaxson Hyers and 5-6 freshman guard Jet Holt.

“Our team struggled last season with injuries and a new system. We had no returning starters and one player who had played varsity basketball. Throw in a tough schedule and the results was a 5-25 season. I'm optimistic with the return of players that had injuries,” said Coach Bishop, who is nearing the 800-win total for his career. “The team has worked hard in the off season so we will be better. We have three players that are over 6-6, so we have good length. We have gotten better defensively, last season we couldn't defend a scarecrow. I have great kids that are very coachable and play hard. Our season basically comes down to how well we shoot the ball.

Coach Bishop believes the LIC will be very competitive.

“The top three teams in LIC (Lawrenceville, Casey-Westfield, Olney) are good but the other teams in the conference are very capable of beating any of the top three on any given night. We have strong coaches in the LIC that prepare for each team, so you had better come to play or you will get beat.”

Unfortunately for head coach Chase Brinkley, his Paris Tigers are missing their top scorer and play-maker from a season ago as they try to navigate through the 2025-26 season.

Five-ten senior guard Jackson Rigdon, a first team all-LIC pick and career assist leader at the school, moved on to play basketball at Lakeland College.

Rigdon averaged 17.1 points a game, one of two Paris players with a double-figure scoring average.

Another senior teammate who left is Jacob Staley, a 6-foot senior, who was a starter for the Tigers 18-15 squad.

But the returning players have the potential to keep the Tigers on a winning path.

Second team all-LIC selection Carter Eastham, a 6-3 senior, returns for Coach Brinkley.

Eastham ended up with 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds a night as a junior.

Two other seniors, 6-foot guard Karic Vitale and 6-2 guard Carter Crippes averaged 7.4 an 4.4 points per game respectively.

Paris has some underclassmen on the move to help fill the gaps.

Five-eleven junior Brayden Mills and 5-10 junior Madox Hutchings will try to make the grade.

Hutchings played nearly all the varsity games last winter while Mills got in over 20 of the contests.

The new players that Coach Brinkley will count on are 6-3 junior Dawson Rogers, 5-10 sophomore Levi Bartley and 6-1 freshman Marcus Hutchings.

Any other spots will be filled by ones moving up.

Some of the highlights from last season were a second place finish in the annual Danville Schlarman “Topper Classic” during Thanksgiving week and a championship win at the Kansas/Tri-County Holiday Tournament.

Paris ended up fourth in the LIC Tournament and also fourth in the final league standings.

Coach Brinkley hopes to continue to see improvement, as they finished above .500 last season for the first time in 10-years.

“We have a strong, athletic group coming back from last years 18-win season. We have three starters from last years group coming back. However, losing Rigdon will be tough. We will have to replace him by committee this year but we have the personnel to do it. I believe we can matchup up with just about anyone in the conference athletically. It will take time to figure out who will be our go to guy on offense,” said Coach Brinkley.

After a run of winning eight regional championships in 11 seasons, the Mt. Carmel Golden Aces' boy's basketball program took a major step back the last two years.

This will be the program's third coach in four years when Kyle Buss takes over a team coming off of a very mediocre 2024-25 campaign.

The Aces slumped to a 9-22 overall mark with zero conference wins with their head coach resigning during the year and an interim head coach finishing out the season.

By the time Mt. Carmel made it to January, they were just 3-12 overall and in trouble.

The postseason lasted exactly one game; a 55-33 squashing by Fairfield at the Mule Barn to end the year.

But there was just one senior on the squad last year (Andrew Militoni) and everyone else returns.

With the normal success of the football squad heading to the playoffs, it will likely be a late start for Coach Buss to prepare for the season.

Two of the top players returning also are starters on the playoff football squad.

Five-ten junior guard Shain Meador returns for the Aces and he, according to Coach Buss, provides the engine.

He averaged 16.1 points a game to lead the team.

Six-four senior forward Jack Webb is a football tight end and Southern Illinois University recruit and is a physical presence in the lane.

Coach Buss has 6-1 senior Elliot Acree, another football player, who excels on the basketball floor.

Six-two junior Owen Blake was also part of the lineup last season is a much improved player heading into 2025-26.

Rhett Andrews, a 6-4 senior, is another frontcourt player with length for the Aces.

Mt. Carmel has even more size to work with 6-7 senior Will Freeland, who will earn some minutes as will 6-foot senior Brendan Bowser

Coach Buss is high on some underclassmen that will undoubtedly make a run towards starts and essential minutes.

Wade Keepes, a 5-6 sophomore, will be of big help in the backcourt.

Six-four sophomore Elias Knapp has also shown promise and 5-10 junior guard Dean Belt is going to lend a hand handling the ball.

“Shane (Meador) will likely get to 1K points this year,” said Coach Buss.