TERRE HAUTE — High school basketball coaches and administrators have different wishes about 11 months from now, when pairings for the 2009 Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic are drawn.
Playing late in the day has always been the ideal. Former Terre Haute North coach Jim Jones seemed to get the 8:30 p.m. game every season, which he loved because it enabled his team to have a shootaround before its game.
Now, however, the 10 a.m. game is looking better and better — because for that game, your fans will probably be able to find a place to park. Maybe next winter fans heading to Terre Haute North can set out furniture or kitchen appliances for “dibs” on parking spots, the way it’s done in Chicago on snowy, congested streets.
This year’s Classic at Terre Haute South had its biggest crowds ever, it’s first-ever requests for fans to leave the gym so the teeming masses in the lobby might have a place to sit — my suggestion was, and still is, some kind of auction; I’ll leave the gym and this seat for this amount of money, some of it going to the host school of course — and, as confirmed by Classic historian Brian Mancuso, its first counterfeit tickets and its first marriage proposal. More on those later.
A lot of people also say the games were the best the Classic has ever had. I think that’s inadequate.
Until somebody can show me evidence to the contrary, I’m saying it was the best four days of high school basketball in the history of the world. There were at least nine games that somebody might call the best one they’ve ever seen, and the folks in Marshall will be willing to add three more to that list.
I’m writing this before talking to Pizza Hut exec and tournament director Gary Fears about the groundswell of opinion about moving to a bigger facility, but I think I know what he’s going to say.
One, this year was probably the perfect storm in terms of outstanding teams whose fans turned out in force.
Two, having fans needing to practically fight their way into the gym — like sectionals us old folks remember — is exactly what Gary had in mind. His baby is all grown up.
No further evidence of the latter fact is needed than the ticket “scandal.” When people are trying to enter your event illegally, you must be putting on a good show.
And a lot of the show is about more than basketball. For example:
• Romance — Linton coach Darren Clayton is one of the nicest guys in the business, but I’ve never thought of him as a hopeless romantic. Until now.
But the first day of the Classic was also the second anniversary of his relationship with Kim Frederick. In the bleachers at South, each of his 10 players presented her with a rose — “I wanted to make the kids a part of it,” he said — and he completed the dozen with two roses of his own, plus the unexpected question.
• Reunions — The four days of basketball is also turning into a time for the Wabash Valley to see old friends and make new ones. It’s where I get to see my friend Amelia Walker every year, for example.
It’s also time for former players to come back and hang around the gym, this year’s crowd including Armon Bassett, Nate Blank, Jeremy and Seth Harrold, Toby Stephens, Drew Aff, Cogan Keith, Jared Modesitt, Les Miller, Matt Myers, Kyle McFadden and Shay Stephens, among others. Which leads us to …
• Wardrobe envy — On the first day of the Classic, Armon was wearing an urban-script Cubs jacket; I’m advising him, for his own good, not to leave that lying around where I might happen to pick it up. I’d say that same thing for the Matt Forte jersey the son of Sullivan principal Chris Stitzle was wearing, but I’m not sure it would fit me.
• The usual spot — Despite the crowd, I saw Clyde Funkhouser at his usual perch in the South gym for awhile, although I think he got moved later in the tournament. Not so Lew Drake, who watched his annual 28 games at the top of the bleachers.
• The usual treat — It’s great to have fans, and not the one like Terry the janitor tried to give me. Once again I got some extremely good homemade candy from my favorite couple of South supporters.
• The kids — Again this season freshman players made names for themselves in less than a week. Marshall’s Jacob Duncan was a huge reason that his team won the championship, but what do you say about Sullivan’s Rhett Smith, or Riverton Parke’s Cody Vauters, or West Vigo’s Jordan Houser or Cody Thornton? Virtually every roster had a ninth-grader or two or three ready to make a contribution.
• Funniest moments — Ordinarily, coach Joe Boehler’s admonition to the Vikings of “layups only,” followed approximately one second later by Houser burying a 3-pointer against Sullivan, would be a winner.
But that pales by comparison to Rockville’s David Parsons — a player oblivious to pressure — who, after hitting two baskets in a row during a game against Marshall that had all but one person in the gym tensed up, got trapped along the baseline and tried to escape by shooting. Over the backboard. From behind it.
• Separated at birth? I wouldn’t go so far as to say they look all that much alike, but their size, their styles of play and their roles for their respective teams are virtually identical.
No, I’m not talking about Jake Odum of South and Tyler Wampler of West Vigo. This reference is to Mitch Snyder of Casey and Josh Wilson of Riverton Parke.
• Who wins? The team that may have grown the most from its participation the last few days is probably South Vermillion, although Linton is in the discussion too.
But maybe it’s Marshall that has gained the most. The Lions have won a lot of games the last couple of years with dazzling offensive displays, and had one of those in the championship game. But they got to the final game with grit and defense, and that kind of play is a lot more reliable in the postseason.
“Our defense is progressing every game,” said Trey Brashear, one of the reasons for that, after the championship game.
• • •
• No toppings on this one — In a non-Pizza Hut item, Darcy Dorton of Delta, who will play next fall at Penn State, is Gatorade’s Indiana Volleyball Player of the Year.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Amey Takes Aim
Amey Takes Aim: Recapping the greatest four days in the history of high school basketball
- Amey Takes Aim
-
-
Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs to put TVs to good use
If Jenny had known, she probably wouldn’t have bought that TV.
But four or five years ago, my Fathers Day present — for those unfamiliar with Amey family traditions, the Fathers Day one is “let’s get something we all really want and pretend it’s a gift for Dad” — was a 42-inch Vizio. It’s been used even more than the cell phone I never would have bought for myself, or the TomTom that disappeared since Jenny’s smartphone arrived.
And it came with high-def.
I’m not going to insult you by telling you how great high-def is, because to do so would be to imply that you are even farther behind the technological curve than I am. I’m guessing, however, that not all of you have yet discovered what it does for hockey. -
Amey Takes Aim: Can’t bottle the joy of Amey vacations
The first bad sign was the Gatorade bottle.
In the Bataan-Death-March drive to Orlando that got the Amey family spring break vacation off to a bad start, seeing it between lanes of I-24 — as we zipped along at a 100-miles-in-five-hours clip — filled with an ominous yellow liquid was a little bit scary. And although we didn't stop to check for sure, I'm fairly certain I knew about its contents.
And the person stuck in the same traffic jam with us, the one with the existential license plate YMIHR4, couldn’t have asked a more pertinent question.
But, after seeing a lot more of Oak Grove, Ky., than we’d planned, and after enduring more traffic slowdowns in Nashville, we were on our way. Even some rain in the dark in the Smokies didn’t slow us down much, so you would think our first-day troubles were over.
You would be wrong. -
ANDY AMEY: Farewell to basketball
I believe you’ve heard me say before — just about a year ago, perhaps — that a boys high school basketball season that ends with the Tribune-Star in Bankers Life Fieldhouse can’t be considered a bad one, which is why we have a little celebrating to do thanks to the Linton Miners.
Lover of irony that I am, I’ve also got to point out that this season was another branch sprouting from the Wabash Valley’s most legendary coaching tree, that of Joe Hart.
Joe never got much credit for his work at Dugger, but he took Brody Boyd, Clark Golish and the Bulldogs to a state championship game in 2000, and since then three of his former players — Joe Pigg, Clint Swan and now Joey Hart, his son — also have coached teams in the final game of the season.
Joe probably wishes he could take credit for Doc Nash, another down-home type who gave a banjo lesson earlier Saturday in leading Borden past a bigger, more athletic Triton team (banjo lesson is a Howard Sharpism, for you younger readers), but his lineage is still the best I can think of around here. -
AMEY TAKES AIM: Maroons, Rox final a true Classic
I don’t make predictions nearly as often as I used to, but I had one several months ago that was proven correct last week.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Nitpicking aside, West Vigo Hall of Fame selections spot on
I can’t imagine a better first class of inductees into the West Vigo High School Athletics Hall of Fame than the one that was feted Saturday night in the Jim Mann Green Dome.
-
Tough bunch of people
I’m getting my warm clothes ready for a trip to Linton this week, and if a few thrills from the Miners, Casey or North Vermillion happen the next couple of weeks, I hope I get to see them.
But high school football is over in Vigo County for the season — as coach Chris Barrett of Terre Haute North said, prematurely — and I’m sadder to see it go than usual.
Walking the sidelines and doing midweek or postgame interviews enables me to meet quite a few of the guys whose names you are about to read, and haven’t been more impressed than I was this fall. What outstanding groups of young men. What a tough, tough bunch of people.
Many know that one of my favorite athletic adjectives appeared consecutively in the previous sentence. -
AMEY TAKES AIM: A weekend to remember with ISU’s ’72 football team
They’re all still pretty hale and hearty, the boys of the fall of 1972 who returned to campus over the weekend to honor their former football coach.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: ISU reunion raises more questions than answers
One of the wrestlers I used to hang out with occasionally claimed to be a pretty good second-story man — although he may have just been talking, since I never saw any of the goods — and it was with him in mind that I was able to get access to the Indiana State Wrestling Alumni Reunion late Saturday night.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Deciding not to ‘vacate’ during ‘vacation’ – & other ventures
Flaunting the law, setting a bad example for the kids in other ways, grooming and acquiring dogs … not a typical Amey family vacation, but an appreciated one just the same.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS
The second-best thing about the Amey family’s spring-break trip to Huntsville, Ala., is that we left a lot of things on the table to do the next time we’re down there.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Rox well represented on Amey teams
If having the state finals in town makes it a successful girls high school basketball season, then certainly having a team to follow at the state finals makes it a very successful boys high school basketball season . . .
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: A feeling of pride, not disappointment, comes from watching Rox play
It’s not going to come as a startling admission that I — once the rest of the local opposition has been eliminated from consideration — am an unabashed fan of whatever team the Wabash Valley sends onward in postseason high school sports competition.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: This private school plays basketball the right way
Any girls high school basketball season that ends with state championship games in Hulman Center is a pretty good one — even though I wished I’d seen Riverton Parke and Seeger knock off a couple of private schools the week before to even the public school-private school battle a little bit.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Even 2 of state’s best once had doubts
Look at them now.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Harrowing path for state hopefuls
The bad news is that the winner of Class 4A Sectional 13 in boys basketball heads northeast instead of southeast for regional play in March — to Hinkle Fieldhouse instead of Seymour as a result of Indiana High School Athletic Association’s changes.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: A superior all-star arrangement
I don’t work on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to attend the first Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association draft last week to set up the annual all-star game that will be June 23 this year.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: The biggest & baddest of a holiday classic
There are more things to love about the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic than could fit in this newspaper, but one of this year’s best things was that for an hour or so on Wednesday, it was Justin Paddock’s world and we were just living in it.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Taking note of ISU’s latest football win
The biggest difference I’ve noticed, as I transition from the high school football beat to quasi-official status as the Indiana State football beat writer for a few weeks, is the length of the games.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
First reaction to the Indiana sectional football pairings drawn late Sunday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association? It could have been a lot worse.
-
ANDY AMEY: Between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & a hard place
Just in case any of you noticed — with some anticipation — the recent lack of my bylines, I can tell you that your wish (and mine) did come true. It was vacation week for the Amey family.
-
Amey Takes Aim: UFC fighter’s bloodines traced back to ISU brothers
As a mild-mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper — or thereabouts — I admit I haven’t paid much attention to the burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Predators’ win is music to new fan’s ears
For many, many years, the number of live games televised on WGN has been cited as perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the Chicago Cubs (it’s got to be something besides masochism, right?).
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: The Annual All-Amey basketball teams close out the prep season
The most encouraging boys high school basketball event I’ve attended so far in 2011 has been the Lafayette Semistate a couple of weeks ago.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Family remembers Cheryl Weatherman as caring grandmother
As far as Riley and Keely Davis are concerned, Cheryl Weatherman was simply their grandmother, and a pretty darn good one at that.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Honor to see Turkey Run girls close out memorable career
I don’t know if anyone in this part of the state could actually say they enjoy going to Fort Wayne and back, but I was glad to see the Turkey Run Warriors play one last time during the girls basketball state finals Saturday.
-
So many matches, so many favorites
Go ahead, ask me anything about the 224 wrestlers who competed last week at the Indiana state finals — or at least about the 112 wrestlers who survived Saturday’s first round.
-
ANDY TAKES AIM: A sportwriters’s lament: Oh, the games we missed
I was already tired of winter by the time that first bitterly cold snap passed through in mid-December, so it’s safe to say the season hasn’t grown on me.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Time of the season for teams to tough it out
In the last month or so I figure I’ve seen at least four boys high school basketball teams with legitimate state-championship dreams as the season heads into its dog days.
- More Amey Takes Aim Headlines
-
Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs to put TVs to good use
Raw: Tornadoes Spotted in Kansas
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
Obama Exhorts Good Deeds by Morehouse Graduates
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Winning Powerball Ticket Sold in Florida
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
AP CEO: Records Seizure 'Unconstitutional'
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
Today in History for May 19th
Raw: Heavy Tornado Damage in Shawnee, Okla
Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House
Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel
Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony
Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash
Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder
Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner
Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Beyonce Is Pregnant!
SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT
Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch
See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion
Woman tricked into taking abortion pill
Emma Watson Goes Pantless
IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes
Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety
Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos
Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths
