TERRE HAUTE —
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.
When Gary Fears told me that Robinson would be replacing Bloomfield in the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic lineup nearly a year ago, I told him — and pretty much everybody else I talked to about the upcoming tournament — “You’re gonna love Aaron Siler.”
I’d seen the Maroons’ point/shooting guard play briefly at the 2010 state finals, as I recall, and I watched him light up a very good Marshall team when he was a sophomore the following season.
So I could say that I was not surprised by what Siler did in Robinson’s four PHWVC games — but that would be a lie. I would have been surprised by anyone — up to and possibly including Kobe and LeBron — getting 39 points against Terre Haute North’s Austin Lewis, the defender who had stopped Indiana’s leading high school scorer in regional play in March.
The where’s-he-going-to-school? questions began immediately for Siler — who can handle it and deal it as well as shoot it — followed quickly by whether or not he’s his listed height of 5-foot-11. So I made a point of talking to him after the championship game, and I can tell you he’s about as much taller than me (I’m 5-8ish) as Rockville’s Keiontre Wilkey is shorter than me (he’s listed at 5-8, but admits to 5-41⁄2). Maybe Siler doesn’t look as big because he plays in a crouch, the better to unleash his killer crossover.
And since Lewis is 6-5, obviously Siler can get his shot off against bigger defenders.
Much as I like him, however, Siler wasn’t even my favorite Maroon. And as much as I liked the Maroons, I went into the championship game last Monday thinking that Rockville might win it.
It helped, I think, that the Rox got to play a similarly strong, physical Sullivan team in the semifinals — is it time to put coach Jeff Moore’s squads forever in the reloading category instead of the rebuilding one? — but maybe that didn’t matter either.
Coach Dave Mahurin’s team has the look of a special team, a much better one that last year’s edition (that was a couple of baskets away from a state championship, remember) even though most of the faces are the same. Those familiar players all seem to be better than they were a year ago, and guys who didn’t play much a year ago — like Wilkey or Nick Waltz — have each added to the mix.
They have a team leader in Lane Mahurin whose talents are almost impossible to describe — what position does he play, for example? Or what are his best physical gifts? — but almost always translate into big plays at the right time, and right now they look to be one of the most mentally strong teams I can remember. They are smart, they are loose, they are confident, and no matter what kind of game you want to play against them, you’ll wind up playing the game they want.
In summary, I enjoyed the PHWVC like I always do, particularly the days when I didn’t lock my keys in my car. And I liked the championship game, because it included two teams that might take me exciting places in a couple of months. Here are more things I enjoyed.
• Nobody loves Goliath — Game of the week was Robinson vs. Terre Haute North, of course. It might be the best Classic game ever, although the discussion would have to include Sullivan vs. North in the 2009 championship game.
So now I’ll have to dodge Todd Woelfle for awhile so he doesn’t ask me why a game North wins isn’t the best ever.
• Fan of the week — When I arrived for the first game Thursday, South Vermillion scorekeeper Lynn Branz was already there, even though the Wildcats had a 7 p.m. tipoff. He was there ahead of me on Friday and Saturday too.
• Why the shoes? You may have heard this by now, but it’s worth repeating. The green shoes worn by Rockville throughout the tournament were in tribute to Sandy Hook Elementary School, whose colors are green and white.
• Who’s going to guard him? My favorite Robinson player of the week was actually Cory Blount, all 5-9 of him, for his defensive work on Terre Haute South’s Jeffrey Turner (five inches taller, several pounds heavier). Other stalwarts on the defensive end included Lewis and Rockville’s Joel Wittenmyer, whose exploits have already been chronicled often; Casey’s A.J. McNeil; Northview’s Travis Hakman; the entire Marshall team (with special mention for Cray Bloodworth underneath); and Linton’s Jackson Bohnert.
You’ll notice several of those guys had to deal with Siler along the way.
• Cut off the head … and the snake won’t bother you. Among the team leaders who stood out during the week were Lane Mahurin, Siler, Craig Peters of Northview, Brooks Weszely of Sullivan, Thomas Sisson of Marshall and Cade Lindsey of West Vigo. North is doubly blessed with Nate Jahn and Casey Vickers.
• How could they lose? Both Monrovia (Ross Bolton and Jeremy Gray) and West Vigo (Lindsey and Kyle Stewart) started all-lefty backcourts, and with Logan Steward returning, South could field three southpaw guards at a time (including Kevaris Gregory and Jared Wolfe).
• What language is that? Trying to measure his height was only one reason I stood next to Wilkey in the Rockville locker room. The other reason was to see if he’d agree to shorten his first name for newspaper purposes (a little tricky to spell). He disagreed, however.
“Keiontre means basketball,” he insisted, so I’ll have to remember that the three consecutive vowels come in order.
• Costly injuries — Casey was without rugged rebounder Jordan Brandenburg the entire tournament after he got hurt in practice, and Linton point guard Sam Dyar played about 30 seconds of the Classic before his own injury. I haven’t heard updates on either player since.
Turkey Run’s Jeff Woods has returned, however.
• Speaking of Linton — There were grumblings about disparity in talent in some of the games this year, but my thought on that was that there were a lot more really good teams than usual. The proof? Indiana’s seventh-ranked, unbeaten Class 2A team didn’t make it to a fourth game.
I’ve also finally come up with the professional athlete I’d compare to four-year wonder Dess Fougerousse of the Miners: occasionally brilliant former major league pitcher Joaquin Andujar, who said his favorite English word was, “You never know.” I don’t think I have to explain that one any further.
• Tough stat-keeping — It might not be a Harley and Arley Andrews problem, but when Marshall puts Taylor Maurer and Cole Rice on the bench at the same time, the Lions have five players on the court who are 6-2 and approximately the same weight.
• Biggest losers — I’ve been suspicious this winter that there’s a little less to North’s A.J. Grady than there was during football season, and Casey’s Matt McCown looked positively svelte.
• Sportsmanship — Robinson’s fans were disappointed after the championship game, but an awful lot of them stayed in their seats to salute Rockville.
And finally …
• New definition — Thanks to Steve Brett, I know what a “Greene County Officiating Kit” is. Details will be revealed privately.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. 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. Follow TribStarAndy on Twitter.
Amey Takes Aim
AMEY TAKES AIM: Maroons, Rox final a true Classic
- Amey Takes Aim
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 . . .
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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.
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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.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Even 2 of state’s best once had doubts
Look at them now.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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