If it weren’t for last year, we might be talking about the recently completed Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic as the best one ever — and it unquestionably had the most interesting championship game, only the 2003 Terre Haute North-Bloomfield matchup being anywhere comparable.
There wasn’t really a close game on the first day, but plenty of down-to-the-wire thrillers the rest of the way. Crowds, by my educated guess, were also second only to the 2008 tournament — nearly full for the 11:30 a.m. game on the first day (maybe a morning record, and a sign of discriminating taste since that was the Sullivan-South Vermillion matchup), full by the time Marshall and North played on the second day, and perhaps down early on the third day but filling the gym by the time Marshall was finishing its game and Sullivan and West Vigo were getting ready to go.
Two of my friends from Terre Haute South are no longer in the Classic’s top 10 in scoring, with Armon Bassett’s 155 points and Jeremy Lock’s 152 having been supplanted by West Vigo’s Tyler Wampler and South’s John Michael Jarvis.
R.J. Mahurin of Rockville leads the way with 292 points, and probably will for awhile. To put his numbers in perspective, to get to 292 points a player would have to average 18.3 points per game and play four games (which only half the teams do each year) in all four years of high school. Yes, that record is safe.
Unofficially, the rest of the top 10 now consists of Nate Blank of North (225), Adam Gore of Monrovia (214), Lucas Eitel of Marshall and Wampler (both 210), Phil Woods of Turkey Run (208), Logan Eitel of Marshall (200), Jarvis (197), Zach Keyes of Northview (179) and Tyler Morgan of Riverton Parke (162).
Other unofficial statistics and tidbits from 2009 are as follows:
• He played too early in the day — I had no qualms at all about the 10 players (Thomas Anderson and Justin Gant of North, Dreyson Boyd and Rhett Smith of Sullivan, Taylor Duncan of Marshall, Jarvis, Trent Lancaster of Northview, Billy Newton of Shakamak, Andy Walsh of South Vermillion and Wampler) named to the all-tournament team. All of them were under consideration on the ballot that I eventually whittled down to 10.
But the first player I wrote down on that ballot was Jake Weaver of Turkey Run, who averaged a little over 15 points per game (on a team that averaged a little over 46) and who does a lot more for the Warriors than just score. I also voted for Tyler Richardson of Shakamak and considered Anthony McGill of South and Chase Rhoten of Linton.
• Teams that helped themselves — The obvious first choices here are Northview and Linton, each of whom picked up their first win of the season and came close to getting at least one more. The Miners who lost to Casey on Tuesday were a vastly better team than the Miners who lost to Shakamak on Saturday. South also gained a shot of confidence from its three wins (and its Dec. 22 win at Indianapolis Arlington).
No team, however, got a bigger boost than consolation-bracket champion Casey.
• Teams who hurt themselves — I’m not sure anybody’s on this list, although I imagine Bloomfield and Monrovia were fairly desperate teams before beating Riverton Parke and Rockville on Tuesday to salvage a win each, and Marshall’s Lions need the shots to start dropping pretty soon.
South Vermillion certainly suffered a setback when Cody Mumaw, one of the Wildcats’ three-year starters, was injured against Sullivan and missed the rest of the tournament. But if a couple of players take advantage of additional playing time until Mumaw’s return, the Wildcats might be a deeper and more versatile tournament team as a result.
Rockville didn’t win, but I don’t count the Rox as having hurt themselves either. They are 10 deep (as coach Dave Mahurin quipped, five offensive players and five defensive players), they were in all three of their Classic games and could easily have won two of them, and figure to keep getting better.
• Players who emerged — Maybe I should include West Vigo in the list of teams that helped themselves, because the Classic was a coming-out party for both Zach Kent, the hero of the Owen Valley win, and Ryan Crowther. Chance Talbot of Northview seems to be taking advantage of increased playing time too, and I thought Ike Worrell of South had a very solid week.
• Best mascot — Even with a little more competition, the Marshall Lion would have won this award paws down.
• All-name team addition — Kruz Kusterman of Casey makes any top-10 list in that regard.
n New favorites needed — This was the final Classic for David Parsons of Rockville, very possibly the most interesting player I’ve ever covered, and Dustin Morey of Marshall, one of my favorite people to interview.
I may have isolated a possible successor to Parsons in Dess Fougerousse of Linton, however.
• Best crossover dribble — I know a lot of you are picking Duncan, having watched him operate at the top of the key for Marshall for four days.
But the best single crossover I’ve seen all season — maybe for several seasons — was turned in by freshman Jeff Woods of Turkey Run (yes, that’s his brother who was mentioned earlier). Every time I’m in the North gym now I keep expecting someone to trip over that athletic supporter left there by Woods’ move against a surprised Owen Valley defender.
• Best one-on-one matchup — Nominations are pouring in for Duncan again, either being guarded by North’s Chris O’Leary or guarding Northview’s Lancaster the following night.
My vote, however, was set in stone early Monday when I watched Parsons — who would have thought he’d become an offensive threat as a senior? — being guarded by Casey’s Chris Unzicker. Parsons had Unzicker by about five inches and at least 50 pounds, but Unzicker — captain of the all-feisty team and the Classic leader in righteous indignation — did his best to match Parsons push for push and shove for shove.
Unzicker, in fact, might have been my favorite player to watch in this tournament, at least partly because after a couple of days — my 22 games plus halves of two others enabled me to see the Warriors four times — I figured out who he reminds me of: John McEnroe.
I can hear Chris now. “McEnroe? You cannot be serious!”
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or 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: Classic’s best title game capped great tourney
- 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.
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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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