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April 20, 2006

Amey Takes Aim: Maybe Indiana Mr. Basketball voting wasn’t a clear choice

By Andy Amey

TERRE HAUTE — There was at least one voter for the Indiana high school Mr. Basketball award who had the same idea that I did, and there may have been as many as 15. The number of like-minded voters was an odd one, at any rate.

Greg Oden of Lawrence North finished with 1771/2 votes and his friend and point guard teammate Mike Conley had 71/2. Therefore at least one voter split his ballot between the two, giving half a vote to each.

That’s probably the route I would have taken, except I didn’t get a ballot this year (or it’s near the bottom of the pile of things to be taken care of on my desk). If I hadn’t gone that way, I was actually leaning a little toward Mike.

Which isn’t to say, by the way, that I disagree with the people who are saying that Greg is the best high school basketball player in the nation.

Confused? Well, you have a right to be, but here’s my reasoning.

Greg Oden is the most amazing big man I’ve ever watched play high school basketball (although Rasheed Wallace, of Philadelphia Simon Gratz, is pretty close). I love to watch him because he gives me a jaw-dropping moment or two just about every time, and he does little things here and there that make me shudder in awe — shudder at the fact that we are seeing just the tip of a very big, Titanic-sized iceberg.

We are seeing just a small fraction of Greg Oden so far. Al McGuire, whom I trusted implicitly, used to say you never knew how good a player could be until he stopped improving, and I sense no self-satisfaction in Greg. He has great size and phenomenal skills now, and is going to keep getting better.

It’s taken me several minutes to put this next sentence down on paper, because people are going to read it and tell me I’m nuts. That may be true, but I’m also old enough to have seen, in grainy filmed highlights, the player Greg Oden reminds me most of at a similar age. It’s not Rasheed, but it’s another guy from Philly — Wilt Chamberlain (although I’d like to advise Greg not to go after Wilt’s non-basketball records).

This is a pretty good argument for Mike Conley so far, isn’t it?

Mike isn’t, of course, Wilt Chamberlain. What he is, however, is the reason Lawrence North won three straight state championships, which is why I would have given him at least half my Mr. Basketball vote (if I’d only found that mail).

In the four years that Greg and Mike played together, I actually saw the Wildcats in a couple of close games, most notably Terre Haute South’s home opener in December of 2004. The Braves were able to surround Greg and had fought back from a 10-point deficit to tie the score, so Mike stole the ball for layups on successive possessions and Lawrence North was ahead to stay.

Every time I saw the Wildcats play, the same thing would happen. When they needed a big play, Mike Conley would make it — a steal, an assist, a basket, a rebound. In this year’s semistate against Bloomington South, he played with an injured left hand (he’s a southpaw) and shot right-handed — looked about as good doing it as I would have — and still led his team in scoring.

This is a leader. This is a guy who will find a way to beat you. So he would have had at least half my vote.

I was planning to explain this to both players, but particularly to Greg, but they’re understandably a little tough to get next to after a game. I have a hunch, however, that this column will get to them before long.

I have a hunch, also, what Greg will say — that I’m absolutely right.

Mike’s going to be a little harder to convince.

I I I

Speaking of the MIC — The state’s top 100 underclassmen will be showcased at Ben Davis next weekend as part of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association clinic.

The Wabash Valley is represented by two less players than Oregon-Davis High School, but the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference has a few guys there — among them three Carmel guys including Jake Kelly, Walter Offutt of Warren Central and three guys from Indianapolis North Central.

Here’s the scary part. That’s three guys from North Central, none of whom is named Eric Gordon.

Honored as district coaches of the year during the same weekend will be a pair with Wabash Valley connections — Jeff Hein, formerly of North Central and now at Evansville Bosse, and former Sycamore Chad Gilbert of the Jeffersonville girls team.

Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at 1-800-783-8742 or at (812) 231-4277; 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.

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