By Dennis Clark
TERRE HAUTE — Christmas arrived early for 16 boys high school basketball teams.
A luncheon of pizza, naturally, with melodic background music provided by the Terre Haute North jazz band preceded the task at hand. The official draw for the 10th Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic to be contested on Dec. 26, 28, 29 and 30 at North.
The draw was performed by Indiana State men’s basketball coach Kevin McKenna on Tuesday.
McKenna has a vested interest in this year’s tournament, his son Bobby is a senior player for Terre
Haute South.
Most coaches were probably pleased with the draw, a couple might have felt like they received a lump of coal. But all the teams are pleased to be participating in what has become the pinnacle event of the high school basketball season.
Marshall, a rare small-school winner (enrollment of 450), is the defending champion with the same 16-team field returning. The Lions will start off vs. Rockville (5:30 p.m.) in a rematch of one of the more exciting tournament games last year.
“Last year it was kind of a hyped game,” Marshall coach Tom Brannan said. “[Rox] were ranked No. 1 and we were expecting big things. An awesome game. We won on a last second shot. Lucas Eitel drove to the hole and shot a little runner. It was a big win for us, gave us a big boost of confidence.”
Marshall defeated Owen Valley in the first round, then Rockville, Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South.
“I’m a little prejudiced, but that’s probably one of the toughest four games any champion’s had to go through,” Brannan stated.
“It’s kind of neat to come over here as the defending champion. Now you’ve got a mark on your back, everyone wants to play you. But we think we have a good group of kids coming back. We’re ready to go.”
Drawing, so to speak, the dreaded 10 a.m. game this year was South and Bloomfield.
“We’ve been doing some morning practices and we’ll probably continue to do that — at 6:50 a.m,” South coach Mike Saylor said. “So [playing early] is not too foreign to them. We go before and after school on occasion.
“The tournament draw, we’ve never gotten too wrapped up in it. We’ve usually had real tough ways to go in the past and we’ve done well a couple times in the past five years. It’s a tough tournament, you have to come ready to play every day.”
West Vigo will oppose Riverton Parke in the 2:30 p.m. game, setting up a potential semifinal matchup with South.
“The boys are just excited to be in the tournament,” West Vigo coach Joe Boehler said. “It’s such a great event for the Wabash Valley.
“We’re excited to be playing Riverton Parke. We haven’t had a chance to see them. It’s early in the season … at this point I don’t think anybody knows a whole lot about anybody. We have a month to get ready.”
The host team, Terre Haute North, is in the opposite bracket of South and West Vigo. The Patriots (2,215 enrolled) will open at 4 p.m. vs. Casey-Westfield (380 enrolled).
“It’s an exciting time of the year,” North coach Todd Woelfle said. “It’s a great tournament for the fans and the players and the coaches. Hopefully playing four games in four days. Be honest, I don’t know a lot about our opponent, Casey-Westfield. But we’ll know a lot more when we tip it off.”
“It’s always nice to play at home, so we hope that it is [an advantage]. But you still have to lace ’em up and put ’em on and come out and play … the scoreboard shows 0-0 no matter where you’re at. Our kids will be excited about it, something they look forward to every year.”
A matching of Western Indiana Conference rivals, South Vermillion and Sullivan will occur at 11:30 a.m.
“Sullivan’s got a great young team, have probably one of the best players in the tournament in Rhett Smith,” SV coach Rodney Idlewine said. “Normally we look forward to playing them late in the [season]. It’s going to be a good challenge for us right off the bat.”
Other first round games include Turkey Run vs. Owen Valley (1 p.m.), while the opening day will be concluded by Shakamak vs. Linton (7 p.m.) and Northview vs. Monrovia (8:30 p.m.).
First round games are on Saturday, Dec. 26. After a day off, the next two days of games will on Dec. 28 (eight games) and Dec. 29 (eight games), starting at 10 a.m. both days.
The final day (Dec. 30) features the consolation championship at 3 p.m., fifth-place game at 4:30 p.m., third-place game at 6:15 p.m. with the championship game tipping off at 8 p.m.
