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 03-18-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
Two players and two head coaches stepped up big this season
and earned the ABV Honors for 2014-15.
David Davis,
a 5-foot-11 senior guard, played a lot of minutes on the basketball
court since he arrived at Mounds Meridian High School.
He made
the varsity as a freshman and was part of four teams that were
a combined 105-22 in his prep career.
His senior
season proved to be that much more special as he and his teammates
made the school's first appearance in the state finals since
1972, finished in second place at state with a final record
of 27-8.
Davis is
a special kid who has a strong work ethic on and off the court.
And his
numbers speak volumes on the floor.
His career
point total of 1,291 is very good but, for a kid his size, 530
career rebounds is outstanding.
While he
became more of a scorer this season (17.7 p.p.g.) his career
assist total was 458 and that total is impressive.
Overall
his numbers are worthy of the POY as this season he really stepped
up when the regionals started.
He scored
14-points in a come-from-behind 48-44 win over Trico to win
the Trico Regional.
Davis then
netted 11-points in the win over Sesser-Valier at the Hardin
County Sectional.
Despite
three early fouls against Cairo in the sectional final, Davis
came on with a vengeance with 16 of his 18-points in the second
half of a 70-57 win over the Pilots.
The following
Tuesday night at SIU Arena, a place that had twice been the
Meridian “Waterloo”, Davis and Company were up to
the challenge as they topped Casey-Westfield to reach Peoria.
Davis led
the way again with 23-points as he was 9-of-13 from the floor
in the 51-40 victory.
A win over
Forreston in the state semifinals showed more of the same as
Davis sparked his club with 22-points in the 50-35 win.
Despite
falling just short of a championship, this postseason run by
Meridian with Davis as the leader pushed him over-the-top in
the “Player of the Year” race.
 Will
Galik
is another of the players that shine both on and off the hardwood.
The career
and season stats were strong.
He averaged
20.1 p.p.g. this season and was MVP of both the Pinckneyville
“Duster Thomas Classic” and the West Frankfort “Mid-Winter
Classic.”
He also
averaged 4.1 rebounds and was a dead-eye from the foul line,
connecting on 87 percent from the foul line.
In postseason
triumphs over West Frankfort, Fairfield and Teutopolis, he scored
18, 31 and 25-points.
At one point
during the sectional run, Galik made 22-consecutive free throws.
He finally
missed a free throw in the supersectional loss to Mater Dei,
in which he was the lone bright spot in the lopsided loss.
For his
career, three years of varsity, he netted 1,159-points.
Nevertheless
Will Galik deserves this award of 2A ABV “Player of the
Year.”
BTW, he
and his twin brother Matt both got perfect scores (36) on the
ACT.
As for the
coaching honors this season, there were many worthy candidates
but ABV went with Meridian's Erik Griffin and Carterville's
Scott Burzynski.
Griffin,
after a long career as an assistant at 2A powerhouse Harrisburg,
took over at Meridian and in his first season guided the Bobcats
to the state championship game.
Changing
the attitude at this school and for this program, Coach Griffin
got this club to play to their strengths as they made it all
the way to the title tilt.
Despite
a 56-52 loss to Brimfield, this mentor and those kids deserve
the credit for a 27-8 second place finish.
Both Griffin
and Burzynski share a legacy, having both played at Southern
Illinois University at Carbondale.
Burzynski,
a Sesser-Valier native and former Saluki who was part of three-straight
NCAA tournament teams, took this program to its first supersectional
appearance since 1987.
Winning
the regional and sectional titles, Coach Burzynski picked up
his 300th win in the process.
Playing
against a pretty tough schedule, the Lions topped state-ranked
teams Nashville and Teutopolis this season to finish 25-5.
All four
of these individuals deserve the ABV honors.
EDITOR'S
NOTE:
As with the previous year's, the ABV lists will be scrutinized.
But as always I stand by my selections.
Most importantly these awards are about the kids and the two
coaches listed.
If you,
as a fan, have a comment that is disparaging to the ones chosen
then send it to me. Don't post it on some message board and
embarrass some young man. If you have a complaint send it here.
In other words, "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares."
Like Harry
Truman said - "The Buck Stops Here."
ABV probably
make a case for several others to be on the list. But I have
decided to get away from this notion that pretty much every
team deserves someone on the list.
I shortened the list this season, going more along the lines
of the Associated Press list with five players on the first
team and five on the second team.
Names are
listed in alphabetical order. I'm sure there will be one or
two of them with misspelled names or the wrong heights or class.
I can fix those later.
Meridian
and Breese Mater Dei, with state finals appearances get three
each total, as they should.
Teams that won regionals and, or, also won 20-games got at least
one.
Also teams
whose coaching staff provided me with information and were easy
to contact get bonus points in picking the teams.
Several
of the schools sent me nothing and got nothing in return.
All of the players listed below had things in common.
But the
biggest one is that they nearly all played for winning teams
(.500 or above).
The top
criteria for ABV All-South is whether or not this individual
player made a difference in his team being a winning team or
one below the mark.
Scoring
a lot of points on a team that wins a few games isn't going
to rate well in the land of ABV.
There were
several others who could have made the list but didn't, mainly
in 1A, but ABV stands by the selections.
I
hope you enjoy.
Jack. |
