03/10/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – Only one time in the 26-year history of A Baseline View has a player won back-to-back “Player of the Year” awards.

During consecutive seasons in 2005-06 and again in 2006-07, Lucas O'Rear of Nashville was deserving on the honors.

The 6-7 power forward led his Hornets to a sectional final as a junior and to the Elite Eight back in the two-class system in Class A.

O'Rear went on and made a name for himself at Northern Iowa University.

His senior year at Nashville the Hornets went 31-1, with a heartbreaking quarterfinal loss to Teutopolis at Peoria.

ABV thought he should have been Mr. Basketball in Illinois but that same year Chicago Simeon had some kid named Derrick Rose who turned out to be a pretty good player.

Only one time before last season had a player been an underclassman and earned the POY.

Mt. Carmel's Jackson Marcotte took home the 2A “POY” in 2016-17.

Marcotte got injured in the off-season (torn ACL) and only returned late in 2017-18 and didn't repeat.

However last season a sophomore guard from Webber Township caught everyone's attention, including ABV.

Nathaniel Marlow, after a strong freshman season, turned it on as a sophomore and was a deserving winner of the 1A “Player of the Year” for 2023-24.

His junior season was even more special.

The 6-3 junior guard finished his season as one of the top scorers in the state.

Marlow led his team to a 27-6 record and to their third-straight regional championship two weeks ago.

He also did something that few players in the History of the IHSA have done.

Marlow surpassed the 2,000-point total, ending his season with a grand total of 2,188.

The junior marksman did so in 102-games, meaning he has averaged 21.4 for his career so far.

While he wasn't the main option for the Trojans as a freshman, he stepped forward the past two seasons to be the main focus on offense for the program that will look for a third regional title next season and perhaps their second sectional title game appearance after getting to the Sweet 16 in 2022-23.

Marlow had some big time performances this season.

Against state-ranked Waltonville twice during the season, Marlow scored 33-points in a 62-51 loss Midland Trail Conference Tournament title game.

He then scored 42 in a 78-75 rematch win to give the Trojans the regular season MTC championship.

Although Webber Township lost to eventual Final Four team Effingham St. Anthony in the semifinals of the Red Hill Sectional, Marlow scored 28-points in that defeat.

Marlow finished the season with 945-points, a 29.2 points per game average.

With another strong season next winter, the then senior could reach 3,000-points, a plateau only five boy's high school players have ever reached.

The last player to hit that mark was Jon Scheyer of Glenbrook North, who scored 3,034-points.

His total right now puts him at number 87 on the all-time career scoring list, passing Jay Shidler of Lawrenceville in his final game of the year to move up a spot.

Since I don't want to jinx him or have to pay Pat Riley for his catch phrase, I will let you fill in the blank for 2024-25.

Marlow more than earned the 2024-25 “POY” and the future looks even brighter for this fine young man.

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The 2A “Player of the Year” was a first team ABV pick last winter along with being an unanimous choice for first team all-state from the Associated Press.

Benton senior Docker Tedeschi is the choice for the top spot 2024-25.

The 6-9 senior, who has signed to play at Division I Colorado State, is a lanky forward who proved on both ends of the floor that he can play at a high level.

Tedeschi helped lead his club to the state championship game a year ago and this season the Rangers added another regional title to the resume before losing to Breese Central in the 2A Carterville Sectional semifinals.

Not only can the slender assassin score on the inside but he could also make teams pay dearly from the outside.

Tedeschi scored 24.1 points a game for Benton, averaged nearly double-double with 9.4 rebounds and added three assists and three blocked shots a game.

The Rangers won the Pinckneyville “Duster Thomas Classic” in December with Tedeschi nailing three consecutive free throws after being fouled on a last second desperation 3-point shot.

Benton took home the title as they beat the hosts 51-50.

Benton also won the Goreville Invitational and the West Frankfort Regional before the campaign ended at 28-5 after a 16-0 start.

Tedeschi is now in rare company at a history rich school, as he is now the second all-time scorer at Benton behind a fellow named JoJo Johnson.

The senior ended his career with 1,714-points and he should end up with some additional hardware with another spot on the AP 2A list.

As for Coach of the Year awards, ABV has an unwritten rule that states you can't win the award twice.

This went in effect after the 2015-16 season.

There was a time when I could give the award to the same handful of coaches each season from the best programs in the South without much argument.

But as things progressed I decided to let some others in on the gratitude I have for the hard work that they put in each season for the kids that they mentor.

It had been a long time since the Staunton Bulldogs' basketball program had much to brag about.

Before 2024-25, you had to look back in the books to 2008-09 to find their last regional championship and the program only has one sectional title.

That came in the 1992-93 season.

The Bulldogs and head coach Randy Legendre went unnoticed during the season by the experts.

They were un-ranked and lightly regarded and pulled one upset after another to reach the state championship game where they won the title with a victory over Hales Franciscan.

This season the Bulldogs put things together and took advantage of the hard work they put in to take home the first regional title in 16-seasons.

Although they didn't hang around long in the sectional, losing to eventual super-sectional squad Williamsville, the Bulldogs exceeded most expectations in winning the South Central Conference championship while setting a program record in wins during a 28-5 season.

Head coach Ty Laux talked about finally getting a group of players together who enjoy playing the game and he guided them to the best season (wins) since the state championship club.

Coach Laux is a well deserved 2024-25 ABV “Coach of the Year.”

Although the 1A “COY” didn't win a regional championship this season, his club showed marked improvement over some of the most recent editions from this program.

The New Athens Yellow Jackets tied Steeleville for the top spot in the Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division with a 9-1 mark and they finished 20-11.

It was the first 20-win campaign for the program since 2012-13.

They picked impressive wins wins this season, including wins over Webber Township in the first game of the year at the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament and victories over Woodlawn and Steeleville to go with some narrow losses to 2A Carlyle, 1A regional champ Okawville, 1A Altamont and at 1A Christopher.

Head coach Conrad Widdersheim has a pretty good thing going at this very small school in a small town in southwestern Illinois.

A native of central Illinois, having played basketball at Stewardson-Strasburg, this coach has done a fine job running the show.

He is well deserving of the 1A “Coach of the Year” award.

(CONTINUED)

EDITOR'S NOTE: One could make a case for every player on the first team's to be the POY's in both 1A and 2A. However, as always, I stand by the choices. Also there are probably some quality players not in my ABV All-South lists.

C'est la vie!

Next winter will be my 27th season covering boy's high school basketball. Thank you all for frequenting my website and reading my articles for the past 26. I hope everyone has a good summer. See you in the fall for A Sideline View football season.
Jack