11/25/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - The Black Diamond Conference, split into divisions since its expansion back in 2003-04, has had member changes over the years since its inception back in 1949.

Each season the schools come up with quality teams that compete and fare well in the postseason and regular season tournaments.

This season should be par for the course as talent returns across the board.

On the West Division side look for Goreville and mentor Todd Tripp to produce another quality club as the Blackcats have had a great run in the past few seasons.

Coach Tripp enters his 21st season at the helm and he is responsible for nearly one third of the programs all-time wins and his teams added their ninth regional championship last winter.

Vienna has a new head coach (Burlin Brower) and is missing one of the best players in the school's history from graduation.

Sesser-Valier has been down a bit the last couple of seasons but Coach Marcus Clarry has kids returning that look to be improved.

Christopher has a key injury to its top player but Coach Eric Stallman is hoping for his return early in the season.

Johnston City head coach Scott Burzynski will finally get to have some practices on November 25 as the football team reached the 2A state semifinals before being eliminated.

Trico, and head coach Kyle Luke, is another of the clubs that is looking to improve after only producing six victories in 2023-24.

Zeigler-Royalton managed 10-wins last season for Coach David Russell as the Tornadoes' program tries to keep pace within a talented league.

Goreville looks to be the "Top Cat" on this side of the Black Diamond Conference fence.

On the East side of the league Carmi-White County and head coach Kevin Wolf lost some good ones to graduation but some talent returns as the Bulldogs look to three-peat as league kings.

Fairfield lost some good ones via graduation and their top returning player moved to Indiana so Coach Scott McElravy will need to regroup behind some others.

Flora, in head coach Phil Leib's swan song, might be the club that breaks the string of CWC and Fairfield for conference honors.

The Wolves have some good ones returning from a regional championship squad.

Hamilton County and head coach Doug Miller want to keep the ball rolling as the Foxes finished with a winning overall mark in 2023-24 and hope that things continue to go well.

Edwards County, the only club in the division that competes in the 1A postseason, pulled off the biggest early regional upset of the Deep South by beating highly touted Dieterich in the regional semifinals and barely lost to eventual sectional champ Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran for head coach Kevin Schnicker.

Eldorado had a tough season in 2023-24, both on and off the court as the program sunk to dead last in the East Division.

However a new coach (Wes McCoy) looks to rebuild the program back up.

This season the division could be much improved top to bottom.

Coach Todd Tripp has over 400 wins at his alma mater and he wasn't far from winning the sectional semifinal last March at Norris City-Omaha-Enfield.

The Blackcats fell just short, losing to Waterloo Gibault as the season ended at 31-4, with all four losses by single digits.

Benton, who ended up second in the state in 2A, Vienna (2) and a 51-44 loss to Gibault were the defeats.

Four kids graduated last spring, including ABV all-south selection Drake Moss, along with Tyler Suits, Evan Holm and Duncan Rhodes.

But the returning players look to keep the fire burning as this program continues to blaze a trail for the other 1A programs in the Deep South to follow.

Cole Tripp, a 5-11 senior, returns as he has been a varsity player for three previous seasons.

Two other starters; 6-3 senior Connor Craig and 6-6 senior Drake Buffington also return.

Coach Tripp has others to fill the missing slots.

Six-one senior Peyton Holm and 6-0 senior Earon Moore round out the senior class.

Underclassmen for Goreville look to gain minutes.

Garrett Church, a 6-2 junior, and 5-9 junior Zech Green return as well as 6-2 junior Tommy King and 6-0 junior Tyler Lingle.

Coach Tripp also mentioned sophomores 6-0 Nick King and 6-1 Lawson Land.

The Blackcats beat six different 2A teams last season and topped eventual 1A state runner up Mounds Meridian back in December.

“Our three returning starters will be looked to for leadership this year. We lost a really good group of Seniors from last year and we need guys to fill those voids. We have kids that got valuable experience last year and had a good summer. We just hope to get better each game and hopefully playing our best basketball at the end of the year. Looking forward to working with this group of kids,” said Coach Tripp who is now 431-184 at Goreville.

Sesser-Valier has had some tough times on the hardwood the last two seasons.

The Red Devils had consecutive campaigns of 11-20 and 10-20 without snagging any significant hardware.

The 2023-24 postseason featured a win over rival Christopher and a loss to Waltonville in the regional semifinals at Woodlawn, 58-52.

However there weren't many other highlights for Coach Marcus Clarry and his crew.

Missing from last season's team are Colt Packer, Wyatt Loucks, Jonah Ruffino, Braydon Short and Jake Hicks along with Desmond Malone.

All seniors, all gone from the program that needs to catch up to its playoff caliber football program.

Some of the same kids who suited up in the fall will take to the court in the winter.

Coach Clarry, who enters his second season as head coach at S-V, will turn to some kids ready to go for 2024-25.

Six-five senior forward Brandon Menser returns for the Red Devils.

Another senior holdover, 6-0 guard Kyler Willmore, also returns.

Five-eleven senior guard Jackson Borta should be in the mix.

The junior class will also be represented.

Kyan Short, a 6-0 junior guard, returns for the Red Devils.

Coach Clarry also mentioned 5-11 junior forward Tony Kistner and two 6-1 junior forwards; Trace Payne and Jaylon Downey.

Other good news is that there are some underclassmen that will make things more interesting and more intense in practice, which should help the program.

“I'm very excited about this year's team. We developed a lot over the season as the year progressed last year. We showed glimpses of what we could become, and I look forward to seeing how we can build off of that momentum going into this season,” said Coach Clarry. “We have a very determined club. They've put a lot of work in the gym and weight-room this summer, and I believe we'll see that translate on the court.

Head coach Eric Stallman is cautiously optimistic that one of his top players will return from a serious knee injury as the Christopher Bearcats head into the 2024-25 season.

Six-one senior Carson Hobbs is rehabbing his injury and Coach Stallman is hoping that he will be back in December.

In the meantime the others are looking at stepping up.

Last season the Bearcats lost to rival Sesser-Valier in the opener of the Woodlawn Regional, which halted the season at 14-16, 6-6 in the BDC West.

The other players stepping foreward will need to have success, especially since the season begins with the Christopher Turkey Tournament, which is one of the oldest of its type (Thanksgiving Tournament) in the state.

Coach Stallman mentioned 6-1 senior Aidan Skropka as a potential starter as well as 6-3 senior Chase Cole.

Five-nine junior guard Landon Sveda is back as is 6-2 senior Samuel Traiteur.

Some junior varsity kids should be ready to move forward, including 5-9 guard Landen Butler, 6-1 junior Trevin Skropka and 6-6 senior Conner DeWeerdt.

All of them had some varsity experience from last winter.

Last season was a roller coaster with winning streaks and losing streaks, including four consecutive losses twice during the campaign.

“The experience this group has gained the last two seasons will hopefully pay off this year,” said Coach Stallman. “We have been young for the last two seasons and this year we will finally have multiple seniors on the floor. This is a very fun group to coach and have enjoyed watching them grow over the last few years.”

One shouldn't overlook the massive improvement that happened the last few seasons at Vienna.

The Eagles program took off under the guidance of then head coach Stephen Dreher and the play of four-year varsity standout Owen Treat.

In the past three seasons, Vienna went 78-21 overall and Treat scored over 2,000-points.

Both Dreher and Treat have left the building and a new coach and some returning kids will want to build upon the success of recent seasons.

Treat, an ABV first team all-south selection, was joined in the cap and gown by classmates Dayton Nichols, Tommy Holhubner, Cato Constante and Buddy Clay.

All were responsible for the sparkling record.

For the ones that return, the bar has been raised pretty high.

The new head coach is Burlin Brower, who brings quite a resume to southern Illinois from Kentucky.

He led a successful McCracken County program for nine seasons and is a member of the Kentucky Coaches' Hall of Fame.

He will have work to do with all of the missing players from last season but this coach is no stranger to rebuilding having lead his McCracken program to success, especially in the postseason.

The returning players know what is expected as they will start their season at home in the annual Vienna “The Classic” Thanksgiving Tournament.

Six-two senior Hunter Webb added 12.3 points per game to the high scoring team last winter.

Coach Brower also added some other kids with varying degrees of experience who will need to move up the chart.

Jacob Waters, a 6-4 senior, and 5-10 senior Job Winterrowd added stats last season.

Six-foot senior Jackson Ethridge and 6-2 senior Brayden Smith, like the ones on this list, had a good summer according to Coach Brower.

There are more from the junior class waiting on a chance.

Six-five junior Bryan Stepp missed 2023-24 injured but is back and will help out inside.

Brayden Hurst, a 6-3 junior, played some last season as did 5-11 junior Briar Cornelius.

More depth will come from 6-2 junior Cameron Carrick and 5-10 sophomore Silas Kreuter.

“We should be deep enough to play up tempo and utilize some of our bench. Vienna has won several games the last few years and hope to build on that but include a deeper run in post season. Emphasis on playing both ways hopefully allows us to take those extra steps in postseason,” said Coach Brower.

One must turning back the clock and calendar to find the last time the Zeigler-Royalton Tornadoes' boy's basketball team posted a winning season.

The 2013-14 Tornadoes, led by then coach Matt Morgan, went 22-8 and got to a regional title game before losing to host Goreville.

Since then it has been difficult for the program.

Coach David Russell enters his third season leading the way.

He will have to tackle this season without six players he had last winter.

Nick Holder, Chase Vanhoorebeke, Cole McKinney, Chase Speakman, Marshall Tucker and Peyton Foster all left in the spring.

But Coach Russell has optimism as the program has many kids willing to work.

A trio of returning players were starters from the team that managed to go 10-22 overall but had just a 1-11 mark in the BDC West.

River Freeman, a 6-4 senior, notched some good numbers as a junior (16.8 p.p.g./10.3r.p.g.).

Six-two sophomore Lucas Rogers added 9.8 p.p.g. and 6.9 r.p.g.

The Tornadoes will have four seniors vying for playing time.

Five-ten guard Kolton Wynn, 5-5 guard Chance Harris, 5-11 forward Jimmy Gaddis and 6-2 forward Shadow Goodman.

Another senior, 5-10 guard Gabe Berry, transferred in from Agape Christian as his father teaches in the Z-R district.

Coach Russell mentioned 6-0 junior forward Brogan Mitchell, 5-10 sophomore Jackson Gaddis and 5-10 sophomore Johnny Gaddis.

When you're coming off of a losing season, jobs are up for grabs and Z-R will have other suitors for minutes at all levels.

Six-one senior forward Aaron Mabrey, 6-3 junior forward Nolan Brown, 5-9 junior guard Carson Longwell and 5-9 sophomore guard Kaiden Niblett should all have opportunities.

“All of the guys will get there chances to play. Not sure how it all will work out but they will have their chances,” said Coach Russell. “I expect us to get better as the season progresses, Freeman and Rogers will be our main scoring threats as well as our leaders. No one else on the team played any significant varsity minutes last year so it will take some time for us to figure it out. I would expect us to be very competitive and possibly sneak up and get a couple of games that are maybe unexpected. We will have to be improved on defense from last year if we are going to beat someone unexpected. I like our guys and how hard they played this summer and the effort we put forth to get better.”

One shouldn't expect too much from the Johnston City Indians' basketball team for a few weeks at least.

Most of Coach Scott Burzynski's squad were busy playing football Saturday afternoon in a 2A semifinal loss to Maroa-Forsyth.

None of them have practiced and on Monday it will be the first day that they will hit the court for anything important.

Such is life when you have a strong football program at the prep level.

Once things get going in December look for some improvement on the basketball floor for an Indians' program that went just 11-21 last winter.

The Tribe, once they shake off the gridiron rust, will have some experience heading into 2024-25.

Five-ten senior guard Nolan Causey is a returning starter who averaged 12.2 points a game as a junior.

Six-one Evan Sanders is a power forward type for Coach Burzynski and averaged four points and five boards last season.

Johnston City got eight points and five rebounds from Carson Murrah, a 6-2 junior.

Trey Johnson, a 5-10 junior, is back after missing time last season injured.

The quarterback on the football team is also a guard for the hoop squad.

Five-nine junior Kaden Koenig, was a part-time starter as a sophomore.

Logan Moore, a 6-1 junior, also returns as will juniors 5-11 Brody Watts and 6-2 Wyatt Henderson.

“We had a very good summer. This year we have very good senior leadership and a strong junior class. Hopefully, our varsity experience will be very beneficial this season. I feel we will be competitive throughout our schedule,” said Coach Burzynski.

11/25/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Last season the Carmi-White County Bulldogs did something that hadn't accomplished since back when The Beatles were rocking The Ed Sullivan Show.

Coach Kevin Wolf's squad completed back-to-back conference championships.

They locked up the crown with a 39-36 win over Fairfield at the Mule Barn to finish 9-1 in the division, 24-8 overall.

The postseason wasn't nearly as kind to the Bulldogs as they got ransacked by Vienna in the semifinals of the 2A Massac County Regional, 73-47.

Two important starters from last season are missing.

ABV all-south first team selection Landon Driscoll and senior Trey Dixon graduated.

But the returning players look ready to defend the title and perhaps make a bigger statement in the postseason.

Six-seven senior Mitchel Edwards was an all-conference selection last season.

Another all-conference pick, 6-1 senior guard Gavin Holloman also returns.

Coach Wolf also has 6-1 senior guard Kade Stockton back after playing varsity as a junior.

The Bulldogs have others ready to get to play under the bright lights.

Merrick Millhorn, a 6-0 junior, was mentioned by Wolf along with 5-10 senior Beck Huff.

Six-five sophomore Dylan Winnerberger and 6-3 sophomore Jaxon Bradshaw will likely be a part of the rotation.

Edwards has already passed the 1K scoring mark for CWC while Holloman is nearing that plateau.

“I'm really excited about this year's ball club. We're looking to continue the success from the two previous years. We have a great group of guys who love to compete and play basketball,” said Coach Wolf, who is a CWC grad that now has a 149-105 mark heading into his 10th season running the show.

Season #20 for head coach Scott McElravy might be his most challenging of them all leading the Fairfield Mules' program.

Some important seniors are missing from the spring and perhaps his best returning player moved to Indiana, leaving a definite gap in the experience department.

Seniors Landon Harrelson, Layne Tucker, Trent Bliss, Creson White, Jay Snyder and Latrael Snyder are missing from last season after graduation.

Promising 6-4 sophomore Jaylon Manners transferred to Jasper (IN.) during the fall.

The Mules finished 19-13 last season, 8-2 in the BDC.

The season ended in the hands of Flora, 59-43 at the Vandalia Regional.

This coach will need for his two returning starters to lead the younger ones into 2024-25.

Six-foot senior guard Justice Dagg is a two-year starter for the Mules while 5-9 junior Jake Easton also got his name called in varsity games last winter.

Coach McElravy also has four seniors moving up from the junior varsity.

Six-foot forward Ethan McElravy, 6-0 guard Kallen Miller and 6-2 forward Brayton Robertson will need to fill the holes left behind by the seniors last year.

One junior; 6-1 forward Lane Robson, is back along with five sophomores who will look for varsity experience.

Owen Gruen, a 6-3 guard, Breychan Kovacich, a 6-1 guard, Cruz Wells, a 5-10 guard along with 5-8 guard Austin Grieve and 5-9 guard Cooper Berg.

“As always we play a very competitive schedule, especially our non conference opponents and tournaments. We have a great group of kids to coach. We will be lacking in the size department so we will have to make up for that in other ways,” said Coach McElravy. “We will have to play good “D” and take care of the ball to compete. We always set goals of winning a BDC conference championship and competing for a regional title. Looking forward to having a fun season,” said Coach McElravy.

Flora head coach Phil Leib has decided to step away from the sport after leading his alma mater for now 25-years.

Coach Leib was on some successful teams as a player and he won three regionals as a head coach, including a 2004-05 run to the Elite Eight in the Class A tournament.

He passed Tom Welch as the program's all-time leader in victories last season.

One of the regional titles came last February as Flora topped Robinson in the Vandalia Regional championship contest, 59-58.

The Wolves are missing some cogs from last winter; five seniors.

Lost Neil Young, Trevor Johnson, Lawson Spicer, Tyler Conrad and Quinn Uebinger are gone from the sectional team that lost to St. Joseph-Ogden at Shelbyville.

Although not as experienced as the five departed, Coach Leib is looking forward to this group improving.

Five-eleven junior Kyler Dennis, was just under 10 p.p.g. last season for Flora.

Garrett Patridge, a 6-2 senior, will get more PT this season after averaging 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds a game.

Six-six Jadon Leib, the coaches' nephew, will increase his playing time this season.

Coach Leib also added 6-3 sophomore Kehlin Crawford to the list because of him having a great JV season.

Parker Helm, a 6-1 junior, is also among the suitors for playing time as is 6-6 junior Isham Lusk.

Senior Jordan Gocey, who hasn't played since his freshman season, along with some underclassmen, could give the Wolves some much needed bench strength.

Six-three sophomore Gage Parker, 6-0 junior Noah Hatcher, 5-9 sophomore Thane Warren and 6-3 sophomore Luke Himelick are in the hunt.

“Lord willing I will complete my 25th year at Flora High School. God has been so good and it has been such a blessing to coach and help shape players into young men through the sport of basketball,” said Coach Leib. “We lost a lot from last years group, but feel we will be competitive night in and night out through the course of the season. Kyler Dennis will be one of the better players in the BDC and hopefully lead us to good season. We will definitely have some height and some depth which will help with having competitive practices and hopefully a successful season.”

Head coach Doug Miller has seen his share of “ups and downs” since taking over the job at Hamilton County back in 2018-19.

In his six campaigns on the Hamilton County Foxes' bench, Coach Miller is now at 91-88 at the school and is a handful of wins away from 300 in his career.

The season ahead will begin without four graduated seniors from last spring.

The lost boys are seniors Eli Hanson, Trenton Pike, Abe Neal and Kaden Kelly.

Coach Miller hopes the remaining players will be ready to go when they host their own tournament and play a early regular season game against Sesser-Valier.

Five-eleven senior Kord Lueke is back for the Foxes.

Hamilton County will have other seniors 6-0 Jack Zellers and 6-2 Kaleb Carson.

Some juniors this year played a lot of minutes as sophomores.

Braxton Miller, Laben Dial, Jace Cross, Josh Combs, and Ethan Kessler should increase their minutes substantially this winter.

“Several of our seniors and juniors logged quite a few minutes last year in varsity games and we are hoping that shows this year,” said Coach Miller. “We have several individual pieces on this team and if we can put them all together we should compete.”

There were many publicized problems with the Eldorado Eagles' basketball program last season and there isn't any reason to beat the dead horse.

Moving forward for the program is a new head coach.

Wes McCoy takes over and will try to make things better around the program after the season went down the tubes after the Eldorado Holiday Tournament last December.

The Eagles won just one game in the second half of the season and stumbled home 7-25 overall and 1-9 in the East Division.

They were dumped out of the postseason by Carmi-White County, 70-35.

Coach McCoy will work with some fresh faces as the 2024-25 season begins at the Vienna Tournament.

Five-eight senior guard Jake Phelps is out until December with knee injury but is expected back.

Olen Oglesby, a 5-10 senior, missed most of 2023-24 with an injury.

Six-two junior forward Drayson Grathler and 6-1 junior Grayson Stafford are part of the plan.

Six-foot senior Ryne Cox along with Aiden Boulds, a 5-7 junior, will also suit up for the Eagles along with Kai Barger, a 6-0 junior, and Rodi Williams, a 5-10 sophomore.

Part of the good news is the roster looks pretty full for the coaching staff to work with.

Also listed is Jordan Jones, a 6-3 junior, and senior AJ Slomka, a 6-foot transfer from Christopher, who has varsity experience.

Junior Matt Grisham is also part of the program.

There are some freshmen that could get PT, especially early.

Five-eleven Nolan Rilying, 5-7 Bronson Tippett, 6-2 Fischer Goebel, 5-8 Bryson Dowdy and 5-8 Bryson Talkington get a uni.

“We have a good group of kids that worked really hard this summer for us at team camps,” said Coach McCoy. “We're still trying to finish the football season to see what kids are actually playing for sure.”

The Edwards County Lions are in one of those tough situations where they are the smallest duck in the biggest pond.

The Black Diamond Conference East Division has all higher enrollment schools (2A teams) compared to the 1A spot in the postseason that Coach Kevin Schnicker's club sits at in the postseason.

However there is “good and bad” to that situation.

The Lions conference schedule usually gets them prepared for the regional tournament and this experience paid off last February as they upset Dieterich at the Albion Edwards County Regional and nearly beat CORL in the finale.

Ed Co ended up 14-16 overall and 3-7 in the East.

Coach Schnicker has kids to replace as senior forwards Max Gerlach and Anjuan Rhodes graduated.

The good news is that four starters are back.

Five-nine senior Cy Nelson returns for the Lions.

Owen Grimes, a 6-5 senior, returns along with 6-2 junior Cash Conner.

Jax Duncan, a 6-2 junior, is also projected to start as the top four all have a wealth of experience.

Six-one junior Wyatt Greathouse and 5-11 sophomore Evan Rhodes also spent time on the varsity floor last winter.

Blake Landingham, a 5-9 junior, will also see the floor.

“We have four returning starters this year. Coming into my fourth year at Edwards County we continue to improve on the defensive end of the floor. We will need to be really good on the defensive in to compete in the Black Diamond,” said Coach Schnicker.