04-17-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
There are several things on my mind as this past season has come to its end.

Most of them are of an upbeat nature.

In our negative society, where we tend to want to look at the evil over the good to sell publications and gain ratings' numbers, ABV hasn't fell into that trap very often.

Mainly because I cover kids, for the most part, and not adults.

So I try and steer clear of the negative.

ABV will begin its “Year in Review” with some serious congratulations while trying to refrain from ending it on a sour note.

Three very classy coaches reached milestones this season.

All three deserve a shout-out here.

The 600 Club

Stan Eagleson, Dennis Rueter and Mark Motsinger all reached 600-wins this season.

Not only is this total gargantuan in a numerical sense, it is hard to believe that these great men could do this job day after day and year after year.

I still believe that this sport (high school basketball) has too many games played during a season.

But it takes a long time to reach 600-wins where, if you are lucky, you can play 30-games in a season.

Coach Stan Eagleson at Breese Central has long been considered a giant in his field.

His mark is 608-286 in 31-seasons at both Breese Central (526-242) and Ramsey (82-44).

More than probably anyone else in southern Illinois, he help put his program (Breese Central) on the boy's basketball map.

In the eight seasons prior to Coach Eagleson's arrival at Central, the Cougars program had but two winning campaigns.

And it took this coach, who hails from Olney, Illinois, a few years to get things turned around.

In his first ten seasons at Central, this program stood in the shadow of their crosstown Catholic rivals from Mater Dei.

While the Knights ruled the town, Coach Eagleson's program was just 116-132 with just four winning seasons.

In 1996-97 the Cougars were on the verge of making some postseason waves when they were upset by Nashville in the Carlyle Regional final.

This Cougars' team was state-ranked and was the first 20-win team for this mentor.

This was a tough loss but it only strengthened this coach's resolve.

For the next 17-seasons, Coach Eagleson never had a losing record.

Not only did the wins come in bunches but so did the hardware.

In the 1998-99 season, Central turned the tables on Nashville, beating the state-ranked Hornets on their own floor to win the program's first regional title since 1974.

It snowballed from there for this school.

Coach Eagleson led the Cougars on a brilliant basketball sojourn, taking home nine more regional championships.

And these weren't cupcake regional crowns, with the teams they annually faced from Clinton and Washington Counties being difficult opponents.

They are the only team (ABV believes) to reach the state finals by going through four different venues and three different area's to reach Peoria.

They won supersectional titles at Charleston (EIU), Jacksonville High School, West Frankfort High School and Carbondale (SIU) to get to the finals.

Coach Rueter at Waterloo Gibault has had a brilliant run at this small catholic school Monroe County.

In his 33-years at the helm of the Hawks' program, Coach Rueter is 608-309, including 12-regional titles and a pair of sectional championships.

His 1998-99 squad, perhaps his best, made it all the way to the state title game in Class A before losing to Rock Falls.

Sixteen of his clubs over the three decades at this school posted 20-plus wins, which is even more impressive considering the competition level in the Metro-East St. Louis Area.

His club was a few moments away from another Elite Eight this season before losing to Madison in the title game of the Okawville 1A Sectional.

Mark Motsinger took a much different route to the number 600.

Most of his victories came at the collegiate level as Coach Motsinger led the Southeastern Illinois Women's basketball program to a 398-132 mark.

Counting a brief stint at Henderson (KY.) and his 176-103 mark at Carrier Mills, Motsinger has a 603-241 overall record.Since the state went to four-classes, Motsinger's Wildcats have won two regional titles.

All three of these coaches deserve a huge ABV thanks for their contributions to high school athletics.

The National Anthem.

Each year ABV hears about 75 renditions of this song and most are good.

But this season there was a pair of kids that ABV wants to give a shout out to.

Nathan Kabat of Waltonville and Stormie McMullin of Odin stood out from the rest.

Neither of these youngsters sang the song. They played it.

Kabat played the Star Spangled Banner on the violin while McMullin played the flute.

Both were excellently done.

There is also my close friend Ron Stanart, who has sang this song all over Southern Illinois before many basketball games and also for the Southern Illinois Miners baseball team.

Ron also does a fantastic job with his rendition.

Southern Illinois Proud.

Speaking of Stanart, himself and fellow basketball officials Ray Bates and John Downey were honored with their second trip to the state finals to work basketball games.

This trio worked the 1A state championship game and also worked the Jacksonville Supersectional.

Ron, Ray and John each worked a lot of basketball games over the years and traveled a lot of miles in helping to keep the peace in the hoop games.

ABV salutes these honorable gentlemen.

ABV could dive into the controversy of the Harrisburg-Seton Academy championship game but it isn't going to happen.

The IHSA ruled on the situation and as far as I'm concerned it is a done deal.

I just hope that this whole thing doesn't end up in court.

Nokomis and the IHSA Geography Lesson

ABV wonders openly what the Illinois High School Association believes is Southern Illinois?

In this years' state tournament, suddenly Nokomis was sent to the South for its postseason journey.

Like in 2008, Nokomis became part of the Carbondale Supersectional system this season.

Which strikes me very odd.

I would like to know how things like this come about?

Nokomis is 126-miles north of Carbondale. They are just 112-miles from Peoria.

Does this bother anyone else in this part of the state like it does me???

In the previous four seasons since 2008, Nokomis was part of the Jacksonville Supersectional complex.

Nokomis to Jacksonville is just 83 miles, according to Yahoo Maps.

And that is taking the long route up through Springfield and then west.

There was a 1A Regional at Raymond Lincolnwood just 16-miles to the west of Nokomis.

That regional had just six teams in it. Which means putting Nokomis in that regional wouldn't have effected anything in the way the tournament would have ran.

It wasn't like they overloaded an event.

But the IHSA moved Nokomis south to St. Elmo for a 1A Regional. Nokomis to St. Elmo is 49-miles.

I don't know the reasoning behind this move, but it seems to be more than just a coincidence that the Redskins were really good both of those seasons and that they won both of those supersectional titles at SIU Arena.

First thing to me is that it is an unfair advantage for Nokomis because after a quick look at their regular season schedule, they played just two teams from the Carbondale Supersectional (Beecher City, Stewardson-Strasburg) so there isn't a lot of time to scout the Redskins during the season.

It creates an unfair advantage for Coach Kimbro because these teams don't get to see their brand of basketball during the season.

This isn't an issue with Nokomis, their basketball program or the people envolved.

However it is also very unfair that a section of the state with one of the largest and most passionate fan bases' had no real representative at Peoria.

The SIU Arena 1A and 2A double-header had nearly 8,000-fans in attendance.

It is a safe bet that had Gallatin County won the game over Nokomis, about 3,000 of those diehards would have made the jaunt to Peoria.

Instead Nokomis, a team that most Little Egypt people had never heard of, was the Southern Illinois rep.