11/20/2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - As it is for most seasons, the 2023-24 Greater Egyptian Conference race in boy's basketball will be interesting as several of the teams look capable of winning the regular season championship.

The league tournament at the end of January always produces a good week of basketball held at Southeastern Illinois College and the 74th annual event scheduled in 2024 should be no exception.

Last season Crab Orchard won both in racking up a 29-4 record.

Coach Jon Brown's Trojans were the usual high scoring team that has been the custom over the years.

They even managed to get in the IHSA record books last winter as they and Lovejoy dueled to a 120-118 triple overtime decision won by the visiting Wildcats.

The 238 combined points is tied for seventh most all-time in the state's history for a single game.

The Trojans have some important pieces missing this winter but this coach seems to always find a way to be in the running for league championships and this year will be no different.

Gallatin County and head coach Craig Utterback won a regional last February, topping GEC brethren Hardin County, Crab Orchard and Norris City-Omaha-Enfield at Crab Orchard and the Hawks have some key ingredients returning for a run at the GEC title.

NCOE and Coach Jordan Johnson made it to the regional championship game last winter but also finished runner's up to Crab Orchard in the tournament title game.

The Fighting Cardinals has some returning players that hope to continue the winning trend under this mentor who has three consecutive winning years.

Hardin County head coach Rodney Lane continues to do a bang up job in Cougar Country.

His team was very young last season and the experience gained will be important as his club looks to tackle another good schedule of non-conference foes.

Carrier Mills-Stonefort is another program with youngsters who are getting better with age and experience for Coach Austin Ferrell.

The Wildcats didn't have a lot of winning success but they look to be improved in 2023-24.

Pope County won plenty of games last season for Coach Simmons and with three starters returning look for the Pirates to be in position for a chance at the GEC championship.

Galatia has a new coach in place with Zack Essex taking the helm for a Bearcats' team that will have a blend of veterans and promising freshman this season.

Thompsonville head coach Kevin Smith has some rebuilding to do after losing a senior group and four of the starters from last winter's club.

The Tigers have some young players that this coach is looking forward to working with.

Following a 4-21 season in 2021-22, the Gallatin County Hawks made an about-face in 2022-23.

Coach Craig Utterback led his club to a 15-15 mark and a 4-3 finish in the Greater Egyptian Conference.

More importantly, the Hawks put together a strong run to end the regular season and on into the 1A Crab Orchard Regional.

Gallatin County conquered three GEC rivals (Hardin County, Crab Orchard and Norris City-Omaha-Enfield to win the sixth regional championship in the school's brief history (1987-88) since the consolidation of schools Equality, Ridgway and Shawneetown.

The six-game win streak put themselves in their own 1A sectional, where they lost a close game to Webber Township, 41-39, to end the campaign.

Coach Utterback lost a couple of seniors; 6-7 senior Rylie Rushing and 5-9 Kiran Fillingim from that team but everyone else wearing Navy and Orange returns for 2023-24.

Seven seniors and a junior return with experience from that club a year ago.

Six-foot senior Wyatt Fromm and 6-4 senior Noah Richardson were standouts for the Hawks a year ago.
Coach Utterback will also have 5-10 senior Dylan Rushing and 6-2 Mattix Sandifer returning.

Other seniors back are 6-0 Isaac Walters, 5-8 Collin Monroe and 6-3 Lucas Jackson.

Six-one junior Grant Jackson also returns after having a very good sophomore season.

“These will be our main eight guys throughout season and are highly interchangeable in both starting and off the bench roles,” said Coach Utterback. “We have a lot of seniors with experience in the program. It is really nice in 1A basketball to have several solid players off the bench that can consistently contribute to our success as a team. They know their roles and are eager to have a successful regular season and postseason.”

Since taking over the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield boy's basketball program head coach Jordan Johnson has a three-year mark of 49-27, and a regional championship back in 2021-22.

Last season the Fighting Cardinals played in a regional championship game at Crab Orchard, losing a 37-34 decision to Gallatin County.

Six important seniors will need to be replaced from the 19-13 club from last winter.

Preston Long , Joel Hortin, Cord Tucker, Colby Prather, Erik Healy and Cain Weaver have left the program.

Coach Johnson will turn to the lone returning starter to get things going in 2023-24.

Five-eleven sophomore Javan Garrett is back for NCOE after getting PT as a freshman.

Two other key players; 6-2 senior Spencer Shipp and 6-1 sophomore forward Jaxen Simmons are back after playing limited minutes last season.

Dayton Tharp, a 6-3 senior forward, along with 6-0 senior guard Nolan Prather, were part of the varsity roster last year.

Coming up from the JV are players 6-3 sophomore Owen Russell, 5-10 sophomore Caden Sexton and 5-10 senior Kade Bond.

One other player; 6-1 sophomore Conner Graves, is coming off of a knee injury and Coach Johnson is hoping that he will be back in January.

“We are a fairly young team with a lot of sophomores expected to see action this season,” said Coach Johnson. “We lost a very strong group of seniors who played the majority of the minutes so there will be some good learning experiences early in the season. However by January I think my guys will feel comfortable on the varsity floor together and will start to show their talents. We will be long and athletic across the court. I believe our quickness on both ends will be important for us this season.”

Coach Jon Brown at Crab Orchard sent away six important seniors from a 29-4 team that won both the regular season and tourney championships of the Greater Egyptian Conference last winter.

Robbie Rooker, Brinnen Norris, Conner Richardson, Joel Morrow, Troy Robbins and Colton Throgmorton were important to the most recent successful run by the Trojans.

However the season abruptly ended on the team's home floor as they lost to eventual regional champs Gallatin County, 74-68, in the semifinals.

The Hawks were a team they had beaten twice during the regular season.

This year Coach Brown has just one returning starter; 5-9 junior guard Cameron Clark, who got into significant action last year as a sophomore.

Coach Brown will have some new ones to work with this season are they begin with the Elverado Thanksgiving Tournament.

Five-ten senior Ethan Travelstead will step up into the Trojans' backcourt this winter.

Colton Stover, a 6-0 senior, along with 5-10 junior Carter Watts and 6-0 junior Cameron Dawes will also come up from the JV squad from a year ago.

“Will be undersized and have to rely on our quickness & hustle. Will be inexperienced to begin the year; so the hope is to get better as the season progresses,” said Coach Brown.

For Thompsonville Tigers' head coach Kevin Smith part of his job this season is to piece together a group of youngsters with limited varsity experience to try and turn things around for the 2023-24 season.

The Tigers lost five seniors to graduation from their roster a year ago.

Five-nine senior Hayden Lindhorst and 6-2 senior Kade Shelby started for four seasons for Thompsonville and will be missed.

Gabe Casteel, Gage Mullins and John Wenzel were part of the 10-18, 0-7 GEC team that lost to Steeleville in the first round of the Webber Township 1A Regional.

As far as the returning players, there is just one senior.

Six-foot Evan Williams returns for the Tigers and he has some varsity experience along with the rest of last season's underclassmen who will move up.

Gavin Sandy, a 6-2 junior, 6-5 junior Isaiah Wilson, 6-0 Skyler Lindhorst, 6-0 Preston Pond, 6-3 Colin Peebels and 5-11 Lucas Parrish represent the junior class.

Coach Smith also mentioned sophomore Liam Reagan who was on the varsity roster as a freshman in 2022-23 and 6-1 junior Daniel Nugent.

Sophomore transfer 5-10 Cruz Vega should also be in the mix as will 6-2 freshman Mason Marino.

“We've upgraded our schedule adding West Frankfort, Johnston City, Cairo and Edwards County. We are hoping playing some bigger schools will help us down the road. We are also going back to the Conrad Allen Holiday tournament at Wayne City this year,” said Coach Smith. “The GEC should be extremely competitive this year. A lot of really good coaches and returning players in the conference.”

Most of the Hardin County Cougars' roster from a season ago returns this winter.

Which means head coach Rodney Lane will head into 2023-24 with plenty of experience in varsity contests coming back.

With the minutes played by his Cougars last season, Coach Lane will now have one of the most experienced groups in the GEC, and also in southern Illinois, to work with.

All five starters are back from a club that was 7-19, 2-5 in the GEC.

“I look forward to this season with a great group of kids that have worked hard over the summer, in the weight room and on the court to get better. We will be fairly deep for a 1A school and look to have many players contribute to our success,” said Coach Lane.

Although they took some tough losses, the kids have learned a lot from the time spent in varsity games which should bode well for the 2023-24 campaign that will begin with a trip to the Goreville Invitational Tournament that will produce five games in six days.

Six-foot senior Morgan Fricker has a bunch of experience from his junior season heading into this season.

Nick Austin, a 5-11 senior, is one of the guards that Coach Lane will need to continue to contribute in the backcourt.

Five-nine senior guard Walker Bebout also has a wealth of varsity experience coming into 2023-24.

Coach Lane will have some size in the middle with 6-6 senior Ethan Mitchell.

All four of the seniors mentioned bring much to the table for what should be an improved season.

The sophomore group saw great deal of varsity action as freshmen a year ago.

Five-eleven sophomore Brandon Dutton is back after averaging 8.4 points a game for HC.

Landon Fricker is a 5-10 sophomore guard that will likely be running the offense.

Coach Lane also mentioned 5-11 sophomore Nate Massie as another veteran having played significant minutes as a freshman.

Five-nine sophomores Christian Winters and Caden Heberer could each see more action this season while Coach Lane will also have 6-0 freshman Bryden Banks available.

“We are returning every player from last season. Our four seniors along with three of the sophomores gained valuable varsity experience against a very tough schedule a year ago. Even though we will still be awfully young at times on the court, I feel every player has made great strides over the summer and will contend with most,” said Coach Lane. “Beginning the season at the Goreville Tournament is always a tough test to start the year, but I believe we will compete. Our first six games will all be against 2A schools with the exception of Goreville.”

With only two seniors on last season's squad missing, the Carrier Mills-Stonefort Wildcats will have some kids with varsity time returning for head coach Austin Ferrell.

The rest of the player returning were all freshman and sophomores in 2022-23 so they collectively have a lot to look forward to in the coming years.

Carrier Mills-Stonefort ended up just 5-22 last winter, 1-6 in the league and were a quick out in the 1A Crab Orchard Regional losing to the hosts.

Four of the returning players were starters, including 6-1 junior Jalon Ellis who averaged 17 points a game for CM-S.

Five-eleven junior Eli Taylor also returns for the Wildcats and provided additional scoring a season ago for Coach Ferrell's club.

Carson VanDyke, a 6-1 junior, and 5-8 junior Logan Daughenbaugh return.

Those four provide the core of the team as they head into 2023-24 as they look to climb the ladder in the GEC.

Coach Ferrell mentioned junior Nate Shafer as a potential starter along with some freshman he is looking to work into the varsity.

David Edwards, Easton Fowler, Kamarion Ward, and Cainaan Sumner are on the radar for playing minutes for the Wildcats.

“We look to improve on our season last year and I think that we will get back to the top half of the GEC this year with the talent we have,” said Coach Ferrell. “Our two big impact players this year will be Jalon Ellis and Eli Taylor. I'm expecting an even greater impact from them being juniors.”

Coming off of a 7-20 regular season and a 4-3 mark in the GEC, the Galatia Bearcats will turn to a new coach for leadership in 2023-24.

Zack Essex, who has head coaching stints at Joppa-Maple Grove and Varna Midland, takes over the Bearcats' program with a lot of young talent to blend in with the veterans who return from last season.

The only senior on the squad returning from last season's club is 5-8 guard Trey Thatcher.

Coach Essex will look for the junior group that returns to step up into more productive roles on the club.

Six-three junior Eli Hankins is back for the Bearcats along with classmates 5-9 junior Cameron Miller, 6-1 junior Conner Ammon and 6-5 junior Dakota McFarlin.

Coach Essex mentioned a sophomore, 5-11 Will Puckett, and two freshmen; 5-10 Collin Jenkins and 5-8 Conner Campbell, who will be part of the process as Galatia looks to contend with the other teams in the always entertaining GEC race.

The Bearcats picked up a couple of pretty good wins last season (Hardin County, Gallatin County) but they also suffered an 11-game losing streak.

Galatia was eliminated by Pope County at the 1A Crab Orchard Regional in the first round.

“This group reminds me of my group at Joppa-Maple Grove,” said Coach Essex. “They want nothing more than to be successful and this summer and fall they have put in the work it takes to achieve what they want. They may not be the most talented team out there but they are hungry. We do not have a ton of depth but these players have a chance to earn starting positions or play meaningful minutes.”

Pope County head coach Jim Simmons will have some empty uniforms to fill when the preseason basketball practices begin in November as graduation took away four players from last winter's 22-10 squad.

Brody Barnes, Kane Jeffords, Ezekiel Narvasa and Garrett Robards have left the program and those varsity minutes will be up for grabs when the season begins.

Three returning starters are back, which will help the Pirates transition into the new campaign.

Masin Presser, a 6-6 senior guard/forward, was a starter for Pope County last season as a junior.

Five-seven senior guard Landon Ohse and 6-3 junior Eli Presser are also back for the Pirates

Coach Simmons also mentioned 5-10 senior Noah Smiley and 5-10 senior Eason Comer as potential starters.

David Forthman, a 5-11 junior, along with three sophomores; 6-4 Hunter Steele, 5-9 Tucker Nalley and 5-11 Alfred Simmons.

The Pirates don't play the toughest non-conference schedule but they beat the ones in front of them and they compete well with the better squads they face.

Pope County won the Dongola Christmas Tournament again last season, defeated Agape Christian and picked up a 74-53 first round regional win over Galatia.

“We must play as team every game in order to win,” said Coach Simmons.