01/01/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Happy New Year to everyone.

Another holiday tournament week has been completed and the dust has settled on the first half of the 2024-25 basketball.

Buzzer beaters and last second free throws produced by quality teams, which is the norm in high school hoops and now the cream has risen to the top.

Let me try to make some sense of it all heading into the final three months of the season.

The 2A rankings are interesting in that Belleville Althoff, a school that mostly plays up against 3A and 4A teams for the most part, are in the 2A state tournament.

They, along with a few others, are not part of the ABV preseason preview but they feed into the Carbondale Super-sectional nevertheless.

Coach Greg Leib, a Flora native and brother of Flora head coach Phil, have an impressive squad that has just three defeats to 3A Mt. Zion, 3A Lincoln and 4A Quincy.

They have lopsided wins over both Breese Mater Dei and Breese Central and other impressive wins have came against both Centralia and Mt. Vernon.

Unless there are some shenanigans in the seeding of the sub-sectionals, the Crusaders will be numero uno in their sub.

Benton has also been impressive as the Rangers are unblemished in their campaign so far for head coach Ron Winemiller.

They have tournament titles at both Goreville and Pinckneyville and the latter came on three last second free throws by 6-8 first team all-stater and ABV player Docker Tedeschi.

The Colorado State University commit would like nothing better than to lead Benton back to the state finals in March.

Mater Dei is another of the schools that are not afraid to hop on the bus and find top-notch competition.

Coach Cory Arentsen and his club shocked crosstown rival Central to win their own holiday tournament on Monday night.

The Knights are just 9-6 but they have a rough path to take each year with an independent slate of contests.

Breese Central and head coach Jeremy Shubert have work to do the rest of the season.

The Nashville Invitational in three weeks looms large as three of the teams on this list will be entered plus another round with Columbia on the road are all resume builders for better spot in the postseason.

Speaking of the Eagles, Columbia and mentor Mark Sandstrom have question marks heading into 2025 with a talented group that has yet to find their best foot to move forward.

The defeats are to 14-2 3A Waterloo in the title game at Freeburg on Sunday, highly regarded Montgomery County (MO.) in a shootout at the University of Missouri and a 53-43 loss at Breese Central on December 20.

Columbia has some wins over some of the potential postseason foes and they have the opportunity to make a run but the script needs flipped the rest of the way.

Murphysboro has losses to 3A Herrin and Benton so far with the defeat to the Rangers coming in the semifinals at Pinckneyville and Coach Daryl Murphy's club have a DuQuoin Tip-Off Classic title and a pair of wins over 1A ranked Meridian.

Carlyle has just two defeats; Wesclin and Murphysboro, who are both in the rankings.

Coach Maverick Taylor took a tough 40-39 loss to the Red Devils in the second round at Pinckneyville.

They ended up fifth in the Duster and won their own early season tournament with a big win over Pinckneyville as their signature victory so far.

Pinckneyville defeats are against both Benton and Carlyle in tournament title games for head coach Matt Laur.

The Panthers will need to “up their game” the rest of the way, including two additional contests against the Rangers in the Mississippi Division of the SIRR.

The talent is there to do so.

All four of the losses so far for Coach Stote Reeder and his Nashville club are against good stock.

The Hornets will end up being a factor and they will likely get a shot against two of the Clinton County folks again at the Nashville Invitational Tournament.

Wesclin and head coach Brent Brede are another of the clubs that will have to keep improving if they want to be a factor in the postseason and they do have some good wins against this schedule to build upon.

In 1A St. Anthony and head coach Cody Rincker take few nights off when it comes to strength of schedule in its non-conference games.

The Bulldogs bested four teams in the Effingham/Teutopolis event, including a win over the Wooden Shoes in the finale.

After losing in the regional title game a year ago, the state-ranked and ABV #1 have the scope aimed at Champaign in March.

Tuscola is undefeated, and like St. A., the Warriors are looking for some postseason redemption in 2024-25.

Coach Justin Bozarth and his undefeated squad have been impressive.

One of the smart ones who doesn't waste a week at a lame Thanksgiving Tournament somewhere, this mentor schedules regular season games early and builds towards the holiday tournament at Monticello.

Eleven of the wins have came away from home.

They have won this event three consecutive years over quality teams.

Waltonville is undefeated as well after completing a suspended game against Goreville on Monday night.

Coach Anthony Lowery's club got a bit of revenge in an early season win over Mounds Meridian, after losing twice to the Bobcats last season, including a sectional semifinal defeat.

The ABV thoughts and prayers go out to the Goreville community for youngster Cole Tripp who was injured in the third quarter of the championship game of the 38th annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

The game was suspended and finished on Monday night.

Reports say Cole will be okay, which is a blessing for him and his family.

Mounds Meridian is also in the mix as the Bobcats reached the semifinals of the Pinckneyville Tournament.

Coach Davis has the horses to compete for a second-consecutive trip to Champaign.

Goreville and Coach Todd Tripp always have a say in the postseason and in the standings of the Black Diamond Conference.

The two defeats have been delivered by two clubs who are 26-0.

Once Casey-Westfield get healthy things should be better for the Warriors and head coach Tom Brannan.

They host Tuscola on January 4 in the afternoon in a key matchup between squads that could face each other in the postseason.

Dieterich crushed four opponents by a total of 101-points to win their own event with a 45-24 victory over Arcola in the finale.

Coach Bohnhoff has a good group that have losses to St. Anthony and Casey-Westfield.

The Movin' Maroons have a lot of work to do if they plan on climbing the rankings ladder and take home some postseason hardware.

Coach Kevin Schnicker and his Edwards County team have a Wayne City Holiday Tournament title and the Eldorado Holiday Tournament consolation championship on the resume.

This crew upset Dieterich in the regional semifinals last February and nearly beat super-sectional qualifier CORL in the title game.

Okawville doesn't sport the best of won-loss marks but they play a tough schedule as the only 1A team in their division of the Cahokia Conference and the non-conference slate does them no favors.

Coach Ryan Heck and his club went 3-1 at the Duster Thomas Hoops' Classic to win the consy title.

Woodlawn has also played some good teams and went 2-2 at The Duster.

Coach Luke Cooper's team has a 40-39 win over Greenville in the third place game at the Carlyle Kaskaskian Tournament in December. The Comets just won the Vandalia Holiday Tournament on Monday.

For some of you not familiar with the rankings, the ABV lists are based on the formula of "Who's Hot" and "Who's Not."

It's like the old adage of "what have you done for me lately?"