INDIANA BOYS PREVIEW: Three championships? SWIAC has a chance

Dec. 6—Down-to-the-wire finishes, game to game or for the conference races as a whole, are the expectation in two of the three conferences that include most of the Indiana high school basketball teams in the Wabash Valley.

No one knows who is going to win the Western Indiana Conference — although it might be premature to rule out the defending champions — and the Wabash River Conference is equally a mystery.

Then there's the SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference. Nobody knows who is going to win the SWIAC either — although probably everyone in the conference can pick the three games that will decide that — but if the intramural feuding can be put aside in March, league members can root for what is probably a first, and may be a last: three state champions in three different classes.

* Western Indiana Conference — Prospects for West Vigo and Northview (who meet in a conference doubleheader Friday) have already been discussed, and a season-opening loss to South Knox may have caused defending champion Sullivan to be dismissed after some very significant graduation losses.

Ignore the Golden Arrows at your peril, however. South Knox hasn't lost to anybody else either, and since that opener Sullivan has won three games (including its WIC opener against Northview) by a total of 82 points.

Coach Jeff Moore has Luke Adams, Eli Gettinger, Marcus Roshel and Javyn Woodard back from last year's rotation along with Seth Pirtle and Seb Ortiz and is getting lots of help from newcomers like 6-2 sophomore Carson Granby and 6-4 freshman Cooper Bock.

"It's wide open," said Moore — who should pick up his 500th victory sometime during the First Financial Wabash Valley Classic — when asked about the conference race. Sullivan goes to North Putnam on Friday, which could be important.

Sullivan won't be able to defend its Class 3A regional title, however, because the Arrows' enrollment has dropped them into Class 2A.

WIC so far — North Putnam 3-0, 2-0 WIC; Indian Creek 2-2, 2-0; Sullivan 3-1, 1-0; West Vigo 2-2, 1-1; South Putnam 2-2, 1-1; Edgewood 1-3, 1-1; Owen Valley 1-3, 1-1; Greencastle 1-3, 1-2; Northview 0-3, 0-1; Brown County 0-4, 0-1; Cloverdale 0-4, 0-2.

* Wabash River Conference — Four of the eight teams in the league have winning records so far, and three of those are in the northern half.

South Vermillion, with a new coach in Vince Marietta, picked up a Banks of the Wabash championship last weekend, temporarily at least putting the Wildcats at the top of the southern half of the league.

"The WRC is extremely competitive," Marietta said recently. "On any given night, any team can beat anybody."

Seniors Elliott Corenflos and Easton Terry and juniors Luke Bush, Dylan Conder and Brayson Shoults have been among the leaders of a deep team so far, and sophomore Aden Wallace — who should add firepower — is about to return from a football injury.

The team the WRC had better beat this year is Parke Heritage, which has been starting two freshmen and two sophomores and was the Banks runner-up.

"We're a very young team, but a young team with talent," coach Rich Schelsky said. "We're excited about the growth this team can have. It has the potential to improve more from here to March than any team I've every coached."

Three Wolves to watch are sophomores Renn Harper and B.T. Luce and freshman Treigh Schelsky — all sons of coaches or former coaches, all with at least one parent who was a big-time scorer.

Riverton Parke, which finished third at the Banks, has senior all-WRC player Derron Hazzard returning and that's a great start to any team.

The Panthers are a veteran squad with Ashton Hines, Jacob Hopton, Mathew Mullins, Brandon Todd and Pierson Robins also seasoned veterans.

"We are a team that lacks size, but we can play a fast game and have multiple guys that can knock down shots," coach Aaron Hines said.

The fourth-place team at the Banks was North Vermillion, a team on the rise but a team without much recent success.

"Getting this team to learn how to win" is the biggest challenge, coach Cody Wright said recently. The Falcons have an outside-inside punch in junior Jerome White and senior Atticus Blank, and freshman Teegan Dowers is growing into the point guard spot.

WRC so far (no conference games have been played) — Fountain Central 2-0, Seeger 3-1, South Vermillion 2-1, Covington 4-2, Parke Heritage 2-2, Riverton Parke 2-2, Attica 0-1, North Vermillion 0-4.

* SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference — White River Valley and Eastern Greene are off to promising starts, Shakamak is expecting big things and Clay City and North Central — when the Thunderbirds get their whole lineup on the court at the same time — appear to be much improved. J.T. May heads a group of returnees for the Lakers, Wyatt Ison is the most experienced of the T-Birds.

But those three dates are Jan. 13, when Bloomfield goes to Linton; Jan. 20, when Linton goes to North Daviess; and Feb. 2, when North Daviess goes to Bloomfield.

Bloomfield was ranked No. 1 in Class A last week, and the Cardinals' loss to Indianapolis North Central on Saturday was in a 10 a.m. game following a Friday night game. Linton was ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, and North Daviess — the defending Class A champions who jumped all the way to 3A — is still unbeaten.

SWIAC so far — Linton 3-0, 1-0; White River Valley 3-0, 1-0; Bloomfield 3-1, 1-0; Eastern Greene 3-1, 1-0; North Daviess 3-0, 0-0; Clay City 2-2, 0-1; Shakamak 1-2, 0-1; North Central 1-2, 0-2.