Timeout Boys Basketball: Midseason Report

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Lake Central's Glen Robinson dribbles past Merrillville defender Isaiah Wilson during their game held at Lake Central High School on Friday December 16, 2011. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media

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Updated: February 21, 2012 8:44AM

Singing the Timeout Basketball blues. A loosely framed look back at the first half of the season with observations, and general opinions about what lies ahead for high school basketball in the area.

Lake Central is still the No. 1 team in Northwest Indiana. For purely mechanical reasons (the loss to Michigan City after the first of the year), Bishop Noll took over the No. 1 ranking for the Post-Tribune last week. The computer we do the calculations with wouldn’t rank them any other way. The Indians made 7 of 10 3-pointers against Crown Point in a 73-54 victory last week. Here is what Crown Point coach Clint Swan said about their play: “Very few teams in the state could beat them if they shoot like that.”

The most immediate, direct route to regionals in any class belongs to Andrean. The 59ers play in a sectional that includes Calumet, Hanover Central, Kankakee Valley, Knox and Rennselaer Central. Then again, there are no gimmes and if Carson Cunningham wants to guard against overconfidence, he can show his team tape of the Wheeler-Andrean first-round sectional football game.

Who is the second best team in the DAC? I don’t have a clue between Valparaiso, Merrillville, LaPorte and Michigan City. It’s always interesting to go over old notes and see what coaches said in the preseason about the conference. LC was the best (true) and Michigan City and Merrillville were the start of the second level (half true) while the Vikings weren’t really in that second level conversation just yet (false) and Chesterton, Portage and Crown Point were going to struggle (true). The Vikings and Merrillville, with two losses, are a step ahead of the Wolves, who have three and the Slicers, who are 4-4.

That said, how can LaPorte beat Merrillville twice and then the Slicers lose to Chesterton? It’d be a great race if Lake Central played somewhere else.

The surprise team of the year has to be the Vikings. I was pouring over their stat sheet to try to get an idea of who or what might make them better than anyone anticipated and there is absolutely nothing remarkable about their offensive statistics. John Mosser, a 6-6 junior, is their only double-digit scorer. He averages 11.2 points per game. Drew Boetel, the Vikings point guard, is next at 7.8 points per game. They aren’t particularly big, athletic or even quick and they lack varsity experience.

They just know how to play together, like most Valparaiso teams do. Success is a testament to the system and years and years of consistency in the program.

Mid-Term player of the Year: Glenn Robinson III in a landslide. The bigger question is will Glenn follow in his father’s footsteps and lead his team to a state title, win Mr. Basketball and get named to the McDonald’s All-American team? Man, those are some huge footprints to follow. Probably best not to think about any of it.

Feel good story of the year: I’m handing that one out to Hebron and John Steinhilber. Remember a couple of years ago when the South Central school board decided Steinhilber was the problem and got rid of him after he coached the Satellites to a 17-7 in 2010? The Hawks hired Steinhilber about a month after he got dumped and they’re 9-1 after finishing up 13-8 last season. Steinhilber arrived at a sensitive time. Brenda Drook was fired after three losing seasons as the coach. Some people weren’t happy about it. Worked out pretty well.

The one guaranteed McDonalds All-All-American from Northwest Indiana: That would be Mitch McGary of Brewster Academy in New Hamshire. DeJuan Marrero, along with Robinson, were also nominated.

The area’s toughest class: That’s, of course, 2A. Hanover Central caught a break, albeit a small one, when the Wildcats were bumped up to 3A this season. Hebron, North Judson and Lake Station are all very good teams. I can’t see them hanging with Bowman or Bishop Noll come tournament time, assuming injuries or other extraneous factors don’t come into play. It’s just a meat grinder.

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