Tidbits from holiday tourneys

Shakamak is shown wearing the Believe 21 warm-ups shirts at the Wabash Valley Classic earlier this week. "Believe 21" is part of a fundraising initiative to raise money for Marshall (Ill.) coach Tom Brannan's family. Brannan's 16-year-old son, Kobe Brannan, had a successful heart transplant Oct. 9 and is still recovering. It's the second heart transplant for Brannan, who also received a new heart as an infant. (By Terry Schwinghammer).

With only the Greene County Invitational remaining on the 2014-15 holiday tournament schedule I thought it would be a good time to recap some of my memorable moments from the holiday tournaments I've attended so far.

Coaches are in nearly universal agreement that they like the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic tournament in Terre Haute. Shakamak coach Steve Brett and Linton-Stockton coach Joey Hart like the tournament because it gives their teams a chance to play multiple games in a tournament atmosphere.

"It's a great tournament. It's a multi-class tournament and it's one of the best things that's happened to the Wabash Valley in years. And that's evident by this being the fifteenth year for it.," Brett said.

Hart added, "Any time you get a chance to play four games like this you are going to have weaknesses exposed and you'll learn a lot about your team," he said. "And that will make you better in the long run."

Hart said earlier that his Miner teams typically hadn't fared that well in the Wabash Valley but "It has made us better later. Hopefully we can learn a little about our team while still having some success this year."

And they did.

The Miners beat South Vermillion and Casey-Westfield to advance to the Final Four.

"We didn't come here hoping we got third or fourth," Miner head coach Joey Hart said after the Marshall Lions nipped the Miners 65-63 in the third-place game.

True. But with that being said, I saw some good things from the Miners at the Wabash Valley.

They led Terre Haute South 29-28 at halftime after a 10-1 run to close out the first half.

"Unbelievable effort - a championship effort by our guys," Miner head coach Joey Hart said. "We just never got quite over the hump."

Linton-Stockton shot 55 percent from the field - 23 of 42 - against Marshall. Not too shabby - 55 percent shooting will win a few ballgames.

If this bunch continues to improve - as Joey Hart's teams tend to do - the Miners will be a force to be reckoned with come tournament time.

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It's great to see all the fan support for the Wabash Valley Classic.

It's been said that interest has declined since the advent of class basketball. That's true to some extent but you couldn't tell it from the packed house at Terre Haute South.

Trust me, players love the atmosphere playing in front of large boisterous crowds.

The crackerbox gym at Terre Haute South - and its identical twin at Terre Haute North - do seem to lend themselves to generating crowd noise, creating a tournament atmosphere.

I will offer my opinion though - I think it's a poor design concept to have a large section of upper level end zone seating at one end of the floor. It makes no sense to me when the sideline seating is confined to one level.

That section looks as if it was added as an afterthought. I wouldn't think they're "the best seats in the house."

Bob Uecker would like it though. "Good seats, eh buddy?"

And another thing - the rollout wooden bleachers are cheap-looking and outdated. Time to upgrade.

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Fans may have noticed the "Believe 21" T-shirts that all the teams in the Wabash Valley Classic wore during pregame warmups.

"Believe 21" is part of a fundraising initiative to raise money for Marshall (Ill.) coach Tom Brannan's family.

Brannan's 16-year-old son, Kobe Brannan, had a successful heart transplant Oct. 9 and is still recovering. It's the second heart transplant for Brannan, who also received a new heart as an infant.

Here's hoping Kobe Brannan is able to make a full recovery and once again don the No. 21 jersey for his and his father's Marshall Lions!

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Lies and Statistics

You've all heard the old saying.....

It just so happened that after Shakamak's game with Owen Valley Monday morning, legendary sports writer Steve Fields and I were interviewing Laker coach Steve Brett at the same time. Many readers of course will remember when Steve was the sports editor for the Linton Daily Citizen. "Fields on Sports" - now that's a catchy name for a column if I ever heard one!

In that game the Owen Valley Patriots outrebounded Shakamak by a 19-13 margin. Fields asked Brett if Owen Valley's size advantage was a factor in Owen Valley winning the battle of the boards.

"It wasn't their size. We didn't go to the boards," coach Brett responded.

But consider this. The Patriots shot 62 percent from the field and only missed 16 shots. So there weren't all that many rebounds available to be had. When you view it that way, Shakamak's rebounding total doesn't look so bad after all.

In that same vein, Terre Haute South hit 8 of 14 3-pointers against Linton-Stockton. How many teams shoot 57 percent from 3-point range? If the Braves are hitting 30 percent or less from out there - the way most teams do - we're talking 12 points they don't have, and it's a different ball game then.

But we don't deal in "What-if" scenarios around here....

All of this is just to illustrate the ways stats can tell you whatever you want to hear.

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The Linton-Stockton Lady Miners and the White River Valley Lady Wolverines had the opportunity to play in multi-class holiday tournaments as well, both in Vincennes.

The Lady Miners played in the McDonald's Holiday Hoops Hysteria girls basketball tournament hosted by Vincennes Lincoln before Christmas, losing to Vincennes Lincoln, Evansville Harrison and West Vigo.

The Lady Wolverines played in the Niehaus Lumber Holiday Classic girls holiday tournament at Vincennes University which began Friday, December 26.

WRV gave Class A seventh-ranked Vincennes Rivet all they could handle, leading 26-19 after 3 quarters until Rivet went on a 12-0 run to overtake them. The Lady Wolverines overcame a 20-7 first-quarter deficit to avenge an earlier loss to North Knox winning the fifth-place game 44-39.

Ed Ballinger, the radio voice of the Vincennes Rivet Patriots had some complimentary things to say about our Lady Wolverines. He likes the team and its style of play - especially their pressure defense.

While I didn't attend the Blue Chip/SWIAC girls tournament at Shakamak, by all accounts WRV gave Class A top-ranked Barr-Reeve all they wanted as well.

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The Niehaus Lumber Holiday Classic girls basketball tournament was staged in the arena at the Vincennes University Physical Education Complex. It's truly a spectacular facility - visually and aesthetically appealing. A top notch facility in my not-so-humble opinion.

Patrons enter the arena at mid-level. Lower-level seating is below ground level - similar to Eastern Greene's facility.

Ed Ballinger opined that VU would be a good venue for a 1A or 2A semistate. I agree. If nothing else it would sure beat making the trip to Richmond.

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A really cool feature of the arena is the display wall that you see upon entering through the admission gate.

Vincennes University has a long and storied history as a junior college powerhouse in 26 years under the tutelage of Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame coach Dan Sparks. Numerous VU Trailblazers went on to play Division I basketball, including 15 former players who went on to play in the NBA. Four of those were first-round NBA draft picks.

Those former players' jerseys representing the four-year institutions they played for after their time at VU are encased in individual glass cases mounted on the display wall.

I took pictures of Joey Hart's Coastal Carolina jersey and Bob McAdoo's North Carolina and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys.

You might recall that current Linton-Stockton Miner coach Joey Hart was a two-year starter for Coastal Carolina after playing at VU and had eight points on 3 of 6 shooting and 2 of 2 from the line in a 1993 NCAA Tournament first-round game against Michigan's famed Fab Five.

Hart was also the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers' assist leader for the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons.

I was in seventh grade when Bob McAdoo played for the VU Trailblazers.

Out of curiosity, my dad and I went to Vincennes to watch one of McAdoo's games. Afterwards I exclaimed, "Wow dad, that McAdoo guy could play for the Pacers!"

Dad said, "Oh, I don't know about that, son."

For once, I was right.....

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.