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Pairings announced for Greene County Invitational
Pairings for the 38th annual Greene County Daily World Invitational boys basketball tournament were announced Wednesday afternoon at Pizza City in Linton.
Defending champion Eastern Greene (0-2) will face Clay City (2-0) at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2 in the opening game of the tournament.
At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, Shakamak (2-1) will take on host White River Valley (1-3).
First-round action will continue Thursday, Jan. 3 with Union (1-3) facing North Central (2-0) in the 6 p.m. contest. The final opening-round contest is set for 7:30 p.m. Jan. 3 with Vincennes Rivet (2-1) taking on Linton-Stockton (0-3).
"Shakamak's really good," said WRV coach Gene Hall. "I know Eastern's struggling, but they're traditionally good. They are the defending sectional champions and they're in our bracket and I don't think that Clay City has lost yet.
"From that standpoint, we're in a tough part of the bracket, which is fine, but we're playing on our own home court, so that should be an advantage to us. We've just got to beat whoever the tournament puts in front of us and go from there."
The semifinals will be at 6 and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4.
There will be four games played on Saturday, Jan. 5 with consolation games at 10 and 11:30 a.m., featuring the four first-round losers.
The third-place contest is set for 6 p.m. Jan. 5 with the championship game set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
There will only be 10 games instead of 12 this year. The reason is because of the calendar. Since the tournament won't begin until Wednesday, there will only be four days of competition instead of five. The four teams that lose their opening games will only play two games instead of three.
"It is always interesting mentally," said Clay City coach Grant McVay, whose Eels won the title in 2003. "The losers on the first night will end up playing Wednesday and Saturday, something you don't hardly ever do.
"The winners on Thursday will have to play Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which is not going to be easy. It is going to be a good test."
McVay said this will be the first time Clay City will face the Thunderbirds, the only team to play in all previous 37 tournaments and the one with the most team titles (10).
"This will be my eighth tournament and we have never played Eastern," said McVay. "But I am not surprised by the draw at all.
"Ever since I have been here, we have tried to model our program after Eastern's. They have always presented themselves well and coach (Andy) Igel's kids always play hard."
Igel said his youthful team is more concerned about the immediate future.
"For us the future means trying to win our first game," said Igel. "We will start to look at Clay City's personnel later in the month.
"We are hoping that our tradition for success in this tournament might help us out this year."
McVay said the eight-team field is very evenly matched.
"You could draw the teams out 10 times and I don't think it would matter," he said. "It is a very balanced field.
"There are a lot of different teams that could put together three good games and win it."
Shakamak coach Ernie Maesch said it was a pretty tough draw.
"I know that WRV is a lot better this year," said Maesch. "I think there are several teams that could win it.
"We are still coming together as a team. We are just now where we need to be. In January, we might be closer to getting there."
Hall said the Lakers will be a formidable opponent.
"We haven't seen them and we don't play them until later on, but they're one of the better teams in the field," he said. "At some point, to win this tournament, you've got to beat one of the best teams and they're definitely it.
"At the same token we need to just play as many good teams as we can no matter what the result are at this point in the season. It doesn't do us any good to play anyone that's a cupcake, it's not going to help us. We need to play teams that are good."
It will be an all-Sullivan County affair when Union and North Central meet for the first of at least two times this season. They are both part of the Class A WRV Sectional.
"It will be good to play on Thursday, which will give us an extra day to prepare," said North Central coach Ryan Kamman. "You don't want to necessarily play someone you will play in the regular season and sectional.
"But our second game will be against teams that we won't face in the sectional. We really like playing in this tournament. It gives us a chance to play a couple of times on the sectional floor."
Union coach Clarence Johnson said it is ironic that the two Sullivan County teams will begin the tournament against each other.
"It's kind of (interesting) that in a Greene County tournament, the two Sullivan county teams are meeting in the first game of the second night," he said. "You've got eight teams in here that'll be coming out playing hard."
He added they will try to watch North Central, but have to take care of their own business.
"We'll see them as much as we can," said Johnson. "Our thing is we need to focus on ourselves and executing the things we need to execute and work on the things we need to work on as a team to grow and get better."
Rivet coach Tim Vieke said he hasn't seen the Miners play this season, but still has a good idea about what they will be up against in January.
"You have to be ready to play every night in this tournament," said Vieke. "You always see good teams that get upset.
"I don't think it will be any different this year. Shakamak would probably have to be considered the favorite. They lost quite a few players from last year, but we will still have to be focused and prepared. But one of our goals is to win this tournament."
Linton-Stockton coach Darren Clayton knows the road to a Greene County Daily World Invitational championship is never easy.
"Anytime you come into a tournament like this you're always going to have a tough draw." he said. "There are eight quality teams in this one and no matter who you draw it's going to be a tough one.
"Vincennes Rivet has a lot of kids back from last year. I know they're a very good ball club -- one of the better ball clubs in the area -- so we're going to have our hands full on the opening night."
Clayton, who like Johnson is the only other coach who also played in this tournament, really enjoys being part of the atmosphere at Switz City, the home for all 37 previous tournaments.
"It's just a great time. You get a chance to watch some great basketball over the coarse of three or four days. We get a chance to scout early going and get a feel for things," said Clayton. "Our kids will probably go over and watch the first night and get over there to watch part of the game on the second night. We'll get a chance to get a feel of what's going on, then lace them up and play."
Johnson participated in the tournament as a player at Worthington, but this will be his first experience as a head coach.
"They were pretty excited before I left to come over here today," Johnson said of his players. "They're pretty excited to find out who we play. So we are going to have to realize we have three games to play and prep for before we even think about going into the Greene County tourney.
"It's always been a great tournament. It's always a competitive tournament."
Tickets can be purchased at the door before each session. Admission is $5 per night.
Greene County Daily World sports editor Paul Wilcoxen contributed to this story.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
(Game 1) 6 p.m. -- Eastern Greene vs. Clay City
(Game 2) 7:30 p.m. -- Shakamak vs. White River Valley
Thursday, January 3, 2008
(Game 3) 6 p.m. -- Union vs. North Central
(Game 4) 7:30 p.m. -- Vincennes Rivet vs. Linton-Stockton
Friday, January 4, 2008
(Game 5) 6 p.m. -- Winner or Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
(Game 6) 7:30 p.m. - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Saturday, January 5, 2008
(Game 7) 10 a.m. -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
(Game 8) 11:30 -- Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5
Saturday, January,5, 2008
(Game 9) 6 p.m. -- Loser game 5 vs. Loser Game 6
(Game 10) 7:30 p.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 (CHAMPIONSHIP)