County basketball teams got the most of their seasons
It’s a long week for Greene County basketball teams as Shakamak and Linton-Stockton ended their seasons last Saturday in regionals. No county boys team made it to semistate this year.
Many fans judge basketball teams is by how far they go in the postseason. It’s hard not to.
For example, Indiana University won Big 10 regular season titles under Tom Crean but he could not get the Hoosiers to the Final Four. As a result, Indiana let go of Crean in 2017 and hired Archie Miller to replace him. Needless to say, it was a bad move by Indiana. For the most part, Crean got the most out of his team as the Hoosiers maxed out the majority of his seasons. Still, that was not good enough as Hoosier fans judged his team by postseason runs.
In contrast, Archie Miller rarely, if ever, got the most out of his team. Their legacies at Indiana University should be viewed differently by Hoosier fans.
For Linton-Stockton coach Joe Hart and Shakamak coach Nate O’Neall, they got the most out of their teams too. O’Neall and the Lakers battled the virus all year until the final weeks of the season. O’Neall basically had to rebuild the offense and how his team played just a couple of weeks before sectionals. Trevor Ellingsworth went into the starting lineup with the rebuilt offense and the Lakers were ready to shock their sectional.
Shakamak fell to a superior Tindley team last Saturday at the Martinsville Regional. The Tigers were simply taller, longer, and stronger than the Lakers are in every position.
Despite the loss, Shakamak maxed out. I hope Laker fans are able to appreciate that in the future.
Linton maxed out too, winning it's third consecutive sectional and seven in the last nine years. The Miners had the toughest path to win at Eastern Greene playing three games. Against Eastern Greene and North Knox in the tournament final, they found themselves trailing in both games. Linton never wavered and found a way to fight through and win the sectional.
In the Southridge Regional, Linton went up against Southwestern, a team that was practically built to upset Linton.
Former Florida Coach Billy Donovan, once described tournament play as a game of rock, paper, scissors. Last Saturday at Huntinburg, Linton’s rock of a zone went up against paper in Southwestern. Austin Kramer had the shiftiness to get inside the paint and the Rebels had the shooters to launch threes when called upon.
Despite all that, Linton nearly won. Senior Lincoln Hale put on a show so many in Linton will miss now that he is on to college. The Miners had the ball down one but could not get a clean look for the final bucket.
As Hale and the Miners walked off the court it was disappointing but also a special moment. Linton was never blown out and kept fighting to the end. For a fan, that’s all you can ask for. The Miners got better as the year went on and nearly made it to the regional final.
It’s difficult to watch the news this week as Parke Heritage is still playing. The same Parke Heritage team Linton beat the first Saturday of the season. I urge fans to not remember Linton’s season by that comparison.
Linton and Shakamak pushed themselves as far as they could go in a difficult season filled with cancellations, injuries, and virus concerns. For local basketball fans, what we should say is “Thank you.”
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