The Calendar Says It's Really Hoops Season
December 7, 2016 at 5:39 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
For high school girls teams, think of the month of November as a salad – there’s a lot there and it’s more than just a little something to hold you over. It’s more like a whole meal than just a level of one.
December and January are the main course. They are steak and potatoes or chicken parm on a bed of angel hair spaghetti. It is what you remember when dinner’s over.
February is the state tournament. It’s the dessert of the basketball meal. You always cap a great dinner with a great desert.
For the boys, it’s a little different.
November for the boys is like the little loaf of bread they bring to your table after you have placed your order. It tastes great, but it’s so small it only makes you hungrier.
December is like when the wait staff plops a plate of loaded nachos, cheese sticks or onion rings in the middle of your table. The meaningful games are still coming, but these games are fun because they get us into the regular flow of games on Fridays and Saturdays.
January and February are the main course. They are the entrees of conference play at its peak. It’s when most rivalries are renewed and old scores settled. And in the restaurant of basketball, only the winners get a take-home box.
March is desert, but not just any dessert. It’s like Ivanhoe’s Drive In in Upland. People will drive a hundred miles one-way to stand in line for an hour or longer for a bowl of ice cream … but it’s not just any bowl of ice cream. It’s Ivanhoe’s, and it’s special.
The calendar says it’s December … bon appetit!
Here are some of the story lines:
• Warsaw’s remarkable girls’ basketball turnaround from last season continues. The 7-1 start after beginning 0-9 last season with virtually the same roster has been quite stunning. When you don’t turn the ball over and are committed to playing defense, it can offset a lot of other things that your team may not be as good at.
• Tippecanoe Valley continues their regular season march. Their two losses are by 24 in the Tiger Den and in the championship of their own tournament to a team from Wisconsin. Thing is, outside of their trip to New Castle for the Hall of Fame tournament later this month and a road trip to South Whitley, they probably won’t be challenged often from here on out.
• The basketball season at Wawasee has been a lot more fun so far this winter. The girls are 3-6, but when you look deeper than the win-loss record, you see that four of their six losses are by less than 10 points, and six of their nine games have been played outside of Syracuse. It’s a good start for a bright young guy in Matt Carpenter, who took over for local legend Kem Zolman. For the boys, Jon Everingham put the AED paddles to a program that had become Northern Indiana’s whipping boys lately. They have already won more games through four outings this season than they did all last season.
• Kyle Mangas is on the upward swing toward the 1,000 point club at Warsaw Community High School. He had a rough weekend, scoring 37 points and shooting 32 percent from the field in a loss at Homestead and a win at Huntington North. A “market correction” was a certainty after shooting 78 percent for the first two games in the Tiger Den, but no one saw that coming. Funny thing is, after that rough road trip, he’s still shooting well over 50 percent from the field. Another 100 points will put him into the top 15 in Tiger Basketball history.
• Mark Underwood is back coaching again. He’ll lead his Manchester boys team into the Tiger Den Thursday night. He coached the girls team well for a long time there, but had been out of the coaching business since 2013. The North Manchester community is very blessed to have a guy like Underwood around, and still willing to get back into it.
• Whitko’s girls team survived a major early-season test by beating Warsaw at home right after Thanksgiving and has six of its nine wins against schools that are either 3A or 4A. They are 9-0, but when you look at what’s ahead for them it’s hard to see them going undefeated … and that’s a good thing. They will have a stern road challenge at Penn Saturday, they have a major showdown in the TRC with Tippecanoe Valley, and they host Norwell in January. They are likely to be better prepared for the Class 2A tournament than in past years.
It’s December, and the basketball tastes delicious, doesn’t it?
For high school girls teams, think of the month of November as a salad – there’s a lot there and it’s more than just a little something to hold you over. It’s more like a whole meal than just a level of one.
December and January are the main course. They are steak and potatoes or chicken parm on a bed of angel hair spaghetti. It is what you remember when dinner’s over.
February is the state tournament. It’s the dessert of the basketball meal. You always cap a great dinner with a great desert.
For the boys, it’s a little different.
November for the boys is like the little loaf of bread they bring to your table after you have placed your order. It tastes great, but it’s so small it only makes you hungrier.
December is like when the wait staff plops a plate of loaded nachos, cheese sticks or onion rings in the middle of your table. The meaningful games are still coming, but these games are fun because they get us into the regular flow of games on Fridays and Saturdays.
January and February are the main course. They are the entrees of conference play at its peak. It’s when most rivalries are renewed and old scores settled. And in the restaurant of basketball, only the winners get a take-home box.
March is desert, but not just any dessert. It’s like Ivanhoe’s Drive In in Upland. People will drive a hundred miles one-way to stand in line for an hour or longer for a bowl of ice cream … but it’s not just any bowl of ice cream. It’s Ivanhoe’s, and it’s special.
The calendar says it’s December … bon appetit!
Here are some of the story lines:
• Warsaw’s remarkable girls’ basketball turnaround from last season continues. The 7-1 start after beginning 0-9 last season with virtually the same roster has been quite stunning. When you don’t turn the ball over and are committed to playing defense, it can offset a lot of other things that your team may not be as good at.
• Tippecanoe Valley continues their regular season march. Their two losses are by 24 in the Tiger Den and in the championship of their own tournament to a team from Wisconsin. Thing is, outside of their trip to New Castle for the Hall of Fame tournament later this month and a road trip to South Whitley, they probably won’t be challenged often from here on out.
• The basketball season at Wawasee has been a lot more fun so far this winter. The girls are 3-6, but when you look deeper than the win-loss record, you see that four of their six losses are by less than 10 points, and six of their nine games have been played outside of Syracuse. It’s a good start for a bright young guy in Matt Carpenter, who took over for local legend Kem Zolman. For the boys, Jon Everingham put the AED paddles to a program that had become Northern Indiana’s whipping boys lately. They have already won more games through four outings this season than they did all last season.
• Kyle Mangas is on the upward swing toward the 1,000 point club at Warsaw Community High School. He had a rough weekend, scoring 37 points and shooting 32 percent from the field in a loss at Homestead and a win at Huntington North. A “market correction” was a certainty after shooting 78 percent for the first two games in the Tiger Den, but no one saw that coming. Funny thing is, after that rough road trip, he’s still shooting well over 50 percent from the field. Another 100 points will put him into the top 15 in Tiger Basketball history.
• Mark Underwood is back coaching again. He’ll lead his Manchester boys team into the Tiger Den Thursday night. He coached the girls team well for a long time there, but had been out of the coaching business since 2013. The North Manchester community is very blessed to have a guy like Underwood around, and still willing to get back into it.
• Whitko’s girls team survived a major early-season test by beating Warsaw at home right after Thanksgiving and has six of its nine wins against schools that are either 3A or 4A. They are 9-0, but when you look at what’s ahead for them it’s hard to see them going undefeated … and that’s a good thing. They will have a stern road challenge at Penn Saturday, they have a major showdown in the TRC with Tippecanoe Valley, and they host Norwell in January. They are likely to be better prepared for the Class 2A tournament than in past years.
It’s December, and the basketball tastes delicious, doesn’t it?
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