MARION - The first thing Moe Smedley does is laugh.

Smedley, the former Manchester Squires coach who's now at Marion, has coached varsity boys basketball for 20 years. This year's Marion team is 15-0, ranked No. 1 in the Indiana coaches poll, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press 4A poll and ranked No. 3 in USA Today's national poll. This Friday Marion comes to Warsaw to face the 10-3 Tigers.

What causes Smedley to guffaw is the question on whether this is the easiest season he's had in 21 years.

"Heavens no," he says. "You don't sit back and kick your feet up. The public perception is you just roll the ball out there.

"That's not the case."

Smedley finds he has two opponents this year: the other team and the attention.

Not only must Marion beat the other team, the coaches must make sure all the acclaim, the press, the recognition does not eat away at the team. This is why Smedley says this is not his easiest coaching job in 21 years.

"You have to make sure the team doesn't start reading the newspapers and start believing what they read," he says. "You have to make sure the players don't become selfish, don't become jealous over the attention another player is receiving."

But facts are facts, and the facts have 6-foot-8 senior center Zach Randolph averaging 23.2 points and 15 rebounds per game. The future Michigan State player shoots 63 percent from the floor. Six-six senior forward Matt Backs, who will play for Elon College in North Carolina, adds 10.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Six-three sophomore forward Allen Miller hits 60 percent of his field goals and averages 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

Five-foot-11 sophomore Todd Chin (9.5 ppg., 2.7 apg.), 6'1' senior Reggie Nevels (6.9 ppg., 2.6 apg.) and 5'8' sophomore Isaac McClung (8.3 ppg., 3.3 apg.) are key backcourt players.

The Giants shoot 55 percent from the field compared to 41 percent for their opponents, and they outscore teams by an average of 71.9-52.2.

"They're one of the most talented teams we have ever faced," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes says of Friday's game against Marion. "To compare their talent with other teams we have faced, I have to go back to No. 1 teams we have faced before, Marion with Lyndon Jones and Jay Edwards in 1986, and Michigan City with Delray Brooks in 1984."

And this talent has the Marion Giants as the No. 3 high school in the nation, something Smedley scoffs at.

"How can they tell?" he asks. "You can't compare schools in Indiana with schools in California.

"Anytime you're ranked, you as a coach tell your players those rankings won't win ballgames. I tell our kids each team we play that night is the best team we've faced this season."

One time Smedley sensed the accolades creeping into his players' heads: at the Hall of Fame Tournament in New Castle. The Giants beat No. 2 (2A) Monrovia 74-61, but Smedley did not like the way his team played.

"We went down there knowing we were the only 4A school while the other schools were 2A," he says. "That's the first time I've noticed the kids going through the motions."

This month no team has come closer than 14 points to Marion. That team was Fort Wayne South Side, which lost at Marion 80-66. In that game the Giants trailed 57-50 at the end of the third quarter then outscored South Side 30-9 in the fourth.

This season the Giants have beaten teams like Anderson, No. 6 (4A) Lawrence North, Huntington North, Kokomo, Westview, Richmond, Fort Wayne South and Lafayette Jeff.

"I look at our schedule, I don't know how we're 15-0," Smedley says. "We've had game after game of good opponents."

Smedley, who has coached at six schools in his 21 years, acknowledges the pressure to win has been greatest at Marion. The Giants are 550-117 over the last 25 years, the best record in Indiana. They have won five state titles and 13 North Central Conference titles in those 25 years.

"You're talking about coaching at a school that has had tremendous success the last 25 years," Smedley says.

A year ago all the experts said Duke, which lost one game, would roar through the NCAA Tournament and claim the national title. The Blue Devils advanced to the final game, but they lost to Connecticut.

Smedley knew where the question was headed: Would this season still be considered a success if the Giants, who have been No. 1 all along, don't win the class 4A state title?

"I've told our kids that we've met one goal: a winning season," Smedley says. "We have two left: winning our conference and winning state. The way I look at it, if we don't win state, we've still accomplished some of our goals this season. Now I don't know what the fans will think ...

"Winning the state tournament takes not only a good team, it takes breaks." [[In-content Ad]]