52nd annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament tips off this morning

Steve Dunford- franklincounty-news.com

I love this tournament, even though I have not been in years.  The only thing comparable to the atmosphere when the semi-final games are played, is a sectional final in Southern Illinois.

This can be a field where anything can happen this year.  It has the potential to be one of the most evenly matched tournaments in a long time.  FoxesFans.net and areasports.net is going to live video stream the games.

I want to give a big shout out to WEBQ radio for doing an outstanding job on the tournament preview last week.  I picked up a lot of information on teams that I am not familiar with.

The Herrin Tigers are back in the tournament this year after leaving to go to Carbondale for a few years; flip flopping with Meridian.  Galatia and Vienna traded places, with the Bearcats going to Sesser-Valier.  Newcomer to the tournament and the Black Diamond East as well Edwards County took Webster County KY’s place.

WEST FRANKFORT REDBIRDS

Unseeded

Record:  2-4

Coach:    Kevin Toney

Enrollment and Class:  546 (2A)

Conference:  Southern Illinois River to River-Ohio Division

Games against opponents in the field: (0-2)

Lost to Harrisburg at home 53-42

Lost at Eldorado 60-48

Even when Kevin Toney took his sabbatical from coaching, he could be spotted across gyms in Southern Illinois with a clipboard and a yellow legal pad in his hand.  I asked him how many teams that he has scouted in the field of the EHT.  He said fourteen; he did not get a look at Union County KY or NCOE yet.  I told him that he could pull up film on the Fighting Cardinals from Thompsonville’s YouTube site.  I bet he drug something up on Union County by now.

When he scouts a team he says he tries to look out for someone that is similar to the Redbrids and plays man to man.

For those outside of Franklin County that will be reading this, especially teams out of the GEC, I am going to familiarize you with WF.

Noah Allen, a 5′ 8″ guard is a slasher to the basket and can shoot the three.  Coach Toney has said on several occasions he has a heart bigger than Max Morris gym.

Austin Glodich, a 6′ 6″ senior, mainly plays on the perimeter.  He likes that 22 ft jumper from the wing.  He can go in and post up on you as well.

The other two spots in the lineup is 5′ 11″ sophomore Kyle Hammers and.  The fifth starter can be a cast of characters, according to the match-up.

The Redbirds play at 1:30 this afternoon.  The game should be video streamed on areasports.net and foxesfans.net.

HERRIN TIGERS

Seed:  #1

Record:  5-2

Coach:  Mike Mooneyham

Enrollment and class:  766 (3A)

Conference:  Southern Illinois River to River-Ohio division

No common opponents in field-

The Herrin Starting five has a trio of 6′ 4″ seniors, DJ Spell and the Downen twins, Ty and Jake.  They are both outstanding athletes and leapers.  All three were mainstays on the Tigers outstanding football team last fall.

The guard tandem of Dalton Bush and Bronson Nessler can shoot the lights out.  If  teams pack it in to deal with Herrin’s size, this duo could bust someone out of a zone in a hurry.

It will be interesting to see how some teams match-up with the Tigers, especially in the later rounds.

FAIRFIELD MULES

Seed:  #2

Coach:  Scott McElravy

Enrollment and class:  423 (2A)

Conference:  Black Diamond East

Games against opponents in the field (4-0)

Won at Eldorado  41-40

Beat NCOE at home 86-78

Won at Hamilton County 42-41

Beat Edwards County at home 56-50

As you see from the scores above, coach McElravy says the mules have lived a charmed life in the last few games.

I remember from last year, guard Macklyn Snyder is a player.  He has a good running mate in Brant McGill.  Kolten Dagg and Jaden Lewis is handing a lot of the scoring load for the Mules also.

ELDORADO EAGLES 

Seed #3

Record:  10-1

Coach:  Josh Bradley

Enrollment and class:  332 (2A)

Games against opponents in the playing field  (6-1)

Beat Carrier Mills 43-41 at the Vienna Classic

Beat Vienna 68-38 at the Vienna Classic

Beat Hamilton County 62-50 at Home

Beat Carrier Mills 77-50

Lost to Fairfield 41-40 at home

Beat West Frankfort 62-48 at home

Beat Gallatin County 47-44 at home

For the Eagles, Partridge, Attebury, Meridith and Traxler have logged a lot of varsity minutes over the last couple of seasons.  The Eagles will have one of the bigger front lines of anyone in the tournament.

Coach Bradley set a goal at the start of the season to get to the semi finals in the tournament.  One thing that is perplexing to him about this team is,  when they can score from the field, they can not hit free throws and vise versa.  He wants to run and gun more.

HARRISBURG BULLDOGS

Seed:  #4

Record:  2-4

Coach:  Randy Smithpeters

Enrollment and class:  557 (2)

Conference: Southern Illinois River-to-River Ohio

Opponents played in the field:  (1-1)

Beat West Frankfort on the road 53-42

Lost to Massac at Home 65-61

First of all congratulations to Coach Smithpeters, for being elected to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

One thing that is mentioned about the Bulldogs is the loss of point guard Blake Drue to a football injury.  Coach Randy Smithpeters says there is a lot of roles that are shuffled and Drue’s injury really hurts their depth.  He mentioned the players have looked to him for leadership since junior high.

The Bulldogs still have Isaiah Salusbury on thier roster, in my view is one of the most exciting players in Southern Illinois.  Jordan Gould is a jack of all trades player for Harrisburg   Noah Ferrell is a big outside threat. Austin Hefner, and Jordan Bartock will see a lot of time this week for the bulldogs.

If the Bulldogs make it to the championship, Coach Smithpeters says they can not look past Hamilton County and realize they will have four tough games.

CARMI-WHITE COUNTY

Seed #5

Record:  7-1

Coach:  Kevin Wolff

Enrollment and class:  366 (2A)

Conference:  Black Diamond East

Games against opponents in the field: (2-0)

Won at home against NCOE  76-63

Beat Hamilton County on the road 55-37

The Bulldogs won their first tournament in nearly two decades as they won the DuQuoin tip-off classic right after Thanksgiving.

C-W-C has been led by guard Matt Rice and post player Jake Simon.  Justice Stubblefield, Travis Black, and Bryce Norcott

Coach Wolff says he is pleased with the balance of the club.  He said the 13 point loss to Benton was a measuring stick to see where they were at, and thought they played well.

EDWARDS COUNTY LIONS

Seed:  #6

Record:   7-1

Coach :  Russ Grelach

Enrollment:  282 (1A)

Conference:  Black Diamond East

Games against teams in the field:

Beat Gallatin County at Grayville Tournament 68-50

Beat Hamilton County at home 52-44

Anything that I have heard about Edwards County is that 6′ 6″ Nathan Schmitmer is a special player.  Their two other main players is Cade Schnicker and Bobby Brake.

Coach Gerlach says the Lions go about eight deep.

MASSAC COUNTY PATRIOTS 

Seed:  #7

Record:  2-2

Coach:  Joe Hosman

Enrollment and class:  588 (3A)

Games against teams in the tournament:   (2-0)

Beat Anna-Jonesboro at home 53-41

Beat Harrisburg on the road 65-61

Congratulations Coach Hosman on your 700th win!

Last year’s tournament MVP, J.T Weber did not go out for, basketball as well as Noah Farmer.  Both of them signed letters of intent to play baseball for the SIU Salukis.

Darius Roundtree and big man in the middle Isaiah Thomson is back for a good nucleus left.

Coach Hosman basically said, we are not very good, not very deep, and going to play a lot of zone.  I have heard this before and he ends up winning 20 games.

ANNA-JONESBORO WILDCATS

Seed:  #8

Record:  4-7

Coach:  Mike Chamness

Enrollment and Class:  520 Class 2A

Conference:  Southern Illinois River to River-Mississippi Division

Games against teams in the tournament:

Lost to Massac County on the road 53-41

Beat Hardin County 58-42 at the Goreville Tournament

Beat Hamilton County 60-36 at the Goreville Tournament

The first thing Mike Chamness said on the interview with WEBQ was I hope that we are more of a morning team than Union County KY.  They are playing the breakfast opener as we speak.  They loser gets to play the midnight special at 10p.m. tonight.

From watching them at Goreville, the Wildcats were a perimeter focused team with Jake Parr, Sheldon McGrath, and occasionally Jacob Zimmerman.  It is a rebuilding year for the Wildcats as graduation hit them heavily last year.

UNION COUNTY KY BRAVES 

Record:  2-5 

Coach:  Shane Smith

Enrollment:  620, Region 2, District 6

Thier two main players is Elex Dunford and Marqualio King.  The school is located just a few miles east of Shawneetown.

 Vienna Eagles 

Record:  8-1

Coach:  Cory Waters

Enrollment:  332 (2A)

Conference:  Black Diamond West

Opponents Played in field:

Beat Carrier Mills 63-56 at own tournament

Lost to Eldorado 68-38 in own tournament

The Eagles are one of the surprise teams in Southern Illinois, as they were supposed to be a mediocre ball club.

Seeing the most time for the Eagles will be Ben Daine, Lucas Stricklin, Gabe Snell, John Breedon, and Brandon Casey.

Hamilton County Foxes

Record:  2-7

Coach:  Jeremy Varner

Enrollment and class:  333 (2A)

Conference:  Black Diamond East

Opponents in field:  (1-5)

Beat Hardin County 73-67 at Goreville

Lost to Anna-Jonesboro  60-36 at Goreville

Lost at Eldorado 62-50

Lost to Carmi at home 55-37

Lost to Fairfield at home 42-41

Lost at Edwards County 52-44

The main core of the Foxes has saw a lot of playing time since their Sophmore year.  They are led by Oakley Dial a four year starter.  The other starters are Austin Potter, Noah Rapp, Ethan Rapp,and Jake Whipple.  Matt Rubenacher will see a lot of time.

Coach Jeremy Varner is happy with the Foxes right now and says they are where they need to be.  He says he will play a lot of people.

GALLATIN COUNTY HAWKS

Record:  6-2

Coach:  Doug Miller

Enrollment and class:  188 (1A)

Conference:  Greater Egyptian

Common opponents in field:  (1-2)

Lost to Edwards County 68-50 at Grayville

Lost to Eldorado 47-44 in OT

Beat Carrier Mills 68-53 at home

The Hawks have one of the better guards in Southern Illinois in Seth Ramsey.  Sophmores Audie Gobel and Robbie Prince are the two other main cogs in the Gallatin County Wheel.

The Hawks mainly play man to man, but they can play a wicked zone too.  They can either run or play half court ball and adjust to the opponents.

NORRIS CITY-OMAHA-ENFIELD FIGHTING CARDINALS

Record:  3-6

Coach:  Evan Wylie

Enrollment and classification:  197 (1A)

Conference:  Greater Egyptian

Opponents in the field: (1-2)

Lost at Carmi-White County 76-63

Lost at Fairfield  86-78

Beat Hardin County 82-69

The Cardinals are led by Matt Long who is averaging 27 a game.  Cooper Wells a 6′ 4″ senior can post up or hit the three.  Trenton Verble is their third leading scorer.

NCOE plays a style of ball that no team in Southern Illinois tries to play.  Coach Wylie says their goal is to shoot 80 shots a game and 40 of them be three pointers.  They have a ferocious 3/4 court press.

HARDIN COUNTY COUGARS

Record:  2-6

Coach:  Rodney Lane

Enrollment and class:  175 (1A)

Conference:  Greater Egyptian

Common Opponets in the field

Lost to AJ 58-42 at Goreville

Lost to Anna-Jonesboro  58-42 at Goreville

Won at home against Carrier Mills 65-60

Lost on the road at NCOE  83-69

The cougars are led by 1,000 point scorer Tyler Winters.  Cameron Shaw is his running mate in the back court and he can hit the three.  Inside they have a very physical 6′ 3″ Craig Hudson.  They also have Jamison Hicks who 6′ 6″.

Their record might not be pretty.  However the Cougars have strengthened their schedule this year.  For one, going to the Goreville Tournament.  Coach Lane told me he did not care if he won a game there, he wants to get them ready for the post season.  It is noteworthy they boarded the ferry and picked up a win over Crittendon County KY, a much larger school.

CARRIER MILLS WILDCATS

RECORD:  4-6

COACH:  Keil Peebles

Enrollment:  121 (1A)

Conference:  Greater Egyptian

Opponents in the tournament:

Lost to Vienna 63-56 in their tournament

Lost 43-41 to Eldorado  at Vienna

Lost on the road to Hardin County 65-60

Lost on the road to Gallatin County 62-53

Lost at home to Eldorado 77-40

The three main threats for the Wildcats is Brody Walker, Justice Hill and they have a freshman point guard in Will Gibbs who is wise beyond his years.

Coach Keil Peebles mainly plays a 2-1-2 zone.  He says games in the 40’s or 50’s they have more of a chance to win.