Girls basketball has center stage this week as February Fever sweeps the state. Here are a few rambling thoughts, observations and tidbits.

The Goreville Lady Blackcats are in a class by themselves in Class 1A basketball here in Southern Illinois. Coach Mike Helton’s team rolled into post season with a 26-1 overall record – the lone loss coming to unbeaten Mt. Carmel in the title game of the Eldorado Girl’s Midwinter Tournament.

Goreville should cruise through the Gallatin County regional and then head back home to host its own sectional next week. The regionals feeding into the Goreville sectional include Cobden (Cairo is the No. 1 seed and Cobden No. 2), Elverado (Wayne City is the No. 1 seed and Galatia is the No. 2) and Edwards County (Brookport Red Hill is the No. 1 seed and Louisville North Clay is No. 2).

Barring a major upset Goreville will cruise into the Salem Super Sectional where a possible match up with perennial girl’s powerhouse Cowden-Herrick (No. 1 seed in the Farina South Central regional) could be looming.

Goreville has the talent and experience to bring home the big trophy from Redbird Arena in Normal.

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The Zeigler-Royalton Regional Class 2A girl’s regional provides a great example that maybe a sectional complex is needed to make sure that one regional doesn’t get stacked while others are a little lacking on talented teams.

Three teams with 20-win seasons (Nashville, Benton and Sesser-Valier-Waltonville) ended up at Zeigler-Royalton, which of course means that two of those teams will be home next week when sectional tournament play begins.

The winner at Z-R will advance to the Dupo Sectional to face the winner of the Breese Central Regional where the host school is the No. 1 seed and Carlyle is a No. 2 seed. The Campbell Hill (Trico) regional winner (Red Bud is the No. 1 seed and Pinckneyville is No. 2) and the Anna-Jonesboro Regional winner (Vienna is the No. 1 seed and Cartervilel is No. 2) also feed into Dupo.

Speaking only about this year, the brackets certainly favor the A-J Regional and the Trico Regional who will have a much less difficult task of making it to the sectional championship game. Let me explain. After battling through the Z-R Regional either Nashville or SVW will face a very tough match up against either Breese Central or Carlyle (I think it will be Breese Central). So, in short it’s a tall task to come through the Z-R Regional and then get a very tough match up in the first round of sectional play.

Coaches do the seeding of regional tournaments and brackets are determined by the seeding, so that’s a fair process. Determining how the regional tournaments are paired into brackets is done by a blind draw so that just boils down to luck. However, loading a regional with three 20-game winners could be avoided. Just something for the good folks in Bloomington at the IHSA office to consider.

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46 points in 18 minutes.

That’s a lot of points for a basketball team (boys or girls) to put on the board in a high school basketball game. Think of how many games you seen this year and now think of it like this: with six minutes to go in the third quarter how many times has a team had 46 points two minutes past halftime? I bet there are only a handful of games (maybe none) where either team had 46 points.

Well, that’s what Mt. Carmel’s Tyra Buss did on Wednesday night in an 85-36 victory over Hamilton County.

Buss lit the Lady Foxes up for 41 in the first half and then scored five points and played only two minutes into the third quarter before heading to the bench for the rest of the night with 46 points in 18 minutes. Mt. Carmel will face Harrisburg, a two-point winner over Eldorado, in the title game tonight.

Buss just recently became the fastest player (boy or girl) to reach the 3,000 point scoring plateau in Illinois’ illustrious basketball history – and she is just a junior. Currently she has scored 3,288 points in her career – 1,162 this season. She is only 41 points from breaking the all-time Illinois high school single season scoring record of 1,202 points held by Brittany Johnson, of Olney. At the pace she is on she will shatter the state’s all time scoring record of 4,031, also held by Johnson (2003-07). She is currently only 743 points away.

Tyra Buss

And keep in mind that Buss has seen every gimmick defense imaginable as coaches try to find ways to slow her down. I had Mt. Carmel girl’s coach Tim Willis on my Saturday show a few weeks ago and he talked about the defenses that pop up virtually every game. He told about one coach who played a ‘triangle-and-two’ defense with the ‘two’ players not in the triangle zone guarding Buss.

“I’ve been around basketball a long time and have never seen that,” Willis told me.

Buss was at Rich Herrin Gym on Saturday for the Rich Herrin Classic when the Mt. Carmel boy’s team played Johnston City. Her brother Tyler Buss is the head coach of the Golden Aces. I broadcast all six games at the RH Classic and was approached by a couple of people about interviewing Tyra. I said ‘sure’ and at halftime of the second game we chatted on air for about five minutes.

I have seen her play only once, and that was last year when she was a sophomore but have followed her career. My first reaction as she made her way to the press booth was how small she is. My comment later, ‘she wouldn’t weigh 90 pounds with a wet field jacket on.’

The interview turned out to be one of the highlights of a long day at Rich Herrin Gym. I found Tyra to be personable, articulate and certainly well-grounded. The one answer that sort of surprised me was when I asked her what she does to ‘get away from basketball.”

“I never get away from basketball, I play every day year-around,” she said matter-of-factly. “I play a couple of other sports but I always find time for basketball.”

I also found it impressive that she wanted to talk more about her teammates than herself.

After hearing about the 41 point half and the 46 points in 18 minutes I called my friend Tom Maulding from McLeansboro. Tom does play-by-play for Hamilton County sports on WISH-FM and was at the game. He said he has seen Buss play eight or 10 times and really wasn’t surprised by the scoring outburst.

“She is a step quicker than anybody on the floor and she scored any way she wanted to to – she drove to the basket and shot right and left handed, she shot three’s from five feet behind the line, she stole the ball and scored and every time she was fouled she knocked down the free throws,” Maulding said. “She is just amazing to watch, just phenomenal.”

Perhaps the best line of our telephone conversation was when Maulding talked about the title game between Mt. Carmel and Harrisburg.

“I’m coming back tonight for the championship game,” he said. “It’s hard not to come back when there’s a show like that in town.”

Buss will take her considerable talent to Indiana University to play basketball but that’s still far in the future – first she has the remainder of this post season and her senior year of high school.

The undefeated Mt. Carmel team (30-0) will be a heavy favorite against Harrisburg tonight and should roll into the Newton Sectional where they will face the winner of the Tuscola Regional where Pana is a No. 1 seed and Sullivan is No. 2. A lot of folks I talk with in girl’s basketball circles say that Pana could present a formidable challenge to Mt. Carmel if the two teams meet.

The winner of the Newton Sectional will meet the winner of the Dupo Sectional in the Salem Class 2A Super Sectional on Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. Looking at some possible match ups … what about a Nashville-Mt. Carmel super sectional? Nashville’s lock-down defense against Mt. Carmel and their scoring machine Tyra Buss? Wouldn’t that be one for the ages?

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And speaking of Nashville …

Wayne Harre has a girl’s basketball factory going in Nashville and has had for more than a decade. I had Harre as a guest on Saturday Morning Talking Sports last week and one of the stats that really jumped out at me was his overall record in the tough SIRR Mississippi Division. My sidekick Scott Mees, a reporter with the Southern Illinoisan, brought it up and it’s still sort of mind-boggling to me.

During his13 seasons as girl’s coach Harre has coached his Nashville Hornettes through 130 Mississippi Division games (10 game schedule per season) and has compiled an eye-popping record of 128-2. I think when you factor in that half those games are on the road it’s an even more incredible record.

And as an example that coaches remember the losses more than the wins, Harre recalled those two losses with clarity, as if they happened last week.

Harre’s name continues to be mentioned as a candidate for the now-vacant SIU women’s basketball job. Former coach Missy Tiber abruptly resigned a couple weeks ago and the program is a little lower than rock bottom. It would be a formidable task for any coach but certainly Harre has the resume and the record to prove that he can teach the game of basketball to young women.

From my little corner of the world I hope SIU gives him a serious look and then the job. I’m sure there are five other coaches on the SIRR Mississippi Division hoping the same thing.

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I have broadcast Benton sports (football, basketball, baseball and softball) for two decades now and in that span have seen a lot of athletes come and go. It seems to me that the end of the season for seniors is more dramatic in basketball than any other sport.

I thought that again on Wednesday night when Sesser-Valier-Waltonville defeated Benton 58-44 in a regional semi-final. As the game was winding down and it was apparent that SVW would be the victor I thought back to four years ago when Morgan Corn, Mikala Carney, Evelyn Mendez and Brittany Pedigo made their high school debut at the varsity level. There have been many highs and a few lows since then but these four seniors stayed the course and always gave their all. It was that same old familiar feeling for me when I saw them walk off the floor for the final time.

Only one team in each class will go out a winner with a state title so the end for seniors, who in many instances will never play organized sports again, is really the end. Regional championships will be played in Class 1A and Class 2A throughout the state tonight so that same end-of-the-line feeling will be prevalent at venues across Illinois.

Here’s a suggestion to fans who attend those games not only tonight but in the days ahead as we wind down the tournament trail in both girls and boys basketball. Pay attention to those seniors as they exit the floor and give them a hand, even if it’s an opposing player. And keep in mind that those senior players have put a tremendous amount of hard work, sweat and probably a few tears into a career that just ended.

Enjoy February Fever and March Madness and thanks for taking the time to read this. God Bless You!

By Tom Wheeler

Some thoughts from a week of basketball in Benton at the 40^th Invitational at Rich Herrin gymnasium. Let’s just ramble today … Congratulations to Carlyle and coach Andy Palmer as his Indians won their first BIT since 1998 when Brad Weathers tied with Curt Reed’s Foxes with a 4-1 record … Looking back the Championship game was played on Monday in the first game of the tournament when Carlyle defeated Okawville 47-40 as each team won in the next four sessions … The biggest surprise of this game was the play of two BIT all-tournament players Matt Hilmes of Carlyle and Jeremy Weeke of Okawville.  Hilmes had missed 13 Indian games with a broken hand while Weeke was thought to have a broken foot but a second opinion showed Jeremy had an extra bone in his foot and the injury was just a bad sprain. Both athletes were released Monday in time to play and play they did … Carlyle’s Tyson Boehne sat out Saturday night’s game with a sprained ankle, Tyson will play baseball at McKendree University where his dad James is head coach … McLeansboro’s Tyler Cross showed up on crutches Friday night with a broken foot and the point guard will be out for the remainder of his senior year … Rockets coach Jon Krause, Ranger’s Ron Winemiller and the Foxes Keith Welch all played in the BIT, in fact Coach Welch won the Bob Blondi Sportsmanship Award twice in 1999 and 2000 while his young brother Jake won it in 2007. Another brother Devon, who is an assistant coach to his brother, was all tournament in 00 and 01 … Devon was also honored to be named one of the top 40 players to play in the BIT and was one of the 20 all stars who returned for a nice half time ceremony … veteran basketball official Roger Grumley was honored Monday night for his service at the BIT as this is his last year to officiate, a great guy on and off the court … the only “Little Wheels” camper to make this top 40 list was Collinsville coach Doug Kirk one of Benton’s all-time leading scorers … other ex-Little Wheels who made the all-tournament team when they played besides Kirk who made it three times were, Seiger and Sayler Shurtz, Ryan Fraulini, Brett Blondi and Aaron Cantrell … Benton great Rob Dunbar was a 1974 All Star and made the ceremony, teammate that year Paul Dinkins did not make it but 1975 teammate Billy Smith was also honored, in fact Smith looked like he could still go 32 minutes … all-stars Shane Hawkins (Pinckneyville) was coaching for Marion Saturday night and couldn’t attend as was Rend Lakes Randy House(Benton) and Belleville East’s Able Schrader (Okawville) … Okawville legendary coach David Luechtefield was in attendance Friday night, he won titles in 1995,1997,1999 and 2000.  His son Jeff made the all-tournament team in 1986 and 1987 while youngest son Ryan was honored in 1993 and 1994 … The only Harlem Globetrotter to be a BIT All-star was Carlyle’s Jacob Tucker … I also had a chance to visit with a couple ex-Little Wheels campers who were assistant coaches Benton’s Jason Hobbs (Christopher) and Pinckneyville assistant Todd Thomas(Johnston City, Tommy’s son) … The top five scorers in the tournament were Carlyle’s Hilmes (95),Sesser-Valier’s Justin Kulich (75), Oakville’s Weeke (73), Carlyle’s Cody Huels (72) and Benton’s Nathanael Higgins (64), all five were all tournament selections