Published: March 26, 2008 10:36 pm            

Amey Takes Aim: Heading into the land of the Vols and thoughts on Butler

TERRE HAUTE — Just a few odds and ends to get out of the way today before the Griswolds — oops, I mean the Ameys — pack up the van and get out of here.

Yes, a couple of weeks from now you should be reading about adventures from the Great Smoky Mountains, where we’ll more than likely be swamped by Vol and Lady Vol mania (I can pretty much guarantee I won’t be coming home wearing orange, although I can’t vouch for the kids). I also suggested to Jenny that maybe we could talk Dolly Parton into babysitting for an evening, but Jenny doesn’t seem optimistic about that.

• Whither Bulldogs — Speaking of the Volunteers, I didn’t have Butler picked to beat them in every NCAA bracket, but I thought after the Bulldogs’ solid opener against South Alabama that they had a pretty good chance to do so. Unfortunately they picked a bad time to have an unButler-like performance (missed free throws, turnovers, etc.) when their normal game would have been enough to send them to the Sweet Sixteen.

I’ve got to wonder about Butler’s future, however. There are no more Graves brothers to play for the Bulldogs and I’m not aware of any grandsons yet in Rick and Melonie’s family, so this puts a lot of pressure on Matthew’s assistant coaching to keep the program at the high level its been lately.

I was going to look up the Butler records pre-Matthew — he enrolled in the fall of 1993, a few months after White River Valley lost in overtime to eventual state champion Jeffersonville at the Evansville Semistate — but all that information is online now, which means you need a better web browser than the ones supported by Tribune-Star computers to access them. (It’s only a rumor, however, that there are still PCs in our building running DOS.)

I was able to run down the fact that Butler had been 56-60 in the four years prior to Matthew enrolling there. Before Matthew graduated they became an NCAA tournament team, and then Andrew and A.J. — with the help of some of Steve Bennett’s New Castle guards in the between-Graves’ years — kept elevating the program to a consistent top-25 status.

The Graves boys weren’t very big, but they’ve left pretty big shoes to fill.

• Fabulous choice — The Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association has picked John Montgomery of Sullivan’s WNDI-FM as this year’s winner of the Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year Award. I support that choice wholeheartedly, although I hope the Golden Arrows don’t have a doubleheader on April 12.

Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star is the Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year and Purdue SID Tom Schott gets the Bob Williams Helping Hand Award. Going into the ISSA Hall of Fame are Al Hamnik of The Times of Northwest Indiana, Dave Kitchell of the Kokomo Tribune and Bob Lamey, the voice of the Colts.

• Don’t put this one in the spokes of your bike tires — Washington High School senior Tyler Zeller has his own rookie card now, presented to him by Topps Trading Cards this week as a result of his participation in the McDonald’s All-America game.

This probably makes him the 2008 Mr. Basketball, and I do like him better as a player than his older brother. I voted for Josh McRoberts then, Garrett Butcher now, but I have to admit the Zellers boys do come up big on the big stage in Conseco Fieldhouse.



Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. (but not next week) for comments or news items at 1-800-783-8742 or at (812) 231-4277; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.

        

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