Published: November 30, 2009 11:59 pm         

Ramblin' Reck: Closing book on prep football and moving on to hoops

A little post-Thanksgiving prep hoops and football.

• John Hart now has coached two Indiana football teams to state championships.

He was the coach of the Evansville Reitz team that won in 4A in 2007 and now is the coach of the Warren Central team that nipped Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference rival Carmel for 5A honors last week.

A call in the WC-Carmel game was one of the hot topics of conversation on The Dakich Show on Monday along with the Colts’ victory and the expected dismissal of Charlie Weis at Notre Dame. Dan Dakich said Jim Harbaugh would be a good man to coach the Irish.

• Sons of Tim McIntosh of Evansville were involved in two big football games Saturday.

Matt is the junior quarterback for Reitz and Paul is a redshirt freshman at Southern Illinois and took over the quarterbacking duties for SIU when Chris Dieker was injured.

Both were winners in their games. Reitz beat Lowell for the 4A title and SIU defeated Eastern Illinois to advance in the FCS playoffs. Missouri Valley rival South Dakota State lost to Montana.

• Western Indiana Conference boys basketball teams got off to good starts.

Sullivan, Edgewood, South Vermillion and West Vigo won their openers while Brown County won twice, defeating Rushville and Waldron.

The 2-0 Eagles will play Sullivan and Northview this week.

Bloomington South defeated New Albany in its opener. The Panthers have won 44 straight regular-season games.

North Central of Marion County defeated Pike 94-79 with Purdue recruit Terone Johnson scoring 33 points and brother Ronnie 27.

In Illinois, Paris was 3-2 in a tournament at Danville and is at Lawrenceville tonight. Lawrenceville will be at Marshall on Friday for the Lions’ opener.

In girls basketball, Greencastle defeated South Putnam to win the Putnam County title



• NCAA notes — One Missouri Valley Conference team is in the quarterfinals of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament.

Drake defeated Boston College 6-4 and will meet North Carolina next. North Carolina edged Indiana 1-0 in a third-round game. In other games, Akron meets Tulsa, Maryland faces Virginia and Wake Forest plays either Santa Barbara or UCLA.

In volleyball, six Big Ten teams are in the tournament. Wichita State and Northern Iowa made it from the MVC and both are in the Omaha Regional. WSU (25-6) faces Saint Louis (24-7) and UNI (30-2) meets Washington State (18-12).

In college football, Steve Kragthorpe at Louisville and Al Groh at Virginia both got the axe as expected and Stacy Adams resigned at Valparaiso.

In last week’s Sagarin men’s basketball rankings, Indiana State was 121. Some other teams and their numbers: Purdue 5, Butler 13, Texas 1, Indiana 204, Evansville 135, Bradley 115, Illinois 56, Northern Iowa 69, Illinois State 73, Southern Illinois 81 and IUPUI 86.

Bradley beat Illinois in one of the many games played last week.

The Evansville men lost to Miami and are 2-2 while the UE women are 0-5.



• Tom-Cattin’ It — The New York Times reports Drew Brees of New Orleans is the shortest starting quarterback in the NFL at 6-feet. The report says 21 of the 32 starters are 6-3 or taller.

• Terre Haute South grad Chris Meyer recently competed in his first Ironman Triathlon in Arizona, overcoming bouts with the H1N1 flu and stomach flu not long before the event. His time was 12:50 and he did best in the running portion.

• Rusty Seymour is the new baseball coach at North Posey. He is a North Posey grad and currently is boys basketball coach at New Harmony.

Rodney Long officially is the football coach at DePauw, having the interim title removed after the Tigers made the NCAA Division III playoffs.

• Forest Park opened its boys basketball season for the first time in several years without Tom Beach on the sidelines and with no Hopfs on the roster. The veteran coach now is at Shelbyville and is off to a 2-0 start at the school. Nate Hawkins is the new coach at Forest Park.

• Former Warren Central cager Walter Offutt says he will leave Ohio State and transfer.

The latest IU recruit in the early signing period sounds like a good one. He is Will Sheehy of Florida who averaged 24.6 points, 10 rebounds and 2.7 assists last year.



Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.