Where were you moments...

The Announcement

I'm not the kind that easily remembers "where were you" when an important date in history happens.  I can really only recall a handful of moments like that.  September 11th, 2001 was certainly one of those times.  This past Sunday evening I was reminded of another moment as I watched a special presentation on ESPN called: The Announcement.  It was November 8th, 1991 and I was a junior at Wright State University.  I was sitting on a couch in my apartment at Meadow Run when one of my three college roommates came through the door and said, "hey, did you hear Magic Johnson has AIDS?"  I remember being floored by the news with no prior hint that there was even an issue.  Of course I would later find out Magic didn't have AIDS, rather the HIV virus.

I'm not sure why I remember where I was at that moment.  I guess it was just the shock of knowing nothing, hearing the dreadful news and then staying glued to the TV looking for answers.  I suppose in 2012 I would probably hear about the rumor on Facebook, get the news alert from Twitter and watch the replay of the press conference on YouTube.  I wonder if I'll ever have anymore "where were you" moments.  I can't imagine saying, "I'll never forget. I was sitting at a ballgame when I got a tweet on my Droid."

Sophomore leadership...

There will be a super sophomore show at the regional semis

You've heard of senior leadership on the basketball floor, right? It's typically an important part to being successful over the course of a long season, and it's usually key to making a run in the post season tournament. Well, that is if you have any seniors... Take for example the Russia Lady Raiders. Their current active roster doesn't include any seniors at all, yet the Raiders have advanced all the way to the regional tournament this Thursday night at 8pm at Tippecanoe High School. The floor general for the Raiders is the very talented sophomore Camille Puthoff. While it's customary for most 10th-graders to log minutes on the junior varsity team and prepare for varsity playing time next season, Camille has developed into a leader with "senior qualities". So how do the other coaches in the Shelby County League feel about her? They voted Camille to 2nd Team All-County along with two seniors and a couple juniors, proving she plays likes an upperclassman.

Russia goes into battle Thursday against Ft. Loramie, who by the way have a pretty decent sophomore themselves. Darian Rose was a huge factor in the Redskins state tournament run last year as a freshman on a senior dominated team. This year, as a sophomore, she's taken over the leadership role from those graduated seniors and is trying to direct her team back to Columbus. In the All-County voting Darian was selected as the only sophomore on 1st team along with three seniors and a junior. Her matchup with Camille and the Raiders Thursday evening should be fun to watch and remember as these two go at it for a couple more years.

Finally, as if those two super sophomores weren't enough, perhaps the best sophomore in the area will be playing in the opening game at Tippecanoe High School at 6:15pm. Midwest Athletic Conference player of the year Haley Horstman leads New Knoxville against Tri-Village. You can find Haley's name among the leaders in most offensive and defensive categories in the MAC. Most importantly though, she's lead New Knoxville to a 21-3 record. Haley has quite a challenge this Thursday taking on the Patriots lead by a super senior, Kayla Linkous, who has amassed over 2000 points in her career. Haley should get a lot of help from her teammate Paige Lehman though, who is New Knoxville's leading scorer.  Oh, by the way, Paige is a sophomore.

Enjoy the show.

Fairlawn just might create some March Madness...

Fairlawn's Gillem is averaging 23 ppg with a 

taped shooting hand. (Photo: Todd Acker)

One of the comments I've heard several times since the Piqua sectional tournament draw a couple weekends ago, is how easy the bracket will be for the Jackson Center Tigers.  According to these basketball folks we might as well just put the #1 team in the state into the regional tournament because no one is going to challenge the Tigers until then anyway.  Isn't this why we play the game?  I believe 20-0 Jackson Center can be challenged in Piqua and I'm fairly certain that challenge will come from the 6-14 Fairlawn Jets.  Laugh if you must, but let me give you some things to consider in the days leading up to the start of tournament play this weekend...

I watched Fairlawn win their last regular season game of the year on Friday night against Russia.  Leading scorer Anthony Gillem had his shooting hand wrapped from a broken wrist injury earlier this season, but never mind that.  The kid still scored 23 and has good range from around 25 feet.  I saw him stretching that wrist a few times during dead balls, so it's a little scary to think he's not even 100% healed yet.  This week off should help.  By the way, in the four games since he's been back from the injury he's averaging an even 23 ppg.  Gillem's sidekick is Trey Everett, a really good guard who can dribble, drive and shoot.  He can also electrify the Fairlawn crowd with a rim-shaking dunk just like he did against the Raiders on Friday night.  Those two guards together remind me of another duo Fairlawn used to have named Andy Francis and Richie Beard.  If you remember, the Francis & Beard show took Fairlawn to the regional tournament with a supporting cast pretty similar to Gillem & Everett.  Wells, Cummings and Hughes know their rolls for the Jets and it worked well against Russia.

Don't pay any attention to Fairlawn's #7 seed.  They play the #6 seed Mechanicsburg Indians on Saturday, a team they just beat on the road two weeks ago 61-58.  Waiting for the winner is #8 Riverside, who also lost to Fairlawn in OT back in early January when Gillem was out with the broken wrist.  I predict those first two games will be close, exciting and Fairlawn will prevail.  That puts the Jets in the sectional final game against Jackson Center who will roll over Mississinawa Valley and Bradford to get there.  My question is how ready will Jackson Center be for the high-flying Jets?  The Tigers played with a target on their back the entire month of February.  They obviously handle pressure very well and stayed sharp when every team gave their best shot.  Keeping the Jackson Center kids up for the first two rounds will be a challenge for Coach Elchert.  I wouldn't bet against the Tigers in the sectional finals come March 3rd, but I would bet there could be some March Madness in the air!