Tuesday’s Daily Dive: Reitz’s December, 21st Testing Themselves
Tuesday night was a half schedule and we still got some quality outcomes and matchups. With that, we have a ton of notes and also look into Evansville Reitz’s December Schedule and Gary 21st testing themselves early on. That and…
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Continue ReadingTuesday night was a half schedule and we still got some quality outcomes and matchups. With that, we have a ton of notes and also look into Evansville Reitz’s December Schedule and Gary 21st testing themselves early on. That and more.
Evansville Reitz’s December Schedule
It was just a few years ago that Evansville Reitz was one of the top programs in the state. Well after a couple of down years, they might be on the verge of bouncing back. With a good amount of youth including sophomore standout Khristian Lander, they are now 2-0 on the season but December will give us a better look at this team.
With wins over Vincennes Lincoln and Evansville North, we still have yet to see them really take on a high level team yet. But, that will change and progressively with Mater Dei and Jasper this weekend. Both better teams than their first two wins. After that we take another step forward with Castle and University Heights (KY). Both teams capable of being really good this year and DI level talent. Then, to end the month they will get some prove it games with Bloomington North and North Knox. Bloomington is better than first thought this season and will provide a good game.
For Reitz, they will have their chances to kind of figure out just where they are at right now. They have the potential to win all those games and end the month 8-0 but there are enough tough matchups that they could also be 4-4. So, if the rebuild is running full steam, look for December 29th as they day that you will want to look back on.
Gary 21st Testing Themselves Early
There are a variety of methods to scheduling but one of the more aggressive ones is front-loading the schedule with most of the talented teams. That kind of seems like the situation that Gary 21st Century is in. They have traveled already and taken on Chesterton, went to Indianapolis Tindley, and played Valparaiso, Bowman Academy, and Griffith.
For this team who sits at 3-3, it’s not the ideal start with wins over the worst three teams and losses to the better three teams but at the end of the season it could really help this 1A group. They don’t really have a ton of really tough games left this season. Only really the Lebanon Tournament, Hammond, and Gary West remain as tough games this regular season. Don’t be surprised if they rally and only have 3 more losses the rest of the season.
Quick Hitters:
- Last night Columbia City pulled off an upset of Churubusco, 68-55 for their first win of the season. This isn’t the Columbia City teams of the last 5+ years but this is a big win for them as they have had a rough 1-3 start.
- Evansville Day got a big win over North Posey last night. North Posey should end up a very good team this year but Day is proving they might be highly competitive in 1A by the end of the year. They are 3-2 with their losses only to 4A Jeffersonville and 1A Springs Valley.
- Evansville Mater Dei picked up another win over Mt. Vernon last night to move to 4-0. But, things get much more difficult as they take on Evansville Reitz and Southridge this weekend. Give me 1-1 at worst this weekend and we can really start discussing this team as one of the best teams in 2A. Need that signature win.
- Fairfield is also now sitting at 4-0 to start the year but their next game is a big one with NorthWood coming to town. Always a difficult matchup, look for this to be a marker in their season. Big win and the rest of the schedule shouldn’t be too difficult outside of Westview, Central Noble, and Churubusco.
- Bishop Chatard got their first game of the season underway last night with a win over Scecina. Edreece Redmond scored 18 points and Cooper Lewis added 15. This could be Chatard’s best season since 2011-12 when they went 15-9. Solid cast of players and a schedule that should give them double-digit wins. However, things are backloaded so they need to get off to a good start early with Ritter, University, Park Tudor, Metro, Brebeuf, and Guerin Catholic all coming after the first of the year.
- Jimtown got a massive win to get their season started with a knock off of South Bend Washington. Washington could be one of the best teams in the Michiana area and already had wins over Lake Central and LaPorte. It’s been four years since Jimtown was above .500 in a season.
- Park Tudor is now rolling with another big win over Heritage Christian. Hard to see them really pulling this together after last year’s up and down season but now 4-0 and all quality wins, this looks like the best possible start. Next up, Beech Grove this weekend. Could be tougher than you think.
- South Bend Riley also keeps things going, moving to 4-0 with a win over St. Joesph last night. All quality wins and looking easy over the next few games.
- Tipton moves to 4-0 after having beat Frankton this past weekend. Now, it’s hard to see just how good this team is as none of their three other wins are great and Frankton’s quality is being called into question. Then, looking at Tipton’s schedule, it won’t be until Westfield on December 15th before get another quality opponent.