Tuesday’s Daily Dive: City Tournament Begins
With the beginning of the Indianapolis City Tournament, the last few major events are finishing up this week and next and we will head into the grind of the season in January and February. Here is what we saw on…
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Continue ReadingWith the beginning of the Indianapolis City Tournament, the last few major events are finishing up this week and next and we will head into the grind of the season in January and February. Here is what we saw on the first night of the Indianapolis City Tournament and elsewhere around the state.
Indianapolis City Tournament Gets Underway
The City Tournament is one of the more complex and fun events all year because of the mass amount of teams and structure of the event. With some teams getting bye games, Cathedral and Crispus Attucks, the first couple of rounds are quite fun.
Last night, there were a couple of “upsets” with Arsenal Tech taking down Covenant Christian and Indianapolis Tindley knocking off Bishop Chatard. Manual, Ritter, Howe, and Heritage Christian all got wins as well. Looking ahead to Thursday night’s quarterfinal matchups, the best of the bunch has to be Indianapolis Manual vs. Cardinal Ritter.
The two favorites are both Crispus Attucks and Cathedral. They are clearly the two to beat and a potential matchup on Monday night could be fun but there is a reason the games are played and a team like Ritter or Manual has the ability to pull an upset to be not he lookout.
Quick Hitters:
- Bedford North Lawrence picked up another win last night over Jennings County to move back to .500. They are on a three game winning streak starting with a win over Evansville Reitz. They still have quite a few tough games to go but maybe not as difficult as the first half of their schedule.
- Indianapolis Metropolitan had been off for more than two weeks and that hurt them last night one would think as they dropped a big game to Bethesda Christian. Based on how they played in the first half of the year, they probably should have won by double digits. They are now 4-4
- Castle went off for a big win over Henderson County (KY) led by Alex Hemenway who dropped 40 points in the win. He just became Castle’s all-time leading scorer. Castle is now 11-3 with losses to Floyd Central, Cathedral, and Bosse.
- Crawford County picked up a good win as they knocked off Providence last night, 77-54. They are now 12-3 on the season. Junior Colten Nickelson had 21 points in the win. Crawford County and Paoli look like the two to battle it out in Sectional 46.
- Blackhawk Christian is looking more and more ready for the end of the season. Getting Caleb Furst back was key after his hand injury and now they are 11-2 after another win over a 4A team in Wayne. They have a little lull in their schedule here before they pick it back up at the end of the season with Fort Wayne South, Snider, Marion, and Northrop.
- Goshen knocked off Jimtown last night. They are just 5-7 on the year but their schedule has not been easy. They have the 118th touches strength of schedule in the state and have already played St. Joseph, Fairfield, Northridge, Mishawaka Marian, and Warsaw before last night. Looking ahead, things don’t get easier with Penn, Elkhart Memorial, and Plymouth in the next three games.
- Roncalli got a big win last night as they beat Shelbyville, 56-55. Roncalli has had a rough year as they are in full rebuild mode but are now 3-8 and so far this season, they haven’t played any cupcakes. Their schedule is still tough with New Palestine, Center Grove, and Cardinal Ritter coming up in the next three games.
- Shelbyville, on the other hand, is now just 6-8 with a five game losing streak in there. They haven’t been nearly as good as you would have thought heading into the year. Not an easy schedule but they can recover here as long as they don’t drop any more games as their end to the year is quite winnable.
- One team to watch out for in 3A is Marion. They are now 7-4 on the season and are riding a five-game winning streak. They are claiming wins over Valparaiso, Fort Wayne South, and now Anderson after last night. They play mostly 4A teams and have a fairly tough schedule so they should be well practiced come Sectionals. Marion has played the 5th toughest schedule among 3A teams.
- McCutcheon has been struggling this year but picked up their first win in 9 games as they beat Crawfordsville. They did it on the back on junior guard Rowen Farrell who put up 43 points in the win.
- Munster might be back in line to jump into the Top 10 in 4A this week as they have been excellent accumulating wins over Michigan City, Merrillville, and Griffith in their 8-game winning streak. They are now 13-1 on the year.
- South Bend Riley continues to look like a serious contender in 4A North this year. They are now 12-2 after a huge win over Elkhart Memorial last night, 59-55. They have just beaten Mishawaka Marian and Elkhart Memorial in back-to-back games. If they can get through Penn on January 31st, they have to be looked at as the best shot in 4A to get out of the area.