Annual Christmas tournament leaves lasting impressions

I missed the final day of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament because of a road trip with Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team.

But watching most of the first three days of action at the Show Me Center left me with quite a few strong impressions of the 16-team event.

As usual, the first two days were filled with blowouts. That's almost always the case when squads seeded far apart square off. Still, it's fun to see most of the area's teams -- small schools and large schools -- in one venue.

Jackson is really playing some impressive team basketball. The Indians are not even close to being one of the most talented squads around, but they appear to have bought into coach Mike Kiehne's system. They made quite a run to the finals -- upsetting Charleston along the way -- and captured the title by beating arch-rival Cape Central. Kiehne certainly has a major leg up on area coach of the year to this point, but it's a long season.

Central coach Derek McCord once again appears to be working his rebuilding magic. After turning former football school Scott City into a state power during his 10 seasons with the Rams, McCord has the Tigers humming during his third year with that program, capped by a second-place tournament finish, one of three runner-up trophies Central has already garnered this season.

Two of the state's youngest coaches -- Scott City's Lance Amick and Delta's Shawn Kinder, who are both fresh out of college -- are having impressive first seasons at their alma maters. Amick guided the Rams to the semifinals, where they lost to Central and wound up fourth. Kinder has already led the Bobcats to six wins, which equals last year's total. Delta won the tournament consolation title.

Bell City senior guard Dominitrix Johnson put on one of the more dazzling individual performances in tournament history. He scored 90 points in the first two games and finished with a tournament-record 127 points as the Cubs captured fifth place. His ability to get to the basket no matter how many defenders tried to block his path was remarkable.

The tournament has taken heat in recent years for being down, but there was plenty of strength at the top this season with the likes of Central, Jackson, Charleston, Scott City, Bell City and others. And at least three players -- Johnson, Charleston's Ashton Farmer and Central's Scott Chestnutt -- stand good chances of some day competing on the Division I level. The tournament hasn't been able to boast of that many D-I prospects in a long time.

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The stakes will be raised considerably for Southeast basketball teams beginning Thursday when Ohio Valley Conference play tips off at the Show Me Center against Austin Peay.

And adding even more luster to that opening night of OVC action, Austin Peay is coming off a conference sweep as the men's and women's squads both captured league regular-season and tournament titles last year.

It should be an exciting evening of hoops in Cape Girardeau and a big home-court advantage could prove crucial as the Indians and Otahkians try to stamp themselves as OVC contenders right off the bat.

I'm not saying the Rams won't wind up in the Super Bowl.

But they probably made things a lot harder on themselves by losing last Sunday's regular-season finale in Detroit, when a pitiful second-half performance allowed the Lions to rally from a 10-point deficit.

Unless the Eagles get upset next weekend, the road to the Super Bowl for the Rams will have to go through Philadelphia. It wouldn't be impossible for the Rams to win there, but I'd have liked their chances a lot better if the Eagles would be coming to St. Louis.

But anything can happen in the playoffs. There's no guarantee that either the Rams or Eagles will even make it to the NFC championship game. We'll see how it all plays out.

Former Southeast All-American wide receiver Willie Ponder wound up having a solid end to his rookie season with the New York Giants.

Ponder, after being inactive because of injuries for much of the campaign, wound up with seven receptions for 35 yards while playing in just four games.

With the Giants bringing in a new coaching staff for next season, there is no telling what role Ponder will have with the squad. But I believe he's got the talent to play in the NFL for many years.

The worst fears of the wacky BCS were realized Thursday when USC put on an impressive show to beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

That means there will almost certainly be co-national champions. USC is a virtual lock to remain No. 1 when the final Associated Press poll is released while the winner of tonight's supposedly 'official' national title game between Oklahoma and LSU is by agreement assured of getting the nod in the coaches' poll.

But wouldn't it have been great if one more game were played next weekend pitting USC against the winner of tonight's contest? Now that's a matchup I'm sure every college football fan would love to see -- and then there would be no real argument over who the best team is.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.