Bell City, Jackson threw wrench into mid-tourney prediction

I wrote in my blog on semoball.com before the semifinals of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament that I would be very surprised if Charleston and Notre Dame didn't reach the finals.

Another prediction gone awfully wrong for your fearless forecaster.

But Saturday night's championship game of the 62nd annual boys basketball event certainly wasn't hampered by the two favorites not making it that far.

Kudos to fifth-seeded Bell City and third-seeded Jackson for pulling off semifinal upsets, and then for treating the huge crowd at the Show Me Center to quite a grand finale.

And the ultimate congratulations go out to underdog Bell City, which put on a Hoosiers-like performance in winning its first championship, as the Class 1 Cubs beat the Class 5 Indians 84-76.

It was only the second time Bell City had even reached the title game -- with the other being way back in 1953, when the Cubs lost in the finals to Morehouse, which doesn't even have its own high school any more.

But with 6-foot-10, 300-pound-plus senior center Will Bogan playing like a man among boys Saturday night -- he scored 42 points -- and junior guard Nick Niemczyk continuing to perform well while others chipped in, the Cubs were not to be denied.

I'm sure the championship had to be especially sweet for Bell City coach Brian Brandtner, who grew up in Cape Girardeau -- he used to be a ball boy at Southeast Missouri State men's basketball games during the glory Division II days under Ron Shumate -- and attended so many Christmas tournaments as a youngster.

Top-seeded Charleston and second-seeded Notre Dame also wound up playing an entertaining game -- only not in the time slot that most people expected.

In the battle for third place, Charleston used a big fourth quarter to emerge victorious 83-73.

I'm beginning to think Charleston is just jinxed in this tournament. That's four years in a row now the Bluejays haven't played for the championship, after they previously ruled the event with a record 15 titles.

But the Bluejays have no problem recovering well after their Show Me Center disappointment, as they always seem to find themselves in the state's final four, including last year's Class 3 runner-up finish.

Other winners on the final day were Advance (over Scott County Central for fifth place) and Kelly (over Central for the consolation title, or ninth place).

All in all, it was another good tournament, and this time things got extra exciting after the obligatory blowouts on the first two days.

Last season, no games were decided by fewer than double digits in the opening two rounds -- and things never really got all that much more competitive. Both semifinals featured at least 13-point margins and only three games were decided by less than 10 points over the final two days.

But this year, after there was just one single-digit victory margin in the first two rounds, the rest of the tournament featured seven such games, including both semifinals that pretty much went to the wire and then the championship matchup.

Kudos to everybody associated with the tournament for putting on another fine show.

It's always one of my personal highlights of the sports calendar -- and I'm already looking forward to next year's event.

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I also wrote in my semoball.com blog that Bogan -- who had a great tournament and was hands down the unofficial MVP -- would be quite a catch for a program like Southeast, which is recruiting him hard.

I've heard some people dismiss Bogan as not being a top-flight Division I prospect because his body might not fit the prototypical "athlete" body, but that's absurd.

First of all, everybody is built differently. There have been great college players who were not exactly sculpted and appeared to be carrying way too much body fat -- and once Bogan gets into a college conditioning program, with an emphasis on nutrition, who knows what he'll look like in a year or two.

The bottom line is, Bogan's basic basketball skills are obvious. He's got great hands, a soft shooting touch, moves up and down the court well for his size and is surprisingly agile for his size, with nimble feet.

For a program like Southeast's to sign Bogan would be a major coup, in my opinion.

There is no guarantee that he'll ever be a really good college player, but he certainly has that kind of potential.

And considering that most 6-10 or taller high school seniors signed by Ohio Valley Conference teams are always total projects, with skills far less advanced than Bogan's, the Redhawks would be getting a real steal if they landed the local star.

We'll see how it all develops.

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As OVC basketball gets ready to resume league play following a break for the holidays, some interesting developments have already taken place.

First, a look at the men's side.

Preseason favorite Samford sits atop the standings at 3-0, which is not surprising.

But all three of the Bulldogs' OVC wins have come on the road, which is impressive and certainly gives them a leg up on the rest of the conference, although the league race is really just starting.

Morehead State is 3-1 in the OVC and 7-5 overall. No big deal, you say?

Actually, it is a big deal, considering that the Eagles finished last in the 11-team league year ago with a 3-17 record and were just 4-23 overall.

The Eagles, picked last in the preseason poll, have already equalled their OVC win total from 2005-06 and already have three more overall victories than last year.

Sure, there is still the majority of the conference season left, but Morehead State rookie coach Donnie Tyndall is making an early case for OVC coach of the year honors.

On the women's side, Murray State was expected to be much improved this year and contend for the OVC title since the Racers were tabbed third in the preseason poll.

Still, at 4-0 in league play, the Racers are off to their best OVC start in school history.

And how about Southeast?

Many people expected the Redhawks to take something of a fall after they lost most of their top players from last year's NCAA tournament team.

Then coach B.J. Smith was suspended before the season and resigned several games into the campaign.

But the Redhawks have -- at least so far -- reloaded and regrouped under acting head coach John Ishee.

Southeast, No. 5 in the OVC preseason poll, is in second place at 3-1. The Redhawks are 8-4 overall and riding a five-game winning streak.

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Both Southeast basketball teams play two OVC games this week, at Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday and at home against Eastern Illinois on Thursday.

The Redhawks' men have particularly had a grueling recent schedule.

After playing at Iowa State of the Big 12 Conference on Dec. 23, the Redhawks played at Purdue of the Big 10 Conference Saturday night, then bused to Richmond, Ky., where they will remain in preparation for Tuesday's contest.

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Ishee told me that the two high school players who signed with Southeast's women during November's early signing period are still solid on sticking with their commitments despite the fact they have no idea who will be coaching them next season.

Ishee did the bulk of the recruiting work on point guard Tori Fite and guard/forward Lauren Sharpe. Both are from Ohio and were considered nice catches for Southeast.

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Word is that the OVC could be losing a member soon as Samford is said to be seriously considering a move to the Southern Conference.

That would hurt the OVC's future hopes of trying to become a 12-team basketball conference and forming two six-team divisions, since the league would be left with only 10 schools.

But it could make the football part of things more manageable. With Austin Peay re-joining the OVC for that sport in 2007, the conference will have 10 football-playing members.

OVC officials had already decided that teams would continue to only play eight conference games, meaning that one opponent would be skipped every year.

If Samford departs, that would again leave the OVC with nine football programs, leaving the eight-game schedule intact (except, of course, for the one squad each year that doesn't play Tennessee State because of the Tigers' commitment to its "Classic" games).

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Dec. 20 marked the first day that college football programs could begin signing junior college players, many of whom will join their new teams for the second semester and participate in spring practice.

Southeast coach Tony Samuel and his staff have already signed some players and will reportedly bring in quite a few juco transfers as they attempt to infuse plenty of new talent into the program.

Samuel, however, has a policy where he does not announce any mid-semester transfers until after he completes his recruiting class of high school seniors, who are not allowed to sign until February.

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The University of Missouri basketball team recently suffered its first two losses of the season -- but fans should still feel fairly good about the Tigers' first year under coach Mike Anderson.

MU was probably due for a fall after starting out 9-0, since all nine contests had been at home and the schedule had consisted mostly of lightweights, save for a nice win over Arkansas.

The Tigers were beaten decisively at Purdue 79-62 for their first defeat, but the Boilermakers are greatly improved this year after being racked by injuries last season.

MU's second setback was actually fairly impressive as the Tigers hung with Illinois before falling 73-70 in the annual Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis. That's a far cry from the past six years, when the Illini pretty much had their way with MU in winning every time.

So what does it all mean? Well, I'm still not sure the Tigers have enough legitimate Big 12 Conference talent right now to be a top contender.

But there does appear to be plenty of hope for the Tigers to at least break into the upper half of what looks like a fairly watered down league, after you get past the likes of Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma State.

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Here's hoping everybody had a wonderful Christmas, and here's wishing everybody a prosperous New Year.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.