Notre Dame opened eyes with run to tournament title

All right, I'll admit it. I didn't give the Notre Dame boys basketball team much of a chance at the title entering the 61st annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

But I was not alone. The Bulldogs were seeded just fifth, which is not generally conducive to winning it all. Nobody around the area seemed to be talking much about Notre Dame being a prime contender.

And, despite having just one loss, even coach Paul Hale acknowledged that the Bulldogs had not really been playing all that well.

Boy, did that change in a hurry.

The Bulldogs put together one of the more impressive tournament runs in recent memory, as they basically cruised through the 16-team field.

Notre Dame destroyed Delta 87-25 in the opening round. No real surprise there, since the Bobcats were seeded 12th.

But then the Bulldogs really began to assert themselves.

First, they routed Cape Girardeau rival Central 75-55 in the quarterfinals, even though most people I talked to at the Show Me Center thought the fourth-seeded Tigers would prevail.

Next was a semifinal date with all-time tournament kingpin Charleston, the No. 1 seed and a team that was no doubt intent on finally reclaiming the title it last won in 2002.

The Bulldogs were regarded as considerable underdogs -- yet the game was never really close after halftime as Notre Dame rolled 79-64.

Then came Friday night's title contest against second-seeded and two-time defending champion Jackson, in front of a charged-up Show Me Center crowd that must have approached the building's capacity of 7,000.

By this time, there were plenty of people who had jumped on the Notre Dame bandwagon and were predicting the Bulldogs to finish off the job -- which they did, 74-65. They led most of the way and fended off the Indians down the stretch after Jackson had gone ahead briefly.

So, for the first time since 1986 -- that was during Notre Dame's run of two consecutive state titles; I saw several of the players from those teams at the Show Me Center cheering their alma mater on -- the Bulldogs were back in the Christmas Tournament winner's circle.

And there was certainly no fluke about it as Notre Dame dominated from virtually start to finish -- even if most people never saw it coming.

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Even though the tournament surprisingly featured very few close games for the first time in a long time -- only three contests were decided by less than 10 points -- that sure didn't hurt the crowds.

Without seeing any official numbers, I've got to think this 61st edition of the event was among the most well-attended in several years.

There seemed to be bigger crowds than normal for even some of the early sessions, and every night there were several thousand fans in the stands, capped by the near-capacity crowd for the championship game.

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I wouldn't rate the teams in the tournament with some of the event's legendary squads from the past, but the individual talent -- particularly at the top -- might have been as good as it's been in a long time.

College recruiters I talked to believe at least four players in the tournament -- all juniors -- will end up playing Division I ball, and some might wind up at a particularly high level.

That quartet features Central's Darnell Wilks, Bell City's Will Bogan, and Charleston's Jamarcus Williams and Justin Clark.

Jackson senior Aaron Redecker might also wind up in Division I, and there were several youngsters who could develop into D-I prospects, including Scott County Central sophomore D.D. Gillespie and Charleston freshman Antonio Riggens.

I give Williams the nod as the tournament's most impressive player. The 6-foot-5 forward, who led all scorers with 101 points, is so smooth that he appears to just glide around the court.

Wilks, a 6-8 forward with seemingly unlimited natural talent, might have the most potential, along with the 6-10, 300-pound Bogan, who is much more nimble than his huge frame would suggest.

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While Notre Dame -- led by wily, veteran coach Hale and its sensationally quick backcourt of Frankie Ellis and Xavier Delph --was the surprise team of the tournament, Kelly rates a close second in my book.

After being the surprise of the event last year by reaching the championship game from the No. 7 seed, Kelly returned just one starter and was seeded ninth this time -- but the Hawks wound up fifth after winning the tournament's closest two games, 63-58 over Central and a 63-60 in overtime over Advance.

In a tournament that featured plenty of up-and-coming, talented young coaches, Kelly's Cory Johnson -- it wasn't all that long ago when he was draining one 3-pointer after another for Southeast Missouri State -- sure rates with anybody in that group.

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I strongly disagree with last week's Fan Speak comment about Southeast's Division II basketball days that stated "those past players everyone wants to pine about could not even make the team now because of the higher level of competition. If they were that good, they would have played Division I ball."

Many of the Division II stars Southeast had could have played for a lot of Division I programs. Quite a few of them were Division I-caliber but were in Division II because of academics and not ability.

I can't speak for Otto Porter and Jewel Crawford -- the two players specifically mentioned in the FanSpeak comment -- as to why they attended Southeast, because they were basically before my time at the Southeast Missourian.

But I do know Porter and Crawford rank among the top players in school history and no doubt could have fared well at many Division I programs.

Two perfect examples that I can speak for are Ronny Rankin and Riley Ellis, junior college transfers who led Southeast to a two-year record of 51-15, including a second-place national finish in 1985-86.

Rankin and Ellis were both recruited by several Southeastern Conference schools, but they did not qualify academically for Division I play and wound up at Southeast.

I can assure you that Southeast's best Division II teams that I covered during the mid to late 1980s would have had no problem competing well in the Ohio Valley Conference -- and would have challenged for some titles.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.