Friday’s Daily Dive: 800 Wins, LC’s Revenge, New #1
Last night was a significant one as Warren Central’s dominant run has ended, Lawrence Central got their revenge and we have our second head coach into the 800-win club all-time. That and more in our daily dive. Lawrence Central Gets…
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Continue ReadingLast night was a significant one as Warren Central’s dominant run has ended, Lawrence Central got their revenge and we have our second head coach into the 800-win club all-time. That and more in our daily dive.
Lawrence Central Gets Revenge, Ends Warren Centrals Run
After 46 straight wins, an undefeated season, and a State Championship in 4A, Warren Central’s run has ended. Lawrence Central, only four days after losing in the finals of the Marion County Tournament, got their revenge and completed the game to be Warren Central on Friday night.
However, this only ends Warren Central’s win streak, not their tournament chances. Because it took two tries this season alone for Lawrence Central to be able to beat them. A lot of other teams had their chances and could get it done. Warren Central currently has the fourth toughest strength of schedule this season and are still ranked #1 by Sagarin.
It was a great run, one that had numerous close calls. Warren Central wasn’t a team that just beat teams by 40 every game. They played in the toughest conference in the state against one of the toughest schedules and won 46 straight games. This season, they had five wins that came with 10 points or less difference. Last year, they went undefeated with 13 of their 32 games coming with 10 points or less in scoring differential.
This was the third longest streak of all-time in Indiana, an impressive feat. Some made comments about how close they were to losing so many times but the reason it’s brought up is to shed light on just how remarkable this run has been. But, this isn’t a eulogy on their season, just a pit stop as they continue toward their second straight State Championship.
Carmel New #1?
With all of that happened last night, the obvious question is, “Carmel your new #1 team?” Hard to make a case definitively either way. Carmel is undefeated at 11-0 and has some stellar wins over top teams. This will all be made easier had the Warren Central-Carmel game not been put at the end of the year.
Really, it is easy to put Carmel at the top because they haven’t lost and has had an even tougher schedule so far this year ranking as #3 in the state compared to Warren Central’s #4. But, with everything Warren has gone through, getting the toughest game from every team they face, you could argue it has been more difficult for them.
The reality here is that you can put either at the top and it won’t matter until they play each on later in the year. That matchup, that could be your 4A State Title game. If you don’t have anything to do that day, you should probably make your way to Carmel, Indiana.
Holmes Wins #800
Bloomington South was able to beat Castle last night, 56-54, for their 14th win of the year. It was also career win #800 for J.R. Holmes. He’s only the second coach of all-time to reach that milestone.
The Bloomington South legend is now just 6 wins behind Jack Butcher for the all-time record and best guess is he gets there later this season, likely before the tournament will begin. If he was to win out, he would tie the record on February 16th and pass it on February 21st at home against Northview. Even if he wins all but one, he should still be able to tie the record by the season finale, however, he would be at Columbus North for his chance to set the new record.
This is a record that has been 48 years in the making. Only Pat Rady has coached for more years and he only won 761 games. Lawrence North head coach Jack Keefer is the only one close to him actively as he is 12 wins behind in his 46th year.
Quick Hitters:
- Brebeuf Jesuit picked up another big win last night over Guerin Catholic. Their Sectional rival was unable to keep pace but Brebeuf moved to 8-4. They only have losses to very good 4A teams and Culver Academies. However, January 31st against Crispus Attucks will be the biggest test of the year as they will likely face off with them in their Sectional.
- Fort Wayne Carroll was very nearly going to end up at .500 before their recent run of wins. After starting the season 5-4 and heading next to face Dwenger, Carroll pulled together a four-win run of games that has included wins over Dwenger, DeKalb, and Fort Wayne South to move to 9-4. They have done well to limit scoring lately and that will be put to a bigger ten with Merrillville, Snider, and Huntington North coming up next.
- Big win for Center Grove last night as they knocked off Ben Davis to move to 12-4. They are on a three game winning streak. They needed a little bit of a confidence boost and this was a good one. This is their best win sinceCathedral at the beginning of the season.
- Chesterton got their second win over Crown Point on Friday night to move to 11-4 on the season. They had been struggling as of late and even last night, they were held to just 55 points, a tick under their average for the season.
- After starting off the year poorly, Danville has seemed to turn things around a bit here as they are now 8-5 after winning five of their last six games with their lone loss in that span coming to Brownsburg. However, rival Tri-West is up next on the road.
- Evansville Bosse looks like they are headed in the right direction. The holiday season was rough on them as they started out 6-4. But now they have won 7 straight and picked up wins over North Central, Castle, and Evansville Memorial. Seems to be gearing up for another potential Sectional run.
- Evansville Memorial continues their downfall as they are now 8-7 on the season and after a loss last night to Evansville Harrison, they have lost four of their last six games. Earlier in the year they had wins over Jasper, Bosse but now just got blown out by a 20 piece by Bosse and dropped a game to Harrison.
- Mater Dei continues their stellar season as they picked up a big win over Tell City. They are Mater Dei’s main competition in their Sectional so getting a win now could really help come tournament time.
- After a disastrous start to the season, Forest Park has now recovered and is 9-6 on the year after a big win at Jasper last night. They are now winners of four straight. However, the end to their season is very, very difficult with Southridge, Mater Dei, Wood Memorial, and Heritage Hills all in consecutive games after a tough Tecumseh team on Saturday.
- Gary 21st Century was 5-5 at one point this season. After last night’s win over East Chicago Central, they have moved to 10-6 with a very manageable schedule coming up outside of a huge matchup against Gary West. Their schedule was front loaded and now will benefit with some easier games.
- One of the surprise teams of the season is Greencastle who now is 11-1 after a win over South Vermillion. Their schedule has not been difficult but they do hold wins over Danville and Crawfordsville. Their only loss was to South Putnam and they will get another chance at them in February for the Putnam County Tournament. They also have Edgewood, Tri-West, Monrovia, and Bloomington South to watch out for late in the year.
- In one of the premier games of the night, Heritage Hills went in and beat Southridge on the road. Heritage Hills continues to look like one of the best teams in the state, having now beat Evansville Memorial, North Harrison twice, Tell City, Tecumseh, and now Southridge. Their next game is against Mater Dei who could be the toughest game to date.
- LaPorte picked up a huge win last night beating Michigan City. They are now 9-5 and have won eight of their last eight games. This was after the start to the season being 2-4. In this run, they have wins over Chesterton, Logansport, and South Bend Adams as well as Michigan City.
- Linton-Stockton continues their tear this year as they moved to 13-2 after a win over North Daviess. They are playing as well as anyone in 2A and should be considered a team to beat for the 2A State Title.
- Mishawaka Marian has now dropped two straight games after last night’s loss to Marquette Catholic. Both them and South Bend Riley were able to put up points in the 70’s. The defense seems to be slipping up here a little bit. They now have a couple games here to clean things up before they head to Elkhart Memorial.
- Lanesville started out the year so well, 7-1. But then the bottom has dropped out and they have lost seven straight games. Some to good teams and some too bad. They seem to be in a spiral and are now just 7-8 on the year.
- Silver Creek needed a big win to get back on track and they got that last night with a 51-44 win over New Albany. They are 12-2 on the season but dropping a game to Brownstown Central, a team they could see in the tournament, was a little tough to see. Outside of a game against Bloomington South, Silver Creek has a fairly easy end to the year.
- Southwestern (Hanover) continues their run as they are now 15-1 and one of the best teams in 2A. They took down a tough Christian Academy team last night who is better than their 8-7 record looks.
- Zionsville is now 12-3 after an overtime win over Hamilton Southeastern. Zionsville has been really solid this year with their only losses coming form Cathedral twice and undefeated Carmel.