While everyone has an entire new year of highs and lows to anticipate, nearly half of the prep basketball season is in the bag.
There's a lot you can tell from teams' early-season performances, but the first half is exactly that - one half of each respective squad's story.
Ultimately, a team's season is not about the prologue. All those non-conference games are exactly what they are - measuring sticks if not simply a glorified treadmill.
The storytelling phase of early-season conference games? Now we're getting somewhere. We get to know our characters. The endearing protagonists. The nerve-grating antagonists.
But tonight, when the boys squads resume conference play across the board, a pivot point will be reached.
The teams that have their eyes set on the later dates in March will catch their opportunity like a pass in the block and make like Black Hawk's Michael Place, dropping a devastating drop step and bunny to trigger a second-half run that will leave the rest of the field begging.
Clubs that aren't ready for the lights to intensify might not feel right where that defender is on their back. As opposed to making a well-calculated, momentum-building move, they may kick it back out, knowing there's a lot of season left.
Patience may be a virtue, but Josh Tarrell's Pecatonica Vikings aren't going to make statements allowing their foes to commit errors. Like any other club that would strike fear into the hearts of opponents when the March Madness sets in, the green and golders are pressing at every juncture, refusing to relent and, most importantly, letting everyone know who turns the screws.
Like the eluded-to Lady Vikings and the Warrior boys out in South Wayne, there are several clubs that have already flashed the sort of undebatable prowess borne by a club destined for the long haul.
It feels like a quarter of a century since Pat Murphy's Cheesemakers have lost as they rattled off their 24th and 25th straight victories dating back to last year at this past Thursday's and Friday's Fort Atkinson Tournament.
The Lady Cheesemakers, on the other hand, were looking like one of those clubs that 'just wins ballgames' until a 56-34 drubbing at the hands of Verona on Thursday night. With such youth on Kevin Keen's roster, there's little telling whether the group can learn a valuable lesson in the losing effort or if it could linger with such a lack of experience.
Tonight we'll find out a lot about Brad Pickett's Ponies in Monticello as they'll host juggernaut Black Hawk. When preseason pundits were levying their picks, this editor was picking his Pony, pun intended, in Monticello as a squad that should challenge Black Hawk and Barneveld for the Six Rivers East title.
However, despite boasting nine seniors, the Ponies need to regain their stride after a poor showing at the Whitewater Tournament last week.
The chat over a potential conference title is hardly reserved for the boys in South Wayne, as Mike Flanagan's Lady Warriors have looked as ferocious as we all thought they could be when they came of age in last year's postseason. While Thursday's 51-44 setback against Six Rivers crossover stalwart River Ridge may concern onlookers, it also may be the smelling salts that trigger another deep run for the Warriors.
While the rest of the Six Rivers squads, Pec withstanding, may struggle to find a silver lining in the lumps Black Hawk is handing out, there's something to be learned about the process Flan's clan has gone through.
At this juncture last season, a team in Black Hawk's state wouldn't have fallen anywhere near the aforementioned unquestioned squads. Perpetually hanging around the .500 mark, we didn't find out who the Warriors could be until the playoff bell rang.
And there's the charming point. Even he that pushes his pencil the hardest can't account for the unpredictable. While for many clubs it is dire to bust out of the gates with a full head of steam, it all boils down to how the ball is bouncing in mid-February when those playoff ladders start to come clearer.
But there are a lot of clubs that can administer a little bit of proverbial Visine starting tonight.
- Christopher Heimerman is sports editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at
sportseditor@themonroetimes.com.
There's a lot you can tell from teams' early-season performances, but the first half is exactly that - one half of each respective squad's story.
Ultimately, a team's season is not about the prologue. All those non-conference games are exactly what they are - measuring sticks if not simply a glorified treadmill.
The storytelling phase of early-season conference games? Now we're getting somewhere. We get to know our characters. The endearing protagonists. The nerve-grating antagonists.
But tonight, when the boys squads resume conference play across the board, a pivot point will be reached.
The teams that have their eyes set on the later dates in March will catch their opportunity like a pass in the block and make like Black Hawk's Michael Place, dropping a devastating drop step and bunny to trigger a second-half run that will leave the rest of the field begging.
Clubs that aren't ready for the lights to intensify might not feel right where that defender is on their back. As opposed to making a well-calculated, momentum-building move, they may kick it back out, knowing there's a lot of season left.
Patience may be a virtue, but Josh Tarrell's Pecatonica Vikings aren't going to make statements allowing their foes to commit errors. Like any other club that would strike fear into the hearts of opponents when the March Madness sets in, the green and golders are pressing at every juncture, refusing to relent and, most importantly, letting everyone know who turns the screws.
Like the eluded-to Lady Vikings and the Warrior boys out in South Wayne, there are several clubs that have already flashed the sort of undebatable prowess borne by a club destined for the long haul.
It feels like a quarter of a century since Pat Murphy's Cheesemakers have lost as they rattled off their 24th and 25th straight victories dating back to last year at this past Thursday's and Friday's Fort Atkinson Tournament.
The Lady Cheesemakers, on the other hand, were looking like one of those clubs that 'just wins ballgames' until a 56-34 drubbing at the hands of Verona on Thursday night. With such youth on Kevin Keen's roster, there's little telling whether the group can learn a valuable lesson in the losing effort or if it could linger with such a lack of experience.
Tonight we'll find out a lot about Brad Pickett's Ponies in Monticello as they'll host juggernaut Black Hawk. When preseason pundits were levying their picks, this editor was picking his Pony, pun intended, in Monticello as a squad that should challenge Black Hawk and Barneveld for the Six Rivers East title.
However, despite boasting nine seniors, the Ponies need to regain their stride after a poor showing at the Whitewater Tournament last week.
The chat over a potential conference title is hardly reserved for the boys in South Wayne, as Mike Flanagan's Lady Warriors have looked as ferocious as we all thought they could be when they came of age in last year's postseason. While Thursday's 51-44 setback against Six Rivers crossover stalwart River Ridge may concern onlookers, it also may be the smelling salts that trigger another deep run for the Warriors.
While the rest of the Six Rivers squads, Pec withstanding, may struggle to find a silver lining in the lumps Black Hawk is handing out, there's something to be learned about the process Flan's clan has gone through.
At this juncture last season, a team in Black Hawk's state wouldn't have fallen anywhere near the aforementioned unquestioned squads. Perpetually hanging around the .500 mark, we didn't find out who the Warriors could be until the playoff bell rang.
And there's the charming point. Even he that pushes his pencil the hardest can't account for the unpredictable. While for many clubs it is dire to bust out of the gates with a full head of steam, it all boils down to how the ball is bouncing in mid-February when those playoff ladders start to come clearer.
But there are a lot of clubs that can administer a little bit of proverbial Visine starting tonight.
- Christopher Heimerman is sports editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at
sportseditor@themonroetimes.com.
