Well see, I guess picking 20 games a week wasn’t a total nightmare. So let’s do it again this week!
I will be picking 20 area games (10 girls and 10 boys) to make my prognostications on for this coming week. Things are getting tight on the girls side as we near the unofficial midway point of the season and the boys are really in full swing now.
My competently invisible traveling trophies stayed put last week. The Blackhawk Christian boys won but didn’t play an in area team. And on the girls side, Carroll has been stricken with quarantine so their newly won honor wasn’t defended.
What you will not find here are predictions for the boys basketball shootout at Grace College on Saturday featuring a multitude of area teams, which will be fully previewed later this week in the place of our usual Game of the Weekend.
LAST WEEK: 15-3 (three postponements)
2020-21 RECORD: 44-15
2019-20 RECORD: 139-48 (.743)
BOYS
EAST NOBLE AT WOODLAN, MONDAY
The Warriors come in on a two game slide against an East Noble team that hasn’t found their footing yet, sitting at 1-3. East Noble has an edge on the perimeter, but how significant is it with the loss of some key pieces already this season. The Knights may be more overall seasoned. This game presents two interesting matchup problems. Joe Reidy has the height to handle Chris Hood, but the mass? Chris Hood has the height to handle Joe Reidy, but the speed? BOUNCE PICKS WOODLAN
CHURUBUSCO AT SOUTH SIDE, TUESDAY
The Archers welcome in a revitalized Busco team that has quickly learned to harness their physical and emotional play. That isn’t exactly a good sign for anyone on Busco’s schedule. The Archers remain credible threats as long as their shooting doesn’t run cold. How they choose to defend the post and the record setting rebound numbers of Landen Jordan is the key to this game. BOUNCE PICKS CHURUBUSCO
WAYNE AT NEW HAVEN, WEDNESDAY
Unluck of the draw has New Haven at 1-2 after a juggernaut opponent laden start. Wayne isn’t in that same realm as two of New Haven’s opponents, but don’t think that the Generals are going to take this one off. This is going to be one of the scrappiest games on the schedule this week and in 2020. Both teams have depth, really strong defenses and the ability to go on momentum swinging runs. Could be a matter of who shoots the ball last. BOUNCE PICKS NEW HAVEN
SOUTH ADAMS AT WINCHESTER, WEDNESDAY
This is a little more up South Adams’ alley as they too started their season with a juggernaut after a lengthy and tiring football run for most of these guys. No word yet on when leading scorer James Arnold returns to the lineup, but the Starfires have plenty of other weapons. Trey Schoch looked good in the season opening loss to Churubusco and Winchester is far less equipped to handle his speed and his shot. BOUNCE PICKS SOUTH ADAMS
CARROLL AT WAYNE, FRIDAY
Wayne again? Of course. While coach Byron Pickens may give ol’ Bounce a hard time about not picking them in games, there is a reason they are always on my mind. This team is very tough and they are going to upset someone in the SAC title race this season. Is it Carroll on Friday? We may have to pump the breaks on that unless they have an answer for Jalen Jackson. To slow him down means throwing more than one guy at him and if they do that, Carroll has deadly shooters who also can’t be left open. Wayne is good. Carroll is just better today. BOUNCE PICKS CARROLL
NORTH SIDE AT SNIDER, FRIDAY
A few times over the years, this has been the go to SAC rivalry. Things have changed but I like the chances for this thing to be as intense as usual. The Legends are righting their ship but have to steer into a dangerous Snider group that is also playing really good basketball. This is a game where we will see if North’s evolving basketball I.Q. can line up with the intelligence that Snider has played with so far. BOUNCE PICKS SNIDER
NORWELL AT DEKALB, FRIDAY
DeKalb may have given Norwell their best game a season ago in the NE8. But that Norwell team is gone and this young group has taken some lumps while still showing a nice upside. Their biggest issue in the NE8 comes to a head again Friday and that is a lack of overall size. DeKalb’s Connor Penrod has a lot size and Norwell needs to find ways to keep him off the boards. Penrod had a great game against Norwell in 2019 and I predict a repeat. BOUNCE PICKS DEKALB
SOUTHERN WELLS AT BLUFFTON, FRIDAY
The Tigers need to get back in the win column after Concordia shot them out of their game last Saturday. Southern Wells comes in with a good ability to make those shots too so Bluffton needs to be on their A-game defensively. This one matches up two of the better scorers in the ACAC with the Tigers’ Hayden Nern and the Raiders’ William Rickerd. BOUNCE PICKS BLUFFTON
WESTVIEW AT ANGOLA, FRIDAY
Westview is very good and we haven’t given them the respect they deserve. I’ll say it. They will walk into Angola with a world of momentum for coach Ed Bentley’s return to his former school. Angola’s mission is simple: stay scrappy and close out on shooters. The Hornets are going to throw everything they can at Westview here, but do they really have the depth to compete with what the Warriors have been doing nightly? BOUNCE PICKS WESTVIEW
WEST NOBLE AT CENTRAL NOBLE, FRIDAY
A little county rivalry game to test Central Noble’s toughness. The Cougars should be able to get their groove back against Hamilton earlier in the week, but they have to remain sharp for this one sandwiched between a Hamilton gimme game and Saturday’s shootout at Grace. West Noble is very dangerous and Austin Cripe is shooting his way into consideration as possibly the best sophomore in the area. Could we get a Cripe/Connor Essegian shootout? Don’t go cold in this one. BOUNCE PICKS CENTRAL NOBLE
GIRLS
EASTSIDE AT LAKEWOOD PARK, MONDAY
Eastside has started to peak as they head into this odd Monday non-conference game. The Blazers are finding a scoring edge after struggling in that department much early in the season. They have a tenacious defense in the full court that could really give Lakewood Park headaches. Chloe Jolloff is going to get hers for the Panthers, but will it be enough? Eastside’s defense wins them this one IMO. BOUNCE PICKS EASTSIDE
COLUMBIA CITY AT WARSAW, TUESDAY
Fresh off a really nice win over Fairfield, the Eagles will look to string together some consistency here, something that has been difficult with unplanned gaps in their schedule until last week. A trip to Warsaw is a tough one, the Tigers too missing some games to postponement last week. Bekah Marshall is starting to shine again for the Eagles and matchup with her and Abby Sanner of Warsaw could be a fun battle. BOUNCE PICKS WARSAW
CONCORDIA AT HOMESTEAD, WEDNESDAY
This one is a reschedule and we are learning something we haven’t had the chance to evaluate yet this season: does a specific team benefit from playing on the. rescheduled date versus the original. To me, this is a yes for Homestead in this instance. They have started to have a chance to find themselves and gain confidence after a very non-Homestead start to the season. Alison Stephens proved over the weekend in wins over Dwenger and Angola, that she can be that second go-to offensive player. Concordia is a very good team at 7-2 but those losses come against the top end teams in our power poll. So is Homestead a top end team still or are they right there in the middle with Concordia? BOUNCE PICKS HOMESTEAD
BELLMONT AT GARRETT, THURSDAY
Garrett comes off their first loss of the season and there couldn’t be a worse time to be Bellmont. The Squaws are playing good basketball but I have this feeling that Garrett is going to be playing newly inspired basketball. The Railroaders could be flat out angry about not closing out against Norwell and that could be taken out against another NE8 team. BOUNCE PICKS GARRETT
NORTHROP AT SOUTH SIDE, FRIDAY
This is traditionally a really fun game between two scrappy teams. Year after year, these games have delivered even though South is the team that walks out victors more often than not. The Archers are a high level team that can hurt you in a lot of ways. Northrop is feisty, but are they feisty enough? BOUNCE PICKS SOUTH SIDE
WEST NOBLE AT CENTRAL NOBLE, FRIDAY
Just like on the boys side, we get this fun county rival game on Friday for the girls. Two teams who are both playing good basketball at the right time and may be lost in the conversation in the NECC. But the winner here stays in good footing in the race atop the conference. Expect this to be one of the best girls games on the schedule this week. BOUNCE PICKS CENTRAL NOBLE
HOMESTEAD AT BISHOP LUERS, FRIDAY
What do we know about the Knights? Not much. They’ve been playing games but everything has felt very low key for them. This is a big chance for them to make some noise. The game will challenge the Homestead defense as Luers have several girls with length and shooting ability to cause matchup issues. BOUNCE PICKS HOMESTEAD
BLUFFTON AT ADAMS CENTRAL, SATURDAY
Both of these teams know that they probably have to win this game to stay in the ACAC race. The Flying Jets already have a conference loss and Bluffton is looking to avoid that fate. When you play just a 6 game conference schedule, every. game is important. Both have lost some games they feel like they probably shouldn’t have. BOUNCE PICKS ADAMS CENTRAL
HERITAGE AT WOODLAN, SATURDAY
Woodlan actually returns from their quarantine earlier in the week seven days short of a month without games. That hurts. How rusty is this team? You never know that until you get back out there and the Warriors will have to win two conference games this week to find out. Heritage has played a lot of basketball and has been a little Jekyll and Hyde along the way. They can’t afford to do that against Woodlan, rusty or ready. BOUNCE PICKS WOODLAN
WEST NOBLE AT ANGOLA, SATURDAY
Two teams who have a busy couple of days have to play back to back NECC games. And if West Noble’s Friday game is important in the NECC race, this one is critical. Expect some high level scoring in this one and Angola is going to have to score with more depth because we know the Chargers will. BOUNCE PICKS ANGOLA
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