John Hardin

 

This is why you can't judge a team on what you see in December.

 

John Hardin ended the 2011 part of the schedule with a 4-5 record, but there plenty of reasons to think the Bulldogs were going to show significant improvement within a couple of months.

 

"Jeremy Harness missed three games because of football visits, our three man broke his collarbone in the last football game, then broke it again the week he came back," said coach Mark Wells. "Then we had a 6-8 kid decide not to play after signing a football scholarship."

 

Nevertheless, John Hardin managed to put things together in the latter part of the season and takes a 10-game winning streak into its first-round state tournament game with Johnson Central.

 

"We finally got into (basketball) shape," Wells said. "At the start, we had five kids coming off the football field, we had two new kids in (Daveon) Greene and (Keon) Williams. All that was intertwined, and it took the guys until the end of December to jell. Once we got the pieces into place, we figured out who could do what."

 

Greene (6-2, 240) blossomed in his junior year, averaging 17 points and nine rebounds after moving in from Ohio. Williams, who came from Tennessee, is a 6-4 sophomore who shoots 35 percent from 3-point range and averages eight points per game.

 

Point guard Jeremy Price leads the Bulldogs (22-8) with a 18-point average, and two-guard Harness — a star running back on John Hardin's powerful football team who signed to play wide receiver at Murray State — averages 11 points per game and is the team's top perimeter threat.

 

Lonnie Gaskins, a 6-5 senior who was a tight end on the football team, provides some sie off the bench.

 

"We're not extremely big but we have pretty good athletic ability," Wells said. "Greene is a stronger kid than most we see and we're an up-tempo team. We'll use the fullcourt press and we'll try to get after you halfcourt, too. We're an inside-outside team, and we can use Greene to post up and create off of that."

 

 

Johnson Central

 

Better known for its football program, Johnson Central arrives at Rupp Arena this week with a curiosity in Shane Hall, fast developing a reputation as one of the state's top sophomores.

 

Hall is a thin (listed at 6-7, 145) face-the-basket type that is sure to cause a slew of matchup problems. His development was the reason Indiana coach Tom Crean made the trip to the mountains last week to check out Hall in the 15th Region finals.

 

With averages of 17 points and 11 rebounds per game, Hall is clearly the go-to guy for the Golden Eagles (25-10), who shook off a 14-point loss to Sheldon Clark in the district final and avenged a late-season loss to East Ridge in the regional championship game.

 

None of his teammates average in double figures, although the Eagles do have some balance beyond Hall, with Braxton Blair and Dalton Adkins, both freshman, leading the backcourt and giving Johnson Central three underclassmen as its top scorers.

 

Two other freshman, 6-3 forward Kyle Gullett and 6-6 center Truman Salyer, are in the regular player rotation, and neither is afraid to launch a shot from the perimeter.

 

Coach Tommy McKenzie led Johnson Central to the state tournament a decade ago.

Nice info! Thanks for posting! :thumb: I saw where Crean made a visit, but didn't know for which player.

John Hardin

 

This is why you can't judge a team on what you see in December.

 

John Hardin ended the 2011 part of the schedule with a 4-5 record, but there plenty of reasons to think the Bulldogs were going to show significant improvement within a couple of months.

 

"Jeremy Harness missed three games because of football visits, our three man broke his collarbone in the last football game, then broke it again the week he came back," said coach Mark Wells. "Then we had a 6-8 kid decide not to play after signing a football scholarship."

 

Nevertheless, John Hardin managed to put things together in the latter part of the season and takes a 10-game winning streak into its first-round state tournament game with Johnson Central.

 

"We finally got into (basketball) shape," Wells said. "At the start, we had five kids coming off the football field, we had two new kids in (Daveon) Greene and (Keon) Williams. All that was intertwined, and it took the guys until the end of December to jell. Once we got the pieces into place, we figured out who could do what."

 

Greene (6-2, 240) blossomed in his junior year, averaging 17 points and nine rebounds after moving in from Ohio. Williams, who came from Tennessee, is a 6-4 sophomore who shoots 35 percent from 3-point range and averages eight points per game.

 

Point guard Jeremy Price leads the Bulldogs (22-8) with a 18-point average, and two-guard Harness — a star running back on John Hardin's powerful football team who signed to play wide receiver at Murray State — averages 11 points per game and is the team's top perimeter threat.

 

Lonnie Gaskins, a 6-5 senior who was a tight end on the football team, provides some sie off the bench.

 

"We're not extremely big but we have pretty good athletic ability," Wells said. "Greene is a stronger kid than most we see and we're an up-tempo team. We'll use the fullcourt press and we'll try to get after you halfcourt, too. We're an inside-outside team, and we can use Greene to post up and create off of that."

 

 

Johnson Central

 

Better known for its football program, Johnson Central arrives at Rupp Arena this week with a curiosity in Shane Hall, fast developing a reputation as one of the state's top sophomores.

 

Hall is a thin (listed at 6-7, 145) face-the-basket type that is sure to cause a slew of matchup problems. His development was the reason Indiana coach Tom Crean made the trip to the mountains last week to check out Hall in the 15th Region finals.

 

With averages of 17 points and 11 rebounds per game, Hall is clearly the go-to guy for the Golden Eagles (25-10), who shook off a 14-point loss to Sheldon Clark in the district final and avenged a late-season loss to East Ridge in the regional championship game.

 

None of his teammates average in double figures, although the Eagles do have some balance beyond Hall, with Braxton Blair and Dalton Adkins, both freshman, leading the backcourt and giving Johnson Central three underclassmen as its top scorers.

 

Two other freshman, 6-3 forward Kyle Gullett and 6-6 center Truman Salyer, are in the regular player rotation, and neither is afraid to launch a shot from the perimeter.

 

Coach Tommy McKenzie led Johnson Central to the state tournament a decade ago.

 

Hall weighs 200 lbs