A march through March

Notes written on the back of yet another busted bracket sheet …
What an incredible month this has been for hoops fanatics.
It started with Corydon Central’s girls taking top-ranked South Bend St. Joseph to the brink in the Class 3A state final at Conseco Fieldhouse. Just a couple of minutes after the Lady Panthers’ narrow loss, the team’s lone senior ‘ Dana Beaven ‘ was named the recipient of the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award.
The sectional round of the boys state tournament came to a close that weekend as well, with both Lanesville and North Harrison falling to regional-finalists Henryville and Scottsburg.
Scottsburg wound up being defeated by Washington, who went on to claim the Class 3A state championship this past Saturday night on a half-court buzzer-beater by 6-8 senior (and my vote for Mr. Basketball … even before he hit the shot) Luke Zeller.
Also on Saturday, Forest Park claimed the 2A state championship and Loogootee was the Class 1A runner-up. In the 4A game, 7-0 junior Greg Oden ‘ projected by many NBA gurus to be the top pick of the NBA draft should he forego college ‘ powered mighty Lawrence North to its second consecutive crown.
Oh, and then there’s that little thing called the NCAA Tournament.
Louisville’s Cardinals, led by Coach Rick Pitino and a corps of gutsy players in Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean, Larry O’Bannon, Ellis Myles and Otis George, have made the ‘March to the Arch’ and will square off Saturday against Big 10 champion Illinois in one of the Final Four games in St. Louis. In the other contest, North Carolina (led by 2002 Indiana Mr. Basketball Sean May) will battle Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.
I think the Louisville-Illinois winner will have a tall order in knocking off the Tarheers.
— Going back to the Corydon Lady Panthers, I understand that a trio of businesses in the area ‘ First Harrison Bank, Dr. Adel Bichir and Community First Bank ‘ have decided to foot the bill for the girls basketball team to receive state finalist rings.
What an awesome gesture!
— As you probably saw by the schedules listed on Page A4, spring sports gets underway this week. With this being the busiest time of the prep season, it’s appropriate to reiterate how important it is for coaches to call, fax or e-mail results in to the hometown paper.
I try to see as many teams as I can, but since I’m outnumbered, 24 sports to one sports editor, I need help.
Just a quick, two-minute phone call to 738-2211 (hit ‘124’ at the prompt) is enough to get stats, a quote or two and some highlights to my voice mail after games. If you’d rather try the ‘net, my e-mail address is [email protected]
Let’s hope for great weather and an even greater sports season!