Noblesville vs. Carmel. Carmel vs. Noblesville. Have it your way.
Tonight, at 7 p.m. at the Eric Clark Activity Center in Carmel, these two Hamilton County schools will battle for the Class 4A, Sectional 9 boys’ basketball championship.
Although I’m certain the other schools in this sectional would not agree, that’s the way it should be … Carmel and Noblesville slugging it out for the championship. That’s the way it once was. That’s the way it was before class basketball and a 10-year period in which Marion County schools dominated the local sectional basketball picture.
Only Carmel survived that period, the Greyhounds winning the 2006 sectional by beating North Central, 57-48, in the title game. The other nine years, it was Pike or it was North Central. The door was slammed on Hamilton County.
Not since the 1997 season, the last season before class basketball, have two Hamilton County schools squared off in the championship game of the local tourney. You may remember: Noblesville 64, Hamilton Heights 53.
Not since the 1996 season have Noblesville and Carmel squared off in the sectional championship game. You may remember: Noblesville 70, Carmel 67.
North Central and Pike no longer are around. Hamilton County is guaranteed a sectional championship tonight at Carmel.
That’s the way it should be because Noblesville and Carmel are tied for the most-ever sectional championships. Each has won 21 times.
Carmel, based on results so far in this 2007-08 season, may be the county’s best basketball team in years. The Greyhounds are deep. The Greyhounds are strong. The Greyhounds are talented.
That’s not to suggest that Noblesville is not good. The Millers can play the game, too.
This may be Dave McCollough’s best coaching job, ever, at Noblesville.
That’s not to suggest that Mark Galloway hasn’t done a great job at Carmel. He has. He’s one of the state’s great young coaches.
When I left the North Montgomery gym way back on Nov. 21, following the Millers’ season-opening 54-46 loss, I remember thinking that this Noblesville team will go as far as McCollough’s coaching will take it.
Noblesville lost seven of its first eight games, beating only Indianapolis Washington in that stretch. Noblesville will take an 11-10 record tonight to Carmel.
I’ve seen lots of stories about Noblesville’s struggle to get over the .500 mark. It wasn’t a struggle. The Millers, flat out, bounded back and have won 10 of their last 13 games. That’s not a struggle. That’s a surge.
Even before that spurt, even during the time the Millers were losing seven of eight, this young group of Noblesville players which entered the season with very little varsity experience was within points of winning games. The Millers lost by eight to North Montgomery, by five to Hamilton Heights by six to Bloomington South and by one to McCutcheon Hamilton Southeastern got Noblesville by 13 and, oh, yes, the Millers lost by only eight at Carmel
When you look back through this 2007-08 Noblesville season, there was just one blowout. Hoosier Crossroads Conference champion Lafayette Jeff, which finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the state, defeated Noblesville by 23 points.
There isn’t a lot you can take from the first meeting between Carmel and Noblesville and compare it to where the Greyhounds and Millers are today. On Nov. 30 at Carmel, Galloway was only beginning to put together the pieces after the Greyhounds’ run to a state football championship. McCollough was just beginning to teach the Millers how to play varsity basketball.
That game was only a warm-up for tonight’s battle. Carmel has improved; Noblesville has improved. That’s the way it should be. Carmel vs. Noblesville. Noblesville vs. Carmel. It’s Hamilton County basketball at its best.
