Big Eight Preview

In the past four years Madison Memorial has dominated the Big Eight conference winning four straight conference titles, losing only one conference game in that time period. This year thought there is one thing missing from the Memorial teams of the past, Keaton Nankivil, who is now playing with the Wisconsin Badgers. Nankivil had been a four year varsity player for the Spartans and provided an inside force that not many teams have had. This year the pressure to continue that dominates falls on the back of 6'6 junior Jeronne Maymon. The question is not whether Maymon can handle the pressure because being in his third year and averaging double digits in scoring that question has already been answered but, the question remains with the rest of the team which has very little experience on the varsity level. With Memorial only have one big time player returning the team to beat in the conference seems to be Janesville Craig. Craig returns seven varsity players led by returning first team all conference 6'6 senior Lucas Burns. Craig will also have lots of height with all five starters standing at 6'3 or taller. Here are my predicted standings....

Janesville Craig 15-1
Madison Memorial 14-2
Madison Lafollette 10-6
Madison East 8-8
Middleton 8-8
Madison West 6-10
Sun Praire 5-11
Beloit 4-12
Janesville Parker 2-14


Janesville Craig- As stated earlier Craig is very tall and experienced which is why they are expected to win conference. Cougars may drop a game at Madison Memorial just because it is so tough to play at the small gym at Memorial with their very loud crowd.
Madison Memorial- Pretty much stated all my thoughts earlier. Maymon is the best player in the conference but, besides him there is a bunch of unknowns. Will probably split with Craig and may lose to a high scoring Lafollette team if the Lancers get hot from outside.
Madison Lafollette- Lancers will once again be a very undersized team which will cost them some games. They will rely heavily on pushing the tempo and shooting a lot of three pointers. As everyone knows "You live by the three, you die by the three".
Madison East- 6'5 sophomore Marquis Mason is one of the top players in his class and provide the Purgolders with solid post player but, who will get him the ball and help him to score? Look for fellow sophomore 6'3 Jeff Hull to help score inside but, lack of outside scoring will keep East from jumping to the top tier of teams.
Middleton- Lose more then any other team in the conference but, Cardinals coach and program are just to good for them to fall to far. Will probably rely on solid defense to keep games low scoring.
Madison West- Return four players that saw significant time last year and 6'4 senior, brother to Reese Gains, Corvonn Gaines just keeps getting better and better every time I see him. I just can't see pick this team in the top half of the conference. Every year they haven't the talent and seem like they should be in the upper half of the conference and challenge for the conference title but, they always seem to disappoint, so this year I'm picking them towards the bottom half and hoping that they prove me wrong.
Sun Praire- Sophomores 6'0 Michael Boos and 6'1 Michael Handel are a year older and should be much better their second year on varsity and 6'0 Andrew Cobb has been starting for at least three years. Won't make a huge jump but, will be better then last year.
Beloit- Loses all five starters from last year and have very little experience coming back. This should be a rebuilding year for the Knights and remaining competitive in all games would be a plus.
Janesville Parker- As usual Parker will once again picked last in the conference. They have 6'10 senior Riley Grafft who is a good player but, he is really on his own. I expect Vikings to surprise a team or two and will be better then in years past.

I will kinda be on cruise control for the next week or two until the actual high school season starts right after Thanksgiving. I will probably give some short posts on my thoughts of basketball games I have watched of football games.