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Parity floods this year's SEMO Conference basketball tournament
SIKESTON -- Charleston head coach Danny Farmer can't remember a time in the last seven years when seeding the SEMO Conference tournament was this tough.
Farmer, who is entering his 16th year as the head coach of the Bluejays, used words like "parity" and "evenly-matched" to describe every team in this year's field of eight.
"Most of the time," Farmer said, "you can kind of predict it. You can't predict anything this year."
That same sentiment was mentioned by Sikeston head coach Gregg Holifield after the seeds were released late Wednesday night. The balance between top-seeded Sikeston all the way through No. 8 New Madrid County Central will be on coaches and fan's minds alike before the eight teams tip off Dec. 9 at the Sikeston Field House.
"1 thru 8 on any given night, any of these teams could beat the other," Holifield said. "It makes for a balanced situation. Any of the eight teams have a chance at winning it."
Following Sikeston, Jackson was voted as the tournament's second seed. Cape Central and Charleston round out the top half of the bracket. Notre Dame is No. 5 while newcomer Kennett took the sixth seed. Poplar Bluff and NMCC round out the field.
"I think it makes for a great tournament," Holifield said. "I think it's one of the best conferences in the state of Missouri and year in and year out we produce great teams out of it. I don't think this year is any different."
Sikeston returns as the defending tournament champions after taking down Charleston, who was last year's top seed, after avenging a loss to the Bluejays in the 2011 title game. Sikeston has won the tournament four of the last five years.
Sikeston will defend their tournament championship off the heels of a third-place finish in last year's Class 4 state tournament. The Bulldogs, who finished with a record of 27-3, will be tested right out of the gate as returning all-state senior J.T. Jones leads a new crop of Bulldogs following the graduation of the Class 4 Player of the Year -- Vashawn Ruffin.
"I've always really enjoyed this early tournament," said Holifield. "You get to see where you stand and, in one particular place, you get to see some of the best area teams around. I think from that it's awesome to have it at this time of the year."
One of the things that makes this year's tournament so balanced is that most teams return nearly every player from last season. Second-seeded Jackson, fresh off their first Class 5 quarterfinal appearance in 21 years, is a prime example of that.
Although they said goodbye to seniors Braxton McDowell and Luke Stevens, the Indians return all of their offense from a year ago. Karson King (Sr., 6-5) will once again lead Jackson (19-11) as Josh Daume (Sr., 5-10) and Blake Reynolds (Jr., 6-7) all return will also return.
Cape Central, the tournament's third seed, resembles their Jackson rival. Notre Dame does too.
The Tigers, who lost to Sikeston in the Class 4 district tournament championship game last season, finished with a 16-11 record and return star big man Jamal Cox. Cox (Sr., 6-6) led Cape Central in scoring and rebounding last season and returns with promising sophomore Al Young who will look to replace departing senior Garan Evans, who was Cape Central's only senior last year while averaging 13.9 points and 3.1 assists per game.
Notre Dame, who finished 15-12 and was the third seed in the Class 4 district tournament a season ago, return leading scorer Quinn Poythress (Jr., 6-5), Grant Ressel (Jr., 6-0) and Jordan Williamson (Sr., 5-6).
"There's so many teams that have just about everybody coming back and they've had that year of experience," Farmer said. "Then, you have teams that have good players."
Then there's Charleston -- a competitive fixture in the SEMO Conference.
Although they lost a bulk of last year's Class 3 quarterfinal team, the Bluejays will once again look to reign atop the SEMO Conference bracket by re-tooling only the way they can. But they'll have to do it without all-state point guard Ryan Parham, Michael Hull, Trey Watkins Sumner Foster and Darrion Carter, who all graduated after last season.
They do, however, return Delfincko Bogan (Jr., 5-9), Robert Bogan (Sr., 5-10), Mike Kellum (Sr., 5-10) and Shandor Webster (Sr., 6-5).
"We're going to have to beat three quality teams to win it," said Farmer. "I think fourth or fifth might could have been the worst draw out of it. You have to beat everybody."
Charleston will begin the tournament by matching up with Notre Dame.
"They were young last year and they have everybody coming back," Farmer said. "It's going to be a task for us."
Last year's Class 3, District 1 runner-up may be the strongest eighth-seed to date led by, arguably, the most dynamic player in the area.
New Madrid County Central junior Willie Jimerson will look to improve on his sensational, all-state sophomore season (21.8 ppg, 3.1 apg, 2.9 rpg, 2.4 spg) but will have to do it without a host of familiar faces. NMCC lost four seniors, Jashawn McDaniel, Delontre Haney, Armondo Thatch and Devon Harrell, who saw plenty of minutes last season. Along with Jimerson, Mikeal Walker (Jr., 5-10) and TJ Clark (Jr., 5-9) are expected to fill the gaps after the Eagles' surprise 16-7 record which included an upset win over Sikeston late in the season.
"It's probably the most parity I've seen since being here at Charleston," said Farmer. "It's about even with evenly-matched teams. You never know what's going to happen.
Newcomer Kennett is the sixth seed making their first SEMO Conference tournament appearance since 2007. They will most certainly want to make some noise as the newbies replacing long-time participants Dexter, who dropped out of the tournament just this season.
Kevonte Mitchell, who led Kennett in scoring a season ago, ushers in the Indians after a 17-9 record and a Class 4 district semifinal exit by Sikeston a season ago.
"He's as good a player as anybody," Holifield said about Mitchell. "They're definitely a good team added to the tournament."
Poplar Bluff, who finished 15-9 a year ago and is the tournament's seventh seed, lost three seniors but still return their leading scorer Stacy Gipson (Sr., 6-6) and their second-leading scorer Chris Stocks (Jr., 6-2).
"I think there's teams in it that has a legitimate chance at making the state championship game -- possibly more than one team," Holifield said. "It's basically going to be a tough tournament."