Herman: Delavan stock has been on the rise
It may have come as a surprise to many area small-school basketball fans when Class 1A No. 2, and previously unbeaten, Brimfield (20-1) got its first loss of the season at Delavan (11-8) on Friday night.
There are a couple of reasons why the upset shouldn’t have been so shocking. First off, it’s always tough to go on the road (especially during an opponent’s homecoming game) against a conference foe, but moreover Delavan is a better team than its record indicates.
The Panthers started out the season by going 0-3 at the Canton Thanksgiving Tournament, but those losses came to Class 1A No. 5 Mooseheart (75-65) and Class 3A teams Manual (64-48) and Canton (59-55).
Delavan is riding a six-game winning streak, with its last loss coming in the Inter County Athletic Conference Tournament to Brimfield, 60-52.
“We kind of took that blueprint from (reigning 1A state champion) Illini Central,” Delavan coach Ryon Kramer said. “I’m not saying that we’re going to go have a run like they had, but it can’t hurt. You’ve got to have the right team to do it, and I thought we did.”
Most good teams will get better over the course of the season, but Delavan is young with only one senior on the roster, so the improvements are glaring.
The Panthers will also be getting a key piece back in 6-foot-3 junior David Lane, who was a starter before breaking his foot two months ago, and is set to return to the varsity lineup this week.
“We’re excited to have him back,” Kramer said. “Hopefully we’re starting to click. Things are starting to go a little better for us.”
BRIMFIELD WAKE-UP: While Delavan seemed ripe for the upset on Friday night, Brimfield’s lack of energy out of the gates may have been foreshadowing the loss.
“We’ve been doing this all year it seems like,” Brimfield coach Scott Carlson said. “(Assistant) coach (Kevin) Kreiter and I have been telling them, ‘You’ve got to find something in you that gets you fired up for the game no matter who we’re playing.’ Too many games this year we’ve had to comeback because of poor play early on.”
Still, the Indians are sitting in a very good spot with just the one blemish on the year, and they could use the setback as motivation for a strong push down the stretch.
“It’s got to be a wake-up call,” Carlson said. “It’s up to us to do something about it. Probably our toughest week of the year is this week, so we’ve got to get ready in a hurry.”
RANKINGS SHAKE-UP: Many weekends lately have been marred with bad weather that has caused many postponements, but Friday and Saturday finally gave us a full slate of games.
What that means is teams have finally had a chance to boost their resumes, or in the case of most of the Class 1A top-10 teams, post some losses.
Six of the 10 teams came up short over the last week, which could mean some changes to rankings that have been as frozen as the weather as of late.
Look for the newest edition of the rankings in Wednesday’s Journal Star.
FULL OF MAKE-UPS: The weather has really been tough on Class 2A No. 4 Monmouth-Roseville. The Titans’ game against Illini West on Monday was their first game since Jan. 25.
What’s the worst part of the 15-day layoff? M-R’s last game was one of its three losses on the season, a 70-58 decision to Chicago North Lawndale as a part of the Great Western Shootout at Abingdon-Avon.
Josh Herman is a Journal Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 686-3214 or jherman@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshHermanPJS.