Andy Amey: Plenty of boys honors to go around on Amey Teams

Apr. 20—I'm no judge of whether this column is good or not, but because it's appearing in April instead of June (which it did, sadly, in 2022) it at least has relative promptness going for it.

It's not very chivalrous, though, if that's still a thing, because it — the Andy Amey Awards for boys high school basketball — is appearing ahead of the awards for girls basketball (a week ahead, if I get on the stick).

I always say that any season that ends with the Tribune-Star in Gainbridge Fieldhouse (or any of several other names and/or facilities in central Indiana) is a good one. The fact that it was an overall winning season for the teams in Vigo and Clay counties (thank you Eels) made it even better. It was a season that contained even more news than I wish it had, but one that — as always — introduced me to some players who made me smile.

So here are a few dozen of my favorite guys from this past winter.

One captain of the Clutch Team, probably to no one's surprise, is Linton's Indiana All-Star Joey Hart, who doesn't say much but has a novel or a memoir from this past season inside him that I promise I will read if and when it gets printed. His teammate Logan Webb, who is a little less reticent, is another captain, and West Vigo's continually improving Zeke Tanoos is a third.

Other leaders were Drake Bartos and Brady Crippes of Paris; Noah Betz of Cloverdale; Landon Boatman of Marshall; Drew Cook of Northview; Noah Gilmore and Cooper Loll of Robinson; Carter Hall of Dugger Union; Renn Harper and Treigh Schelsky of Parke Heritage; Max Hostetter of White River Valley; Cole Hutcheson of Greencastle; Wyatt Ison of North Central; J.T. May of Shakamak; Reilly Myers and Elliott Rogers of Clay City; Jackson Parcel of Casey; Alex Ross, Isaac Ross and Ethan Scott of Terre Haute North; and Javyn Woodard of Sullivan.

Every spring brings the sadness of seeing favorite players graduate, and the captains of the Competitors Team reinforce that theory this year. Between them they averaged about 50 points per game this past season, even though basketball is not the best sport for either of them, but Luke Adams of Sullivan and Derron Hazzard of Riverton Parke were just doing what was needed to win.

Other run-through-a-wall guys included Wyatt Adams, Dylan Butts, Russell Butts, Michael Tucker and Bryce Wiram of Clay City; Rowan Bailey, Devin Lawyer and Holden Sipes of Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville; Zayvion Baker, Chris Herrin and Nas McNeal of Terre Haute South; Colin Barber, Riley Huckaby and Brady Yeryar of Shakamak; Chase Bond and Tracen Wright of Dugger; Jacob Clement and Connor Sullivan of Casey; Dallas Coleman, Easton Terry and Aden Wallace of South Vermillion; Peter Combs of Bloomfield; Kyle Cottee and Brayden Goff of Northview; Matthew Dawson and Jerome White of North Vermillion; Kaden Evans and Karson Fosdick of West Vigo; Jared Franklin and Kobe Martin-Morehouse of WRV; Wrigley Franklin of Linton; Eli Gettinger and Seth Pirtle of Sullivan; Sam Glotzbach, Chris Owens, Damon Sturm and Jaden Wayt of North; Jacob Hopton of Riverton Parke; Tayt Jackson and McGuire Lee of Cloverdale; Tre Lee and Connor Rhoads of Paris; Aidan Parker and Nate Wernz of Robinson; Trey Scott of Marshall; and Gavyn Tryon and Jermiah Whitner of North Central.

Picking captains for the Most Improved Team was easy. Linton's Nathan Frady had one postseason game that included 23 points without missing a shot, then outscored Fort Wayne Blackhawk's leading scorer and outrebounded everybody in the game at the state finals, and Luke Bush of South Vermillion was probably headed for this distinction even before an unfortunate series of events resulted in him making even bigger contributions.

Others who got better were Kam Baker and Kavish Reddy of North; Anthony Barton, Ashton Hines and Mathew Mullins of Riverton Parke; Caelen Bell and Joshua Fowler of Northview; Talan Boehler and Jensen Turner of West Vigo; Treva Branch, Grant Esper and Josh Morgan of South; Max Dowd and B.T. Luce of Parke Heritage; Owen Edwards and Noah Scott of North Vermillion; Gunnar Eller of OPH; Jamison Fields of Linton; Carson Granby of Sullivan; Jaden Hooper and Levi Jennings of North Central; Zain Keller of Clay City; Luis Lopez, Will Ross and Reilly Wallace of Marshall; Scottie McGuire and Garrett Monnett of Cloverdale; Will Miller of Shakamak; Brasey Neill and Lance Workman of Bloomfield; Jackson Rigdon of Paris; and Daryn Wilson of South Vermillion.

The Unselfish Team doesn't always lend itself to having a captain, but one player stood out for that attribute this season: Christian Roembke of Northview.

Other team-first players were C.J. Beverly, Jase Cox and Tanner Spires of South Vermillion; Hunter Butler and Gage Walker of Dugger; Boyd Ensley, Drew Hutcheson and Carson Taylor of Greencastle; Xavier Fiscus and Nate Owen of Shakamak; Hunter Gennicks of Linton; Hunter Johnson of Northview; Payton Lankster of Paris; Klayton Larson and Sutton Ramsay of Parke Heritage; Blain Loll, Daniel Sparks and Donnie Tillman of Robinson; Jayden Moore of North; James Royal of Bloomfield; Cayden Sawyer of Clay City; Arnick Shouse of South; Dimitri Slobodeaniuc of Riverton Parke; and Landon Wesch of North Vermillion.

Picking a captain for the Unsung Team was easier than usual this season too, because Braden Walters of Linton was at least the most versatile defensive player in the state and possibly the best in general.

Others who did helpful things you might not have noticed included Anthony Adams of Greencastle; Landon Bates, Levi Hilton and Levi Johnson of Cloverdale; Justin Beard, Quentin Ross, Brett Sherrard and Hank Skomp of Bloomfield; Atticus Blank and Cody Tryon of North Vermillion; Bryson Carpenter and Jack Halls of North; Adam Carrington of Parke Heritage; Rylee Cobb and Linkin Frazier of Dugger; Grant Cochonour of Casey; Dylan Conder and Ryan Straw of South Vermillion; Carson Cox, Nick MacDonald, Pierson Robins and Brandon Todd of Riverton Parke; Tristan Crutchfield, Briar English, Eli Noel and Dylan Strauser of WRV; Eli Daugherty, Brandon Healey and R.J. Mattas of Marshall; Kam Fagg, Joshua Roberts and Nathan Scott of North Central; Linden Jenkins and Kayne Wade of Shakamak; Arron Johnson and Max Lewis of OPH; Jude McCoskey and Peyton Turner of South; Seb Ortiz and Marcus Roshel of Sullivan; Judson Pinkston, Korbin Rawlings, Owen Schmidt and Duke Thompson of Robinson; Drew Rogers and Reed Stuck of Paris; Ryan Smith of West Vigo; Zach Swearingen of Clay City; and Jaxon Walker of Linton.

Of all the players on the Promising Team, the best might be a pair of young big men — or is it a trio? A quartet? Cooper Bock of Sullivan and Ethan Edwards of Clay City are already forces to be reckoned with, and Andy Colvin of Dugger might belong on that list too — and what about Blake Neill of Bloomfield?

Others to watch in coming seasons include Riley Blank, R.J. Hays, Grayden Kincaid and Trevan Webster of OPH; Zac Buell, Jackson Farris, Avery Perry and Daimen Sandifer of Northview; Trentin Chambers, Landon Fields, Garrett Porter and Garrett Pugh of West Vigo; Nolan Clement, Hayden Parcel and Ryan Richards of Casey; Carson Cosby and Ethan Tidwell of Parke Heritage; Conner Daily, Jackson Miller and Paul Oliver of Linton; Teegan Dowers of North Vermillion; Cody Evans, Sam Gooch, Connor Sullivan and Nathan Sutherlin of Greencastle; Ian Gilmore and Luke Wernz of Robinson; Trey Greenlee of WRV; Konnar Henico of Dugger; Jace Hooper of North Central; Jaden Johnson of Shakamak; Wyatt Johnson and Logan Stoelting of Clay City; Payton McGuire and Cian Murphy of Marshall; Collett Sanders and Ben Todd of Riverton Parke; and Jaylen Wells of South.

Captain of my Lefthanded Team remains Blain Loll of Robinson, who battled his way back on the court by the end of the season. His teammates are Anthony Adams of Greencastle; Luke Adams and Granby of Sullivan; Combs of Bloomfield; Ian Gilmore and Thompson of Robinson; Jace Hooper of North Central; Hostetter of WRV; Jenkins of Shakamak; Ramsay of Parke Heritage; and Rogers and Wiram of Clay City.

And unfortunatly, there was also an injury team: Cole Gilbert and Cole Livingston of Casey, Sturm of North and nearly Tryon of North Central.

Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. at 812-231-4276; by email at andy.amey@tribstar.com; or by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN. Follow @TribStarAndy on Twitter.