BENNETT'S MINUTES: Hecko coaching top-ranked girls’ team

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Brett Hecko had a storied basketball playing career both at Greencastle High School and DePauw University, leading the Tiger Cubs to the 1988 sectional title (their first in 19 years) and just one victory away from the Final Four.

His four outstanding years at DePauw included an amazing run to the NCAA Division III Tournament championship game in 1990.

In 2015, Hecko was inducted into the DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame.

“Moose” is now a social studies teacher at Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle, and coached the boys’ basketball team from 2004-09 — taking the team to the state tournament in 2005.

Hecko is now also the school’s girls’ basketball coach, and his Braves are having an outstanding season.

Bishop Blanchet went 20-0 in the regular season, earning the No. 1 spot in the state Class 3A rankings, then won two more games to claim the Metro League title. The Braves won their first game in the district tournament, but lost their second contest.

Brett Hecko

Despite that defeat, Hecko’s team will compete this weekend in the regional round of the Washington state tournament. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has a new format using a Rating Percentage Index to seed teams, guaranteeing Blanchet a game in Tacoma despite losing in the district tournament.

A regional title this weekend would put the Braves in the final eight of the state tournament, with a defeat still allowing the team to continue playing but needing to win an extra game to claim the state title.

The Braves are ranked No. 2 in the overall Washington state rankings.

Hecko’s son, Ben, is a senior at Bishop Blanchet while his daughter, Abby, is a sophomore. Ben placed 73rd in the state cross country meet for the Braves last fall, while Abby was a member of the school’s cross country team which placed sixth in the state meet.

• Best wishes to North Putnam’s Greg Barrett in his new coaching endeavor at South Vermillion.

Coach Barrett is one of the few people I previously knew at Putnam County schools when I accepted this job almost a year ago, and I witnessed him do a great job with the Cougars this fall.

The praise heaped on him by his current and future principals in Wednesday’s Banner Graphic was not just polite rhetoric, and all praise was deserved.

I knew this opportunity was available to him for several weeks, but obviously didn’t write anything about it or even tell anyone in case he chose not to pursue it. His passion for North Putnam was displayed as he jumped in his car and made the lengthy drive to work every day, and I know that fact was the one that delayed his decision on this opportunity for so long.

Many coaches are parents, too, and I have no doubt his sincerity in his inability to share in the activities of his seventh- and ninth-grade daughters as being the primary reason for his move.

South Vermillion has been a football graveyard for the past seven years of losing seasons, and Barrett is the right kind of person to turn it around. There is a certain mentality and understanding of small-school students that the last two coaches the Wildcats brought in – from 5A and 6A programs – didn’t have. I’m sure both of those men knew the Xs and Os of football, but the experience of dealing with improving low numbers and the task of keeping enough people healthy to last the entire season is not an easy one.

But it’s an important one.

I tried to think of a comparison to the college level, and the best I could come up with was the difference between coaching Division I and Division III basketball. If DePauw’s Bill Fenlon and Kentucky’s John Calipari were to somehow trade jobs, for example, how well would they do with an entirely different recruiting environment? My money would be on coach Fenlon doing better with Kentucky-type players than Calipari would do with DePauw-type guys, but we’ll probably never know.

Two interesting factors in the Barrett-to-South Vermillion move are also worth mentioning.

North Putnam has one of the lowest enrollments in the Western Indiana Conference, and is currently in a division with much larger schools such as Northview and Sullivan. Not that it would be impossible to ever beat those schools, or other divisional foes such as Greencastle, South Putnam or West Vigo, but it’s a challenging task.

South Vermillion was a member of the reorganized WIC for one year before returning to its former home in the Wabash River Conference, and is one of the larger WRC schools. It’s not all about enrollment, but depth and numbers are nice. I never heard Greg mention this as a factor, but it’s a good bonus.

The most ironic fact is that South Vermillion, under the current organizational structure, is a member of Class 2A Sectional 39 – the same one as North Putnam. Linton-Stockton could possibly join that sectional this year, moving up from 1A as part of the IHSAA “success factor,” and somebody would have to leave if that happened.

• Makayla Collier of Cascade and Stacy Payton of Northview are among the girls’ basketball players chosen for the Top 60 Senior Workout on March 5 at Heritage Christian.

• Plainfield’s Curt Benge will be the girls’ Indiana All-Star coach, and Quakers Riley Blackwell and Kayla Casteel are also among the invitees.

Dates have been announced for the two-game All-Star series with Kentucky, with the Indiana game taking place at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on June 10 and the Kentucky game being played at Elizabethtown on June 11.

• The pairings for Saturday’s girls’ basketball state finals are set and surprisingly only one private school made the field. Union City will battle Wood Memorial in Class 1A, while Oak Hill battles Eastern (Pekin) in Class 2A, South Bend St. Joseph’s plays North Harrison in Class 3A and Homestead battles Indianapolis Pike in 4A.

Danville, the only opponent of a Putnam County squad to win a regional, lost 65-43 to North Harrison in the semistate. Of the eight teams, clearly the most interesting team is Pike – which had its season cancelled at mid-season last year following a brawl with Ben Davis. Great to see the Red Devils turn things around.

• Cloverdale junior Jalen Moore was named as the District 2 winner in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association/Subway Player of the Week program for his performance last week.

Jalen Moore

Moore scored 34 points with five assists and five steals in the only game of the week for the Cloverdale boys (18-6), an 84-45 triumph over Shakamak. The 5-9 guard converted 14 of 22 shots, 5 of 7 3-pointers and 1 of 2 free throws for his outstanding performance.

Teammate Cooper Neese was given similar honors in December after his 53-point game at Southmont. Western Indiana Conference foe Tim Abel of Indian Creek was last week’s District 3 winner. 

The 6-2 Abel averaged 33.5 points as the Indian Creek boys improved to 13-8. Abel began his week by scoring 24 points with five assists and two steals as the Braves beat Central Christian 82-34. He then erupted for 43 points with six rebounds as Indian Creek outlasted Hauser 79-73 in overtime.

• Thursday was the 32-year anniversary of the legendary Bobby Knight chair-throwing incident during an Indiana basketball game. I covered several IU games that year, but unfortunately I was not at that one. One thing I found interesting on my next visit to Assembly Hall was that the athletic department had used a heavy chain to connect all of the Indiana chairs to prevent future problems.

• Greencastle center Spencer Rhine, a key anchor of the Tiger Cubs’ offensive line last fall, has committed to play football for Wabash. More to come when signing becomes official. Teammate Devin Clar, who was named to the Region 6 All-Star team by the Indiana Football Coaches Association, is still pondering his choice. Sometimes, players sign with schools whose coaches then leave for other jobs in a really bad situation. Clar recently suffered perhaps even a worse fate, as he was seriously considering Division II St. Joseph’s – but the school announced would be closing after this school year due to financial problems.

• Lauren Freije of North Putnam was named academic all-state by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association, while teammate Kaelynn Abner was named honorable mention.

Football players earning academic all-state honors from the Indiana Football Coaches Association were Jonah Sanders of South Putnam, David Flannelly of North Putnam and Elijah Williams, Derek Ummel and Nick Costin of Greencastle.

Callan Taylor

• Sophomore Callan Taylor of Greencastle has been named the February Student-Athlete of the Month at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Taylor was named the USCAA DI Women’s Basketball Player of the week on Jan. 10 after scoring 27 points against Southern State CC.

Taylor scored in double figures in seven of the team’s eight games in January. She is currently second on the team in scoring with 14.7 points per game, which is 11th in the USCAA. 

•North Putnam won its last two regular-season girls’ basketball games by blowout scores over Turkey Run and Eminence, but the Cougars were forced to forfeit those games afterward due to use of an ineligible player.

A student who transferred to North Putnam was never formally transferred through the Indiana High School Athletic Association transfer process and participated in the Turkey Run and Eminence games. The paperwork was completed prior to the sectional tourney, and the player was permitted to participate in that event.

North Putnam principal Jason Chew emphasizes that this infraction in no way was due to the conduct, behavior, or actions of any student-athlete or coach. 

“This infraction was caused by a clerical/procedural error within our athletic department,” he said. “Upon notification of the error, I took immediate action to notify schools, self-report to the IHSAA and develop a procedure that will keep this from ever happening in the future. I have apologized to the coach for the failure of the athletic department, and he relayed this sentiment to our team.”

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