Boom! Shaka laka

Whoomp! Here we are.

Tag Team - Where Are They Now? Where's that one-hit wonder that set the (sports) world on fire in the mid-'90s with a super cheesy hit rap song about.. well.. not really sure what that song was about.

And, quickly mentioning, man, I wish the music industry didn't correct itself and stop selling cheesy rap songs. Looking back, I would really enjoy to hear more songs like "Come On Ride The Train (And Ride It)," or "Who Let The Dogs Out."

Anyways, Whoomp! Here we are. High school basketball season edition. The Fall sports season has come to a complete halt, and now basketballs are rolling.

Let me interrupt this post to quietly make a big announcement: I won't be here for the basketball season. I am leaving the News-Progress to pursue my own business exploits, a writing career. I have greatly enjoyed my time with the News-Progress, a paper that has been nothing but great to me, and I will never forget the warm small towns of Sullivan, Bethany and Lovington.

That being said, I have my ideas about what this basketball season will bring to our local teams, though mostly the boys' as I came in last season during the boys' regionals, after the girls' season already ended.

Lovington is excited. They are coming off a real surprise season that landed them a regional trophy, and they never really put the ball down since. The team lost a couple key seniors to graduation - Andy Askins and Dalton Allyn - but they have some players stepping up to their roles, as fourth-year starter Lucas West is moving to the point guard position to replace Allyn and Jared Brewer and Jezzy Zeimet (last I checked) were fighting it out to take Allyn's position.

All right, so the plan is that the incoming sports editor is doing the boys' previews. Sorry for any lack of certainty (or info), but I guarantee that he will fill in any gaps.

Anyhow, each player worked hard throughout the summer and fall to stay in shape, and the team took some players to a summer camp at EIU, where they performed very well. They have several returning to players to really watch out for, especially West, the athletically-accomplished Dan Bolsen at power forward, and center Mike Arnold, a towering presence at 6'6 (last I checked. High school kids grow fast, you know).

With seasoned veteran coach Ray Duncan, this team will no longer be able to surprise anyone, because they are expected to be good. Watch out for Lovington to be tough this season.

Also watch out for Sullivan. They lost only two seniors, one of which was a starter (Ben Wheeler), and have a lot of talent coming back, including guard Chance Typer, center Chris Marrs, and another guard, Seth Bowman.

Unfortunately, Lovington and Sullivan will not meet each other during the regular season after they met in the regional championships for a blistering intense match that went into overtime, Lovington taking the win.

I won't lie, I'm not too sure about Okaw Valley's hopes this year, as they were knocked out of last season's regional before I got to watch them. One thing I do know, though, is that the school brought in a new basketball coach, Mark Tovey, who has a ton of coaching experience, and a lot of that was winning, particularly as a coach a few years back at Lovington. I think you can count on it that Tovey will shake some things up at OV and make them into a different team.

So, there you have it. Whoom! There it was. That's all I know right now going into the basketball season. If you have anything to add, please, add it into the comment box.