Local players earn HHC baseball honors
The 2017 Hoosier Heritage Conference awards for baseball were announced Monday night. A total of seven Hancock County players earned all-conference honors, while several more were recognized as honorable mentions.
New Palestine had four All-HHC players, with three being named as unanimous selections. Nick Rusche was voted all-conference, while Colby Jenkins, Keegan Watson and Jack Walker were all unanimous picks.
Ryan Beck, a unanimous honoree, represented the Mt. Vernon Marauders on the All-HHC team.
Sectional champion Greenfield-Central had a pair of unanimous selections in Drey Jameson and Tyler Farrell.
HHC Coach of the Year honors went to Pendleton Heights’ Travis Keesling, who led the Arabians to the 2017 conference title with an 11-3 league record. The Arabians had four All-HHC players.
New Palestine finished runner-up in the HHC at 10-4. Greenfield-Central was fourth at 7-7 and Mt. Vernon was seventh at 5-9.
Greenfield-Central’s Braxton Turner and Adam Hutchison were both named HHC honorable mention. Mt. Vernon’s Jared Shelton, Luke Smoot and Dino Tharp joined New Palestine’s Jacob Smith and Kyle Gardner as honorable mentions.
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Jordan named Butler basketball coach
LaVall Jordan, who helped Butler to conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances as both a player and an assistant coach, returns to his alma mater as the 24th head coach in the men’s basketball program history.
Jordan’s coaching career began on the Butler sidelines (2003-07), working as an assistant coach for three seasons (2004-07) and as the coordinator of basketball operations for one season (2003-04).
Jordan helped guide the Bulldogs to a 29-7 record in 2006-07, sharing the Horizon League regular season title in 2007. Butler advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2007 NCAA Tournament before a loss to eventual national champion, Florida.
Before embarking on his coaching career, Jordan was a two-time All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference performer and was the league’s tournament MVP in 2001. He tallied 91 victories in four years, which (at the time) made him the winningest player in Butler history.
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Warriors not sure on White House visit
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors say no decision has been made regarding a potential White House visit to celebrate their NBA title.
The Warriors issued a statement Tuesday saying that “today is all about celebrating our championship” and that they have not received an invitation to the White House. The statement added the organization would make those decisions when and if necessary.”
The team issued the statement following multiple reports that the Warriors had voted unanimously against making a White House trip.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr expressed his disappointment with the election results last November saying after the election that President Donald Trump regularly used “racist, misogynist, insulting words” during his campaign.
