For the second year in a row, Carmi-White County Girls Basketball is getting a late start thanks to the success of volleyball. Coach Eric Dixon has one practice in and hopefully five more to get in before the Lady Bulldogs square off with Lawrenceville to open the regular season. Dixon and Boys head coach Kevin Wolff previewed their seasons at the Carmi Kiwanis Club Thursday. Dixon has 17 student athletes this year including 5 seniors, 3 juniors, 5 sophomores, and 4 freshmen. The team is talented and has set an internal goal of 25 wins through the 27 scheduled regular season games. Dixon says he expects Edwards County and Hamilton County to be challenges in conference for the Lady Dogs and outside that, he says the two best teams in the state are regional knowns in Mt. Carmel who finished 3rd in state last year and returns all 5 starters as well as Nashville. The Lady Bulldogs, barring injuries, could have two players reach the 1,000 point plateau this year. For Eric Dixon though, success all comes down to a core strategy he shares with his father, the legendary Don Dixon.
You know my philosophy is still the same. Play defense…play hard…represent your school well…and play for your teammates. And if you do that, we’re gonna be successful. We concentrate…we talked the other day…you’ve got to do the little things. You’ve gotta make free throws. You’ve got to box out. You’ve gotta play hard and dive on the floor. And that has nothing to do with your ability. It’s all about where your heart’s at and how bad you want to win.
While Dixon is pretty confident in what he’s got, Coach Wolff admits his team will be inexperienced as Carmi-White County lost 4 starting seniors including the Bulldogs all-time leading scorer Mitchel Edwards. Collectively, Wolff is going to have to replace more than 90% of the team’s production this year. Stepping into the leadership role he expects will be his lone returning starter in Merick Millhorn. Wolff has twenty players, only 3 seniors and 3 juniors and 7 each sophomores and freshmen. Tryouts just finished up Wednesday so Wolff says he honestly doesn’t know what to expect yet, but he knows they’ll play hard.
The schedule for CWCHS will be pretty close to last year with the exception of a game against Benton being swapped out for a game against Sesser-Valier. The CIT will also look a bit different this January. Evansville Day School is out leaving a 4 team tournament. Expansion is on the horizon though.
However next year, nothing’s finalized yet, but we are looking to expand the tournament, a conference tournament so we’ve reached out to some schools that have some interest. Our CIT could get up to six, maybe even eight teams next year. We may get back to a bracket or two pools. Nothing’s finalized yet, but that is in the works and we hope it can happen because it’s a great week for our community.
Also new this year, JV will be utilizing a shot clock. Next year, varsity across the state will adopt it. The Bulldogs tip off the season November 25th at Gallatin County. Bulldogs and Lady Dogs basketball will again be featured on 97.3 WRUL and with live picture through the WRUL Sports YouTube channel.