LSJ Blogs: Get Prepped

Starting next month, every high school athlete will have competed under the current configuration of seasons, which switched heading into 2006-07 after years of legal battles.

Back in 2006, those in favor of the season switches -- which swapped volleyball and girls basketball between fall and winter, and the boys and girls golf and tennis seasons with their respective counterparts -- would need only a few years to feel like the way things have always been done. So do they?

Hired Tuesday night, Steve Finamore was a great choice to lead the East Lansing boys basketball program out of the recent tumult and back toward what was expected this time last year -- the verge of a potential run at some of the area's elite teams. 

Finamore brings a couple things to the table that point the Trojans in the right direction:

-- A variety of experiences. From high school to junior college to Division I college to high level AAU, he's been involved at nearly every level possible and has lessons to pass on from all of them. 

-- Big-time backing. Finamore's profile on the Jackson Community College web site included some words of backing from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, under whom Finamore was a student manager for two years. Finamore has been in this basketball community in a number of roles for more than a decade, and is well-known for his ability to teach skills. Respected people respect him. 

-- Hometown advantage. Finamore has lived in East Lansing most of the last 14 years and has a child in the district. He will pursue his teaching certificate and hopes to work in the district full-time down the road. He knows many of these families and feels he has their backing. 

-- Knowledge and enthusiasm. As mentioned above, Finamore has been around basketball on an area and often statewide level for a long time, so he knows what he's up against. But he also feels East Lansing has the talent to make a run to the state finals at Breslin ... which will be more difficult with Steve Haney instead at Eastern this fall. Still, strong players remain and should help the team rebuild, and more are on the way. 

Granted, the previous coach had most of these going for him too, and it didn't work out. But here's hoping the Trojans can move on under Finamore and peace returns.

As one coach mentioned to me a few months ago, he felt this was the best high school coaching job in the state. Finamore has a chance to accomplish some big things once everyone is back on the same page. Starting with a CAAC Blue topped with the loaded Quakers and Okemos, I'm excited to see how it turns out. 

NOTE: To avoid the damaging conversations that resulted the last time I posted about the East Lansing basketball situation, I did turn off the comments for this post. I hate to do something like that. But hopefully for the best of all involved, I did so this time.

Organizers for the Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Scramble at Walnut Hills are seeking teams to fill out the field for the Aug. 9 event.

The Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan will donate all tournament proceeds to the American Cancer Society.

Cost for the four-person scramble is $100 per golfer and includes practice balls, 18 holes with cart and dinner with door prizes and gifts available. Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis and women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant will be among special guests.

Registration that morning will be at 9:30, with tee off at 11. For additional information and a registration form, go to www.bcam.org.

The event is being run by Williamston boys hoops coach Rodney Palmer. A number of the area's prominent high school coaches will be competing.

Practice starts in less than two weeks, and we're already at work setting up both this fall's coverage and our annual preview section.

Check out a few thoughts on what's coming up.

Football practice kicks off Aug. 9 and everything else starts a few days later. As we head into the 2010-11 school year, please chime in on anything you'd like to see show up on this blog during this next school year.

As I head off to my final few days of vacation before diving into the 2010-11 school year, I've been mulling over this fall's preseason State Journal all-area football team.

It's a little different look around the area heading into this season. Lots of proven running backs as usual, but the strength of the area defensively might be that backfield as well -- with an opening for some linebackers to step into the elite.

Here's a quick look at some of the top players at each position off the top of my head (with a little help from last year's all-area lists):

Quarterback: Alex Niznak (Ithaca), Dylan Schultz (Williamston), Jeff O'Brien (Stockbridge), Dario Bongiorni (Grand Ledge), Jacob Kenyon (Portland), Jay Cousineau (Olivet), Andy Parsons (Dansville), Brodie Megill (Bath), Herb Alford (Eastern).

Running back: Onaje Miller (Sexton), Nathaniel Deak (DeWitt), Jared Barton (Fulton), Alex Newman (Portland), Spencer Treadwell (East Lansing), Austin LaVallii (Mason), Ryan Butcher (Corunna), Danny Antcliff (Saranac), Tyler Allen (Eastern).

Receiver/tight end: Efe Scott-Emuakpor (East Lansing), Jordan Johnson (DeWitt), Sam Davis (Potterville), Ben Halfman (Fowler), Dylan Monette (Williamston), Brandon Wahrer (Bath).

Offensive lineman: Nick Cadwell (Grand Ledge), John Rock (Portland), Jalen Schlachter (Corunna), Ramadan Ahmeti (Waverly), Taylor Pemberton (St. Johns), Ethan Gibbons (Fowlerville), Ethan Wirth (Williamston), Ryan Payne (Ashley), Clayton Waldron (Fulton), Dakota Price (Fulton), Arthur Harris (Haslett).

Defensive lineman: Dominic Busen (Stockbridge), Lance Craft (Mason), Adam Coon (Fowlerville), Adam Guernsey (Saranac). 

Linebacker: Mike Smith (Holt), Tyler Tucker (East Lansing), Jake Schaibly (Haslett), Colin Wilson (St. Johns), Cody Lindemulder (Lakewood), Tom Showerman (Fowlerville), Jordan Spitzley (Pewamo-Westphalia), Patrick Eldred (Charlotte), Kyren Kemp (Sexton).

Defensive back: Monette (Williamston), Schultz (Williamston), O'Brien (Stockbridge), Greg Scott (Sexton), Sean Wren (Mason), David Brown (Ithaca), Dan Emmerich (Okemos), Josh Delaney (Haslett), Caleb Higbie (DeWitt), Andrew Robeson (Lansing Catholic), Scott Ruzinsky (Perry), Anthony Goodman (Sexton). 

Kicker/punter: Jacob Derby (Mason), Evan Fischer (Holt), Mack McKearney (Okemos), Casey Czerwinski (Laingsburg), Devon Feldpausch (Fowler), Nick Pendell (Ithaca). 

Who am I missing? Who would you pick?

Scholarship offers are continuing to pile up for Okemos junior point guard Chris Harrison-Docks.

So far this summer, Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Drake have extended invites.

Harrison-Docks also has standing offers from Bradley, Utah, Akron and Western Kentucky.

The 5-foot-11 point guard transferred to Okemos last year as a sophomore and earned a Class A all-state honorable mention averaging 18 points, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He and Eastern sophomore Cha Cha Tucker give mid-Michigan two of the state's elite point guards playing in the same league, the CAAC Blue.

Harrison-Docks is playing with the Michigan Mustangs this summer.

While there's a break in the action, we're finally able to finalize the All-Decade teams 2000-09 that we formed in part from your input on this blog during the second half of last year. 

We'll present one every Sunday in the paper until we're done, starting with boys golf this week and followed by girls tennis and girls soccer over the next few. 

Here's a refresher on those three discussions:

Girls soccer

Girls tennis

Boys golf

Gaylord athletic director Steve Baker is the new Grand Ledge athletic director, according to a report by the Gaylord Herald Times.

Baker is taking over for retired Gary Boyce.

To check out the Herald Times story, click here.

Former Lakewood boys basketball coach Mark Farrell has been re-hired after a one-season break.

Farrell previously resigned a year ago after 11 seasons and with the most victories -- 168 -- in Lakewood history. He takes over for athletic director Wayne Piercefield and assistant Ed O'Mara, who finished last season after Vitor Luiz Imbuzeiro resigned in February with about two weeks left in the regular season.