Two big nights ... four big games

Six teams — four in western Kentucky and two in southern Illinois — begin this week with legitimate state tournament hopes. The First Region semifinals are Monday night at Murray State University's Regional Special Events Center, with the region's "Big Four" (Paducah Tilghman, Marshall County, Calloway County and Graves County) playing for a spot in Tuesday night's championship game.

About two hours to the north, Massac County will put its 31-1 record and top-10 state ranking on the line against Breese Central in the Illinois Class 2A supersectional at Southern Illinois University.

Let's take a look at the three matchups we know about — the First Region semifinals and Massac vs. Breese:

Paducah Tilghman vs. Marshall County: The first question ... will Marshall County coach Gus Gillespie employ the same smaller starting lineup he used against guard-oriented Carlisle County against the Tornado?

Jamie Dowdy, the Marshals' 6-foot-5, 220-pound center, was on the bench in favor of shooting guard Tanner Wilson when Marshall took the floor against Carlisle. Gillespie maintained it wasn't for disciplinary reasons, as Dowdy was sporting a black eye that reportedly stemmed from an off-the-court incident over the previous weekend.

The move worked well, and it would be tough to expect the Marshals to guard Tilghman's quicker, smaller club with both Dowdy and forward Denver Seay on the floor. Indeed, Carlisle star Caleb Hardy was able to get both of Marshall's big guys in some foul trouble.

Expect forward Matt Fletcher to get the assignment of guarding Tilghman point guard Josh Forrest, perhaps with some occasional help from swingman Josh Madding. And the Marshals will do their best to get Tilghman in a halfcourt game, where it can try to assert its size and bulk advantage on the block.

Tilghman's biggest question is what defense to employ to give itself the best chance to contain guard Scott McKenty, the best combination scorer and creator in the region? Tornado coach Brad Stieg isn't saying, but it's a good bet he will show a little bit of everything — a little 3-2 zone, which Stieg often likes to use against three-guard alignments, some man-to-man and maybe even some junk against McKenty.

Calloway County vs. Graves County: Why have the Lakers won 11 in a row? One of the biggest reasons has been the play of point guard Chris Dobbins, who has been more aggressive with dribble penetration and is currently shooting the ball well from the 3-point line.

Forward George Garner's ability to penetrate and score over bigger defenders figures to cause problems for the Eagles, and the Lakers will need some perimeter scoring from sophomores Brock Simmons and Sean Thompson.

Graves needs some quality guard play — point guard Jesse Anderson has shown flashes of brilliance from the perimeter and Tevin Hill's play is usually the best barometer of what the Eagles bring to the table on a given night.

And the coaches' battle is always interesting. Calloway's Bruce Lane and Graves' Terry Birdsong are longtime colleagues and close friends. Lane was Birdsong's assistant for nine seasons, eight at Calloway and one at Caldwell County, and succeeded his former boss when Birdsong left for Graves two years ago. Expect a close-to-the-vest defensive battle.

Massac County vs. Breese Central: It's a classic battle of size vs. quickness. If Breese Central's roster is to be believed, the Cougars have five starters standing between 6-3 and 6-6, and knowledgable sources in the St. Louis area report that Breese has the low-post game that could cause the Patriots some problems.

On the other hand, it doesn't appear that Breese Central has played a team with Massac's speed and athleticism, and Massac might be best served by getting its opponent in the transition game as much possible. With the Cougars' size, a zone defense could really cause Massac some problems with establishing dribble penetration.

The winner advances to the Class 2A semifinals on Friday night at Peoria's Carver Arena against either undefeated Marshall's guard-oriented club or a Stanford Olympia squad that sort of resembles Breese Central.

Call it the downstate championship. The other semifinal will pit a Chicago-area Catholic-school power — either Hales Franciscan or Seton Academy — against Princeton or Winnebago.