courtside

at IU just over 5000 watched them lose to Vandy..... and so it goes......

I would agree with the beginning comments of Roy on his first post. People...it is the NIT...for goodness sakes. Are you really going to judge a team or school on that...lol....you can't be serious? The NIT is interesting only for those schools who make it...that weren't disappointed not making NCAA. If you get a good game in there...that is a bonus.

Junior Jon Scheyer had 48 points in his team's win to send them to state's quarterfinals for Dave Weber's Glenbrook North team. Carbondale gets Crane, Thornton vs Downers Grove South, Glenbrook North vs Brother Rice, Rockford Jefferson vs Lincoln.

ND loses to Holy Cross...Mizzou, Marquette, all in front of sparse crowds....let's spell it out....NNNNNNNIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT. It is the NIT....wow...you guys take the NIT pretty darn seriously. Who cares? It's like when my High School English teacher told me that his team "mailed" in their second tier bowl game....(he played football at a big time school)....and gasp all in front of sparse crowds.... Teams get a win or two in the NIT, then maybe there is some momentum built for that tournament. A lot of sour grapes...

Stallings was outspoken about SLU's lack of facilities. Personally I think it was good someone said so at the time. He played at Purdue, assisted there, then assisted under Roy Williams at KU before taking ISU job. Vandy was in the sweet 16 last year. Due to academics vs the rest of their league, it is tough to win consistently at Vandy in hoops like football. They have some very strong smaller sports teams. I think Vandy can compete consistently in hoops....if Stanford and Duke can do it for example...challenging sure, but a lot less so than say, football.

I know most on here know that Lisch plays A and not AA...why he isn't in this list....notes...Bruce Weber's brother Dave's Glenbrook North team has Scheyer as expected, and apparently Coach K was at sectionals..(Chris Collins attended Glenbrook North High as well.....and I have seen McNeal play..he is 6'2 not 5'8..... March 14, 2005, 12:52 PM CST Three seniors headed to big-time college programs and another senior and a junior expected to follow suit lead the Illinois Class AA boys basketball all-state team announced Monday. The first team features seniors such as Homewood-Flossmoor's Julian Wright, Brother Rice's Bobby Frasor and Country Club Hillcrest's Jerel McNeal. Wright has signed with Kansas, Frasor with North Carolina and McNeal with Marquette. Also making the first team were Westinghouse senior DeAndre Thomas and junior Jon Scheyer of Glenbrook North. There were no unanimous selections on The Associated Press team, selected by a statewide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters and compiled by Marty Maciaszek of the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald. The 6-foot-9 Wright is a McDonald's All-American rated among the top 10 seniors in the country. The versatile Wright averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots and hopes to lead Homewood-Flossmoor back to the Elite Eight after the team finished second last year. The 6-3 Frasor is also a McDonald's All-American who persevered through back and ankle injuries to average 20 points, five rebounds and five assists as Brother Rice reached the supersectional. McNeal is an electric 5-foot-8 guard who averaged 20 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists as Hillcrest was eliminated by Homewood-Flossmoor in the sectional final. Thomas, a 6-8 center from Chicago Public League champion Westinghouse, is regarded by many as the state's most dominant post player. He averaged 22 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Illinois and Kansas are among the schools recruiting Thomas. Scheyer, a 6-6 junior, will be one of the most coveted players in the country next year as he averages 26 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. He led Glenbrook North to the supersectional after helping the school finish third in the state as a freshman. Scheyer's coach Dave Weber is the younger brother of Illinois coach Bruce Weber, and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was in attendance for Scheyer's sectional semifinal game. The second team is led by two Big Ten guard recruits in Tony Freeman Jr. of Westchester St. Joseph and Jamar Smith of Peoria Richwoods. Freeman (16 ppg) has signed with Iowa, and Smith (21.5 ppg), who has signed with Illinois, overcame early-season injuries. Second-team guard Brandon Ewing of Chicago Julian has signed with Wyoming, and guard Sherron Collins of Chicago Crane is considered the second-best junior behind Scheyer. Chicago Simeon guard Derrick Rose is regarded as one of the country's top sophomores. Carbondale senior Josh Tabb, a Class A all-stater at Ullin Century last year, leads the third team. The 6-4 Tabb has signed with Southern Illinois. Maywood Proviso East guard Phillip Perry has signed with Wisconsin, and Hillcrest's Maurice Acker has signed with Ball State. Harvey Thornton 6-foot-6 junior Joevan Catron is already being recruited by Illinois. Lake Zurich senior Mike Kolze finished his four-year varsity career as the school's career scoring leader.

...first things that come to mind...for whatever reason, the conference tournament seems to increase its importance in comparison to the long regular season each year. UAB will be exciting and fun to watch, and nice to see them in...but they have ZERO wins against teams that made the NCAA tourney this year. For the most part...not too many complaints here on who was didn't get in. Where teams play and matchups are always a different debate. Seems many lesser seeds will be a bit closer to home. Washington has a tough slow down grind half-court game potentially in second round with Pittsburgh. Let's dance

Considering the upsets so far, they are in good shape. They will be favored to win their Supersectional to go to the state final 8. It helps them that Thornton and Homewood-Floosmoor meet in a Supersectional next, eliminating one. They only have 2 losses all season, and Jon Scheyer puts up about 27 per game plus other stats. As I said in the above post...there are about 4-5 teams as favorites. They will need to elevate their game to beat one of the above. No doubt about that. One thing I have noticed by the results...the very quick outstanding up and down guard teams have lost to the big teams....those big teams are athletic, long and talented. They struggle with the quickness of those small teams....think Dwyane Polk speed but bigger more talented guard teams.... If I had to guess, purely guess....I would take Thornton, Homewood Floosmoor, Carbondale, then Glenbrook North as the 4th best...with a couple of other "hot" teams like a Brother Rice with UNC bound Bobby Frasior, or someone else still capable....but sure they have a very good chance...not a favorite, but not an underdog either....Equal shot with a group of other very good teams.

is located in inner city of Chicago.

While Hales has been the HEAVY favorite for class A....AA is up for grabs....AT LEAST 6 teams eliminated so far were among the title favorites...including the one that beat Vashon in the pre-season this year. Carbondale, Thornton, Homewood-Floosmoor, Glenbrook North, would be the favorites of the remaining teams....but that doesn't mean a whole lot....I would however be mildly surprised if someone other than the above won it this year.

*

Selection committee likes to see wins vs RPI top 50, and road wins against the higher rated teams.

You would like this article... March 11, 2005 It's no wonder Hales Franciscan is playing basketball like a team possessed. Controversy has put a full-court press on this South Side Class A program ever since coach Gary London's comments after the Spartans won the state title in 2003 resulted in their expulsion from the 2004 state tournament. "I felt really bad after that, especially for last year's seniors," said London, whose mention of illegal recruiting brought about the Illinois High School Association sanction. "We all learn from our mistakes." That's exactly how Hales standout Nate Minnoy felt after being suspended for three games when he went into the stands to confront an adult heckler during a game at the Rich South Big Dipper holiday tournament this season. "It's not fair that an adult can try to embarrass me and nothing happens to him," Minnoy said. "But yeah, I did learn my lesson." Now all that remains for this team that patterns itself after No. 1-ranked Illinois is reclaiming the state title this weekend in Peoria. The Spartans begin with a 1:45 p.m. quarterfinal game Friday against Nashville (28-5). "We haven't become complacent because we know that something you believe belongs to you can be taken away at any moment," said the 6-foot-4-inch, 265-pound Minnoy, who is averaging 18 points and eight rebounds. "We don't want that to ever happen again. "Of course I was angry last year. I didn't think the state had the right to take away our chance to defend the title. So now, this is the time to redeem ourselves." Hales (27-4) is the No. 1 team in Class A and has defeated Class AA powers Brother Rice, Loyola, Bloom, Farragut and Fenwick. The Spartans' losses came to Class AA Thornton (27-2), Farragut and twice to Public League champion Westinghouse (28-3), by scores of 73-69 and 71-69. The Spartans are loaded inside with the Purdue-bound Minnoy, 6-8 Jeffery Wilson--who is being recruited by Georgia, Loyola and Dayton--6-7 Austin Chapital and 6-6 Evin McCrimmon. Wilson is averaging 12 points and 8.3 rebounds. "Big team, little me," Minnoy said of the Spartans' unselfishness. When defenses pack in the zone and double-team the powerful Minnoy, guards Mike Robinson (15 points, four steals), Jerome Randle (12 points, five assists) and Darius Melchor have a field day from the perimeter. The trio has combined to hit 145 three-pointers at a 42 percent clip. "I think Robinson and Randle are as good as Minnoy," Nashville coach Darin Lee said. "Randle is so fast, he reminds me a lot of Dee Brown from Illinois." Indeed, the Spartans pride themselves on making the extra pass, just like the Illini. "You've got to make sure the big guys get the ball as a reward for all their hard work inside," said Robinson, who made back-to-back threes in Tuesday's 82-61 supersectional victory over Lisle. Wide open for a potential third straight three, Robinson instead dumped it to Minnoy for a post-up basket. Nashville, led by 6-6, 235-pound sophomore Lucas O'Rear (17.7 points, eight rebounds), has just enough size to match up with Hales. There's also Lucas' brother, 6-4 Calvin O'Rear, and 6-5 Andrew Wilson (15.5 points). Should Hales advance to Saturday's semifinals, Seneca (30-1), with guard Garrett Callahan and 6-6 Robert Rexroade, could be waiting. The bottom bracket features 2004 Class A runner-up Winnebago (27-3), led by 6-5 junior Devan Bawinkel (20.5 points, 8.7 rebounds), who is being recruited by Wisconsin, Northern Illinois and Marquette. Also keep an eye on Breese (30-2), led by 6-6 center Ken Detmer, and Liberty (29-2), with 6-8 junior Justin Brock (17 points, 12.2 rebounds) and guard Joe Starnes (13.5 points).

A LOT of upsets in Illinois Hoops Fri night, though most were mild.....Edwardsville lost...#1 St. Joe's lost, Homewood-Floosmoor, who routed Webster at Shootout, pulled off the upset of Hillcrest, Quitman Dillard's Westinghouse lost, no Peoria schools left...Jon Scheyer's team one by a point....brackets looking pretty good now for Carbondale... Class A state finals Seneca 45, Flora 39 Hales Franciscan 65, Nashville 57 Liberty 49, Eureka 47 Winnebago 71, Breese Central 66 Class AA sectional finals At Carbondale (1) Carbondale 80, (2) Murphysboro 70 At Springfield (2) Alton 50, (1) Edwardsville 48 At St. Ignatius (2) Crane 52, (1) Westinghouse 39 At Niles West (5) New Trier 59, (3) Loyola 42 At Thornridge (1) Thornton 62, (2) Julian 58 At Joliet (2) Homewood-Flossmoor 70, (1) Hillcrest 56 At East Aurora (10) Naperville Central 84, (11) Batavia 73 At Willowbrook (1) Downers Grove South 45, (11) Benet 31 At Conant (1) Glenbrook North 37, (3) Conant 36 At Lake Zurich (4) Waukegan 82, (3) Lake Zurich 68 At Morton (2) Proviso East 76, (1) St. Joseph 68 At St. Xavier University (2) Brother Rice 77, (1) Simeon 76 (2OT) At Barrington (8) Larkin 70, (2) Prairie Ridge 58 (OT) At Rock Valley College (2) Rockford Jefferson 71, (1) Rockford Boylan 65 At Millikin University (3) Lincoln 34, (4) Normal 28 At Bradley University (3) Washington, Ill. 63, (1) Peoria Richwoods 45

Taj....I find the subject interesting to watch....and have probably heard 50/50 on both sides. Is it better to make the Final Four and miss the NCAA a few times etc...or to make it every year and lose early.... I disagree with your assessment for the following reasons....first of all, besides making the final four, Crean, and Crean alone created the current atmosphere for their program...I have been in their building, attendance has gone up a lot under Crean, it is a party like atmosphere for games, approaching 4000 student season tickets for games who line up at 6am for seats...he works the students, alums etc...tirelessly. I disagree that it was all Wade. Sure obviously Wade is a rare rare special player, ...but they needed Diener to effectively run the point...and score I believe 29 points in their first NCAA game that year ...I'd have to look that up but it is close...Novak to bury three after three, Jackson inside dominating Kentucky...What I mean is...it wasn't all Diener, or all Novak...Sure Wade is the dominant player...but those others are good recruits at multiple positions to make it happen. Now, Crean's negatives...are his misses in classes, high turnover for players...I think he offers too many kids. Crean has had problems getting good "bigs" besides Jackson...Merritt was okay but compared to his rankings in high school, a mild bust.... Crean definitely falls into that slickster sales guy mode. His strength is his recruiting...Michigan St national title...Wade etc...and he has missed completely on a couple of classes. They say his class for next season is his best yet...we shall see....Mason remember was a top 40 player out of Aurora West, Shaun Pruitt's school...and has been okay but not as good as many thought so far.... Final review...imo...Marquette doesn't build a state of the art practice facility under Mike Deane or any other coach....the general student enrollment applications don't sky rocket like they did, where the school has had to be even more selective with students...same thing happened at Gonzaga, ...and they don't get into the Big East and all that $$.....While Crean isn't going to win any nice guy of the year awards like a Soderberg, I would think Marquette is pleased with the overall results...but will watch the next couple of seasons closely...he isn't going anywhere...but now makes $1 million bucks. This is no knock on Larry Hughes...Wade played two years at Marquette, Hughes played one at SLU. Hughes put up decent, solid NBA numbers up until this year, a contract year, where he has played dramatically better. Maybe Hughes would have been different with one more year of college ball, or a better supporting cast, or team in college or NBA...It has taken Hughes a lot longer to develop in the NBA...and who knows where SLU would have gone in his second year. All interesting stuff....but I never did understand the thought...well if you take Wade away from Marquette, or if you take away the final four....comapre this and that....those are BIG gigantic things to take away....I always think...Norm Stewart and many others, Gene Keady etc..never made ONE fianl four....I'd take that for SLU and a few misses, any day.

According to DeSmet coach Bob Steiner, Leonard(who has been out of school since the fall) was looking at possible prep schools for next year,...but we shall see what happens....

...not sure if the comment was directed at me or not about being friends with Bernie, but I'll answer that one...it isn't through sports. There is more to life than sports.

Could someone post the link for where to sign up? I have been traveling a great deal lately and haven't taken the time to sign up. If it isn't too late I would like to sign up. The offseason board is down. Could somone point me where to go....and I can do it late tonight or this weekend at latest....thanks....

Miklasz has been consistent for some time with his praise for Hughes. Frankly, I think a disclaimer at least some of the time should be added to his comments that it is a contract year for Hughes. Miklasz always rips guys like JD Drew for putting up big numbers in contract years, and underachieving in other years. I would take the consistent praise without the added comments every time and run. He should know better that MANY McDonald's kids do not pan out, and often times getting a chance in the game is political. Obviously the point was to mention the high level of reruit for Romar. The Valley will never have the natinonal $$ or name recognition or media coverage of the other big cities. ...which is too bad, but that is fact. Sure stasticallly it is a good conference with good solid, fun, ball,....I root for the teams to do well, attend Arch Madness etc...and yes there are some conference snobs out there,...I agree with that comment...but there is a lot more to it than that. Hard to argue with the last comment.

I believe he is the only player leading his conference in scoring and assists...and doing it with a foot stress fracture...not too shabby. Interesting discussion....it is well known in the hoops circles that Marquette's practices are extremely physical and challenging. Rick Majerus said last week that he had never seen more physical practices in his coaching days...adding that he especially had never seen nor himself had as physical of a practice the day before a game. The report said he was injured in a non-contact drill...which I will take as the case....but apparently their practices are blood baths.

All I can do is is speak from my own personal experience. As I said B is a friend of mine, but I disagree and agree with him when warranted and consider myself pretty objective.(one on the negative side...he is friends with Floyd, and first and foremost sees the positives he brings to the city, and AA commmunity, etc...overlooking plenty) If you make a point in a positive way, you can talk with him about most any topic. I think it is fair to say that he gets frustrated with SLU fans who are always "defending" the program in a "Defensive" way. If you come to him in defensive way about SLU, you probably won't get the response you want. He is big picture guy, and fair to say sensitive enough guy, where he doesn't have the patience for defenseive people or bashers, etc... And as I said, he isn't always right or wrong about anything. I have known him a long time now, and he gets it wrong or has bad days etc...too. He is however a friend of mine, and if you knew me at all...well...he would have to be a good guy to be one of mine. At least he got back to you, not surprised by that. That's a start for ya. He gets hundreds and hundreds of them a day, every day.

good article....one thing it did not point out however...was that...in the modern era.... kids like to go away to school and see another part of the country, meet new people, and get new experiences, and there is nothing wrong with it......Being a DeSmet guy...the article referenced a lot of DeSmet kids who got away for example...and that is a big reason. Q stayed, but Matty is that type of kid, following in Billy's footsteps...etc...who would stay home. Needs a big time sell to get that sometimes....some kids like to stay and others don't. So you must recruit elsewhere too and mix in the local kids.

He throws a lot of stuff in his bits articles....that obviously do not have room for depth. Bernie is a bright guy, and fair. He is stubborn too. He does get good info most of the time before writing anything. The comment was mostly to spark conversation about SLU hoops which can't hurt anybody. He is of the opinion that SLU can and should be a national hoops player. To be honest his focus is pro sports, with Mizzou being the exception. He doesn't follow local high sports other than big stories, same with college. He doesn't have time to do it. The comment my guess was to highlight Gordon's success and nothing more. Bernie is an unabashed friend of Floyd Irons. ....I personally think any SLU hoops pub is good...and am not defensive about it. Let's face it, SLU hoops program could use any noise it can get. Like I said before...just e-mail him and talk to him...he should respond to you. He gets a gazillion e-mails, so it may take a try or two...give him a chance....I would first find out for fact about the insufficient credit hours to back your argument...and have all the facts you can...and he will admit if he is wrong. ....so, if you are asking me if he is smart enough....the answer is yes....but why don't you go to him, I don't speak for him.......takes 2 minutes of your time. He welcomes any intelligent discussion.

Bernie follows and knows PRO sports only. I know B, and he is a friend...but I only take his comments on pro sports seriously....i.e....Cards for example...he is IN the locker room, spends the time...etc... I would suggest sending him an e-mail at [email protected], and have a good title to your e-mail to catch his eye...and he will read it...like "Lorenzo Gordon's grades"....for example. He isn't perfect and is wrong plenty of times, so call him out on it. I do encourage the e-mail(s) and let him know.

Dean played the other night(thurs)...not sure about weekend