IL AP Preseason Prep Polls

[courtside]

Class AA

1. Simeon (13) 233

2. St. Joseph 187

3. Marshall 161

4. Peoria Richwoods 148

5. Thornwood (1) 147

6. Lincoln Park 131

7. Loyola 119

8. Washington 103

9. West Aurora 101

10. Decatur Eisenhower 98

11. Crane 58

12. Homewood-Flossmoor 49

13. Warren 40

14. Bloom 33

15. (tie) Thornton 31

15. (tie) Von Steuben 31

Others receiving votes: Champaign Central, Alton, Bloomington, Rockford Boylan, East Moline United Township, Edwardsville, Schaumburg, Thornton Fractional North, Proviso East, Lincoln, Hales Franciscan, East St. Louis, Leo, Rock Falls, Whitney Young, Peoria Manual, Thornton Fractional South, Farragut, Carbondale, Bloomington, Hillcrest, Lockport, Batavia.

Class A

1. Pinckneyville (9) 248

2. Maroa-Forsyth (6) 237

3. Seneca (1) 183

4. Granville Putnam County 181

5. Teutopolis 159

6. Farmington 144

7. Minonk Fieldcrest 97

8. Macomb 81

9. Bloomington Central Catholic 74

10. Mount Sterling Brown County 67

11. North Lawndale 64

12. Forreston 61

13. Riverton 59

14. Orion 51

15. St. Joseph-Ogden 50

16. Nashville 48

Others receiving at least two votes: Tolono Unity, Warsaw/Nauvoo-Colusa, St. Anne, Bismark-Henning, Winchester West Central, CICS-Longwood, Cissna Park/Crescent-Iroquois, Effingham St. Anthony, Hardin Calhoun, Savanna West Carroll, Warrensburg-Latham, Macon Meridian, Eureka, Mount Carmel, Metropolis Massac County.

....in largeschools, Jesuit Loyola Academy features quite the interesting roster including Jeff and Marcus Jordan, sons of Michael, Matt Suhey's son, and Bill Wennington's 6'8 Frosh son.

[Chicago Billiken]

So funny to see my alma mater Loyola ranked 7th. When I was in school about 8 years ago we had a 5-24 and a 9-20 season. I can't believe that we are up there with the likes of Simeon and Marshall.

[Big Al 1]

Could you give me the web site for the Illinois H.S. basketball rankings...I have been looking for them...Thank you.

[Sheltiedave]

Peoria Richwoods(my hs, second in state last year) is playing in the Jacksonville Turkey Tourney. We have kept an eye on their senior pg, Justin Dehm(too late, Furman.) Bill Cole is their other big scorer/rebounder, and a commit to Illinois.

BMetz, why don't you spill the beans on the gargantuan Peoria tournament?

Here it is...

With the first day players can sign their national letters of intent, here’s a look at where the top 15 players slated to play in the Tournament are heading to college.

DeAndre Jordan (Humble (Texas) Christian Life)— Signed Texas A&M

Jerryd Bayless (Phoenix Saint Mary’s)—Signed Arizona

Nick Calathes (Winter Park Lake Howell, Fla.)—Signed Florida

Donte Green (Towson, Md. Catholic)—Verbaled and expected to sign with Syracuse

De’Andre Liggins (Chicago Washington)—only a junior has visited Illinois and Iowa

Jake Kelly (Carmel Ind.) —Signed Iowa

Senario Hillman (Wilkinson County Ga.)—Signed Alabama

Verdell Jones III (Champaign Central)—junior

Chandler Parsons (Winter Park Lake Howell, Fla.)—Signed Florida

D’Walyn Roberts Duncanville (Tex.)—Verbaled Texas Tech

Jai Lucas (Bellaire (Tex.)—deciding between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State

Beas Hamga (Decatur Christian)—Verbaled Iowa

Jarryd Cole (Kansas City, Mo. Winnetonka)—Signed Iowa

Anthony Thompson (Houston Klein Forest)—Signed Bradley

Michael Sanchez (Springdale Har-Ber, Ark.)—undecided, Arkansas tops the list

Tourney isn’t looking like a turkey

Thanksgiving-time hoops field at Robertson, Carver includes national-profile teams, players

BY BILL LIESSE OF THE JOURNAL STAR

Aug, 30, 2006

PEORIA - First announced during last basketball season, a Thanksgiving shootout appeared to be providing Peoria a poor-man’s version of St. Louis’ longstanding high school highlight, the KMOX Shootout.

Promoter Shawn Powell doesn’t go for that definition. He calls Peoria’s better.

“When we decided to put this event on, our idea was to have the top event in the country,†Powell said Tuesday at a small news conference at Robertson Field House. “That’s what you’re going to see.â€

Powell should know if Peoria’s event, now dubbed the Trusted Choice Tournament of Champions with Tuesday’s unveiling of a title sponsor, compares favorably to the KMOX. He is a former co-manager of that early-December day of basketball at Savvis Center.

Powell and the Peoria Area Sports Commission’s Jeff Creek invited the media to boast of the title sponsor, the Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois, and these basketball highlights:

Two days of basketball at Robertson (Nov. 24-25) and one at Carver Arena (Nov. 25), featuring Notre Dame, Manual, Washington and Stark County among the 24 teams;

Four of the nation’s top 10 seniors are scheduled to participate;

Roughly 12 of the top 100 seniors are in the field;

About a half-dozen teams figure to be nationally ranked;

Four of the top 10 juniors in Illinois, and four of the top 30 to 50 sophomores in the nation, are expected to play.

Powell was heard telling a luncheon gathering his event will have more NBA prospects than the NCAA tournament, and he and Creek said 80 Division I-level players will be here overall.

“We never had this many (top prospects) at the KMOX,†Powell said.

Play will run from 10 a.m. until about 10 p.m. Friday at Robertson, then 9 a.m. to about 9 p.m. at both sites Saturday. The weekend is four events in one, with the best four teams playing a bracketed tournament, two sets of four playing round-robin tournaments and the remaining dozen playing one game each in a shootout format.

Cost is $12 per session or $20 for an all-day pass (good for both arenas Saturday).

One plan to help boost attendance and cheering for the out-of-state teams is one Powell plans to copy from an event in Alaska. It’s called “Adopt a School†and involves area grade schools picking a visiting team for which to cheer. The plan is for the students of each school to correspond ahead of time, perhaps meet and eat together over the tournament weekend, and for the grade-school students to attend games free or at greatly reduced rates.

Schools interested can contact Creek at the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (309-676-0303).

Manual will work around its commitment to the Lincoln tournament, which means the Rams will have a six-game Thanksgiving week to start new coach Derek Booth’s tenure.

With the help of former Central coach Phil Salzer, Creek secured renowned area veterans Larry Leitner and Ed Murphy to coordinate officials for the tournament, which Creek and Powell intend to make an annual event.

Creek said any concern about losing Robertson as a venue will be addressed when Bradley announces specific demolition plans for the Main Street landmark.