By Joe Henricksen

Talk about individual talent. Good 'ol Mac Irvin's Fire sure have it. But before breaking down the star-studded roster of the Fire, I have found that not all basketball in March is fun to watch. Maybe part of it is the calendar still says March. That is the time, after all, when we are accustomed to watching the best basketball of the year, whether it be state tournament action in Illinois or the NCAA Tournament. But all-star games are being played and the AAU season has started. I guess it's still called basketball, nonetheless.

The McDonald's All-American game was horrendous, nearly impossible to watch, with selflish play, turnovers, ridiculous shot selection and, to top it off, a weak group of seniors nationally. I have quit going to post-season high school all-star games in Illinois. And after catching my first AAU action of the season this weekend, I realized just how much I already miss the high school season.

In defense of the AAU teams I saw play this past weekend, they have had little -- if any -- time playing together. But from a pure basketball perspective, the play was absolutely brutal, sloppy and, aside from some talented individual play, difficult to watch at times. Again, this is coming on the heels of watching NCAA Tournament basketball and the IHSA state tournament, where you see offensive execution, team defense and unselfishness as teams advance. Even better, you get used to seeing players and teams raise the level of their play. That's basketball in March.

There are a few AAU programs out there that will show some continuity and structure a month or two from now after getting a few weeks of practice under their belt. That couldn't come soon enough.

Big-time talent on display
The Chicago Hoops Spring Tip-Off Classic boasted an abundance of individual talent over the weekend. Here are a few observations taken from some of that talent on display. This blog entry focuses on one AAU program in particular -- the Illinois Fire. For more analysis on this past weekend's opening of the AAU season, check back to the City/Suburban Hoops Report blog in the near future.

Mac Irvin's Fire loaded
The talent on both the Mac Irvin 16 and Mac Irvin 17 teams is ridiculous. The big names are Rich South's Crandall Head and DeLaSalle's Mike Shaw, the top-ranked Hoops Report players in the Class of 2010 and 2011, respectively. But the depth the Fire has is second to none as far as pure individual talent. We'll see how -- if? -- those talent-laden Fire teams put it together and function as a unit.

I still think Terry Johnson of St. Rita, the 6-0 junior guard, is the perfect mid-major combo-guard. I've stated this before, but his build and style of play reminds me of former Oklahoma star guard Hollis Price, who led the Sooners to the Final Four several years ago. He's a versatile scorer who is still learning the nuances of running a team.... Farragut's 6-5 junior Troynell Adams, who showed his freakish athletic ability while playing a minor role this past season, showed a little of a face-up game, even looking comfortable knocking down the 15-foot jumper. Although still clearly an undersized 4-man at this point, Adams could elevate his status if his perimeter skills improve.... Jonathan Mills may not have an outside shot and has very limited ball skills, but the North Lawndale star is an absolute force on the glass. His Dennis Rodman-like act around the basket is awfully impressive. He's so active, gets his hands on everything up and around the backboard and continues to show his tenacious nature. He's another undersized 4-man, yet is the type of player you win games with -- both at the high school level and college level. He's undersized, yes. But productive and gets things done.... Seton Academy's Tony Nixon, a long, great-bodied 6-4 junior, remains one of the overlooked and underrated players in the Class of 2009.... Sophomore Reggie Smith of Thornton is a talent, but he's a 5-10/5-11 2-guard with limited perimeter skills and shooting ability. His overall game and individual weaknesses have not matured since he burst upon the scene a year ago. Yet he's still an offensive weapon in the halfcourt.... The younger Fire team also features some of the finest individual talent in the state. A player just scratching the surface is Whitney Young freshman Sam Thompson. The long, skinny 6-5 talent showed some tantalizing potential and athleticism, throwing down a jaw-dropping alley-oop dunk in the middle of the lane. Add Thompson to the growing list of potential stars in the Class of 2011. This Fire team features Thompson, Curie's 6-4 Wayne Blackshear, Thornton's Jay Parker, DeLaSalle's 6-3 Dre Henley and Simeon's 6-5 DeShawn Greer. Add Shaw, who played up an age level, and the Fire have six of the Hoops Report's top nine freshmen prospects in its program.

Big-time sleeper
If all of the above talent wasn't enough for Mac Irvin's Fire, there is also Zeke Upshaw. He's a relative unknown due to playing at Chicago Lab, where he put up big numbers and is an outstanding student. Upshaw is a highly-skilled 6-4 junior wing who knows how to score and in a variety of ways. He still lacks strength and toughness, which he should gain a little of playing and practicing with the Fire, but he's a legit prospect who could truly blossom this offseason if he's not overshadowed by the bigger-named stars.

Check back as the Hoops Report will have more analysis from this past weekend's basketball in the near future.

Posted by Joe Henricksen at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

By Joe Henricksen

While recruiting for the Class of 2008, for the most part, wrapped up last November during the early signing period, a lot was learned about those players over the past four months. The ink dries on the letters-of-intent, college coaches move on to younger players and fans watch and analyze those recruits during their senior year.

While there are still a few talented uncommitted seniors left in Illinois, highlighted by Champaign Central's Verdell Jones and Marshall's Ryan Hare, there were plenty of shifts in the player rankings in the senior class. Farragut's Mike Dunigan remains the top college prospect in the senior class, but the Hoops Report has moved both Decatur Eisenhower's Lewis Jackson and Simeon's Stan Simpson ahead of the more heralded Iman Shumpert of Oak Park, who now checks in at No. 4. H-F's Kevin Dillard and Glenbard West's John Shurna both skyrocketed up to No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

The City/Suburban Hoops Report takes a look back at the November signing period and how a few of those signings look now.

The Oregon trifecta
Farragut's Mike Dunigan still remains the best signing, which is great news for Oregon. His body, strength and size is simply too hard to find, which makes him such a valuable commodity in the recruiting world. The McDonald's All-American still has not found that constant and consistent motor yet, but when he does he can be an absolute monster on the block. However, there are still too many times for a player with his size and body that he doesn't command the ball, establish position and keep it or utilize his individual strengths to the fullest. As is often the case with big men, it all may come together in time.

Both Matt Humphrey and Josh Crittle of Hales Franciscan, both of which also signed with Oregon, have continued to slide in the Hoops Report rankings. They both have their limitations athletically, which is never a good thing heading to the ultra-athletic Pac-10. I just don't see either player making huge impacts at the high-major level.

Rapid rise of Stan Simpson
While there was absolutely no reason to wait, it would have been very interesting to see how the recruiting of Simeon's Stan Simpson would have gone if he had not signed in November. With quality big men so difficult to find and in such demand, Simpson's stock would have absolutely soared after college coaches got a peak of how much he progressed from November to March. He would have been a national recruit. His rapid improvement, both from two years ago to now and even in the last four months, is remarkable. He still has a ways to go, but I absolutely love players that get better and better by the week. He is not going to come in and set the world on fire as a freshman -- he can still be a bit mechanical and needs to gain strength and weight -- but he has a chance to be pretty special in two or three years. Illinois has to be feeling pretty good nabbing Simpson when it did.

Other signing thoughts....
Kevin Dillard of Homewood-Flossmoor simply had a magnificent season. He grew up as a player, point guard and leader while raising the level of his overall play. He can flat-out score, both off the dribble and with his much-improved outside shot. Southern Illinois has itself one heck of a basketball player and a potential all-Missouri Valley player down the road.

There is no question Illinois State has it going, both within the program and on the recruiting trail. Tim Jankovich and his stellar staff have both Simeon's Kenyon Smith and Decatur Eisenhower's Jeremy Robinson coming in next fall. Robinson, though, is the type of prospect that is difficult to land at the mid-major level. He will not be an instant impact player, but his length, size and raw ability will surface soon enough.

Northwestern landed a couple of big names in Glenbard West's John Shurna and Batavia's Nick Fruendt, both Hoops Report first-team all-state selections. I think Shurna will come in and play right away and play a bigger role facing the basket -- initially -- than people think. Whether he's playing inside, outside, against more athletic players or facing bigger and stronger players, Shurna has simply found a way to get it done throughout his career. There will definitely be an adjustment period for Fruendt as he tries to improve his ballhandling, perimeter game and compete against the high-level athlete. But his basketball I.Q. and competitiveness will certainly shorten his learning curve. While Shurna and Fruendt, as well as last year's recruits Mike Capocci of Glenbard East and Juice Thompson of Lincoln Park, are quality signings, these players alone will not be enough to move Northwestern into the top half of the Big Ten at any time.

Last November, during the early signing period, I felt Lewis Jackson of Decatur Eisenhower would be a solid role player in the Big Ten. He's better than that. He's going to have to shoot it better and more consistently, but Lew Jack can be an impact player for Purdue before he's done in West Lafayette. He's tough, strong, a dynamic athlete and competes. If you look at what coach Matt Painter currently has in his program, you can see how Jackson is going to fit in awfully nice as you surround him with scorers and shooters on the perimeter.

Yes, Crane's Dion Dixon is a big-time scorer. In the end, I'm calling for either a big hit or a big miss for the Crane star. Will the focus and right frame of mind evolve at Cincinnati?.... Washington's Matt Roth is one of my favorite players, but he will definitely need to be in the right system. That is why the hiring of a new coach at Indiana may impact Roth more than any other high school player in the country.... If Carl Richard of Richards can shoot the basketball the way he did in the state championship game (5-of-7 from the three-point line) he could end up being a bigger recruiting steal for Indiana State than anyone imagined.

Posted by Joe Henricksen at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

By Joe Henricksen

I believe four classes is here to stay in Illinois. It's not going to change, so I will eventually have to move on and forget about all that was lost in Illinois high school basketball. However, I have been bombarded with e-mails, voicemails and conversations since I returned from Peoria. Nearly all of which have been negative.

The common theme has been, "Joe, I'm done with this. They've ruined it." Avid fans have told me they are not going to return to Peoria after years of attending the Elite Eight. Others want to know how this all happened, how could something so special and unique be tarnished so badly? Coaches have just shaken their heads and wondered, "What have we done?"

And then there are those that say it was for the best. This is good for the small schools. Now they can compete.

There are two things that continue to eat at me and, as is usually the case, have just been accepted since this all went down. First, the way it did go down.

The high school administrators in this state should be ashamed. When the IHSA survey went out to principals a few years back only 57 percent of the principals of member schools voted in the class survey. This was a survey with a whole bunch of other survey questions in it, with the four-class question casually thrown in. Of those 57 percent, 64 percent voted for class expansion. This means that only 36 percent -- 36 percent! -- of the membership voted for class expansion. We make a monumental and important decision for this state's premier sport on that type of response?

So the question is, why did we have to rush this and push this forward? After all, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors voiced their organization's emphatic "no" to the proposal with a unanimous vote against class expansion. Was the system that broke we had to fix it despite such limited input? After such a paltry figure in terms of the survey result, other steps should have been made. In reality, this was just like many other votes that are taken, where due to lack of voter turnout the minority of the population make decisions. The ones most upset make the most noise, are most visible and are the most active. But we are supposed to be dealing with highly-educated administrators who are paid very good money and have a responsibility to extracurricular activities and their relationship to academic success.

I remember speaking with the highly-respected coach Ken Crawford of Teutopolis about the issue. Crawford, who stepped down prior to last season and saddened by class expansion, said he believed a binding referendum separate from the large survey should have been held to determine expansion of classes. He noted the binding referendum on the multiplier issue had a much larger participation by principals. I couldn't agree more.

The second aspect of this that bothers me is that small schools can't compete. Sure, it's more difficult. But that's part of the mystique, part of the aura when a small school makes its run. And it's been far from a rare occurence when they have competed. In fact, small schools have more than held their own.

In 2005 Liberty (enrollment of 185 students) finished fourth in state. In 2003 half of the Elite Eight field had enrollments under 300, including Mt. Carroll (149 students), Cairo (216 students) and Cissna Park (130 students). What about state champion Nauvoo-Calusa (136 students) in 1998? Or what about state champion Warsaw (195 students) in 1997? Those small schools couldn't compete? That Warsaw team in 1997 had to battle an Elite Eight field that included whopping giants like Nokomis (275 students), Madison (245 students) and Williamsfield (94 students).

The figures go on and on, year after year, including four of the eight Elite Eight schools in 1995 being under 300 students, four of the eight schools in 1991 under 300 students, and Findlay winning a state championship in 1992 with an enrollment of 96 students.

Want more? If the 1990s weren't proof enough that small schools can compete -- if they are good enough! -- you can dip into an earlier decade, where in 1987 the first (Venice with 174 students), second (Okawville with 234 students) and third-place (Chrisman with 146 students) finishers all had tiny enrollments, with an average student body among the three of 184. And do you think the beloved Ohio team from 1986 that finished second in the state with 69 students will be remembered as well in a four-class system the way they are now?

The notion small schools can't compete is a joke. There have been over 30 schools with enrollments less than 300 students who have played in the Elite Eight since 1990. Again, they can compete if they are good enough. And the lore and respect they earn along the way is memorable and truly special.

The four classes are here, I know. Move on. But, as a coach stated to me and I wholeheartedly agree with, it's sad that in our society today that success is only defined by winning, when success should be about doing the very best you can do."

Don't tell me small schools can't compete. And don't tell me this is what people wanted. Neither are true.

Posted by Joe Henricksen at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

By Joe Henricksen

The Elite Eight weekend in boys basketball is a festival, a hoops oasis as fans, high school coaches, media members, officials and college coaches come together to celebrate a season and a sport. After spending four days in Peoria last weekend -- my 21st trip in the last 23 years to the state tournament -- it was no different. Everyone came together as usual to socialize and talk basketball, be it in restaurants, bars, hospitality rooms, hotel lobbies or Carver Arena.

The basketball was better than most people expected, with the parity in Peoria much like what we saw throughout the season. Richards and Zion-Benton both stepped up and played at an extremely high level for themselves, playing a terrific Class 4A title game. If this were the NCAA Final Four, the Richards tandem of Carl Richard and Shaun Pratl would have made themselves millions in improving their draft stock.

Simeon and Marshall again showed why they are the two premier basketball programs in the Chicago Public League -- and the state. In three years Simeon now has a pair of state titles and a state runner-up finish. Marshall, meanwhile, has a state championship to add to its two third-place trophies in that same time period. Marshall's attack mode, both in transition and defensively, was fun to watch. And Stan Simpson's rapid rise gave Illinois fans hope for the future with a big man who could actually knock down free throws.

The Washington-Marshall matchup in the 3A semifinal was entertaining. And the Zion-Benton-Evanston battle was a classic state tournament thriller/heartbreaker, with Z-B's Ronald Steward ending a dramatic game with a steal and buzzer-beating 40-footer to stun the Wildkits.

In the end, though, despite the positive storylines and the quality, competitive basketball, it just wasn't the same. It was just as I expected -- tradition lost, probably forever, with very little buzz or electricity. So many people I ran into -- coaches, fans, media members -- had similar thoughts and phrases .... "It just feels different." .... "Why does the IHSA continue to try and fix things that don't need to be?" .... I watched a very competitive field of teams in both 3A and 4A and thought to myself, "There is no reason why any of these teams can't compete with any other team that is in Peoria." There is no need for these two classes to be separated. You felt as if there were more games to be played, maybe a Richards-Marshall title game?

I felt for Simeon and Marshall, who finished their tightly contested game with probably 2,000 fans in attendance. It resembled a midseason shootout. The atmosphere was stunningly dead. And while Richards and Zion-Benton played their hearts out and could probably care less if there were two classes or four, it's a shame these two worthy teams didn't get their shot at the two teams -- Simeon and Marshall -- that are perceived to be the two best in Illinois.

There is so much that will be missed.

Posted by Joe Henricksen at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

By Joe Henricksen

Before discussing and debating the trials and tribulations of four-class basketball and the overall atmosphere in Peoria (plenty of that will come), there was plenty of positives that came from Peoria and the Class 3A and 4A State Finals. As usual, the weekend was full of gossip and rumors of coaches on the move and players transferring, but after spending four days in Peoria here are some thoughts from what transpired on the floor on an individual basis. There will be more thoughts and news from my days in Peoria in coming days.

Talent level better than expected
Yes, there was a lack of true star power at this year's State Finals. After watching Derrick Rose the last two years and the likes of Jon Scheyer, Julian Wright and Shaun Livingston in recent years, fans have been spoiled in the presence of some of the special high school players that have been showcased in Peoria recently. Nonetheless, this year's eight teams allowed fans to see several players truly arrive in the eyes of basketball followers as future stars and college prospects. Here is quick rundown of underclassmen that truly impressed the Hoops Report in Peoria.

Shaun Pratl
There is no player that will skyrocket in the junior class player rankings more than Richards big man Shaun Pratl. The 6-8 junior, who spends a whole lot of time playing football in the offseason as one of the top college football prospects in the state, has scary potential because of his body frame, touch from 15 feet in, especially around the basket, and tremendous ability to run and get up and down the floor. I realize there are some monster programs and schools already involved on the football side, but after Glenbrook South's Jack Cooley, Eureka's Jordan Prosser and Lake Forest Academy's Kyle Rowley, Pratl is the next best big man in the state in the Class of 2009. He was an absolute warrior in Peoria and left several college coaches in attendance -- and the Hoops Report -- thoroughly impressed with how complete of a player he is and how polished of an inside game he has for splitting time between football and basketball. As more and more bigger basketball schools get involved, this young man is going to have an awfully tough decision to make before it's all said and done.

Eriq Harris
The 6-5 Marshall junior has flown under the radar this season playing in the shadow of seniors Ryan Hare and Ardarrius Simmons and junior Darius Smith. But look for this long, active, athletic wing to flourish this offseason and make a major impact for the Commandos next season. He's a legit mid-major prospect who, when all is said and done, could potentially end up in the top 15 in the junior class.

Dyricus Simms-Edwards
The word was out with several downstate people of just how talented the Washington guard was earlier this season. He just confirmed it with stellar performances in the postseason. Simms-Edwards is a load physically with a more than