Joe Henricksen: June 2008 Archives

By Joe Henricksen

While watching the IBCA All-Star game at Illinois Wesleyan University Saturday night, a casual observer of basketball who came out to watch the top seniors in Illinois, asked, "Where is he going to play at in college?" The answer was Southern Illinois. Just moments later the fan asked, "What about him, where's he headed?" The answer, again, was Southern Illinois.

By Joe Henricksen

After a busy few days of basketball over the weekend, the City/Suburban Hoops Report had a chance to get out and see different teams, players and events -- and hear a little of this and that around the high school basketball scene.

By Joe Henricksen

Jereme Richmond has been evaluated, gawked at, talked about, written about and analyzed almost as much as any high school player in the history of this state has been in his first two years of high school. That's what happens when you are 6-6 and your skill level far exceeds those your age and you commit to a major Division I university as a freshman. It's sometimes hard to believe he has yet to even start his junior year.

By Joe Henricksen

Simeon's Jeremy Jones is obviously not the prospect Derrick Rose was or even as hot of a commodity as teammate Stan Simpson was last year. But the little-known 6-1 guard is one of the most under-the-radar players in Illinois and a legitimate Division I prospect.

By Joe Henricksen

Kudos to Indiana State and Illinois State, the only schools to have offered Richards big man Shaun Pratl. And shame on all the other schools that have been so slow to pull the trigger. In this day where big men are at such a premium and so often over-recruited, it's a mystery why the 6-8, 220-pounder has just the two offers.

By Joe Henricksen

A whole bunch of random thoughts from the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout....

In what is always one of the top high school basketball events of the summer and, without question, the best run and organized event, it was nice to see the host school, Riverside-Brookfield, win the R-B Shootout. No, a summer shootout doesn't mean a whole lot in the long run, but in this case it's a big step and confidence builder for the players in this program.