December 2007 Archives

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

One thing that has been clearly established upon the conclusion of holiday basketball tournaments in Illinois is who the leading candidates are for player of the year in the Chicago area. As of now, we think that it is a two horse race between Homewood-Flossmoor point guard Kevin Dillard and Farragut big man Michael Dunigan. If we were voting today, we would have to give the slight edge to Dillard for a number of reasons.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

As we have said numerous times, one event does not determine a player's ranking or evaluation. At the same time, when you have an event as prestigious as last weekend's Assembly Hall Shootout in Champaign, it can have a huge degree of influence with respect to either raising or lowering a player's stock. Such was the case with Rich South sophomore Crandall Head and Sterling junior Joe Bertrand.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

If there is one machine in Chicago that is even more powerful than the political machine it is the never-ending hype machine that surrounds high school basketball. Sure enough, the hype artists are in full force once again, with the latest revolving around Curie's 6'4 freshman Wayne Blackshear. In fact, it has gotten so bad that we almost feel sorry for the kid.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

We have to admit that we never thought we would be doing a blog on St. Rita junior guard Terrance Johnson this early in the game. However, it seems that he is currently one of the most talked about players in the class of 2009 from Illinois and the subject of considerable debate when it comes to analyzing his game. Therefore, now is as good a time as any for us to offer our thoughts.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Now that the Illinois High School Association has totally ruined America's Original March Madness (otherwise known as the state tournament) with the introduction of the four class system, there are no more significant in-season events than holiday tournaments. In fact, we believe they have become more important than ever, both from an evaluation and a recruiting standpoint.