Facebook App
While Illini Nation celebrates basketball coach Bruce Weber's notable successes on the recruiting trail--it is fun to contemplate the future rather than suffer through the present, isn't it?--a realist might caution that it is time to temper the euphoria.
History tells us that young players who are projected for future stardom sometimes don't achieve those lofty expectations. Why? Because they don't get bigger or better. Because they don't mature.
There are many examples. This isn't to say that Stan Simpson or Brandon Paul or D.J. Richardson or Joseph Bertrand or Jereme Richmond or Crandall Head won't become the next Dave Downey or Deron Williams or Deon Thomas or Nick Anderson or Kenny Battle in an Illini uniform.
But you can fill a scrapbook with the names and press clippings and pictures of eighth-grade phenoms and high school stars, even McDonald's All-Americans, who were touted as "the next Isiah Thomas" or "the next Cazzie Russell" and never made it. You've probably heard about many of them.
Thomas Hamilton, LaKeith Henderson, Ronnie Fields, Tunji Thurman, Superstar Edwards, Imari Sawyer, Marcus Catchings, Leonard Myles, Raymond McCoy, Teddy Grubbs, Jamie Brandon, William Gates, Glen Grunwald, Audie Matthews, Larry Rosenzweig, Prentis Baker, Arthur Sivels.
You could win a lot of basketball games with any five of those guys.
Perhaps it is unfair to include some of them in that list.
Grunwald, a three-time all-stater at East Leyden, was Player of the Year in 1976 and recruited by Indiana coach Bob Knight. But he suffered a knee injury during the summer before he enrolled in college and, although he was co-captain of Indiana's 1981 NCAA championship team, he never was the same.
Matthews was one of Bloom's all-time greats and Player of the Year in 1974. He had a good but not outstanding career at Illinois. Brandon, one of the state's all-time leading scorers, led King to state and national championships in 1990. But he had a checkered college career at LSU.
McCoy and Grubbs were members of the class of 1979, regarded by many as the best ever produced in Illinois. Some critics rated McCoy as a better guard than Isiah Thomas, another 1979 graduate. But he never blossomed in college. Grubbs started fast at DePaul, then suffered personal problems and faded out of sight.
Gates, one of the stars of the award-winning "Hoops Dreams" documentary, also was compared to Isiah Thomas. But a knee injury slowed his progress at St. Joseph and Marquette.
Fields and Kevin Garnett were standouts at Farragut in 1995 and Fields was Player of the Year in 1996. But poor grades and an off-the-court accident sent his career spiraling in another direction. After high school, it was discovered that he didn't have a "game" for the next level. He was an athletic freak of nature who executed spectacular dunks but had little else.
Edwards' mother named her son "Superstar"--yes, that was his real name--because she predicted her son would be the next great player in Chicago. But Edwards and Disco Cooper, who enrolled at King during the Marcus Liberty era, never lived up to the hype.
Neither did Henderson, who was supposed to follow Sonny Parker, Billy Lewis, Garnett, Fields and Michael Wright as the next great player at Farragut. Or Prentis Baker, a one-time Catholic League Player of the Year at Leo. He transferred from Leo to King and back to Leo, then enrolled at Northeastern University in Boston and disappeared.
But perhaps the best of all was Sivels, who attended Crane in the early 1970s. He was a legendary performer on the city's playgrounds but he played at Crane for only one semester, then became academically ineligible and dropped out. He later attended two junior colleges but left before ever suiting up.
How good was Sivels?
"Arthur's reputation preceded him more than anyone else," said longtime friend Lloyd Walton, who played at Mount Carmel, Marquette and the NBA. "He was better than we were, me and Isiah Thomas and Rickey Green and Billy Harris and Maurice Cheeks and Sam Puckett...by far.
"If he was playing today, he would be recognized as the best playmaker to come out of Chicago, the best in the NBA. He was a great ball-handler. No one could handle the ball like him...except Leon Hilliard of the Harlem Globetrotters. He knew how to run a team."
So remember Arthur Sivels the next time you think about nominating a high school sophomore for sainthood.
Cell Phone Alerts
very good article. However Gene pingatore wrote an article for Espn high school best state for basketball. He listed his top 5, and also a list of about 25 other names that shows the great talent of Illinois basketball. However he did not mentioned Ray McCoy.
I get so confused at this and many articles written by you and others who talk about the Illinois high school greats and never mention McCoy. He was a McDonalds All American, the most highly recruited player in the state during 79, and his stats was great, yet he is never talked about when the best ballers of all time come to mind. Is there a certain blacklist for Bloom ball players, because Audie Matthews, nor Brandon Cole is ever discussed as well.
Pingatore listed Darius Miles, Cory Magette, Q Richardson, Antoine Walker, Hersay Hawkins, and others who do not come close to matching what Raymond McCoy did in high school. McCoy was better than Dewayne Wade at the high school level, by far. I have also over the years seen you talk about all time players and never discuss McCoy in your top 10 or 20. How is this possible, he was recruited by everyone in the country. McCann's gym was closed by 6 o'clock on game nights for games that started at 7:30 when Ray was playing.
Not sure what the banter is with Raymond, Bloom or Chicago Heights, but something is amiss when Audie Matthews or Brandon Cole is not mentioned in the top 50, and Raymond McCoy is not mentioned at all, because surely in high school, he was better than most, in fact if I had to make a list of the top five while they were in high school, I would list Ray McCoy, Isiah Thomas, Marcus Liberty, Micheal Finely, and one year wonder Kevin Garnett.
Keith,
I remember McCoy quite well. In my opinion he tapered off after his junior year. Make no mistake he was a wonderfull player to watch. However In the all star contests that followed his senior year which I watched live he never dominated the way Isiah Thomas did. I would not rate him above the top the 70 players in the history Illinois. Again he was a terrific player but not an elite elite one.
Marcus Catchings is still a great basketball player. In fact he is the best player at the Danville Correctional Center. On a side note another member of his team also locked up at Danville is Vanness Hall. Bad decisions by both put them away for a long time.
So whatever happened to Leonard Myles? What is life after all the hoop dreams are gone?
voise winters is rarely mentioned...GAGE PARK HIGH SCHOOL...avg. 50.3 points a game MCDONALDS all american tribune player of the year....played along hershey hawkins at bradley....played for philly NBA and also had a steller career overseas....not mentioned much in these top players....we had nearly every college coach in the country visiting our tiny little house on 61st Hermitage....in ENGLEWOOD!!!
Yes! I remember Voise Winters, this guy was the "DEAL" and he could score. I enjoyed his game and he was NIT champs back in the 80's. I had a friend name Norman Flannging who use to go to Bradley's basketball camp every summer and share some of the tips. Voise Winters was a great high player. Also, Calvin "Pokie" Lester, (Murphy Park) was a fundamental sound guard was dam good too. He attend Harper High School in the mid 80's. And John Russel who start his career at Austin but moved to the southside and played at Harper High School. C\GO CHI! ENGELWOOD #1
Tunji Thurmon is my cousin. It was impossible for him to live up to the hype that surronded him. Great kid but his dad screwed it up for him with his big ego. He should have just let him play. It's sad the way these things turn out. Tunji is living a normal life in Atlanta Georgia.
The best guards in Chicago the early days...
Chicago B-ball back in the days was like pro ball. My list
Arthur Sivels
Jerome Freeman (HOOK)
Billy Harris
Kevin Porter
Kendall Mayfield
Donald Hardaway
Sam Puckett
Lloyd Walton
Rickey Green
Maurice Cheeks
I can't argue the guys you listed but from 1974-1976: Ronnie Lester, Lee-Arthur Scott, Carl Nicks,Nate Williams, James Jackson, Dwayne Gray, Larry Harper and Andre Wakefield are all deserving guards as well.
The one and only memory I have of Tunji Thurman was my varsity coach said, " hey you guarding this kid, he is going to shoot the ball at least three steps behind the three point line. Let him and don't get discouraged because he is going to make some of them." I was just a average high school kid who made the team because I just listen to the coach and did what he asked? That amaze me but lucky me, Tunji transferred right before the game and I got the pleasure to guard his boy Michael Hermon. Lol pick your poison