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Folks in southern Illinois are complaining in the wake of Seton Academy's overwhelming victory in the Class 2A basketball tournament.
They don't think it was fair for Seton, a Catholic school whose two best players transferred from another Catholic school, to be playing in 2A, that it was tantamount to give the Los Angeles Lakers a spot in the NCAA.
They were relieved when last year's Class 2A champion, North Lawndale, was moved to 3A this season based on its growing enrollment. But Seton, according to Chicago Sun-Times high school reporter Mike O'Brien, might be even better. In fact, they might be good enough to be ranked No. 1 in the Chicago area, regardless of class.
As far as small-school competition is concerned, Seton and DJ Cooper and Jordan Walker and Corbin Thomas can make a good case for being the best team in state history, in a class with the Marty Simmons-led Lawrenceville teams of the 1980s, McLeansboro with Brian Sloan in 1984 and Providence-St. Mel with Lowell Hamilton in 1985.
But that isn't the issue here. Hey, wasn't 1A and 2A supposed to be all about the small schools in southern Illinois? Wasn't that why the Illinois High School Association dumped the two-class system after 35 years? To give schools like Marshall and Massac County and Woodlawn and Lewistown and Annawan and Altamont and Crab Orchard and Sesser-Valier a chance for glory.
Looks like the IHSA will have to go back to the drawing board, to design another plan to make everybody happy, to present a trophy to everyone, to allow every school to make a trip to Peoria, to find a way to keep those darn private schools out of the mix. You know, those schools that recruit athletes from all over the county and reward them with free tuition and scholarships.
Public schools have enough problems without trying to legislate against private schools. And the IHSA, which admits it isn't equipped to police all the issues that impact on its programs, must rely on the integrity of principals who routinely sign off on transfers who illegally or unethically move from school to school for the purpose of competing in sports.
The system is broken, it says here, and it needs to be fixed. Not to the satisfaction of everyone, of course, because there is always someone who attempts to sneak around the rules, to gain an advantage, in high school, college or the pros.
But how about this? Is it too much to ask that a student/athlete who begins his or her freshman year at a high school must complete four years there. If the parents move to another town or school district within the area during that time, the kid still must attend the school that he enrolled in as a freshman.
That policy would put a crimp in the current popular game plan in which teammates on AAU teams decide to join each other on a high school team "so we can win a state championship together." That isn't what high school sports is supposed to be all about. And the practice shouldn't be condoned or encouraged.
Rather than expand fro two to four to eight classes to accommodate everybody--until now, to its credit, the IHSA has rejected the idea of conducting a separate state tournament for private schools--perhaps school administrators could prevent parents from trying to run the asylum.
As one old-time coach once told me: "High school sports would be wonderful without parents." After 50 years of covering high school sports in Illinois, I know what he meant.
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Preach it, Taylor. I thought four classes was supposed to stop the "big" schools and the private schools from around Chicago from winning so much. So what do we get? One of the biggest schools in 1A winning that title, and a private school from around Chicago winning the 2A title. There is nothing new under the sun.
I HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT SETON
ACADEMY IS CLASS 2A STATE CHAMPS! THE WAY THEY PLAYED
OVERSHADOWS ALL OF THE OTHER STUFF, THEY ARE A WELL-OILED
MACHINE, AND WITH THIS TEAM, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN CLASS
3A STATE CHAMPS OR 4A STATE CHAMPS, LET'S GIVE CREDIT
WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, THEY ARE ENJOYABLE TO WATCH, THEY
ARE ATHLETIC, THEY HAVE A GREAT TEAM WITH A GREAT COACH!
TWO LOSSES THE ENTIRE SEASON, THIS TEAM WILL BE REMEMBERED
FOR A LONG TIME, AND D.J. COOPER IS A MAGICIAN WITH THE
BASKETBALL, I THINK WE ALL WILL REMEMBER THE STING FROM
SETON ACADEMY JUST LIKE THE MOVIE REMEMBER THE TITANS!
THE SYSTEM IS WHAT IT IS, BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS WHAT DO
YOU DO WHEN YOU RECEIVE WHAT YOU GET, ALOT OF CATHOLIC
SCHOOLS WOULDN'T EXIST WITHOUT SUCCESSFUL ATHLETIC
PROGRAMS, SO I DON'T THINK ANYONE SHOULD CRY OVER SPILLED
MILK, LET US ALL GIVE A STANDING OVATION TO THE STING
OF SETON ACADEMY, THAT SPECIAL SCHOOL IN SOUTH HOLLAND!
BY THE WAY YOU DO RECEIVE A GREAT EDUCATION AT SETON
ACADEMY IN SOUTH HOLLAND, ILLINOIS AS WELL!
THIS SCHOOL HAS ONLY BEEN CO-ED FOR 6 YEARS!
WHAT THEY DID LAST NIGHT WAS A HISTORY MAKING MOMENT,
SOMETHING SOME TEAMS ONLY DREAM ABOUT, THE STING MADE IT
HAPPEN AND I SALUTE THEM AS STATE CHAMPIONS!
For years Chicago Catholic League teams recruited kids from the city and suburbs. Football powerhouses were built doing this. Schools like St.Rita, Mount Carmel, Brother Rice in Chicago and Joliet Catholic in the suburbs all won state championships using this method and nothing was said. Now that a Black private school wins a state championship the very same way, it's suddenly unethical? Give me a break!
Mr. Bell,
Thank You for mentioning all these hot button issues. The IHSA should have some policy that would automatically move a team like Seton or North Lawndale up to 3A. Just remember, it is not just the private schools that 'recruit'. WY, Simeon, Thornton, West Aurora,...I could keep naming 'boundaried schools'. This year, one of Whitney Young's stars lives in EVANSTON! I thought Young was a CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL?
Don't just complain because Catholic Schools such as Hales and Seton are constantly recruiting players from other schools. Afterall, the Von Stueben Coach and Whitney Young coach got slapped on the wrist earlier in the year for illegally recruiting Crandall Head.
Ironically, Tyrone Slaughter and his cheating coaches might just win the state title. (I only say cheating because they got caught trying to cheat the system) So the lessonhere is that, in the IHSA, if you recruit players from other schools like Seton, North Lawndale and Hales, you win! CHEATERS ALWAYS WIN!
The IHSA should just bite the bullet, say that they cannot control the situation and declare all transfers ineligible for a year. I hear Indiana does that and it is perfectly legal. Sports are a priveledge, not a right (unlike what Judge Davis said, in his corrupt political decision on Jonathan Mills ).
This is the only way aside from stripping Slaughter of his future state title that the IHSA could regain some credibility in its basketball program. I hope Hickman and Co. do something (aside from blaming the Catholic schools for all their problems).
Taylor,
March Madness in Illinois is now only a shadow of what it was. Why is Seton not playing against the best in the state Empty seats in the Peoria arena tell it all. This version stinks. Parents and school administrators are killing it.
The same thing happened to Indiana but only a few years earlier.
To many classes, to many trophies and now fewer and fewer that care.
The journey is what was important. Just ask the thousands of us that never played for a state title but played for a Super Sectionial, a Sectional, a Regional, or a District championship. It was the journey.
Mr. Bell your thought that if a player's family moves and a kids transfers he should stay at the school he started is insane. If a family moves to a better neighborhood or wants to get the best possible education for their children by sending them to a better school in that neighborhood why would you deny them that right.
Derrel, I believe you misinterpreted what was said...
If a player's family moves, (and really moves, not 'moves' so the kid can play sports for a school)then there is nothing wrong. However, too many kids are 'moving' to play on the 'mega-programs' - the schools for athlete-students, not student-athletes. Sometimes, as with what happened with Whitney Young and Von Stueben this year, COACHES actually recruit the players FROM other schools.
In this case, the player should not be allowed to play the sport he previously played and the programs should be suspended from the IHSA tourney.
In America, getting a good education is a right; being on the popular basketball team is not. It is a priveledge just to play Varsity basketball. If you abuse the system, take your punishment. Sit out a year or play something else.
I do not Believe the idea is to punish the kids whose parents genuinely move to a new house.
SOME OF YOU ARE TRYING TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL!
THE SEATS WERE EMPTY IN PEORIA, MAYBE BECAUSE WE ARE IN
A RECESSION OR MAYBE BECAUSE SOME SIMPLY WANTED TO WATCH
ON TELEVISION, IT STILL DOESN'T DIMINISH THE GREATNESS
OF WHAT SETON ACADEMY ACCOMPLISHED!
THE TRANSFER THING MAY BE OUT OF CONTROL, BUT YOU STILL
HAVE TO RUN A GREAT PROGRAM TO GET TO PEORIA, OR EVERYONE
WOULD MAKE IT DOWNSTATE, AND AS YOU SEE, SETON ACADEMY
JUST DEMOLISHED THE FIELD DOWNSTATE, BECAUSE THEY HAD A
GROUP OF DYNAMITE YOUNG MEN AND A GREAT COACH, REMEMBER
THIS IS THE SAME SCHOOL THAT HAD TERRY JOHNSON AS A
FRESHMAN, THE ISU RECRUIT, WHO CURRENTLY PLAYS FOR NLCP!
SO I SALUTE SETON ACADEMY AND COACH KEN STEVENSON, THEY
EXECUTED THE GAME PLAN AND BROUGHT HOME THE TROPHY WITH
FIRST PLACE ON IT, NO EXCUSES, THEY DID THE JOB!
I PROCLAIM MONDAY SETON ACADEMY DAY IN THE CHICAGOLAND
AREA!
Phil K and Phil Smith,
1. You guys are wrong on so many levels. The point you are missing to Taylor's article is that there is no "awesome Seton program" without the transfer of the two all-state kids from Hales and the assistant coach from Hales who went with them. There is absolutely no mastery in taking the two best kids from a well built Hales program and adding them to a "good" team and then running the table. That's all Seton did....nothing more. I seriously doubt they make it out of their regional next year when their "players" move up from the weak sophomore and freshman teams.
2. You are very wrong to lump all city schools who have had success lately as recruiters and cheaters. WY and Simeon, probably. But Hales and NLCP, not really. Hales has had a basketball tradition since it opened its doors dude. Have you ever heard of Sam Puckett? or the Gray brothers? Or Albert Lewis. Lewis Thorpe of NLCP worked at Hales for years. He probably learned a thing or two from some of the very good coaches he has worked for over the years. To call them cheaters without doing your homework is just plain rude.
I HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ANGRY AD, BUT I HAVE WATCHED
SETON CRAWL BEFORE THEY WALKED, I HAVE SEEN THEM WALK
BEFORE THEY RAN, AT THE BIG DIPPER TOURNEY A COUPLE OF
YEARS AGO THEY DEFEATED BLOOM TOWNSHIP, THAT WAS GREAT
FOR A STARTER PROGRAM, IT IS NOT LIKE THEY WEREN'T WORKING
TOWARD DEVELOPING A GREAT PROGRAM, I DON'T KNOW THE
PARTICULARS OF THE TWO YOUNG MEN WHO TRANSFERRED AND I
DON'T KNOW ABOUT WHY THE COACH LEFT HALES AND NOW WORKS
AT SETON, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IN THE REAL WORLD, BUT
TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT, WE WOULDN'T EVEN BE TALKING
ABOUT ALL OF THIS IF THEY HAD NOT WON THE STATE CHAMPION-
SHIP, WINNING BRINGS TO LIGHT THE GOOD AND THE BAD, BUT
WINNING CURES ALL OF THE SPILLED MILK COMMENTS, AND SOUR
GRAPES ABOUT THIS AND THAT, THEY WON AND THAT IS THE REAL
TRUTH ABOUT THEIR PROGRAM, JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION, AND
I KNEW WHAT TAYLOR BELL WAS TALKING ABOUT, I JUST
INTERJECTED MY OWN BELIEFS ON THE SUBJECT, SETON ACADEMY
IS TOP OF THE LINE TO ME, AND NOTHING ANYONE CAN SAY WILL
DETER MY BELIEFS ABOUT THE COACH AND THOSE GREAT YOUNG
MEN! SETON ACADEMY A TEAM THAT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!
EITHER STEP UP OR STEP OFF!
Angry AD,
I agree with your first point. Seton never could win with 'four-year' kids. They had to unethically steal kids from other programs.
However, Hales has been doing that for years. In fact, a joke from this year was colling Seton "Hales South". How many of Hales' great players were there all four years? I seem to remember Hales recently getting a transfer from Timothy Christian and a high school in Michigan.
Regarding NLCP, they also are going to win a state title with star players from someone else's freshman class.
I also find it ironic that Bunch is ineligible for almost the entire year, but becomes eligible for the 'big week' of sectionals. ????
JUST BECAUSE A PLAYER DOESN'T PLAY AT A SCHOOL FOR 4 YEARS
DOESN'T MEAN THEY WERE STOLEN AWAY, YOUNG MEN TODAY WANT
TO PLAY AT A SCHOOL WHERE THEY WILL PLAY AND GET TO THE
NEXT LEVEL, DID YOU NOTICE HOW MANY GUYS LEFT COLLEGE
AFTER THEIR FROSH SEASON AND WERE DRAFTED IN THE NBA,
LOOK AT THE TREND THAT IS STARTING J. RICHMOND ORALLY
COMMITTED TO ILLINOIS AFTER HIS FROSH SEASON AT THE
PRIVATE SCHOOL, BOATRIGHT ORALLY COMMITS TO USC AFTER
8TH GRADE, C. HEAD ORALLY COMMITS TO U OF I DURING HIS
SOPHOMORE SEASON, HIGH PROFILE PLAYERS HAVE STARTED A
TREND THAT WILL CONTINUE FOR A LONG TIME!
THE COMMENT ABOUT HALES IS UNWARRANTED, DO YOU THINK THAT
YOUNG MAN WHO NOW PLAYS AT OREGON, WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT
DEAL PLAYING AT THE SCHOOL YOU NAMED, BEFORE HE ENDED UP
AT HALES, AND THE YOUNG MAN FROM MICHIGAN IS IN THE NBA
RIGHT NOW, SO DON'T BLAME HALES, THERE IS NO BLAME,
UNFORTUNATELY IN ATHLETICS IT IS EASIER TO GO TO SCHOOL
FREE THAN HAVING STRAIGHT A'S, VERY FEW SCHOOLS WILL GIVE
YOU A FULL RIDE FOR ACADEMICS THAN ATHLETICS!
SOME OF YOU KEEP TRYING TO PUT PLAYER'S IN A VICE, THESE
YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR FAMILIES KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR THEM,
FINALLY I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU MENTIONED THE PLAYER FROM
NLCP, WITH THE LAST NAME THAT BEGINS WITH A B, HE DOES
NOT PLAY MUCH ANYWAY, THIS IS A CHARTER SCHOOL, AND AT
LEAST GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR MONITORING THEIR PLAYERS
PROGRESS IN THE CLASSROOM, NOTHING FISHY ABOUT HIM BEING
ELIGIBLE AT THIS TIME!
THE FACT THAT HALES IS SUCCESSFUL, SETON, LEO, THESE
SCHOOLS HAVE LESS THAN 400 STUDENTS, TO KEEP BEING IN
THE MIX EVERY YEAR IS PHENOMENAL, AND A BIG SHOUT OUT TO
ALL OF THE COACHES, I AM PROUD OF WHAT YOU DO, AND I WILL
NEVER PUT YOU DOWN, ISN'T IT IRONIC THAT THESE ARE ALL
SCHOOLS THAT HAVE WON STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, IN THE LAST
6 YEARS, SIMPLY MARVELOUS AND THE YOUNG MEN ARE GOING TO
COLLEGE AND ONE IS IN THE NBA!
P.S. CONGRATS TO TONY PARKER, LEO GRAD 1973, ON HIS
INDUCTION IN THE LEO HALL OF FAME, HE WILL BE INDUCTED
NEXT MONTH, YES THAT IS HIS SON THAT PLAYS FOR THE
SAN ANTONIO SPURS!