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Bolingbrook freshman Morgan Tuck, a first-team selection on the Sun-Times all-state team and Illinois' Ms. Basketball, didn't make the Associated Press' all-state team.
In fact, not a single member of the Bolingbrook and Whitney Young girls teams, which finished 1-2 in the Class 4A tournament, was named to the AP's all-state first team.
Whitney Young's newly crowned Class 4A boys state championship team didn't land a representative on the Sun-Times' 20-member All-Chicago Area squad.
And Seton point guard DJ Cooper, who led his team to a state championship and clearly was the best player in Class 2A, tied for the 10th and last spot on the AP's all-state second team.
The problem with all-area and all-state selections is politics, favoritism and ignorance often play bigger roles than objectivity, experience and common sense.
It comes down to who picks the players and what the criteria is. How many selectors see all of the candidates? How many times do you need to see a player to make an objective evaluation? Do you choose a player based solely on statistics or the number of college scholarship offers or the caliber of competition or the rankings of recruiting services?
The Mr. and Ms. Basketball selections, sponsored by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and run by the Chicago Tribune, were mishandled this year when the Tribune failed to mail out ballots and the Illinois High School Association sent out a mass e-mail. Only 134 ballots were cast for Ms. Basketball.
According to a Sun-Times survey, in the last 25 years, the newspaper hasn't named a player to its All-Chicago Area tam who has averaged fewer than 10 points per game.
The IBCA named Schaumburg's Cully Payne to its all-state team. But Payne, who was a legitimate candidate for Mr. Basketball after his performance at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament in December, missed the rest of the season with an injury.
And Glenbrook South's Jack Cooley, who is committed to Notre Dame, was named to the Tribune's second all-state team after missing five weeks with an injury.
In football, Tom Lemming, Rivals, Scout and ESPN annually haggle over who are the top 250 prospects in the nation. Each has a system for evaluating talent. They agree on some, disagree on others. How is one player rated No. 13 in the nation in one survey and No. 213 in another? Or No. 3 in one survey and No. 134 in another?
It all makes for fodder and good debate on Internet message boards. College coaches argue that some scouts and analysts who are a frequent presence at exposure camps and tournaments don't have enough expertise to thoroughly and objectively evaluate players.
Message boards are filled with contributors who think they know more than analysts or scouts or even college coaches. They are eager to tout their expertise, their unimpeachable sources, their unrivaled knowledge. So whom do you trust and whom do you believe?
Cell Phone Alerts
NO DISRESPECT TO WHITNEY YOUNG THE 4A CHAMPS, BUT WHEN
YOU HAVE AN ALL-STAR TEAM IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO PICK
A PLAYER FROM THE TEAM TO THE ALL-STATE TEAM, EVEN THE
THIRD TEAM, DJ COOPER HAD A DIFFICULT TIME GETTING ON THE
TEAM!
AS FAR AS BEING CHOSEN FOR THE IBCA TEAM, YOU HAVE TO
SIT IN ON THE MEETING IF YOUR PLAYER ISN'T A HOUSEHOLD
NAME, THEY ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE THE LIST!
AS FAR AS COMPLAINING ABOUT CULLY PAYNE AND JACK COOLEY
THOSE GUYS PLAY ON THE AAU CIRCUIT, THEY ARE GOING TO
BIGTIME PROGRAMS, SO IT'S NO USE COMPLAINING ABOUT THEIR
INJURIES, THESE GUYS HAVE BEEN NAILS FOR A VERY LONG TIME
TO ALL COACHES, COACHING IS MORE THAN BEING WITH YOUR
PLAYERS, YOU MUST WORK CAMPS, PARTICIPATE IN YOUR LEAGUE
MEETINGS, GO DOWNSTATE, AND WORK YOUR PROGRAM IN THE
SUMMER, FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER COACHES, I KNOW IT TAKES
TIME OUT OF YOUR SCHEDULE, BUT IF YOU DON'T, YOUR PLAYERS
WON'T BE SELECTED TO ALL-STAR TEAMS, UNLESS THEY ARE
HOUSEHOLD NAMES!
I'LL GIVE YOU A PRIME EXAMPLE, THE OTHER DAY DARIUS SMITH
FROM MARSHALL SELECTED U-CONN AS HIS COLLEGE CHOICE, AND
THEN HE WAS SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN ALL-STAR GAME,
ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER!
Years ago (60's), the Champaign paper seemed to be the unofficial true all-state squad for football and basketball. The Tribune and Sun Times also named teams.
You'll know better than me but I think at that time conference coaches met and selected their all-comference teams. The coaches then chose which players would be nominated for all-state. I don't know if they went one step further in nominating for all-America or not. Of course there wasn't a lot of complaining back then. You made or you didn't and you moved on. Parents were involved but no where near the extreme levels of today.
I can't remember if the Sun-Times had all-area teams in the 60's. I believe the Tribune just named every all-conference player on it's all-area team.
I don't have any idea how the selection process works today but it appears to be broken.