Taylor Bell: February 2008 Archives

Waukegan's Jereme Richmond wasn't named to the Sun-Times' All-Chicago Area basketball team.

A lot of people are upset because they can't understand why one of the nation's top-rated sophomores, arguably the best player in Illinois regardless of class, a player who already is committed to the University of Illinois, wasn't included among the top 20 in the city and suburbs.

I didn't have a vote. But if I did, I would have done exactly what the panel of judges that selected the team did. They benched Richmond.

I don't know about you but I'm a sports fan. Any sport, any level.

I enjoy watching the best compete against the best, boys or girls, high school or college or professional, Tiger vs. Phil, Memphis vs. Tennessee, Notre Dame vs. USC, Giants vs. Patriots, Manchester United vs. Arsenal, Federer vs. Nadal, Marshall vs. Farragut.

And I enjoy watching good entertainment, Flanagan vs. Newark, Warsaw vs. Rochester, 17-year-old kids playing their hearts out and hustling from one end of the basketball floor to the other like you wish so many professionals would do.

Illinois is recruiting a pure point guard. And, if they get him, they won't have to wait a year or two to get him in the lineup.

He is 6-0 senior Ruben Cotto of Alton, a transfer from Miami, Fla., by way of Puerto Rico. He flew under the radar until he emerged as the most valuable player at the Centralia Holiday Tournament in December. Afterward, college coaches began to take notice.

Democracy may not be the most perfect form of government. But it's better than the alternative.

So is the Illinois High School Association.

In the last five decades, I've had issues with the IHSA. I've criticized some of its decisions. But most of the time I have been supportive as the IHSA launched an extensive girls sports program, adopted a two-class basketball format and kicked off a state football playoff.

Don't forget that the IHSA in 1952 was the first state to provide live television coverage of its basketball tournament. And Illinois was the first state to provide live television coverage of its football playoff.

Evaluating high school football and basketball players is a cottage industry, an inexact science that is certain to fuel heated debates on Internet message boards from coast to coast.

In football, does anyone ever agree with Tom Lemming, Allen Wallace, Max Emfinger, Rivals, Scout, ESPN and CSTV?

In basketball, don't invite Bob Gibbons (All-Star Sports), Van Coleman (Hoopmasters), Clark Francis (HoopScoop), Roy and Harv Schmidt (Illinois Prep Bulls-Eye), Brian Stinnette (ChicagoHoops), Joe Henricksen (City/Suburban Hoops Report), Bill Flanagan, Rivals, Scout, ESPN and CSTV to the same party.

Nobody knows Downstate basketball better than Bill "Flash" Flanagan, who has been observing and evaluating players from his base in Bloomington for more than 35 years. A former high school and college coach, he has a handle on the haves and have-nots, the contenders and the pretenders.

For example, Flanagan doesn't buy into the more popular theory that Warren's Illinois-bound Brandon Paul is the No. 1 prospect in the junior class.

"Paul is a two-guard in a point guard's body," Flanagan said. "He isn't big enough to be a shooting guard in college."

There was a time, many years ago, when a newspaper reader could call an editor and request a photograph that had been published in the paper and be relatively certain to receive it free of charge. It was viewed as a courtesy. What is good for the read is good for the paper, right?

Well, things have changed. Today, it's all about money, not public relations.

A few years ago, when I was writing my first book, "Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe: High School Basketball In Illinois," I received permission from the then Sun-Times sports editor Bill Adee to go into the library and gather old pictures that could be used to illustrate my book.

If you have been a member of the sportswriters' fraternity since before Dick Vitale turned college basketball into a prime time event, you have some Bob Knight stories to tell.

I have two.

Less than two weeks ago, I interviewed Richards football coach Gary Korhonen for a chapter in my new book on high school football in Illinois. We talked for more than an hour and, in closing, he said he had "no plans to retire at this time." He said he was healthy, enjoyed what he was doing and he wanted to keep doing it until he didn't enjoy it anymore.

So imagine my surprise when I was informed on Friday morning that Korhonen had announced his retirement from coaching, effective immediately. Oh, he'll finish out the school year with his teaching responsibilites but the winningest coach in state history won't be on the sideline next fall.