Taylor Bell: March 2008 Archives

Color me stupid. In my NCAA pool, I had Wisconsin and Purdue in the Final Four. With North Carolina and Memphis. Holy Stephen Curry. After seeing them perform -- or is misperform the proper word? -- I have to wonder what it will take for the Big Ten to become competitive again.

At least I wasn't dumb enough to pick Michigan State over Memphis.

Against Davidson, Big Ten champion Wisconsin looked like a team that was struggling to learn how to play the game and Davidson was doing the teaching. Michigan State looked even worse.

Five-star players, difference-makers, program-changers, franchise-turners.

Call them what you like. In football and basketball, they are the elite athletes who put people in the seats, take teams from the outhouse to the penthouse and create a buzz unlike any other.

They have talent, of course, but they also have distinctive leadership qualities, charisma and star appeal that captivate the media and a pied piper personality that attracts other gifted athletes.

The football and basketball seasons are over but recruiting never ends. Fans and alumni of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame and dozens of other major colleges from sea to shining sea are addicted to the Internet, keeping tabs on which athletes are interested in which schools.

Here are some questions being asked during what is often described as "Football's Second Season." The answers will make for compelling reading on college and recruiting websites from coast to coast in the next several months.

The 2007-08 high school basketball season in Illinois is over and everyone has had some time to digest what happened...the introduction of the four-class system, Mount Carmel's surprising run in the Class 4A playoff, Richards, Marshall, Zion-Benton, North Lawndale, Kevin Dillard, Courtney Hargrays, Dorothy Gaters, Mike Dunigan, Iman Shumpert, Ryan Hare.

Don Kloth.

The Zion-Benton coach is one of the most prolific winners in the state but he also was one of the most obscure and unappreciated and underrated--until this year.

Some members of the news media don't understand a fundamental concept of the state basketball tournament.

Nobody cares what the media think.

Oh, there were side issues over the last few weeks. The Illinois High School Association and the media squabbled over the rights to photographs of championship events. The media were peeved that the IHSA stopped providing free food at the state finals. And the crowds for the boys tournament might have been squeezed into old Huff Gym.

This is the 50th anniversary of one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in the history of the state high school basketball tournament.

In 1958, Marshall became the first Chicago Public League representative and the first all-African American team to win the state title.

Remember, it was only a short time after the state tournament was integrated. It was a time when blacks were drinking water out of "For Colored Only" fountains in the South. It was a time when the NBA had barely learned who Sweetwater Clifton was.

Mike Flaherty has coached at three high schools in four decades and masterminded one of the most dramatic upsets in the history of the state basketball tournament. But he is largely unappreciated and vastly underrated because he isn't a self-promoter, isn't outspoken and doesn't seek headlines.

The truth is Flaherty is on the short list of the best active coaches in the state, probably among the top five.

After examining the resumes of dozens of applicants for New Trier's vacant football coaching position, athletic director Randy Oberembt opted for somebody he could feel comfortable with, someone he knew, someone he trusted, someone who can relate to the Winnetka school.

Matt Irvin, who was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's high school football coach of the year for 2007, has been named the new coach at New Trier. He was selected over Bryan Stortz, who coach Lake Zurich to the Class 7A championship last season, and will succeed Dan Mortier, who retired after a 17-year career and had guided the Trevians to the state playoff in 12 of the last 13 seasons.