Taylor Bell: February 2010 Archives

Joe Henrickson, editor and publisher of City/Suburban Hoops Report, has been observing, scouting and evaluating high school basketball talent in Illinois since the 1989-90 season. Here are his selections as the top 10 teams of his era:

1. King 1990: Without question the most dominating team during my time. They just dominated, beat people up. Jamie Brandon became only one of five players in state history to score more than 3,000 points in his career.

2. Proviso East 1991: Had the Big Three of Donnie Boyce, Michael Finley and Sherrell Ford but was also deep with underclass guys like Kenny Davis, Jamal Robinson and Ray Gay who went on to win a state title the following year.

Roy and Harv Schmidt, the energetic and prolific proprietors of Illinois Prep Bulls-Eye, have been observing and scouting and evaluating high school basketball talent in the Chicago area and throughout Illinois since 1985.

Here are their choices as the top 10 teams they have seen:

1. Peoria Manual 1997: The best of Manual's four consecutive Class AA state champions. Sergio McClain sealed his legacy as perhaps the biggest winner in the history of Illinois prep basketball by playing on all four state winners. Frankie Williams and Marcus Griffin also were high major talents. Maybe not the most talented team we have seen but, in our opinion, they were the best.

Bill "Flash" Flanagan has coached, scouted, recruited, observed and evaluated high school basketball talent in Illinois for 50 years. A one-time high school and college coach, the Peoria-based scout operates one of the largest exposure camps in the country.

Here are his choices (and comments) about the top 10 teams in state history:

1. Thornridge 1972. This team featured the great Quinn Buckner, who was one of the greatest role models for every player who followed him.

2. Quincy 1981. Coach Jerry Leggett's team was led by Bruce Douglas, Keith Douglas and Michael Payne.

Our earlier survey on the five best high school basketball players in Illinois history generated considerable debate. So it only figures that we'd ask several longtime observers to select the 10 best teams of all time.

Of course, each analyst is limited to teams which he saw. Some selections cover a period of 50 years, others no more than 15 or 20.

But, as I have argued many times, basketball is one sport that transcends decades, from the 1950s to today. For example, can anyone argue that the 1954 Du Sable team of Paxton Lumpkin, Sweet Charlie Brown and Shellie McMillon and the 1958 Marshall team of George Wilson, M.C. Thompson, Bobby Jones and Steve Thomas couldn't be competitive today?

National signing day for college football is over but the recruiting process never ends. Dozens of high school seniors remain uncommitted. Some have Division I potential but most are better suited for Division II or III. In fact, believe it or not, some would prefer to play in an environment where there is more pressure in the classroom than on the football field.

It might sound crazy to some football-crazed fans in Ann Arbor or Columbus or Tuscaloosa or South Bend or Austin or Norman but, yes, some kids go to college to get a good education. But they want to play football, too. They just don't want the game to dominate their lives from dawn to dusk.

Derek O'Connor is one of those kids. He is a 6-1, 180-pound senior at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee. He scored 31 on his ACT. He wants to study to become a dentist, his father's profession.

It is too early to make a final selection, of course, but voters already are lining up to nominate the leading contenders for the Sun-Times Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball in Illinois.

In the Chicago area, the ballot is headed by Waukegan's Jereme Richmond, last year's Sun-Times Player of the Year, Foreman's Mike McCall and Deerfield's Duje Dukan. Morgan Park's Wayne Blackshear, who recently returned after recovering from an injury, also can't be overlooked.

But Downstaters insist the leading candidate to succeed Warren's Brandon Paul as Mr. Basketball, the Player of the Year in Illinois, is 6-3 senior Rayvonte Rice of defending Class 3A champion Champaign Centennial.

Did you see a coach on signing day who confessed that he and his staff had done an awful job of recruiting and had signed a class that probably will cost his job?

It sounded like all of them would be contending for the national championship in two or three years.

What did Illinois coach Ron Zook and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel have to smile about?

The truth is the rich (SEC) got richer, the also-rans (Big 10) continued to play catch-up and UCLA, California and Oregon showed signs that they are serious about challenging traditional power USC for dominance in the Pac-10.