Boys Basketball: October 2010 Archives

Here's the second group of season previews. Follow me on Twitter @michaelsobrien for more. Coaches, please send any info on your team to mobrien@suntimes.com.

Barrington: Could be a big season for second-year coach Bryan Tucker. Broncos have talent with guard Brad Zaumseil and 6-7 John Schneider.

Bartlett: Program on the rise, seems to get better every season. 6-2 soph guard Lance Whitaker might be the most talented player yet.

Batavia: One of the top programs--great fan support and a wonderful gym. Don't miss the Night of Hoops. Watch for 6-6 sr. Elliot Vaughn.

Beecher: Bad record last year, but competitive. Jake Hering and Aaron Mahnke return. Lineup tops out at 6-2, but they have speed.

Benet: Top 3 team. Led by point guard David Sobolewski (Northwestern) and center Frank Kaminisky (Wisconsin). Matt Parisi can play too.

Best Practice: Beat Austin and Collins last season, but unable to get it done against higher quality competition. Should be improved.

Bishop McNamara: Some interesting young talent. jr Jamar Rivera can score. Keep an eye on 6-3 jr Dave Roney and 6-4 soph Michael Hoekstra.

Bloom: Always a major factor in the south suburbs. Senior guard Donald Moore is one of the really underrated players in the state.

Bogan: Last season's Cinderella story has plenty of talent back, including a pair of sophs: 6-7 Moshawn Thomas and point guard Phillip Lee.

Bolingbrook: 6-7 twin towers Devon Hodges and LaTree Russell give them an impressive frontcourt, but guards are a major question mark.

Bowen: So much in the Public League Blue is a mystery. 8-8 last year with wins over no one impressive. Lost to Harper.

Bradley: 6-6 SR Austin Halcomb gives them some size, he's an NAIA quality player. Guards Jovaughn Shiers and Kurt Homberg can shoot.

Bremen: Coach Brian Flaherty had things moving in the right direction, but resigned to deal with family issues. Matt Meany takes over.

Bronzeville: Another mysterious Blue division team. They were 5-11 last season, 2-7 in the Blue-South. No reason to not expect the same.

Brooks: Bobby Locke takes over for Chris Head. This is the year for the group (Marshall, Powell, Grays) that has been starting 4 years.

Brother Rice: Things just haven't been the same since Bobby Frasor left. Aren't there any more Harrigans?

Buffalo Grove: Coach Ryan O'Connor has quietly put together an impressive 9 year run. He's 149-100 with 4 20-win seasons.

Burlington Central: Returns five players from last season's 13-14 team, including leading scorers Ray Hunnicutt and Sam Klein.

Here's the first group of season previews. Follow me on Twitter @michaelsobrien for more.

ACE Tech: Athletic, but not much size. 5 guys back that played a lot last year. Watch for Julian Robertson, Joshua Bruce and Corey Holbrook.

ACT Charter: Your guess is as good as mine. No one answers the phone at the school, they were 1-20 last season, 0-9 in the Red West.

Addison Trail: Lost 9 seniors. Will be guard heavy, led by Ty Horvath, Armond Tigo and Denny Martinez. Soph James Capilo has potential.

Ag. Science: Coach Craig Adams says it will be a rough year. "500 if we're lucky" 5-3 soph Roy Barnes and 5-9 jr Afric Bussell lead the way

Alden-Hebron: Young core back with jrs Shane Engelbrecht, Alex Arthur and so. Bryce Lalor. Could be slightly better than last season's 6-22.

Amundsen: Lost everything, starting over. Weak soph class, will be relying on freshmen. Best players are Vince Rivera and Humberto Valentin.

Andrew: Sleeper team to watch, thanks to the 3 Adekoya brothers, all starters. Jubrill (6-4 soph), the youngest, is a high-major prospect.

Antioch: Brighter year ahead. True PG in 6-4 Mike Barakat and 6-4 jr Karl Nettgen is developing into a double-double machine.

Argo: Few noticed that they knocked off Vocational in the playoffs last season. Morris Woods and Godfrey Brown are gone. Rebuilding year.

ASA: Never seen them play, never heard a thing about them, no one responding to my calls. Doubtful that the next Anthony Davis lurks here.

Aurora Central: Two 6-4 transfers provide size, sr. guard Ryan Herald returns. Coach Nathan Drye expects them to be good by playoff time.

Aurora Christian: Dean Danos transferred in from Richards. Expectations are high with four players back from last season's 9-17 team.

Austin: Should be interesting with two good players back, sr Taron Jennings and jr Desmond Bryant.

I'm starting the boys basketball preview on Friday via Twitter. I'll be sending one tweet out about each of the 334 teams the Sun-Times covers. It'll be in alphabetical order, from ACE Tech to Zion-Benton, starting on Friday.

Follow me on twitter at @michaelsobrien for all the updates.

If you are a boys basketball coach, please send any info you have on your team, anything you would like included etc., to mobrien@suntimes.com

(Thanks to Justin Young for the idea, which I am blatantly stealing. Young is doing the same thing for Divison I college basketball teams. Follow him @justindyoung)

Sherrill Hanks,, who coached at Quincy High School and Quincy College, died Monday night in an Alabama nursing home. He was 85.

At Quincy High School, Hanks was 354-89, and won at least 20 games every season. His teams finished second in the 1965 and 1972 state tournament, and third in 1962.

11/27 vs Gary Lew Wallace at Genesis Convention Center in Gary, IN
12/4 vs Springfield Southeast at Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, IL
12/10 vs Alabama Lee at Marion HS in Marion, IL
12/14 vs North Lawndale
12/16 at Clark
12/17-12/22 at City of Palms Tournament in Fort Myers, FL
1/4 vs Austin
1/6 vs Manley
1/8 at Muskegon Heights, MI
1/11 at Raby
1/13 vs Farragut
1/17 at Shootout in Dayton, OH
1/18 at Marshall
1/20 vs Orr
1/22 vs Hales at Young Shootout
1/25 at Crane
1/29 vs Simeon at UIC Pavilion
2/5 at Bowman in Gary, IN

Jeff Borzello is reporting that East Aurora senior Ryan Boatright will commit this weekend. Boatright visited West Virginia last weekend and will visit Providence this weekend.

A scheduled visit to Miami has apparently been canceled.

Boatright has offers from those three schools, DePaul and Texas-El Paso. He's also receiving interest from Connecticut and UNLV.

From a Rush release ...

The Chicago Rush signed wide receiver Freddie Barnes for the 2011 season. Barnes, who attended Homewood-Flossmoor, where he played football and basketball, set an NCAA record with 155 receptions his senior year at Bowling Green.

"Freddie is a hard worker with NFL talent," head coach Bob McMillen described. "His speed and toughness will make him a nightmare for defenses next year."

Barnes finished the 2009 season at Bowling Green with 155 catches for 1,770 yards and 16 touchdowns. His record breaking season earned him All-American accolades, and a spot as a Biletnikoff award finalist.

Barnes was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Bears on April 24 before being released on September 3.

Simeon, Young and Perspectives-MSA are all scheduled to play in the Flying to the Hoop Shootout in Dayton, Ohio on January 15-17.

Perspectives-MSA faces Ohio Meadowdale on Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. Simeon plays Ohio Dunbar at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 16 and Young plays Ohio Wayne at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 17.

The Champaign News-Gazette released the pairings for the annual Shootout at the Hall today.

The seven-game, 14-team event will take place Dec. 11 at the Assemby Hall.

The pairings:

10:30 a.m. -- St. Joseph-Ogden vs. Unity

12:15 p.m. -- Pontiac vs. Rantoul

2 p.m. -- Springfield Lanphier vs. Peoria Manual

3:45 p.m. -- Peoria Notre Dame vs. St. Ignatius

5:30 p.m. -- Bowman Academy vs. Orr

7:15 p.m. -- Lee vs. Chicago Mount Carmel

9 p.m. -- Salt Fork vs. St. Thomas More

Lee is from Alabama and won the 2009 state title. Overall though, the event doesn't have as much local interest as it has the past few years.

If you are like me (too young to have seen Thornridge play in 1971-72), you're probably dying to see if they actually live up to the hype.

Here's some highlights of the state championship game that popped up on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MaD6qLIJk