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All-Area Reaction
Today is one of the hottest times of the girls basketball season next to the day my preseason rankings are released.
The Sun-Times All-Area team was announced today. I received numerous e-mails and phone calls about why certain players were left off. Mind you, all of the following players were special mentions.
Why was Trinity’s Monica Albano not on all-area?
Why wasn’t Lake Park’s Samantha Arnold on the team, considering she’s put up solid numbers and has already committed to Michigan?
Why wasn’t Hope’s Ashley Brown on the team, considering she’s scored 1,003 points and shoots 64 percent?
To that, consider these numbers:
We cover 275 high schools in the Chicago area.
There are at least a thousand girls to consider who are starters on those teams.
There are only 20 spots on the team. All three of the above were given serious consideration and it is regrettable that there wasn’t room for all of them.
To put those three on the all-area team, you would have to take three off. Who would you take off?
It’s easy to say who should be on the team, but not as easy to decide who gets left off.
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I have seen 40+ games personally and an untold number on tv.
I've seen over half of the players honored, I would have no trouble taking off Kusner , Ashley Thomas, and Ortiz for what they have done this season.
Posted by: Paddy | February 15, 2008 05:34 PM
To make it fair, I would evaluate each player in contention for the top 20 slots as follows:
For most points, assists, rebounds, steals and other stats that are being considered and are validated - sort each player per stat in descending order and the player with the most points gets the highest number of players being considered, i.e. if there are 25 players in contention, the one with the most points or numbers gets 25 points for each stat.
For school grade: Seniors get 4 points, Juniors get 3 points, Sophomores get 2 points and Freshmen get 1 point.
For years of being a Varsity player: Players get as many points equivalent to the number of years on Varsity.
For team ranking: If the player being evaluated is in the 1st place team, she gets 25 points.
For being all-conference player: If the player has been an all-conference player for three years, she gets 3 points.
For having gone Downstate: If the player competed at RedBird Arena once, she gets one point.
For team strength of schedule: If she plays in the toughest schedule, she gets 25 points.
Therefore, the top 20 players with the most points gets to be on the All-Area Team.
But if you really want to know who should be taken off, I would consider:
-Giden, weak conference, have they won a regional (maybe tonight)?
-Kusner, Maine West way overrated, ousted by Evanston already, weak conference
-Magrum, Who? South Suburban Red?
Politics should be left out of the equation.
I love and admire girls that are involved in high school sports and take their academics seriously because sports teaches them to be disciplined, focused, determined and it helps them mentally and physically to compete in the business world in the future as lawyers, doctors, engineers or a scholastic field they choose.
Lastly, for scholastic achievements: Player with an A average gets 4 points, with a B average gets 4 points and with a C average gets 3 points.
Given the above criteria, the Top 20 All-Area players are....
Posted by: CBA | February 15, 2008 07:23 PM
Good job with Sarah Booth. How do you leave Candace Sykes off the list?
Posted by: sam | February 19, 2008 11:08 AM
Points, reputations, and college offers seem to be the criteria for all-area and all-state selections. Basketball knowledge combined with skill and team play are lost in this era of overemphasis on stardom and college scholarships.
Whatever happened to leadership and good citizenship? If you looked at Hinsdale Central, New Trier, and Schaumburg you would see some real basketball character (particularly at point guard).
Posted by: Moto | March 4, 2008 09:03 AM