December 2007 Archives

That said, after feeling very wishy-washy about the outcome of the Rose Bowl, it’s time to settle upon a winner of that game. How about something along the lines of this:

Heard this on the radio after the Bears beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and it just seemed so silly ….

Upon further review, it just may be that Grayslake Central High’s boys basketball team – and NOT North Chicago – should be the pick to click in the IHSA Class 3A Antioch Sectional next March.

Do not be shocked if Mundelein High’s boys basketball team is playing somewhere other than at Jacobs High in Algonquin during the holidays next year.

Congrats to Grant High varsity coach Phil Ralston, who earned his 100th coaching victory when his Bulldogs beat Round Lake 80-74 on Friday night.

Saw this kid as a freshman on the varsity at Warren High back in the days when the Blue Devils had Bembry and Lewis and Dalton and Moore and Clark, and it was obvious he would someday be an offensive force.

That would be DePaul’s decision to join the prestigious Big East Conference after seemingly finding a nice home in Conference USA.

This area’s four best prep girls basketball teams – Warren, Waukegan, Grant and Mundelein – are a combined 13-0 so far in holiday tourney action.

We knew the Lake Division of the North Suburban Conference – which seemingly never loses to teams from the NSC Prairie Division – was good. We didn’t know the Lake Division was THIS good..

The best thing to come out of Wednesday’s 70-61 loss by Waukegan High’s boys basketball team to Neuqua Valley at the Elgin tourney was the fact that the Bulldogs slapped a zone press on the Wildcats in the fourth quarter.

Who’s No. 1? That’s any easy one. Who’s No. 2? That’s easy, as well. After that, things get much tougher.

Trading Captain Kirk Hinrich for anything we can get in return.

If Zion-Benton High’s boys basketball team doesn’t make it downstate for the IHSA Class 4A Final Four playdowns in March, it won’t be because the Bees played a soft schedule.

Before Grant High started its tournament last year, when was the last year that you could spend a portion of the Christmas holidays in a county gym watching a boys high school hoops tourney?

Now that the Eagles of Lakes High in Lake Villa have set the state record for consecutive defeats (73) by a prep girls basketball team, it’s time for the Eagles to start a new kind of streak. A winning streak.

Way, way back in the day, the IHSA used to group teams for its IHSA basketball tournament into four-team regionals based solely on geography.

I remember seeing a flashy freshman guard named Vernon Randolph get some VARSITY minutes in late-season action during his first year at Warren High, and thinking he was going to be a really good one for the Blue Devils.

That would be Waukegan vs. unbeaten Highland Park on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the boys prep basketball tournament at Elgin High.

The forever-churning rumor mill is now churning with the possibility that Zion-Benton High’s boys basketball team will not return to the Luther North holiday classic next December, but will opt instead to participate in the state’s No. 1 holiday hoops event – the Proviso West tournament.

Thinking about tonight’s Stevenson-at-Mundelein prep boys basketball game got me thinking about Mundelein High’s Navjot Singh. Watch him play basketball and you swear that Raffi Mantilla is back in a Mustang uniform rather than booking as a freshman this fall/winter at Yale.

Saw this at a prep cheerleading competition, and it happened TWICE, so let’s assume it’s true. When a team is performing on the mat and one of the team members falls from the top of the pyramid and gets hurt, not only does the performance stop, but, -- now get this – the team gets to come back later in the day and finish its performance.

With an 11-0 record heading into the Luther North holiday tournament, Zion-Benton High’s boys basketball team is looking like a legitimate state contender. True or false?

In last week’s win over New Trier, Waukegan had just 11 points in the first half. In Thursday’s very disappointing 58-50 loss to Evanston, the Bulldogs had only 5 points in the first quarter and just 16 at halftime. What gives?

Word is starting to get out that North Chicago High’s boys basketball team is one of the best in our area. But, apparently, not all the words are being heard.

Welcome to The Locker Room, where we will talk sports 24/7 … and, best of all, we can pretty much do so without Big Brother watching. Remember: This isn’t our Locker Room … it’s YOUR Locker Room. So, what’s brewing in The Locker Room today?