It needs a 6-foot-6 kid who is a rebounding fiend to somehow materialize in the school hallways.
With Mike Springs (point guard), Colin Nickerson (shooting guard) and Jereme Richmond (small forward), the pieces of the Bulldog puzzle that's missing is a big man in the middle who can defend opposing centers as well as get the ball off the glass to start the break.
Is there NOBODY in a school of 4,000 who's 6-6 and can play basketball?
You would think that the opportunity to play with Richmond would attract some big player to the Dog Pound. Here's hoping that happens.
Well, over here in The Locker Room, we wish it was so.
Obviously, it's not going to happen for a while. But when it does, a pitcher to keep an eye on this spring is Libertyville High junior Troy Barton. He's a 6-foot-6 righty who throws bullets and looks like he's the kind of you guy will be able to say -- 10 years from now -- I saw the kid pitch in high school.
He actually worked 5 innings for Libertyville on Tuesday in a game in Scottsdale, Ariz., and fanned nine.
Coming soon, The News-Sun is going to select its All-Lake County Boys Basketball Team for 2007-2008.
Here in The Locker Room, we're interested in finding out who YOU think should be on the five-man first team.
Remember, you need to pick 2 guards, 2 forwards and 1 center. Which means, you can't just pick the five best players in the area because this was a guard-rich area and you could easily have five guards on the first team.
The combination of their being no teams from Illinois playing and there being zero upsets of significance made Thursday the least memorable opening day of the NCAA tournament that we've had in a long time.
Duke-Belmont had an exciting finish, but even in that one, it was sad to see Belmont choke away the game with three terriible possessions in the final minute and five seconds.
The realliy frustrating thing about this tourney is that so many of the really good teams feature players who should be wearing Illini jerseys.
In no particular order ...
1) Kentrall Wilson (North Chicago senior forward) -- the ultimate blue-collar player. The guy on the team willing to rebound without also needing to shoot. Every successful team has a guy like this ... and the Hawks certainly were successful.
2) Marc Grischeau (Grant senior center) -- on this team, the guards did the scoring. Still, he emerged during the season as a guy who could score inside and also did yeoman work on the boards.
3) Rashaan Melvin (Waukegan senior forward) -- where would Waukegan have been without him? In big trouble. He could score, rebound and run the floor.
Kirk Heinrich's line Monday night: 15 minutes of action. 0 for 6 from the field. 0 points. Meanwhile, the New Orleans point guard, Chris Paul, was "held" down to 37 by the awesome Bulls guard defense.
It would be interesting to see just how far away people live who were ZBTHS grads and were following the team's success in the tournament. Like, were people in Arizona trying to get updates on the games? When something like this happens, it always seems like you discover there are alumni everywhere.
Here in The Locker Room, we actually were more impressed with the Zion-Benton fans -- quantity, enthusiasm, basketball knowledge, behavior -- than we were with the team finishing second in the basketball tournament.
A tip of the Zee-Bee cap to everyone who made this weekend one that card-carrying members of the Z-B Nation will remember forever.
In the Locker Room, we've maintained for the past year that one of the best sophomore basketball players in the state is playing in Lake County.
Turns out we were right.
A tip of the Zee-Bee cap to Lenzelle Smith for showing this year how effective an extraordinariliy talented player can be when he molds his game into a team concept.
Having seen the excitement generated by Zion-Benton High's wonderful boys basketball team, wouldn't it be great it the kids in the school and the community could get just as excited about the school's FOOTBALl team..
Success on the gridiron starts NOW ... not on Aug. 8 when equipment is issued for the first practice.
The Swarm deserves better than another 1-8 FB season and the entire Z-B Nation deserves better than another 1-8. We've had two of them in a row now.
Next fall, we want those fan buses headed to the University of Illinois for the Class 8A state FOOTBALL championships. Heck, I'll even drive one of the buses!!!!
Back in 1972, North Chicago lost the super-sectional game to Evanston because they failed to block out on a missed free throw in the final seconds. Evanston got the rebound, scored on the put-back and won the game.
If we block out on the missed free throw at 65-63 with 16 seconds left, I know we go down and score either a deuce to tie or a 3-pointer to win.
The thing to remember though is this: These are 17-year--old kids and they're doing their best to block out. It's not any one or two or three players' fault. Losing this one was totally due to the great play of Richards.
That is, there is no rule that says you have to win them all to earn being called "winners."
Though our side didn't score the most points Saturday night, it was one of the great state-final games in IHSA history, and our guys are every bit as much winners as the team that took home the big trophy.
Besides, we know something that the Richards High Bulldogs people don't know:
For the record, here in The Locker Room, we've been saying all year that Zion-Benton had the stuff to win the Class 4A state title.
And
That the Bulls would do well to trade Captain Kirk Heinrich to any team that would give us a bag of balls and a couple new nets in return..
Turns out that Z-B will make the first call correct in a couple of hours, and Captain Kirk's mediocre play has become evident to anyone who watches the Bulls.
The Locker Room has regained his senses and can see clearly now:
Zion-Benton 118 (setting the all-time single-game scoring record for a county team. The current mark is 117 held by one of Denny kessel's Mundelein teams in the mid-1990s), and Richards minus-25.
Four teams left in the IHSA Class 4a playoffs. Here we go:
Zion-Benton 63, Evanston 52. Evanston plays a zone defense and the deciding factor in the game will be whether or not Z-B guard Rodney Clinkscales and Ronald Steward can shoot well enough to bring the Wildkits out of it.
if they can, the Bees will tear up Evanston in man-to-man matchups near the basket. if they can't ... well, no negative thinking allowed this weekend.
In any case, Steward and Clinkscales haven't had big games in two weeks. Now is the time.
Richards 67, Lockport 43. Don't know much about these teams, but Richards beat Neuqua Valley by 20-plus points on Tuesday night and Neuqua Valley is GOOD. Truth be told, Richards is the one team down here that can give Z-B real trouble. So, root root root for Lockport.
Over here in The Locker Room, we're trying to find out who might be the longest-running (i.e. oldest) Zee-Bee fan in the neighborhood. The husband/wife team of Ken and Ann Miller has been suggested, but nobody in The Locker Room knows how to get hold of them. Can anyone help? Thanks
Since a lot of us can't make it down to Peoria for Friday's game, where would be a good place to go to in the Zion/Beach Park/Harbor corner of the universe at 6:30 p.m. Friday where a bunch proud card-carrying members of the Z-B Nation will be gathered to watch the game ... preferably on a big screen?
Zion-Benton vs. Evanston (likely) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday in semifinals.
64-50. Quintrell Love 19 points, but big Markus the true hero. Gentle giant comes through in the cluthc!
53-44 Zion. Elgin chasing as Zion is running clock. Z-B is too quick and has too many good ball-handlers so all Elgin can do is foul. Quintrell Love shooting 2 free throws with 2:44 left. He hits the first for 54-44. He hits the second for 55-44!
Elgin cut lead to 44-38 with 5:30 remaining and Elgin had to come out of zone defense and play man-to-man. Ronald Steward beat his man and scored on a runner for 46-38. Elgin responded with a 3-point bombm to make it 46-41 with five minutes left.
Zion gets first possesion of fourth quarter and lobs inside to 6-7 Markus Yarbrough who converted for a 40-35 lead. Markus has 12 points. Then, Antionio Stewart converted a Yarbrough miss for 42-35. Elgin respconded to make it 42-37 with 6:49 left to play.
Z-B leads 38-35 with 8 minutes to go. Nobody in foul trouble. Ronald Steward hit big 3-pointer to get zion up 38-33 and Elgin had last bucket of quarter, then just missed a tying trey at buzzer
24-18 lead for Z-B over Elgin. Zion shooting 10 of 30 from the field and with 9 turnovers. Games is played at a fast pace. Markus Yarbourgh 8 points and Lenzelle Smith 7 for the Bees.
