Recently in Boys basketball Category

You can read what News-Sun sports columnist Jeff Bonato thinks Grayslake Central High should do next regarding its boys basketball mess by checking out his Extra Point in Monday's News-Sun (also available online).

Then, go ahead and send your comments regarding what YOU think Grayslake Central should do, now that they've apparently decided to whack the very good coach they already had in the system.

The Locker Room door is never locked.

Apparently, the Grayslake High school board late Thursday night voted 2-2 on the question of rehiring Tim Bowen as Central varsity boys basketball coach.
According to a reporter at the scene, the 2-2 vote means that Bowen is out as Rams coach after eight seasons, including a 22-7 campaign last year and the likelihood of a 25-win season next winter.
Unbelievable.
And not in a good way.

A year ago, Zion-Benton High DOMINATED summer-league hoops at CLC and we all saw what happened during the prep season.
Also incredibly strong last summer was North Chicago, and we saw what they did, going 25-5.

Not terribly impressive last summer were Waukegan and Warren -- two teams that didn't get the high-quality results during the prep season.

Dave Masterson actually wrote a column several Fridays ago noting how what happened last summer predicted almost perfectly what was going to occur during the regular prep season.

We think that is going to be the case again this year. Z-B very good, but North Lawndale of Chicago (nowmoving up to Class 3A after winning Class 2A last year) blocking North Chicago from making it to Peoria, unless the draw sends N. Lawndale to the other half of the bracket.

Also, Waukegan has had uneven results this summer, and we expect the Bulldogs to be an up-and-downer during the prep season. And Warren has shown that it is still looking for four players to put around Brandon Paul ... a situation which most certainly is going to exist in the early stages of the winter campaign.

In The Locker Room, we feel like summer hoops does give a true indication of what's going to happen during the prep season.

And people who've been following North Chicago this summer say they're going to be better than they were last year.

As for Z-B, some are saying that the graduation of Rodney Clinkscales is gong to hurt more than you might think. It might make it easier to double-team star point guard Ronald Steward, make him give up the ball and create some turnovers.

By the way, in The Locker Room, our pick to lead the area in scoring average next winter is Mundelein junior guard Ben Brust.

Gotta give North Chicago High's hoops team credit for beating Zion-Benton on Tuesday in the semifinals of the CLC summer league tournament. Alas, the Hawks ran out of gas and lost in the finals to North Lawndale from the Chicago Public League in what could have been a preview of next March's IHSA Class 3A state championship game.

The thing that hurts NC is a lack of height. Basically, the team plays with four guards and small-forward Joshua Wright.

Teams with size like North Lawndale will give the Hawks trouble all year.

The trick for coach King Coleman is to get his swarming, lightning-fast team to frustrate bigger opponents. It's the only path the Hawks have to Peoria.

Remember when Z-B High's powerhouse hoops teams played at Chicago Mather at Thanksgiving, Luther North at Christmas, and slated non-league games against NSC teams from the other division plus Germantown, Wis.
How times have changed! This year, the Bees have as tough a schedule as you can possibly get.
Interesting, though, that Z-B is NOT playing in any of the gimmick games -- doubleheaders put together by companies trying to make a buck that are played at Loyola or Northwestern or the big new arena in Hoffman Estates, etc.
if you ask the promoters why Z-B isn't playing in any of those games, they'll tell you that Z-B fans don't travel. And they are only interested in teams that sell tickets.
It will be interesting to see if the Z-B Nation travels with its team to road games this season.
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A few years back, Z-B hoops was led for a season or two by Big Tim Baines. Many who knew the kid thought he'd be an NFL player if he decided to play OT or TE. Instead, he played hoops only and is not going to the NBA.
Now, the same thing is being suggested regarding our gentle giant ... big Markus Yarbrough. Size-wise, he obviously would get it done in the O-line. But the kid really is just a nice, happy teen-ager who doesn't seem to have the mean streak in him that you want your football players to have.
Besides, we don't know how he'd react being part of a Z-B grid team that has won exactly two varsity games in the last two YEARS. Guarentee the gentle giant is not used to losing. It might have soured him on the sport, or cut down his drive to succeed.
You've got to admit, he's made HUGE strides in his conditioning from his sophomore year to now. Would he have worked as hard while part of a really bad grid program?
Don't know.

By all accounts, Matt Vogrich is emerging as a prime-time player, and Kevin Berardini can get the job done at the point.
But Lake Forest hoops, of all area teams, seems to have more success at home and less success on the road than their team's skill level would suggest.
That bandbox of a gym they play in at home with the friendly rims makes them a threat to beat anyone there. But it's definitely not the same team on the road, and they'll never get a regional in that midget-like gym they now call home.
When the Scouts move to the renovated big gym on Waukegan Road, will the homecourt advantage go with them?
Don't know.
In a league that includes Z-B, Warren & LZ, LF is going to have to work to finish anywhere near the top.

The varsity team won exactly one time last year, and only got that win because Vernon Randolph was ineligible at the time at Round Lake High. Otherwise, Antioch High's boys basketball team would have been 0-for-the-season under first-year coach Mike Skinner.

So, what did the Antioch hoops braintrust do?

They got the team into the Luther North Christmas tournament.

If you're scoring at home, the Sequoits are replacing Zion-Benton in the 16-team field, but that's not the important thing.

This is: In The Locker Room, we are guaranteeing that the Sequoits will go at least 2-2 in that four-day event. It sure beats going 0-4 at Oak Park-River Forest every December!
For a team that won once all of last year, putting yourself in position to be successful is VITAL. And Antioch's done just that.

The word spreading in The Locker Room is that the Grayslake High School board did NOT re-hire Tim Bowen as Grayslake Central High's varsity boys coach.

Problem is, no one seems to know for sure. Players and parents passing through The Locker Room seem to think he's out. Yet, we fully expect to see him on the bench coaching the Rams in summer league hoops tonight at CLC.

What's the story? Anybody at that board meeting? The guess in The Locker Room is that they "tabled" his re-hiring because the school's new athletic director -- the likeable Tom Kim -- hadn't yet started his new job and that maybe Bowen will be re-hired at the next board meeting. But that's just a guess.

For the record, the Rams won 22 games last season.
Also for the record, Tim Bowen knows what he's doing as a coach.