Recently in Big Ten Category

--Joe Henricksen has an interesting blog post up on the Illinois Warriors, an elite AAU program that helped Naperville Central's Drew Crawford gain national exposure. Neuqua Valley forward Dwayne Evans currently plays for the Warriors.

--We didn't get a chance to link to this last week: Mike O'Toole, the former head coach at Joliet Catholic, will return to Neuqua as an assistant to Todd Sutton. A spot opened up on Sutton's staff with Bob Vozza's move to Metea Valley.

For some time now, Joe Henricksen has given Drew Crawford the benefit of the doubt. In a final installment for the City/Suburban Hoops Report, Henricksen ranks the state's top college prospects in the class of 2009, slotting the Naperville Central senior third.

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody has said that he thinks Evanston will be a good place for a guard to be over the next few years - the Wildcats have already recruited the interior players. Assistant Tavaras Hardy, who was instrumental in signing Crawford, told us: "We want to recruit kids that have a chance to make an immediate impact."

The departure of senior guard Craig Moore will open up a spot in the starting five next season, and Henricksen wasn't subtle in his prediction:

3. Drew Crawford, 6-5, 2G, Naperville (Central) ... There weren't enough people who were able to see just how good Crawford was during his high school career. Look for Crawford to start from day one at Northwestern and truly blossom in college.

Warren senior guard Brandon Paul edged out fellow Illinois recruit Jereme Richmond of Waukegan to win the 2009 Mr. Basketball of Illinois award.

Naperville Central senior swingman Drew Crawford received 20 first-place votes in ballots submitted by the state's coaches and media members. The Northwestern signee finished third in the voting with 137 points, behind Paul (337) and Richmond (321).

How would you have voted?

Naperville Central senior swingman and Northwestern signee Drew Crawford is scheduled to be part of the Chicago High School Classic, an all-star game that will take place Friday night at Niles North.

Marshall's Darius Smith - Crawford's AAU teammate who just verbally committed to Connecticut - is also expected at the event. Other players to watch that night include Illinois recruits Joe Bertrand (Sterling) and Brandon Paul (Warren).

Danny Crawford's first NBA season was 1985-86, and he will turn 56 in November. Retirement is an open question, and the referee takes it a year at a time now, working about 75 games per season plus the playoffs. That's the standard union contract.

With his son Drew about to leave Naperville Central to play at Northwestern, Danny is trying to make arrangements that will fill his schedule and strike a balance.

"I'm hoping that the NBA's gonna work with me," Danny said. "I know I'm asking a lot but (looking) at the Big Ten schedule, if Northwestern's playing Michigan or Michigan State, give me a game in Detroit."

There's probably a good compromise somewhere in that plan, but Drew's uncle Gene, a Big Ten official, won't have that flexibility. Gene was told he can't work any Northwestern games until Drew leaves Evanston.

Neuqua Valley graduate Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton scored all of her 15 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough as Purdue fell 67-66 to Ohio State in the Big Ten women's basketball tournament championship in Indianapolis, Ind.

Wisdom-Hylton, who was named to the all-tournament team, missed nearly 14 minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls. Purdue, which lost in the tournament final for the first time in three years, now awaits a possible at-large bid for the upcoming NCAA women's tournament.

In Thursday's notebook we highlighted the lift 6-foot-5-inch sophomore Matt LaCosse has given Naperville North in the two games since his promotion to the varsity. That's a familiar name you shouldn't forget, as he will likely be North's starting quarterback come Aug. 28 at Neuqua Valley.

LaCosse fits the profile of a big, athletic player who can potentially make an immediate impact in a postseason game. Last year Glenbard West's Tyler Warden couldn't be found in your sectional program, but there was the sophomore taking over the Drew Crawford assignment midway through the third quarter of a regional final. To that point, the Naperville Central star had scored 12 points, but with Warden's long arms suddenly in his airspace, he finished with just 17.

Of course being John Shurna's wingman has its benefits. Shurna scored half of Glenbard West's points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 40-36 comeback victory.

As it turns out, Shurna and Crawford are friends who will be teammates next season at Northwestern. In the meantime, Shurna will continue hitting big shots. On Wednesday night his baseline 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds to play was the difference in a 72-69 victory over Ohio State in Evanston.

"[This win] is a great feeling for the whole team," Shurna told the Chicago Sun-Times. "We've been neck-and-neck in all these Big Ten games, and it doesn't seem to fall our way. So it's nice to finally pull one out.''

Part of the challenge for Benet is trying to beat East Suburban Catholic Conference teams stocked with high-major Division I players. St. Joseph produces them on an annual basis, and that's why coach Gene Pingatore is at 820-plus career victories and counting.

Illinois travels to Northwestern Thursday night, and as Herb Gould explains in this Chicago Sun-Times feature, Bruce Weber is facing the same problem Pingatore did a few years ago. It's getting ex-Charger Demetri McCamey to play with maximum effort, as if he were a walk-on and not someone with NBA aspirations.

''When he was going to play against a name player or a top team, he was unbelievable,'' Pingatore told the Sun-Times. ''For run-of-the mill-type games, it was difficult. It's not just Demetri; it's human nature. And he is easygoing. He sometimes gets too casual. But when he turns it on, you'd like to bottle it.''

In his Chicago Sun-Times-affiliated blog, Joe Henricksen of the City/Suburban Hoops Report breaks down that question and the candidacy of Drew Crawford, the 6-foot-5-inch Naperville Central swingman committed to Northwestern. Henricksen writes:

"Player of the Year conversation should include....
In a recent radio interview I mentioned that Naperville Central's Drew Crawford should be in the Player of the Year conversation. By the reaction I received you would have thought I was talking about a player in Alaska. While Crawford is certainly a darkhorse and a Hoops Report favorite over the past two-plus years, he has no realistic chance for the Mr. Basketball award due to the fact hardly anyone knows much about him or has seen him play. He doesn't play in the Public League, he didn't play at Proviso West or Pontiac over the holidays, and he didn't sign with a big-time college basketball program. Crawford, though, should be a top five Mr. Basketball vote-getter."

We agree with Henricksen's logic, but the guess here is that it won't bother the well-adjusted senior all that much. Crawford felt somewhat slighted when his breakout junior season didn't warrant a single offer, but he proved that he was a Big Ten player over the summer on the AAU circuit.

"Big-time" depends on your definition - Northwestern may not fit it - but remember that it was essentially Crawford's dream school, and in deciding to stay close to home he turned down Wake Forest.

In an age of elite players moving and transferring here and there, Crawford is still a four-year program player (three years on varsity) who will likely end his career as the school's all-time leading scorer. Crawford gets his shots without being selfish, and his teammates never seem to resent all the attention he receives, patiently answering the same questions. Maybe that's because he helps them get open looks and pad their stats, but it also has to be a reflection of his personality and lack of ego.

If, as seems likely, Central (20-2, 10-0) wins another DuPage Valley Conference title and makes a long run in the Oswego East Sectional, those Mr. Basketball votes will be an afterthought.

What would your player of the year ballot look like?

The last time these District 203 rivals met, Drew Crawford was feeling sick but still managed 21 points to lead Naperville Central to a 43-32 victory over Naperville North. The Huskies (7-13, 1-7) will have to deal with the Northwestern-bound swingman again Friday night on their own floor.

Last week West Aurora assigned one primary defender to Crawford, instead of rotating several fresh players to guard him. Jamal Blackmond made Crawford work - he didn't score during one eight-minute stretch in the first half. But Crawford still efficiently put together a 25-point game and just his presence opened things up for the other Redhawks.

After Central's 51-46 win, West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman was asked about ways to contain Crawford.

"No specific gameplan. Just try to keep (Crawford) from penetrating as much as possible, give Jamal as much help as possible," Kerkman said. "Some people force baseline. We do not force baseline. We try to deny baseline. We got beat on the baseline so many times by him, either with backcuts or just dribble-drives.

"He hurt us. There were times where he went down there and we maybe came down to give him help - but he kicked to somebody that was open and they got the good shot."

That is North's dilemma on Friday night. And that's why Central is 19-2 and 9-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference.

On Tuesday night Oswego East's Jason Buckley became the latest coach to testify on Neuqua Valley's behalf.

"They've got so many options and they run so many guys in and out and (there's) a lot of interchangeable parts," Buckley said after a 75-50 loss in Naperville. "You try and take away one guy, four other guys are gonna step up. They present a lot of matchup problems. That's why (I) think they're a legitimate state championship-type team. (That) doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna win the state championship, but they've got the pieces to do it and certainly make a long run."

Neuqua forward Dwayne Evans, who is drawing looks from Northwestern, said the team is aware of the expectations but not obsessed by those lofty projections.

"We don't necessarily block it out," Evans said. "We accept it (because) we're kind of proud of that, how we're playing right now. (We) take it as a positive, we take it in stride."

What sort of team will it take to beat the Wildcats (22-1) in the playoffs? And where do you think their season will end?