Naperville Central: January 2009 Archives

The Naperville Central baseball team will be taking a field trip to Notre Dame.

The Redhawks will play Andrean, an Indiana prep power that won a state title in 2005, on May 5 under the lights at Notre Dame's Frank Eck Stadium.

The game was arranged in part by Naperville Central assistant Phil Lawler, whose son Scott is the associate head coach for the Fighting Irish.

Candace Parker, who is set to become a mother in a few months, told The New York Times that she plans to play this season in Los Angeles.

"My whole career has been trying to please people in basketball," Parker, a 22-year-old newlywed, said Friday in a telephone interview. "Now it's time to please myself." She added, "For me, family has always come first."

"I'm very stubborn," she said. "I feel like I'm going to play this season."

Shelden Williams sat out Sunday's game in Toronto with a strained left wrist, meaning the Kings power forward didn't play against Anthony Parker, his brother-in-law. That didn't stop Raptors forward Kris Humphries - nursing his own fractured right fibula - from messing with his teammate and sounding a bit like Lloyd Christmas. The Toronto Star's Dave Feschuk does a nice job of setting the scene here:

In these long-season dog days, harmless locker-room nonsense is perhaps essential. Humphries, to that end, asked Anthony Parker, the Raptors shooting guard, about Parker's famous basketball-star sister.

Anthony Parker shook his head: "Only Hump."

Sunday will be Senior Night for the Naperville Central and Naperville North hockey teams. The junior varsity game is at 5:40 p.m. Varsity follows the senior ceremony scheduled for 7:20 p.m. The puck drops at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge.

The Sacramento Bee recently caught up with Raptors guard Anthony Parker and the Naperville Central graduate deftly handled this Q&A session. The Bulls are in Toronto Wednesday night, and the Raptors visit the United Center on Jan. 23. Until then, check out the beginning of Scott Howard-Cooper's piece:

How often do you get asked about your sister Candace Parker and your brother- in-law Shelden Williams?
Often. Especially the day that we play Shelden in basketball. But it's fun, though. I enjoy it.
You don't get sick of being asked about your relatives, especially your sister? It's one thing to have a brother-in-law in the NBA. But do you get a lot of people throwing the Candace Parker card in your face in an unflattering way?
Occasionally you hear that, when you're visiting other arenas. ... But it's fun. It doesn't get to me like maybe people think it would.
What do you hear most often?
"Your sister's better than you."
Not very original.
No. It's the same thing every time.
What does she say about all this? Does she feel bad?
No. ... We joke, and we laugh about it. That's where it ends.

Neuqua Valley and Naperville Central are both rising in Michael O'Brien's Sun-Times basketball rankings. Neuqua (14-1) climbed three spots to No. 12. Central - which improved to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference last weekend - moved from No. 22 to No. 18.

"Great team win," Central coach Pete Kramer said after Saturday's 54-46 victory at Wheaton Warrenville South. "It puts us in a real good position cause if you look at where we have to go, and where we've already been, (that's) a good thing. (But) again, as a team, we've talked about one game at a time. Next it's West Chicago."

Here then is a breakdown of Central's upcoming DVC schedule. The Redhawks have already notched home wins against West Aurora, Naperville North and Glenbard North. They've traveled to Glenbard East and WW South and earned victories. The remainders look like this:

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Blake Baumgartner's Sunday feature on pitching guru Tom House. There's a lot of terrain covered here, from how coaches Bill Seiple (Naperville Central) and Robin Renner (Neuqua Valley) agree to disagree, to two pitchers from India signing big-league contracts. It's worth a read and has already generated some comments online. Feel free to share those responses here.
.

Naperville Central nearly gave away all of its 15-point lead on Saturday night at Wheaton Warrenville South before closing out a 54-46 win. WW South made it a one-possession game in the final minute, but what really added a layer of tension to the finish was the fact that Central had Drew Crawford down for three fouls while the official book had him with four.

Basically there was a miscommunication at the scorers' table. At some point, a foul that should have gone to No. 11 (Danny Ondik) instead went to No. 1 (Crawford - who incidentally is the son of a veteran NBA referee).

Afterward WW South coach Mike Healy said Crawford might be the most valuable player in the entire state - who knows what would have happened if the Northwestern-bound senior had picked up his phantom fifth foul.

Naperville Central announced today that girls swimming and diving coach Jon Carlson is retiring after guiding the Redhawks' program since 1983.

Carlson, who retired from teaching 18 months ago, guided Central to 20 top 10 finishes at the IHSA state meet, including winning team championships in 2004 and 2005.

He also coached state-champion relay teams in the 200 medley (1989, 1990, 2004 and 2005), and the 400 freestyle (1994 and 2004), and individual champions Ellen Stonebraker (1993 and 1994 200 freestyle relay), Kelly McNicols (2004 and 2005 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle) and Amy Prestinario (2005 and 2006 200 individual medley and 2006 500 freestyle).

He was also the boys swim coach from 1988-1992.

"Jon's record of success speaks for itself," Central athletic director Marty Bee said in a news release. "But Jon's true success lies beyond the championships. Jon fostered a great atmosphere among the girls he coached. He understood the need to help them develop as young people and did an awful lot to promote that growth."

Neuqua Valley (12-1) checks in at No. 15 in the latest edition of Michael O'Brien's Super 25 boys basketball rankings. The Sun-Times slots Naperville Central (12-1) at No. 22 in the same poll.

The Wildcats, whose only defeat was a 74-70 overtime loss to East Aurora, rebounded to win the Elgin holiday tournament. Neuqua travels to Plainfield Central on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

The Redhawks - coming off a Wheeling tournament championship that saw Northwestern recruit Drew Crawford earn MVP honors - next host Glenbard North on Friday at 7:30 p.m.