Neuqua Valley: February 2009 Archives

Not that there was ever any doubt, but Neuqua Valley definitely looks ready for the postseason.

By now, it's used to games like this. The Wildcats dismantled Larkin on Friday night in Naperville, cruising to a 90-55 victory that gave them the Upstate Eight Conference championship outright. That makes it two UEC titles in a row, and four in the last five years.

Against an overmatched Larkin team (7-19, 1-9) on senior night, 11 Wildcats scored, again showing balance with seven finishing between nine and 13 points. They forced 12 first-half turnovers that helped key a 32-14 run through the second quarter.

Forward Dwayne Evans led the way with 13 points and nine rebounds, while forward Derek Raridon added 11. Guard Steve Waeghe and center Kareem Amedu each finished with 10. Chris Sutter, Ryan Wagner and Rahjan Muhammad each had nine.

Neuqua (27-1, 9-1) has now won 19 consecutive games and is the top seed in the Oswego East Sectional, which begins Monday. It awaits the winner of the Naperville North-Benet opening-round game. Legal pads in hand, both schools were out scouting at Neuqua on Friday night.

Naperville North is generating some momentum, riding a five-game winning streak into the postseason. Joe McNicholas scored 19 points to lead the Huskies to a 63-54 victory over West Chicago on Wednesday night in Naperville

James O'Shaughnessy finished with 12 points while Matt LaCosse added 11. No. 16 North (12-13) faces No. 17 Benet on Monday at the Batavia Regional. The winner faces Neuqua Valley (26-1), the top seed in the Oswego East Sectional.

State tournament projections came bubbling up after Neuqua Valley's 39-point win at Downers Grove South on Saturday, but overlooked in that was how the Wildcats now can win the Upstate Eight Conference outright. They can thank South Elgin, which on Friday handed St. Charles North its second conference loss.

Neuqua (26-1, 8-1) can clinch it outright with a victory Friday against visiting Larkin (6-18). That means a team that hasn't lost a game since December against a team that hasn't won a game since that very same month. Last season Neuqua earned the title with a win on Larkin's floor in the regular-season finale.

Neuqua Valley destroyed Downers Grove South - a team that beat Naperville Central by five points last month - during a 70-31 victory on Saturday night, an effort that pushed the Wildcats to No. 8 in the Chicago Sun-Times rankings. Guard Rahjan Muhammad led the Wildcats (26-1) with 17 points as they extended their winning streak to 18.

Central, the DuPage Valley Conference champion, remained at No. 20 in the same poll, and look for a common opponent like Downers Grove South to be a reference point come March. Basketball's chattering class continues to talk up Neuqua as a state title contender.

Roy and Harv Schmidt of Illinois Prep Bulls-eye predict that Neuqua will beat either Central or Bolingbrook for the sectional title and then take care of Rockton Hononegah in the DeKalb Super-Sectional to earn a trip to Peoria.

After Saturday's performance in Downers Grove, what are your predictions for the Oswego East Sectional and beyond?

The baseline for Dwayne Evans is set with mid-major programs from the Mid-American Conference and Horizon League. But Northwestern has also looked at the Neuqua Valley forward, and his stock only figures to rise over the next several months. In this Sun-Times News Group piece, Scott Powers breaks down Evans' well-rounded game.

Recruiting projections are still just guesswork, as quarterback Dan LeFevour has shown at Central Michigan. As part of an interesting series, the Sun-Times shines the spotlight on Benet, with an essay from LeFevour and all sorts of trivia about the Redwings.

Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams spread the praise around after the Wildcats pulled away late for a 57-41 win over Downers Grove South in Tuesday's girls basketball regional semifinal at Neuqua.

Instead of spending time praising the obvious players -- Becky Williford, Danielle Davis and Morgan Williams, who each scored 11 points -- Williams directed attention to several deserving others.

Kim Puk, Danielle Carroll and Jenna Marsalli were credited for playing some key minutes to let others rest. But Williams was especially effusive in his praise of Ashleigh Jones, who saw extended action when starter Erica Jordan got in foul trouble.

"The real big key was Ashleigh Jones," Williams said. "I thought she made some great rebounds and did some good things underneath that helped us, especially giving Erica a break."

Jones finished with four points and three rebounds, scoring both her baskets on back-to-back offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter to put the WIldcats ahead by 11.

Joaquin Phoenix wowed us all with his Andy Kaufman act, hip-hop dreams and ability to mumble and chew gum at the same time while crushing it on "Late Show with David Letterman." That's a good run, but which one of these area teams had the Best Week Ever?

-Neuqua Valley (25-1) wins its 17th consecutive game, blows out Geneva and Lake Park by a combined 36 points, earns the No. 1 seed in the Oswego East Sectional and finds out East Aurora is unraveling. The Wildcats, who are ranked 10th by the Chicago Sun-Times, are now atop the Upstate Eight Conference alongside St. Charles North. Both teams have one loss, while East Aurora has two after weekend losses to Bartlett and Waubonsie Valley.

-Naperville Central (21-2, 11-0) clinched at least a share of its second-straight DuPage Valley Conference championship with a with a 69-55 victory over Glenbard North on Friday night in Carol Stream. The Redhawks also learned they will be a No. 2 seed in the Oswego East Sectional and moved up to No. 20 in the Sun-Times poll.

-Waubonsie Valley (12-11) may have turned its entire season around with weekend victories over Dundee-Crown and East Aurora. The Warriors climbed above the .500 mark and Beacon News hoops guru Rick Armstrong thinks a regional title is a possibility.

-Benet beats Nazareth - the program first-year Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp used to run - by 23 points on Friday night and then follows it up a day later with a 61-47 rivalry game win over St. Francis at Benedictine. Now the Redwings are 10-12 - 5-6 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference - with another winnable game coming up Tuesday night at Wheaton North (6-15).

Neuqua Valley, the top seed in the Oswego East Sectional, was assigned to the Batavia Regional and will face the winner of the Naperville North-Benet opening round game, the IHSA announced Friday. In order to win a regional championship, the Wildcats may have to defeat No. 9 Batavia on its own floor.

As a regional host, No. 2 Naperville Central will enjoy home-court advantage. But in order to advance, it could have to beat seventh-seeded West Aurora for a third time this season.

In the East Aurora Regional, No. 12 Waubonsie Valley will take on No. 21 Wheaton North for the right to face fifth-seeded Plainfield North.

If the brackets unfold true to form and all top-four seeds survive the regionals, Neuqua would meet East Aurora in one sectional semifinal, and Naperville Central would play Bolingbrook in the other. Regional play begins March 2.

As expected, the Neuqua Valley (24-1) and Naperville Central (20-2) boys basketball teams were awarded the first and second seeds, respectively, for the upcoming Class 4A Oswego East Sectional. The IHSA released the seeds Thursday afternoon, in the first year for online voting by area coaches.

In the 22-team grouping, Waubonsie Valley (10-11) was slotted 12th, followed by Naperville North (8-14) at No. 16 and Benet (8-12) at No. 17.

Regional sites were predetermined: Central, East Aurora, Batavia and Glenbard West will be hosts. The IHSA will announce the pairings on Friday. Regional quarterfinals are scheduled to begin March 2.

Oswego East Sectional
1. Neuqua Valley
2. Naperville Central
3. Bolingbrook
4. East Aurora
5. Plainfield North
6. Glenbard East
7. West Aurora
8. Geneva
9. Batavia
10. Wheaton Warrenville South
11. Bartlett
12. Waubonsie Valley
13. Oswego East
14. Willowbrook
15. Glenbard West
16. Naperville North
17. Benet
18. Marmion
19. Glenbard North
20. West Chicago
21. Wheaton North
22. Lake Park

It seems like the same story every time with Neuqua Valley (24-1), which is currently ranked seventh by the Chicago Sun-Times. There was balanced scoring on Tuesday night - Derek Raridon (13 points), Dwayne Evans (12 points, nine rebounds) and Kareem Amedu (12 points, six rebounds) all finished in double figures. And the big run (15-0) to gain separation. All against a quality opponent on the road (17-6 Geneva).

Beacon News hoops guru Rick Armstrong still managed to gather a few nuggets for this game story. The Wildcats sent another message before online seeding begins today for the Oswego East Sectional, and Neuqua associate head coach Bob Vozza got his annual chance to take over for head coach Todd Sutton and run the team for a game. Armstrong writes:

And Tuesday's non-conference tilt was a good one since it was a return home, of sorts, for Vozza. He was an assistant to former Geneva head coach Tim Pease from 1992-95. And he played for Pease as a freshman and sophomore in high school when the latter coached at Waubonsie Valley in the late 1980s.

"The kids respond to both of us," Vozza said. "It doesn't matter who is standing up there (in front of the bench).

Scott Powers meanwhile looks at Evans getting fired up after a technical foul on Tuesday night.

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Neuqua Valley and Naperville Central are located in the same city but separate school districts and different conferences. But a consensus seems to be building that Neuqua and Central will be the top-two seeds once the brackets are released later this week (Friday the 13th according to this IHSA release, a day after the seeds are posted).

Joe Henricksen of the City/Suburban Hoops Report thinks so, as does Illinois Prep Bullseye.

Dick Goss of the Herald News has Neuqua and Central at No. 1-2, with this warning:

But the field includes nine other teams with at least 14 wins, so matter what the online voters decide, there will be hurt feelings. ... Bolingbrook and Plainfield North can make legitimate cases for being in the 3-4 spots. But followers of East Aurora, West Aurora, Batavia, Glenbard East, Geneva and a couple of others may feel the same way.

Neuqua Valley senior Danny O'Leary was also among the local athletes who signed a letter of intent on National Signing Day on Wednesday.

O'Leary committed to play soccer at Notre Dame for coach Bobby Clark. The signing came a year after O'Leary had given Clark his verbal commitment.

The Sun regrets having not included O'Leary among the list of signees in the paper. If you know of any other student-athlete who signed a letter of intent Wednesday, please let us know.

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?

Neuqua Valley never trailed in earning a 75-50 nonconference victory over Oswego East on Tuesday night in Naperville. Dwayne Evans led Neuqua (22-1) with 12 points and 14 rebounds. In total 11 Wildcats scored in the win, an impressive display of balance against an Oswego East (9-9) team that had only one player in double figures. Neuqua showed why it's slotted seventh in the latest Chicago Sun-Times rankings.