Just stumbled across a compilation of Connecticut-bound point guard Ryan Boatright's 55-point effort against St. Charles North from earlier this season....
Click the extended version for a fuzzier version of Boat's 63-point effort...
This is all you need to know about spring baseball in this area....someday they'll play in 2011. Someday.
Former Kaneland High School baseball and football standout Casey Crosby is catching the attention of Detroit brass this spring at the Detroit Tigers' camp in Lakeland, Fla. His fastball reportedly hit 98 mph in a game against Atlanta prospects. Check out this report from the Detroit News.
Looks like Casey could be stepping up, assuming his arm troubles of the past few years stay behind him.
Northern Illinois University named longtime Michigan State assistant coach Mark Montgomery its new head basketball coach and during his press conference, he said he'll do "whatever it takes" to turn around the program.
I hope so.
Because you can't play the game of college basketball without playing the game, which means developing relationships with sleazy AAU coaches as well as influential entourages and family members.
It's about offering scholarships to 7th and 8th graders.
It's about making things easy for kids to enjoy DeKalb.
I'm guessing after being recruited to play at Michigan State, and being a coach alongside Tom Izzo for so long, Montgomery is aware of just how to do all that.
Will NIU let him do it? For their sake, I hope so. It's the only way he'll be able to turn around that program.
Well, Ricardo Patton is mercifully, history in DeKalb. Bad history.
But the good group of reporters over at the DeKalb Chronicle says Northern Illinois University has come up with four two finalists to replace Patton as the men's basketball coach.
According to McLovin and his crew out in DeKalb, the finalists are:
*Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti
check that: Giacoletti is NOT a finalist anymore. He's withdrawn his name...
*Indiana assistant Tim Buckley
*Purdue associate head coach Paul Lusk Nope - Lusk is out.
*Michigan State associate head coach Mark Montgomery
Some of these men were former head coaches, and successful ones at that.
And aside from Buckley at IU, all are currently working with very successful head coaches at top level programs.
That's good for NIU.
And what's also good for NIU is that unlike Patton, any one of these guys is more than likely going to recruit this area hard.
For years Patton ignored Aurora and its surrounding suburbs, and a load of Division I talent went in other directions.
To see the list, check out this entry of Jason's Take.
your body just decides to fall down afterward?
No?
Me either.
Derrick Rose shows us what it looks like. And the sound the rim makes definitely gives you the feeling.
As we first reported over the weekend, District 129 superintendent Dr. James Rydland is expected to recommend Nate Eimer to the school board during a closed executive session tomorrow as his choice to become the next Blackhawks football coach.
See exclusive video of Aurora Central Catholic's 85-82 OT victory over Rockford East on The Sports Beacon Facebook Page - including Ryan Harreld's 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime and his final points before the fans stormed the court.
The Chargers will now face Rock Island and Stanford-bound point guard Chasson Randle in the DeKalb Super-Sectional at Northern Illinois University.
Rock Island beat ACC 82-66 earlier in the season in a non-conference game, and Randle scored an "easy" 35 - but if you haven't seen him yet here's some highlights...
You can also find us on Twitter @SportsBeacon and on Facebook - search and like The Sports Beacon.
Aurora Central Catholic.
Head coach Nate Drye has his Chargers in the Class 3A sectional title game tomorrow night against Rockford East after grinding out a victory against Marian Central Catholic on Wedesday.
This is not Drye's most talented team, not by a long shot - the squad he led against Marshall three seasons ago at the Riverside-Brookfield Sectional was by far his best - but tonight mark's ACC's first sectional title appearance since Mark Lindo took ACC to the Sweet Sixteen in 1990-91.
That team reached the state quarterfinals in Class A - can this team continue it's Cinderella run?
1. My column today really didn't do the East Aurora defense last night any justice - you can only fit so much in print after all. So, some more details on that effort....
The man denial and mixture of matchup zone and a box-and-one on Northwestern-bound Benet point guard David Sobolewski was unbelievably well executed by the Tomcats.
In man, Tomcats guards John Williams and Domonique Johnson were able to stick on Sobolewski's hip, forcing him to give up the ball in the three-quarter court and force Wisconsin-bound center Frank Kaminsky to come up to set high screens 24 feet from the basket.
"He's fast. He's a great player to me," Williams said of Sobolewski. "I was glad I had an opportunity to stick defense on him. He's a good player. He made a couple shots, a copule big shots and I expected that because he's an all-stater, a D1 player."
But Williams and Johnson were able to go over the top of the screen, contorting their bodies around Kaminsky to stay up on Sobolewski. That prevented the point guard from getting enough separation to drive to the paint or pull up for uncontested jump shots - and it forced Kaminsky to hold that screen longer. He wasn't able to roll off quickly and take off down the paint for lobs or position down low.
East forwards Tom Okapal and Patrick Pryor then did a great job of showing hard on Kaminsky coming off screens since he can shoot the 3 - and it kept him from getting free looks.
Tyrone Savage and Bryan Robinson would then cheat off Benets sophomore Pat McInerney to help on Kaminsky - but they never flat-out double teamed him.
Sure, there were some breakdowns - there were times when Tomcats defenders went under the screens and Sobolewski got some clean looks. But he was just 3 of 12 from the field for the game and scored on just two free throws in the second half.
Kaminsky was bodied out of the paint by two college-bound football players in Okapal and Robinson, and he only had 2 uncontested shots inside. He finished 6 of 13 from the field and scored just four points in the second half.
The box-and-one on Sobolewski was only used in the second quarter, with Johnson literally chest to chest with the star guard. That forced Matt Parisi and Pat Boyle to try to run the offense, and Benet scored just 9 points as the Tomcats built a 35-21 halftime lead.
The final component to the East defense was shutting down Parisi, who made just 3 of 11 shots for 11 points. He only caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 9 points.
"We thought he would be the key," East coach Wendell Jeffries said. "You saw what happened when he got on a roll - he closed the lead - but we denied him the ball early."
East high switched up the D again late in the game after the Redwings finished the third quarter and started the fourth on a 17-2 run that cut the Tomcats lead to 49-48.
That change held Benet to just four points over the final 3:38 - although no one wanted to say what exactly that defense was.
"We switched to a defense that was focused on their two main players," Williams said. "We practiced it all week. If we wanted to win, we had to do that certain defense."
2. The Tomcats need to find a third scoring option in late game situations. Ryan Boatright led East with 29 and Williams added 16, but no other player scored more than Bryan Robinson's 4.
Part of the reason for that was Letrell "Snoop" Viser only played a few minutes as he's still recovering from a twice-discolated pinky on his left (non-shooting) hand a severe high ankle sprain.
Viser was 1-for-3 on the game with a 3-pointer, but he didn't look confident dribbling on that left hand, or as quick as usual on defense.
Having now won 3 postseason games essentially without Viser, you can say East can get to state without him - but hopefully the added rest will get him on the court sooner...
which leads to No. 3. The East Aurora fans were merciless in the second half, riding Jeffries hard to put Viser in the game as the Redwings slowly chopped away at was once a 17-point East lead.
But those fans weren't really complaining when East built that lead without Viser.
Let the man coach.
Only he and his coaches know what Viser was able to do in practice that week, and we on media row could tell he was not 100-percent against Benet.
There was no way he was going to be able to defend Sobolewski or Parisi better than Williams or Johnson.
Finally, Jeffries did make one nearly fatal mistake with 10 seconds left. He took out all his starters to put in sophomore and junior reserves. At the time, we wondered why he would do that at all.
And sure enough, sophomore Dejon Talbert and junior Eli Davenport nearly put Benet back into the game.
Talbert was intentionally fouled - and hard - by a frustrated Boyle.
But Talbert has an attitude problem (I've seen enough EA sophomore games to draw that conclusion) and he immediately began pounding a closed fist into his other open palm and would not stop talking and stalking around Boyle and Kaminsky.
Then, Davenport rushed Boyle.
In fact, a man who I initially thought was a spectator (perhaps plain clothed Aurora PD?) rushed the court to push remove Davenport from the Benet players and push him and Talbert back to the bench.
In my eyes Talbert should have been given a technical for taunting and Davenport a technical for his actions. And that person running the court? I don't care if that's a police officer or not, that should never have happend in a game. And if it was an East fan? Possibly a third tech right there.
Benet could have easily had 4 (or 6) free throws and the ball with 11 seconds left and down 57-52.
Here's hoping that if the Tomcats are winning again late, just let the seniors hold the ball. The underclassmen and inexperienced juniors nearly caused a massive collapse.
By the way - visit (and "like") our Facebook Page - The Sports Beacon - for exclusive video of the Tomcats victory!
He may not be playing at the United Center in the McDonald's All-American Game, but East Aurora's Ryan Boatright has been selected to play in a new high school all-star event that will be held in suburban Houston the same weekend of the NCAA Final Four.
Boatright is one of four players from Illinois named to the 10-man North team for the inaugural All-American Championship. Ten-player teams will also represent the East, West and South regions of the country.
The complete rosters are listed here.
Those teams will play a semifinal game on Friday (April 1st) with consolation and title games set for Sunday (April 3). The games will be played at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center, a 6,400-seat arena in Aldine, Texas, a suburb of Houston.
The NCAA Tournament semifinals are held on Saturday of that same weekend with the title game on Monday night.
Joining Boatright, a Connecticut recruit, on the North team will be Mt. Carmel's Tracy Abrams (Illinois), Orr's Michael Henry (Illinois), Rock Island's Chasson Randle (Stanford) and Whitney Young's Same Thompson (Ohio State).
The idea for the All-American Championship was developed by the Gazelle Group, a sports marketing firm based in Princeton, N.J. and plans were announced in January.
I just can't shake 'em after watching Chris Bosh take this pass off the grill ...
Who would have believed it would come to this?
Remember when the state basketball finals were moved to Peoria and getting a ticket was pretty much out of the question if your school's team didn't make it or you didn't know someone? Those tickets were harder to land than a ticket to an East Aurora - West Aurora game ... at West.
Not anymore.
The IHSA sent out a press release tonight on behalf of the Peoria Civic Center saying good seats were still available for the boys finals on both weekends.
The Class 1A-2A finals will be held March 11-12 with the 3A-4A finals the following weekend, March 18-19.
The release says: "Individual game tickets, $6.50, $8.50 and $10.50 and are on sale now at the Peoria Civic Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 1-800-745-3000 and online at Ticketmaster.com. Patrons can also purchase session tickets at the Peoria Civic Center Box Office and receive the same seats to all four games of an individual class's session."
Who'da thunk it?
The complete schedule for each weekend can be found on the IHSA website (ihsa.org). And not only are seats available, downtown Peoria also has "plenty of hotel rooms available."
Will wonders never cease?
Of course, proponents of the good old days and the A and AA tournaments will argue that it may be time to turn back the hands of time.
Friday night's Bolingbrook Regional final between Upstate Eight Valley rivals Neuqua Valley and East Aurora will be the CN100 Game of the Week.
Each game of the week will be shown on CN100 and available on Comcast On Demand throughout the rest of the 2010-11 season.
Here are the re-broadcast dates:
Saturday, March 5, 4 p.m.
Monday, March 7, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 8, 7 p.m.
While fellow sophomore guard Miles Simelton got the Panthers back into the game tonight before eventually losing 67-56 to Naperville North in the North Regional semi-final, a future star in the area and probable Beacon News Player of the Year in one (or both) of the next two years is sophomore back court mate Elliot McGaughy.
McGaughy (pronounced Mc-Goy) scored 11 points and handed out 7 assists before fouling out with 3:06 to go, but the 6-2 underclassman has all the tools to be the next dominant force in the area.
He reminded me a lot of East Aurora guard and Connecticut recruit Ryan Boatright in this regard - he tried to take over the game in the first half as the Panthers were falling over 20 points behind, but he just couldn't finish his shots.
Boatright was the exact same way at that age. He has the ability and the mindset, but just not the know-how.
McGaughy went just 4 of 16 from the field, but he got to the lane at will - he just couldn't convert from inside 8 feet. He also had some great interior passes go for naught when teammates couldn't do the same.
I talked to an opposing coach whom I respect, and all he could do was just shake his head at how good McGaughy will be next year - and then hoped he doesn't get any taller.
Rick Armstrong
Mike Knapp
A sports writer at the Beacon News for over eight years, Knapp is the Kane County Cougars beat writer.
