Curtain call for Zarr, Lake Zurich alumni

Every single day, John Zarr is involved in a personal game of tug-of-war.

He wants to follow the boys basketball team at Lake Zurich High School closely, but he's also adamant about keeping his distance.

Zarr is a longtime physical education teacher at Lake Zurich and bleeds Bears blue and white as much as he always has.

And yet, he's waited until tonight to attend his very first boys basketball game this season.

“I've been trying to stay away a little bit,” Zarr said.

It hasn't been easy. He's not at all used to being an outsider.

Prior to this season, Zarr had been the head coach of the Bears for the previous 16 seasons. He retired from coaching, not teaching, at the end of last season.

Now, with new head coach Billy Pitcher leading the way, Zarr has been extra mindful of facilitating a smooth transition.

“I think it's real important that Coach Pitcher get his own identity, that I not be involved in any hands-on stuff, like talking to players or hanging around all the time,” Zarr said. “This is his program and I just thought it would be best if I kind of stayed away a little bit. It's kind of been by design that I haven't (been to a game yet).”

Zarr might have stayed in the background even longer, but Pitcher slightly forced his hand.

Tonight Zarr will be honored before tip-off of the Bears' North Suburban Conference Lake Division clash against Warren. Pitcher helped to organize the event, which has also been dubbed “Alumni Night.”

Pitcher is hoping that players from the past will come back to honor Zarr and support the current Bears as they try to improve on their 4-9 record.

“We felt like it would be a great way to honor John by having his players from the past come back,” Pitcher said. “We're going to have a dinner for all those guys during the sophomore game and honor them at halftime and we're going to honor John before the game. I think it should be a great night. John seems to be really excited about it.”

Zarr says that his wife Mary and two of their four children, Carly and Kelly, will be on hand and that he is extra excited about this night coordinating with a game against Warren.

During the early days of his 30-year coaching career at Lake Zurich, Zarr became good friends with Warren head coach Chuck Ramsey. Back then, both were assistant coaches and would often run into each other while scouting games.

“John and I go way back, all the way back into the seventies,” Ramsey said. “Back then, both Warren and Lake Zurich were in the old Northwest Suburban Conference. We crossed paths a lot.”

In June of 2009, Ramsey and Zarr finally got the chance to work together. They coached a team of players from northern Illinois that participated in an all-star game sponsored by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.

“That was a wonderful experience, outstanding,” Ramsey said. “It was great to work with John. I really respect and admire him a lot. He did a great job for a long time at Lake Zurich.”

Post-break breakdown: Calm halftime speeches haven't been the answer.

Neither have spirited ones.

Next, Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher might try no halftime speech at all.

He's got to find some way to fix his team's frequent letdowns after halftime. The Bears have gotten into a habit of starting games strong but then returning to the floor after halftime only to finish with a whimper.

Against Mt. Carmel at the Pekin Holiday Tournament last month, Lake Zurich had an early 13-7 lead and took just a 2-point deficit into the locker room at halftime, but wound up losing the game by 21 points. Against Normal West in the same tournament, the Bears opened with a 6-0 run and were up 21-10 in the first half, but lost that game, too, 62-52.

Against Freeport, Lake Zurich was up by 10 points in the first half. The Bears went on to win that game, but only after Freeport stormed back in the second half to cut its deficit down to just 2 points.

“At halftime of that game, Freeport didn't even go to the locker room,” said Pitcher, whose team went 1-3 at Pekin. “They just stayed on the floor and shot around. I've never seen that before, but they had a great second half and got to within 2. Maybe we should try that.”

Pitcher is also trying to get to the root of his team's second-half problems.

He thinks that opposing teams may be looking past the Bears and their 4-9 record. At least early on.

“I think other teams may take us for granted and when we play a tough first half, they kind of wake up,” Pitcher said. “We've seen the intensity level of a lot of teams really pick up against us in the second half.”

Many times, the Bears aren't matching that with an up-tick in their own intensity.

“We start to get pressured and we're just not handling it well,” Pitcher said. “We've had a big problem with turnovers this year.”

Turnover troubles: Lake Zurich is averaging nearly 20 turnovers per game, but did see that number go down at Pekin.

The Bears, who have gotten improved ball-handling from starting guards Colin Rathe and Mike Boyd, never reached the 20 turnover mark in any of their four holiday tournament games.

In the Bears' lone win over Freeport, they recorded just 12 turnovers.

“We've tried everything we can think of in practice to simulate pressure and traps,” Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. “We go five on eight, one on two, two on three. We do a lot of different drills.

“I think all of that helped in the tournament. Our goal is to be around 10 turnovers a game. We have a long way to go, but we're getting closer.”

Santa shenanigans: Santa Claus has nothing to worry about.

The players on the Lake Zurich basketball team did their best Santa impressions after one of their practices before the holidays, and the gifts they came up with were interesting, to say the least.

The Bears participated in a Secret Santa gift exchange and made each other laugh with silly items such as a golf game for the bathroom, a bowl of goldfish and a supply of mice intended for a pet snake that the recipient already had at home.

“There were some good gag gifts,” Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. “The guys really had a lot of fun with the exchange. I think it brought us all closer.”

Pitcher says his team's trip to Pekin was also a good bonding experience.

“We spent a lot of time together down there. We also went to an Illinois State (basketball) game on the way home,” Pitcher said. “I'm seeing a lot of good signs because of that. I think everyone is closer and everyone is fighting for each other more.”

Stuck on Simeon: The third time wasn't quite the charm for Warren.

The Blue Devils rolled through their first three games last month in Pontiac, site of one of the most competitive holiday tournaments in the state each year, and were hoping to channel that momentum into a championship.

But Simeon stood in the way, and once again, had Warren's number.

Simeon defeated Warren in the championship game at Pontiac for the third time in the last five years, 58-50.

It was the Blue Devils' fourth championship game appearance in Pontiac during that stretch. They also lost to Simeon in 2005 and 2006. Two years ago, Warren defeated Schaumburg to win the title.

“It was a tough game again against Simeon,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “But the main thing for us was learning from it.

“The way we look at it is that if the highlight of your season is winning a Christmas tournament, then your season is probably not what you wanted it to be. We've got to learn from this and improve on it. Overall, we feel really good about the way we played down there. We played good team defense and we competed at a high level.”

Second to none: With a balanced offensive attack that includes six players averaging between 11 and 6 points per game, Warren typically has a rotating cast of stars.

Nearly every game, someone different steps up to lead the way.

At the Pontiac Holiday tournament last month, it was Darius Paul and JoVaughn Gaines who shined the brightest. Both were named second team all-tournament.

“We have a lot of guys capable of scoring, which makes us difficult to defend,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “But (Paul) and (Gaines) played really well at both ends for us.”

Paul, who leads the Blue Devils in scoring at 11.4 points per game, hit 6-of-14 3-pointers at Pontiac and was a beast on the boards. The 6-foot-6 junior forward leads Warren in rebounding with 7.2 rebounds per game. He's also the team's top playmaker at 3.3 assists per game.

Meanwhile, Gaines, a junior guard, often directed the offense and came up with some big plays in the clutch. He hit key free throws against Plainfield North to seal victory.

“Darius shot the ball very well and JoVaughn made a lot of great decisions for us. He was like the glue of our team down there,” Ramsey said.

Friendly foes: A win would have been the ultimate fun.

But Warren forward Jeremiah Jackson still really enjoyed playing against Simeon in the championship game of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament last month.

Two years ago, Jackson transferred to Warren from Simeon, which defeated the Blue Devils 58-50 for the Pontiac title. He is still friends with many of the Simeon players.

“We didn't want to make too big a deal about that before the game because sometimes, something like that causes kids to get nervous and try too hard,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “But Jeremiah was very focused the whole time, and he played really well. He nearly had a double-double against Simeon, which is a real achievement.”

Jackson put up 9 points and 9 rebounds, including 3 putback baskets, against his former teammates.

Inside out: With a tall lineup, and two offensive-minded post players in CJ Stempeck and Casey Boyle, Grayslake Central wants to get the ball in the paint for inside shots.

And outside shots.

Coach Brian Moe has noticed an interesting trend with his team. The Rams shoot better from the perimeter when the ball is passed to their outside shooters from the interior.

“We'll shoot like 50 percent from outside when the ball is coming from the inside,” Moe said. “I think a lot of it is that the defense is collapsing inside, so our shooters get better looks. But it also has to do with little things like footwork. When a shooter gets a pass from the inside, his feet are already lined up straight on with the basket, as opposed to maybe being on an angle if he's getting the ball on a pass from the point or somewhere else.

“Our focus has to be getting the ball inside to set up the rest of our offense better.”

The Rams probably would have benefited from that tactic over the holidays.

In a loss to North Chicago at the State Farm Classic Holiday Tournament in Bloomington, Grayslake Central went 1-for-8 from 3-point range. Many of those shots were not set up from passes that came from the paint.

“It's not that we need to take fewer outside shots,” Moe said. “We have good shooters on our team. We just need to take those shots from within the flow of what we want to do offensively. And that's getting the ball inside.”

Leading the way: In basketball, there are point guards and shooting guards.

Stevenson junior guard Michael Fleming seemingly doesn't fit into either category. He fits into both.

“You're starting to hear the term ‘lead guards' now. Guys like Derrick Rose (of the Chicago Bulls) are seen as ‘lead guards,'” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. “You're leading the way in a lot of things, not just leading or directing the offense like a point guard would. You're also a leading scorer and shooter and a leader on defense and in rebounding.

“Michael is our point guard because he's our primary ball-handler and he gets us into our offense, but he's actually less of a point guard and more of what I would consider that lead guard. He's doing more than what you typically ask of your point guard.”

Fleming leads the Patriots in scoring with about 12 points per game. He also paces them in assists and steals.

“We put a lot of responsibility on Michael and it's not something that you necessarily want to do to one player, but he's been real good with it,” Ambrose said. “He's willing to take it on and for a junior, that's not always easy to do.”

Getting defensive: Wauconda opened the season with nine straight losses.

Then the Bulldogs got serious about defense. So serious that they've won three of their last five games.

The new focus even translated into a second-place finish at the Marengo Holiday Tournament. The Bulldogs lost to Woodstock in the championship game, 50-39.

The 50 points were the most Wauconda gave up in a single game over its five games in Marengo. Overall, the Bulldogs allowed just 45 points per game for the tournament.

Prior to that, Wauconda was giving up 64 points per game, with a high of 116 points against North Chicago.

“There was a three-way tie in our pool at the tournament and because we gave up the fewest points, we got to play in the championship game,” Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager said. “We just started playing guys who are more defensive-minded and that led to steals and turnovers and teams were having a tough time cracking our defense.”

Forward Connor Rueb has been particularly relentless on the defensive end.

“He just throws himself into whatever we're doing,” Luetschwager said. “He's very coachable and his defense has been really tough.”

The Bulldogs have also been getting solid defense out of guard Kyle Ryan and 6-foot-7 center Matt Mead, who is quite a presence in the paint.

In a win over Woodstock North at Marengo, Mead rolled up 4 blocks.

“After a very rough start to the season, we're hoping those three wins we got helps with our focus and our energy,” Luetschwager said. “We just have to keep playing tough defense.”

Snowed out: One of the reasons Wauconda had to put such an emphasis on improving its defense over the holidays is that its offense took a big hit.

Just before the start of the Marengo Holiday Tournament, leading scorer Tyler Gick went down with an injury.

Gick, who is averaging about 13 points, hurt himself in a sledding accident.

“He hit a bump hard and then rammed his knee into the ground,” Luetschwager said. “After that, I think we reminded the kids every day about all the activities that we didn't want them doing in the snow.”

Gick, who missed all five of the Bulldogs' holiday tournament games, is slowly working his way back into the lineup.