Carmel takes a run at a different style of play

Different year, different coach, different style.

That might as well be the slogan at Carmel this season.

The Corsairs are making all kinds of adjustments coming off of last year's run to the sectional championship game.

Gone are towering bookend post players Jack George and Michael Barr, who stood 6-foot-10 and 6-foot-6 respectively.

New coach Zack Ryan has only one player even close to that size, 6-foot-5 forward Tim Owens.

"Other than that, we're pretty much 6-foot, 6-foot-1 across the board," Ryan said. "So we can't just grind it out in the half court, like they did a lot last year. We are not big. We need to get up and down the court and score a lot of points."

In two games over Thanksgiving, both wins, Carmel scored 80-plus points in each outing.

"We need to push the ball and out-run other teams," Ryan said. "When we run our fast break, we're pretty good."

The new style is taking some getting used to, though. Ryan says he sometimes has to bug his better players to shoot more.

Junior guard C.J. Barr is averaging about 17 points per game, but could see that number skyrocket if he starts shooting the ball as much as Ryan would like him to.

"C.J. is shooting 16 times a game and I told him we need him to shoot it a lot more, at least 20 times a game," Ryan said. "He's still getting used to this style of play. He started last year as a sophomore, but was the second or third option. He's a team guy, very unselfish, always looking for other guys. We have to tell him to look for himself now and to keep shooting."

Slow start:

Part of the reason guard C.J. Barr is still a work in progress within the Carmel offense is that he wasn't able to do much work in the fall.

Barr had transferred out of Carmel at the end of last year and was going to go to Waukegan this year. But as a teacher's strike in the Waukegan district kept students out of school for weeks, and athletes out of commission, Barr gave his transfer a second thought.

He transferred back to Carmel in October.

"He had played with Waukegan all summer, then he was out for so long in the fall because of the strike, then he had to sit 30 days when he first came back here," Carmel coach Zack Ryan said of Barr. "He's just getting used to what we're doing this season. He's going to be fine once that happens. He's a natural scorer and he can do a little of everything, score, rebound, defend. He's going to really help us this season."

Not special:

Early in his career, Robby Nardini was known as a 3-point specialist.

Now, the Vernon Hills guard is showing that not specializing is his specialty. Nardini has become lethal at putting the ball on the floor, blowing by defenders and finishing at the basket.

"He is mixing both 3's and drives to the basket this year," Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said of Nardini. "He's doing a really good job of setting up his 3s with his drives to the basket. When guys are really around him, he's gotten more comfortable going right and left and finishing around the rim. As he's gotten bigger and stronger, he's doing that more and more."

Nardini, who hit 3 three-pointers in each of the Cougars' last two games, is averaging 21.3 points per game.

Killer filler:

When Vernon Hills guard Sam Rattner went down over Thanksgiving with a serious back injury, Jackie Li was thrown into the fire.

And he ended up being the one who scorched people.

Li hit some big 3-pointers over Thanksgiving.

"He fit right into our offense," Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said of Li. "He was hitting big shots, he was handling the ball well. I told Jackie that it was nice to be able to trust that he's going to do positive things out there. It became hard not to give him more minutes. He really earned them."

Another reserve success story for Vernon Hills is Eric Weiler, a 6-foot-6 junior who spells Lem Turner. "If Lem gets into foul trouble or needs a break, we can put Eric in and he's really good at clogging up the middle and getting rebounds."

More for Matt:

When Libertyville decided to stick a double-team on Stevenson star guard Jalen Brunson for 32 straight minutes recently, Brunson couldn't score at his normal clip.

Averaging around 18 points, Brunson scored just 12 points in that game. But he found other ways to put points on the board.

"I think Jalen also had 12 assists in that game," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "Many of them were to Matt Johnson."

Johnson, a senior guard, is usually the third option in the Stevenson offense, behind Brunson and guard Connor Cashaw. But against Libertyville, he rolled up 18 points and was efficient with his shots.

"Jalen found the open man and Matt was hitting," Ambrose said. "Matt has really gotten better at scoring. He's found creative ways to score. He's more versatile with the ball and he's just got that senior experience and intelligence this year."

Johnson averages about 12 points per game.

Healing up:

Cameron Green and Nick Dillon were pivotal pieces in Stevenson's run to the Class 4A third-place game last spring.

They haven't made it into a game for Stevenson yet this season, but they'll likely be impact players again. It just might take some time.

Both Green and Dillon helped Stevenson win the Class 8A football state championship over Thanksgiving weekend. Green, a wide receiver, and Dillon, a defensive linemen, are still in football mode, at least when it comes to the training room.

"They are in rehabilitation mode," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "They both have some injuries that were probably worse than they thought until they really focused on them. Both of them have college football careers to look to (Green at Northwestern, Dillon at Eastern Michigan), so they wanted to be wise and cautious with their return.

"They'll be behind because even the wisest players need those repetitions every day, but they'll get it and it will be nice to have them back."