Hinkle Holiday Classic boasts a balanced field
The 2015 Hinkle Holiday Classic is up for grabs and the home team is targeting the title.
Reconfigured Jacobs, which replaced a pair of graduated all-area guards with two productive sophomores, on Saturday begins the quest to win its own tournament for the first time since it won three straight titles between 2006-08.
Defending champion Larkin (5-3) is playing in a showcase event in Missouri this weekend. The Royals also accepted an invitation to compete at the Proviso West Tournament, which begins on Dec. 26, the same day the Hinkle Holiday Classic concludes.
"Even if Larkin were here, I think we'd have a real good shot at it," Jacobs coach Jim Roberts said. "I think this tournament is wide open with a lot of solid teams."
Jacobs has won 8 of its first 9 games, led by 6-foot-8 junior Cameron Krutwig, who averages 17.8 points, 13.1 rebounds 2.9 blocks and 2.7 assists per game. The Golden Eagles enter the tournament on the heels of road wins at McHenry, Huntley and Barrington.
The emergence of sophomore guards Ryan Phillips (6-3) and Nik Balkcom (6-2) has eased the pain of graduating all-area guards Chrishawn Orange (Augustana) and Kenton Mack (Northern Michigan).
Phillips is second to Krutwig with 13.7 ppg. Already a multidimensional scoring threat, his drives have resulted in 28 free-throw attempts, of which he has drained 19 (68 percent). Also a deep threat, he shoots 36 percent from 3-point range (18 of 50).
Balkcom has been playing starter's minutes despite coming off the bench behind starting point guard Adam Kale, a 5-9 junior. Kale averages 5 points, Balkcom 6.8.
The Golden Eagles open the tournament against Bartlett (4-3) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Hawks ended Jacobs' season last March with a regional semifinal victory at Bartlett.
Jacobs and Bartlett could again meet in the playoffs this season. Of the 12 teams assigned to sub-sectional A of the Rock Valley College sectional, nine are members of the Upstate Eight Conference, including Bartlett.
"Our subsectional is basically all Upstate Eight teams," Roberts said. "We need to play those guys as often as we can, so this is a good opportunity."
Everybody into the pool(s): Besides Jacobs and Bartlett, Pool I at the Hinkle Holiday Classic includes Johnsburg (4-3) and Rockford Jefferson (4-3).
Pool II is a tossup between Barrington (5-4), Crystal Lake South (5-3), Lakes (3-4) and Corliss (3-4).
Marian Central (6-1) and leading scorer Adam Pischke are assigned to Pool III along with Zion-Benton (3-1), which won the Hinkle Classic in 2013 and defeated Jacobs in the third-place game last December. Rounding out the pool are Cary-Grove (2-6) and Grant (3-4)
Pool IV is among the most balanced with South Elgin (4-4), veteran-laden Prairie Ridge (6-1), Rockford Boylan (4-0) and Huntley (4-3).
At Proviso West: Larkin and leading scorer/rebounder Christian Negron will compete at the prestigious Proviso West Tournament after winning the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs last year.
Larkin opens the proceedings at Proviso West with a rise-and-shine tipoff against Hillcrest on Dec. 26 at 9:30 a.m.
The Royals seek their third December tournament title in four seasons. Larkin won the Elgin Holiday Tournament in 2012. First, they play two games in Missouri this weekend.
"We have our next 5 or 6 games against high-level competition," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "We're going to find out a lot about ourselves before the new year ... we're going to get challenged with some athletes and we're going to be challenged by some big-time players. We'll see how we respond."
At Pontiac: West Aurora (3-4) and St. Charles North (2-4) face top competition in their respective opening-round games of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, first contested in 1926.
The North Stars open the three-day event against No. 2 seed Curie (5-0) on Monday, Dec. 28 at 10:30 a.m.
West Aurora will face No. 3 seed Simeon (3-1), which won the Pontiac Tournament in 2014 for the fourth time in five seasons.
Peoria Manual (6-0) is the top seed. Benet Academy (7-0), the No. 1 team in the Daily Herald Top 20, opens the tournament against Pontiac on Dec. 28 at 7:30 p.m. The Redwings finished second to Simeon last year.
At Wheeling: The 38th Annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic takes place Dec. 21-23 and concludes on Dec. 26. The field includes a pair of struggling Fox Valley area teams in Streamwood (1-7) and Dundee-Crown (0-7).
D-C opens against Notre Dame on Dec. 21 at 12:15 p.m. The Dons were second in the tournament last season to Lake Park.
Streamwood, which notched an impressive win two weeks ago against otherwise unbeaten Geneva, opens against Fremd (9-1) on Dec. 21 at 3:45 p.m. The Vikings, winners of 8 straight heading into Friday's game at Conant, placed third at Wheeling last year.
At DeKalb: The 88th Annual Chuck Dayton Tournament will crown a new champion with defending titlist St. Charles East opting to join Hinsdale Central's Holiday Classic. Geneva (7-1) enters the tournament as the top seed, followed by West Chicago (7-1), DeKalb (5-2) and Glenbrook North. The Vikings open tournament play on Dec. 26 against Belvidere North at 10:30 a.m.
Other Dec. 26 matchups include Marmion (4-4) against Sterling at 12:15 p.m. and Hampshire (2-6) against Glenbrook North at 1:45 p.m.
The tournament takes place Dec. 26, 28, 29 and 30.
At Hinsdale Central: St. Charles East tries its luck at a new venue after winning the DeKalb Tournament last season. The Saints (6-2) open play at the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic against DePaul Prep (2-3) on Dec. 26 at 3:45 p.m. The Rams are better than their record. They pushed top-ranked Benet Academy in a 7-point loss on Dec. 5.
At York: Batavia (5-3) has played well of late but was unable to crack the top eight seeds at the 42nd Annual Jack Tosh Holiday Tournament.
The Bulldogs had won 5 straight prior to last Saturday's 53-50 setback against Hoffman Estates. They open play at this 32-team tournament against Metea Valley (2-5) on Dec. 26 at 10 a.m. Metea has dropped 4 straight heading into Friday's home game against Wheaton North.
The top eight seeds (in alphabetical order) are De La Salle, Downers South, Downers North, Hinsdale South, Oswego, Riverside-Brookfield, Stagg, Wheaton North and York.
At Marengo: Elgin, Westminster Christian and Harvest Christian Academy are among the teams eager to knock off host and defending champion Marengo at the 66th Annual E.C. Nichols Tournament.
Marengo (4-3), seeded third, is led by senior guard Zach Knobloch. Last season he set a new Illinois record for 3-pointers in a season with 167 for a team that won its first regional title in 15 years.
No. 2 seed Elgin (5-4) snapped a 3-game slide on Tuesday with a 74-48 win against Cary-Grove. The Maroons open play against Woodstock North on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Westminster Christian (5-2) has traditionally performed well in this tournament against larger schools. Led by senior guard Dillon Rejman (10.8 ppg), the Warriors open tournament play against Crystal Lake Central (0-9) on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Harvest Christian Academy (3-7) faces top seed Woodstock (5-2) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
At Plano: Burlington Central, Kaneland and Aurora Christian each earned first-round byes at the 53rd Annual Plano Christmas Classic.
Central, which takes a 7-0 record into Friday's home game against North Boone, recently was named the No. 2 seed at Plano. The Rockets open play on Dec. 26 against the winner of a Dec. 23 opening-round game between Fenton (4-3) and Lisle (5-3).
"We're pretty excited about the two-seed," Central senior forward Ryan Fitzgerald said after a 22-point performance at Richmond-Burton on Tuesday. "Last year we were a pretty high seed, too, so there's a lot of expectations going into that."
No. 5 Kaneland (5-1) gets an early wake-up call the day after Christmas with a 9 a.m. tipoff. The Knights begin tournament play against the winner of Hinckley-Big Rock and No. 12 Chicago hope.
No. 7 Aurora Christian (5-1) begins tournament play on Dec. 26 at 2 p.m. against the winner of Coal City vs. Yorkville.
LaSalle-Peru is the top seed at Plano, which runs Dec. 23, 26, 28, 29 and 30. Ottawa is No. 3 and Newark is No. 4.
At ICCP/Westmont: St. Edward attempts to defend the title it won last season with a 58-41 victory over IC Catholic Prep.
The Green Wave (5-5) will play three pool games: Dec. 26 against Elmwood Park at 6 p.m.; Dec. 28 against Westmont at 7:30 p.m.; and Dec. 29 against Evergreen Park at 6 p.m.
The tournament concludes on Dec. 30.
At East Aurora: Aurora Central Catholic (1-4) will compete in the 50th Annual East Aurora Holiday Tournament in the same pool as the host Tomcats (2-4), Tampa Catholic (Fla.) and Chicago Noble DRWT College Prep.
The Chargers face Tampa Catholic on Dec. 26 at 5:45 p.m., East Aurora on Dec. 28 at 7:15 p.m. and Noble DRW Prep on Dec. 29 at 4 p.m.
ACC concludes tournament play with a crossover on Dec. 30 against a corresponding finisher from the other pool, which includes Englewood, Linoln-Way North, Urban Prep and Neuqua Valley.
First impressions: Kaneland's 58-45 win over Sycamore last Friday improved the Knights to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Northern Illinois Big XII East in the first year for coach Joe Conroy.
The Knights have an experienced crew for their new coach with seven seniors among the eight players who saw time against the Spartans.
Dylan Vaca is one of those seniors. He scored 25 points against Sycamore and said the transition is going well after he played two varsity seasons for Brian Johnson, now the West Aurora coach.
"Playing with Coach Johnson was fun," Vaca said. "Coach Conroy is a great coach and has a lot of experience and knows what he wants for us. Playing with him has been great this season. We've been really vocal in practice, asking stuff, figuring stuff out. So far the season is going really well."
Conroy has made some changes including a full-court press and an offense that isn't afraid to shoot quickly. That can lead to a few more turnovers - like the 13 in the first half against Sycamore - or an occasional bad shot, but Conroy is trying to let his players play through those mistakes.
"We had way too many turnovers (against Sycamore), but I'm not a coach that is going to go crazy on every quick shot in transition because if we are going to try to play hard and play fast, a guy is going to maybe take a bad one," Conroy said. "I'll let him know but that doesn't mean he's never going to get back in the game. The key is we have to accept some downs if we are going to take the high. We want to play that way. We want to pressure and we want to go hard. I think they enjoy playing that way and get excited to play. I think we've proven at this point we're not a very good half-court, grind-it-out offensive team."
Kaneland is the fifth seed at the 53rd annual Plano Christmas Classic behind No. 1 LaSalle-Peru, Burlington Central, Ottawa and Newark.
John Lemon contributed to this report