Zarr, LZ like different lineups

Most coaches like to figure out their starting lineup at the beginning of the season and stick with it for the rest of the year.

There's a certain comfort in that. It's familiar. It's predictable.

"I've been there," Lake Zurich coach John Zarr said. "I've been that coach that gets comfortable with locking into a lineup."

Well, Zarr has stepped out of his comfort zone this year.

The Bears have played six games so far and have had a different starting lineup for four of them. Meanwhile, seven players have started at least two games and only two have started all six.

"I kind of feel like I can't really lock into a set lineup with this group -- at least not yet. And maybe I never will," Zarr said. "This is a very unusual situation because sometimes it will be just hours before a game and I won't know who will be starting. But I just feel that we've got the kind of group that I would be leaving someone out that has worked hard and deserves the chance to start if I started the same people all the time. That's how flexible we are."

Zarr says that he has started Connor Mooney, Brandon Kunz, Danny Coleman, Nick Garlisch, Brandon Baum, Austin Cox and Chas Evans and that different combinations of that core group of players can give the Bears very different looks.

"We can go small and quick and have everybody be around 6-feet or we can get a few 6-foot-6 kids in there and be big inside," Zarr said. "This gives us great flexibility with our defense and on the boards and inside.

"It's like a chess game trying to figure out how we're going to put it all together for each game. Maybe after Christmas we'll get into a lineup that we'll stick with, but maybe not. And right now, we're going to keep changing things up to get help coming from all different directions."

Fast start: There's no easing into the basketball season.

The ink has barely dried on football season and already there are meaningful games being played in basketball.

Stevenson, a state finalist last season, took on Zion-Benton, the preseason favorite to win the North Suburban Conference title, last Friday.

And perennial power Warren, which also figures to be in the hunt for the crown, will have both Zion-Benton and Stevenson in the books before mid-December.

"It's just the way the schedule breaks sometimes," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "But it's kind of too bad the way it works out. If you're an inexperienced team like us and you're just kind of getting going in December and you lose of few of those early games, you might not even have a chance at the league title."

By the end of December most North Suburban teams will have already played nearly half of their division games.

Inside out: Prior to the season, Warren coach Chuck Ramsey was intrigued by the idea of having a traditional low-post threat.

For the last several years, his post players have been smaller, more athletic types who would have normally been wing players. This year, the Blue Devils have some height and girth to their post players.

And those players seem to be comfortable playing a more traditional, back-to-the-basket game.

But plans to showcase that facet of the offense were put slightly on hold when center James Poliquin went down with an ankle injury during the second week of practice.

The doctors who examined him found a preexisting crack and decided to put him in a cast, which he wore for three weeks before removing it on Monday.

"James is probably our best post scorer," Ramsey said. "And I think (his absence) has set us back a little bit in that area. We're hoping he can come back soon and contribute."

Hopes are for Poliquin to return to the lineup in time for Warren's annual trip to Pontiac for the holiday tournament there. In the meantime, Ramsey says that Scott Geske and Tayler Erbach have been carrying the load inside and that Kegan McDaniel and Jeff Kemp have also seen their minutes increase.

Hall of a game: Having a Big Ten recruit on the roster certainly has its perks.

The University of Illinois holds a high school shootout each year and invites more than a dozen teams from around the state that feature players that the men's basketball team is interested in recruiting.

Since Warren guard Brandon Paul has already made a verbal commitment to the Illini, the Blue Devils will get the chance to play on the Assembly Hall floor.

Warren will play New Trier, which features another player on Illinois' wish list -- Alex Rossi, in Champaign next Saturday, Dec. 15. The game was originally supposed to be played in Gurnee.

"We are giving up a home game, which is probably to the advantage of New Trier since we're pretty inexperienced and could use a home game," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "But the opportunity to play at Assembly Hall outweighs that. It's going to be a great experience for our kids."

Paul is averaging about 19 points per game for the Blue Devils and has hit more than 70 percent of his free throws. He also leads the team in rebounding with about 9 boards per game.

Big gains: Grayslake Central coach Tim Bowen sometimes has to do a double take.

He's still not used to what his young players look like now, compared to what they looked like last year when they were even younger.

Back when Andrew Sipes was a freshman and Alex Anderson and Mike Brumm were sophomores, they were scrawny. Even weak sometimes.

Not anymore.

And Bowen is convinced that strength training is a big reason his team has been able to go from a 1-9 start last year to a 5-2 start this year.

"As soon as the warm-ups come off, you can see a big difference in those guys from last year," Bowen said. "I'm just so impressed with our size. Our guys were just so committed to it in the off-season. Last year, our season ended on a Tuesday or Wednesday and our guys were in the weight room on that Friday.

"That's been huge. You can see that these kids are playing with more confidence. They're going to the basket harder, they're getting through screens better. Everything they do they're doing better because they're stronger."

The Rams are even keeping their cool better.

Against Cary-Grove earlier this season, they were up by about six points late in the game but allowed Cary-Grove to tie the score on a last-second shot.

But the Rams prevailed in overtime.

"Last year, we would have lost that game," Bowen said. "In fact, we've had a lot of close games this year and we might have lost all of them last year. The fact that we're more experienced helps this year, but I also think a lot of it has to do with confidence. And a lot of that confidence comes from the gains they made in the weight room."

Sipes is averaging about 15 points per game while Brumm is at about 14 points per game and Anderson chips in with about 10 points per game.

Big gains 2: Another weight room success story is 6-foot-6 Lake Zurich forward Brandon Kunz.

"He is by far our most improved player this year," Lake Zurich coach John Zarr said. "It all started in the weight room. He got so much stronger and when you do that, you get more confidence going in yourself and in your game. I'm telling you, he's a lot of fun to watch."

Zarr has been particularly delighted in Kunz's above-the-rim performances.

"Brandon dunked twice in one quarter against Woodstock," Zarr said. "Last year, I don't think he had any dunks. He's just much more aggressive and that's because he's so much stronger physically.

"His gains in the weight room have just changed the way he plays. His demeanor has changed."

Kunz poured in a season-high 19 points against Cary-Grove. He is averaging almost a double-double _ about 10 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Goodbye and hello: For years, Lake Zurich knew its home for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Bears started off by playing in the Gold Ball Classic tournament, which eventually was renamed the Lake-Cook Shootout. Same teams for the most part, just a different name.

But this year, the Lake-Cook Shootout dissolved and the teams went their separate ways. Lake Zurich wound up in a tournament hosted by Woodstock and Belevidere called Hoops for Healing.

The tournament raises funds for cancer research.

The Bears breezed through the tournament with a 4-0 record beating four teams that they used to play every year as a member of the Fox Valley Conference -- Woodstock, Cary-Grove, Grayslake Central and McHenry.

"For me, it was like a going home," Lake Zurich coach John Zarr said. "It was interesting to play some of those Fox Valley teams again. I thought we did pretty well because we played teams that will probably all finish at the top of the Fox Valley."

Shot chart: Stevenson took a loss to Zion-Benton last weekend, but that may be the least of the Patriots' worries.

Guard Kevin Stineman said after the game that he was having major problems with his knee, which was found to have a cyst on it that likely developed from overuse in the off-season.

The options for Stineman were to play through the pain, get a cortisone shot for temporary relief that could last a few weeks or have surgery to remove the cyst.

Stineman elected to try the cortisone shot, which he received on Monday.

"Things are looking better," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said on Wednesday. "But Kevin will not know until later this week if he is able to play soon, or later."

Big numbers: Some college teams don't even have four players averaging double figures.

No wonder 6-1 Grant is off to a torrid start.

The Bulldogs won their second consecutive Thanksgiving tournament (at Johnsburg) for the first time in school history by torching the nets.

Thanks to 25 points per game from guard Mike Shields, and between 10 and 11 points per game from Curtis Oler, Marc Grischeau and Gilbert Sheehan, Grant is averaging 63 points per game -- more than any team in coach Phil Ralston's eight-year tenure at the school.

"I think our press has a lot to do with it," Ralston said. "That's different for us this year. We have a smaller lineup and a lot of good athletes and we thought that a press might really work for us and so far it has.

"But I think the other part of it is that we're just really working well together as a team this year. We're playing better together from top to bottom. Even our (reserves) are and that fuels very competitive practices that have only made us better."

Legendary coach: Grant's coaching staff keeps getting more prestigious each year.

First, head coach Phil Ralston added Wayne Bosworth to his staff last year. This year, it was Lee Oler. The two are arguably the two best players in the history of the boys basketball program at Grant.

Oler recently retired after a long teaching career at Wauconda, where he also coached the girls basketball team there for many years. His son Curtis plays for Grant.

"Lee was just a great player and he was a great coach for many, many years. He's got a wealth of knowledge," Ralston said. "We're so glad he's on our bench now. Plus, it was like, 'Why not?' I have very open practices here, so parents can stop by whenever then want and since he retired, Lee often came by to watch Curtis practice. It was like 'You're already here anyway. You might as well coach with us.'

"It's been great for the kids because they really respect people who have played the game and coached the game and have had success."

Slowing down: Fans of the Vernon Hills basketball team might be wondering where one of the most heralded athletes in the school has been lately.

Freshman DaVaris Daniels, who made a gigantic splash with the football team when he was brought up midway through the season and made all kinds of spectacular plays from the wideout spot, has been out of commission for the last couple of weeks.

Daniels started the Cougars' first three games at the shooting guard spot and averaged about 4 points and 4 rebounds per game.

Vernon Hills head coach Matt McCarty says that Daniels is straightening out some academic issues and should be rejoining the team as early as next week.

"You know, when you're thrown into varsity football as a freshman, you're going to have some adjustment issues with time management, things like that," McCarty said. "He's just working on that right now and will be back soon.

"We've missed him and we'll be deeper and more athletic when he comes back. He's raw and he has some things to work on, but you can see such a bright spot with him. Down the road, you just know he's going to do really great things."