Lake Zurich soars to 16-0 record
Lake Zurich's boys basketball team is having a sweet summer.
Impressive victories over perennial Mid-Suburban League powers Conant and Schaumburg on Tuesday put the Bears' record at 16-0. And it's no surprise for a team that was red-hot down the stretch in the winter.
"The kids are playing well," said Lake Zurich coach John Zarr. "You would think there would be expectations with three three-year starters being seniors. They're playing with a lot of confidence right now."
Standout guard Connor Mooney and 6-foot-6 Danny Coleman and Brandon Kunz are the anchors for Lake Zurich. But Zarr believes this group gives him the flexibility to go with bigger or three-guard lineups.
And Zarr sees another intangible to help the Bears in what figures to be a rugged North Suburban Lake race with Zion-Benton, Warren, Stevenson, Mundelein, Libertyville and Lake Forest.
"It's a nice group and they're good kids," said Zarr, whose team beat Libertyville for the title of Buffalo Grove's Bison Shootout on Saturday. "I like that factor. You can go a long way with good kids."
Big hopes for Fremd: Teams figure to have some matchup issues with Fremd's deep crew of inside players that includes 6-5 Will Reising, Steve Maring and Andrew Corso, who missed all of last season because of shoulder surgery after football. And 6-4 junior Chris Klimek, last season's No. 2 scorer, was hoping to be cleared to play Wednesday after missing this summer with an injured stomach muscle.
"Our biggest area of improvement has been finishing inside," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski after a 59-35 win at Harper over a Jacobs team missing inside standout Conrad Krutwig. "We're still looking to improve with rebounding with the big guys."
Widlowski said Corso has been one of the Vikings' surprises with his solid play. All-area pick Dan Bruno, Joe Depaolis and Alex Weis are the top returnees at guard.
"Like everybody else we're trying to make steps every week," Widlowski said. "We have a nice mix of juniors with seniors coming in right now. Hopefully they continue to progress as time winds down.
"A big part of the summer is identifying what roles are and kids doing the job. We've played pretty well at times but we need to be more consistent as well."
Saxons staying busy: With a combined seven seasons of varsity experience it's no surprise Cully Payne, Blake Mueller and Perrish Bell have led the way this summer for Schaumburg.
Payne was with the Saxons last weekend as they lost by 2 points to Bloom in the semifinals of the south suburban Antoine Walker Shootout. But the Alabama recruit was out of action Tuesday at Harper because of strep throat.
Seniors Justin Swiercz and 6-4 Kenny Smith saw limited action last year but could be bigger factors next season.
"Swiercz has played pretty well," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "Smith has really stepped up and he played really well last weekend."
Schaumburg has already had a busy summer with a trip to Peoria Richwoods and one this weekend to Illinois Wesleyan. But July schedule will be much slower with games just at Harper.
The trip to Wesleyan is perfect timing for Williams, who is the head coach of the Class 3A/4A North team in Saturday's annual Illinois Basketball Coaches Association all-star games featuring some of the state's top college-bound players. Williams, who was an all-star assistant to Ed Molitor in the early 1990s, chose Hoffman Estates head coach Bill Wandro and Schaumburg assistant Luke Yanule as his assistants.
Tip-ins: There are no games at Harper next week but play will resume July 8 - Conant went 4-2 at the Moody Bible Shootout as it beat Lincoln Park and lost to Simeon and eventual tourney champion Hyde Park.