It pays to keep an eye on high school basketball
Who says learning can't be fun?
It certainly has been through the first two weeks of the basketball season. Here's 10 things I've learned after watching enough high school basketball the past two weeks to take my mind off Illinois losing to Bradley.
1): The best 16-minute stretch I saw, boys or girls, came in the second half of Geneva's 58-43 win over Oswego in the championship game of the Vikings' girls basketball Thanksgiving tournament Saturday.
Matched against a talented Oswego squad that returned several key players from its Class 3A sectional finalist last year, the Vikings made them look like a junior high team.
The Panthers were a step - or three - slow trying to stop Geneva point guard Kat Yelle. When Oswego would swarm to Kelsey Augustine or Lauren Wicinski, Geneva's post players quickly found an open teammate for a layup or short jumper.
Geneva's 21-2 run that put Oswego away featured the same unselfish basketball that last year's 32-2 team displayed, with the Ohio-bound and tournament MVP Yelle leading the way.
"It starts with their point guard," Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said. "Kat is as good as they come. Their senior forwards do a great job. Kat runs the show for them, the coach on the floor."
2): That said, Geneva still showed some stretches of growing pains. None of the players or coaches seemed happy about their 45-32 semifinal win over St. Charles North and certainly not falling behind Oswego at halftime.
It's understandable not everything would click right away, even with all the lofty rankings and hype entering the season. The Vikings still have Taylor Whitley and Emily Hinchman to replace. They still have players learning new roles, new players in the program and the time it takes for this year's team develop its own chemistry.
"It's early, we're still learning each other as well and who can do what in certain situations," coach Gina Nolan said. "The kids played so hard (in the second half against Oswego), I was very happy to see that."
3): If that was the best stretch of basketball, the best ending was easy - Adam LeTourneau's 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Batavia a 49-46 win over King last Wednesday.
With only 3.7 seconds to go the length of the court, give the Bulldogs credit. They wound up with a wide-open look for one of their best shooters from 20 feet away.
Some say a finish like that is lucky, but the Bulldogs wouldn't have been in position to pull it off without preparation.
"We just ran it perfectly," LeTourneau said. "We've been practicing it once or twice at the end of every practice. The past couple days we've been running it a lot."
Batavia didn't need any such heroics the next two nights, beating St. Francis and Crystal Lake South to start their season 3-0 heading to road games this week at Rochelle and Quincy.
4): Speaking of the Bulldogs, is there a better sixth man in the area than Sam Shump?
The senior came off the bench to provide a spark in all three wins, earning the rare distinction of tournament MVP without starting a game.
"Sam played great," Batavia senior Ricky Clopton said. "He does that in practice. He goes hard at Jesse (Coffey), makes all the guards improve. Sam can play. Sam knows his role, he's a real smart kid, you leave him open like that and let him go to the hoop he'll finish on you."
5): Besides the Geneva girls and Batavia boys, the other area team to bring home a Thanksgiving title was Nate Drye's Aurora Central Chargers at Sandwich.
Drye didn't seem phased in the preseason despite he graduated Anthony Kelley, Mike Adams and Nick Czaja off last year's 24-win team and had largely an untested group coming back. The coach talked about expecting the few returnees he had to pick up their play to the 20-plus win level ACC has been at the last two years.
Drye probably knew just how good Joey Guth could be. After playing a role off the bench last year, Guth stepped his game up - way, way up - averaging 26 points a game in the four wins last week.
"This was a nice starting point for us," Drye said. "We have a good idea of what we're doing well and what we need to work on."
6): St. Charles North's girls program looks like it is in good hands with first-year coach Colleen Brennan.
The North Stars overcame Jenna Bell's illness over the weekend to take third at the Geneva tournament, coming from behind to beat Rosary in the third-place game.
"She's awesome," North Stars senior Dana Sibley said of Brennan. "She really makes us work hard. She's working well with us. She really understands the game and she really helps us push each other in practice and I think that's a big improvement. It's been a good year so far."
Sibley, who will play in college next year at St. Xavier, also seems to be sliding into her new role after four-year starter Kelsey Smith graduated. Sibley hit the game-winning shot with 2.8 seconds left to beat Rosary.
"I have some big shoes to fill but I know my role on my team and I think that's the biggest thing to know where my teammates are and their talent level and work together," Sibley said. "I think that's what's improved this year."
7): The future is now, at least for these underclassmen who showed flashes of being able to contribute right away this winter while also leaving fans with a lot to look forward to the next two or three years: St. Charles East sophomore Charlie Fisher and freshman Kendall Stephens, St. Charles North sophomore Kyle Nelson, Batavia sophomore Cole Gardner, Geneva sophomore Ashley Santos and Batavia freshman Sami Villarreal.
8): We had the St. Charles East girls ranked 10th in our preseason top 20. With four starters back from a team that upset St. Charles North in last year's regional final, the Saints looked to make a statement right off the bat with five games at the Schaumburg tournament.
Except that the season didn't start well with two losses.
"We're making silly mistakes at crucial times," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said at the time. "We're playing to the tempo of the other team. We're letting them dictate.
"We'll get it straightened out."
Sure enough, the Saints did just that winning two of their final three games, losing only 62-56 to Rockford Boylan.
Lexi Baltes and Jaime Rust both made the all-tournament team for the Saints, who play West Chicago Tuesday night before starting Upstate Eight play Thursday against Neuqua Valley. Look for the Saints to win plenty of games this year, and for the matchup against St. Charles North to be one of the best in the UEC.
9): Is there any better place to be to watch basketball Thanksgiving week than St. Charles East?
Not that dunks are the way to measure quality basketball, but with seven in the first game Monday and five in the next, it certainly was notice that these aren't your average high school teams. The quality only continued throughout the week, capped Friday with a 98-97 overtime game between Hales Franciscan and East Aurora on a day the other three games were decided by 1, 2 and 7 points.
"(That's) 98-97 with one overtime and those guys are playing 'D.' They are not just laying down. Guys are making plays. That's what this tournament is about," St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi said.
"Showing our kids that it's year round. If you want to look like them you've got to put a ball in your hand. We're sharing some athletes and that's OK but when it comes to basketball season you've got to live it, work it because you see the talent here."
10:) The best lesson I learned? It's going to be another fun season for all of us basketball fans in the Tri-Cities area.
jlemon@dailyherald.com