May, Brault hope 'Team MSL' will enhance basketball

Matt May and Dave Brault are Mid-Suburban League guys.

They went to high school and played basketball at Palatine for Ed Molitor. They're back there as teachers and have also coached in the MSL.

So, May and Brault want to do what they can to promote and enhance MSL basketball. May has believed for years the MSL needed something in the off-season to help make that happen.

As a result, May and Brault have formed "Team MSL Basketball," an AAU all-star team which will start out this year for sixth-grade boys who feed into any of the dozen MSL schools.

"I've always felt there isn't something for local kids to develop friendships and friendly rivalries," said May, who is coaching the Palatine freshman "B" team. "I've felt literally for the last 20 years something like this was needed to give local kids the opportunity to play locally.

"It's time to do it at a level that could be competitive and help kids and the entire MSL."

May and Brault, the director and assistant director respectively of Team MSL, have taken careful steps to make sure they do it right.

May has put together a business plan and wants to make sure they don't take on too much too soon. So they're starting small with plans of eventually expanding to older age groups.

They went out and talked to feeder coaches and MSL coaches to get their support. They also got the support of Harper College men's basketball head coach Tony Amarino to use the school's facility for practices and games.

And they also have Steve Herbst helping out with scheduling games and practices and getting sponsorship.

"We're providing an opportunity for kids to develop locally in the hopes of developing the skills to play high school basketball," May said. "A lot of kids out there who want to play just aren't developed."

May and Brault want to stress development in the right way. That's why the plan is for "Team MSL" to have more practices than games.

"Matt and I have the same idea on how the game is supposed to be played," said Brault, who isn't coaching this year but has been an assistant at Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Schaumburg and Harper College.

"We're trying to beat the AAU stereotype of, 'let's run up and down and let's play,' " May said. "How about, 'Let's teach fundamentals and defense and when someone comes to practice, here's what we're going to work on.'

"The point to this is we are different. We're not an AAU machine that's going to gobble everyone up from everywhere."

They want to start with two teams of 10 players each plus two alternates with a guarantee of equal playing time. Their two coaches are former MSL stars Marc Boone of Palatine and John Clancy of Buffalo Grove. Boone is a feeder coach in Palatine and Clancy is a varsity assistant at Wheeling.

"They're all guys who love the game and are passionate about the game," Brault said. "They know basketball shouldn't be a chore and it should be a ton of fun."

Tryouts will be held on four days in early March at Harper, and the $25 cost includes a player evaluation and a practice jersey. May said the total cost of $1,045 for players who make the team is comparable to similar programs, with more facts and information available on their Web site at teammsl.com.

The schedule will run from March into July with a lighter load in the summer months.

"We're flexible enough and know kids are busy," May said. "We don't want just basketball players. We want kids to do a lot of things."

But ultimately they want to see kids who were offseason teammates develop into friendly rivals in big Friday and Saturday night MSL games.

"Our whole goal is to develop MSL kids and promote the league," May said. "We're not here to compete with the high schools. We're here to support them."

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com