Maturing Carmel weathers the cold truth

Coughs, sneezes, chills and aches.

It's that time of year again.

The hustle and bustle of the holiday tournament season has left some basketball teams tired, ragged and a bit run down.

After playing multiple games in just a handful of days, some players are now fighting colds and fevers. Even some coaches, like Warren's Chuck Ramsey and Vernon Hills' Matt McCarty are or have been sick.

At Carmel, the problem runs deeper. Bouts with illness there started even before the holidays. And one bout in particular is serious.

Starting senior guard Connor Jordan has been out since Thanksgiving with mononucleosis.

"He finally made it back to school the week before finals (in mid-December), but he wasn't able to do anything with basketball and he still hasn't done anything with contact," Carmel coach Tim Bowen said. "You have to be cautious with these kinds of things.

"That's been tough on him. He's trying to condition, but he's not getting any reps in practice and that's hard."

Missing Jordan's veteran presence on the perimeter could have been extremely hard on the Corsairs, who were already thin on experience.

With three sophomores (Ian Kristian, Andy Kantor and Billy Kirby) in his starting lineup, Bowen has been giving additional minutes to another sophomore (Nickai Poyser) to help fill the void left by Jordan.

But the young kids have held their own, helping the Corsairs go 2-2 at the highly competitive Wheeling Hardwood Classic over the holidays.

"You always want to have as much experience on the floor as you can, especially at the end of games when you really need it," Bowen said. "You're going to get some (growing pains) when you're playing a lot of freshmen or sophomores. But our boys have done a pretty good job for being so young.

"We played good, close games with Naperville Central and Niles North, the champion and the consolation champion of the tournament. We didn't win those games but we were right there with some young kids."

Bowen, whose team is 5-7, says he jokes with his young guns that maybe they're playing too well for their own good.

"Now, the other coaches and I, we have pretty high expectations for these kids," Bowen said. "We're not looking at it as that they're just sophomores. They've played so well that we're expecting them to play even better from here. They've learned so fast.

"And the good thing for us is that in the long run, this experience of playing so much as sophomores is going to give them a lot of confidence for the future. We're hoping it's just going to carry over for the next couple of years."

Motzel hangin' tough: While Carmel's four super sophomores occasionally take their lumps in games, senior forward Brandon Motzel is suffering some of his own.

But these lumps are much more literal.

The 6-foot-7 Motzel can see some of his each time he looks in the mirror.

"Teams are getting all over Brandon, all over him. I mean, to the point where they're almost tackling him. They're just being really, really physical with him," Carmel coach Tim Bowen said. "I think teams are looking at us and seeing that we start three sophomores and that we play another sophomore a lot of minutes and they're totally keying in on Motz. It's like, 'Let's let the young kids beat us.' So they defend Motz super hard and try to bottle him up."

And yet somehow, Motzel has managed to explode in some games like a vigorously shaken 2-liter of pop.

Motzel was named to the all-tournament team at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic and recorded a double-double in each of his last three games there. In all three of those games, he scored 18 or more points.

"Teams have been really picking on Motz this year and at the beginning of the year, I think he was kind of thrown by that," Bowen said of Motzel, who is averaging more than 15 points per game. "But he's been showing a lot of fight lately. I think he finally had enough and he's been playing really tough. I'm really proud of him."

Bowen is also proud of the leadership Motzel is showing, especially with the three sophomores (Ian Kristian, Andy Kantor and Billy Kirby) in Carmel's starting lineup. Motzel is the only player currently starting who has significant experience from last year.

"The leadership part-Motz is a natural at that," Bowen said. "He gets the kids organized and helps them out on and off the floor."

Heavenly seven: At 7-7, the wins equal the losses for Wauconda.

But the Bulldogs sure feel more like winners these days. They are off to their best start in at least the last four years and are fresh off a second-place finish in the Marengo Holiday Tournament.

Wauconda defeated Harvard, Antioch and Woodstock North at Marengo but lost to Rockford Lutheran, a likely Class 2A power, in pool play and in the championship game.

"It's pretty nice. Since I've been head coach, this is definitely our best start as a team," said Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager, now in his third season. "We took second place in the Marengo tournament last year, too, but we didn't play nearly as well as we did this year."

This time around, the Bulldogs took much better care of the ball, were more efficient on offense and were relentless on defense.

Luetschwager says it is his team's commitment to defense that has made the biggest difference this season. The Bulldogs are allowing barely 50 points per game as opposed to the nearly 60 points per game allowed last season.

"We're just more experienced this year and our guys communicate better and that has helped us a lot with our defense. We're just much tougher defensively."

Point guard Keith Blomberg, fellow guard Kyle Ryan and forward Connor Rueb have spearheaded the Bulldogs' defense with their aggressive play and long arms.

Wauconda has already created more turnovers this year than in the last two seasons.

"Those guys are rocks for us on defense and they're all really long-really tall and really long," Luetschwager said. "That helps. Kyle (Ryan) is averaging 4 to 5 steals a game. The way we've been able to get out on the ball and defend (passing lanes) has really opened up a lot for us and allowed us to keep teams down. Our guys have really bought into that style on the defensive end."

Record-setting Simpson: It's getting to be like a broken record-all these record-setting efforts by North Chicago guard Aaron Simpson.

Over the holidays, the Illinois State-bound scoring machine broke two major records at the prestigious State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington.

Thanks in part to a 38-point game against Grayslake Central, Simpson set a new tournament record for most total points (135) and highest overall scoring average (33.75 points per game).

Simpson, who is averaging nearly 30 points per game, is now in line for another major record, the all-time scoring mark at North Chicago, and Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager is afraid his team could be there to witness it. It would be the second time his team was part of a milestone event for Simpson.

The Bulldogs are scheduled to visit North Chicago tonight for a North Suburban Conference Prairie Division game and Simpson is reportedly within 11 points of his school record.

"Last year, Aaron scored his 1,000th-career point against us, and I remember feeling like we were doing a pretty good job against him defensively until he hit like three 3-pointers in a row," Luetschwager said of Simpson. "Now, I've heard about how he's like 11 points away from the North Chicago record.

"We'll try to hold him under 11 points, but I don't know. Maybe we'll have to put two guys on him."

North Chicago's scoring record of 1,676 points is currently held by Josh Allen, who went on to play football at Northern Illinois.

"He's just so quick and he can score anywhere," Luetschwager said of Simpson. "He's also a great defender. If he gets a hand on the ball, he's gone down to the other end."

Taylor tired no more: As his team's leading scorer and near-exclusive ballhandler, Grayslake Central point guard Jordan Taylor carried an exhaustive load last season.

But this year, he's gotten some pep put back into his step, thanks to the development of teammate Savonte McWilliams.

McWilliams worked hard on his ball-handling skills in the off-season and has gradually taken over point guard responsibilities for the Rams, to the point where Taylor can now concentrate almost exclusively on scoring.

In three of Grayslake Central's four games at the rigorous State Farm Classic in Bloomington over the holidays, Taylor operated from the shooting guard spot and scored 21 points or more.

"It's really helped Jordan a lot to have Savonte handling the ball so well and doing such a nice job at the point," Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe said. "Jordan's (efficiency) has gone way up. He's less taxed and not as tired from having to handle the ball all over the entire floor.

"In three of our tournament games (in Bloomington), he had a couple of big 3-pointers in each game. He's just shooting much better. Sometimes when we're in trouble, he'll grab the ball and go back into point guard mode, but it's been nice for him to really concentrate on his shooting."

Deep devils: During the most festive time of the year, Warren got involved in a major foul fest.

The Blue Devils were whistled for a whopping 32 fouls in their 77-68 double overtime loss to Curie in the stacked holiday tournament in Pontiac last week.

Curie shot 47 free throws and four Warren players (Nathan Boothe, Mitch Munda, JoVaughn Gaines and Jon Geske) fouled out. Meanwhile, Warren forward Darius Paul finished with four fouls.

"I would say all that fouling was really an anomaly, not (an indictment on Warren's defense)," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "I thought the Pontiac tournament was a really good tournament for us. I thought we played really well down there as a team."

And it took Warren's entire team to hang with Curie. With so many starters and key reserves in foul trouble, Ramsey had to go deep into his bench.

One after another, each new player who was plugged in contributed something important. Junior guards Arthell Rosquist and Aarias Austin and junior forward Shayne White were among the most impressive.

"We had a lot of different kids playing well down there," Ramsey said. "And I thought we showed a lot of character in the Curie game and also in the third-place game after being tired and frustrated from the Curie game."

The Blue Devils defeated Peoria Manual 63-54 to win third place at Pontiac.

Boothe and Paul were named second-team all-tournament while Gaines was an honorable mention selection.