Suburban Sprawl dives into Division II tourney
Not all March basketball is played on the TNT family of networks. Several area players are making a mark on the Division II tournament, which does a Final Eight instead of a Final Four for whatever reason.
Dan Evans helped Cary-Grove win the only sectional title in school history in 2001. These days, he’s the enthusiastic head coach at North Georgia, which made the D2 finals for the first time this week.
North Georgia will play West Texas A&M in the quarterfinals on March 26.
Despite the curiously low score, Minnesota State and Northwest Missouri played a thriller Tuesday, with MSU winning at the buzzer to advance to the Final Eight...
Both teams had area representatives. Downers Grove South grad Justin Eagins averaged 12.5 points this season for Minnesota State and scored 9 against Northwest Missouri.
On the Northwest Missouri side, Geneva’s Mitch Mascari shot an impressive 48% from 3-point range this season. Mascari played on the school’s national championship teams in 2021 and ‘22.
Minnesota State will meet Ferris State in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs got contributions this season from 6-6 junior Deng Reng of Wheaton North. Reng averaged 5.3 points on the season.
Johnsburg’s Zach Toussaint is in his fifth season playing for West Texas A&M, located outside of Amarillo. The 5-11 sharpshooter scored 17 points in Tuesday’s regional final victory over Colorado Mesa. Toussaint and West Texas A&M played in the D2 title game in 2021, losing to Northwest Missouri. This highlight is from earlier in the tournament...
Carmel grad Kaytlyn Matz (No. 13) advanced to the women’s Division II Final Eight with the Daemen Wildcats, a school located outside of Buffalo, N.Y. The 6-foot senior has started 29 games this season. Daemen will face Texas Woman’s University on Monday afternoon in the national quarterfinals.
Mastadons moving on
Purdue Fort Wayne women beat Eastern Kentucky in the WNIT for the first postseason win in program history. Grant’s Jazzy Linbo scored 14 points.
The Rock was rolling
Rock Valley College in Rockford piled up a 34-0 record before suffering its first loss Wednesday against Mesa in the NJCAA national tournament. The team’s leading scorer is freshman Mia Moore from East Aurora at 15.0 ppg.
Stripes in spotlight
Here’s something we don’t usually see, a referee being highlighted. Nice work by LZ grad Connor Mooney.
Coaching Madness
Former Glenbard East star Johnny Hill made the NCAA tourney as part of the Utah State coaching staff. Hill played in college at Illinois State, UT-Arlington and Purdue.
Basketball wrap
Here’s one more accolade for St. Viator’s Mia Bergstrom and it’s a good one...
This one just missed getting into the last Sprawl: Mundelein’s Rylan Foster was named MVP of the girls Lake County All-Star Game.
Second century
Congrats to Naperville North girls soccer coach Steve Goletz on his 200th win...
Portal season
St. Viator grad Jeremiah Hernandez, who led Southern Indiana in scoring this season at 17.2 ppg, announced he would enter the transfer portal.
Same for Mundelein’s Scottie Ebube after Southern Illinois fired coach Bryan Mullins.
Carmel grad Grace Sullivan announced her intention to leave Bucknell.
Burlington Central’s Kathryn Schmidt posted that she plans to leave Lewis University as a grad transfer.
Buffalo Grove’s Kam Craft also plans to enter the portal, according to reports. Craft did not play for Xavier this season due to a knee injury.
Air Christie
This week’s local NBA highlight comes from Lakers guard and Rolling Meadows grad Max Christie.
College commits
Naperville North’s Ella Chapman is headed to Augustana.
Batavia’s Isaac Wit committed to Milwaukee School of Engineering.
Batavia’s Nate Nazos to Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Spring highlights
Nice exit velocity here from Barrington grad Ainsley Muno for Northwestern.
Conant’s Britney Maldonado got a national player of the week nod for Illinois Wesleyan lacrosse.
Here’s an Iowa home run by Wheaton North grad Andy Nelson, who is hitting .353 on the season.
Father-daughter showdown
Heartwarming photo alert as Maine West co-head coach Chris Addante battled his daughter Alexis, a Palatine assistant, on the softball diamond. Alexis is a Jacobs grad and played in college at Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Spring football
Checking in with 7-on-7 football, here’s Geneva WR Talyn Taylor making an acrobatic reception for Midwest Boom...
Hersey’s Logan Farrell secured this catch playing for TNT Ignite.
Madness of March
Let’s take a quick tour of some scenes from tournament basketball. This was interesting, people in Champaign got excited about the Fighting Illini winning the Big Ten tourney title on Sunday and showed up at the airport.
The manager Olympics was a fun event at Indiana State. Any area natives participate in this?
Here’s Sam Hoiberg, before and after his dad decided to coach the Bulls. Of course, if the Bulls hadn’t fired Fred Hoiberg, Sam and his twin brother, Charlie, would have spent more than two years at Hinsdale Central.
This was a popular tweet from the Salt Lake City sub-regional. Bryon Russell is apparently IT manager at the arena these days...
Oakland head coach Greg Kampe was already a popular character before beating Kentucky in Round 1...
Mascot rewards
Finally, Clubhouse Athletic selected the five best logos in Illinois high school sports and chose the Larkin Royal. Well-deserved honor for a mascot that would feel right at home in a 1940s cartoon.