Jacobs' sights are set squarely on Peoria

It's a week before the season opener and Jacobs boys basketball coach Jim Hinkle is already in midseason form in the school's new 2,500-seat field house.

As he gets his annual mug shot taken by Daily Herald photographer John Starks at the start of practice, the veteran coach says, only half-jokingly, "You guys should just use the same picture from 10 years ago. I look exactly the same." Then he smiles for the camera anyway.

Trusty whistle at the ready, Hinkle dissects the upcoming season while rotating his players through a series of conditioning stations.

They jump rope at one station. At another they leap side to side over a prone partner's legs, building lateral strength. At another station a player runs the Viking drill under a basket -- lefty layup, righty layup, lefty layup. The ball never touches the floor.

Each station lasts 30 seconds before Hinkle lifts whistle to mouth …

Thhwwweeeeeet! ROTATE!

The veteran coach and his players couldn't wait to get back out on the court this season. Despite winning a school-record 26 games last season, finishing undefeated in the Valley Division and winning two regular-season tournament titles, the Golden Eagles were left with the emptiest of feelings after Dundee-Crown pulled the 43-41 upset to win the regional final.

With four returning starters and more depth than a Jacques Cousteau film, the goal this year is no mystery.

Jacobs wants state.

Nothing short will do.

"What good would it do for me to say, 'Man, we hope we can compete this year, the kids are doing OK, we've got some nice players,'" Hinkle said. "I mean, what good would all that do right now? We're not going to hide behind it.

Thhwwweeeeeet! ROTATE!

"We know the target's on our back. It's fun, pretty much. That's cool. It should bring out the best in us. So we're getting ready, trying to be at our best all the way through."

Being at their best means not taking it easy. The area's leading returning scorer, John Moran (18.3 ppg.) and his senior co-captain, Zack Peterson (5.5 ppg.), wrangled their teammates this fall for before-school weight lifting sessions. Motivation hasn't been an issue.

"We've got a dedicated group, and I know we've got some good players," Hinkle said, reaching for his whistle. "We just have to try to pick up where we left off."

Thhwwweeeeeet! ROTATE!

When we last saw Jacobs, Kevin Kasinger was playing point guard, Moran was at two guard, Peterson was a forward and Conrad Krutwig and Timmy Moran were manning the paint.

Except for Kasinger, who graduated, everyone is back.

But Peterson has moved to guard from forward and John Moran has moved to the point, where he'll direct traffic and create his own shots.

Senior guard Eric Schmidt, a 3-point threat, takes over the fifth spot in the starting lineup.

Hinkle told John Moran during a summer league scrimmage he was being too unselfish at point guard and not looking for his shot enough.

"Johnny came down and buried shots on 7 of the next 9 possessions," Hinkle said, smiling widely. "That answered that!"

Thhwwweeeeeet! ROTATE!

John Moran, the honorary co-captain of last year's Daily Herald all-area team, misses a station or two while being interviewed by the nosy reporter.

Finally a senior after three years of varsity basketball, he knows what he wants out of his final season before moving on to the University of Northern Iowa next fall.

"We want to go out and still have a great regular season and take it one game at a time," Moran said. "Still, it's going to be in the back of our minds that we want to make some noise in the playoffs this year."

Thhwwweeeeeet! ROTATE!

Jacobs has applied to host a sectional this season in its new field house. Home-court advantage would be a boon on the road to winning a supersectional, which now leads directly to a berth in the Final Four in Peoria under the IHSA's new four-class system.

Getting to state this season won't erase last year's unhappy ending, but it'll help.

"There was so much more that we wanted, so much more we wanted to strive for," Hinkle said of last season. "Now's our chance."

Thhwwweeeeeet! ROTATE!

Cully returns:ŒUnless you've been living under a rock, you know Cully Payne, Honorary Co-Captain of the 2006-07 Daily Herald All Area Team, is no longer at Burlington Central.

Payne moved to Schaumburg in the off-season and will play his final two years of high school basketball for Bob Williams as a Saxon.

Cully makes a return engament to the Fox Valley, however, when Schaumburg invades Chesbrough Field House on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. to face the up-and-coming Maroons, who beat Schaumburg 57-49 last season.

This game will provide one of the best individual matchups of the season: the area's leading offensive player from a year ago in Payne (21.3 ppg) against the area's leading defensive player from last year in Elgin's Jeremy Granger. Don't miss this one.

Well done, Cary-Grove fans:ŒThis item is completely unrelated to basketball, but I want to update many of you who have asked via e-mail how Cary-Grove kicker Marcus Kerrigan is doing.

Kerrigan, one of the best kickers in the area, missed an extra point in overtime in Cary-Grove's 27-26 loss to DeLaSalle two weeks ago.

Kerrigan's mother, Charmaine, told me she and her husband, John, were initially worried how her son would be treated around school in the aftermath, but she reports her son is bouncing back just fine, thanks in no small part to approximately 120 positive messages left by visitors to Marcus' Web page on Facebook.com.

Marcus is already signed up for two kicking camps this winter, including the prestigious Ray Guy camp. He even ordered a new kicking shoe, so things are going well for a young man who caught a tough break.

I'm pleased to hear fans and classmates kept everything in proper perspective.

Sports, as much as we live, eat and breathe them, are just games, after all. Way to recognize that, Cary-Grove fans.