City-Suburban Showdown continues to be a big show

There is no shortage of shootouts, showdowns and showcases on the boys basketball landscape these days.

In a lot of cases, the events don't quite live up to the billing. And about the only ones who show up are family and the hardest of hardcore basketball junkies.

But one event continues to stand well above the rest. The 15th annual City-Suburban Showdown on Saturday at UIC Pavilion in Chicago continues to set the standard.

Consider the 8:30 p.m. main event of the triple-header. A rematch of last year's Class 4A state title game between defending champion Whitney Young and Waukegan.

Safe to say it's a game that's been pointed to for a while - particularly to the team that fell short in Peoria.

"Some people in our town had this game circled on the calendar since last March," said Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw at Wednesday's downtown news conference previewing the event.

That would include Illinois-bound Waukegan star Jereme Richmond.

"Waukegan is a place that doesn't like to lose," said Richmond, who is hoping to drive the school to its first boys basketball state title. "To have a second chance - that's definitely something we're all excited about and have been talking about for a year."

Young coach Tyrone Slaughter joked about sticking with a more distant replay.

"If it was up to me I'd broadcast last year's game - that would really be enjoyable," Slaughter said with a laugh. "Waukegan is the best team in our state right now, there's no doubt about it. And they have the best player in our state."

Not that Young is too shabby with Oregon State-bound senior Ahmad Starks and freshman phenom Thomas Hamilton.

And the first two games would be main-event headliners at a lot of places. The 4:30 p.m. opener is a showcase of four of the top juniors with Illinois recruit Tracy Abrams and Adonis Filer of Mt. Carmel against St. Patrick's Jacob Williams and Kortney Darby.

The 6:30 p.m. middle game features perennial powerhouse Simeon, led by Dayton recruit Brandon Spearman and freshman Jabari Parker, against DeLaSalle and standout junior Mike Shaw.

"I'm really looking forward to the second and third games," said St. Pat's coach Mike Bailey, who then laughed and said, "the game I'm not looking forward to is the first game."

But this is always something high school hoops fans look forward to with four sellouts of Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena as proof.

Matchups with Quentin Richardson against Corey Maggette, Greg Oden against Jon Scheyer and Derrick Rose against Evan Turner. It's all part of what makes the City-Suburban Showdown the best above all the rest.

"It's a great experience," Bailey said.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com