Northwest suburban basketball notes
Prospect isn't taking an easy bypass to a successful boys basketball season.
Last year's 63-56 regional final loss to Evanston, which went on to finish third in the state in Class 4A, showed the Knights what they needed to do to make a big breakthrough.
"In the middle of the Evanston game and I felt at the end after we lost," said second-year Prospect coach John Camardella, "we had not been exposed to that type of pressure and that type of skill to that point."
So the Knights, who begin defense of their share of the Mid-Suburban East title at 7:30 p.m. today at Hersey, decided to give the Wildkits another try on their turf in February as part of a beefed-up schedule to prepare for March.
They opened with a double-overtime loss to perennial power St. Joseph and routed Proviso East in the St. Charles East tournament. The Knights also added a tough nonconference test at Lake Zurich on Dec. 16.
They'll also have an MSL crossover trip to Schaumburg to start 2009, host Glenbrook North and face Glenbrook South on Feb. 28 at the United Center.
Camardella said he's following the lead of his college coach, the legendary Denny Bridges at Illinois Wesleyan.
"His mantra was the goal every year was to win the conference and play the toughest nonconference schedule you can," Camardella said. "If you have high aspirations you can't shy away from those teams.
"The kids know and I told them we're not looking to just ramp up wins. This will give us an honest shot to go somewhere and not just win a regional semifinal."
Playing Glenbrook South and 6-foot-8 Notre Dame recruit Jack Cooley on the Bulls' home floor isn't a bad postseason tuneup.
Last year they met at Loyola's Gentile Center with more at stake since it was right before the sectional seeding meeting.
"We'll use it as a program-builder where every kid is going to play," Camardella said. "It will be intense but fun at the same time.
"We'll use it as a nice sort of segue to the state tournament and give the kids a reward."
Stingy Saxons: Schaumburg faced a variety of styles and athletic teams last weekend that included NIC-10 contenders Rockford Auburn and Rockford Boylan and Chicago Public League power Farragut.
The Saxons not only came away with a 4-0 start and a tourney title at Boylan but also a good feeling about a defense that allowed only 49 points a game.
"We always do that, we pride ourselves on defense and giving 100 percent effort all the time," said Schaumburg senior Josh Spandiary. "We know we'll win if we play defense."
It showed in the final 23 seconds when Schaumburg not only didn't give Boylan a shot at a tie or the lead but forced a turnover nearly 30 feet from the basket with two seconds left.
"This year we feel like everybody on the team comes off the bench with a good mentality defensively," said third-year varsity guard Perrish Bell. "Anybody on the floor can guard anybody on the other team."
Spandiary, Bell, Anthony Iannotti and junior Richard Barnes made quick transitions from playing in the Class 8A football quarterfinals. Other seniors such as Chris Kelly, Grant Grossman and Justin Swiercz stepped up in expanded roles.
And even though the Saxons made the sectional finals last year, they want to show they're a team to be reckoned with even though 6-5 senior and third-year varsity player Blake Mueller is out until at least January with a torn ACL.
"Coming in people didn't think we'd be that good because we lost Blake and that would hurt us," said Alabama-bound guard Cully Payne. "We kind of came in with a chip on our shoulder and we want to prove people wrong."
Answering some questions: St. Viator expected to be improved offensively with junior point guard Alan Aboona and classmate Richard McLoughlin starting their second varsity season.
The Lions also hope they proved they can play a little defense as they clinched a 3-0 finish and title in their own Thanksgiving tournament with a 58-51 win over Conant.
"I was a little worried about the defense coming in but we played pretty well each of the three nights," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski.
"Coming in we really didn't look too good defensively," McLoughlin said. "But in this tournament we stepped up."
Cohler cuts: Juniors who get cut usually figure their varsity dreams are over.
Buffalo Grove's Andrew Cohler didn't play along with that theory. The 6-foot-2 senior not only made the team this year but figures to do more than just a lot of sitting and watching.
"He really worked hard and I think he's going to help us," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "He was so delighted when we kept him.
"Last year when he left he was disappointed, but he came back and said 'You told me to work on these things' and he went out and did it."
Not a bad start: Rolling Meadows wasn't going bananas over a 2-2 split at the Fenton tournament.
But the Mustangs a 47-45 win over Libertyville allowed them to leave with a better taste in their mouths than most would have expected.
"Especially considering Teddy (senior Metzger) is the only returning player who played a lot," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "We wanted to get better every game and we not only did that but came out 2-2."
Katovich has also been pleased with the play of 5-foot-7 freshman Brian Nelms, who is literally the opposite of graduated power point guard and two-time MSL scoring leader Kyle Gaedele, who is now playing baseball at Valparaiso.
"We went from the biggest point guard in the area to probably the smallest," Katovich said with a laugh. "People will think they can manhandle him but I think he's going to find a way to get the job done.
"He's so sharp and he's got a real high basketball IQ. Obviously he's a freshman and he's going to make mistakes and his lack of experience in MSL games is going to provide some challenges for him, but I think he'll be up to the task."
Meadows opens East play at 6:30 p.m. today with visiting Elk Grove. Both were at Fenton but in different pools.
Making adjustments: It may seem as if Hoffman Estates' Luke Mead and Tom Dombrowski have been around forever. But it's still a young team with 14 juniors on the roster.
"The biggest problem is the terminology," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro. "Between coach (assistant Mike) Brown and myself, we're throwing so much at them.
"They have to remember little things because we're doing some things different than we did last year. We have to all get on the same page."
It helps that Brown had been the sophomore coach before he was promoted to the varsity. Wandro has given the former Schaumburg star and Northern Illinois player plenty of responsibility.
"It's not like he's finding out anything new about these guys and they really respected him last year," Wandro said. "It will be a big plus for him and the players."
The road more traveled: Conant's only home game in its first 12 will be on Dec. 20 against Naperville North. Tonight's trip to Palatine to start defense of consecutive MSL titles also starts a 4-game road stretch.
The Cougars also opened the season at the St. Viator tourney and head to York at the end of the month.
"We're kind of orphans early on," said Conant coach Tom McCormack with a laugh. "But that's OK. We've been through that."
Conant will also got to Warren on Jan. 10 and play Barrington on Jan. 17 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates as part of a triple-header that includes Schaumburg facing Jacobs.
Big Lions: Only two players on St. Viator's roster are listed at less than 6 feet tall.
"I think some are program heights," joked Viator coach Joe Majkowski of the tradition of adding a little to make players seem bigger. "It's been a long time (since that happened), but at the same time nobody's over 6-5.
"It's a group of kids with a lot of parity within the group size-wise and ability-wise."
A two grand moment: Leyden will play the 2,000th game in its history at 6 p.m. Saturday when Lincoln-Way Central visits Farina Field House in Franklin Park.
An game featuring alumni from a program that started in 1924-25 will be played at approximately 4:30 p.m. Former Bulls announcer Tom Dore, who was part of a state record 108-game regular-season winning streak with Glen Grunwald for East Leyden from 1974-78, is among those expected to attend.
Game No. 1,999 also was memorable as Leyden made 13 3-pointers to tie the school record it set in 1991 and 2003. Senior Anthony Cushion's eight 3s in the win over Streamwood is third-best in school history behind Vito Regalado, who hit 11 and 10 in consecutive games in 2003.