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Ryan, Carmel take their show on the road for the holidays

If Zack Ryan's players don't know him well now, they will by the time the holiday break is over.

The Carmel boys basketball coach has a special trip planned for his team. He's taking the Corsairs to Minnesota for four to five days for an eight-team tournament at his high school alma mater, Tartan, which is located in Oakdale, a suburb of St. Paul.

Ryan's picture is on the wall at the bowl-style gym (think Waukegan's old gym) at Tartan as an all-conference player for a team that went to the state finals all four years he was on varsity. That's right. All four years.

In fact, Tartan High School went to the state finals in boys basketball eight years in a row from 1998 to 2005.

"It'll be a lot of fun. I haven't been back there in about five years," Ryan said. "A lot of people don't realize how good the basketball is up in Minnesota. I'm trying to explain it to our guys. It'll be a test for them."

Carmel is one of several teams that will leave the area to test their skills over the holidays. Most other teams from Lake County will play in one of the many local holiday tournaments, which get underway next week in the suburbs and city.

"We were at the Jacobs Holiday Tournament last year and that was fine, but I thought it might be fun to do something different," Ryan said. "I kept thinking about the tournament at Tartan. It's a really good tournament and I found out there was a spot and the head coach there asked me if we wanted it. I was like, 'We should try this, at least for a year.'"

The head coach at Tartan High School is Mark Klingsporn, the same head coach who was there when Ryan was a sharp-shooting guard who drained dozens of three-pointers from 2000 to 2004.

"The coach is just very good and he's been there for a long time," Ryan said of Klingsporn. "A lot of what I try to do as a coach I learned from him. You know, how to build a program. He runs a really good feeder program and he's got the luxury of having a lot of good talent (in the district)."

Ryan says he played with three eventual Division I college players during his high school career, and dozens of others have gone through the Tartan program over the years.

Their pictures are on the gym walls too, along with all-conference players such as Ryan, who played his college ball at Division III Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

"It's a rich tradition of basketball there," Ryan said. "In Minnesota, when you say 'Tartan,' that means good basketball. This is where we're trying to get Carmel to be. It's not easy and it takes a while to get there. But this is what it looks like."

Ryan's not opposed to having some fun along the way though.

The Corsairs won't just be all about the tournament while they're in Minnesota. They also plan to go to the Mall of America and perhaps a men's practice at the University of Minnesota.

"We're really excited because we think this will be really fun for the kids," Ryan said. "It's a lot of work putting this together, but it's worth it. It's something the kids will always remember.

Holiday plans

Here's what the other boys teams in the Daily Herald's Lake County circulation area are doing for the holidays:

Stevenson: Hinsdale Central tournament. Other teams include: Maine South, St. Charles East, Homewood-Flossmoor and a team from California. "Good people run it so we decided to go there," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said.

Libertyville and Vernon Hills: Wheeling Hardwood Classic. Other teams include Notre Dame, Fremd and Deerfield.

"We're also doing a service project over the holidays at Bernie's Book Bank in Lake Bluff," Libertyville coach Brent Mork said. "We will always do something around the holidays as a team, and I left it up to the seniors to decide what they wanted to do. It's more meaningful to the kids in my eyes, if they have a say in the project."

"I love the tradition (38 years for the Hardwood Classic)," said Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty, "and the fact that some really good, high level D1 players have played in this tournament throughout the years. It is fun to watch their careers as they move on to college.

Warren: Pontiac Holiday Tournament. Other teams include Peoria Manual, Curie, Simeon and Benet.

"It's a challenging tournament with very tough competition," Warren coach Jon Jasnoch said. "It's also an exceptionally well run tournament that gets a lot of support from the town of Pontiac. That makes it a really great experience for our team."

Mundelein and Grayslake Central: DeKalb Holiday Tournament. Other teams include Geneva, Glenbrook North, DeKalb and Sterling.

"I actually played in the DeKalb tournament my senior year at Grayslake. That's how old this tournament is," Mundelein coach Corey Knigge said. "I like it because it gives us a chance to get out and play teams we don't normally see and to stay over at least one night and get a chance to know each other a little more. I think that's important."

Last year, one of the Mustangs' team outings in DeKalb was a bowling tournament.

Lake Zurich: Pekin Holiday Tournament. Lake Zurich is the defending champ but is not among the top four seeds this year. Those spots belong to Washington, Moline United (and former Warren coach Ryan Webber), Mt. Carmel and Springfield Lanphier. Regardless of outcome, the Bears are looking forward to the experience.

"This is a great getaway and our alumni always say it's one of the highlights of their career," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. "We stay in the Embassy Suites hotel, go out for a steak dinner one night, visit the Peoria Civic Center. It's good team bonding."

Antioch and Wauconda: Marengo Holiday Tournament. Other teams include Woodstock, Elgin and Westminster.

"It's nice to get away for these games and we typically make one of the days a long "good culture" day and go to the local bowling alley to hang out for a while," Antioch coach Jim White said. "We just finished a 15-hour day together as an entire program up in Milwaukee after our game with Westosha. We went across the street to Buck Bradley's for a few hours and the kids had a blast (before watching the Golden State Warriors go down for the first time in the season to the Bucks). Our motto this year is 'Good Culture' and we have been living that for sure."

Lakes and Grant: Jacobs Holiday Tournament. Other teams include Jacobs, Zion-Benton, Barrington and Rockford Boylan.

"We like going out there because it is well run and features great competition," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. "We will see teams we don't normally see and we will get a chance to compete against great programs."

"We normally take the team out to breakfast over break," Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. "It's nice to break up the regular routine and get to spend some time with our guys off the court too."

Grayslake North: No tournament.

"We are entering year three without a holiday tourney and every year I realize more and more that we made the right decision," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "We don't play again until Jan. 6 and we will practice (today) before giving the kids one full week off. When we come off of our break we will still have nine days of practice before our next game. It will be very heavy on skill work. In order to balance out our schedule we play in a MLK Tourney in Washington, IL."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

• Follow Patricia on Twitter: @babcockmcgraw

  Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose, here congratulating players in a recognition ceremony at the school following last season's Class 4A state championship, will take this year's team to Hinsdale Central's tournament over the holidays. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
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