Chicagoland Showcase bigger, better than ever
The Chicagoland Invitational Showcase at Fremd High School is back for the fifth year.
And it's bigger and better than ever.
"We probably have the best group of teams and talent we've had in five years," said Fremd girls basketball coach and organizer Dave Yates. "We expect a great turnout of college coaches. Any time you get a group of kids like this it attracts colleges. It's a win for everyone."
There are teams with plenty of wins.
Yates has brought in top-ranked teams from Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois.
"If you want to be the best you've got to play the best," said Naperville Central veteran coach Andy Nussbaum, whose team is joining the event for the first time. "We want to be at top of the girls high school game so we've got to play good teams."
Indiana's highly-regarded Homestead High School is scheduled to face Marist at 2 p.m.
The No. 1 Wisconsin club, Beaver Dam, will face one of Illinois' finest, Benet, at 3:45 p.m. in the day's showcase event.
The rest of the schedule: Lake Zurich vs Naperville Central (10:30 a.m.), New Trier vs Lyons (11 a.m.), Montini vs Lake Forest (12:15 p.m.), Maine South vs. Batavia (12:45 p.m.), Rock Island vs. Naperville North (2:30 p.m.), Lincoln-Way West vs Grayslake vs. Central (4:15 p.m.), Fremd vs Glenbard West (5:30 p.m.), Carmel vs Hampshire (6 p.m.) and Maine West vs Rufus King (WI) at 7 p.m.
"It's awesome," said Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett, whose school hosts the second round of the event on Jan 11. "Dave puts together both of them. We just host the second one because we have three beautiful gyms.
"What's great is that you have nine varsity games and we stagger the starts, so you can literally watch nine fourth quarters in a row. It's awesome if you are a girls basketball fan."
The event also features 2018 Ms. Basketball, Rock Island senior Brea Beal.
"And Naperville North probably has the best sophomore in the state," Yates said of the Huskies' Greta Kampschroeder. "We usually get about 25 to 30 college coaches. Duke has been here and everyone in the Big Ten. It's been good."
Helping hand: Rolling Meadow is off to an impressive 6-1 start, and the Mustangs are getting a little extra help on the bench from someone who would have been a big help on the floor.
After an all-conference sophomore campaign where she averaged 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds, Bridget Rolla suffered an ACL injury over the summer and is currently in rehab.
But she's hardly away from the team, sitting right near the coaches for every game.
"Bridget has done some film breakdown and put together some pretty detailed scouting reports for us," said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "Obviously it's not the position she wants to be in but she is helping us in any way she can and I think it will ultimately make her a better player."
In her four months of rehab, Kirkorsky said the junior can start running this month.
"She is just itching to get out there," Kirkorsky said. "Every moment of every game, you can see it in her eyes. She wants to be out there."
Family affair: This could be a Mid-Suburban League girls basketball first.
The Dec. 14 West division game between Schaumburg and Conant will feature a coaching matchup of a sister-in-law (the Saxons' Jacqui Strauch) and a brother -in-law (the Cougars' Todd Strauch).
"That is going to be a big day," said a smiling Jacqui, whose husband Adam is Todd's twin. "It's 'Strauch vs. Strauch.' "
Todd and Adam played basketball at Conant for retired coach Tom McCormack.
"My husband tells me he knows all the plays they run because his brother (Todd) runs a lot of stuff from Tom McCormack, who he really liked when he played for him," Jacqui said with a laugh. "So it's going to be real fun. We have all our family and friends coming out. We'll see who can pull it out."