State of Affairs

State of Affairs

It hurt my heart when I found out about the loss of my dear friend Wayne McClain, a true stud.  Our state lost one of our ambassadors of the game.  My memories of Wayne will always be treasured.  His coaching endeavors led him on a journey to serve 18 years as assistant at Peoria Manuel.  While in 1995 Wayne guided Manuel to the first of 3 state titles during his first three years at the helm.  USA Today named his 1997 state championship squad National High School Champions and he was also named National Coach of the Year.  In 2001 Rob Judson’s departure from Illinois left a vacancy, he was named head coach at Northern Illinois, which paved the way for Coach McClain to pursue his goal as a college coach.  “Bill Self, being the stand-up guy he’s always been didn’t look any further, there wasn’t a better candidate suited for the opening than Coach McClain.”  He spent 11 seasons as assistant coach under Coach Self and Bruce Weber, his last 3 years seasons he served as associate head coach to Weber.  The 2012 season Wayne joined Weber’s staff at Kansas State for a 9 month period, then returned to Champaign where he’d become a pillar in the community.  He quietly took over the Champaign Central program and led them to prominence, achieving unprecedented heights as a team.  They were one game away from the state finals in Wayne’s hometown of Peoria.  “A legend who will be sorely missed.”

Most colleges these days criss-cross the country looking for front-court help, well the New England area may be the destination to evaluate some front-court players.  Lee Academy in Maine has an abundance of skilled foreign prospects on-hand who might just be overlooked.  Most of their players border on the mid major level.  “I had a chance to watch these guys closely for a few days.”  They also have 3 or 4 terrific under-classmen as well. 

I’ll identify some of their Div I post-grad prospects they have on hand:

1.	Ilija Stojiljkovic	6-8	Serbia	Stretch 4	“Good Ball-Handler/Scorer; Effective in Open Court”
2.	Rudolfs Stradnieks	6-9	Ukraine	4-Man	“Okay Athlete; moves well; Excellent Perimeter Shooter”
3.	Anton Bilous	6-5	Ukraine	WG	“Tremendous Shooter”
4.	Walter King	5-11	New York	PG	“High Academic Profile; can Really Score; Good in Transition”
5.	Bryson Butler	6-0	Chicago	PG	“Good Athlete; Heady Game Stock Starting to Soar; Capable Scorer”
6.	Adnan Halilovic	6-6	Bosnia	G/F	“Excellent Defender; Rugged Performer; Quality Shooter”
7.	Alessandro Panzieri	6-7	Italy	F	“Intriguing Talent; has been out with an Injury
8.	Cherif Fall	6-8	Senegal	F/C	“Chiseled Body/Good Length; Needs to be more Consistent Finishing Plays”
9.	Nedjo Prijovic	6-7	Serbia	F	“I need to see more of Him”