The Moment of Truth
We got a huge chuckle (all in fun) when Northwestern coach and Glenbrook North alum Chris Collins threw out the ceremonial first pitch recently before the Cubs-Giant game at Wrigley field. I often razz him about his Theo Epstein (Cubs GM) like optimism regarding the Wildcat’s recent resurgence as well as his sunny prospective on the program’s future. In lieu of the Wildcat’s climb, DePaul, Northern Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Loyola-Chicago, Western Illinois, UIC and Chicago State will give us locals an exciting brand of hoops to follow this upcoming season. Chicago area fan base has snoozing on the progress of programs like Eastern, Western and Chicago State. Stay tuned . . .
I find-it-mind boggling as well as risky when area high-school teams participate in 6-8 week fall leagues, regularly playing all day on Sundays sometimes Saturdays. The alarming fact to the matter is most of the coaches’ risk jeopardizing their upcoming season for a six-eight week commitment to a fall league. “These types of lengthy venues are one injury away from folding.” Recently a panel of local observers were asking what purpose does it serve? Not much . . . what weekly camaraderie among league players & coaches? Or perhaps a viewing vehicle to see what disenchanted player/family will be available for a transfer wire. We all know these fall events aren’t about team building, because most times when you see these same programs that take part in the fall affairs their teams usually lack synergy & not an ounce of continuity when you see them perform early in November/December! “Let’s keep-it-one-hundred, it’s not like the Chicago area as well as our surrounding boundaries are spitting out division one caliber prospects at a high-rate, like the area was once regarded for.” There are no Jahlil Okafors or Jabari Parkers come through the ranks any time soon. Let’s face-it Chicago public league is a depleted source right now. What I’m suggesting is scrap leagues in late September & the month of October get our players acclimated early academically, then get them filtered through some kind of cross country program or a 4-5 week conditioning piece. This would take some unwanted stress off-the kids as well as the family regarding what gym or game time he’s running to in September/October. This would allow our kids time to rest on certain weekends and focus on being a student or just a traditional regular little Johnny. Meanwhile respective coaches can polish their craft by spending weekends going to various coaching clinics which can be sought in a 35-50 mile ratios. There are no excuses for not being prepared once the season starts, that’s why our neighboring state Indiana is so far ahead of us from a high-school coaching & development stand-point.
Doesn’t really matter who breaks a story first? Just asking!
2017 guard Alonzo Verge Jr. one of the most exciting players we’ve had in our area in recent years (home grown) will suit-up at Proviso West this season. It’s a shame things weren’t ironed out at Wilowbrook H.S. where he performed last season. Hopefully this decision to attend Proviso West will help him continue his surge as one of the area’s most exhilarating talents.
Chicago was once a hot bed for
talent, year in & out the city produced bona-fide high major
players/athletes. This ground breaking
trend has come to a screeching halt. After
listening to some miscellaneous dudes at the UIC team camp, the banter just
validated my thoughts all along. The
city has fallen on some lean times, a lot can be contributed to our club team
culture, not just the whole freight falls in the arms of our newly abundance of
inexperienced high-school coaches even some of our 5th & 6th
year coaches haven’t proven they are equipped or qualified at developing players
on the court or in the classroom and it clearly shows, we are witnessing the
decline each season. You see we have no
more veteran technicians such as Robert Collins, Bob Hambric, Luther Bedford,
Chuck Frazier, George Stanton, Sonny Cox, Herb Brown, Charles Stimpson, Lee
Umbles, Larry Hawkins, Dan Davis, Jim Foreman, Earl Eldridge – blah, blah, blah
. . . It’s going to take a heroic
crime fighter to clean-up all the debris eroding the Chicagoland area. There is an astonishing amount of travel
coaches/club/AAU culprits that have no business manning the side-lines at any
summer tournament or venue most of them are clueless (not all) when it comes to
mentorship coaching, development, recruitment or potential level of a
player. These are some significant requirements
majority are lacking. Most of them think
taking a player all over the country during the spring & summer
automatically penchant them to be on first name basis with Tom Izzo or
Krzyzenski, let alone most of them can’t even bring home a title. What they don’t realize is that they are
hurting the game that they don’t respect anyway, not only hindering the growth
of players, “some of these jokers find-it-amusing.” They act as if they’re coaching in an
intramural rec league. After viewing our
deteriorating scene for a few years now it’s time to exhibit some talking
points of changing the way we conduct business in our grass-roots basketball
landscape.
I’m often hesitant to touch this sensitive topic, University of Illinois being our state’s flagship school has taken some serious hits of late, the Darius Paul saga was so disturbing, here he is in France injured not slated to suit-up and he’s out plastered at 5 AM on a destructive rampage reportedly. I feel bad for coach John Groce and his staff these guys are some hard working grinding guys who only want to be successful and the cards have not fell in their favor since they landed on campus in March 2012 they’ve often performed with weapons not equipped to rumble every night in a highly contested Big 10 battle. The picture in Champaign is gloomy but I’m hoping these guys can persevere and get through this in a positive finish. The program has sagged since Bill Self bolted off to Lawrence.
And – NO – I’m not mad at anybody and have no personal gripes with anyone in particular.
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