THE AFTERMATH

Edwardsville six foot four senior assassin Mark Smith has enjoyed a phenomenal season, capturing MVP Honors at the Collinsville Holiday Tournament where he guided his team to the title, capped that off with a 26-point performance versus conference rival East St. Louis on Tuesday night. The high-scoring guard has obtained recent offers from DePaul, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas State, Missouri, while Oregon has shown some interest, particularly during a recent visit to Collinsville. Stay tuned on his decision…He might want to play baseball also.

We missed the arsenal display down in Bloomington at the State Farm Holiday Event, in the small school venue featured two of the state’s top scorers, while both remain un-signed seniors, Olympia’s six foot seven forward Charles Payton and Ogden-St. Joseph guard Brandon Tremble had the gymnasium buzzing. Tremble racked up 40 against Olympia while Payton who is regarded as the No. 1 Junior College prospect in the state recorded 38. Two weeks prior, Tremble had 43 and Payton went for 40.

In the aftermath of all the Holiday venues, it’s become crystal clear we have a decline in individual talent across the state. Interesting though, right now our top elite prospects reside in the middle of our state or the Southern boundaries. Fascinating how things tend to shift! For an example: look at both of the Joliet schools right now, West and Central, Bolingbrook, and Romeoville are all having some success partly because the talent has re-emerged in that area.

Our star-crossed prospects in 2017 & 18 class should seek some dialogue from 2016 Graduates: Zion Morgan, Zac Norvell, Nick Robinson, James Jones, Devin Gage, Micah Bradford, Barret Bensen, and Matt Chastain in what should be the areas to focus on improving to enhance their chances of obtaining immediately floor time at that level! (Just a thought..)