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Henricksen: An array of holiday hoops thoughts
Joe Henricksen
For Sun-Times Media | @joehoopsreport
Jan. 2 2:42 p.m.
The holiday tournaments are in the rearview mirror as conference races begin to heat up in January. But after looking at the big winners –– team and individually –– inyesterday’s holiday tournament story, here are a whole bunch of other holiday hoops thoughts …
➤ Everyone sees how good Stevenson is and realizes the Patriots are a state title favorite. But the next two weeks are going to be an absolute grind for coach Pat Ambrose and his team.
Stevenson is in West Virginia this weekend to face Jayson Tatum, the nation’s top-ranked junior, and Chaminade out of St. Louis, along with a date with Gonzaga Prep out of Washington, D.C. Stevenson then plays two tough league road games–– at Lake Zurich (11-2) Jan. 6 and at Lake Forest (14-0) on Jan. 15. And then two days later the Patriots travel to Springfield, Mass., to face national power Findlay Prep.
➤ The number of Marcus LoVett doubters dwindle by the day. The Morgan Park star was MVP of the Carbondale Holiday Tournament, averaging 26 points a game with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3-to-1 while hitting 12 of 26 from beyond the arc. This coming after scoring 33 against Larkin, 26 against Bogan and 29 against Simeon.
➤ Simeon went and took care of business at Pontiac. But the crop of teams Simeon faced there wasn’t the ideal, or typical, measuring stick coach Robert Smith’s team receives in its three days in Pontiac. But what a home-away-from-home Pontiac has been to the Simeon program. Since 1996 Simeon has played in the championship game 15 times, winning 12 of them.
➤ Lake Zurich has been going to Pekin for a number of years (19) and has its share of championships –– consolation championships. The Bears, who have three consolation titles at Pekin since 2001, made their first trip to the championship game, beating Plainfield East. While I’m no Lake Zurich basketball historian –– the program does have three regional titles in the last 20 years –– this has to rank among the biggest regular-season wins in school history.
➤ Lake Forest’s Noah Karras is a Division I talent committed to a Division III school (University of Chicago).
➤ You want an underrated holiday tournament? The Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs. No, it’s not at the level of the elite tournaments like Proviso West or Pontiac, but it’s overlooked a bit, nonetheless. Plus, there were some fantastic games and finishes in the final couple days of the tournament this year, including Larkin’s three-pointer at the buzzer in overtime to beat Barrington in the championship.
➤ Simeon and Morgan Park weren’t the only Public League schools to win a holiday tournament. Von Steuben captured the Luther North Holiday Tournament behind tournament MVP Rafael Cruz, an up-and-coming 6-1 sophomore point guard.
