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Monday’s high school basketball scoreson March 2, 2021 at 12:20 am

Please send scores and corrections to [email protected]

Monday, March 1, 2021

BIG NORTHERN

Dixon at Genoa-Kingston, 7:00

Mendota at Stillman Valley, 7:00

North Boone at Rockford Lutheran, 7:00

Oregon at Rockford Christian, 7:00

Rock Falls at Byron, 7:00

CATHOLIC BLUE

Brother Rice at St. Laurence, 7:15

Fenwick at St. Rita, ppd.

Leo at Mount Carmel, ppd.

Loyola at DePaul Prep, 7:00

CATHOLIC WHITE

Marmion at De La Salle, 7:15

Providence-St. Mel at Montini, 7:00

CENTRAL SUBURBAN SOUTH

New Trier 60, Glenbrook North 48

CENTRAL SUBURBAN CROSSOVER

Evanston at Maine West, 6:00

CHICAGO PREP

Hope Academy at Rochelle Zell, 7:00

Walther Christian at Holy Trinity, 6:30

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Crystal Lake South, 7:00

Dundee-Crown at Jacobs, 7:00

Huntley at Crystal Lake Central, 7:00

McHenry at Cary-Grove, 7:00

Prairie Ridge at Hampshire, 7:00

INTERSTATE EIGHT

Kaneland at Morris, 6:00

Rochelle at LaSalle-Peru, 6:00

Sandwich at Plano, 6:00

Sycamore at Ottawa, 6:00

LITTLE TEN

DePue at Somonauk, 7:00

Hinckley-Big Rock at Indian Creek, 6:45

LaMoille-Ohio at Hiawatha, 6:45

Leland at Serena, 7:00

Newark at Earlville, 7:00

NORTH SUBURBAN

Libertyville 63, Waukegan 36

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Alden-Hebron at Schaumburg Christian, 7:30

Christian Liberty at Parkview Christian, 7:30

Christian Life at South Beloit, 6:00

Harvest Christian at Christian Liberty, 6:00

Parkview Christian at Our Lady Sacred Heart, 5:30

RIVER VALLEY

Beecher at Illinois Lutheran, 7:00

SANGAMON VALLEY

Watseka at Dwight, 7:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN CROSSOVER

Hillcrest 85, Eisenhower 38

Oak Lawn 65, Bremen 49

Richards at Lemont, 7:00

TF North at Reavis, 7:30

TF South at Argo, 6:00

SOUTHLAND

Bloom 68, Rich Township 66 (2OT)

Crete-Monee at Kankakee, 7:00

Thornton at Thornwood, 7:00

UPSTATE EIGHT

East Aurora at Elgin, 7:30

NONCONFERENCE

Bolingbrook at Waubonsie Valley, 7:30

Carmel at Stevenson, at Woodlawn MS, 7:30

Corliss at Bogan, 5:00

Fenton at Naperville North, 7:00

Horizon-SW at Horizon-McKinley, 5:00

IC Catholic at Elgin Academy, 5:30

Jones at Lane, 7:00

Maine South at Nazareth, 7:00

Mather at Amundsen, 5:00

Ogden at Clemente, 5:00

Roanoke-Benson at Peoria Christian, 7:00

Round Lake at Zion-Benton, 7:30

St. Ignatius at Christ the King, 7:30

Westlake Christian at North Chicago, 7:00

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Monday’s high school basketball scoreson March 2, 2021 at 12:20 am Read More »

Chicago Bears were wise to cut veteran Buster Skrineon March 2, 2021 at 12:25 am

Chicago Bears (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears have decided to cut veteran cornerback Buster Skrine after spending two seasons with the Bears as their nickel cornerback, according to Adam Schefter.

Skrine, 31, was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. He spent four seasons each with the Browns and the New York Jets, before signing a three-year deal in 2019 with the Bears.

General manager Ryan Pace signed Skrine to a three-year $16.5 million deal in 2019. By cutting Skrine, the Bears will owe $3.3 million in dead cap this offseason, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. However, this move cleared up $5 million in cap space for the Bears.

In his two seasons in Chicago, Skrine certainly had his struggles as the nickel corner. He played 28 total games and never recorded a single interception. He did, however, record three total forced fumbles and 114 tackles in his two seasons here, while playing under 70% of snaps in the last two seasons.

Last season, Skrine struggled endlessly in pass coverage. He was targeted 64 times throughout 12 games in the regular season and allowed an astonishing 78.1% completion percentage to opponents when targeted. Along with that, he allowed 507 yards, accumulating to 10.1 yards per completion allowed. Yikes.

It was visible all season that Skrine was struggling in man-to-man coverage. Skrine also dealt with injury this year, missing the last four regular-season games and the NFC wild-card game against the New Orleans Saints due to concussion protocol.

This was an excellent move for Pace and the front office. Skrine never panned out enough to be a full-time corner in the starting lineup. He did start in seven games during his time here, but his inability to cover receivers was disappointing for the defense.

Related Story: Chicago Bears: 5 Cut candidates to free up cap space

The question now remains, who will take over his position? Bears fans got a good look at the two youngest prospects in that arena last season, Duke Shelley and Kindle Vildor. Deon Bush is another name that could come down to that position. Knowing Pace, he should be able to find a quick replacement in free agency or in-house.

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Chicago Bears were wise to cut veteran Buster Skrineon March 2, 2021 at 12:25 am Read More »

Growing Your E-Commerce Presence in Asian Marketon February 27, 2021 at 8:48 pm

Offhanded Dribble

Growing Your E-Commerce Presence in Asian Market

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Growing Your E-Commerce Presence in Asian Marketon February 27, 2021 at 8:48 pm Read More »

Blackhawks’ Ryan Carpenter growing into more offensive role, including on power playBen Popeon March 1, 2021 at 9:08 pm

Blackhawks forward Ryan Carpenter scored twice this weekend against the Red Wings. | Getty

Since returning from his relatively active COVID-19 quarantine, Carpenter has enjoyed arguably his best stretch of hockey since joining the Hawks.

During his two weeks in February with COVID-19, Ryan Carpenter found a silver lining to his sensory loss:

He couldn’t “smell my boy’s poopy diapers.”

But the Blackhawks forward’s two sons — 1-year-old Brock and 3-year-old Beau — still kept him busy, preventing him from resting for 14 days without much exercise like NHL doctors recommend.

“I don’t know if I was supposed to, but I [rode] a stationary bike on my own,” Carpenter said. “Maybe it’s [because of] the kids, too…I wasn’t able to sit around on the couch all day. I know we weren’t really able to leave our apartment until our quarantine was up, but I was still pretty active throughout the day.”

A few weeks later, Carpenter’s relatively exercise-laden quarantine has transitioned into one of his best stretches of hockey since signing with the Hawks in 2019.

The 30-year-old Floridian returned to the Hawks’ lineup Feb. 17, just four days after his activation from the COVID-19 list — much faster than Adam Boqvist or Lucas Wallmark did.

In the six games since, Carpenter — typically a defense-first fourth-line forward — has grown into a significantly more offensive role, including on the Hawks’ first power play unit.

That paid off Sunday against the Red Wings, when Carpenter recorded the first two-goal night of his 216-game NHL career. After scoring just three times in 69 games last season, Carpenter has three in 15 games this season.

“I probably tied my goals from last year already, but it’s not saying much,” Carpenter said. “But I came into this season having a simpler mindset. It helps me on the power play tonight.

“Sometimes goals aren’t always pretty: you just found a way to get it, like that [first] goal that went off somebody and in. So I’m working hard, simplifying my game, not being too cute and just being around the net — that’s where a lot of the goals are scored.”


AP Photos
Carpenter has already matched his 2019-20 goal-scoring output this season.

Carpenter is attempting more shots this season than last (11.8 attempts per 60 minutes, up from 7.9 last year), being more accurate with those attempts (67% are on goal, up from 63%) and forcing goaltenders to spit out rebounds three times more often.

He’s also produced 9.0 scoring chances per 60 minutes, up from 5.4 last year. And his increased offensive aggressiveness hasn’t sacrificed his defensive stoutness; he still ranks top three on the Hawks in both main possession proxy stats.

His new power play role is an even stranger experience, given that he’d enjoyed only 40 minutes of power-play time in his entire career prior to 2021.

But Carpenter texted with Andrew Shaw, who’d been very effective in the same rover spot within the Hawks’ 1-3-1 formation before his concussion, to get “some pointers.”

“I know my role here up to this point has just been more of a depth guy, a good penalty killer,” Carpenter said. “But whatever the coaches ask me, I’m not going to say, ‘No, I don’t want to go out there.’ I’d love to be on the power play.”

Coach Jeremy Colliton has been pleased so far.

“He’s there to get pucks back and support and be the right-handed option in the middle, and he’s been doing that,” Colliton said Sunday. “We broke pressure well tonight, we got the puck back, and it was a good finish [by Ryan].”

Carpenter is likely just a short-term power-play option until the Hawks figure out something better. His five-on-five play is not about to make him a Richard Trophy candidate, either: despite his three goals, he’s still seeking his first assist of the season.

For now, though, Carpenter’s offensive evolution has been both substantial and impactful.

And he can thank his tireless toddlers for that.

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Blackhawks’ Ryan Carpenter growing into more offensive role, including on power playBen Popeon March 1, 2021 at 9:08 pm Read More »

Best of Sports Saturday: Our favorite stories from 100 issuesDaryl Van Schouwenon March 1, 2021 at 9:09 pm

Sun-Times

Since the first Sports Saturday, we’ve covered all of Chicago’s teams in ways you won’t see anywhere else. Here are our favorite stories from the first 100 issues.

Even when there’s nothing going on in Chicago sports, there’s something going on.

It was never truer than during the all-out shutdown in the sports world that began in mid-March of last year and persisted here until Cubs and White Sox started arriving at their home ballparks at the tail end of June for “Spring Training 2.0.”

Still, we found things to write about. And on Saturdays, we continued to pack our Sports section like nobody else.

And now — unlikely as it might have seemed at one dark time or another — the Sun-Times has reached a milestone: our 100th Sports Saturday edition.

The weeks, stories and magazine-style cover images — starting with Ernie Banks and the ’69 Cubs in our debut edition on April 6, 2019 — have flown by in a delightful blur. Since then, every Chicago athlete who’s anybody has appeared on a Sports Saturday cover. And for those who haven’t, their time is coming.

“How do you all do that every single week?” is a question we’re frequently asked.

The only answer: How could we not?

Below is a collection of our favorite stories from the first 100 editions of Sports Saturday.

— Steve Greenberg

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Best of Sports Saturday: Our favorite stories from 100 issuesDaryl Van Schouwenon March 1, 2021 at 9:09 pm Read More »

NIT will play all of its games in TexasAssociated Presson March 1, 2021 at 9:41 pm

All NIT games will be played in the Dallas area this year.
All NIT games will be played in the Dallas area this year. | Steve Helber/AP

The semifinals and championship game won’t be at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in the 83-year history of college basketball’s oldest postseason tournament.

The NIT is moving the entire 2021 event to Texas because of the coronavirus pandemic, taking the semifinals and championship game out of New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in the 83-year history of college basketball’s oldest postseason tournament.

The field is being reduced to 16 teams from the usual 32, and all games will be played in the Dallas area. The two venues are the University of North Texas in Denton and an arena in Frisco that is home to a G League team affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks.

First-round games will be played March 17-20, with the quarterfinals March 25. The semifinals are set for March 27, followed by the championship game the next day. Specific arenas for each round weren’t announced.

The NIT field will be announced after the NCAA Tournament is set March 14. The Texas Longhorns won the most recent NIT in 2019.

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NIT will play all of its games in TexasAssociated Presson March 1, 2021 at 9:41 pm Read More »

Leury Garcia will try to avoid head-first slidesDaryl Van Schouwenon March 1, 2021 at 9:49 pm

Chicago White Sox’s Leury Garcia fields a grounder during a spring training baseball practice Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) | AP Photos

It’s easier said than done, versatile veteran says. ‘In heat of moment, you just react,’ he says.

TEMPE, Ariz. — The White Sox need Leury Garcia to stay healthy, and refraining from head-first slides into first might be a way to go about that. But Garcia says it isn’t as easy as you might think.

In the heat of the moment, instincts take over, and they might not always be in the player’s best interest.

“That’s definitely something that you can control, that I try to control, but sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you just react,” Garcia said Monday. “It’s difficult.”

Trying to avoid an out, Garcia slid head first into first base in a game against the Tigers last August, tore a ligament in his left thumb and missed the last six weeks of the regular season. In 2017, he sprained the index finger on his left hand sliding headfirst into second base in Cleveland.

“But it’s definitely something that I’ve been working on,” Garcia said. “I’m not planning to do it. But we’ll see. I’m going to try to not react that way. I know you can control it, but it’s not always easy to do it.”

A switch-hitter, Garcia has value as multi-dimensional infielder and outfielder with speed, some power.

La Russa said Garcia “stood out with quickness, arm strength and stroke from both sides” when he was working in the Diamondbacks front office.

“Keep him healthy, a lot of ways he can help you win a game,” La Russa said.

Garcia, who turns 30 this month, is the longest tenured Sox.

Careful with Grandal

Catcher Yasmani Grandal (right knee inflammation) began ramping up activity Sunday after missing three days but won’t be pushed hard, La Russa said, it being only March 1.

Opening Day is April 1.

“Yasmani is definitely making progress every day,” La Russa said. “If the opening day was two weeks, maybe you think about pushing him a little, but it’s not two weeks from now, so we should really get it at a pace to where he’s really 100 percent when he comes back and he makes progress every day.”

The Sox, La Russa said knocking on a table and his head, are in good health a couple weeks into camp.

“[Trainer] James [Kruk]gives us a report at the end of the day and the first of the day, and overall, a little hammy here, guys are in good shape.”

Abreu might play Tuesday

Jose Abreu joined the team on Saturday after a positive coronavirus test (he was asymptomatic) delayed his arrival, and might play against the Rangers Tuesday, La Russa said.

Kopech and Crochet

La Russa on right-hander Michael Kopech and lefty Garret Crochet:

“Michael is improving every time out there, we’re going to go at the right pace to account for getting back on the mound after being away so long. Crochet is in real good shape, he’s had good work here in January when he was rehabbing. Every time I see him, sharper and as impressive as ever.”

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Leury Garcia will try to avoid head-first slidesDaryl Van Schouwenon March 1, 2021 at 9:49 pm Read More »

Chris Crack invites you to float down his river of consciousness on Might Delete LaterJack Riedyon March 1, 2021 at 6:00 pm


Chris Crack has released five albums of no-frills trash-talking hip-hop in 2020 alone, but he’s not worried about saturating the market. When he talked to Audiomack’s Matthew Ritchie upon the release of his first album of 2021, Might Delete Later, the west-side rapper quipped, “Did Aunt Jemima make too much syrup?…Read More

Chris Crack invites you to float down his river of consciousness on Might Delete LaterJack Riedyon March 1, 2021 at 6:00 pm Read More »

Jake Burger’s spring training story as warm as the Arizona sunDaryl Van Schouwenon March 1, 2021 at 7:51 pm

Chicago White Sox bench coach Miguel Cairo, left, hits a grounder to White Sox third baseman Jake Burger during a spring training baseball practice Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) | AP Photos

“Those injuries are well behind me and I’m back to playing baseball and belong there,” Burger said.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Name your favorite spring training story:

Once highly touted prospect comes to camp attempting comeback from devastating series of injuries.

Player comes to camp in the best shape of his life.

Player shares his struggle, and now everyone is rooting for him.

Third baseman Jake Burger’s touches them all, and it’s as warm as the Arizona sun.

The “best shape” angle was displayed in pictures at the White Sox spring training complex the last few days. One showed Burger taking ground balls at third, unrecognizable to many after a massive weight loss.

The other was Burger’s massive mug shot on the Camelback Ranch scoreboard during the Sox’ Cactus League opener against the Brewers Sunday, a puffier-faced version of one of the nicest guys around.

And a terribly outdated one that prompted Burger, 24, playing third base, to tell shortstop Tim Anderson, ‘I need to get that picture changed.’ I’m 40 pounds down from that picture. I really want a new picture.”

Anderson told Burger to ‘ask me any question you got. I got you.’

“It’s three years out of the game,” Burger said, “so he’s going to kind of help me speed it back up. It’s awesome playing next to him.”

Everyone wants to help. Three years ago on the same field, as a rookie, Burger was digging hard down the first-base line after hitting a routine ground ball. Minutes later, he was leaving the field on a cart, his left Achilles ruptured.

He would rupture it again – in the backyard, no less — suffer a bruised heel as well and during his rehab sink into states of depression and anxiety. He openly shared them, endearing fans and teammates to him even more.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself and a lot about life itself over these two seasons,” Burger, 24, posted on social media last March. “I’ve battled depression and anxiety. But I’ve realized that opening up and talking about everything has helped me get through it. If anyone that sees this needs help or wants to talk, my DMs [direct messages] are always open.”

Today, he is in a much better place, mentally and physically. When Burger drove to camp for the first time this year, he couldn’t hold back tears.

Within days, manager Tony La Russa threw his name out there as a candidate to push Andrew Vaughn in the designated hitter competition. And then La Russa started him at third base in Sunday’s first game.

“It was one of those things where it kind of told me that I belonged,” Burger said. “Those injuries are well behind me and I’m back to playing baseball and belong there.”

A first-round draft choice out of Southwest Missouri, Burger was a Cardinals fan who attended Game 6 of the 2011 World Series when David Freese hit a walkoff homer. The Cardinals manager? Tony La Russa, in his last season before his first retirement.

“He’s a winner,” Burger said. “That’s the type of manager I want to play for.”

Burger went 0-for-3 Sunday but said his timing was crisp, so he came away feeling OK about his first game. No one expects Burger to make the team out of camp, but La Russa likes what he sees.

“In the infield drills he’s really been agile and he’s shown a very strong, accurate arm,” La Russa said. “And he’s had good at-bats. He’s healthy, you can tell he’s determined and he’s really pleased. I don’t know that he ever took for granted the game of baseball but he certainly is excited, happy to be playing and he hasn’t had a bad day yet.”

Hearing from fans in the stands was the cherry on top.

“It was incredible,” he said. “It’s awesome hearing ‘glad you’re back’ and saying ‘what’s up’ to me. It was unbelievable and then same on Twitter. That’s the support I had throughout this entire journey. Having a big day for myself but also for the people that supported me through it.”

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Jake Burger’s spring training story as warm as the Arizona sunDaryl Van Schouwenon March 1, 2021 at 7:51 pm Read More »