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Release Radar 12/25/20 – Terrace Martin vs The Neighborhoodon December 31, 2020 at 5:19 pm

Cut Out Kid

Release Radar 12/25/20 – Terrace Martin vs The Neighborhood

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Release Radar 12/25/20 – Terrace Martin vs The Neighborhoodon December 31, 2020 at 5:19 pm Read More »

Classic high school basketball game rewatch: East St. Louis Lincoln vs. King (1987)on December 31, 2020 at 4:29 pm

Marcus Liberty’s status heading into this 1987 Class AA state championship game was made very clear in the introductions. As the Assembly Hall PA guy announced Liberty’s name, the play-by-play man on the broadcast referred to Liberty as “The crown prince of basketball in Illinois.”

Liberty lived up to the billing in every way. The senior turned in the greatest performance in the history of big school state tournament basketball in Illinois. He set the record for most points in the Class AA tournament (143), most field goals made in the Class AA tournament (54), most points in the Class AA title game (41) and most field goals made in the Class AA title game (16).

The 41 points he scored is still the most in a title game in any big school class. Shawn Jeppson scored 51 for Spring Valley Hall in the 1997 Class A title game.

I’m too young to remember the massive amount of excitement Illinois fans must have felt knowing that Liberty was about to star on the same court for the Fighting Illini. Any Illinois fan watching the game must have been absolutely overjoyed.

But King didn’t win. The Jaguars didn’t even come close. Liberty was spectacular, but his teammates were onlookers. During the third quarter it crossed my mind that maybe Liberty was just too good for high school basketball. His teammates just tended to get out of the way and watch him. And I don’t really blame them.

East St. Louis Lincoln beat King at its own game. The Tigers opened with a dunk off the tip (an indication of King’s defensive dedication right from the start) and kept running and gunning and destroying the Jaguars with transition baskets.

LaPhonso Ellis was only a junior, but entered the game on a mountain of hype that nearly equaled Liberty.

Taylor Bell wrote a feature on Ellis days before the game:

“The first time [LaPhonso Ellis] saw him play, he drives the baseline, stuffs it and shatters the backboard – and I hadn’t been there but a minute and a half,” one Big Ten coach said.

“In terms of the total package – ability to play the game and academics – he might be the best kid I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen a lot,” another Big Ten coach said. “He’s by far the best rebounder I’ve ever seen.”

Ellis, a 6-9, 218-pound junior, is one of the top 10 college prospects for 1988. He’s big enough and strong enough to have shattered three backboards in two years, but he also is smart enough to get an A in trigonometry and appreciate Shakespeare.

Ellis has been the most dominant force on Lincoln’s 21-1 team. He averages 20 points, 20 rebounds and nine blocked shots per game.

In December, he set a Collinsville tournament record with 27 blocked shots in three games. The previous record was eight.

That season average stat line is incredible. 20/20/9? Wow.

Some other tidbits:

-The 1987 state tournament was considered an attendance flop at the time. The Class AA tournament attracted 39,939 spectators for four sessions, which was the second-lowest attendance figure since the two-class format was introduced in 1972. The Class A tournament attendance of 41,488 was the lowest in the event’s history. Hotel prices in Champaign were seen as the culprit.

-Illinois coach Lou Henson and Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins, both recruiting Ellis, were seen sitting together. Loyola’s Gene Sullivan and SIU’s Rich Herrin were there too. Get this: That was a shocking surprise. Apparently it was tradition that no college coaches were invited to the state tournament, other than the Illinois coach. I had no idea.

The starting lineups:

King
F Marcus Liberty (30), 6-8 Sr.
F Johnny Selvie (20), 6-6 Fr.
C Richard Smith (31), 6-7 Sr.
G Jamie Brandon (23), 6-3 Fr.
G Carl Stanley (14), 5-10 Jr.

East St. Louis Lincoln
F James Harris (22)
F Chris Rodgers (42)
C LaPhonso Ellis (50), 6-9, Jr.
G Rodney Chavis (10)
G Mark Chambers (14)

Watch it all and read Taylor Bell’s game story from March 22, 1987:

King loses crown despite Liberty’s 41

BY TAYLOR BELL

CHAMPAIGN — Three against one is tough to beat in basketball, demolition derbies and muggings.

The odds were even too much for King’s Marcus Liberty to overcome last night in the IHSA Class AA championship before 10,280 fans at Assembly Hall.

Liberty scored 41 points, setting a Class AA record with 143 in four games, but East St. Louis Lincoln won 79-62. Lincoln’s victory ended King’s season at 28-5 and spoiled its bid to become the first large school to win back-to-back titles since Thornridge in 1971-72.

Liberty was brilliant, scoring 18 points in the third quarter in a desperate attempt to rally his team from a 17-point halftime deficit.

Lincoln’s front line was overpowering and intimidating as 6-9 junior LaPhonso Ellis had 27 points and 10 rebounds, 6-8 James Harris had 23 points and 6-7 Chris Rodgers had 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Tigers (27-1), who won their second state title in six years, shot 61 percent (36-of-59).

“We were really jacked up to prove to everybody that we were the best team,” Rodgers said.

“We played as well as we could play,” King coach Landon Cox said. “I think East St. Louis Lincoln has a marvelous team. But I think Collins was better. Lincoln was just bigger.”

“I think we were too hyper for the game,” said Liberty, who shot 16-of-33, made 9-of-13 free throws and had 15 rebounds. “We came out taking too many quick shots and we didn’t get back on defense.”

East St. Louis Lincoln, which lost to Lincoln (a Downstate school near Springfield) in the final of the Collinsville holiday tournament, rushed to a 9-0 lead in the first 4:30 as King missed its first seven shots.

King fell behind 14-2 before Liberty triggered a comeback that forged a tie at 15 early in the second period. But Liberty didn’t get any help.

Ellis, one of the nation’s most prized underclassmen, and Harris took charge as Lincoln stormed to a 41-24 halftime lead.

Despite Liberty’s third-quarter flurry, King never recovered.

“We knew what we had to do and we went with that game plan and it worked,” Lincoln coach Bennie Lewis said. “We wanted to see if they could run with us and they couldn’t.

“We had a little lapse in the second quarter but came back from it. We just took it to them and they couldn’t stop us. We knew Marcus Liberty would get his points but we held everyone else down. We played just the way we planned it.

“Any time a team plays the same kind of game we play, we feel we have the superior athletes. You’ve got to be mighty, mighty tough to run with us.”

“I wasn’t surprised how we jumped out on them,” said Harris, a quarterback who will attend Temple on a football scholarship. “We’ve been anxious to play another run-and-gun team all year. Run-and-gun is our game. We might turn the ball over 14 times but we’ll continue to get our baskets.”

“We felt they were a one-man team,” said Rodgers, who is committed to enroll at Creighton. “We felt they weren’t ready for our tight press and our well-balanced attack. I was really surprised how we were able to get the ball inside so easily against them.”

Liberty was impressed by Ellis and sought him out after the game, saying: “Make sure you visit Illinois.”

“I guess they had so many more trees than we had,” Liberty said. “They had me changing and altering my shot. Every time I went up, I seemed to have somebody else’s hand in my face. It was difficult to put up my normal shot.

“I saw Ellis play in the first two games and he didn’t look that impressive. But he really turned his game up a notch and his coach must have told him something to play the way he did against us tonight.”

Cox conceded Lincoln “beat us up under the boards” but complained “we didn’t get a call all night. They did a hatchet job on my freshman (6-5 Johnny Selvie) and wouldn’t give us a call. They finally started calling something late in the fourth quarter but the damage was already done.”

But, as Cox has often reminded, who can remember the last time a team advanced to the state finals with two freshman starters? The odds of pulling it off, even with Marcus Liberty, were simply too long.

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The winningest high school basketball programs of the decade: No. 33 West Auroraon December 31, 2020 at 4:43 pm

When high school basketball fans think back to the 1980s, programs like Quincy, Providence St. Mel, East St. Louis Lincoln and the arrival of city powers King and Simeon are easy to think back on.

The 1990s brought us memorable basketball giants in Peoria Manual and Thornton, a few steamrolling Proviso East teams and the continued dominance of King.

The first 10 years of the 2000s included Glenbrook North, Peoria High and the beginning of a Simeon juggernaut.

Now, with the calendar inching closer to wrapping up an unforgettable 2020, the end of this month closes out another decade. And it’s another high school basketball time period to look back on.

Earlier this year we broke down the decade’s best teams and best players. Now, with every season of the past decade complete, it’s time to look at the Chicago area programs who won the most.

This list is comprised of the 50 winningest programs over the past 10 years, starting with the 2010-11 season and concluding with the 2019-20 season. Every team in every class throughout the Chicago area will be broken down in a variety of ways. But total wins, with winning percentage used as tie-breaker, determined the rankings.

We present No. 33 West Aurora today and will add one program a day going forward.

33. West Aurora: 202-97

Decade’s biggest storyline: The retirement of legendary coach Gordie Kerkman, along with an accompanying storyline of a super-sectional appearance in his final season as coach, stands out above everyone thing else.

In Kerkman’s final season, West Aurora entered the postseason as the No. 6 sectional seed. The Blackhawks pulled off upset wins over Wheaton North, York and Hinsdale Central before falling to Bolingbrook, 50-49, in the super-sectional.

Kerkman retired following the 2014-15 season after compiling 805 career wins. In 39 years as head coach, Kerkman won 24 regionals, 13 sectional titles and made 11 state quarterfinal appearances. Kerkman and the Blackhawks captured a state championship in 2000 and retired as one of the greatest and most accomplished coaches in state history.

West Aurora's Roland Griffin (34) goes up for the dunk.
West Aurora’s Roland Griffin (34) goes up for the dunk.
Sun-Times file photo

Underrated highlight: In coach Brian Johnson’s third season as head coach, the Blackhawks won regional and sectional championships. The 25-win Blackhawks’ run ended in the super-sectional with a loss to eventual state champion Belleville West and EJ Liddell.

Player of the Decade: Jontrell Walker (2014)

All-Decade Team: Juwan Starks (2012), Jontrell Walker (2014), Roland Griffin (2015), Camron Donatlan (2018) and Jared Crutcher (2018)

Other decade highlights:

-The overall program’s success this past decade was aided by just two Division I players — Roland Griffin and Jontrell Walker.

-In a program with as much history, tradition and talent as West Aurora, the fact the all-time scoring record was broken twice during the decade is a significant highlight. First, Juwan Starks broke the career scoring mark with 1,627 career points in 2012. And then guard Jontrell Walker broke it with 1,773 points in 2014. Overall, Walker was one of the real under-appreciated players in the state his senior year as he averaged 23.4 points a game.

-Jontrell Walker set the school record for most three-pointers with 189 in his career.

-Coach Gordie Kerkman surpassed both the 700 and 800 win coaching milestones during the decade.

-The 28 wins in 2018-19 were the most wins by a West Aurora team since 2005-06.

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Trump “Most Admired”? I demand a recount!on December 31, 2020 at 4:33 pm

The Quark In The Road

Trump “Most Admired”? I demand a recount!

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Trump “Most Admired”? I demand a recount!on December 31, 2020 at 4:33 pm Read More »

Illinois vs. Florida in the COVID derby. And the clear winner is…on December 31, 2020 at 4:35 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Illinois vs. Florida in the COVID derby. And the clear winner is…

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Illinois vs. Florida in the COVID derby. And the clear winner is…on December 31, 2020 at 4:35 pm Read More »

Summing up, a life of transformation, and a year of changeon December 31, 2020 at 2:00 pm

Cheating Death

Summing up, a life of transformation, and a year of change

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Georgia and Dobby — Petraits Rescueon December 31, 2020 at 1:27 pm

Pets in need of homes

Georgia and Dobby — Petraits Rescue

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Georgia and Dobby — Petraits Rescueon December 31, 2020 at 1:27 pm Read More »

PHOTOS: Ex-Cubs player Ben Zobrist listing home near Wrigley Field for $2.1Mon December 31, 2020 at 1:28 pm

ChicagoNow Staff Blog

PHOTOS: Ex-Cubs player Ben Zobrist listing home near Wrigley Field for $2.1M

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PHOTOS: Ex-Cubs player Ben Zobrist listing home near Wrigley Field for $2.1Mon December 31, 2020 at 1:28 pm Read More »

Chicago Blackhawks: Dylan Strome headlines possible trade packageson December 31, 2020 at 12:00 pm

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
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Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Could the Chicago Blackhawks trade Dylan Strome if they can’t come to a deal ahead of 2021?

If the Chicago Blackhawks want to sign Dylan Strome to a contract in time to have him on the ice for the 2020-21 season, they better do it quick. It is approaching quickly and Training Camp is set to begin in a couple of days. The Blackhawks need as much help as they can get with all of the injuries they have sustained recently so making sure Strome is there should be at the top of their list. It does seem like he is very important so a decision of some sort should be made soon.

Strome was very good when he came to the Chicago Blackhawks. He was struggling to be consistent as a member of the Arizona Coyotes before the trade so he had to be thrilled to come to the Blackhawks. He was able to reunite with his junior linemate in Alex DeBrincat and they were awesome together.

The issue for the Hawks is that he is hard to evaluate a salary for. He has the potential to be a very good centerman that can put up a lot of points. His ability to create offense and make those around him better is very good when he is on top of his game. He can also score the puck pretty well which is valuable in his own right.

If this problem of him not being signed becomes a lingering issue, the Hawks might just trade him. They have the salary flexibility to sign him but they might just also might want to move on. He is only 23 so he fits the mold of a kid you keep during a rebuild but if they can’t find a deal, they should just trade him for more assets. These are three trade packages that might work:

Next: Trade One

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Build Your Own Vintage Bungalow Furnitureon December 18, 2020 at 6:47 pm

6144 S. Kildare. Photo: Redfin

If you own a classic Chicago bungalow, there are a lot of resources for taking care of it in an aesthetically appropriate manner — from the exterior bricks and steps to the floors, walls, and trim. Every year, the Driehaus bungalow awards are a nice introduction to people who are doing it right.

But what about furnishings? One option is hitting Chicagoland and Michiana antique stores to see what turns up; another is following online consignment sites to see if something pops up among the MCM knickknacks. But the most direct approach is to make some furniture yourself (or pay someone to do it for you).

Start with the early 20th century architect and journalist William Radford, one of the busiest, if not necessarily the best, builders of his era. A Riverside resident trained in construction, Radford built a small empire out of the Radford Architectural Company, which sold home plans and books. All told, the company offered more than a thousand different home, commercial, and agricultural building plans. Many are bungalows — here are 208 of them — and if Radford was more industrious than artistic, they’ve aged nicely, like this Montomery Ward house of Radford’s design.

Among Radford’s many publications was American Carpenter and Builder, a collection of building plans, carpentry tips, and industry advice. Most of it is for professionals, but the “Home Craftsman” section contained plans for (comparatively) simple furniture that fit the single-family home plans that Radford sold. Think of it a bit like Enzo Mari’s Autoprgettazione? for Chicago bungalows. Some of it should be left to pro carpenters, like the office desk, but skilled amateurs could adapt the more basic designs for some nice touches.

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