It's shootout season again
Every season needs a bridge, something to carry the fanbase over the dog days on their way to the playoffs.
There are plenty of bridges in prep basketball: key conference showdowns, holiday tournaments and shootouts. Lots and lots of shootouts.
Whether it's the upcoming 25th annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook or Wheaton Warrenville South's Martin Luther King Day tourney, it's time to start finding those bridges to March Madness.
That's Eyes on Five's plan, anyway.
Going big:
As Wheaton Warrenville South's athletic director, Mike Healy knows he'll have his hands full hosting a 16-team boys tournament Saturday and Monday.
But it's nothing compared to the challenge he and the rest of the competition face as coaches.
"I don't know how coaches are going to like it," Healy said. "I don't know how I'm going to like it. It definitely challenges the kids, but it also really challenges the coaches."
After hosting eight teams the first two years of the Martin Luther King Day event, Healy said he lost three teams from last season's field...but added 11. It's an eclectic group of 16 teams representing 11 conferences.
"Our goal was to get to 12 and do crossovers between groups," Healy said. "But it just took off and we decided to go with 16 teams."
It'll be quite the grind trying to win the thing, though. Two games Saturday and two on Monday. Healy said six of the teams also play on Friday.
How to prepare for such a big chunk of games? Good question.
On Saturday games run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Might want to try and sneak in a nap now.
"It'll be interesting to see what everyone does," Healy said. "You may have to extend your bench and you may have to find time to rest some guys. It's going to be a tough two days."
Filling up:
One positive about the WW South event is that it allows the Tigers to fill some of the many empty schedule spots left by a thin slate of DuPage Valley Conference games.
Six DVC schools means only 10 league games and a lot of scrambling to fill open dates.
A perfect example was last Friday when the DVC simply took the night off. No conference games.
It's unheard of compared to past seasons when the league needed some Tuesday games and back-to-back weekend games to get in all 14 matchups. Last Friday, however, everyone but Wheaton North had the night off.
"Yeah, it's strange not playing a DVC game," said Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann, whose team beat St. Francis 70-43. "It's hard finding a Friday night nonconference game because everyone's playing conference games. Luckily we were able to get together with St. Francis."
It helped that St. Francis also scrambled for games without last year's Suburban Christian Conference schedule to lean on. It also helped that Spartans coach Bob Ward is a retired Wheaton North teacher and former coach of the Falcons.
The DVC needs to deal with the scramble for only this season until Metea Valley, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley join the DVC next school year to create a conference of nine.
Then the league will have the opposite problem - no nonconference games.
Playing up:
On the surface the IC Catholic Prep girls basketball team's record looks just so-so. A 9-8 mark isn't that far above .500, after all.
But look a little deeper and you gain an appreciation for what the Knights are doing.
With an enrollment of just 312 students, ICCP has made a habit of making things difficult for much bigger schools.
"Everybody says you only have (312) students in your whole school and you're playing these schools," said Schuett, 82-54 midway through her fifth season at the Elmhurst school. "But guess what? We compete, and I believe we can beat them. I believe we're good enough player for player to beat them."
At the Oswego East holiday tournament the Knights defeated Oswego East and Machesney Park Harlem, losing to Downers Grove South by a point and Metea Valley by 9. All four schools have more than 2,000 students.
Except for a poor third quarter, the Knights were right with Glenbard South in last Friday's Metro Suburban Conference West Division game.
When the playoffs start, the Knights will say goodbye to the big schools and hello to Class 2A competition again, going to the Walther Christian regional. They placed fourth at state last year, and they'll be battle-tested for another state run in February.
"We haven't lost to a 2A school yet," Schuett said. "We have a tough schedule. We do. But there's a reason for that. It doesn't matter what your record is at the end of the season."
The Original:
Twenty-six and a half years ago a couple of high school girls basketball coaches - Maine West's Derril Kipp and Dave Power, then of IHM, now at Fenwick - and a newspaper writer, retired Sun-Times reporter Steve Tucker convinced Jim O'Boye to start a weekend-long set of games where fans and college coaches could come watch some of the best players in the Midwest.
"I just did it really to keep promoting girls basketball, always thinking somebody would come along and do it better and I'd just fade away," O'Boye said.
On Saturday and Monday, the 25th annual McDonald's Shootout will take place, bigger and better than ever. After starting at Northwestern University's McGaw Hall and then a couple of years at DePaul's Alumni Hall, this will be the 20th year at Willowbrook High School.
This year's lineup includes many teams from DuPage County: Benet, Downers Grove North, Montini, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South and of course host Willowbrook, with games tipping off 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. both days.
"Originally I started selfishly because I understood a little about recruiting and I'd get exposure for my daughters and it's good for basketball," said O'Boye, who has seen his granddaughters play in the shootout.
When it started the event was unique. Since then it's been widely copied, with several boys and girls showdowns, shootouts and tournaments going on in January, especially this weekend around the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. O'Boye has no problem with the competition. In fact he sees it as good for the game.
But all the other shootouts and tournaments don't mean O'Boye will fade away just yet.
"I've told Willowbrook I'll be back in 2016," he said.
Stat time:
During Tuesday's 71-53 West Suburban Gold victory over Proviso East, Hinsdale South's Barret Benson showed why he's regarded as one of the state's premier uncommitted junior players.
The 6-foot-10 center dominated with 36 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocked shots while leading the Hornets to a stunning blowout of the Pirates.
It's no wonder Benson holds nearly a dozen Division I scholarship offers.
Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevin_schmit
Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz