For me, the high school basketball season has four parts, the Thanksgiving tournaments, the Christmas tournaments, the conference games and the IHSA playoffs. We are in the Christmas, post-Christmas really, tournaments now--the beating heart of the season. Four games in four days. At the top tournaments, the best teams and their fans see each other and play each other. The dedicated fan can see eight games in one day.
I went to the first day of the 2017 Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. DePaul Prep opened the tournament against Crete-Monee. I got some good shots but not really good ones. I saw my beloved Rams handle a dangerous Crete-Monee team for the second year in a row.
Next was Homewood-Flossmor v. Stevenson. I was more of a spectator for that game. I wanted to see DePaul's next opponent in the next game and not work at getting photos. And I wanted to tweet the result to my dozen followers (okay 315 followers, but who is counting).
St. Rita v. Westinghouse was next. I got some good shots in this game. I used a new approach. I just sat down and shot from the same spot. One lens. One camera. Let the game come to me. I got some good shots. I have seen Quinn Harris, Patrick Gorski and Worsom Robinson (real photographers who know what they are doing) do this. It seems to be an effective way to get a few really good shots.
Maine South v. Richards after that. I didn’t really watch this game. I was processing my my photos and having some lunch. I took some quick iPhone videos and attached them to tweets reporting the final score.
The next game was the most interesting game of the day. I wanted to see highly ranked Bolingbrook. I saw them at last year's HC Holiday Classic. I was really impressed. Big, athletic and skilled. They finished third in the state. I wanted to see how this year's number 8 team compared. And I want to see one of the top players in the state, Bolingbrook’s Joseph Yesufu.
I couldn’t stay for the final two games. It was a long day and I needed to get home. Next year I think I will take the whole week off and take in a different tournament all day, each day. Proviso, Hinsdale and Pontiac. High school basketball heaven.
