Mount Carmel Defeats Fenwick 55-25 to Open Catholic League Play

The Mount Carmel Caravan are for real. Period. They handled Fenwick, a pretty good team. The score was 32-8 at the half.

I wanted to see Mount Carmel this year to see if the high rank was deserved. It is. They can play defense. They can score. Angelo Ciaravino is as good as advertised. He finished with 26 points sat much of the third and fourth quarters. He seems very much improved since last season—bigger, stronger and faster than I recall he playing last year.

Mike Clark teases me about my comments on the quality of the light is area gyms. I stand by my frequent citation to universal truth codified in the third law of basketball—the most important factor in basketball is the quality of the light in the gym. I think we all know it’s true; we just don’t talk about it.

With that said, I must say the light in the Mount Carmel gym is not the best. Not enough of it and color is a little too yellow. Perhaps a capital campaign is in order. Just a thought.

I was testing out a lens just released by Canon, the RF 100-300mm, f2.8. It’s a beast. I have used the legendary Canon EF 300mm, f2.8, telephoto lens many times. It is a classic.

Canon’s new lens looks to improve that staple of sports photography by making a 100 to 300 millimeter zoom lens instead of a 300 millimeter prime lens. A zoom lens that reaches out to 300 millimeters might just take out the other staple of sports photography—the beloved 70-200mm, f2.8, telephoto lens. Basically the best lens there is.

This new 300 is heavy. Many people use old version on a monopod. I haven’t because I have mostly used it for football so I can put it down between plays. Plus I don’t like monopods. I like to sit when I shoot.

Shooting basketball with a big heavy Canon 300mm is different. One needs to hold it up a long time. If I would use it every time I shoot basketball, it would take a while to get used to it and build up the right muscles.

This new 300mm telephoto is every bit as razor sharp as it predecessor. The “throw” (the distance and time it takes to move the lens from 100 millimeters to 300 millimeters) is a little long for basketball. The throw seems to take longer that the 70-200mm.

This is not scientific testing by me. It is my initial impressions for using for an hour and a half. I will keep using it over the next few days and at the Chicago Elite Classic. I am guessing that it will work very nicely on the bigger court at UIC’s Credit 1 Arena.

Good start to the season. I am looking forward to the race in the Chicago Catholic League Blue. Mount Carmel, Brother Rice, DePaul Prep, DeLaSalle, Loyola, St. Ignatius, St. Rita, Leo, and Fenwick. These teams know each other. The winner is likely to have at least two conference losses. But we will see. Maybe one teams run through the schedule. Maybe Mount Carmel.

DePaul Prep's Season . . . So Far

With DePaul Prep’s regular season in the home stretch, indulge us in a brief recap and look ahead. With five games to go, the Rams have a 18-4 overall record with quality wins over Notre Dame, Leo, Benet, St. Rita, St. Joseph and Evanston. The four loses have all come at the hands of ranked, or previously ranked, teams, Niles North, St. Rita, Lincoln Park and Loyola.

The Rams dominated opponents in the first part of the season except for the game against highly regarded Niles North. Lance Mosley’s last second three pointer sealed the road victory over Benet Academy. Another very nice road win in the Chicago Catholic League Blue division against the ranked Leo Lions impressed fans and critics alike.

Next came the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic where the Rams scored wins over Crete-Monee and Stevenson. In what had to be the Rams worst game of the year, DePaul did not look good at all against St. Rita—a painful loss to eventual tournament champion. Next was a close loss to a hot Lincoln Park team in the consolation game (which pretty much does not count because it was a tournament consolation game).

The third phase of the season was the Martin Luther King Day tournament with some non-conference games sprinkled in. The Rams won the MLK Tournament with wins over St. Francis (Wheaton), Lindbloom, Riverside-Brookfield and Loyola.

The Rams scored a big CCL rematch win at St. Rita and took care of a very good St. Ignatius team next. The head scratch game of the year was Loyola. Just could not get a shot to drop against a red-hot Loyola team. Another head-scratcher at St. Joseph with only 10 points in the second half saved by a long gaming three-pointer from Raheem Anthony and brought home a key CCL Blue game.

An invitation to Joe Henrickson’s “When Sides Collide” Shootout brought a match-up with Evanston. The Rams scored another season defining 59-52 win over the Wildkits. Perry Cowen putting two 20 plus point totals up in two games.

Looking ahead a little, the Rams have games left against Fenwick, Brother Rice and DeLaSalle in the CCL Blue plus a CCL White crossover game against Montini. Fenwick can take the CCL Blue with two road wins against DePaul and Loyola. Fenwick travels to DePaul this coming Friday and Loyola on February 26th. If Fenwick falls to one of those teams, we may be looking a three way tie between Fenwick, DePaul and Loyola in the Blue.

Don’t hold your breath, Fenwick is ranked 7th and has looked good against the area’s top teams despite suffering some losses. The DePaul/Fenwick is Friday at DePaul. It will be a special night at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym because DePaul is retiring current head coach, former Gordon Tech star and former DePaul University All American Tom Kleinschmidt’s #34. Coach Kleinschmidt enters the game with a 108-59 win/loss record at Gordon Tech/DePaul over the last six seasons.

I know it is bad luck but let’s look ahead to the IHSA playoffs. DePaul Prep elected to move up to 3A where they have been assigned to North Chicago Sectional in the Hoffman Estates Super-Sectional. The Rams avoided the Joliet Central Super-Sectional with the other ranked teams in 3A. There are no Sun-Times Super 25 ranked teams in Hoffman Estates Super-Sectional. Other than DePaul, the best team is probably Carmel, a lesser light in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. DePaul also has the advantage of hosting a regional again this year.

There are some good teams in 3A has ranked teams. Morgan Park, North Lawndale, Hillcrest, Marian Catholic are all ranked. Previously, ranked teams include St. Laurence, St. Rita.

In terms of downstate 3A teams, MaxPreps has Champaign Central, Springfield Southeast and Centralia all ranked ahead of DePaul Prep. But none of those teams are in the Hoffman Estates Super-sectional. In fact, the highest MaxPreps ranked team in the Hoffman Estates Super-Sectional is Carmel ranked #18 in 3A and #78 in the state.

So, here is what’s left to do: take care of Fenwick, win the Catholic League Blue, win the home regional, win the North Chicago Sectional, win the Hoffman Estates Super-Sectional at the Sears Centre, go to Peoria, beat Marian Catholic, Morgan Park and/or Champaign Central and collect state championship trophy. See how easy that is?

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