Basketball is Back at the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout

I love the R-B Shootout. Gets me back into basketball. I get to see teams and players I don’t ordinarily see during the season.

The games don’t mean much. One always wants to win but it is more about seeing what teams have and what they lost.

Last year I realized the R-B is not a good time and place for photos. It is more of a place to get to know teams and players. Although I do love the main gym. It has excellent light and lots of space to get a good position.

I took some photos more to capture the atmosphere than game action.

R-B has 56 teams. A mix of traditional powerhouses, teams with standout players and just average teams but more of the former than the latter.

I hesitate to comment upon and evaluate players for want of proper bone fides for such an endeavor. My basketball credentials don’t get much past coaching my son’s grade school basketball team. But I am sticking with my decision to report because more coverage is better than less coverage. (Mike Clark encouraged me. So blame him if I get it all wrong.) So, in the venerable words of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.” I can recognize a good player, or maybe just a good play, when I set it. So here goes.

The first game of the day was St. Ignatius vs. Timothy Christian. I wanted to check out Timothy Christian’s 6’8” senior center Ben VanderWal. I also wanted to see how Chicago Catholic League contender and likely top ten team St. Ignatius looks.

VanderWal is the real thing. He has size and length. He can shoot. He plays defense. He will carry Timothy Christian.

St. Ignatius is very good. They move the very well. They make layups. They play defense. It seemed like they are much bigger than last year. Kolby Gilles, Richard Barron and A. J. Redd all looked bigger and faster. I do not remember big junior Jackson Kotecki from last year but I should have. He is the piece that rounds out this group. And they have a player named Emmett O’Shaughnessy. How can one not love that?

Next was Rolling Meadows vs. Ridgewood. I wanted to see Cameron Christie. He didn’t play much so I can’t draw any conclusions. It seemed like Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich wanted to see what the rest of his squad could do. Interestedly, when Christie was in, he brought up the ball like his older brother incoming Michigan State freshman, Max Christie.

Without too much of Christie to be contended with, Coach Chris Mroz’s scrappy Ridgewood squad made a game of it. Tons of effort in this game even without the East Gym packed with college coaches.

Next were the DePaul Prep games. First Oak Forest, then Glenbrook South. Oak Forrest has Robbie Avila. That kid is just big. He he can handle the ball, he can score and he can blot out the sun. But I have to say, DePaul Prep’s Dylan Arnett played him well. I would say Arnett got the better of him.

From the frying pan and into the fire for Arnett. Glenbrook South’s Nick Martinelli followed immediately. It’s no secret to even casual observers that Martinelli is one of the best players in the state but I had never seen him until today. He did not disappoint. Arnett played well but at times, many times, Nick Martinelli could not be denied.

Glenbrook South, last year’s Central Suburban League Champions over Evanston, is a much better team than Oak Forest. Glenbrook South held the young Rams in check. One noticed the absence of DePaul Prep’s scoring machines TY Johnson and Rashid Bello in this game. The Rams stayed close but lost 43-34.

Then Glenbard West vs. St. Rita. I had to see Glenbard West and I wanted to see how the young St. Rita team was coming along.

Glenbard West is the best high school basketball team I have seen in a long time; certainly the biggest. The 1-3-1 zone had St. Rita stymied in the first half. The Mustangs did not score for a long time at the beginning of the game. The Hilltopper’s 6’10” forward Braden Huff has length and nose for the basket. He just took the ball to the hoop. Caden Pierce, Paxton Warden, Bobby Durkin and Ryan Renfro rounding out an all 6’3” or better starting five. Oh, and they are athletic too. Fast. This team has to be a favorite to make it to the 4A finals.  

Then Loyola vs. Bogan. Loyola is always good. Tom Livatino gets a bunch of athletes, coaches them up and turns them into a winning basketball team. Just always expect Loyola to be very good. Nothing different with this group. I don’t think he has any D1 prospects but they will contend for the CCL for sure. As always.

Finally, Joliet West vs. Whitney Young. The last that I saw Whitney Young, TY Johnson put forty points on them and DePaul Prep upset the Dolphins at St. Patrick’s last March in the Chipolte season ending tournament. Coach Slaughter has his team hitting on all cylinders. Just a group of big, fast athletes. They are excellent shooters. Gotta be another favorite to win 4A.

I also learned today that DePaul Prep sophomore coach Sean Connor got the head coaching job at Antioch High School. Sean is a great coach. Seriously, this guy can coach. His teams won the sophomore division of the Chicago Catholic League for, I don’t know how many years in a row, eight, nine? And he won it with the best freshmen and sophomore playing up a lot of the time. Antioch will love Sean. Just a wonderful person. I am happy for him that he will be fifteen minutes away from his home and won’t be so far from his growing family. I am also happy he didn’t land at a Catholic League school.

There you go. I am so happy basketball is on again.

Hope you like the photos.

DePaul Prep Defeats #1 Whitney Young 55-43

The Rams had lost to Fenwick a week before. Despite beating Brother Rice in an emotional last game in the Tom Winiecki Gym, it felt like DePaul limped into the Chipotle Clash of Champions. They were ranked 11 or 19 or something. I don’t even remember.

Coach Kleinschmidt had them ready. Ready to play their game. As is their game, the Rams opened a lead. The top ranked Dolphins rebounded and actually lead at half time.

No problem. Just keep playing the Rams’ game. Whitney Young was happy to oblige. Well, maybe not happy. They didn’t have much say in the issue. The Rams controlled the tempo, moved the ball around until they found a seem to exploit. And that they did.

TY had 32. Brian Mathews had 11.

Oh, and they made their free throws at the end. Doing that, when one has the lead at the end, makes winning look easy.

I was more of a spectator for this game. It shows in the photos. I don’t even care. I just enjoyed the game.

It was proof to me just how special this group of young men—this team—is. Proof that Tom Kleinschimdt is a special kind of coach. Proof that even in the disappointment and frustration of the season of COVID, we can all take something special from the experience.

This was just the first game of the Chipotle Clash of Champions; still more work to do. But all the proof I needed.

DePaul Prep Wins Chipotle Clash of Champions with Win 51-36 over Evanston

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Evanston Wildkits 51-36 to win the Chipotle Clash of Champions. Michael O’Brien and the Chicago Sun-Times has the Rams ranked #1—the best high school basketball in Northern Illinois.

I will do a story about the game for Inside Publications and publish it here as well later in the week.

I hope you like the photos. Not my best work but never enjoyed a game more.

DePaul Prep Falls to Providence Catholic 54-37.

The DePaul Prep girls varsity basketball team took on Providence Catholic Saturday afternoon on Senior Day. The young Rams only have one senior on the squad, point guard Eva Budziszewski.

The story on the game will follow. There will be a preview of my Inside article later in the week. For now, I hope you like the photos. It was great to get back to doing girls’ games. This weird COVID season has limited my availability. I should be able to get at least one more in before basketball comes to screeching halt.

As always, Go Rams!

North Lawndale Edges Lincoln Park 61-58

The Lincoln Park High School Lions boys varsity team had its home opener on Mar. 3, against North Lawndale in another down-to-the-wire affair. This time it was the visiting North Lawndale Pheonix that would edge the home team for a 61-58 victory.

No opening game jitters in this one. Both teams came out running and scoring. Lincoln Park jumped out to a 23-12 first quarter lead largely by senior center Sincere Malone controlling the boards.

Lincoln Park lead 42-35 at the half.

North Lawndale battled back in the second half eventually taking a 57-56 lead with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter.

“In the second half, we ran into a little foul trouble with our big fellow [senior center Sincere Malone] in the first half,” said new Lincoln Park head coach Antwon Jennings.

“We adjusted. We went from playing man-to-man to zone, just trying to give them a different look,” Jennings added. “We were just out of position. [North Lawndale’s] second chance shots killed us.”

Even after losing its lead the Lions battled the Phoenix in back-and-forth action late in the fourth.

Lincoln Park was in position to tie several times late in the game only done three in the last minute. The Lions had two open looks to tie late but two three pointers missed. A turned over by Lincoln Park with 15 seconds remaining sealed the victory for North Lawndale.

When asked what he told his players after missing two shots to tie, Jennings said, “Keep shooting the ball. I feel like I’ve got two of the best shooters in the City in Chris [Hammonds] and Julio [Montes].

“I told Julio I will live with him taking those shots. You gotta take ‘em,” Jennings added. “I wouldn’t do it any different.”

Final was North Lawndale 61, Lincoln Park 58.

This is something of a disappointing 0-2 start to the season for Lincoln Park who had a blowout loss to Whitney Young on Feb. 26. Antwon Jennings comes to Lincoln Park this year from the staff of Morgan Park under legendary coach Nick Irvin. Coach Jennings spent years under Coach Irvin including Morgan Park’s two 3A state championships.

Nevertheless, the future is bright for the Lions who take on archrival Lane Tech on Friday, March 5, at Lane.

Lake Tech Holds to Defeat Jones

After the last-minute postponement of the Farragut game on Friday, Feb. 26, the Lane Tech boys basketball team finally opened its season on Monday, Mar. 1, against Jones. The Lane boys (no longer known as the Indians) beat Jones 40-34, in a defensive struggle.

Both teams came out of the 360-day layoff since their last high school basketball game, very rusty. Shots just would not fall. These jitters combined with very strong defensive efforts by both teams meant that after one quarter of basketball, the score was Lane 7, Jones 5.

The second quarter was not a whole lot better. The score at the half was Jones 15, Lane 12.

“First game jitters; that’s gonna happen, especially after a year layoff and only having a couple practices,” said Lane Tech head coach and athletic director Nick Logalbo.

Things teams settled down at halftime and felt a little more normal, well COVID normal. Shots started falling. It turned into an exciting back and forth game. Lane’s junior guard Sean Molloy sparked the Lane boys with nine of this game high 14 points in the third quarter. Interestingly, Sean Molloy is the youngest brother of Lane’s girls’ varsity basketball coach Megan Molloy.

With 1:06 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, Jones senior forward Niko Rosich tied the game at 37 with a long three-pointer.

Lane point guard senior Justin Brown quickly brought up the ball and with 50 seconds to go dished to Molloy. Off the shot fake, Molloy slashed into the lane and was called for a charge. With the foul, the ball went over to Jones with the game still tied with 39 second remaining.

Initially, Jones looked like it would play for the last shot but Rosich broke for the basket missing a layup. Molloy scrambled for the ball and dashed up court. Weaving way through defenders Molloy dropped in a right handed layup being fouled in the process with 20.2 seconds remaining.

Sean added the free throw giving Lane a 40-37 lead. There it would end.

“You know the Molloy boys; those kids are tough as nails. Sean gonna be obviously a really good player for us. We knew he would make those plays. The charge was questionable, but how about a junior responding like that? He wanted the ball right back,” Logalbo said of Molloy.

Sean’s older brother Michael Molloy was Lane’s starting point guard several years ago. Brother Neil Molloy played football at Lane from 2011 to 2015, later playing college football at Illinois Wesleyan.

Sean Molloy had 14 points. Lane’s senior center Aaron McQueen finished with 10 points. Justin Brown had seven.

Jones’ Rosich also with 14 points. Jones’ Devin Boston had 11 points.

One can view the entire game, include Lane Tech sophomore Alex Burstein’s play-by-play, on Lane Tech Athletic’s You Tube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxdhVaJI8sQ&t=53s

Rams 60, Montini 39

The now fifth ranked DePaul Prep Rams traveled to Lombard this morning for a rescheduled game against Montini and defeated the Broncos 60-39.

DePaul plays Loyola Academy tomorrow at home at 7:00. I don’t write much ahead of the Loyola game.

I hope you like today’s photos.

DePaul Prep Defeated Providence Catholic 55-38

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Providence Catholic Celtics 55-38 last night (Feb. 24) at the Tom Winiecki Gym.

TY Johnson was honored before the game for scoring his 1,000 point as a varsity player in the first game of the year against St. Joseph.

Today was my day for getting photos of the coaches and of blocked shots.

I hope you like the photos.

DePaul Prep Handles St. Ignatius 59-38

St. Ignatius has a good team. I have seen them a couple times this year and they have a good young team. Kolby Giles is a beast.

Let me tell you something. Tom Kleinschmidt’s DePaul Prep Rams handled them 59-38 last Friday (Feb. 19). The Rams jumped out to an early lead with tremendous defense and points off the break.

There was plenty of fight in the Wolfpack. Matt Monroe has his team playing well and playing as a team. After opening the game with an 18-6 run, the Rams went a little cold. When asked what happened, Kleinschmidt said, “Well Ignatius happened. They’re a good team. They spread us a little bit. We went to our bench. We haven’t played in eleven days. They’re a good team. That’s what happened to us.”

Nevertheless, the Rams just seemed too quick and too athletic. TY Johnson and Rasheed Bello are the best front court I have seen this year.

Mind you this is not expert analysis here. These are my impressions as a photographer. But man-o-man the Rams look good—fierce even.

In this COVID world, I don’t know how they stack up. I have seen other ranked teams in person and streaming. They are close to the best. If there was a normal playoff, this Rams team would be a 3A finalist. Do they beat Notre Dame to get to the title game? I don’t know. Notre Dame is loaded. I understand that match up is being planned so we might get to find out.

I hope you like the photos.

Notre Dame Survives at St. Patrick, 52-45

I was at St. Patrick Tuesday evening for the ESCC showdown between #5 Notre Dame and #10 St. Patrick. St. Patrick is tough place for a road team. The last Gordon Tech basketball game ever was March 7, 2014. It ended in a 59-39 loss for the Rams at St. Patrick. That home crowd is tough.

Not the same this year. Not the same home crowd but still very tough. St. Pat’s has an excellent team this year they and gave the Don’s all they could handle.

The Dons jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first quarter but never could break it open.

The Shamrocks pulled off a 15 to 9 run and grabbed a brief 32-31 lead at the 6:01 mark of the fourth quarter.

The #5 ranked Dons are a tough, well coached veteran group with three division one recruits. When they got the lead up to about five, Kevin Clancy went into a stall trusting his players to make the free throws.

They did. Anthony Sayles went eight for eight at the line.

Behind the leadership of the three division one recruits, Anthony Sayles (17 points), Louis Lesmond (14 points) and Troy D’Amico (11) points, the Dons regained the lead and held on to win 52-45. Notre Dame’s Sonny Williams added 8 points and Frank Lynch, (nephew of Chicago’s Sulzer Library librarian and 47th Ward resident, Julie Lynch), had 2 points.

Wildkits Pick Up Where They Left Off, Evanston 81, Vernon Hills 60

The Evanston Township High School Wildkits defeated the Vernon Hills Cougars in Evanston Saturday afternoon 81-60.

More about the game in my weekly column in the Inside Publications—insideonline.com.

My thanks to the nice people at ETHS, Athletic Director Chris Livatino, in particular. Very well done and safe operation in this COVID season.

Here are my pictures from the game. I hope you like them. Photos from the girls game to follow shortly.

Basketball Went from Zero to Four in Three Days

I have photographed four basketball games in the last three days and been glad to do it. Thursday was Prospect at Notre Dame. Last night was Maine South at Loyola. Today was Vernon Hills boy at Evanston, then Vernon Hills girls at Evanston.

It look a little getting used to again. Not exactly riding a bike; more like hitting a golf ball. It took a few swings to get back in the groove.

Thursday and Friday were challenging. I had to shoot from the balconies above the court. But not today for the two games at Evanston, I was on the court at it’s wonderful Beardsley Gym. The light in there if very good. As we all know, the light in the gym is the important part of basketball. It was just fun to be back on the floor. The pictures were better because of it.

It was a challenge last night at Loyola to shoot from the balcony well off the floor. I got some good shoots but for that type of shooting I need better equipment. It would have been right up Brian O’Mahoney’s alley. He is very good at doing it this way and gets razor sharp tight images from above. I don’t have the right equipment to make the most of that style.

More about the games themselves in my weekly column in the Inside Publications. Pick up the print version or subscribe at insideonline.com.

Here are the pictures from the Loyola v. Maine South game. Hope you like them. The photos from the Evanston v. Vernon Hills games will follow shortly.

Basketball is Back, So Is the Blog

My last basketball game was 332 days, March 11, 2020. The DePaul Prep Rams loss to St. Ignatius in the 3A Sectional semi-final. After that, nothing. Until yesterday.

Shay Boyle and the wonderful people at Notre Dame College Prep allowed me to come out and photograph their game against Prospect. I have photographed quite a few Notre Dame games in recent year. They have had great teams. It truly was a shame that they could not complete their playoff run last year. They just had a great team, really fun to watch, really skilled, tons of talent and heart. I have no doubt they would have won 3A. Okay, they might have beaten St. Viator in the sectional final, maybe. But if they did, I have no doubt they would have beaten Fenwick in the Super-sectional, some downstate team in the semi-final and then Morgan Park in the state championship game. No doubt.

These COVID games are weird. No fans. Worse yet I can’t photograph from the floor. Shooting basketball from above doesn’t make for good photos. Photographing anything from above does not make for good photos. But we can only do what we can do. And we can’t shoot from the gym floor.

I am not the most naturally gifted photographer. I really have to work at it through trial and error. These Notre Dame photos are not very good, either in terms of exposure and color or composition. I will figure it out. I will find the best spot from above in the gym to get usable shots. I mostly try to watch what other photographers were doing. Allen Cunningham found a great spot got some excellent shots. He always does such fine work.

So here they are.

High School Sports are Back, Almost

The Illinois High School Association announced Wednesday that high school sports may resume practices immediately and games may start as early as next week. However, exactly when games will start in Chicago has yet to be determined. Games may not resume until Chicago moves into “Phase 4” of COVID restrictions.

Even in areas of the State already in Phase 4, basketball games may not start until teams complete seven days of practice. Under previously released Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines, practices could have started last week. Games will not start in Chicago until the State of Illinois moves Region 11 (Chicago) moves out of “tier 1” and into Phase 4. The move to Phase 4 depends upon a number of factors related to infection rate and hospitalization rate.

Games are limited to schools within the same state “region” established for COVID purposes. The City of Chicago is one such region. Suburban Cook County is another. The new IHSA plan allows for games between teams of the same region and teams within the same conference regardless of region.

While all CPS teams are obviously in the same region and can play one another, a CPS school would not be allowed to play a suburban team. In contrast, the Chicago Catholic League has city and suburban schools. Catholic League teams will be allowed to play each other but not public schools in another region. For instance, St. Ignatius (Chicago) could play Loyola Academy (Wilmette) but not Evanston.

The exact number of basketball games allowed by the IHSA is not limited, just the date by which the season must end, March 13. “The number of basketball games is a local decision,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in Wednesday’s press conference. Schools and conferences will be allowed to set the number of games played. Anderson said that the number of games will have to be weighed against other academic and health related considerations.

The Chicago Catholic League released its schedule of mens basketball games. The 15-game season will start on Monday, February 8th and then the following Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until March 12th. Each team will be 7 games within their division and 8 “crossover” games against teams from the other division. The CCL has a rule that only home fans will be allowed to attend games.

Lane Tech Athletic Director and head men’s basketball coach Nick LoGalbo is not optimistic that games at Lane Tech will start anytime soon. “No matter the IHSA does, for us, everything is dependent on [CPS],” LoGalbo said. LoGalbo does not know what CPS will approve or when the approval will be forthcoming.

Nevertheless, CPS athletic directors are working on a schedule to play teams within each division in order to be ready. “We are looking at playing two to three games a week within each division,” LoGalbo said. “Plus some non-conference games.”

Current IDPH rules limit spectators at public indoor events to 50 people. The IHSA’s interpretation of the 50-person limit excludes players and school staff. It is unclear how schools will handle admitting spectators.

As for spectators at games, LoGalbo was not optimistic. “CPS may not allow spectators at all. Bank on nobody.” Lane is working on a plan to stream all games on the Internet.

Lane Tech womens basketball head coach Megan Molloy did not have much information about the plan going forward. “I have been meeting with my team over Google classroom and Google meets but that is about it,” Molloy said.

“Getting started again is going to be challenging. It is going to be hard. I am just going to tell my team that we are going to have to make the most of what we can do; we’ll have to take advantage of the time we have. That will be a good thing,” Molloy said.

The scheduling of back-to-back games varsity and sophomore games will be problematic. IDPH rules require the proper cleaning of the facility between such games. We may not see sophomore games immediately followed by varsity games.

Interestingly, health department rules require players must wear masks during games. Game rules will be modified slightly to provide one minute long socially distanced “mask breaks” when players can take off their masks and get a drink of water. There will be one such break during each quarter of the game.

High school football teams can begin practicing March 3rd. Games can begin March 19th and the season runs until April 24th. That leaves enough time for six games. There will be no state playoffs.

Athletes will be allowed to play multiple sports but the transition for playing basketball to football will require some extra football practice time for football players going right from basketball to football. Such players will need to participate in a couple practices in helmets and pads before being eligible to play in games.

The Chicago Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic League collaboration for football released its schedule. Each team will play 6 games, 3 against the other division teams and three crossovers. DePaul Prep will play Carmel Catholic, Marion Catholic and St. Joseph at home and Leo, Providence Catholic and Joliet Catholic on the road.

Traditional spring sports such as baseball, softball, lacrosse, girl soccer, etc., will begin practices on April 5th with the season ending on June 19th. Those sports will be afforded longer seasons because of the loss of last terms entire season.

The IHSA will not be mandating any COVID testing of athletes. “We have received no information from the Department of Public Health that would require [testing] of our students to be engaged in either practice of competition. While schools are obviously welcome to have testing if they have resources to do it,” Anderson said.

Lane Tech’s Sean Molloy (middle) rebounding in last season’s game against Oak Park-River Forest.

Lane Tech’s Sean Molloy (middle) rebounding in last season’s game against Oak Park-River Forest.

Old Photos Recovered

I started photographing sporting events in 2010. I didn’t start doing it regularly until 2011. At the time, I saved my photos to a Western Digital external drive.

At some point in late 2013, that drive failed. All drives fail. I learned a hard lesson that day. I looked into recovering the data at that time but I just didn’t want to spend the money. Frankly, it don’t even bother me that much. I just keep going.

With the COVID slowdown I was looking for photography stuff to do. I went back and took stock of my photos and my growth as a photographer. I wanted to see those photos again so I sent them off to a data recovery vendor. I am glad I did. They recovered 88,000 photos. Most of them I forgot all about. There are even some good ones.

I noticed a couple things. 1) I have learned a lot over the last ten years about exposure and composition; and 2) contrary to what many You Tube photographers like to say, the camera does matter—at least when it comes to sports photography.

In January 2010, I bought my DSLR, a Canon 2ti kit from Costco. The first basketball that I set out to photograph seems to the January 15, 2010, game between St. Benedict and Crane. I looked at the metadata for the photos. I was shooting at f4, 1/125 to 1/250 and ISO 3200. As I recall, I was struggling with exposure and had thought I needed to have the shutter speed that low. I learned later that shutter speed is king. One can boost exposure but there is no cure for blurry!

Since then, mostly through trial and error, I learned shutter speed is king. I learned composition mostly by imitating photographers that I was around, Worsom Robinson, Quinn Harris, Brian O’Mahoney, Allen Cunningham and Kirsten Stickney.

I watch a lot of You Tube photography videos, Tony and Chelsea Northrup, Jarrad Polin, Ted Forbes, etc. They all say—the camera doesn’t matter. Can one make great photos without a great camera? Yes. But if one wants to consistently make good sports photos—particularly basketball photos—you need good equipment; f2.8 lenses and a camera with high ISO capability.

The following are a few examples of my early photographs.

Who Else is Wondering About Basketball?

It happens about this time every year. The March playoffs fade. I spend time with my wife after not being around much in February and March. I go about other things long neglected. But by the middle of May, basketball returns to my mind. I put the dates of the Riverside Brookfield tournament, and the Ridgewood tournaments in my calendar. I fiddle with my cameras, charge the batteries, empty the memory cards. I get ready . . . and wait.

It happened this year too. I started to get excited. I was itching to start my basketball routine. I was curious about what was going on. How things were going to be different? I called a few people. I outlined an article and I started filling it in.

But in case you haven’t noticed, we have a global pandemic health emergency that has cost 100,000 lives in the United States. CNN held my attention when basketball would have otherwise. My day job tasks soaked up hour after hour that ordinarily would have been addressed by others, or not at all.

Nevertheless, basketball is the jealous mistress that demands my affections. And she must be obeyed.

June is ordinarily the time when high school coaches are allowed time with their teams. They practice and play in tournaments.

“Not gonna be a June,” DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt told me. “Ordinarily, this time of year I get anxious for some basketball too. I talk to Heidcamp, Livatino, Clancy. We talk basketball and get back into it.” When I talked to Coach Kleinschmidt early that evening in May, he was sitting on his couch watching television. I suspect any other year he would have been doing something else at that time of day.

The June “live period” for high school basketball is not going to happen. Chicago Sun-Times’ Michael O’Brien reported on May 19th that the National High School Sports Federation has come with a plan to phase back into high school sports. Here is a link to his piece. However, the IHSA has not yet published any plan or any guidelines to open high school sports as of the date of this writing.

“The NCAA and IHSA have suspended June live period dates as of now. So there have been no formal announcements made on June or July . . .. In addition to this, the NABC and NCAA met to consider postponing July live periods for AAU this week, but have not made a final determination,” DePaul Prep sophomore coach Sean Connor told me.

“I have been told there is potential for the NCAA to add live periods in the fall (August, September, October) for AAU teams to play, but this is just in discussion right now,” said Connor.

So June is a no-go. No R-B tournament. Coach Mroz at Ridgewood told me his tournaments will not proceed.

July is when the players are engaged in the bulk of the AAU tournaments. Tom Kleinschmidt did not think that college coaches would be attending these basketball tournaments so there wasn’t much reason to do them. However, I haven’t gotten any word yet on when any decision about the AAU tournaments will be made.

There is some hope that a “live period” may happen around the time of the girls live period in September. We could see some tournaments or one-day shootout style events for boys basketball in September. But that is largely going to depend on how high schools operate in the fall. There is likely to be some combination of in-school days and e-learning days. How sports fits into that is anybody’s guess.

When asked what’s going on in the Chicago Catholic League, Coach Kleinschmidt and DePaul Prep Athletic Director Patrick Mahoney, (son of the legendary St. Viator High School Dean of Men Patrick Mahoney), both told me there will be some changes in the Blue and White Divisions in CCL basketball. Some teams will be moving up and others moving down. More on that later.

Pat Mahoney said all is on schedule to open the DePaul Prep football season at the new DePaul Campus opposite Lane Tech. The new state-of-the-art football stadium will be ready. Exactly what the football season will look like is also yet to be determined but those decisions are months away.

I guess we will have to just wait and see what happens. In the meantime, still more of the same. Waiting.

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DePaul Prep v. Mather Senior Night

The end of this year’s basketball season was loaded with games for me and I simply did not not have the time to immediately process and post all the games I shot. I posted some photos and scores on Twitter during the DePaul Prep v. Mather game but could not give every game full treatment. I always try to shoot senior nights but I lost track of this one until now. Under the circumstances, I think it works about okay. Hopefully, you will have a little more of high school that is ending so unfortunately.

The exercise of processing the photos many weeks after taking them has proved instructive. This year I decided not to obsess on ISO and use as “auto-ISO” more than I every have. I did that that because it didn’t seem to effect the photos when posting on Twitter and Instagram.

But now, looking at these photos on a big monitor two months later, high ISO is soooooo grainy. We just gotta get better light in these gyms. I want to be shooting at no more than 1600 ISO. So you athletic directors out there better start budgeting for new and better lights in your gyms. Take a queue from the area arenas. Winstrust has great light. Allstate—very nice. Just saying.

As for these particular photos, l love the ones of the DePaul Prep coaches—some of my favorites of this season. I would post that photo in my website portfolio but it just seems too grainy. I guess I should try it out before deciding.

Congratulations to the DePaul Prep seniors. I have enjoyed watching and photographing Lance Mosley and DJ Shower over these past four years. Outstanding young men and basketball players. Hopefully this global pandemic won’t impact your college experiences too much.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Oh, ya. And the Rams won 63-25.

DePaul Prep Handles North-Grand 86-31 in Regional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated North-Grand 86-31 in the IHSA 3A Regional Semi-final matchup at DePaul on March 3, 2020.

My ability to timely post these photos right after the game was overtaken by events. The Election, the girls championship games, oh, and the global pandemic. It seems that we all will have a little time on our hands so I thought I would process these and extend the basketball season.

In these mismatch regional games, the coaches can go deep into the bench. That’s what happened against North-Grand. The bench proved more than adequate to the task. I venture a guess that the DePaul Prep Rams bench could beat most high school first teams.

So I hope you like the photos. I have a couple more game’s photos that did not get published. I will be posting those photos in coming days.

Fremd Wins 4A State Championship over Lincoln Way West

The Fremd High School Vikings defeated the Lincoln Way West Warriors 58-47 on Saturday (March 7, 2020) at ISU’s Redbird area to win the IHSA 4A State Championship.

See a full story about the game at IL Preps Insider (click here). It was great to get to work again with Luke Druze from IL Preps Insider. No one knows more about girls high school basketball than him. I sat next to him during the third place games and he filled me in. We’re gonna have to do more of that next year.

It’s just a pleasure to go to ISU for the girls championships. The Redbird area has great light. The facilities are first class. The IHSA does a great job putting on the event. I really enjoyed it.

And the games were great. Simeon made a remarkable comeback against powerhouse Morton. I know this is cliche but I was sad that some teams had to lose. The Morton Potters were crushed by their loss. The Lincoln Way West Warriors were equally devastated by their loss to Fremd.

God willing I will be back next year. However, we are looking at a whole new format next year with all four classes on the same weekend and probably in Champaign.