In very well played and high scoring game, the Benet Redwings came back from a late deficit against to the Simeon Wolverines and captured the 4A Benet Regional title, 71-66, on Thursday, (February 14, 2019).
Benet Comes Back to Simeon 77-66 and Win 4A Regional
Orr Upsets Bogan 77-76 in CPS Playoffs
Brother Rice Defeats DePaul Prep 67-54
On occasion I write, mostly in jest, that the light in the gym is the most important part of high school basketball. Well tonight I was down in the 19th Ward at Brother Rice. Please understand that I write this only from a place of Christian charity and as a loyal Chicago Catholic Leaguer, the light in the Brother Rice gym is . . . well . . . horrible.
There, I wrote it. Brother Rice has the nicest high school football stadium outside of Texas but very disappointing light in the gym. Such light as there is in the gym, which is not much, is yellow. All you Crusader fans and especially members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, please do not hate me. It’s not personal; it’s photography.
I write this only to try and explain what I had to do to get some usable photos. I am still struggling to be a passable photographer. Much of what I have done this year is experimentation on the use of ISO. My current theory is not to go above 3200 ISO and try to bring back the exposure in Lightroom. This goes against my instinct to get the exposure right in the camera. When I shoot ISO above 3200, I find that my photos were noticeably grainy. (For example, look at my photos from the Orr v. Lane game, especially the photo that ended up in the Sun-Times.)
Today’s photos are competent enough but not good. The autofocus was dancing around on me. None of the photos are sharp. I have either reached the limit of my cameras’ capabilities or I don’t know how to make the most of the cameras—probably a little of both. I have got to get better at this.
As for the game, I think I will dial back that sort of commentary for a while. I talked to a friend this week who is a actual sportswriter. He said he enjoyed the blog but I found myself apologizing and explaining that I don’t pretend to be a sportswriter. That being said, the game was marred by fouls. I thought the referees did a terrible job on calls against both teams. Marquise Kennedy is very impressive. His foul shooting won the game. He can carry his team and did this afternoon.
Hope you like the photos.
CPS Quarterfinals: Simeon 66, Lane 59
End of the Regular Season
Early in this basketball season I wrote about the high school basketball season coming in phases: Thankgiving tournament, CCL crossover games, Christmas tournament, assorted shootouts. Now we are upon the second to last phase, the Chicago Catholic League Blue final games and await the IHSA playoffs.
I have told anyone foolhardy enough to listen that winning the Catholic League was what I wanted to see the DePaul Prep Rams do. Getting to Peoria would be nice but winning the 100 plus year old Chicago Catholic League is an accomplishment that means something, at least to me.
Well here we are. 8-1 in the Catholic League Blue with a one game lead on St. Laurence. Win out, and the DePaul Prep Rams and their coach, Tom Kleinschmidt will have won the Chicago Catholic League—the Catholic League Blue. But that is a subject for another day. Winning out means beating De La Salle, Fenwick (at Fenwick), Brother Rice (at Brother Rice), Loyola , St. Ignatius and then a chance to cap it off with a win against CCL White leader St. Rita.
There it is. Six CCL games in twelve days. All against historic rivals and good teams. If you do that, you’ve done something.
Even with this formidable task ahead and despite my frequent refrain against looking ahead, last night’s sixth Superbowl victory by Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck has me thinking. I could not stop myself from looking at the 3A IHSA playoffs and playing out the Sectional matchups.
Unlike most years, DePaul is not hosting either a regional or sectional. The IHSA 3A sectional assignments are out and DePaul has landed in the Grayslake Sectional. There are nineteen teams assigned to that sectional, including the formerly highly ranked and still extremely talented St. Viator Lions.
There are four regionals hosted by St. Patrick, Ridgewood, St. Viator and Carmel. It’s my understanding that teams are supposed to be assigned to geographically close regionals and not purely by seeded by the best teams. In practice, I am not sure how that all works. So I improvised. Basically, I just guessed. Looking at geography and over all records, this is what I came up with:
St. Patrick Regional: St. Patrick , Steinmetz, DePaul Prep, Noble/ITW Speer, Marine Leadership Academy.
Ridgewood Regional: Ridgewood, Sullivan, Noble/Pritzker, CICS/Northtown, Alcott.
St. Viator Regional: St. Viator, Northside, Elmwood Park, Amundsen and Intrinsic Charter.
Carmel Regional: Carmel, Antioch, North Grand and Grayslake Central
It’s not going to be exactly this but I would think not too far off. So we are probably looking at the regional champions being, DePaul Prep, Ridgewood (maybe Sullivan), St. Viator and Carmel with St. Viator squaring off against DePaul Prep in the Sectional final. Even with a Trey Calvin being out with a broken hand, St. Viator with Jeremiah Hernandez is very, very good. This is probably the best St. Viator basketball team in the school’s fifty-eight year history. I have been around that school since I started there are a freshman in 1977. This year’s team is the best I can remember and I am old, really old.
DePaul Prep and St. Viator in a sectional final shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. The Rams and Lions have been the only two ranked teams in the Grayslake Sectional. Each team has scheduled top competition and dominated their conferences.
As for the Super-sectional, the IHSA website hasn’t released which Super-sectionals will play each others. But if last year is a guide, the two northern most Super-sectionals played each other, Sears Center and NIU. If that holds true this year, the DePaul Prep Rams would not face the leading 3A powerhouses, Morgan Park and Bogan until Peoria.
So, there you have it. Win six Catholic Blue games and beat St. Viator. All for the chance to face Morgan Park, Bogan and or Springfield Southeast. This makes that stretch of games in the shootouts look like a walk in the park. Let’s get to work.
DePaul Prep’s Raheem Anthony with an over the head pass to Perry Cowen for the easy layup against Morgan Park.
DePaul Prep Girls Senior Night, Lady Rams 60, Catalyst-Maria 53
Senior night photos are always fun. DePaul Prep varsity girls did not disappoint.
The Lady Rams defeated the Catalyst Maria Lady Wolves in a very entertaining game. The Lady Wolves came into the Tom Winiecki Gym with something to prove. They played hard, and a lot. They only had seven players. They were great three point shooters which kept them in the game. This observer came away impressed with the effort and the skills.
The DePaul Prep Lady Rams took care of business on Senior Night with parents, friends and classmates in attendance. The IHSA playoffs start on Monday with a 2A Regional at DePaul Prep. The Lady Rams have the No. 3 seed in the Timothy Christian Sectional and open the playoffs on Tuesday at home against the winner of Disney v. ASPIRA.
Lady Rams 60, Lady Wolves 53.
Marian Catholic Defeats Rock Bridge, 80-62, at Quincy Shootout
DePaul Prep Falls to Quincy in OT, 64-52
I made the trip out to the Quincy Shootout. I wish I could say I did it simply because of my love of basketball but it worked out where I could drop off my wife at her parents and then I went on to Quincy. Everyone was happy.
My first visit to Quincy. Lots of basketball history. Fancy Hall of Fame room. They put on a nice event at Quincy Senior High School with first rate facilities, good food and very clean light in the gym!
I shot two games. Marian Catholic v. Rock Ridge from Columbia, Missouri. Marian slowly and methodically dismantled Rock Ridge. Every time I see Marian they impress me more and more. They are just calm and steady. No weaknesses. Ahron Uliss had 23 points. The Spartans have one of the toughest roads to Peoria as they could get. They will have to get past Brother Rice, Simeon, St. Rita and Bloom in the 4A Eisenhower Sectional and then either Curie or Whitney Young in the Northwestern Super-Sectional. Ouch!
The DePaul v. Quincy game was a whole other animal. Rams shot poorly in the first quarter. In the second quarter, they settled down, went on a run and took a 29-24 lead into the locker room.
I don’t want to say there was poor officiating. I am no judge of officials but they called 24 fouls on DePaul and 12 fouls on Quincy. I have seen a great many DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech games since Tom Klienschmidt took over. I don’t remember seeing any player foul out. Seriously. I mean like never.
Three starters fouled out tonight at Quincy.
Nevertheless, I have to hand it to Quincy. The Rams had chances and did not take advantage. The Blue Devils made all their free throws at the end of regulation, all except the one which opened the door for Perry Cowen to tie the game at the end sending the game to overtime. As I wrote above, I don’t like to blame a loss on bad officiating so I won’t. But this I learned: beware of the officials when visiting a downstate home team in a big game.
The game got a little chippy at the end. The teams exchanged some choice words as they walked out of the gym. I could not hear what was said so I hesitate to assign blame. I will see what I can find out and report.
As for the photos, there is very nice light in the Quincy gym. After a little testing before the first game, I decided to shoot both cameras at 3200 ISO and 1/800. My plan was to bring back the exposure in Lightroom.
You be the judge.
Whitney Young Handles Lane 78-69
The Lane Tech Indians (13-7, 4-4) traveled to #5 Whitney Young Dolphins (17-6, 6-1) Wednesday evening (Jan. 23, 2019) for the final CPS Red-West North conference game. Despite the Whitney Young looking every bit the part of their #5 ranking, Lane Tech hung around all evening on the strength of an impressive press break and excellent three point shooting. The Indians got within six points late in the fourth quarter but the late charge failed with the Indians falling 78-69.
The Whitney Young gym presents some challenges to photographing games. First, there is very little room between the baseline and the wall. I couldn’t risk sitting down because I would not get out of the way if a player come flying off the court. Second is the matter of the cheerleaders. Two rows of cheerleaders on either side of the lane—maybe 20 or 24. Not enough room for cheerleaders and photographers.
On the bright side, Whitney Young improved the lights since last year. They installed some new fluorescent lights which are a vast improvement.
I hope you like the photos.
Lane Falls to Orr 72-53
Last night (Jan. 18, 2019), the Lane Tech Indians fell to the Orr Spartans 72-53 at Lane. Lane played their hearts out but Orr was just too good.
I wish I could write more about the game. But last night, more than usual, I wasn’t paying much attention to the game. I was concentrating on the getting good shots, on being in the right position to get good shots and on anticipating the action.
As it turns out, I did okay. Not my best work, but respectable work on short notice without an opportunity to prepare. A good day. The day of my first photo credit in the Chicago Sun-Times.
I hope you like the photos.
Photo Comparison
So part of why I am doing this blog is to chronicle my growth as a photographer. I am not so sure that it is such a good idea to do it so publicly but I don’t have much to lose so what why not. To that end, I thought I would compare a photograph I took to a photograph taken by another photographer of the same subject. The two photographs are below.
The photos were taken at the Evanston Township High School Gym on January 11, 2019, at almost exactly the same time from different angles. This provides an opportunity I have not previously had to compare one of my photographs against one taken by another photographer of the same subject at the same time.
My photograph is the one on the right. It was taken from underneath the west basket slightly north of the rim. The photograph on the left was taken by Nic Summers of Sports Star Photos (sports-star-photos.com). I didn’t have a chance to speak to Nic that night and I have never meet him. I briefly looked at his camera. It appeared to be a Sony mirrorless. I did not see which model. Frankly, all those Sony’s look the same. I can’t be sure which lens but it was the color of the G Series Sony lenses. I obviously don’t know any setting information.
So how are they different? Color for one. Color temperature or white balance is so much to taste I don’t know what to say. I don’t like yellow light so I try to correct for it as much as I can even if the color of the light in the gym is yellow.
The principal difference I can see is the graininess of my photo. I took the photo with an original verson Canon 7D. I bought this used 7D about five years. It was originally released in 2009. It uses an APC sensor. It has many of the features of the advanced full frame Canon line up, just not a full frame sensor. I have gotten good results with it over the years but its image quality is far surpassed by my 5D Mark IV.
The ISO was set at 4000—hence the graininess. I don’t get that level of graininess with my 5D at 4000 ISO. So I presume this is the limitation of the smaller megapixel smaller sensor. A modern full frame Sony sensor is vastly superior to the old 7D without a small sensor.
Both photos are good mostly because of the Jalien Gibson and the New Trier player whose name escapes me. It was an exciting play that we both captured. Nic Summers got more out of his camera that I did.
I have to find a way to overcome the graininess issues with my photographs. I plan to save money to purchase Canon’s mirrorless replacement for the 1Dx Mark II whenever that comes out. Canon must surely be planning such a camera. It is going to be pricey!
UPDATE: Nic Summers informed me that he used a Sony A9, 8000 ISO, 1/800 shutter speed at f3.2.
Wow, this really shows the advance during the last ten years of photographic technology. The performance of the A9 at 8000 ISO is remarkable. The exposure is pretty close to perfect. Only slightly grainy. I can see why the A9 is said to be the best sports camera there is.
My Canon 5D Mark IV has much better ISO performance than my 7D but I wasn’t shooting it at 8000 ISO at the Evanston game, mostly because I didn’t need to.
I am going back to ETHS on Saturday for the War on the Shore so I will be able to do some more testing. This exercise has been very interesting and productive—for me at least.
One more thing. A comment points out that Nic Summers photo shows the basket. I didn’t write at all about composition but I think she makes a good point. Nic’s Photo has that advantage. I usually try to show some of the rim and/or net if possible. I don’t remember why I didn’t in my photo.
#5 Morgan Park Defeats #12 DePaul Prep 62-56
Coach Nick Irvin and his #5 ranked Morgan Park Mustangs came to the DePaul Prep this evening (Jan. 12, 2019) for a shootout with the #12 ranked DePaul Prep Rams. In a high energy game, the Mustangs held off the Rams throughout the whole game despite good shooting by the Rams. Although the Rams drew within 3 points late in the fourth quarter, Morgan Park prevailed in the potential state championship preview by the score of 62-56.
More on the game and the rest of the inaugural Steve Pappas Shootout later. Let get right to the photos.
New Trier Girls Beat Evanston 46-45 on Late Free Throws
The second Evanston v. New Trier matchup of the last night (Jan. 11, 2019) at Evanston was even better than the first as the Trevian girls topped the Wildkits 46-45. With time running out, New Trier point guard Tinah Hong drove the baseline drawing a foul. Just a cool as can be, with the game on the line, she stepped up to the line and drained the tying bucket—nothing but net. Then, after an Evanston time out, Tinah again stepped up to the line and drained the game winner—nothing but net. Evanston had a few seconds but couldn’t get up a shot to win.
I got some good shots of this game. Some of the photos are a little too grainy but they are pretty well lit. I hope you like them.
Evanston Tops New Trier 54-46 in Conference Showdown
Great game. Wildkits held off a late charge by the Trevians and came away with a convincing 54-46 victory. My third time seeing Evanston this year. Each time they have come out victorious in tight games over quality opponents—St. Viator, Uplift and now New Trier. I love the Evanston gym. It has such a stadium quality—and video scoreboards. My favorite gym in the area, well at least today.
As for the photos, it was not my finest work. I got to the game a little late so I was a little rushed. I hope you like the photos.
DePaul Prep Handles St. Francis de Sales
The #12 DePaul Prep Rams (12-3, 6-0) defeated the St. Francis de Sales Pioneers (1-17, 0-7) 87-34 this evening (Jan. 8, 2019) at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. I haven’t seen a win by so much in my memory. I don’t really know what to write about the game. Had my team been on the receiving end of a 50 point defeat I would not be happy about it. But it didn’t seem to me that the Rams were trying to rub it in. It seemed like they just really wanted to play and were not thinking much about the score. The starters didn’t want to come out of the game. They just wanted to play.
The Rams will have their chance on Saturday when Nick Irvin’s Morgan Park Mustangs enter the Tom Winiecki Gym for the marque game of the Steve Pappas Shootout. Should be a big crowd and a chance for the Rams to prove themselves against top competition.
As for the photos, I used the auto ISO seething for a game just to see how it would work. The ISO just as high as 12,800. Those photos came out very grainy. I set it at 6400 in the last game and it was still pretty grainy even on a phone screen. So I dropped the ISO to 4000 to see how that would look. I had of boost the exposure on all the shots but they were not grainy. The highlights might blown out a little but not too grainy. I guess one must just pick one’s poison.
Hope you like the photos.
Half Over and Plenty Left to Do for DePaul Prep Rams
The season is half over. 29 regular season games with 14 in books. The DePaul Prep Rams record stands at 11 wins, 3 losses and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. The Rams are ranked #12 in the Sun-Times Super 25 and #15 in the Chicago Tribune top 20.
The Rams have wins over #23 Providence St. Mel and #13 Leo. The three loses have been to Benet Academy, (12-3, 4A, currently ranked #16), Marian Catholic (14-1, 4A, #4) and Oswego East, (11-2, 4A, #17) by a total of nine points. So basically, the Rams have a couple good wins and three “good” losses.
It has been a long time since a DePaul Prep or Gordon Tech team has been this good. The Rams last won the Catholic League in 2000. The 11-3 mark is the best in the tenure of Coach Tom Kleinschmidt.
The first part of the year made believers out of those that thought the Rams might not be very good given the loss to North Chicago in last year’s sectional final. The Rams made a believer out of me early when the just appeared to play angry. Serious as a heart attack. Ask Notre Dame and Lane Tech. Those games impressed me. The Rams put those good teams away. Providence St. Mel came into the Tom Winiecki Gym hot and with a lot of hype. The Knights left soundly defeated.
The Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, while disappointing for the Rams, was not a failure. They lost a close game to a very, very good Marian Catholic team. I have seen a lot of good teams this year: Evanston, St. Viator, Bloomington, Morgan Park, Curie, Uplift and Bloom. Marian Catholic looked just as good as any of those teams. As for losing to Oswego East in a double overtime 3rd place game, that means nothing. Who cares about a third-place game? Not me.
Still, the season is half over. It’s too early to be a good season. There is a great deal of work left to do and many very good teams to overcome.
The best teams left on the regular season schedule are #5 Morgan Park, #21 St. Laurence, #22 New Trier, and then CCL rivals Brother Rice, Fenwick, Loyola and St. Rita. The best is yet to come, a preview game against Morgan Park, a trip to Quincy, a fun one in a big shootout against New Trier and then the Catholic League games. Win the Catholic League. That’s what I want to see. Win the Catholic League.
After that, we’ll just have to see what happens.
Providence St. Mel Defeats St. Ignatius 62-40
I was impressed by Providence—St. Mel. For a really old building, the facility is impressive. The building was well lite and immaculate.
The gym? Not so much. The light was probably the worst I have seen in the Catholic League. It’s pretty much all about light. We all need clean, white light and lots of it.
As for the game, it was a fast game—one hour and ten minutes. It was well played, not very many fouls. The refs did a good job.
The Wolfpack came out playing well. They made some outside shots and harassed the Knights big men inside enough to make them miss a ton of shots. St. Ignatius also did a great job breaking the press early and scoring off the press break. It was 26-23 at the half.
The second half was a different story. The Knights dialed up the defense. The Wolfpack stopped scoring off the press break. They were limited to some good outside shooting. Providence St. Mel began scored inside and off the break and pulled away.
I ran a Twitter poll on which game I should go to and this game won with 42% of the vote. Really glad I went. Another gym added to my list. Saw another CCL team, St. Ignatius.
The photos are not so good. I boosted the ISO really high. I just wanted to see if I could get away with it even though I pretty much already know that 12,800 is too high. I guess I just prefer grainy photos to photos that are too dark. There are a couple good ones. The dunk by PSM’s Deion Jackson is pretty good. Love the expression on his face.
I hope you like them.
Day One Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic
I saw three games of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. I planned to stay there all day. But I can’t seem to ever stay for a whole day of games.
I arrived in time for the second game, Marian Catholic Spartans v. Glenbrook North Spartans. The Glenbrook North Spartans played a spirited first quarter staying with the Marian Catholic on the strength of outside shooting. But it did not take long for the other Spartans to pull away. Marian Catholic excelled in all phases; they shot well, scored off the fast break and played outstanding defense. Final: Marian Catholic 67, Glenbrook North 47.
I didn’t photograph the third game, St. Charles East v. Stevenson. I caught up on preparing for the DePaul (9-1) Prep v. Urban Prep Englewood (0-9) game next.
The DePaul Prep Rams came out a little flat but Perry Cowen added seven in the second quarter and the Rams never looked back. Granted this was not the most serious test for the Rams but this team of seniors just seems to take care of business.
St. Charles East should prove a tougher test for the Rams on Thursday. Assuming they survive this Kane County test, the Rams are likely to face one of their toughest games so far. Marian Catholic is as good as the Rams have faced with the possible exception of Leo.
And then after Marian Catholic, either Lincoln Park, H-F or Oswego East. The Hinsdale Central tournament is tough.
DePaul Prep Edges Leo in OT
The #11 ranked DePaul Prep Rams edged the #4 Leo Lions on Friday (December 21, 2018) 61-58 in DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. This matchup of the top teams in the Chicago Catholic League did not disappoint. One could tell that it was going to be close in the end even as the Rams opened a six-point early lead.
There were a great many Leo fans in the crowd. I haven’t seen so many opposing fans since the last time Loyola came in. The game got a little chippy. I didn’t really see what was going on. I have a very narrow field of view looking through a 70-200 mm lens all evening. I miss a lot. But of what I saw, it did not look too bad.
Leo’s DaChaun Anderson played inside against DePaul as well as anyone has this year. He is a beast and can finish. Myles Thomas was solid as usual. And of course, Fred Cleveland. He seems so small out there but I have never seen a small guard like that so able to drive and score.
With 4.1 on the clock in the fourth quarter, after DePaul’s Raheem Anthony missed the second of his 1 and 1 with the scored tied, Leo senior guard Fred Cleveland took an outlet pass and launched a shot from three quarters court which banked in off the glass for an apparent Leo victory. But with the ball in air, a ref blow his whistle repeatedly waiving off the shot because of a travel by Fred Cleveland. I didn’t see it in real time but seeing it on video, it looked like a travel to me and the referee started the call before the shot when it. Nevertheless, the Leo faithful were not happy.
In OT, the Rams finished as usual. They seem so determined this year. I wish I could pick a standout performance by one of the Rams. But they all played well. They all contributed. Pavle scored inside. Ty Johnson hit a big 3 late. Perry scored inside and outside including another monster dunk. Lance played great defense, rebounded and hit his shots. Brian Mathews come off the bench in the first half and hit two big free throws. Solid and determined all the way round. The Rams rallied back from losing the lead late in the game.
The Rams improved there record to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in the Catholic League. The games against Blue division CCL teams begin after the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic which starts the day after Christmas. The Lions record drops to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the Catholic League. Leo’s #4 ranking is in some jeopardy but if they fall, they won’t fall far. They played well but were edged in the end by the talented and determined #11 ranked Rams.
As for the photography, I took 2130 photos. That’s a lot more than I usually take. I am not sure why—just a lot of action. I tinkered around with the settings again, going with a fixed ISO at 6400, rather than automatic. The auto setting was pushing up to 12,800 which gave me images that were too grainy. These images came out okay but I had to boost the exposure on all of them.
So onto the Christmas tournaments. I am not sure where I will be yet. I will be out at Hinsdale Central for some games but I will be looking for the best matchups of teams I haven’t see yet. I had planned to go to Pontiac but I don’t know if I will this year. We’ll see.
DePaul Prep Handles Providence, Improves to 8-0
The last time I was at Providence Catholic in Lemont was five years ago when Gordon Tech faced Providence and Miles Boykin in a football game. The Rams played hard but lost 42-0. This evening there was a measure of payback.
The DePaul Prep Rams took apart the Providence Celtics at Providence like I haven’t seen in a Catholic League game in as long as I can remember. The first half ended 31-8. The Rams continued their intense play. They continue to play angry. There was no let down. I over heard some Providence parents talking after the game. They kept saying, “our boys played hard but that’s a good team.” “That’s a good team.”
Rams 56, Celtics 25. DePaul Prep improves to 4-0 in the CCL and 8-0 overall. ESCC crossover game tomorrow (Sat., Dec. 14, 2008) versus Benet Academy in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The Rams look to repeat last year’s victory over Benet when the Rams won 35-34 at Benet on Lance Mosley’s last second jumper.
As for the photos, Providence has the nicest light of any gym I can remember. Very clean white light and plenty of it. The photos turned pretty good. I got a couple nice one of Perry Cowen’s dunk.
Hope you like the photos.
