Final Thoughts From Pontiac And Proviso West
January 4, 2010
11:30 A.M. CST
On the final day of action at both the Pontiac Holiday Tournament and the Proviso West Holiday Tournament we were faced with one of the toughest decisions we have had to make in all of your years of watching holiday tournaments in Illinois. The dilemma centered around which tournament's championship game we should attend. You couldn't go wrong with either one, as either way you would be watching a marquee matchup featuring two of the top teams in the state.
At Pontiac, it would be Waukegan vs. Simeon, while at Proviso West you had a heavyweight battle between Whitney Young and Foreman. In the end, we decided to head to Pontiac for semifinal games in the afternoon and then trek back to Proviso West in the evening for the third place and championship games there. The following are our thoughts and analysis from our time spent at both Pontiac and Proviso West on the final day.
Pontiac
... In what may have been the biggest miscarriage of justice since the great train robbery, we are still trying to figure out how Waukegan's 6'7 forward and University Of Illinois signee Jereme Richmond could have been denied the MVP award at Pontiac. Richmond was dominant throughout the course of the tournament, as he consistently put up double-doubles, including a 23 point and 16 rebound performance versus Peoria Manual in the semifinals. We realize that the A.C. Williamson Award takes into account a lot more than just on-court play, with sportsmanship and character being perhaps the two biggest criteria of all. Unfortunately, these are two things that a lot of people have always considered to be strikes against Richmond. Combine that with the fact that the Williamson award is voted on by the tournament officials and that probably explains why Richmond was snubbed. The bottom line is that the officials at Pontiac have plenty of biases. Here's the thing--how long must Richmond forever be haunted by his past? Yes, there were times at Pontiac when Richmond refused to play defense. We were particularly disturbed by one sequence in which he decided to cherry pick by staying down at the offensive end at the court, leaving the rest of his team to play 4 on 5. As we have suggested before, maybe the answer is for Pontiac to give out two separate awards--a sportmanship award and a most outstanding player award. Make no mistake about it--no other player at Pontiac was even close to Richmond's overall talent level and there was no one else who outperformed him. Therefore, for Richmond not to be named MVP was highway robbery.
... Instead of Richmond, the winner of the Williamson award went to Richmond's teammate--5'10 class of 2011 guard Aaron Johnson. Johnson was most solid in the Peoria Manual contest, finishing with 19 points on 8-13 shooting to go along with 5 steals. Above everything else, Johnson has strong scoring capability, as he is a good spotup shooter with 3-point range, has great quickness and also has the ability to finish consistently on drives to the basket. He is also quite adept at the defensive end as the result of his quick hands and ability to pressure the ball. We would still like to see him work on perfecting his point guard skills, as he still falls more on the 2-guard side as of now. If he does this, he is unquestionably a D1 player.
... As we alluded to in a previous entry, this year's Simeon team features a different look in comparison with past years. While the talent is certainly still there, this team is younger and more inexperienced than past ones. However, one thing that is indisputable is that Simeon's leader is clearly 6'3 guard Brandon Spearman, who was Simeon's steadiest player in their semifinal win over Joliet. In addition to his outstanding athleticism and defensive ability, Spearman has greatly improved his shooting range to the point where he can now consistently knock down shots from beyond the 3-point arc with accuracy, including a pair against Joliet. Combine all of this with the fact that he gives it everything that he has every second that he is on the floor, and as we have said all along, Spearman is an absolute perfect fit for the Atlantic Ten conference.
... Not discounting Spearman, we believe that the key to Simeon's success the rest of the way lies in the hands of two prized underclassmen--6'5 class of 2013 guard Jabari Parker and 5'10 class of 2012 point guard Jelani Neely. Along with Spearman, they are Simeon's best players, with Parker being the best college prospect hands down. We will go as far as to say that Parker and Neely both need to be on the floor as much as possible if Simeon is to reach the state finals in Peoria. It can be argued that Simeon head coach Robert Smith's style holds back both Parker and Neely at times, as he has an "old-school" coaching philosophy and is a disciple of former Simeon head coach and Illinois high school basketball coaching legend Bob Hambric. This is because Smith's philosophy is that no one player is bigger than the team. Simeon players under Smith have annually bought into this system. Knowing that Smith always looks at the regular season as a stepping stone to the state tournament, we once again think that Simeon will be that much more dangerous come March.
... While there is no question that the majority of the talent at Peoria Manual is in the underclass ranks, it doesn't always stand out due to Manual's team-oriented nature. Manual runs an offensive system which is not geared to any particular individual player. As a result, most anybody is capable of stepping up and contributing. In their semifinal contest versus Waukegan, the player who caught our eye was Lawrence Alexander, who finished with 12 points. Alexander excels in the open court, as he has above-average athleticism, does a good job of slashing to the basket and is an effective mid-range scorer.
... 6'6 class of 2010 forward Anthony Shoemaker from Joliet Township High School in Joliet, IL is definitely one of the toughest players in the state to evaluate from the 2010 class. That is because his play is so inconsistent. One moment he is capable of taking over a game and dominating as he did when we watched him prior to Christmas at the Plainfield North Holiday Tournament, scoring 22 of his 25 points in the second half and taking control down the stretch in leading Joliet to a 59-49 victory over the host school. However, there are other times when he simply disappears, as he did against Simeon in the semifinal at Pontiac, where he finished with only 4 points on 1-5 shooting. We have always thought that Shoemaker has mid-major level talent, as he has solid wing skills offensively. He handles the ball well, can go coast-to-coast, has a nice pullup jumper with range that extends beyond the 3-point line, and is an outstanding passer. The downside is that he needs to get considerably stronger and he tends to take too many plays off, especially at the defensive end. He looks to be an ideal JUCO recruit, with Vincennes and Kankakee both among the JUCOs that are on him heavily.
Proviso West
... We have already mentioned that Whitney Young's current team could be even better than their 1998 state championship team and they convince us all the more with every game that we watch them play. In addition to 6'6 class of 2011 guard Sam Thompson, who we have already talked about at length, Whitney Young also got stellar efforts in the championship game from both 6'8 forward Thomas Hamilton Jr. and 6'2 guard and Purdue University signee Anthony Johnson. While there is no doubt that the top three prospects in Illinois from the 2013 class are all special, Hamilton has now separated himself from the rest of the pack and in our minds is not only the #1 prospect in the state from that class, but one of the three best college prospects in Illinois regardless of class. He carried Whitney Young in their first and second round victories at Proviso West and simply put, they would not have reached the championship game without him. We have not seen a big man in this state with Hamilton's shooting touch and overall floor game in ages, as he can drill shots from behind the 3-point arc with ease and handles the ball like a point guard. He still needs to play harder at times and we would like to see him become even more of a low post scorer, but nevertheless he is capable of dominating any game that he wants to when he puts his mind to it.
We stand by everything that we have said in the past regarding how Johnson continues to get a bum rap. In the championship game versus Foreman, Johnson was red-hot in the third quarter, as he hit a trio of three-point field goals en route to finishing with 21 points, helping put his team in firm control of the game. He has also greatly upped his level of aggressiveness and has become much better at the defensive end in comparison with where he was at a year ago.
... Despite finishing second at Proviso West, players at Foreman have absolutely no reason to hang their heads. In fact, we believe that Foreman is currently the second best team in the state and with their outstanding guard trio are a serious threat not only to win a Chicago Public League championship but also contend for a class 4A state title. There is no question that Foreman's leader is 6'1 guard Mike McCall, who would have been our choice as tournament MVP (no disrespect meant to actual tournament MVP Alex Dragicevich from Glenbrook North). McCall was terrific in the championship contest, finishing with 26 points, including 5-8 from 3-point land to go along with 3 assists and 2 steals. It seemed as though every time Foreman needed a big play McCall was there to provide it. He is a tremendous 3-point shooter and a fierce competitor. We were among the first to tab McCall as a high-major prospect after watching him turn in several outstanding performances this past summer, which is why we once again say that he is an absolute recruiting steal for head coach Rick Majerus and St. Louis University.
... A player that we have admittedly undervalued all this time is 6'3 guard and Eastern Illinois University signee Tommy Woolridge. Perhaps it is because Woolridge has long played in the shadows of both McCall and 6'1 guard and University Of South Florida signee Lavonte Dority. Woolridge can play either guard spot effectively and as a result is an ideal combo guard. He has a sweet looking stroke which enables him to convert 3-point baskets with regularity and is extremely quick with the ball. We also really like his decision-making and defensive ability in the open court. As a result of his outstanding play at Proviso West, Woolridge was named a first team all-tournament selection. It goes without saying that he is a bonafide mid-major recruit. Therefore, while McCall is a steal for the Billikens, Woolridge is the steal of the century for Eastern Illinois and Panthers head coach Mike Miller.
... While we mentioned a couple of early candidates for high school coach of the year in Illinois in a previous entry, we now believe that the award may already be locked up--the odds-on favorite has to be Von Steuben's Vince Carter, whose team has exceeded expectations and turned in a spectacular tournament at Proviso West, finishing third overall. Included in Von Steuben's run were upset wins over Hillcrest, St. Patrick and Glenbrook North. There is no star player on this team, but everybody accepts their role and always gives a maximum effort. Two players in particular who stood out were 6'4 Jamal Dantzler and 5'10 guard Justin Parnell. We have long regarded Dantzler as an ideal small college prospect, but with his athleticism, ability to attack the basket and high level of energy we are starting to believe that he could play at the low D1 level. Parnell is a good 3-point shooter and a waterbug defensively and is therefore a player that small colleges also need to be all over. Kudos undoubtedly go to Carter, who is also a class act.
... Even though we would have gone with McCall, Glenbrook North's Alex Dragicevich was a most deserving choice as the tournament MVP, as he was the runaway leading scorer for the tournament, including a 37 point effort in the third place game versus Von Steuben. As we have mentioned before, Dragicevich is a perfect fit for Notre Dame and head coach Mike Brey's offensive system. Dragicevich is one of the best pure shooters in the state and has the ability to get his shot off quickly. But what has been even more impressive is the high level of aggressiveness with which Dragicevich has continued to play. He has shown that he can score in a variety of ways, whether it be pulling up, driving to the goal or finishing on the break. To top everything off, he has become even stronger on the glass and has simply shown the makings of being a complete player with no real offensive weaknesses.
... The greatest oversight when it came to choosing the all-tournament team at Proviso West was leaving off Glenbrook North's 6'5 shooting guard Austin Weber, who clearly should have been named. Weber converted eight three-point field goals in one tournament contest and nailed four trifectas in the first half of the third place game before cooling off in the second half. Any college program at either the low D1 or the D2 levels that is looking for a shooter needs to give Weber a close look. Weber has range that extends well beyond the arc and if you allow him to get set he is going to scorch the net the majority of the time. He needs to improve at being able to create his own shot and shoot off the dribble, but with the right players around him he can be a fit for a low D1 program.
College Programs In Attendance At Pontiac On Final Day
College Programs In Attendance At Proviso West On Final Evening
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