Uneventful Day At State Farm Holiday Classic

December 30, 2009 

10:45 A.M. CST

We are not sure what the reason is, but the second day of action at the State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington/Normal, IL just seemed to lack the spark that we had anticipated prior to our arrival.  Unfortunately, the games that we watched were rather lackluster and simply lacked a high level of drama.  The following are our observations from our time spent at the State Farm Classic yesterday.

... The best matchup of the day was the Boy's Large School quarterfinal contest between Champaign Centennial and Springfield.  It was a defensive struggle throughout, with Centennial finally prevailing in overtime by a score of 51-42.  In reality, Springfield probably deserved to get the win, as they turned in an outstanding defensive effort against Centennial's big men--6'8 forward and Eastern Kentucky University signee Jeff Johnson and 6'7 class of 2011 forward Josh Piper.  In the end, however, it was 6'3 forward Rayvonte Rice who once again put his team on his back.  Rice scored 28 points and simply refused to let his team lose, scoring several huge baskets down the stretch.  Just one more example of why we have repeatedly stated that Rice is an absolute recruiting steal for Drake University.

... And now for Chasson Randle.  We have to write off the 6'2 class of 2011 guard's performance versus Grayslake Central, as it was simply not one of Randle's better games.  Randle was held to 11 points in Rock Island's 46-41 loss to Grayslake and appeared to lack the overall aggressiveness that made him so dominant when we watched him in Champaign at the Deron Williams Shootout At The Hall earlier in the month.  In fairness to him, he played virtually the entire game off the ball.  We would have liked to have seen Randle moved to playing on the ball during crunch time, but unfortunately it did not occur.  It was just one of those days--it happens.

... Hayden Hoerdemann, the 6'3 class of 2011 shooting guard from Central Catholic High School in Bloomington, IL looks like pretty much the same player that we have seen for the past couple of years.  Hoerdemann scored 15 points in Bloomington Central Catholic's 60-45 win over Providence-St. Mel.  He shot the ball reasonably well, converting a couple of 3-pointers, although the majority of his points came from the free-throw line.  One thing that concerns us with Hoerdemann, however, is that he has gained weight and it looks like it is hampering his overall speed, which is an issue seeing as though we have never considered him to be overly fast. 

College Programs In Attendance

• DePaul
• Illinois
• North Central (D3)
• St. Francis (NAIA)

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