Prairie State Shootout Coverage

Prairie State Shootout (@ Bushnell-Prairie City HS)
Boy's Basketball
6/19/10

No Live Blogging
I decided against setting up my laptop and doing a live blog in Bushnell. Mainly, in part, because I was too busy walking around and talking with coaches and fans throughout the four hours I spent in the Bushnell gym.

Gas Station Lunch
It was shortly after 1:00, when I left Galesburg High School, seeing all of the teams a couple times, and getting some good video footage. With stomach growling, I sought out some early afternoon lunch that I could chow down while on my next destination. Still feeling my expanding midsection from the numerous stops at fast food joints lately, I opted against the quick and easy. Well, sort of.

Mobil it was. Sure, a gas station, but the quick and easy lunch. Mobil on North Henderson in Galesburg is one of those familiar favorites on my road trips. Just like Casey's is the familiar stop in small towns along the two-lane highways, Mobil is my stop in the "Burg".

As soon as I walked in, there it was, the gas station sandwich section. Everytime I see these sandwiches, I remember a conversation while on the road covering the Macomb Bombers on K100 radio. My color commentator was Macomb football coach Kelly Sears. On one of our trips, his son, Austin, now playing football at St. Ambrose, was along for the ride. At one point, they were talking about one of their trips in the summer going to various races across the midwest. Coach Sears mentioned "gas station sandwiches", like it was a rite of a road trip. For some reason, I found it extremely funny, and had never heard the term used before. Today, it was a tuna salad, "gas station sandwich", and one of my all-time weaknesses, a small bag of Kitchen Cooked potato chips, the filet mignon of snacks.

Bushnell Arrival
A few minutes after 2:00, I pulled into the parking lot at Bushnell-Prairie City High School. Just like in Galesburg, Bushnell opted for the indoor/outdoor shootout, utilizing the football concession stand against the indoor basketball concession stand. This was a popular stop for fans in between games, with the picnic tables giving fans a little bit of a breeze on a hot day, and a little respite from the hot and sweaty gyms.

Walking in, there were just a few minutes left in the Chicago Dyett/Illini Bluffs game. Dyett had a comfortable lead, and would go on to defeat the Tigers, 37-31. With the game winding down, I scanned the gym, looking for optimal spots to take some video.

Officials Clinic
There was a gentleman on the first row of the bleachers, opposite of the benches and scorer's table, walking the sideline and taking notes. He would whisper to the officials as they walked by, and gave them pointers. I would later find out, the West Central Officials Association (or something like that), was holding their clinic in Bushnell this weekend.

A Chat with Lewis Thorpe
The next game up was Orion facing ACE Tech, a Chicago team. There were three schools from Chicago that made the trip to the farmland of downstate Illinois. ACE Tech, Dyett, and North Lawndale. Lawndale brought a varsity and a JV team.

Speaking of North Lawndale, the Phoenix have been a top team in Illinois high school basketball over the past few seasons, making a trio of trips to Carver Arena in Peoria for the state finals. Coach Lewis Thorpe, known for his snappy dressing and majestic entrances to the gym floor, was sitting in the back row taking in the game. I sat down and had a talk with Coach Thorpe. The Phoenix lost a talented group from a year ago, with 6'10" big man Paul Bunch headed out to Southern Idaho, and Thorpe's son Stephen, the point guard, heading out east to play college basketball in New Hampshire. Thorpe has one son left in school.

I asked Lewis if any of his kids were getting Division-one interest, and he said there were none, though one kid, Maurice Williams, would probably go D-1 in football. He pointed Williams out, and he had the build for a college football player. He would be suiting up for the JV squad, and looked like a man among boys, even facing the upperclassmen of opposing teams. North Lawndale's top player, Jacquez Jones did not make the trip down with the Phoenix. One of Thorpe's players came up to him, and said, "Coach, the championship game ain't till 8:00, that means we won't get back till after 2:00." Thorpe just nodded with acknowledgement. His player went on, "Coach, I got somebody waitin' on me!" with a grin on his face. Thorpe didn't have to say a word, his silent look at his player said it all. The player finished, "Aww coach, you know I'll be in the gym in the morning."

Orion Chargers and a Link To National's Pitching Sensation Stephen Strasburg
ACE Tech is located on the south side of Chicago, and somebody at the shootout had told me they thought the school was located around U.S. Cellular Field, home of the White Sox. At least, somewhere in that neighborhood.

Orion would defeat ACE Tech, and move on to play Chicago Dyett over in the junior high gym later in the afternoon. B-PC was using both the high school and junior high gyms. Apparently, the night before an ambulance had to be called after an ACE Tech player gashed his head open on something in the junior high gym. It was supposedly a very scary situation.

I took some video of the Orion Chargers, with Caleb Nesbitt coming up with a steal and layup, and Danny DeBacker launching a three-pointer in the second half. I had to get the names from Jeff Williams, Tanner Williams' dad. We had a conversation, and learned that Jeff's brother is Spin Williams. Spin is the pitching instructor for the Washington Nationals organization, and was a long-time pitching coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Williams has the most prized pitching sensations in sometime, with Stephen Strasburg. In fact, Jeff told me, that his brother was working with Strasburg on his changeup. Wow!

Spartans Update
I sat with B-PC/A Spartans head coach Matt Colston following the Orion/ACE Tech game. His team's weekend came to an end earlier in the afternoon. Colston said that his team has been doing really well in practice, and is looking forward to the season, but the Spartans struggled this weekend in the shootout. He hopes to regroup, and make a run in the all-new Prairieland Conference this winter. B-PC/A has quite a bit coming back from last year's team, and the Spartans have improved each year under Colston.

ACE Tech
Discipline and respect is something that is really pounded into the players of some of the inner-city schools. North Lawndale is one team that I have caught over the past several seasons, and their pregame routines have more of a boot camp feel, than a basketball warmup. I took my laptop bag back to my car, and the ACE Tech team was in the row next to mine, with their head coach not very happy with his team's play in their game against Orion.

Ever Heard This Line?
Walking back to the concessions area, I met up with Colston, and B-PC/A baseball coach Dave Arnold. "Arnie" basically runs the Prairie State Shootout, lining up all of the teams, and making sure everything is taken care of throughout the weekend. One of the things he is in charge of is lining up student workers for the two-day event. He shared a text message from one of his workers that would be a little late today. "Coach, had a goat die and my dad needs help burying it, so I won't be there till about 4:30." Arnie said I bet the Chicago teams' coaches have never gotten a text message like that. He shared the message with one of the coaches from the city, and the coach replied back with one a B-PC/A coach has never received. "Coach, not gonna make it today, we had a bomb go through our front window." That's one of the things that I enjoy the most about a shootout, or tournament such as this. It's a great mix of teams that have a completely different view.

Macomb/Tremont
I think I spent more time walking and talking during the Macomb/Tremont game. At one point, the Bombers had a 15-point lead on the Turks, before Tremont made a hard second half rally. Macomb broke a, 51-51 tie at the buzzer on a runner from Seth Wickert, to keep the Bombers day continue. During the game I talked with Eric Johnson, head men's soccer coach at Western Illinois University. His son is MacLean, a guard to watch out for. He has some really nice moves, and is a superb ball handler. I was really impressed by his play as a sophomore at the varsity level last year. If Macomb can put things together, I would put them as a front-runner with Orion for the West Central Conference. The Bombers have a couple post players, with Nick Heille (who also has an outside game), and big man sophomore, Nick Severs. They will be led by guards Seth Wickert and Tyler Thorman, who have both been playing varsity since their freshman years.

A Referee's Interaction With Cheap Trick
My old morning show co-host on K100, Chris Smith, came back into the gym during the Macomb/Tremont game. He had just gotten back from Las Vegas, where he had some great seats to see Cheap Trick. Through a family member who is friends with Rick Nielsen, he also had a meet-and-greet with the band before the show.

Where's Steeleville???
Besides the Chicago teams I wanted to see, I was looking forward to watching Steeleville, a deep-south team. Due to my privileges during the season, I don't get to make it south, somewhere I would really like to take in a week of basketball in the winter. Steeleville was supposed to be in Bushnell this weekend, but apparently backed out at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning. Trying to scrap things together to fill out the schedule, Lanark Eastland had interest in coming, but at the time the shootout was booked. A call to Eastland had them playing in Pittsfield, and they could make it, however they weren't going to Pittsfield, but were playing in Galesburg. Eastland did make the trip down to Bushnell and played a game. Lanark Eastland made a run to Peoria in Class 1A this past season.

That's All From B-PC
With a family function at 6:00 in Aledo, I had to make a run from basketball. Anyway, 9 hours of coverage on a Saturday in the summer was pretty good, I thought. Macomb was facing the North Lawndale varsity squad, and I was able to get some good video in the first half. I stuck around into the second half, and when I left the gym, North Lawndale held a, 49-40 lead with 10:16 to play.