| Another Confusing Cody Column |
Newark, Rocky Have a
Lot to Be Proud Of
Lot to Be Proud Of
After futile few years, area boys basketball stands tall once
again ...
again ...
Turns out DeKalb was the X-factor in all of this, after all.
The city that is home to Northern Illinois University, and thus an important anchor city in
the area, provided a stage that was a bit tough for some teams. Whether it be NIU's
Convocation Center or Chuck Dayton Gymnasium, both Newark and Rock Island felt
like monkeys were shrugged off their backs with their respective DeKalb wins this year.
Newark won their supersectional game in its third try in as many years, by beating
Forreston 60-47. All of Newark's supersectional games were at the Convocation
Center, including losses to Annawan two years ago and Eastland last year.
In the past ten years, each Rock Island game played in DeKalb had been a loss. The
2003 team lost to United Township in the DeKalb Sectional at Dayton Gym. The 2009
team lost a supersectional heart-breaker to Oswego in overtime at NIU. This particular
third time in DeKalb was a charm for the Rocks, beating Aurora Central Catholic 72-55
in the supersectional round.
Both Newark (Class 1A) and Rock Island (3A) won state titles this year. In fact, Newark,
Rockford Christian and Rock Island went a combined 5-1 at the Carver Arena floor at
the Peoria Civic Center this month. The Royal Lions advanced to the Class 2A State
Tournament by beating IVC in the supersectional.
Prior to this year, Peoria had been a place that northern Illinois boys basketball teams
couldn't play in very well. From 2007 to 2010, area teams went 0-9 on the Carver floor.
The last win was Seneca's Class A title in 2006.
Seneca will be joined in its exclusive area company by both Newark and Rock Island.
Only nine other area boys basketball teams won state championships. Two schools
have three titles each: Rockford 1911, 1919 and 1939; and Freeport 1915, 1926 and
1951. One school has two of the other titles: West Rockford 1955 and 1956. Rock Falls
has the ninth, winning Class A in 1999.
Northern Illinois had come so close between 1956 and 1999, and perhaps that has
what made the 1999 Rock Falls team somewhat special. During Rock Island coach
Thom Sigel's post-game interviews this month, there was at least some sort of reminder
of the 1999 Rock Falls team that he coached. Most of that came in the form of the
comparison to former Canton and Springfield coach Mark Peterman – who up until this
year was the only coach that took two programs to a state title.
While most coaches are humbled at such a fact, they won't go into detail a whole lot.
Sigel didn't.
(Mind you I was 12 years old, and rooted alongside former school pals, when I saw the
Rockets win it all – thus starting a love affair with high school sports. He was a main
source for a school paper I did during my sophomore year on the Rock Falls-Sterling
rivalry. So each time I'm at a Rock Island game, that Rock Falls reminder probably pops
up during the postgame interview.)
While us historians become enamored with these bits of history, such as Sigel's
accomplishment, and that of Rock Island's title in relation to Rock Island boys basketball
history, we can't overlook the people that really made it possible – the kids.
Such can be said for both Rock Island and Newark. Both teams had the star Division I
player: Kyle Anderson for Newark, and Chasson Randle for Rock Island. They single-
handedly stuffed stat sheets to propel their teams to the state tournament. But then
they started playing in Peoria, we saw more than just Anderson and Randle.
We saw Newark's John Avery and Rock Island's Denzel McCauley come up with huge
plays inside. And to throw in the rest of the athletes, we saw a team effort on defense
from both teams, Newark's 1-2-2 zone and Rocky's constant switching of defensive
assignments, that confused opponents at half-court and after a rebound.
We saw defense. Last week, we mentioned how defense can put one to sleep. Well,
after giving it one more go-around, we saw exactly how important the underrated aspect
of the basketball game really is.
To the pessimists of small school basketball – myself included: Newark and Rock Island
will be known for further establishing our interest in the complete basketball game.
While we look for brain stimulation, in which defense does not provide, we have to
figure that out for ourselves. In short, the defensive efforts of both Newark and Rock
Island proved that basketball is more than just putting balls in buckets – it's also
preventing balls from going in buckets.
Even further: They made defense fun again.
Another Mark Peterman reference: his Canton teams won by utilizing the entire court
before a centerline ten-second rule was established. Games featured both teams
scoring in the teens in an entire ballgame back in the 1920s and 1930s – and prior to
then teams were averaging 40 points a game. Why was a ten-second rule established?
Partly due to Peterman's slow-break offense and full-court defense. No spark seemed
to be boring, but it gave Canton and later Springfield their glory.
Illinois basketball fans failed to find the fun in Peterman's slow-break, but obviously the
coach thought it was great. The concept carried on to several other teams in Illinois,
resulting in a decrease in points scored for another ten years.
On the topic of improving the atmosphere of the state finals, Rock Island and Centralia
were the getaways from the other high-octane offensive teams that were at Peoria in
the final week of the season. Fittingly, the championship game between the two had to
be settled in two overtimes. The excitement of this game, the race against the clock in
the overtime periods, more than made up for anything lackluster in the small school
events.
For the fans, hopefully the titles will jump-start any interest in the state finals.
We have Newark and Rock Island to thank if so.
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
The city that is home to Northern Illinois University, and thus an important anchor city in
the area, provided a stage that was a bit tough for some teams. Whether it be NIU's
Convocation Center or Chuck Dayton Gymnasium, both Newark and Rock Island felt
like monkeys were shrugged off their backs with their respective DeKalb wins this year.
Newark won their supersectional game in its third try in as many years, by beating
Forreston 60-47. All of Newark's supersectional games were at the Convocation
Center, including losses to Annawan two years ago and Eastland last year.
In the past ten years, each Rock Island game played in DeKalb had been a loss. The
2003 team lost to United Township in the DeKalb Sectional at Dayton Gym. The 2009
team lost a supersectional heart-breaker to Oswego in overtime at NIU. This particular
third time in DeKalb was a charm for the Rocks, beating Aurora Central Catholic 72-55
in the supersectional round.
Both Newark (Class 1A) and Rock Island (3A) won state titles this year. In fact, Newark,
Rockford Christian and Rock Island went a combined 5-1 at the Carver Arena floor at
the Peoria Civic Center this month. The Royal Lions advanced to the Class 2A State
Tournament by beating IVC in the supersectional.
Prior to this year, Peoria had been a place that northern Illinois boys basketball teams
couldn't play in very well. From 2007 to 2010, area teams went 0-9 on the Carver floor.
The last win was Seneca's Class A title in 2006.
Seneca will be joined in its exclusive area company by both Newark and Rock Island.
Only nine other area boys basketball teams won state championships. Two schools
have three titles each: Rockford 1911, 1919 and 1939; and Freeport 1915, 1926 and
1951. One school has two of the other titles: West Rockford 1955 and 1956. Rock Falls
has the ninth, winning Class A in 1999.
Northern Illinois had come so close between 1956 and 1999, and perhaps that has
what made the 1999 Rock Falls team somewhat special. During Rock Island coach
Thom Sigel's post-game interviews this month, there was at least some sort of reminder
of the 1999 Rock Falls team that he coached. Most of that came in the form of the
comparison to former Canton and Springfield coach Mark Peterman – who up until this
year was the only coach that took two programs to a state title.
While most coaches are humbled at such a fact, they won't go into detail a whole lot.
Sigel didn't.
(Mind you I was 12 years old, and rooted alongside former school pals, when I saw the
Rockets win it all – thus starting a love affair with high school sports. He was a main
source for a school paper I did during my sophomore year on the Rock Falls-Sterling
rivalry. So each time I'm at a Rock Island game, that Rock Falls reminder probably pops
up during the postgame interview.)
While us historians become enamored with these bits of history, such as Sigel's
accomplishment, and that of Rock Island's title in relation to Rock Island boys basketball
history, we can't overlook the people that really made it possible – the kids.
Such can be said for both Rock Island and Newark. Both teams had the star Division I
player: Kyle Anderson for Newark, and Chasson Randle for Rock Island. They single-
handedly stuffed stat sheets to propel their teams to the state tournament. But then
they started playing in Peoria, we saw more than just Anderson and Randle.
We saw Newark's John Avery and Rock Island's Denzel McCauley come up with huge
plays inside. And to throw in the rest of the athletes, we saw a team effort on defense
from both teams, Newark's 1-2-2 zone and Rocky's constant switching of defensive
assignments, that confused opponents at half-court and after a rebound.
We saw defense. Last week, we mentioned how defense can put one to sleep. Well,
after giving it one more go-around, we saw exactly how important the underrated aspect
of the basketball game really is.
To the pessimists of small school basketball – myself included: Newark and Rock Island
will be known for further establishing our interest in the complete basketball game.
While we look for brain stimulation, in which defense does not provide, we have to
figure that out for ourselves. In short, the defensive efforts of both Newark and Rock
Island proved that basketball is more than just putting balls in buckets – it's also
preventing balls from going in buckets.
Even further: They made defense fun again.
Another Mark Peterman reference: his Canton teams won by utilizing the entire court
before a centerline ten-second rule was established. Games featured both teams
scoring in the teens in an entire ballgame back in the 1920s and 1930s – and prior to
then teams were averaging 40 points a game. Why was a ten-second rule established?
Partly due to Peterman's slow-break offense and full-court defense. No spark seemed
to be boring, but it gave Canton and later Springfield their glory.
Illinois basketball fans failed to find the fun in Peterman's slow-break, but obviously the
coach thought it was great. The concept carried on to several other teams in Illinois,
resulting in a decrease in points scored for another ten years.
On the topic of improving the atmosphere of the state finals, Rock Island and Centralia
were the getaways from the other high-octane offensive teams that were at Peoria in
the final week of the season. Fittingly, the championship game between the two had to
be settled in two overtimes. The excitement of this game, the race against the clock in
the overtime periods, more than made up for anything lackluster in the small school
events.
For the fans, hopefully the titles will jump-start any interest in the state finals.
We have Newark and Rock Island to thank if so.
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
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