By Paul D. Bowker
MaxPreps.com
How do you explain a week like this in Chicago basketball?
The city’s best basketball player is not playing because he chose to switch schools in the middle of the season. A former Chicago Marshall High School boys basketball coach received a $500,000 settlement from the city and his attorney is being sued by the school’s girls basketball coach for slander.
If that wasn‘t enough, a string of trouble that includes a shooting led Chicago Public Schools officials to install a policy that requires parents or fans of visiting teams to be cleared the day before a game, or not attend the game at all.
First, let’s tackle the city violence.
On. Jan. 5, there were incidents at separate games that caused school officials to take action. North Lawndale’s Jermaine Winfield was shot in the leg while coming to the aid of a teammate in a school parking lot after a game, and a game between Simeon and Bogan was halted in the fourth quarter when a fight broke out in the stands.
Calvin Davis, the city’s athletics director, has required all schools to begin no basketball games later than 4 p.m. for the remainder of the regular season. But the biggest change was requiring students and fans, especially those associated with visiting teams, to be approved by high school principals one day before the game.
“There’s a reason we allow that person into to the game,” CPS spokesman Frank Shuftan said.
The days of showing up at a game and plunking down $5 for admittance are over. At least for this year.
Davis was not giving media interviews this week.
Shuftan said all schools were required to immediately put their safety plans into place and update safety plans, if they had not done so.
If there is evidence of trouble between fans of two teams, the game may be entirely closed to fans, but the game would still be played.
“We’re trying to keep crowd control at a reasonable level,” Shuftan said.
Early rounds of the state tournament involving Chicago-area teams will be played at city colleges. No limitations are expected at those venues.
More Boys Basketball: Half a million for coach
Lamont Bryant, Marshall High School’s former boys basketball coach, who was fired prior to the 2007-08 season, reached a $500,000 settlement with CPS.
Bryant and attorney Terry Ekl had filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in October 2007 against school principal Juan Gardner, athletics director Dorothy Gaters and the Chicago Board of Education. U.S. District Judge Rubin Castello found that a letter written by Gardner to fire Bryant was falsified.
The $500,000 agreement was recommended through mediation, and accepted by the Board of Education this week. Bryant is now boys basketball coach at South Shore.
In the meantime, Marshall girls basketball coach Gaters, the winningest coach in Illinois history with 900 victories, has filed a defamation suit against Ekl for alleged comments Ekl made about Gaters in a television interview last year. His comments linked Gaters with $400,000 from the Martin Luther King Dream Classic basketball tournament hosted by Marshall. The lawsuit is asking for $50,000 in damages, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Blackshear to Morgan Park
A big question among college recruiters is which school sophomore sensation Wayne Blackshear is favoring.
They might need a map to keep up with his high school travels.
Blackshear, a 6-foot-5 forward who is considered to be one of the top 2011 recruits in the nation by some recruiting experts, has transferred from Curie to Morgan Park, both Chicago city schools.
Curie is 15-6, while Morgan Park has a losing record. However, Morgan Park is coached by Nick Irvin, son of the coach of the Mac Irvin Fire AAU team that Blackshear plays on in the summer.
Right now, Blackshear isn’t playing anywhere.
Until Chicago Public Schools athletics director Calvin Davis rules on the transfer, Blackshear can’t play for Morgan Park.
“This would be a very high-profile case, and I would need to take a close look at it,” Davis told the Chicago Tribune.
Blackshear already has offers from Illinois and Texas.
Back at Curie, sophomore guard Asante Smiter has stepped in for Blackshear with three consecutive 20-point games, including 20 points Wednesday in a 73-50 win over Kenwood. With that victory, Curie won its eighth consecutive Red-Central title.
Notables…
Senior point guard Ronald Steward scored a game-high 23 points, leading Zion-Benton, ranked No. 14 in Illinois by MaxPreps, to a 69-58 victory over No. 22 Warren. Zion-Benton is 15-6, including 5-3 in the North Suburban Lake. … De La Salle’s Derek Needham scored 35 points, but the 15th-ranked Meteors dropped a 74-70 decision to No. 9 Seton Academy of South Holland. Seton is 19-2 and unbeaten in five Catholic South games. … Branden Snowden scored 25 points and Sean Pratl had 24, leading Richards, the defending Class 4A champion, to a 74-71 overtime victory over Rich East … North Lawndale’s Terry Johnson scored 31 points and had 10 rebounds in a 98-58 rout of Manley. North Lawndale has recovered from a two-game losing streak last week and is ranked No. 4 with an 18-4 record. … Alex Dragicevich scored 30 points for Glenbrook North in a 74-67 win over Prospect.
Girls Basketball: Top-ranked Young rolls in Windy City
Hyde Park certainly felt the force of top-ranked and defending state champion Whitney Young in the second round of the Windy City Playoffs on Tuesday night. Mariah King scored 13 points, leading a balance attack, as the Dolphins (23-1) blasted Hyde Park, 74-26.
Young, ranked 18th nationally, has not lost since a two-point setback to Heritage Christian of Indianapolis in December. The Dolphins have won 16 straight, including by 30 points over No. 2 Wheeling two weeks ago.
Still, the Dolphins were not the biggest winners in Round 2 of the Windy City. Bogan defeated Crane by 50 points, 76-26, as Lynette Holmes scored 21 points.
The Windy City Playoffs will move into the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Notables…
Bolingbrook freshman Morgan Tuck scored 22 points, leading the Raiders (13-4), ranked No. 3 in Illinois by MaxPreps.com, to a 64-46 win over 24th-ranked Lincoln-Way East. … Taylor Whitley’s 25 points Tuesday led Geneva to its 22nd consecutive victory, 63-38 over Neuqua Valley. Geneva is ranked No. 11 in Illinois by MaxPreps and is the only unbeaten team in the Chicago area. … Jackie Forman scored 33 points, more than half of her team‘s total points, in Glenbard East‘s 60-52 win over Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday. … St. Edward’s Katie Yohn scored her 1,600th career point in a 60-43 win over Marion Central.
IHSA: New deal with Baden
A football designed in part by former NFL quarterback Hugh Millen will be used by Illinois teams next season.
The new football is part of a five-year contract between the Illinois High School Association and Baden Sports which calls for Baden balls to be used in football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball and water polo.
IHSA’s current contract is with Wilson Sporting Goods, and expires at the end of the 2008-09 school year.
Recruiting: Drummond picks Ole Miss
Two classes that were not accepted by Illinois has sent Morgan Park standout defensive end Craig Drummond south.
He’ll sign a national letter of intent with Mississippi next week, his father told the Chicago Tribune. Drummond, considered to be one of the nation’s top defensive ends, had committed to Illinois. But two of his high school courses were not accepted by the school’s admissions department.
Drummond has already graduated, and had planned to enroll at Illinois in January and participate in spring football. Syracuse and Arkansas have also chased after Drummond since Illinois fell through.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com
