|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Sports
Let the Madness begin : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisLet the Madness begin
| District 308 basketball teams primed for deep postseason journey
| by Matt Daniels
| 2/25/2010
|
The Column
By Matt Daniels
A year ago at this time, this town had never experienced what was about to ensue.
Chaos. Pandemonium. Indescribable emotions.
Everyone that watched what the Oswego boys basketball team accomplished last year en route to a second-place finish in Class 3A was afflicted with the wonderful ailment called March Madness.
So, will it strike again this season? Well, the odds certainly favor that, especially with the way both the Oswego and Oswego East boys basketball teams have played this season. Let's not forget either about the Oswego girls basketball team, who, at 27-2, will contend with a stout Hampshire squad (29-1) tonight, Thursday, at 7:30 p.m. in the Class 3A DeKalb Sectional championship, with a spot in next Monday's Super-Sectional at Elgin High School on the line.
For area basketball fans, it doesn't get any better this time of year, especially when your team is winning, which is most certainly the case right now.
The Oswego girls and boys teams are a combined 24-4 since the calendar flipped to 2010, while the Oswego East boys team (21-4) has not lost in this new decade, compiling a 13-0 mark in that time span.
Those are some pretty impressive numbers.
Now, each team that's either still alive in the postseason (the Oswego girls) or about to embark on regional play (both Oswego and Oswego East boys), have a chance to continue their special seasons deep into March.
But it most certainly won't come easy. While it may still be too early to book hotel rooms in either the Bloomington-Normal area the first weekend of March, or around Peoria March 19-20, here are three points of emphasis each team needs to focus on if they want to reach their ultimate destination: the state finals.
Oswego girls
•The Whip-Purs
Not only does Oswego's sectional final opponent sport one of the most original nicknames in Illinois - the Whip-Purs - but Hampshire also boasts a pretty talented squad. Hampshire put a thrashing on Freeport during Monday night's sectional semifinals, twisting the Pretzels to the tune of a 71-21 win. Hampshire's average margin of victory in its three postseason wins is 30.3 points per game. No opponent is easy at this time of the season, but Oswego might face its stiffest test of the season tonight.
•Bench production
Oswego has received steady offensive outputs from senior guard Samiya Wright, senior guard Brittany Collier and sophomore guard Paige Harmon all season long. Senior forward Colleen Purcell provides a nice presence inside while junior guard Alexis McClain gives the team solid minutes as well. Playing rotations are usually thin at this time of year, with two or three bench players seeing significant minutes. Senior guard Meagan Rembold and junior forward Rosie Gambino are essentially the only bench players Oswego uses, but they must maintain the same intensity and level of play as the starters would when they're in the game.
•Staying focused for 32 minutes
Foul problems plagued Oswego in last year's sectional championship loss to Freeport. Will the same problems permeate again this year for the Panthers? The intensity and emotion that usually comes with a sectional final is something coaches can't imitate during a practice. It's just something the players have to experience first-hand. Oswego can rely on the fact that the majority of its playing rotation were key cogs in last year's postseason run. Mental lapses, careless passes, relaxing on defense are mistakes that are certainly magnified the deeper a team travels in the postseason.
Oswego boys
•No sneaking up this year
The Panthers - at 19-6 overall heading into Wednesday's game against Plainfield East - had the luxury of playing the underdog card last March. No one belived in them, no one expected them there, was often a rallying cry that head coach Kevin Schnable used. Well, he can't use that this year. The expectations the program has set for themselves have changed, and teams will most certainly respect Oswego this March.
"I'm looking forward to it a lot," Oswego senior forward Andrew Ziemnik said. "We just need to play as a team, as a family, and we can go a long way. I think we're going to shock some people. We have a lot of new guys that have not been in this situation. We're just going to take them with us."
•Guard duty
Less than a minute left to play. Tie game. Crowd on their feet. Who's most likely going to have the ball for Oswego? If your guess is Ziemnik, you're most likely correct, but the bigger issue is in making sure the long-haired senior has a chance to score. Of the five guards Schnable likes to rotate in, two were in eighth-grade last year (Miles Simelton and Elliot McGaughy), two weren't on the Panthers squad (seniors Kenny Jones and Brandon Collier) and the other one, sophomore Ryan West, was simply a three-point specialist off the bench.
Ziemnik is Oswego's most prolific scorer at 18.4 points per game, and in a close game, he's certainly the one player Schnable feels the most comfortable with giving the ball to in the above-mentioned scenario. But the key is he has to get the ball first in order to make a play, and the Panthers do not have - or have not shown - many isolation sets for Ziemnik where he's also the primary ball-handler on the play.
•Nothing in life is free
Last Friday provided a different glimpse of the Panthers. A team that made free throws, and made them when it counted. Oswego went into Wednesday's regular-season finale against Plainfield East shooting 65 percent on the season. Schnable has stressed all season that championship teams make their free throws. That percentage will most certainly have to go up in the postseason, or inferior teams can hang around longer than Oswego wants them to.
Oswego East boys
•If they take Harris away
Don't expect Oswego East senior guard Jordon Harris to shy away from the postseason glare. The bigger the stage, the more hostile the crowd, the better the kid seems to play. Don't ask me how. He just does.
Coming into tonight's regular season finale at Plainfield North, Harris is averaging 28.6 points per game, and that takes into account his meager two-point performance on Jan. 8 against Minooka. Oswego East junior guard Wesley Brooks said earlier this season that sometimes the Wolves need to make sure Harris isn't the only one scoring points. So far, the play of Brooks (12.9 ppg), junior forward Sean Gant (9.3 ppg) and junior forward Austin Keys (6.2 ppg) have stepped up when needed to, but will they continue to? My guess is yes, but the postseason is a different kind of animal.
•New territory
In the four years Oswego East has competed in the postseason, the Wolves are 2-4, with their lone wins coming last season against West Chicago in a Class 4A regional quarterfinal game, and in 2006, when Oswego East knocked off Oswego in a Class AA regional semifinal.
That equates to one regional final appearance in four years. Granted, the process to become a respected team once March hits takes some time. And you may say, well Oswego East has had success in the regular season this year - which they have - yet the 2006-07 squad was 24-3 heading into the postseason and had a quick exit after losing to Naperville Central in a regional semifinal.
•Loaded sectional field
Oswego East head coach Jason Buckley was not lying or just blurting out typical coach speak when he said a few weeks ago that the Neuqua Valley Sectional his team is in could send a few teams down to Peoria. The top four seeds - Glenbard East, Nequa Valley, Benet and Naperville North - are all superior teams while Oswego East, who received the fifth seed, was also worthy of a top-four seed. Expect Buckley's words to hold true, and whoever emerges from the Neuqua Valley Sectional to be among the final four teams playing in Peoria.
•Matt Daniels is the assistant sports editor with the Ledger-Sentinel. He can be reached at LSsports@sbcglobal.net.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
