Just a few other thoughts from observing many games, in random order.......
-Limestone without Donivine Stewart struggled at times...even against the Richwoods JV they had a little trouble.
I don't think they'll be at the same level as PND, Richwoods, and Washington
-Geneseo, who usually have a good team, looked very weak and couldn't score
-Bloomington HS has good guards and shooters, but no size and struggled at times
-Moline had one kid who was really talented, but as with numerous other teams, didn't have numbers in the program that match anything being worn on the court, so it was impossible to identify them all..
But the kid's name, I believe, was Jamari Atwater, and he was 6-1, and amazingly quick, explosive, and athletic. Moline went undefeated on the first day but couldn't compete vs. teams like Pekin that had some size...
-Richwoods doesn't have a lot of really big players, as TJ Cole (Bil Cole's brother) at 6-4 is about as big as they get..
but they also have a couple other bigger guards and kids who athletically play bigger (Mason Alwan, Tylon Deal) and a really solid kid Tony Frazier, 6-3.
-Terry Riggs (TJ) is just a junior at Bloomington, and is D'Mitri Riggs' bro, and played very well...he's 6-1 or 6-2 and has D-I potential.
-Dunlap had a lot of pretty big and athletic kids...several solid 6-3 to 6-5 kids but were in complete disarray, and did not play well.
They looked like a team who have never practiced together.
-E. Peoria's Dylan Sparkman (Jr.) is the biggest kid around, 6-9 and at least 260, but he needs to work on mobility
Sr. Alex Cline (6-6) is likely to be their scoring leader, he has a nice outside shot.
-Lincoln, as always, simply played good team ball and played well.
-Naperville North also had a huge kid, 6-9 Matt Hasse, but again not very mobile.
He is a senior, but getting a little bit of attention up north - he is #42 in white in these clips
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/4842957/12916885
it is odd that most of these highlights are screens, and rebounds...and almost nothing offensive
Here is a pic and a story about him
http://basketball.dailyherald.com/story/?id=96169
-I did not see Nick Rochford play all weekend for Notre Dame, so he was obviously injured
-Washington has a lot of good young players. Their junior high teams have made it all the way to the championships the last couple years with some talented young players.
-here's a player to watch....
Nathan Taphorn of Pekin.
Yup, another Taphorn, the son of Pat Taphorn who was a star at Pekin HS, then at UW-Green Bay.
Nathan is a very young and slender 6-3, but he is undoubtedly going to grow and already has a lot of skills.
He is not a starter but did get some decent minutes...
He may be the best area player in the Class of 2013 (next fall's freshmen)
BTW--father Pat Taphorn was helping Dave Mott coach the Pekin kids this weekend, and I had a chance to talk with him and say hi..
Nathan is also a pretty good golfer and a good pitcher, but is going to give up baseball and concentrate on golf & basketball.
Pat is in-laws with the Crouch's and has become a great BU fan as a result (many will recall seeing Pat Taphorn at Carver Arena the past several seasons), and so if Nathan turns out to be a player, then I think BU would have the inside track!