Kane County Preps Basketball Podcast: Big week in DuKane

Jake and Josh return to set the stage for the end of some conference battles.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good afternoon again, and welcome intoanother edition of the Kane County perhaps Basketball
Podcast. Jake Barlowson, Josh Wealgieinside the Chronicle. Another week, another
crazy week of hoops, and we'regetting closer and closer to the finish line.
Regionals right along the horizon. Josh, you know, it was our
first Sunday without NFL football, soI definitely watched the XFL a little bit
to kind of get my to getmy fill. How is your week?

(00:22):
Play definitely a different without you know, football, I did not watch the
XFL. I actually I'm a Marquettegrad and they had a really nice win
over Bubble yesterday. That was anexcellent win for them, and they broke
into the top twenty five. SoI'm really excited about that. I'm already
actually trying to make plans to seethem played Seaton Hall at the end of
the season, which is another that'sa really big game in a big East

(00:43):
sou But we definitely saw a lotof high school hoops for sure, and
you know, the playoffs starting toget close. Girls. Regionals for the
smaller schools start this week. Forthe larger schools next week that we'll talk
about, but still some conference championsstill yet to be determined, and Saint
Charles North and Saint Charles East theycontinue to roll and set up a big

(01:04):
one Friday. You I believe youwere at Saint Charles. You saw Saint
Charles East Friday, of my mistake, I did. Yeah, I saw
them against Geneva. So that wasthe second matchup of that one. East
didn't play their best, but theywere about to grind it out. I
think Geneva was healthier for this timearound two, um, you know,
and I was kind of talking withthem and at that point it was nine

(01:25):
in a row and they had thegame the following to make it ten and
they won thirteen in the last fourteen. It is crazy, and you know,
it's just kind they said, itwas kind of like the dog days
right now, where they're just grindingit out. You know, they're just
trying to stay healthy, just tryingto keep their head above water. Obviously
probably not trying to keep an eyeon Friday, but keeping an eye on

(01:45):
Friday the entire way. So,m it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Yeah yeah. So, um,you know, a good win for
them against Geneva, and they continueto play really well. Saint Charles North.
Um. They you know, theyhad a tough game on Friday night,
they play a Lake Park at home. A game doesn't sound like there
is a ton of scoring that game, But Christians Ernie came through for them

(02:07):
in a fourth quarter with eight straightpoints. And again he's he's a guy
that you know, everybody talks aboutkind of linky for a good reason.
And Luke sheffers, but but ChristiansZourney has been a really good player for
them this year too, and andhe came through for them in a tough
game. And I've I've talked withLuke about this. He's you know,
he they're they're actually really close friends, Christian and Luke, and he's,
like Christians one of the best basketballplayers I've played with. UM. I

(02:29):
don't think Christian gets enough credit forhow good of a passer he is in
terms of facilitating I think he drawsa lot of attention. Obviously link he
will get the attention in the middle, But the way they see John's Nooth
uses their guards, I think it'sjust really smart. He can throw it
in a linky, but he canpass out of it in Christian condition and
get to get his way to thehoops. So, um, I love

(02:49):
I love watching him play, andI was I was happy for him.
You know that he got the interviewfor the Comcast one hundred uh you know
TV crew. That was a thatwas a cool thing. They did run
into a really tough joy Notre Damegame. Well, ye see that score.
Yeah, I have my actually mycollege roommate my senior year is the
Bradley videographer, okay, and sohe was gonna go shoot that for whatever.

(03:12):
And and obviously Connor's gonna going toBradley. So I was like,
you need to go and check himout. So he did, and so
he was telling me about the gamea little bit. So uh yeah,
North kind of ran into the bus, huh. But gosh, I mean
it's a testament to how good purename is. You've seen them, uh,
you know, you've seen them thisyear and we both seen him in
the last couple of years. Theyhave a really good team. Um,
and you know, it's always Ialways kind of wonder how teams play on

(03:37):
Saturday after tough conference games on Fridaynight, especially when they're making that drive
to play a tough opponent. Notto make any excuses but but, but
that is a tough turnaround to goon a road um and play a quality
team like that. And Saint CharlesNorth, you know, they've they've had
a few ups and downs in Januaryobviously they went to Pontiac, but they've

(03:58):
really tested themselves against They have areally tough schedule, and I know a
lot of teams say that they havea tough schedule, and to some degree
it's true. You can make areasonable case at a number of them,
you know, especially with their winterschedules. Saint chrol zis going to Hinsdale
Central. That's a really good tournament. Wheeling has traditionally been a good tournament
for Geneva. But North this hada really, really tough schedule and they've
definitely shown out. So I thinkthey're gonna be battle tested for the playoffs.

(04:20):
I think they have a great chanceto defend their regional title and go
even further. Yeah, yeah,there's there's not about no doubt about that.
But of course they have they havea big one before they get to
regionals, which we'll talk about ina few minutes. Before we do that,
you know, I want to givea shout out to some other teams.
Uh. You know, Kinlin wenton the road last Friday to Ottawa

(04:40):
and they came away with a reallygood win. They beat the Ottawa pretty
handily on the road. Um andit sounded like they really kind of beat
them up on the boards and reallyrebounded well and really got a nice win
for them. In doing so.They were able to remain a game behind
Sycamore in that Interstate eight Conference race. And Cainlyn goes to Plano this Friday,

(05:01):
who's also a game behind Sycamore.Um So, Calyn continues to play
well. And if I'm not justshaking, the last time I saw Canlon
play was when Plano was in town. That could be I'm pretty sure.
Yeah, I mean Cal's been there'sbeen some ups and downs. I mean
that they're eleven and eleven. They'redoing really well in that league. But
I mean eleven eleven is already animprovement over what they did last year.

(05:23):
Yeah yeah, um so even evenif they're ups and downs, you know,
they still feel pretty good about that. Um. You know, Burmington
Central got to win last Friday aswell, So I look forward to seeing
how they do going forward. Beforewe start looking ahead to them, became
this Friday, Saint Charles East SaintCharles North wanted to kind of talk about
some teams outside of the King Countyarea. Uh A shootout that I was

(05:46):
at the Ernie Cavisto Shootout at EasterRoar on Saturday. It was a four
game event. Um I covered thefinale there. It was Oswego East against
York. Really good game, youknow, came down to the wire York
Nate Shocky kid who on the NorthDakody's having a heck of a year for
them. He had nineteen points inthe first half and just shooting the lights

(06:09):
out. But then it came downto the very end of the game and
Oswego East was sort of holding forthe last shot. But then there's a
trap and York got a steel andthey kind of hit a streaking Shocky got
ahead of the defense and was ableto lay in a score for a two
point win with like a second anda half left in the game. So

(06:29):
a really exciting game and a reallygood win for York, And honestly,
I thought it was a good gamefor Uswego East. I mean, they're
a team that I think we've probablytalked about before. They I don't feel
like they've had their full team formaybe more than maybe two or three games
this year. Sam schultzmissed the firstmonth of the season with a meniscus injury.
Will Wolf missed a few games witha broken nose, their treatment Tremont

(06:51):
Ruer missing some time. On Saturday, they were missing Rydy Gannison, who
is another player for them, he'sgot all injury and Ode Liam, a
kid that comes off the bench,gives a lot of size off the bench.
So both those guys did not play. But that being said, um,
you know they were able to tohang right there against a really good

(07:13):
your team twenty three and three andleaning the West Suburban Silver. So a
really good game there. Um.And then shout out to another team that
I've talked a lot about this yearand I'll continue to talk about Hinsdale South.
They've broken the school record for wins. They're unbeaten. In January,
I think they won fourteen in arow. They won a game on Friday,
then they went to Klan on Saturdaybeat Kalin pretty pretty handily, which

(07:38):
I mean, that's that's uh nothingagainst Kalin. They just ran into a
really good team. So Hinsille Southis playing some really good basketball. So
that being said, Um, thisweek, This week again, I feel
like we've had this a few timeswhere it's sort of like rivalry week in
this area. We have Geneva playingbetab Yeah, we have Wheat and South

(08:01):
playing Wheaton North. I'm gonna beat oswego at Sweet East Friday, and
then of course the big one,Saint Charles North Saint Charles East. You
were at the first game from thatmistaken North was able to pull it out
in the fourth quarter for for thatfirst one. To me, I think
it really depends on who wins theturnover battle. I think kind of both
teams are a little prone to turnovers. East team seems to be a little

(08:24):
bit more susceptible to it, justbased because of their high octane offensive style.
Um, but you know what's atsome point it's kind of difficult to
forecast because East can it really haveanybody turn it up on a given night.
It could be Scott Breddigan, itcould be Munkmeyer, it could be
Sean Sullivan, it Sullivan Like,there's a number of guys, so it's

(08:46):
really kind of hard to predict exactlyhow it's gonna go. I certainly think
it's gonna be going into the fourthquarter back and fourth battle. Um,
but I don't know. I don'twant to see I want to give it
that to a certain team or whatever. But I just think it's good.
You know, you can apply thisanywhere. But I really think in this
particular case, it's gonna be who'sgonna be taking care of the basketball and

(09:07):
who's gonna be making their threes?Um, you know, because both both
can shoot the three ball, butI think both are susceptible to some cold
shooting spells too. So uh,you know, those two things are gonna
be really paying attention to and followtrouble. You know, that's the other
thing too. Um, North,I don't think it's as good of a
free throw shooting team as they shouldbe, but neither as the East.
So who's gonna make their free throws? Yeah? And I mean you know

(09:30):
you mentioned struggles to shooting. Imean, you know, North in particulars,
they've had a few games in thelast month or so where they really
they did not they struggle to score, and they still won some of those
games too. But um, they'vebeen able to do it with defense,
which it seems like every time Iread a story on North Coach Pool and
keeps talking about defense, defense,defense, defense, you know all the
time. Shooting might come, comeand go and what and whatnot. But

(09:54):
but play good defense and can giveit yourself a chance. And I'll tell
you what too. I mean,this is their second me in the year.
I could easily see it being secondto three. I mean they're in
the same subsectional um, They're inthat McHenry sectional U and they will be
playing at a regional either at CarryGrove in Elgin, I could. I'm
imagining they're probably the top two.Carry Grove is pretty good too. Those

(10:15):
three are probably the top three inthat neck of the woods. So very
easily could see it's could see anothergame, yeah see it. Yeah,
conference wise, it's gonna be interesting. But I'm looking ahead a little bit
into crystal ball. The one knockon Saint Charles is the last number of
years is winning the regional. Yeah, you know, I'm in they especially
last year and the year before.I think it's what I've been three straight

(10:35):
years have been knocked out of theregional semifinals, you know, So,
I mean I and it's not aknock against them, but it's just kind
of like a media storyline where untilthey get over that, it's kind of
have to be said, yeah,um, but obviously you know, you
got a couple you know, stepsbeforehand, so um, we'll see there.
It's a really they're both really enjoyableteams to cogor. I mean,
they just got great, great youngyou know, great young men. I

(10:58):
really enjoyed the story I wrote actuallythe other night. Um, in that
genie of a story. You know, Joe musical guy that he does.
He scored what six or seven pointsor whatever, it comes off the bench.
Not a guy that I've really talkedabout all that much, and he
ends up having one of the coolernicknames, and he's just he's the jet,
Yeah, Joe, the jet.He makes he makes the impact that

(11:18):
sometimes like people always just look atthe top score or who's just kind of
a locked on defender. What didyou know these some of the other things.
And that's what I've been trying toreach at the last couple of weeks.
So it'll be a lot of fun. It will definitely be a lot
of fun. We mentioned there's alot of big games on Friday. Patavia
Geneva's playing each other. UM,we have Weet Northwheat and South again.
I'm gonna be uh at Oswego asSwego East UM industry to see how that

(11:41):
one turns out a Swego East.UH. I mentioned they've had some injuries,
but they've still been able to maintaina sweego. They're a team that
that just really shot out of thegate really fastest. Here we're you know,
eight and oh nine and all somethinglike that, UM and continued on
into January. They've they've hit alittle bit of a rough stratch. They
lost three of their last four games. UM defense has sort of been maybe

(12:03):
their issue. I think they've givenup about sixty sixty seven points a game
in their in their three losses.West Aurora, who's playing a lot better
UH lately West Rover scored a seasonhigh points to to sort of surprise Oswego
last Friday. UM. But they'llbe ready this week. I mean,
neither team plays between the weekend andthe weekend, so they're gonna have a

(12:26):
lot of time to prepair, whichI'm kind of happy to see. I
like it when there's plenty of timeto prepair. But Huswego East handed us
weego their first loss of the seasonearlier this year. That was at Oswego.
That was when Sam Schultz was stillon the shelf. He wasn't playing
yet. Um so uh be justm It's a game that I'm definitely looking
forward to. Oswego East has sortof had the upper hand the last probably

(12:48):
three or four definitely the last threethree three meetings when ray J. Dennis
was there. It was kind ofyeah, a little bit too much there
when he was there, but uhbut definitely a game that that and that
that game will pretty much decide wellplayfield Norris is right there too, but
but that will go a long waytoward deciding the Southwest Prairie West Conference.

(13:09):
So a lot of a lot ofgreat basketball this week and looking forward to
it. The girls. You canjump over here, Um you know,
certainly, you know we can kindof look back next last week, but
I think this week just really whenyou look on Tuesday, you got that
Geneva Lake Park. I'm really lookingforward being there, yeah for that for

(13:31):
that second meeting. Yeah, ofcourse the first game in Geneva Lake Park,
that was the great game that wetalked about that went to overtime.
Geneva was down big early, cameback, took the lead. Darian Rodgers
hits the three at the end ofregulation and then they win in overtime.
Darian Rodgers had thirty nine points ina game. Uh, lindsay, whackmoart
a really good game. But ifI recall it and that game as well

(13:52):
for Geneva. Um. I gotto see Geneva last Thursday at Batavia.
Um. You know, Batavia playedthem a lot better than they did the
first meeting. I mean it wasthey really kind of got a handed to
him the first game. This one, Geneva pulled ahead, got hot in
the second quarter. But Patavia isstill kind of hung in there. Um.
But Geneva. You know, LindseyBlackmore is I mean, I feel

(14:13):
like she's sort of like double doublepretty much most of the night. Kate
Palmer, She's a girl that youknow, gets a little streaky. But
but but when she gets hot,she's really tough. But then I'll tell
you what. Cassidy Arney is goingto be a player the next couple of
years, and and she does somethings that you don't normally see from a
freshman Curry intelligent player, very skilledplayer. And I tell you what,

(14:35):
when when Lindsay Blackmore does graduate.Cassie and Arney is just gonna blastom gonna
step right in. Yeah, andyou kind of yeah, No, I
really enjoy seeing her plays. Shekind of stopped spoken, um, you
know, but she Yeah, shecan play. She can play and it's
enjoyable too. Um. I havean appreciation for what Katy mount Gunry dodds
defensively. Yeah, she's not gonnabe jacking up. You know, she's

(14:56):
not gonna get twenty points a game, but she's gonna You're gonna play.
I'm the best offensive player and she'sgoing to do really well. So fun
team. That'd be a great gameto morrow night before to see what comes
out there between those two teams.Right now, Geneva is one game behind
Lake Park in the conference standings,so that Tomorrow Night's game, for all
intents and purposes, pretty much prettymuch designs it. So you know,

(15:18):
we'll see what happens there. Anotherconference that's kind of going down to the
wire that we have a local teamin the Hunt Burnington Central. They are
a game behind Dundee Crown and thatFox Valley conference. They have two games
remaining. They play Prairie Ridge onWednesday, then they play Huntley on Friday.
But Burlington Central is playing really well. They think they've won nine games

(15:39):
in a row. We've talked aboutit before. Alana Wells one of the
best guards in the area, Catchmidtone of the best post players in the
area. And then they have alot of girls around them that do a
lot of good things. So theyhave a big week ahead of them.
If I'm not mistaken. I thinkthe last time I saw the Burlings and
girls was when Prairie Ridges and Townand that was That was a weird game.
It was like a Wednesday and nobodyshot well and Prairie Ridge ended up

(16:00):
like not scoring for the second quarter, and I want to say, like
six minutes of the third quarter.I don't expect that, you know,
that time around. It was justkind of a weird night. Um,
I think it's gonna be it's gonnabe different, and but you know,
it still matters obviously from a conferenceperspective. And m Brunton is just a
team that just compliments each other reallywell. Obviously they have their stars,

(16:22):
but you know the role players.Her name doesn't get settled out, but
you know she can shoot the threes. Lily Moretti, Um, I've always
wanted to talk with If she endsup doing just a little bit more,
I'd like to talk to Kylie duvalUm. You know, she is an
interesting player to me as well.So you know there's some other Mannie make
We've mentioned her before. You know, she is what five five and she
can she can rebound with the restof them. So it's it's fun.

(16:45):
So yeah, so so so bigweek in in in the Duquesne Conference and
a big week and a Fox ValleyConference. Still to be determined how things
shake down. Of course, thisis also the last week of the regular
season for the large schoolgirls. UMthey're regill start next week. The seeds
and pairings were determined last week.Geneva, I know, I taught to

(17:07):
Sarah mud as their coach last weekand I said, you know, how
do you think things were gonna shakedown with seatings and stuff, and and
she wasn't really sure. I meanshe thought it could be any number one
of three or four teams getting thetop seed in the sectional, which is
played at Hoffmann Estates. And asit turned out, Geneva did get the
number one seed in that sectional.They will be playing a regional at Batavia

(17:27):
starting next week. The top fourseeds and a sectional Geneva, York,
Lake Park, and I believe WheatonNorth. I'm not saying yes, Wheat
and North. So that is asectional that boy, I could see any
number of a half dozen so teamsmaybe getting out of there. I mean
Geneva bloodbath. I mean, theGenius has played York this year at the

(17:49):
Montini Tournament and that was a gamethat came down to the wire. That
was a great game. We talkedabout Geneva against Lake Park. You know,
that was a great game earlier inthe year and they played again tomorrow
night. Wheaton North is a teamthat they're capable and they they beat Geneva
last year during a regular season.Um. You know their equality team.
Uh. And then and then Yorkyou know, at this stop in a

(18:11):
minute, you know, I meanthe York has had a fantastic season.
They're a senior dominant team. Um. And then you know, you look
at teams outside of the top four. I mean Saint Charles North is in
the same regional as York. Icould see Saint Charles North potentially, you
know, maybe picking off a teamand maybe winning a regional. So uh,
that's a sectional that you know,maybe not wide open the top twelve

(18:33):
teams, but certainly there's a handfulof there's froment of teams in there.
You mentioned Saint Charles North thought,you know, real quickly kind of going
back to last week, I sawthe Saint Charles North Saint Charles East cross
Town that second game of the season. North ends up sweeping East Um,
you know, for the first Ithink since the first sentance twenty ten,
twenty eleven. Wow, which isa pretty nice accomplishment. The two cool
things and I wrote about it atthe story for those that read it.

(18:56):
But you know, Lonnie Shoutsbury gettingtwenty nine points. She had seven made
three pointers, I believe, whichwas a school record actually when they put
it out on Twitter. The otherreally awesome thing was Caroline Jakidis, who
was battled and undisclosed stillness for formuch of this season, is apparently health
enough to contribute in limited fashion.She was able to earn a start against
East Um, and she got somelimited time the game before him like part,

(19:18):
she is seemingly getting her feedback underher um and nice and is Mike
Toom's act their coach kind of putit. You know, they're emotional senior
leaders, so they North kind ofgoes how those two go more soul loni
um, but they they got someplayers to you know, Tatum Silmier,
don't forget about her Um. Shecan definitely get inside. I'm Noara doesn't.

(19:40):
I still doesn't get enough credit forhow good of a rebounder she is.
Absolutely tenacious. Souh. They're capableof stealing one. Yeah, no,
I could see. I could verywell see them playing York for that
regional final next Thursday, and youknow, you would be the favor they're
the two seed, but Sam farsNorth is definitely capable of of winning that
game and maybe moving on. Andthe other thing to keep in mind the

(20:03):
winner that's sectional. They play thewinner of the Huntley Sectional and take nothing
away from the teams in the HuntleySectional. But you're not looking at the
Bennetts of the world or the Evanston'sof the world on that side of the
sectional. The number one seat isDundee Crown, a really good team but
maybe not like top top top inthe state. So whoever comes out of
that sectional at Hoffmann the state it'slike a Geneva or a York or somebody

(20:26):
like that. They have an excellentchance of going to State. So we'll
see how that shakes down. Kindof briefly, looking at three a m.
You know, I talked about thatyou don't have the powerhouses with Geneva
at the sectional there Brunton Central.Unfortunately, they do have a powerhouse Montini.
In case people didn't know this already, Montinium going back down from four

(20:47):
A to three A this year,which could be good for news for them,
but it's bad news for teams likeBurwington Central and Sycamore because they are
all at the sectional which is beingplayed at Hampshire. I believe yet it
is Hampshire. Sycamore is a topseed there. Burlington sent that that sectional
is a little bit different where it'slike a subsectional type Thingum you have Sycamore

(21:08):
is a top seed at a regionalthere Burlington Central, Montini and Belvedere North.
So Burlington Central is a really goodteam, but beating Montini's gonna be
tough. That would be tough.I would point to the game that they
had with Geneva very early the beginningof the season. I know is you
know at the start of Thanksgiving.But that was a four point game that

(21:29):
but Burlington ended up losing, andyou know, as a start of the
season. But I thought it wasa testament too they can play up to
those teams. Montini, quite frankly, is a is a different animal in
some respects just about how talented theyare. But I think it is a
testament that they're going to be ableto hang with them for sure. Yeah,
yeah, I would think so too, you know, not kind of
overlooking anybody too. Burlington Central intheir regional they have gleen Bard South,

(21:55):
who took second in the state lastyear. Albeit they graduated their star player,
so they're not quite the same team, but they are a really tenacious,
defensive amounted team. Sir Burlington CentralGlenbard South could very well be a
regional final at Burlington Central. IfBurlington was able to get past that,
they're probably looking at playing Sycamore,who has Kylie feirback going to Iowa State.

(22:17):
She's an outstanding player. And thenwhoever gets through that probably gets Montini
and Montini. Boy, they youknow, they are really young. I
mean they start three sophomores, maybefour sophomores. They're really young. They
play outstanding defense with that matchup zone. Sometimes they pressure a little bit.
I will say they're a streaky shootingteam. I mean, they're a team

(22:40):
that's known for three points shooting overthe years, and it kind of comes
and goes. But when you canhold teams to thirty thirty five points,
you're tough to beat night in,night out. So they're gonna be a
tough out. But you know,I get Burnington Central and Sycamore for that
matter, a chance at least becausethey have talent. Oh of course,
of course. Well I think mycomputer died, so I don't know if
that so, if that's the sign, maybe we should wrap this up here,

(23:02):
Josh, you have anything else?No, Oh, big week ahead.
We looking forward to it, allright, A lot of great stuff
coming up on our preps. Makesure you're glued to our social media at
Jake barliston at JWLG ninety six KaneCounty Preps. We got photo galleries,
we got basketball gamers, basketball notes, stats, everything you could possibly want.
Make sure you're glued in. Ifyou haven't subscribed, to make sure
you are. The fun is justbeginning, folks. For Josh, I'm

(23:23):
Jake and we'll sign off and we'llsee you next week.