Ballin’, Chicago Style

By: Eli Kaberon

This doesn’t appear to be the best year for local college basketball teams. Illinois has been a big disappointment, DePaul is struggling and Loyola is downright bad. Notre Dame is at the top of the Big East standings right now, but the Irish seem to end up on the NCAA Tournament bubble every season, so there would be no shock if they fell quickly. Even programs like Bradley and Southern Illinois - not really Chicago area but close enough where people have a legit interest - aren’t up to their usual selves. In fact the only school in the state to receive a vote in the latest AP poll was the Illinois State Redbirds, who are 12-3, tied for first in the Missouri Valley Conference and the recipients of one vote in the poll.But just because the city will not be sending many teams to March’s big dance doesn’t mean at all that their will be a lack of area players. Chicago-bred hoopsters are popping up all over the place in college basketball, many on the nation’s elite teams. These Windy City natives are playing big roles for these top teams and are revitalizing the Chicago area pipeline to the top of college hoops.

While recently guys like Dwyane Wade (alum of Richards High School) and Kevin Garnett (Farragut) have taken the spotlight as the top area products to make it big in the NBA, Chicago has always been known as a city of elite point guards. Players such as Isaiah Thomas, Glen (Doc) Rivers and Tim Hardaway all were among the best distributors and ball handlers of their time and those three have paved the way for the current crop of elite PG’s hailing from our fine city.

Probably the most well known Chicago point guard currently playing college hoops is University of Memphis star Derrick Rose. His Tigers are currently 14-0, ranked second in the country, and some people are already guessing that the squad has what it takes to go undefeated throughout the entire regular season. Rose has been the catalyst for Memphis, leading his ultra-talented team in assists while placing second in scoring, minutes played and fourth in steals.

Hailing from Simeon High School on the city’s south side, Rose was one of the top recruits in the country last season after leading the Wolverines to back to back city and state championships and winning Illinois’ Mr. Basketball award. He is the projected number two pick in the draft by the website nbadraft.net and some are already calling him the best freshman point guard to hit college basketball since Magic Johnson first laced up his sneakers for Michigan State in 1977.

Trailing Memphis in the rankings is the University of Kansas Jayhawks, who is third nationally and has a Chicago product of their own playing point guard. Sophomore Sherron Collins has missed some time this season due to a knee injury, but when he’s been on the floor, he’s been one of the best players on Bill Self’s squad, shown by his performance early in the year against Louisiana-Monroe when Collins dropped 22 points, six assists, four steels and most important, no turnovers. He has learned from the best his whole life, and it shows.

“I followed high school and college basketball more than the pros,” Collins said about what type of ball he preferred growing up in the Windy City. “But I watched videos of Allen Iverson and Tim Hardaway…I probably watched their crossover tapes about a thousand times.”

A product of Crane High School, Collins was a McDonald’s All-American at the prep level. In his senior season with the Cougars, he averaged a jaw-dropping 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists a game. His minutes have been up and down this season for KU, with the most playing time he’s gotten in a game was 29 in a blowout win over the Missouri-Kansas City. That’s mainly due to the incredible depth the Jayhawks have, but when it comes down to the end of a close game, expect Collins to be on the floor.

A notch bellow Rose and Collins in the rankings of best Chicago-area point guards are a wide group of players. Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo- the brother of former Chicago Bulls reserve Jannero Pargo (currently on the New Orleans Hornets) - is having a great junior season for the 11-4 Bulldogs. The former Robeson High star is leading the team in minutes played at over 35 a game and is averaging close to 12 points, six assists, and four rebounds a game. Completely across the country from Pargo is Bobby Frasor, a reserve for the number one team in the land, the North Carolina Tar Heels and alum of Brother Rice High School. Though he is now out for the season with a torn ligament in his knee, Frasor was playing a key roll for UNC, providing energy off the bench as well as an impressive 2.5/1 assists to turnover ratio. And at the University of Missouri, former Hyde Park HS guard Stefhon Hannah is leading the Tigers in assists and steals while providing great intensity for the squad.

This current crop of point guards will have a lot to match the class of Chicagoans that recently left the college game. Dee Brown, who played at Illinois, was on the Associated Press All America second time twice in his four year career and is one of the best players to ever put on a Fighting Illini uniform. His former high school teammate at Proviso East, Shannon Brown, starred at Michigan State and is currently a reserve for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sean Dockery, who played high school ball at Julian, was a four-year player at Duke and will always be remembered for making an amazing half-court shot at the buzzer to win a game versus Virginia Tech in 2005. And Will Bynum of Crane HS got Georgia Tech to the 2004 national title game by sinking a layup with two seconds left in the national semi-final versus Oklahoma State. All four guys played in the Final Four during their collegiate careers and they are all currently playing pro ball somewhere in the world. (Dee Brown is in Turkey, Shannon Brown with the Cavs, Dockery in Romania and Bynum in Israel)

Last season there was a great amount of Chicago-based talent at other positions as well. Wisconsin’s Alando Tucker, who comes from Lockport, won Big Ten player of the year after becoming the Badgers all-time leading scorer, passing fellow Chicagoan Michael Finley. And Kansas’ Julian Wright, a McDonald’s All-American while at Homewood-Flossmoor HS, led the Jayhawks to the elite eight a year ago and then declared early and was the 13th selection in the NBA Draft.

This year’s crop of non-point guards may not be as honored as Tucker and Wright were a year ago, but they make up for it with quality depth. Marquette shooting guard Jerel McNeal is second on his squad in scoring at 13.2 per game and is shooting 48 percent from the field, very good for a 6-3 player. The former Hillcrest star was first-team All-State as a prep senior and has played a hug role in the success of the 15th ranked Golden Eagles. At Duke, small forward Jon Scheyer- who was Illinois’ Mr. Basketball in 2006 at Glenbrook North- hasn’t started a game yet this season for the number nine Blue Devils. That hasn’t stopped Scheyer from putting up over ten points and five rebounds a game. And down south in Arkansas is Patrick Beverley, a shooting guard who hails from Marshall High School. Beverly is scoring nearly 13 points a game and adds five rebounds and three assists for the Razorbacks.

“It shows the depth our city has,” said Sherron Collins. “Jon {Scheyer} comes from the north suburbs, Derrick {Rose} is from the south side, Julian {Wright} is from the south suburbs and I’m from the west side. We just have talent all over the place.”

The talent will not be stopped any time soon. Several elite high school players are currently playing in the area, including seniors Michael Dunigan, a center at Farragut who will attend the University of Oregon and Iman Shumpert, a smooth shooting guard from Oak Park who is committed to Georgia Tech. Add to that the countess number of players from the city and suburbs who aren’t being heavily recruited but will turn out to be solid (or even great) college players, like Dwyane Wade was. It’s a great time to be a fan of college basketball in the Chicago-are, even if your favorite team isn’t doing too well.

Eli Kaberon is a 2005 graduate of Evanston Township High School and currently is attending Columbia College in the loop, majoring in print journalism. A life-long fan of the Cubs, Bears and Bulls, Eli also works as a seat vendor at Wrigley Field and has sold hot dogs to everyone ranging from Bears tight end Greg Olsen to Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Eli can be reached at ekaberon@yahoo.com.

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