My Dad and I went down the road about twenty miles Wednesday night for a high school hoops triple-header.
The 50th annual Leland G. Strombom Thanksgiving Tournament at Sycamore High School brings together eight varsity teams from the region for a four game, five night event culminating in Saturday’s title game between the winners of two four-team pools.
Sycamore is a fine host. The tournament is well organized, draws a quality field and attracts a good crowd of area hoops fans. It was five bucks to get in. The host hasn’t won the tourney since 2007. They won’t win it this year after falling in Wednesday’s exciting nightcap to tiny Newark (IL) High School from downstate Kendall County.
Newark’s enrollment of 187 comes from a rural school district that covers 100 square miles. Watching both Newark and Sycamore in warmups, you would have guessed Newark was in trouble. They dressed just eight players. Sycamore had more players on their bench (9) than Newark’s entire team. The latest enrollment number for Sycamore (1100 plus) exceeds that of Newark’s entire population (about 1000).
But throw out all the numbers. Newark does a lot with its small lineup. They pass the ball. The play pretty serious defense. And they have a tremendously versatile player in Brett Anderson guiding the ship. Anderson is a four-year starter who helped Newark win the class 1A Illinois state title in 2011. Newark also has a 6-4 freshman named Jack Clausel (pictured above) who plays tough underneath the hoop. Clausel gobbles up rebounds on both ends. He’s slow up and down the court but he can handle the ball and is talented beyond his years.
Newark is an easy hour plus in the car from Sycamore, yet the team’s backers filled a section of bleachers behind the Norsemen bench and made a lot of noise as the feisty squad of eight held off a second half charge and won one for the little guy.
It’s not Hoosiers because Newark is a top 1A school. But it must be a fascinating process to be a part of a basketball team constructed from such a small pool of talent. Newark came upstate Wednesday night to play a team that’s in a completely different strata of competition and knocked them off. That’s seriously cool.
Strombom tourney intrigue was to be had in the Hampshire/Burlington Central contest immediately before the Newark upset, too.
Hampshire’s 51-year-old head coach Bob Barnett suffered two separate heart attacks the day before his team was to play archrival Central. Barnett survived and will recover but was hospitalized, leaving his squad in the hands of assistant Mike Featherly.
Before starting lineups were announced, Sycamore’s PA announcer said “thoughts and prayers” were aimed in the direction of Hampshire’s head coach.
Hampshire won the ballgame 59-54. Late in the contest, several students from Hampshire ran over to an area just behind the Central bench during a timeout in an effort to meddle with their opponent’s huddle. It was an unsportsmanlike endeavor that was quickly snuffed out by Sycamore administrators charged with security. The kids were quickly – and justifiably – ordered to move back to their seats. One Hampshire parent made a scene while objecting loudly to Sycamore administration’s efforts to instill boundaries of fair play. The parent would later continue her embarrassing argument saying the kids had bought tickets and were entitled to freedom of movement within the gym.
Having watched six of the tournament’s eight teams play on Wednesday night, I think it’s safe to say your 2012 Strombom champ will be Rockford Lutheran. Junior two-guard Thomas Kopelman is a great shooter and will take Lutheran deep into March Madness each of the next two postseasons should he stay healthy. Kopelman is a scoring machine and is very dangerous from behind the arc. The Rockford Lutheran jersey features a religiously-themed cross on the neckline.
Strombom tourney regular Huntley High School (my adopted suburban Chicago favorite) is absent from the event this year, opting instead to participate in the Crystal Lake Central High School Thanksgiving Tourney.