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I went to the Circle City Challenge of Champions Basketball Showcase at Southport High School in Indianapolis on Saturday (this was mentioned by Matt a few days ago in the "Oden on ESPN2 now" thread). This was a terrific event, with six games between Indianapolis area teams and teams from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, plus a couple of Indiana teams from other parts of the state. Here are the scores:
Game 1: Cathedral 65, Pershing (Detroit, MI) 51
Game 2: Southport 91, Forest Park 86 (OT)
Game 3: Arlington 79, Gary Westside 67
Game 4: Pike 67, Rufus King (Milwaukee, WI) 59
Game 5: North Central 68, Simeon Career Academy (Chicago, IL) 66
Game 6: Lawrence North 72, Proviso East (Maywood, IL) 59
The Indianapolis area teams cleaned up, winning all six games. Games 5 and 6 were the big attractions for most fans, and the 7,100-seat fieldhouse was about 85-90% full for those games. Illinois fans were out in force to see junior Eric Gordon of North Central and senior Brian Carlwell of Proviso East, who have both committed to play at Illinois (Gordon only verbally since he's a junior). There were a LOT of orange shirts in the crowd. And of course, plenty of people were there to see Ohio State recruits Greg Oden and Mike Conley as well.
Eric Gordon was very impressive as usual, scoring over 30 points. The big treat was seeing Oden and Carlwell matched up, as one rarely gets to see Oden playing against someone his size (Oden is 7 ft. 1/2 in., 255 lbs.; Carlwell is 6 ft. 11 in., 260 lbs.). Oden is usually double or triple teamed, but Carlwell played him one-on-one, so it was great to see what he could do in that situation. Since some here have wondered whether his dominant performances have merely been due to his size advantage, here are his numbers: 31 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 6 dunks. Let me say that Carlwell is no slouch -- he's a big, strong, athletic player. To my knowledge, he is the best center Oden has faced in his high school career. I don't have Carlwell's numbers, but I'm thinking he had less than 15 points, but a good number of rebounds.
I have to give a shout out to my Southport Cardinals, who played what was arguably the most difficult schedule in the state this weekend. Friday night, they played class 4A 2nd ranked Bloomington South and were thumped 94-51. They then had to play a noon game on Saturday against class 2A 1st ranked (and defending state champion) Forest Park, and they dug down deep to come up with a stellar performance, winning 91-86 in OT. They're not a team with a lot of raw talent, but they played with a lot of heart on Saturday and got the job done. I'll have to admit, I was expecting them to get blown out in that game.
Now for the part that will make all of the Illinois fans really envious. I got there early (saw all of the six games except for the first three minutes of game 1), but then met up with some friends who came for the last three games. They went to the restroom right before game 4, and when they came back they said, "We just saw Bruce Weber in the hallway." A couple of minutes later, Coach Weber came in and sat down behind me -- right behind me, as in me in row 2 and Coach Weber in row 3. He sat there for all of game 4 and the first half of game 5, then he went around the fieldhouse to talk to some of the high school coaches that were there. He was very friendly and talked to me and my friends quite a bit, answering our questions about the teams and players from Illinois. I saw him again after the games and thanked him for coming, and told him to come back next year.
This was one of the most enjoyable days I've ever spent watching basketball (and only $12 admission for the whole day!). If any of you get the chance to attend next year, I highly recommend that you do so.
Game 1: Cathedral 65, Pershing (Detroit, MI) 51
Game 2: Southport 91, Forest Park 86 (OT)
Game 3: Arlington 79, Gary Westside 67
Game 4: Pike 67, Rufus King (Milwaukee, WI) 59
Game 5: North Central 68, Simeon Career Academy (Chicago, IL) 66
Game 6: Lawrence North 72, Proviso East (Maywood, IL) 59
The Indianapolis area teams cleaned up, winning all six games. Games 5 and 6 were the big attractions for most fans, and the 7,100-seat fieldhouse was about 85-90% full for those games. Illinois fans were out in force to see junior Eric Gordon of North Central and senior Brian Carlwell of Proviso East, who have both committed to play at Illinois (Gordon only verbally since he's a junior). There were a LOT of orange shirts in the crowd. And of course, plenty of people were there to see Ohio State recruits Greg Oden and Mike Conley as well.
Eric Gordon was very impressive as usual, scoring over 30 points. The big treat was seeing Oden and Carlwell matched up, as one rarely gets to see Oden playing against someone his size (Oden is 7 ft. 1/2 in., 255 lbs.; Carlwell is 6 ft. 11 in., 260 lbs.). Oden is usually double or triple teamed, but Carlwell played him one-on-one, so it was great to see what he could do in that situation. Since some here have wondered whether his dominant performances have merely been due to his size advantage, here are his numbers: 31 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 6 dunks. Let me say that Carlwell is no slouch -- he's a big, strong, athletic player. To my knowledge, he is the best center Oden has faced in his high school career. I don't have Carlwell's numbers, but I'm thinking he had less than 15 points, but a good number of rebounds.
I have to give a shout out to my Southport Cardinals, who played what was arguably the most difficult schedule in the state this weekend. Friday night, they played class 4A 2nd ranked Bloomington South and were thumped 94-51. They then had to play a noon game on Saturday against class 2A 1st ranked (and defending state champion) Forest Park, and they dug down deep to come up with a stellar performance, winning 91-86 in OT. They're not a team with a lot of raw talent, but they played with a lot of heart on Saturday and got the job done. I'll have to admit, I was expecting them to get blown out in that game.
Now for the part that will make all of the Illinois fans really envious. I got there early (saw all of the six games except for the first three minutes of game 1), but then met up with some friends who came for the last three games. They went to the restroom right before game 4, and when they came back they said, "We just saw Bruce Weber in the hallway." A couple of minutes later, Coach Weber came in and sat down behind me -- right behind me, as in me in row 2 and Coach Weber in row 3. He sat there for all of game 4 and the first half of game 5, then he went around the fieldhouse to talk to some of the high school coaches that were there. He was very friendly and talked to me and my friends quite a bit, answering our questions about the teams and players from Illinois. I saw him again after the games and thanked him for coming, and told him to come back next year.
This was one of the most enjoyable days I've ever spent watching basketball (and only $12 admission for the whole day!). If any of you get the chance to attend next year, I highly recommend that you do so.
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