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Area game results

[DEC. 17, 2001]   

Boys

At Kankakee

Lincoln                         13  32  49  74
Kankakee                    12  31  41  62

Farmer 0-4-4, Komnick 3-0-7, Gallagher 1-0-2, Schonauer 0-2-2, Schroder 7-3-20,  Welch 1-0-2, Werner 1-0-2, Young 15-5-35.

Totals 28-14-74

At Hartsburg

Delavan                        15  37  48  69
Hartsburg-Emden         10  27  42  56

Ke. Leesman 1-5-7, Fletcher 3-2-10, Wrage 6-1-13, Anderson 1-6-8, Gleason 6-0-14, Ko. Leesman 2-0-4.

Totals 19-14-56

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Girls

At Lincoln

Triad                            13  23  33  47
Lincoln                         13  23  28  36

Dawson 4-2-10, Robbins 2-0-4, Ingram 3-0-8,  Froschauer 4-0-8,  Moore 1-2-4,  Verderber 1-0-2.

Totals 15-4-36

Pre-game notes: ISU vs. Illini

[DEC. 17, 2001]   

[Click here to view background information (in Adobe Acrobat)]

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Illinois vs. Western Illinois

[DEC. 17, 2001]   

[Click here for the report from the Fighting Illini website:
"No. 10 Illinois Breezes Past Western Illinois, 98-62"]

Illinois vs. Arkansas

[DEC. 17, 2001]   Final score:  Illinois 94, Arkansas 91.

[Click here for pictures from the game played on Dec. 8]

Chattanooga defeats Illinois State 70-59

[DEC. 17, 2001]   CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Baboucarr Bojang scored a career-high 26 points to lead all scorers, but the rest of the Redbird offense struggled as Chattanooga defeated Illinois State 70-59 in non-conference men’s basketball action on Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn.

A 16-6 run by the Mocs (3-5) late in the first half and a 10-4 run to start the second half proved to be too much for the ’Birds (4-5), who managed only 26 points in the first half on 12-of-30 shooting.

"We just dug ourselves into a hole again on the road," said Illinois State head coach Tom Richardson. "We missed a lot of wide-open shots, and we let Toot Young get away from us in the first half. We need our guys to play more consistently on the road."

Bojang scored 16 of his 26 points in the first half, shooting 7-for-8 from the field and hitting two free throws. He also led Illinois State in rebounding, with eight. Shawn Jeppson was the only other Redbird to finish in double figures in scoring, with 10 points. Shedrick Ford contributed nine points and five rebounds.

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Chattanooga led by 10 at the half, 36-26, with Young chipping in half of the Mocs’ points with 18.

Young finished the game as Chattanooga’s leading scorer, with 22 points. The Mocs had three other players in double figures, with 10 points apiece. Chattanooga shot 24-for-50 from the field for 48 percent and out-rebounded Illinois State 39-35. Dusty Pullian was the game’s leader on the boards, with 12.

Illinois State travels to Champaign on Tuesday, Dec. 18, to face the No. 8 University of Illinois Fighting Illini at 7 p.m.

[Rob Huizenga, ISU athletics media relations]

Area game results

[DEC. 15, 2001]   

Boys

At Bloomington

Olympia                       8  16  24    34
Central Catholic           8  19  24    32

Kendrick 2-0-5; Olson 2-1-5; Elliott 1-2-4; Sherman 0-4-4; Wright 0-2-2; Dillenburg 3-0-7; Criswell 1-4-6; Kieser 0-0-0; Slager 0-1-1; Miller 0-0-0.

Totals 9-14-34

At Lincoln

Lincoln                       14  25  43    58
Springfield                    9  14  26    45

Farmer 2-7-13; Komnick 3-0-8; Gallagher 0-0-0; Peters 0-0-0; Schonauer 0-4-4; Bast 0-0-0; Schrader 3-4-10; Welch 1-0-2; Werner 1-0-2; Young 9-1-19; Heidbreder 0-0-0.

Totals 19-16-58

At Lewistown

Illini Central                  11  25  34    46
Lewistown                    10  16  31    48

Miller 8-1-17; Grimsley 1-5-7; Clark 2-0-4; Giesler 5-0-14; Scott 0-0-0; Williams 2-0-4.

Totals 18-6-46

Lincoln Christian College vs. Westminster College

[DEC. 15, 2001]  LCC men's and women's basketball teams played Westminster at Fulton, Mo.

Men

LCC                             31  36    67
Westminster                  35  35    70

Clark 7-5-21; Raymer 0-0-0; Holderby 3-0-7; Below0-0-0; Turney 3-0-9; Broadfuehrer 0-0-0; Grooms 2-2-6; Searby 11-1-24.

Totals 26-8-67

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Women

LCC                             20  28    78
Westminster                  33  35    68

Robbins 4-4-14; Urton 0-1-1; Szostek 0-0-0; Wright 7-2-17; Wertin 1-1-3; O'Malley 0-0-0; Jewell 4-1-9; Flaherty 0-1-1; Davis 1-0-3.

Totals 17-11-48

Lincoln College vs. Forest Park

[DEC. 15, 2001]  LC women's basketball team played Forest Park at Forest Park.

Women

LC                               47  40    87
Forest Park                  33  32    65

Lamb 3-0-6; Bausley 1-0-2; McLaughlin 4-0-8; Beebe 5-6-18; Sims 2-3-7; Scott 3-0-6; Melker 1-0-2; Dullard 4-2-10; Thomas 2-0-4; Grahm 3-1-7; Story 2-0-4; Bossingham 3-0-7; Calhoun 1-0-2; Rossio 0-0-0; Harper 1-2-4.

Totals 35-14-87

Area game result

[DEC. 14, 2001]   

Girls

Olympia              12 24 35 48

Central Catholic  16 31 47 61

Floyd 4-0-8, Prager 1-3-5, Gaither 5-3-14, Canopy 4-0-8, Goebel 4-1-9, Short 2-0-4

Lincoln College vs. Carl Sandburg

[DEC. 14, 2001]   

Men

Lincoln College     33 28 – 61

Carl Sandberg       22 36 – 58

Roberson 4-0-10, Fowler 0-2-2, Turner 4-7-15, Sams 4-0-9, Major 7-3-17, Hollyfield 3-2-8

Suurvarik and Mikalayeva nationally ranked

[DEC. 13, 2001]   After posting a mark of 14-3 in the fall season, the Illinois State doubles team of Liina Suurvarik and Alesia Mikalayeva is ranked No. 14 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s fall ranking.

Suurvarik, a sophomore from Tallinn, Estonia, and Mikalayeva, a junior hailing from Minsk, Belarus, won the Midwest Regional and advanced to the Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship. The first ISU women’s tennis players to compete for the national title, the pair advanced to the second round where they were defeated by eventual champions Lauren Kalvaria and Gabriela Lastra of Stanford, who earned the top national rank.

Prior to the regional title, the duo won the Missouri Valley Conference crown at No. 1 doubles in early October.

Suurvarik also gained national recognition for her singles play, checking in at No. 107.

Regional rankings will be announced Friday, Dec. 14.

[Heather Henning,
 ISU athletics media relations]

Area game results

[DEC. 12, 2001]   

Boys

At Bloomington

Olympia                       9 13 18   25
Bloomington               10 23 42   56

Kendrick 2-0-5; Olson 3-2-8; Wise 0-0-0; Dillenburg 1-0-2; Sherman 1-0-2; Elliott 0-0-0; Wright 1-0-2; Chriswell 1-2-4; Thronton 0-0-0; Kieser 0-0-0; Schultz 1-0-2; Hayes 0-0-0; Slager 0-0-0; Cheek 0-0-0.

Totals 10-4-25

Sophomore basketball at Bloomington

Olympia 55, Bloomington 47

At Clinton

Mount Pulaski             16 29 48   70
Clinton                        17 34 50   73

Coers 8-0-17; N. Tierney 4-0-8; Schilling 1-1-3; Olson 2-0-4; Blaum 1-1-3; Anderson 11-2-29; Smith 1-0-2; Erlinbush 2-0-4.

Totals 30-4-70

Sophomore basketball at Clinton

Mount Pulaski 56, Clinton 35

Mount Pulaski scoring:  Tim Milner 15, Craig Erlenbush 12, Steve Loveall 12

Record: 5-0

Next game: Tuesday, Dec. 18 at Williamsville

At Mason City

Illini Central                   13 28 50   73
Petersburg Porta             9 18 25   38

Miller 4-1-9; Scott 2-6-10; Deters 0-0-0; Williams 1-0-2; Grimsley 3-2-8; Cremeens 2-0-6; Hieronymus 1-1-4; Clark 5-4-14; Giesler 5-0-11; Swaar 2-1-5; Sickmeyer 1-2-4.

Totals 26-17-73

Sophomore basketball at Mason City

Illini Central 66, Petersburg Porta 52

Girls

At Eureka

Olympia                       13 26 39   65
Eureka                         11 15 33   57

Wilcox 0-0-0; Floyd 5-0-13; Prager 3-1-7; Wittmer 0-0-0; Short 0-0-0; Brand 0-0-0; Gaither 9-11-35; Canopy 3-0-6; Goebel 1-2-4.

Totals 21-14-65

At Springfield

Lincoln                          11 22 25   45
Springfield Lanphier       14 31 37   51

Dawson 5-3-13; Hottert 3-0-7; Robbins 1-1-3; Freesmeier 0-0-0; Ingram 1-0-2; Froschaver 1-2-4; Moore 2-2-6; Schonaver 1-2-4; Carey 0-2-2; Bunch 2-0-4.

Totals 16-12-45

Few tickets remain for Illini men’s basketball

[DEC. 12, 2001]   CHAMPAIGN — Less than 1,000 tickets remain for the Dec. 16 Illinois men’s basketball game against Western Illinois in Champaign.

The Dec. 29 game against Loyola-Chicago has around 100 single tickets remaining for sale. Three games over the semester break are sold out: Dec. 18 against Illinois State, Jan. 2 against Minnesota and Jan. 2 against Michigan. The entire Big Ten schedule is sold out for the season.

Tickets may be purchased at the UI athletics ticket office at the Assembly Hall, by calling (217) 333-3470 or toll-free at 1 (866) ILLINI-1, or online at www.fightingillini.com.

[University of Illinois news release]

Nokia Sugar Bowl ticket update

[DEC. 12, 2001]  CHAMPAIGN — The University of Illinois is no longer accepting ticket orders for the Nokia Sugar Bowl from individuals who are not Fighting Illini Scholarship Fund members or current UI football season ticket customers.

FISF members and season ticket holders have until 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14, to place priority ticket orders for the Sugar Bowl.

"We fully anticipate to sell out our entire allotment of 15,000 tickets to Illinois fans," Director of Athletics Ron Guenther said. "The response by our fans has been tremendous, and we expect to have a large following in New Orleans on Jan. 1."

The following guidelines will be used to allocate Nokia Sugar Bowl tickets:

1. I Fund and Fighting Illini Scholarship Fund members by club level.

2. Student, faculty and staff, and general public football season ticket holders who are not I Fund or FISF members by date the order is received.

3. Student, faculty and staff, and general public who are not I Fund or FISF members or season ticket holders, by date the order is received.

Tickets are not guaranteed. In the event that all tickets are sold, a refund will be sent to the applicant. The right to reduce orders or make such refunds is reserved by the UI Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Big Ten champion Illinois is scheduled to play LSU Jan. 1 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Game time is 7:30 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised by ABC-TV.

[University of Illinois news release]

Area game results

[DEC. 11, 2001]   

At Petersburg

Illini Central                  13 29 44   60
Petersburg Porta           10 20 35   45

Bitner 11-0-22; Damm 4-1-12; Durdle 0-0-0; Hankins 0-0-0; Francis 1-0-2; Oney 2-2-6; Montgomery 4-10-18; Parker 0-0-0.

Totals 22-13-60

At Mount Pulaski

Ursuline                        7 24 42   50
Mount Pulaski               8 19 26   35

Faith 5-0-14; Howe 0-2-2; Hudson 0-0-0; Jason 0-0-0; Maske 0-1-1; Reeley 0-0-0; Rucks 0-1-1; Sanders 7-3-17.

Totals 12-7-35

Game notes: Illinois State at Chattanooga

[DEC. 11, 2001]   The game:  Illinois State Redbirds (4-4) play the Chattanooga Mocs (2-5) on Saturday, Dec. 15, at 1:05 p.m. (CST) at McKenzie Arena (11,218) at Chattanooga, Tenn.

[Click here to view whole pre-game stats (in Adobe Acrobat)]

[Click here to download Adobe Acrobat reader]

About the game

Saturday’s game features two streaking teams. Illinois State is winner of its last two, after losing four straight. Chattanooga has lost five straight games after opening the season with two victories. However, the Mocs are 1-0 at home this season, while the Redbirds are 1-4 away from Redbird Arena, with a 1-2 mark on a neutral floor.

The probable starters

(ppg rpg apg)

Illinois State Redbirds (4-4)

F, 4, Dirk Williams, 6-8, 210, So.-1L, Pekin, 4.0, 2.3, 0.5

F, 33, Shedrick Ford, 6-5, 220, Sr.-1L, Macon, Ga., 11.9, 4.8, 1.4

C, 23, Baboucarr Bojang, 6-9, 205, Jr.-TR, Greenville, S.C., 13.9, 8.5, 0.9

G, 2, Gregg Alexander, 6-4, 190, Fr.-HS, Lincoln, 10.4, 3.4, 2.8

G, 15, Randy Rice, 6-0, 175, Sr.-1L, Springfield, 3.4, 2.4, 2.5

Chattanooga Mocs (2-5)

F, 3, Neil Ashby, 6-8, 200, Sr.-1L, Atlanta, Ga., 14.3, 6.7, 2.0*

F, 40, Nick Benson, 6-5, 210, Jr.-TR, St. Louis, Mo., 9.4, 6.4, 0.4*

C, 44, Dusty Pullian, 6-8, 215, Sr.-1L, Benton Harbor, Mich., 4.9, 4.1, 0.6*

G, 20, Clyde McCully, 6-0, 173, Sr.-1L, Beaumont, Texas, 11.3, 2.1, 3.7

G, 21, Toot Young, 6-3, 175, Sr.-1L, Norfolk, Va., 8.0, 3.4, 1.7

Note: (*) indicates blocks per game.

The coaches

Tom Richardson is 35-33 in his third season at Illinois State. He is assisted by Chad Altadonna, Anthony Beane and Doug Novsek. Chattanooga is coached by Henry Dickerson, who owns a 58-64 record in his fifth season with the Mocs. He is assisted by John Gibson, Kenny Seifert and L.J. Kirby.

Ticket information

Tickets for Illinois State home games can be purchased from the ticket office at Redbird Arena, (309) 438-8000.

Redbird Radio Network

Mark Johnson, play-by-play; Mike Matthews, color; Bruce Evans, sideline (home only). Affiliates: WJBC (AM 1230/Bloomington), flagship; WINU (AM 880/Highland); WZOE (AM 1490/Princeton); WFMB (AM 1450/Springfield). All Illinois State broadcasts can be heard on the Internet at either sports.yahoo.com or wjbc.com. The latter also carries Tom Richardson’s weekly call-in show, which alternates depending on the schedule, but generally airs each Thursday from 6:07-7 p.m.

Web ’Birds

The Illinois State athletics web page, at www.redbirds.org, includes direct links to yahoo.broadcast.com and www.wjbc.com to access the WJBC/Redbird Radio Network broadcasts. In addition, for home games, live stats are available.

About Chattanooga

—Chattanooga is located in Chattanooga, Tenn., and enrolls 8,319 students. The Mocs are members of the Southern Conference.

—Head coach Henry Dickerson is in his fifth season at Chattanooga. He owns a 58-64 record with the Mocs in five seasons. Dickerson has 22 years coaching experience at the collegiate ranks with assistant stints at Charleston, Marshall and Chattanooga.

—Chattanooga opened the season with wins over Tennessee Wesleyan (89-59) and Liberty (82-57), but has now lost five straight games. After beating Liberty in the first round of the Hawaii Pacific Thanksgiving Classic, the Mocs have fallen to Notre Dame (97-84), Vanderbilt (69-57), at Murray State (72-63), at Kent State (75-56) and at Alabama (74-68).

—The 2000-01 season is the 20th anniversary of the home of the Mocs, McKenzie Arena.

—Nine of the Mocs 16 roster players have transferred in from junior colleges, including five JUCO transfers this season.

—Neil Ashby, a second-year player that transferred from Alabama, leads the Mocs with 14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Ashby also leads the team with 14 blocks and shoots 59.4 percent from the field.

—Clyde McCully is the only other player with Chattanooga averaging double-digit points. McCully tosses in 11.3 points per game and leads the team with 26 assists. He is shooting 23.1 percent (3-for-13) on treys.

—Three times this season, the Mocs have shot below 40 percent from the floor and 30 percent on treys.

—The Mocs are the second Redbird opponent from the SoCon, with Georgia Southern being the first. UTC was picked to finish third in the South Division behind the Eagles and Charleston.

The series

Saturday’s game is the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Although the Redbirds have never met the Mocs on the hardwood, they have played five other schools from the Volunteer State. Illinois State owns a 4-5 record against schools from Tennessee, but have won the last two meetings with a 77-60 victory over Tennessee-Martin last season and a 82-81 overtime win over Tennessee in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament.

Boo’s scary!!!

Illinois State’s Baboucarr Bojang is in his sixth year of organized basketball and is still developing as a player. That’s bad news for Redbird opponents, considering Bojang has already posted four double-doubles in eight games and two 20-point efforts. In his last outing, Bojang was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor, grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and matched his career-best 20 points.

Home sweet home

For Illinois State, the biggest cure for a four-game losing skid is a two-game homestand. With wins over Samford and Central Michigan, the Redbirds improved their record to 4-4 on the season and have won 18 of their last 20 games in Redbird Arena. In 14 seasons, the Redbirds are 133-45 in Redbird Arena for a .747 winning percentage.

Mocs know what Boo can do

Even though Baboucarr Bojang is in his first season with the Redbirds, he is no stranger to the Mocs, at least some of them. Chattanooga has four players, Petie Spaulding, Nick Benson, Michael Townsend and Aaron Morgan, who all transferred in from Moberly Junior College and competed against Bojang. Also, assistant coach Kenny Seifert was formerly the head coach at Moberly. While at SMS-West Plains, Bojang averaged 19.3 points and 13.0 rebounds against Moberly last season, including a home game in which he tallied 26 points and hauled in 20 boards.

Jeppson pledging for the 1,000-Point Club

Of all the organizations on the Illinois State campus, the 1,000-Point Club must rank as one of the most exclusive with only 34 members in the last 104 years. The Redbirds’ Shawn Jeppson is closing in on a membership, however. After scoring six points against Central Michigan on Sunday, Jeppson currently owns 850 points for his career and needs only 150 more to become the 35th player in Illinois State history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

For him, it’s easy being Greene

Sophomore point guard Vince Greene, who sat out last season meeting NCAA requirements, already has five double-digit scoring efforts this season, including four straight. Greene averaged 4.0 point per game in the Redbirds’ first four games of the season, but has averaged 12.3 points over the last four. In addition to his scoring, Greene is also accurate. He is shooting 69.2 percent on treys (9-for-13) and 85.7 from the free-throw line (24-of-28).

D-fense, D-fense

In the first half against Central Michigan, Sunday, the Redbirds caged the Chippewa scorers and held CMU to only 14 first-half points. The Chippewas first half total equaled the lowest amount of points ever scored in a half by an Illinois State opponent in Redbird Arena, with Chicago State matching the feat last season. Central Michigan finished the half with 6-for-23 shooting (26.1 percent) and 1-for-5 on 3-pointers. The Redbirds also held the reigning Mid-American Player of the Year, David Webber, scoreless for the first frame for only the second time of his career.

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FT four-peat ???

The Redbirds have opened the season shooting 77.5 percent from the charity stripe and are on a good start to eclipse 70 percent for a fourth straight season. ISU shot 72.8 percent from the free-throw line last season, 74 percent in 1999-2000 and 73.5 percent in 1998-99. The Redbirds have not had a stretch of that length since it bettered 70 percent for a four-season span from 1982 through 1985.

Jeppson hits century mark

With six minutes left in the game at Georgia Southern, Illinois State guard Shawn Jeppson became the ninth Redbird in school history to drain 100 treys in a career. Jeppson stands in ninth place overall, after hitting one trey against Samford, and needs 10 3-pointers to surpass former Redbird Kyle Cartmill.

Double-double debut for Mr. Bojang-les

Baboucarr Bojang played his first game in a Redbird uniform against Weber State and it was worth an encore. Bojang tapped his way to posting his first double-double, as the SMS-West Plains Junior College transfer tossed in 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. It was the first time since November 23, 1990, that a Redbird had a double-double performance in an opening game.

The late Reggie Wilson poured in 22 points and hauled in 13 rebounds in the season opener at Dayton. It was also Wilson’s first game as a Redbird after transferring from Lincoln Community College.

Bryson out for season

Tarise Bryson, the nation’s top returning scorer, the reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and Redbirds’ leading scorer for the last three seasons, fell to the floor on a drive to the basket at the 17:46 mark of the second half in Illinois State’s 74-70 opening-night victory over Weber State. The fall ended the season for the Redbirds’ sixth all-time leading scorer, as Bryson dislocated his right wrist and suffered severe ligament damage to his shooting hand. Bryson underwent surgery the day after the game and will face a year of rehabilitation. His wrist will be in a splint for two weeks, a hard cast four weeks and another splint for four weeks. It will take six months to heal.

Picked to win the league? Chances are you’re playing Illinois State

Illinois State will play 11 non-conference games this season. Of the Redbirds’ 11 non-Missouri Valley Conference foes, seven of the teams were selected in the preseason polls to win their respective leagues. The seven preseason favorites are Weber State (Big Sky), UC-Irvine (Big West), Texas-San Antonio (Southland), Illinois (Big Ten) , Georgia Southern (Southern) and Central Michigan and Kent State, which are both favored to win the two divisions of the Mid-American Conference.

Alexander the Great?

According to the roster and the register’s office, Gregg Alexander of Lincoln is a true freshman, but on the court he plays like a savvy veteran. In his first season with the Redbirds, Alexander has logged 251 minutes, tops on the team, and coughed up five turnovers. Alexander is averaging .02 turnovers per minute, which is the lowest percentage in the Missouri Valley Conference. He has dished out 22 assists which ranks second on the team and is fourth on the club in scoring with 10.4 points per game. Alexander also leads the team in steals with 12.

Built Ford tough

Shedrick Ford is second on the Redbirds in scoring with 11.9 points per game and has scored double figures for Illinois State in 5-of-8 games. Ford has been the leading scorer in two games and had a season-high 21 points against Hofstra. In the season opener against Weber State, Ford put the team on his back after the injury to Tarise Bryson and finished with 18 points and eight boards.

Alexander goes where few freshmen have gone before

Since 1990, three true freshman have started their first collegiate games at Illinois State. One of them is current Redbird Gregg Alexander. Alexander drew the starting nod in the opener against Weber State and responded with eight points, one rebound and two assists in 20 minutes of play. Alexander joins P.J. Smith (1999) and Dan Muller (1994).

Been there, done that

At the Missouri Valley Conference media day, Illinois State was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the league title by the conference media and sports information directors. The Redbirds received 26 of the possible 30 first-place votes. The last time the ’Birds were chosen preseason favorites was in 1997-98. Illinois State went on to win the conference. In 1996-97, the Redbirds were also favored to win and won the league.

Titanic turnaround a memory

It’s old news now, but it’s probably worth taking at least one more backward glance at last season’s remarkable turnaround.

—Illinois State went from 10-20 to 21-9. That was the fourth-best reversal among Division I programs last season.

—Last season marked the only time in the 94-year history of the Missouri Valley Conference that a team went from 20 losses one season to 20 wins in the next.

—It also marked the most victories (21) and the best winning percentage (.700) Illinois State has ever posted in a year that followed a losing mark (10-20). The previous best for wins after a sub-.500 was 18 (twice) and the top winning percentage was .621 by the 18-11 1992 team.

No thanks, I’m just watching

Trey Guidry, a 6-2 guard, has transferred to Illinois State from North Carolina State, but cannot play for the Redbirds until the 2002-03 season. NCAA rules require that he sit out one season. Guidry was a spot starter for the Wolfpack last season as a freshman and recorded a scoring best of 15 points against Wake Forest.

It never gets boring

Last season’s trip to the NIT marked Illinois State’s 14th post-season appearance in 31 seasons on the Division I level. The Redbirds have finished over .500 in all but three of their campaigns as a D-I school and own 13 20-win campaigns over the last 26 years.

That’s a winner

With a 21-9 mark last season, one year removed from a 10-20 record, Illinois State has not suffered back-to-back losing seasons since 1965 and 1966, 35 years ago. The next-best such streak in the Valley belongs to SMS, which last had back-to-back losers 20 years ago (’80 and ’81). ISU has now finished above .500 in 28 of its 31 campaigns at Division I. The only other two ISU teams that came off losing records (D-1) also did well. The 1988-89 team went 13-17, but its 18-13 successor won the MVC Tournament and went to the NCAAs. The 1990-91 team went 5-23, but its 18-11 successor won the regular-season league crown.

A trade-in

It’s not quite a trade, but next season when the Redbirds lose the services of Shedrick Ford to graduation they will add Dana Ford. Dana Ford, a 6-foot-4, 185 guard from Egyptian High School in Tamms signed a national letter of intent during the early signing period with Illinois State. Last year, Dana Ford averaged 22.5 points and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,620 points.

Average Valley year

Illinois State won an impressive 12 (12-6) Missouri Valley Conference games last season, but that’s just slightly above average for the Redbirds. ISU has averaged 10.3 league wins during its 20 years in the Valley, including five years on a 16-game schedule and four on a 14-game slate.

[Todd Kober,
Illinois State University director of media relations]

By Jeff Mayfield

[DEC. 15, 2001]   

Our athlete of the week has to be Pete Barmes, who in a recent LJHS wrestling meet pinned all four of his opponents in one meet, in one day! Nice going, Pete! Check him and his teammates out versus Tremont at home on Monday night. The meet will actually be at Washington-Monroe School.

If Baboucarr Bojang is not the best name in college basketball this year, I don’t know who is?! Boo not only has a great name, he’s been helping Gregg Alexander and the young Redbirds try to overcome the loss of MVC Player of the Year Tarise Bryson.

The Birds tangle with the mighty Tennessee-Chattanooga Moccasins Saturday at 1:05. The Mocs were the team that ousted one of Lon Kruger’s good Illini teams a few years back during one of those true March Madness rounds.

The hoopin’ Illini continue their quest to play every school in Illinois this season by hookin’ up Sunday with a 3:05 home game versus Western Illinois. WIU features former Railer great Geoff Alexander as one of its coaches. That is followed by a home showdown with ISU on Tuesday night at 7. That game will feature two former Railers, Illinois’ Brian Cook and ISU’s Gregg Alexander. This could be an interesting matchup, but how much more interesting could it have been if Tarise Bryson had not sustained a season-ending injury.

Speaking of the Illini, last Saturday’s game against Arkansas drew a 1.77 TV rating. That would equate to the game being on in 1.5 million homes. That’s a lot of homes! The rating was the third-highest in regular-season college ESPN basketball history! Quite amazing when you consider that it was a noon EST starting time.

The Lincoln Railers will find out a lot about themselves this weekend as they battle Springfield High at home and a very quick Kankakee team on the road.

While I’m mentioning Kankakee, does anyone in the IHSA play as tough a schedule as LCHS? What happened to scheduling cupcakes all season long? I know the crew that visits the message boards thinks that early-season tourneys are skewed to Lincoln’s advantage (because some teams are coming right out of the football playoffs, etc., etc.), but you still have to play the games! No teams will be more prepared than Lincoln’s, and if the Railers execute, they win. I am only drawing on experience from 1975 to the present. So to those of you who keep bringing that up, you’re wrong… dead wrong!

Someone recently asked me why we don’t frequent the message boards. Good question, easy answer. Unless they’ve changed recently, there’s usually nothing of value on them. I don’t believe I’ve read anything there by an athletic director, coach or any insider who goes to practice every day or who helps to scout opponents for any sport. So, when everything centers around who’s getting how much playing time or philosophies and strategies that are not even fully known by the board posters, it’s hard to take anything that is written there very seriously. Unless someone can give me even an iota of a good reason to glean something from there, I think we’ll pass. But, thanks for asking.

[to top of second column in this article]

Congratulations

…to Chester-East Lincoln coach Doug Rader and his lady hoopsters, who just finished another great season culminating in a trip to the IESA state playoffs and another Elite Eight finish. Wins seem to follow this coach around!

I’m sure Lincoln’s Tony Semple would love to see his Detroit Lions in the win column, especially when they’ve come so close the last few weeks. Here’s hoping it happens soon, when it will help one of our local teams the most. I think the Bears will make the playoffs, but as to how far they will go, it’s anybody’s guess. The Rams are likely the best team in all of football, and until someone beats them when it counts, we’re sticking with our story. The Colts are out, period! I don’t think their defense ever picked it up like the Ram’s defense did. The next two to three weeks should be interesting, as everyone will be jockeying for position.

We are a small news agency with a big heart. We try to cover as many events as we can and bring you behind-the-scenes, breaking coverage to the best of our ability. We do not have the staff to cover every high school and junior high game of every sport for every school in the county. If we could, we would. That is why we would classify our coverage as "feature coverage." As local LDN readers inform us of upcoming games or we find out about them through our own research, we cover them in some form of a feature format. Other news agencies provide us with some information about certain games, and we try to include as much of that as is possible. The one sure way to make sure that your game or event is covered is to call the LDN with as much info as you can. We will continue to make, as we have from our inception, every effort to give you some type of coverage. Also, accuracy is one of our utmost concerns. If you can help us by making sure that names are spelled correctly and that statistics are accurate, that not only helps us, it helps you.

We want to inform our community about all the great things that you are doing, and we want to do the best job we can for you, our loyal readers! Most, not all, of the time we spend comes out of our own free time. Therefore, we cover things that we enjoy covering or were already going to be participating in before any assignments are made.

So, if you would like for your sport to receive consistent, regular coverage, hook us up with a coach, a concerned adult or an athlete who just happens to like to write, and if you’ll provide the info, we’ll try our best to provide you with some space. If you spot a mistake in our stuff, please let us know about it. We want to improve for you!

Thanks to all of you for two great years of wonderful support. It is truly a pleasure bringing you local junior high, high school, college and professional sports coverage!

Please stay tuned to your local LDN dial, as over the next few weeks lots of exciting sports action is coming your way. You won’t want to miss a single day! And remember, always be a good sport. They may not remember if you won or lost, but they will always remember how you treated them!

[Jeff Mayfield]

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