YBN/AYBT All-State Classic Basketball Tournament debut better than anticipated

[March 08, 2018] 

LINCOLN

On March 3rd and 4th, the All-State Classic Basketball Tournament took place for the first time in the gymnasiums of Lincoln College. The event organized by Kirk Whiteman and Dave Kasel brought in more than 130 eighth grade basketball boys from schools and teams all across the state. This first year event was so successful that Whiteman and Kasel are still excited, pumped up, and are already looking at next year’s event with great anticipation.

The event, which was open only to eighth grade boys, started on Saturday with a chance for all the boys to watch some big college basketball as the LC Lynx took on John Wood. While the Lynx didn’t take the win, they certainly gave the youngsters in the bleachers a great game and offered them inspiration for the future.

The tournament was promoted to players across the state through the Youth Basketball Network, and Whiteman and Kasel also sent out letters inviting various schools to send players. The original goal was to attract approximately 80 players from around the area, but in the end, the tournament drew more than 130 young men anxious to play basketball and intermingle with other players from around the state.

The two day event began on Saturday afternoon with registration as the kids arrived at Lincoln College. Then they had the opportunity to watch a Lynx Men’s basketball game at Jack Nutt Arena. The Lynx went up against John Wood, and while JW walked away with the victory, the youngsters in the bleachers walked away with a sense of what college basketball is like, and what the Lynx specifically are capable of doing on the courts.

For Lincoln College, the tournament was a win-win as it drew extra attendees to the game on Saturday. While the players were given free admission, family members who joined them paid the entry price. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, it gave the college exposure to a new generation of athletes as all these young men still have their high school careers ahead of them, but in four to five years, they are going to be looking at colleges and colleges are going to be looking at them. As LC works to transform itself back into a four-year university, what it has to offer these young athletes is only going to improve over the next few years.

After the college game on Saturday afternoon, the young players took to the court for some friendly competitions. The skills competitions included categories such as the dribble, pass and shoot contests. In those events, the champions were Beau Edwards from Arcola and our home boy Brody Whiteman, an athlete from West Lincoln-Broadwell School.

In addition, over 90 kids participated in the three point contest. Kasel said that the skills competition went very well, and that all four of the competitions were completed within 90 minutes. Then, as organizers had planned, there was an evening of practicing for the newly formed teams. In all, the 130+ athletes were divided into 12 teams. The teams were then dispersed to eight different schools in Lincoln for an evening of practicing together and bonding as a team.

Team practice was scheduled to take place between 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. meaning that many of the families in attendance would be staying overnight so as to be ready for the beginning of bracket play at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

On Sunday, the teams each played three games round robin style with the final top two teams playing a championship game.

Teams East and North Central warm up before the championship game on Sunday evening.

The final game of the day, played Sunday evening and pitted “East” against “North Central.” East won that championship with North Central taking the second place title.

The final record for all the teams is as follows:

East- 4-0
North Central- 3-1
South - 2-1
Peoria East- 2-1
West- 2-1
Peoria North- 2-1
Northeast - 1-2
Peoria South- 1-2
Central- 1-2
North - 1-2
Peoria West- 0-3
South Central- 0-3

Part of the weekend package for the students included a media guide, a booklet put together by the organizers that included biographies of the individual players participating in the tournament. Kasel said that the guides were hugely popular and parents and players were seen constantly looking at the guides and reading the info.

He said the information in the guides was also “impactful.” He noted that there were many comments about who had been the biggest influence in the players’ athletic careers.

“Additionally, from the media guide we learned what a difference coaches make in the lives of their players.


“When asked who was the biggest influence in their lives, answers included:


Max Walters (Dunlap Valley) response was Shea Feehan (summer coach),

Turner Plumer (Canton) said Kevin Rhodes (long-time travel coach),

Ben Cresap (Monticello) says Rodney Kellar (head coach at Ridgeview High School),

Jackson Burgess (Charleston) says Coach Steve and Coach Brookens,

Zach Cleveland (Normal Kingsley) says Coach Phillips,

Justin Johnson (Normal Parkside) says Coach Scott Duckworth,

Cooper Sloan (Peotone) says Coach Jim Fry,

Sam Neal (El Paso Gridley) says Coach Kuerth,

Brody Reed (Bartonville Monroe) says Coach Evan Haffner,

Isaac Turner (Greenville) says Coach Parker Manhart and Coach Alex Bazzell,
 
Ryan Moore (Winchester) says Coach Rusty Moore,

Mason Duckels (Carlinville) and Aaron Wills (Carlinville) say Coach Shay Kelleraman,

and Bailey Sullivan (Colchester) says Coach Duncan."

The East Team won all four of their games to become the first ever Champions at the YBN All-State Classic in Lincoln on Sunday.

One particular testament, brought tears to the eyes of the sister of a player. Jackson Churchill from the Canton area said that the person who most influenced his basketball career was his sister Cloe. He chose his sister for her work ethic and her outstanding basketball career. Cloe Churchill set the scoring record for girls at Canton High School and currently plays basketball at SIU Edwardsville. When they told Cloe that Jackson said that, she cried.

Economic impact

In addition to offering the kids a chance to play some great basketball, and giving Lincoln College the opportunity to share the campus with future college hopefuls, the tournament did have an economic impact in Lincoln.

Whiteman had come to the Logan County Tourism Bureau in February seeking funding for the event. His appearance was the result of a visit he had gotten from LCTB board member Neal Patel, who when he joined the bureau board said he wanted to work to bring more sporting events to Logan County. Patel had been visiting various coaches and sport venues working to reach that goal. When Whiteman appeared before the board, he said that the tournament was a long-time desire of his, but when he was approached by Patel, he felt that was the right sign that it was the right time to get it going.

Whiteman said he anticipated that based on the players who had signed up already and where they were from, there was the potential for about 60 families to choose to stay in local motels. He also told the bureau that there would be no special arrangements for meals for the players, so that would create opportunities for families to visit local restaurants. In addition, with the events starting on Saturday and running two days, activities would be spread out, so families would have the opportunity to get out and explore the community, perhaps doing some shopping along the way.

After the tournament, Whiteman said he had anticipated that families coming in from the Chicago area would stay overnight, but was surprised to hear that some families from as close as Peoria and Canton had also chosen to stay in Lincoln on Saturday night. So, while he didn’t have exact numbers he believed there were probably more than 60 families that chose to stay in area motels on Saturday night because of the tournament.

When Whiteman appeared before the tourism bureau he was asking for something a little out of the norm for the board. Instead of seeking money to advertise the event, he was seeking a sponsorship and wanted to use the funds provided by the LCTB to pay for t-shirts that would be given to each of the players.

Because this was an unusual request, the board spent a great deal of time discussing the request. The general consensus was that the bureau wanted to support the tournament and also support the efforts of Patel in contacting Whiteman in the first place. The sponsorship was unusual, but the board finally voted unanimously to do the sponsorship for this first year, as the only sponsor of the tournament. In return, the LCTB would have prominent promotion on the t-shirts and other clothing sold such as the tournament sweatshirts and other items available at the online store. The bureau also had their logo prominently placed on the back of the media guide.

Whiteman was advised that the larger dollar amount awarded ($2,500) was a kind of kick start for the event, and in the future he would want to secure other local sponsors to help cover the costs of the tournament.

Whiteman said this week, he was excited about how this all worked out, and he was looking forward to going back to the tourism board this month with a full report of how things turned out.

With this first year behind them, Kasel and Whiteman are both excited for next year. Both talked about the local promotion of the event and said that this first year, they had focused on presenting a well-organized tournament for the players, and felt they had succeeded in that area. Next year, they said they would work to do more spectator promotion investing in advertising to draw sports enthusiasts to the community for the tournament.

Kasel summed up the event saying, “This was a tremendous event for Lincoln! There were probably 400-plus (people – players and their families) that attended the Lincoln College game on Saturday. All eighth graders who will make college choices in the near future. I told Kirk this. People weren't just happy with the event they were ecstatic. They loved it! I was thanked, hugged and received many texts about how much fun the kids and parents had. A lot of smiles by a lot of people.”

Whiteman had similar feelings about the event, excited that it had gone so well, and looking forward to next year already. He added there were other thank yous that needed to be said, particularly to one Lincoln College Student. “I would like to give a big thanks to Clayton Smith, a Lincoln College student majoring in Sport Management. He is working as an intern and this was part of his internship.”

Players were also given mementoes of the tournament and their time in Lincoln. Each one received the free t-shirt – sponsored by the tourism bureau, with options to buy other clothing items through the online store. They all received a souvenir media guide – printed locally by Lincoln Printers, a logo bag tag, and a certificate of recognition for participating in the tournament.

[Nila Smith with photos provided by Jan Youngquist & Dave Kasel]