Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Whitney Young wins Girls City Basketball Title

Whitney Young 73 Morgan Parrk 52

Taft Girls Move upto Windy City

Got this email from a reader:

Taft Girls Varsity Basketball team  won Conference and will be moving up to the Windy City Conference next season. 

Record: 13-1 conference, 24-6 overall

All Conference 

2011/2012...

Kassie Prusko,Senior

Ania Gawlik, Senior

Jasmine Correa, Sophmore

Kyra Vidas, Sophmore

Kyra Vidas of Taft- Game Winning Shot

Taft 35 Payton 34
December 12, 2011
Clutch Mode Shot by Kyra Vidas

 

The CPS is a basketball and chess conference

Board 8 state champion Brian Mei(sr-right) of defending state champion Whitney Young.

There are only three sports(or activities) where CPS teams regularly invoke statewide fear, admiration, and respect: Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, and Chess (an activity). We all know about basketball. Simeon is nationally ranked every year and the two time defending state champion. There are boys basketball programs abound in the CPS from Whitney Young, Farragut, Crane, Brooks, Marshall, LIncoln Park, Orr, and heck even Hyde Park beat Simeon in the state playoffs 3 years ago. Girls basketball has Marshall, Whitney Young, Von Steuben, and other quality programs.

What some people do not realize - unless you are a chess fan - is that Chess is hardcore serious in the CPS. It starts with Whitney Young. In the past 6 seasons they have had a state championship (last year), 3 runner up state finishes, a 3rd place, and an 8th place finish. Then there is a rising Northside Prep program that broke out with an 8th place state finish last year.

For some reason basketball and chess are the only two sports that have performed consistently high over the years. I personally was on the Lane Tech chess team that took second in the state in 1988, with the state champion being Kenwood - another CPS school.

I feel the CPS has some potential to perform well in other sports. I will say that I am firm believer that success is not measured by wins on the field, but on how much passion, work ethic, and motivation you put in to get your program the best it can be no matter what the onfield results.

I see the CPS with the most potential rising sports in boys and girls cross country, boys and girls track, golf, wrestling, and boys soccer.  Maybe one day, they can be like chess and basketball.

Whitney Young Dolphin Power!

It was a great week for the Whitney Young Dolphin.

• Chess Team Wins State -  The chess team won state. In a field of 128 teams, Whitney Young came on top over Niles North in the final round. Just like York dominates in cross country, Niles North dominates in chess. To beat a program, the level of Niles North says a lot of the Whitney Young program. Whitney Young became the CPS's first state championship team in chess since Kenwood in 1988. Lane took 2nd that year (I was on the Lane team).
• Girls Basketball Wins City - The girls basketball team steam rolled over city competition to win yet another city championship. They pummeled Morgan Park in the championship. Whitney Young's next goal is to take the elusive state championship. Whitney Young has taken 2nd in state to Bolingbrook the last two years.
• Boys Basketball Makes it to CPS semi-finals - Whitney Young made it to the semi-finals where they play #1 ranked Simeon tonight.
• Boys Swimming Wins City Championship - Whitney Young won the boys swimming city championship over a rebuilding Lane team and an up and coming Curie program.

Winter Sports Tipoff

The Winter Sports season tipoffed this week with first games in boys and girls bowling and girls basketball. Next week chess tournaments begin, girls basketball Thanksgiving tournaments tip off, wrestling meets start, boys swim meets begin, and the big dog boys basketball Thanks Tournaments will start. Indoor track won't start until February.

I look forward to another exciting winter sports season.

I'll still be focusing on football and track and cross country talk in this blog. Lots of offseason material to discuss. But from time to time I'll write about some of the other sports. I'll cover some basketball, but basketball by iteself is a beast. There are more hardcore CPS basketball fans out there than any other CPS sports. When I was at the Simeon Lake Zurich state playoff football game, I talked to several Simeon alumni. Although we started talking about football, the topic somehow always veered towards basketball.

I'll do some basketball posts, but the topic of boys basketball is so big that someone can easily make a whole separate blog just on boys basketball and have unlimited number of material to write about. So, I'll leave most of the talk about the big boys- the CPS has tons of them (Simeon, Whitney Young, Morgan Park, Bogan, Curie, Crane, Orr, Farragut, etc) - to other publications. Instead I'll talk around the fringes and talk about some schools that don't get all the attention (Mather, Lane, CVS, and of course Harlan, etc).

 

IHSA Multiplier Being Challenged

  

A change in the IHSA mutiplier would affect many CPS schools like Northside Prep.

A proposal is being made to change the multiplier the IHSA has on non-boundaried schools.

Under the current system, adapted in 2005, a 1.65 multiplier is enacted to the enrollment of all non- boundaried schools (i.g. Private and selective enrollment schools). The thinking was that since a Mt. Carmel could take kids without regards to boundaries, like most public schools did, it would have an athletic advantage over non-boudaried schools. Thus, evening the field a bit more.

However, now that that the multiplier has been in affect for a few years, one athletic director feels it has not had the desired affect and is looking to change it. That person is David Ribbens of the University of Chicago High School.

"The multiplier affects too many schools unjustly because the IHSA makes the assumption that because a school is unboundaried, it is more successful in athletics," Ribbens said. "That isn't the case. Remember, some schools (in the Chicago Public League) are unboundaried, too.

Using the new proposal to the IHSA by Ribbens, non-boundaried enrollment schools would be moved up a class if they finish in the top 8 in the state- and move up 2 classes if they finish in the top 4. This would only apply to non-football schools.

This would greatly affect the CPS, as the CPS has many non-boundary schools. The big schools like Curie, Whitney Young, and Lane would stay in the same upper classes no matter situation. But schools like Brooks, King, Northside, Payton, etc - who are smaller could be lowered down a class.

I'll keep everyone upto date.

Maria Joyce (Lane Tech class of 2009) - Transfers to Oakton

Maria Joyce (Lane Tech class of 2009) transferred to Oakton Community College to play on the women's basketball team after averaging 5.9 points and 6.2 rebounds her first year at Illinois Central College.

Thank you to a CPSFan.com reader for sending me the following information on the Maria Joyce signing for Oakton Community College. I got a chance to see Joyce play quite a few games for the Lane Tech Lady Indians.  She is a rugged rebounder and really improved on her scoring by her senior year. At 5-11, she has the size and skill to be make an impact at the next level. Also, if there was a fan of the year award. She would have received it. I've seen her and her family attend so many other sporting events (football, basketball, etc).

Oakton women’s basketball inks Lane Tech standout

By Jason Lee, Triblocal.com staff reporter

The women’s basketball program at Oakton Community College added some punch to its 2010-11 line-up with the signing of former Lane Tech standout Maria Joyce.

            As a four-year starter at Lane Tech, the 5-11 forward averaged 13.2 points and six rebounds per game and finished her high school career with 1,309 points.

            Joyce is a transfer from Illinois Central College, where she averaged 5.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

            She officially signed her letter of intent with Oakton on June 2, much to the delight of head coach Rich Bolinder.

            “Maria has been on our radar since she was a freshman in high school,” he said. “She can play the post and is a very aggressive rebounder. Every community college in the area was actively recruiting her since she decided not to return to Illinois Central College.”

—Oakton Community College

Pictures Now: Lane Tech Girls Basketball Team Warm Up Pictures

On February 11, 2009 Lane Tech played Regina Dominican in a girls basketball game.

Click here for the photo album.

Maria Joyce gives verbal agreement to play basketball at Illinois Central College

Maria Joyce (left) has been a standout for Lane Tech in basketball and softball.

Lane Tech senior Maria Joyce gave a verbal agreement to play basketball for ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE located in Peoria, IL. on a full scholarship for the 2009-10 year.
ICC Cougars are coached by Steve Garber sgarber@icc.edu   (309)694-5418 
ICC has a very exciting team  which were ranked this year as high as #3 in the country at  the  JCAA  level.  Look for Maria to propel  this team to the next level, work on her studies and then transfer to a 4 year college....
With all the offers that were offered, Maria believes she would best fit the style of Illinois Central running, pressure  type of basketball..